Night Terrors -(TordTom)

Still Alive

This isn't real.

I saw him die.

Yet there he was

Right in front of me.

My vision went blurry. "Paul? Is that you?"

He was missing an eye, covered with a patch, and was wearing the red army uniform.

Is this a dream too?

"Pau, is everything alright? What's happening?"

Pat came running up alongside him.

He paused midstep.

We were too shocked to speak.

"H-How are you still alive? I saw you die!"

"I thought we were gonna die too when we got surrounded."

"Pau wouldn't stop shooting. He thought there would be a way out. He got his eye shot out. He got lucky too. The bullet barely grazed his brain. I knew I wouldn't have a chance to shoot through hundreds of those men alone, so I surrendered. They took us in and enlisted us as soldiers. We accepted, not wanting to be tortured. We were sent away to this boot camp about 200 miles away for training. It took us about 7 years to get back.

"There's only one way to know if its you." I pulled out a cigarette, Paul's favorite brand.

"Paul. Do you know what this is?" I held it up, showing him.

His eyes lit up. "That's my favorite brand of cigarettes! Remember when I taught you how to smoke and-"

While he was still talking, I turned around to Tom.

"That's them alright. You can trust these two. They raised me after the 'incident'".

He nodded.

I ran forward into their arms, crying. It really was them!

Paul glanced at him for a second. "Who's this?"

Pat started flitting around the room. "OH MY GOD TORD, YOU DIDN'T TELL US YOU HAD A BOYFRIEND!"

I could feel my cheeks heating up as I looked at them.

Uh yea. Tom, meet Pat and Pau."

He smiled and waved. "Nice to meet you."

"OH MY GOD AND HE'S POLITE TOO!" Pat was still very surprised that his "adopted" son had a significant other.

"Uh, yeah... So anyway, is there another way out where we won't get our asses shot at?"

"Actually, yeah. Follow us."

We snuck past soldiers and finally arrived at the exit.

"Come with us. You don't belong here." I pleaded with them as I wired an abandoned car.

"Where would we stay? What if they find out we're gone?" Pat sounded worried.

"We will figure all of this out when we're safe." The car started and we jumped in.

"I've managed to outrun these morons for about 6 years. Don't worry. We'll fight back or run. I know some good places to hide out."

Pat sighed. "I hope you know what you're doing."

I grinned. "Whadya mean? I learn from the best."

We sped off, knowing that life was gonna be a living hell once we got back to Edd's house.

Flashback

A guard swiftly passed down the corridor, not even batting an eye at the boy who saluted him.

He relaxed. "Come on, lets keep moving!" He whispered to me.

We ran down the empty hall to an old, worn out door.

He opened it and let me inside before coming in himself and locking the door.

We started digging in the many boxes of reused uniforms. I picked up a large uniform. It was a little dusty, but once I shook it off, it looked brand new.

"Turn around. I'm gonna try this on."

"Okay. What size shoes do you wear?"

"I don't actually know. Thirteens maybe?"

"Gotcha."

I got into the uniform with barely a hassle. Buttoning up the vest was the hard part, but I eventually got it. I turned around and looked at myself through a large cracked mirror.

Weird.

I could've sworn that was my father in the mirror. I looked just like him.

I felt disgust. Anger. Regretful of ever being a part of my family.

The boy seemed to notice. "You okay? You'd probably fit in just fine with that on."

I pushed my feelings into the back of my head as I shook it off, pretending that I was worried.

"Yeah, you're right. I have nothing to worry about.

"Try these on." He passed me a pair of jet black boots.

I slipped them on and tied them up to my shins.

I turned around. "How do I look?"

He gave me a thumbs up. "Like a soldier."

He seemed to tense up all of a sudden.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You might not like this, but I'm gonna have to brand you. Its for the sake of outsiders trying to slip in through disguise."

"Whatever it takes, I'm in. Besides, I've been in the market for some pain lately."

He gave me a surprised look. "A-Are you sure?"

"Yep. Where do we go to get branded?"

"Just up this hall." He peeked through the door and motioned for me to follow him.

We walked farther down the hall before stopping at a small meeting room.

"This is where the new recruits go to get initiated." He explained.

In the middle of the room was a stove with a white hot branding iron with the red army symbol on it.

He gave me a towel and I sat down in front of the stove.

"Now this is gonna hurt like a son of a bitch."

I just waved it off. "Lets do this."

I bit into the towel before the iron hit my skin.

Wow. That really hurts. Its feels like my skin is melting off.

It took all of my strength not to scream in pain. The towel was thankfully still in my mouth.

It was over as soon as it started.

My skin was tingling for at least an hour after.

"Wow you took it like a champ!"

"Where do we go now?"

He grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me.

"Your gonna make it up the ranks as fast as you can!"

I was laughing at this point.

"Okay okay I will." I paused. "What's your name by the way?"

"I'm Nathan Leonas. Stay in touch, okay?"

"Sure thing, buddy."