The n00b Warriors (9 page)

Dylan left the men and found a bench near Matterhorn Mountain, hoping Trinity and Hunter would eventually return looking for him.

The Matterhorn cars were running, and several boys were trying to ride them standing up; none of them stood long, and one was knocked off the ride and looked hurt until he stood up laughing.

Dylan closed his eyes, and before long, he had fallen asleep.

#     #     #

“Dylan?” Trinity’s voice said.

Dylan sluggishly looked up and saw Hunter running towards him, with Trinity not far behind. He wondered how long he had been asleep.

“We’ve been walking all over the park looking for you,” Trinity said, sounding worried.

“I went back to Toontown, but it was all closed up.”

Trinity nodded. “They sent us to get uniforms—where were you?”

“Lyle wanted to see me—I don’t even know why. He says I’m being promoted.”

Trinity came up to Dylan and unexpectedly hugged him. “I was afraid we wouldn’t find you—there’s so many people here now. They’re busing them in from other places.”

“I promised you I’d find you,” he said as he awkwardly patted her back and then let her go. He looked at Hunter. “He still has your PSP, Hunter.”

Hunter nodded and walked toward the Matterhorn, quietly watching the ride.

“He hasn’t really said anything since this morning,” Trinity said, concerned. “I’m worried about him.”

Dylan looked at him and said confidently, “He’ll be fine. He’s just in shock.” He paused and looked at Trinity. She seemed surprisingly well-composed. “What about you? Are you okay?”

Trinity looked down and quietly said, “We’ll all have to deal with it one day, but today we just needed to survive.”

Dylan took her hand and squeezed it.

Trinity sighed and looked up, changing the subject. “They said they’re leaving the roller coasters on all night, and then tomorrow everyone is leaving to fight somewhere else.” She paused. “All the older kids say they only treat you this good when something bad is going to happen.”

“They’re just trying to scare you.” Dylan looked at Hunter again, then added, “Let’s get our uniforms and go back to the hotel and rest.”

Trinity nodded. “They said to go to Space Mountain for them.”

A long line stretched in front of the Space Mountain entrance; at the end, an older man stood in front of a small booth that said “Information.”

“Where do we get uniforms?” Dylan asked the man.

The man nodded to the entrance, “Uniforms are right after you exit the ride.”

“We have to ride the ride to get our uniforms?”

“That’s right.”

“Can’t we just go straight there?”

“Don’t you want to have fun?”

Trinity spoke up. “We just want to get our uniforms and get back to the hotel—it’s been a long day.”

The man eyed a small bloodstain on Trinity’s top and acknowledged, “I can see that, but the ride’s not even five minutes—surely you can spare five minutes for a little fun?”

“I don’t like fast rides,” Hunter said quietly.

The man clapped Hunter’s back. “Well, that’s too bad—only way to get uniforms is through that entrance.”

“I don’t like fast rides, either,” Dylan mumbled as they got into the line.

Trinity laughed. “I’m stuck with the two biggest sissies on earth to protect me.”

“I just don’t like roller coasters,” Dylan said, offended.

“I’ll protect you,” Trinity smiled.

#     #     #

As the coaster came to a stop, Hunter slowly climbed out of it and fell onto the ground. Dylan and Trinity ran to him, and the ride’s operators, two boys the same age as Hunter, laughed as they put down their fried chicken and pushed a new bunch of kids onto the ride.

“Are you okay, Hunter?” Trinity asked, rubbing his back.

“This has been the worst day of my life,” he quietly sobbed.

She helped him up and hugged him. “For all of us, Hunter—but it’s over now.”

“For how long?” he said nervously.

“Come on,” Dylan said, “let’s get those uniforms and get out of this park—I’m tired of doing what the Army considers fun.”

The uniforms, as promised, where at the exit of Space Mountain. Rows of fold-up tables had been set up and were full of used uniforms. “Look at that,” Dylan said, pointing to the front of the uniform depository, where people were coming and going. “You didn’t have to ride that stupid ride to get in here.”

Before anyone responded, another man came up behind Dylan and wrapped his arms around Dylan’s waist. Dylan shoved away and demanded, “What gives?”

“Relax! And hold still so I know what size pants to bring you.”

Dylan waited uncomfortably as the man continued to take measurements, then said, “Hold on.”

The man left, returning moments later with a pair of camouflage pants and a shirt and tossing them at Dylan. “Try these on.”

“Where’s the fitting room?”

The man laughed. “Where do you think you are? Drop your trousers and try them on.”

Trinity looked at him and blushed.

“What are you staring at?” Dylan stammered. “Turn around!”

He moved as fast as he could, trying to ignore the already-uniformed, older soldiers who laughed at his skinny legs as they walked by. “They’re great,” Dylan said after he had changed, “but do you have some without the bullet hole?”

“That’s not a bullet hole,” the man smirked, “it’s a patriot mark—and that’s the best I got in your size.”

Dylan nodded and looked at Hunter and Trinity. “What about them?”

The man glanced at them and said, “Nope. We won’t have anything that fits them down here. You’ll want to go to the infirmary—that’s where all the extra clothes are before they send them over here. They have all the smaller sizes.”

#     #     #

Dylan could see Trinity’s ankles and feet as her pants fell to the ground. His eyes traced up her bare ankles hypnotically, until they reached the curtain of the fitting room, and then he turned away, disappointed.

“I can’t believe the girls get a fitting room,” Dylan said.

Hunter held up a pair of pants with a bloodstain on the right leg, asking, “How about these?”

Dylan shrugged. “Try them on.” He turned back to the fitting room just in time to see Trinity pull the pants up.

“What are you staring at?” Hunter quizzed.

“Nothing.”

“Are you staring at Trinity?” Hunter laughed.

Dylan blushed. “No.”

“You
were
staring!” Hunter teased.

“Be quiet and get dressed.”

Trinity emerged from the fitting room a few moments later. “How do I look?”

Before either of the boys could answer, Trinity cried, staring past them, “Look!”

“What?” Dylan asked as Trinity bolted past.

“It’s Sarah! She’s alive!” she replied as she ran towards a hospital bed in the back of the room.

“Who’s Sarah?” Dylan called.

Trinity stopped and turned around. She looked Dylan in the eye and scolded, “My roommate—the one you left for dead.”

Sarah’s face was badly bruised, but she was awake when the three of them came to her. There were bloodstains in her blonde hair. Trinity took her hand immediately. “I’m so happy you’re here, Sarah—I thought you were dead.”

Sarah smiled and asked, “Do you think they’ll send me home now?”

“Sure, Sarah,” Trinity said compassionately.

“Do you want your PSP back?” Hunter asked, stepping forward.

She thought for a moment. “I don’t really play it, anyway
—
if you promise to write me about the war, then you can keep it.” She paused. “I’ve never known a boy on the front.”

Hunter blushed, but nodded.

She took a small metal bracelet off her wrist and handed to him. “My address is on the back of it.”

Hunter gingerly took the delicate keepsake. He studied it for a second before putting it into his pants pocket and backing away, eyes on the ground.

Dylan stood behind Hunter at a distance. He looked at the bloodstained patch on Sarah’s left shoulder; a bullet had hit her there. Not making eye contact, he softly said, “I would have gone back for you if I could have.”

Sarah nodded and forced a smile.

“I’m glad you’re alive.”

A doctor came up to the bed then. “Say your goodbyes. We have to get her off to surgery—get that bullet out of her.”

#     #     #

As they made their way to the park’s exit, they passed Matterhorn Mountain one last time.  Dylan surveyed the structure; near the top, he saw a figure and the ember of a burning cigar. He remembered Lyle’s words to him about smoking at the top of the mountain when it was all over.

“What an idiot,” he said, pointing. “Let’s get out of this park.”

Main Street was not quiet, as it had been hours ago. It looked like Toontown had: barbeque pits were in the middle, and a band was playing rock music in front of Sleeping Beauty’s castle. The windows of the candy store had been shattered, and soldiers freely climbed into the store, taking what was left inside.

“Want some candy?” Dylan asked Trinity.

“Do you think we can?”

“Everyone else is.

As Dylan and Hunter stuffed their pockets with the little candy that was left, Trinity browsed a postcard rack near the cash register. She held up several and said, “I’m going to send some home—want some?”

Dylan nodded and went to the rack.

“What are you going to say on yours?” Trinity asked.

“I don’t know—that I’m having fun or something.”

“You won’t say the truth?”

Dylan thought of his mom and the baby. “Not the bad stuff.” Not long before his sister went missing, she had sent Dylan a postcard; it was the Army-issued postcard with the flag on the front and the slogan “Fight Hard, Fight Proud” in bold letters. It was the only one Dylan ever got from her. She wrote that Army life was good and not to worry, but to take extra special care of their mom and Jacob. Dylan had suspected for a long time that she knew she was going to die soon, and sent the letter so he’d have something to remember her by.

“Do you think we’ll ever be able to forget what we saw?”

Dylan turned away and closed his eyes. “Sure, Trinity—one day.”

A mirror caught Trinity’s eyes, and she went up to it. She stared at herself for several seconds before grumbling, “Uniforms are not made for girls—I look so ugly.”

Dylan walked up behind her and shook his head. “No, you don’t.” His eyes wandered curiously over her body; he followed the curls in her hair; she had taken the ponytail out and let the dark mass fall naturally. He swallowed a lump in his throat. He wanted to say more, but he didn’t—he couldn’t.

#     #     #

(Coco Puff, Blog Entry)

THE FUTURE IS HERE

Posted: Wednesday, October 11, 2014 | 11:17 AM (GMT)

I’m back from the Euro Gaming Convention, and, of course, got a first look at the upcoming EP game series that the United States will be releasing for the holiday season.

I found it appropriate that the United States used foreign soil to unveil such an ambitious project—it shows the President’s commitment to global peace.