Storm Of Pain

chapter 5

"She had a panic attack in the simulator?"

"Yes, sir,"

"I'm not surprised,"

"Sir?"

"You don't know yet do you..." Calleb and I looked at each other and shook our heads slowly,

"You've seen her arm, correct? She got that from her last deployment as well as the burns. They were in Afghanistan at the time and things got heated. She was part of the Air Force, but someone sold them out and they were attacked on base. We don't know much of what happened since there weren't many survivors, but we do know that they got bombed from the sky and the entire base was blown to pieces. The jets were instructed to shoot the attackers down and so they went up, but the majority were already dead or severely injured. All that we really know of Jennifer is that she got the burns from the bombs, and she lost her arm when she was shot down after taking most of the attacking planes down. Jennifer saw her entire team get blown to pieces right in front of her,"

"Wait... isn't that the incident that everyone couldn't stop talking about? That Sergeant James was the one that sold them out?"

"That's the one yes. Although, we couldn't prove that it was him. I personally don't think it was."

"But weren't you on that base?"

"I was yes. If it wasn't for Jennifer, I wouldn't be here today. One of the attacking planes was aiming for the area I was standing at but she shot them down and in the process, she got shot. Her jet went crashing to the ground. She barely got out in time before the thing exploded. I didn't know who the girl was until a few hours ago, I did some research on her. So what I want to actually tell you boys is to keep her on the simulator for now. She will not be deployed until I've cleared her, I don't care what anyone says, and then I want the two of you to train her from scratch,"

"Sir?"

"From what I understand the arm is giving her issues from basic training, so she needs to build up strength in her arm again and I want the two of you to do it. Hemmings, you're great with jets and flying, I want you to do anything you can to build her confidence again, and O'Connell, you help her with defense and offense in private lessons, understood?"'

"Yes, Sir,"

"And I don't have to tell you to keep what I told you to yourself,"

"No, Sir,"

"Good, dismissed,"

Like every time, Calleb and I walked out and shut the door before walking to our destination, "Wow,"

"We acted like dicks to her in the beginning ya know?"

I nodded and kept walking beside him to tell Jennifer the news, but when we got there she was nowhere to be seen.

I figured she just went for a run again but when I got a call from one of my mates saying there's a girl in the training room, I knew it was Jennifer. I pulled Calleb with me to go get her but stopped dead in my tracks when I watched her beating the crap out of a punching bag. If she went any harder it would definitely tear,

"Jennifer? What're you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" She asked me in a bitchy tone and went back to beating the lifeless object,

"You've been training all day," Calleb pointed out,

"And I should give a flying damn why exactly?"

"Jennifer." She stopped immediately and looked at us, "Go to the apartment,"

"Bu-"

"That's an order," Stomping past us she grabbed her belongings and headed to our place with us following close behind,

"Why do you do that!?" She yelled at us "You know full damn well I can't disrespect you outside,"

"You're not supposed to disrespect us either way, outside, or in the apartment. But anyway we have news. We spoke to the General and he wants you to stay on the simulator for a while and for me to work with you to build your confidence back up before flying an actual jet."

"And as for me, he wants me to help you train again, offense, defense, stuff like that. He took Calleb and I off any other projects we had going on to help you,"

"What? Why is he doing that?"

"Don't complain and be thankful,"

"Why does he want to help me this much? He doesn't even know me,"

"You'll have to ask him for yourself one day. Now come sit, your shoulder is bleeding,"

Inspecting her shoulder I prodded around again, but this time she seemed to be in a lot more pain than previously when I so much as touched her skin. I went to retrieve her pain meds and gave her the prescribed amount and stared her down, "If this is going to work you need to stop pushing yourself to this limit that could injure your body, you also need to be honest with us, understood?"

"Yes, Sir,"

"Good girl,"

"What had you so upset anyway?" Calleb asked and looked at her reaction. Jennifer tensed before just giving up and sighed. She stood up and looked at Calleb, "You two think I'm a snob. That everything got handed to me on a silver platter. I heard the conversation you two had about me the first day I arrived and a lot of people think that about me because of my dad and uncle. But, my father and I, we don't have the best relationship, he hates me and I hate him. My uncle, well he just helped me get into the military nothing more nothing less.

"My father found out about me getting back into the military and he's livid. He's threatening to pull me out of here himself. He also said that if I don't go back, that I won't see my brother and sister again, he promised me that he'll make sure of it. I'm not backing out of the military again though. Anyway, that's enough bonding time for me, goodnight guys,"