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Chapter Three

We walked back to our room and I flopped down on the multiple beds we pushed together.
"Officer Beckett, Carrie wants to finish boot camp early, is there anyway she could be deployed with the next round of people?" I looked up and saw Max talking to Beckett. I layed back down and felt the mattress moving, I let it go and just stayed on the bed.
"Carrie, get up. We're finishing up boot camp," I heard his voice and didn't want to get up, "I'll bring in the hose and hose you down and force you to finish in wet clothes. Get up now." I got up and wiped my tears off, I didn't notice that I was crying at all.
In less than three weeks I finished boot camp and got my gear to go overseas, Officer Beckett was coming along to keep me safe, I was the first woman who completed boot camp coming from the facility. We finally got to Vietnam and to where we were stationed in a day. Officer Beckett took me aside from the rest of the new soldiers.
"You'll be staying in my tent, we will change at different times. Before we get it set up, I believe someone was waiting for you." He pointed behind me so I spun around and saw Patrick standing there. I ran to him and hugged him.
"You cut your hair!" He smiles down at me and started to rub my shaved head.
"I didn't want to put all of my hair into a bun so Officer Beckett helped me shave it."
"I cut mine as well, y'know." He says while still hugging me.
"I was just about to say that and you shaved your stubble."
"I was forced to."
We followed Beckett into the hall and got everything assigned to us. After a few minutes of talking to Patrick I had to leave him and go with Beckett to the tent. I follow to the tent and stand there outside while he changes into new clothing. I look around and see is desert behind the docks.
"Carrie, you can come in now." I turn around and walk into the tent. There's two cots with a blanket and pillow each. I walk to what I assumed was my side, I have a small desk with drawers and place a photo of Patrick and I and one of all the girls back at the facility.
"You look so different now." I jumped when I heard his voice right behind me
"Yeah, I was a big time hippie." I told him handing him the picture of my friend and I.
"Why'd you join the marines?"
"Patrick and I have a blood oath that states, if one of us dies, the other dies as well." He looked up shocked.
"That's intense." He stated while handing the picture back to me. I take a glance at it and put it back.
"Yeah, but we were also in our rebellious phase." I said while putting air quotes around rebellious phase. He chuckled a little bit and went on his side, grabbed something, and came back.
"I was different as well, I joined while I was sixteen." He said and handed me a photo of him in hippie clothing.
"You're a hippie?" I asked with amazement hinted in my voice.
"Before the military," He told me, he looked down and sadly smiled, "I went to so many concerts. It was unbelievable."
"I snuck in half the time." He looked up, must've been shocked by what I said.
"You snuck in?" Disbelief on his face.
"Yeah, Patrick and I snuck in together, we also snuck into meet the band as well." I told him I started to rub my hand over my hair, it really needs cut again.
"I snuck in as well, but I was around nineteen. How old were you?"
"You wouldn't believe me."
"Say it."
I looked him dead in the eyes.
"Fourteen, that's when I started to sneak in."
"No way."
"Yes way."
After that it was close for lights out. We got ready for bed and turned the lights off. It felt weird being babied like this. I'm sure the other girls wouldn't be treated like this. I drifted off to sleep thinking about how this could be life or death and I entered just so that I could be with Patrick.
I was running. From what? I didn't know. I was just running through miles of woods. The trees were grown out so every time I ran past one, it hit me in the arms. I looked around at my arms and saw they were bleeding out. I kept hearing electronic buzzes and looked up to see something that was from the future, I couldn't tell what it was. I turned around and saw Patrick running towards me yelling my name, then he falls. I ran over to see where he went, but there's just a hole in the ground where he fell at. I woke up in a cool sweat and hearing Officer Beckett yelling for me to get up. I got up from my cot and grabbed a cloth, I wiped my face off with it and got ready for the day.
"Are you okay?" I turned around and saw Beckett.
"Yeah, I just had a crazy dream."
"Wanna talk about it while you're getting ready?"
"As long as you turn around and not stare at me," I chuckled and saw him turn around. "It started off with me running. I was all beaten up, bruised and bloody, and I heard these noises. The noises were like the ones in Star Wars. The lightsaber thingys. Well, anyway, I looked up and there's this huge machine almost like the Death Star. So I turn around because I hear Patrick and he falls into the ground. I ran to where he fell at and there's just a hole there in the ground. Then you woke me up. And now I'm talking to you about this."
"It's not real, you know that right?"
"Yeah, I know that," I walk out from where I was changing, "Let's just go get this day done with.
Eight weeks have passed since then and the other people should be on their way, which means that I get to see my friends. I went with Officer Beckett to get them, he said that they've been asking about me. I looked around and saw red hair, Max, I ran up to her and hugged her and looked around for the rest of the girls.
"Where, where are they?" I asked trying to look around for them.
"They switched." Max looked at me sadly.
"What do you, what do you mean?"
"They're not in the Marines anymore, they went into the army."
"You stayed?"
"Yeah, for you."
"Well, welcome to Vietnam!"