A Soldier in Love (2 page)

Michelle shook her head
and shrugged her shoulders. “Amy, I don’t exist like that. I’m a soldier, I’m a
fighter,
I’m
no one’s wife.”

Her
words were true. Michelle wasn’t like Amy she wasn’t delicate and feminine. She
didn’t need someone to take care of her; she could take care of herself. She
would rather fight for herself than lie beneath some man every night as he took
for himself what was between her legs.

That night after
dinner, Amy excused herself to go to bed early.

Dinner had been eerily
quiet and Amy’s tone had faded from sad and disappointed to angry. Michelle
remembered when she asked Amy to pass the beans she had just glared at her,
like how dare she ask for the beans. Eric ended up handing them over to her.

When Amy left the table
Eric whispered quietly to her, “Now, that Amy isn’t here I want to tell you
something.”

“What’s that?” Michelle
replied trying to hide the surprised tone in her voice. Eric had been notorious
for his stern personality and rigid demeanor, what could he possibly want to
tell her? She wasn’t sure he had ever spoken to her in such a soft tone. It all
seemed quite novel to her.

“You are a strong
fighter, you are a smart girl, and you’ve learned a lot,” he began.

“I learned from the
best,” she pointed out. She was astonished at his unusual demeanor. She kept
quiet so that he would continue.
 

“You have to take
nourishment when you can, extra if you can get it. Food rations are getting
more difficult to come by. You are already on the thin side, Michelle,” he said
with an unforgettable seriousness in his voice. “Also, you have to try and get
an IS chip.”

“What is an IS chip?”
Michelle questioned.

“
IS
stands
for information system. It’s like a tiny computer you can take
with you. It works by getting information from surrounding satellites. It’s the
size of a small earring. You’ll get it and pierce your ear with it,” he said as
he turned towards her to reveal his. “Maybe you can get away with hiding it in with
your hair. If you meet someone you trust have them implant it in your cartilage.
It will hurt like Hell but do it anyway,” he said as he demonstrated with his
own ear thumbing over the top part.

Michelle could see a
small bump she had never noticed before.

“They don’t like to
give soldiers this because they misuse them for their ability to stream music.
It will sync from most any planet, if you get stationed off world. You may be
asked to stay here and fight, no one really knows yet. If for some reason it
can’t sync from a satellite it will still contain back information. Try to get
close to a shuttle dock, for some reason with all the radios and satellites
those contain they always seem to sync there.”

He took a deep breath.

“Get one at all costs,
whatever you have to do, even if you have to steal it. This is a war we don’t
know much about. We are sending people to other planets we don’t know much
about,” he paused to clear his throat. “There is something else I think is
important. If you want, I have a shot that will help you adapt to a different
climate, fight harder, endure more, and rebuild muscle tissues more rapidly. It
will allow your lungs to take more oxygen and slow your heart rate giving you
stronger athletic abilities. It also has antibodies in it that will develop
within your body over the next few weeks,” he explained.

“Give me the shot,”
Michelle said without hesitation as she began to roll up her sleeve.

“I must warn you, I
don’t know what all the effects will be long term but I’ve had it myself. If I
didn’t think it was important I wouldn’t ask you to take it,”

“I understand.”

“I’m not a medic but I
can give you the shot here. It isn’t required to be intravenous just
intramuscular
,” he said as she nodded
in agreement.

He swiftly reached for
his briefcase and pulled out a small bag. He unzipped and spilled the contents
out onto the kitchen table. Michelle studied the vial that held a pale gold
liquid, a small syringe, and antiseptic wipes. He was quick and deliberate
about his task. He moved in close and began to spread the antiseptic on her
upper arm. He disinfected the top of the vial before filling the syringe with
the liquid.

Michelle gritted her
teeth as she felt the needle pierce her skin. It hurt but it was nothing
compared to other pain she had faced in her life; in fact it was more
uncomfortable than painful. She could feel the coolness of the liquid enter her
body. It was a strange sensation.
 

“You’ll be tired, I’ll
let you sleep in tomorrow before you leave tomorrow evening. Even then you will
want to sleep on the train,” he said as he pulled the syringe out of her arm.

Michelle nodded.

“Lastly, please come
back home. I don’t think Amy will be the same if she loses you too,” he said
solemnly.

“I will do my best,”
Michelle promised, knowing her words were weak. She knew that there might not
be any sort of home to come back to. They were preparing for a war of all wars.
They were fighting the unknown. She would pretend along with the rest of them
and hope for the best.

Michelle’s stomach
dropped as all the thoughts of her older sister ran through her head.

Ugh, I wish I could have at least talked to her once
more before I was deployed. I know we had been through a lot but she was always
there when I needed her; even when she was hurting herself, she put it aside to
make sure I was OK. She and Eric were always good to me and I just left. I
didn’t even tell her goodbye, I was just too angry.

Michelle sharply jolted
herself from her memories. She couldn’t help but think back to the past as she
sat alone in the dining hall. Being alone was all she had known since she had
left their household.

She looked down at her
tray of food. It was
a gray
oatmeal like substance and
a protein shake.

“Bottoms up,” Michelle
mumbled softly to herself.

Just like freshmen year of college sitting alone in
the dining hall,
a snide little
voice from the back of her mind hissed.

College was
difficult,
not so much the subject matter, but she missed
her parents. She always felt alone. The loneliness was a deep nagging feeling
that wouldn’t stop. She had guessed it was difficult for anyone to feel normal
when there was an imminent invasion of your planet approaching. Sometimes she
would see Amy during the holidays although she tried not to bother her and Eric
too much since they had been trying for a baby.

She had decided to go
to college and be a teacher. She wanted to make a difference in a child’s life.
She wanted to protect them. She didn’t want them to endure what she had gone
through. It had been a teacher who noticed her own wounds, a teacher who had
helped her to get in contact with Amy.

She thought back to how
gentle she used to be just a short time ago.

I am protecting them now. I am protecting everyone. That’s
why I’m here. Why am I even thinking about all this?
She shook her head,
probably because I will be dead soon.

She looked around the
dining hall. Most everyone else had barely touched their food.

Probably too nervous to eat
.
Don’t they know this may be their last
meal for days?

She heard gasps as the
lights flickered off and then came back on. They went down again then came back
on in a dimmed manner.

The generator must be running this place now. Things
are getting serious. Something must have hit a power line.
 

She scooped up another
unattended shake on the table. Someone had undoubtedly left it, probably not
used to the taste.

Ignoring the lumpy
texture and bitter taste, she chugged it.

Clinging to the dim
light, she decided to make her move. She began to make her way to the medical
supply branch. Carefully, she scanned her ID chip over the reader.

Maybe, this can work with the power going on and off.
Maybe it will give me access because it thinks we are already under siege.

To her surprise her ID chip
caused the reader to turn green. She turned the handle and opened the door. The
lights were off and it was dark.

I have to get a portable information system. I need
to know what’s going on.

She squinted as her
eyes adjusted to the darkness. It wasn’t completely dark but very dim. She quietly
made her way to a case that showcased the different systems. She had eyed them
during a routine checkup. She knew what she was doing and where they would be.
She made clear mental notes and devised a
plan,
she
just needed a chance which was what she was just given. Without hesitation she
took one from the case. She examined the small gray dot; it was no larger than
earring as she made sure it was one that could be recharged with her own body
heat. She stooped down on the floor to ensure no one would be able to see her.
She was fairly certain with the urgency of matters outside she would be unseen,
but she didn’t want to take any chances.

She carefully expanded
the small needle and winced as she enclosed it onto her ear. She took an
alcohol wipe from the tray and wiped the blood drops away as she disinfected
the area.

She lightly tapped the
system.

“IS
activate
,”
she whispered quietly.

She heard it beep and
begin to sync.

I hope this damn thing hurries up, I can’t get caught
here
.

She knew it would take
only three minutes to complete but the minutes felt like hours. Her heart raced
as she stooped close to the hard, cold ground.

Finally, she heard it
beep again noting that the sync was complete. She quickly tapped the small
silver chip on her ear, turning it off. She made her way out of the branch
quietly and began to walk down the hall as if nothing had ever happened.

I hope this little chip can make it past the
atmosphere of wherever we are going. I hope I don’t get caught with this thing.

“Left wrist, soldier,”
the stern uniformed woman demanded as she approached the gate.

Michelle uncovered her
left wrist and the woman scanned her chip in with her handheld device. It was
all beginning to feel normal to her. The training, the reading, Eric’s
instructions were all coming together.

“On, get in back and
strap in,” the woman pointed.

Michelle got in the
back of the shuttle and began to adjust her seatbelt and straps. It wasn’t a
large shuttle; she figured there was room for about thirty others. It was
windowless except for the captain’s area. The whole ship had a plastic smell to
it.

She
looked at the seat beside her. Next to her was a frightened young woman. Her
brown hair was disheveled and her brown eyes were red from crying. She had
delicate features that screamed innocence. She looked almost pure, untainted
from the perils of the impending war. She was yet to be a hardened soldier.
      

“Have you been to the
space compound before?” the young woman asked holding her left wrist in her
right hand as though she were in pain.

Must be from her ID tattoo.
She must not be
used to army pain yet,
Michelle thought.

Michelle shook her head
and tried to ignore the terror in the girl’s large brown eyes. Michelle
realized that the girl beside her hadn’t had the comprehension she would have
kill or be killed as she herself had.

“What’s your name?” the
young woman asked.

Michelle sighed. She
didn’t feel much like conversation but she replied anyway, “A3343Z.”

The young woman gave
her a shocked look.
“No, your real name.
Mine’s Kate.”

“We won’t need those
where we are going,” Michelle answered and closed her eyes to avoid her gaze
and her foolish questions. She knew about military life.

I hate to be mean, but she isn’t going to make it if
she keeps up the frightened damsel in distress act. We are going to fight a
war, a bloody, vicious war. A war against some freak aliens we don’t know shit
about.

Michelle had thought
about it over and over again in her mind. Would she be able to kill someone or
something else?

The answer was yes, she
had decided. Although she had never really killed anything before, she figured
she could when it came down to it. She would have to. It would be
kill
or be killed. She had
lay
awake a few nights playing the different situations that might arise in her
mind. It wasn’t something that she wanted to do, but it was something that
would have to be done.

“We are lucky,”
Michelle said trying to muster up some sympathy as she opened one eye.

“Why?” Kate asked in a
small voice.

“I’m not sure why but
they saw enough in us to send us somewhere else to form a colony,” Michelle
replied with a small shrug of her shoulders.

“A colony
where?”
Kate inquired. Her
voice was hushed and almost desperate in comparison to Michelle’s confident
tone.

Michelle shrugged her
shoulders again. “Not sure but I heard it is called First World II.”

“Preparing for
takeoff,” a voice boomed over the intercom.

Michelle watched as a
variety of men and women strapped in. A few moments later the oxygen masks
dropped.

“It’ll be OK,” Michelle
said to Kate giving her a weak smile before putting on her oxygen mask.

“All oxygen masks on. I
repeat all oxygen masks on,” the intercom boomed.

“Takeoff initiating in
five… four… three…two… one…” the intercom continued.
 

Michelle felt her body
jerk forward as the engine boomed. The rough ride had begun. It was an
unpleasant feeling, far more jolting than any rollercoaster ride. They had
quickly made it out of the atmosphere and were on their way.

The ride was a long and
bumpy one. Turbulence on airplane was nothing compared to this.

Suddenly she felt
overwhelmingly wave of sleepiness hit her. Her eyelids felt heavy. They almost
felt as though they were being forced close.

They must have put sleeping gas in the oxygen
¸ she realized as she adjusted her oxygen mask to
ensure it would not come off if she were to drift off.

She took a deep breath
of air in and shut her tired eyes. No longer able to fight the effects she fell
into a deep sleep.

Michelle groggily
opened her eyes and then in terror reached out for her oxygen mask, but it was
gone. Her heart raced but then she realized the shuttle was docked, they were
no longer moving.

She took a deep breath
in.

I’m OK, I’m OK,
I
can
breathe. Thank you, God,
she rejoiced
silently. She had survived her first shuttle ride. It was just as bad as they
had said it would be. Her head felt jumbled up and she felt a little dizzy.

She surveyed the others
around her. Most of them were sleeping still. She remained silent but made eye
contact with a few others who were awake. She took another deep breath and
tried to get herself together.

She looked over to her
side to see Kate. She was still asleep. Her face looked almost peaceful.
 

“Where
are we? This isn’t First World II,” Michelle asked quietly to a male soldier
who was conscious. She felt the ship shift and her restraints pull her back
from falling. She heard a loud beeping noise. They were docking.

“We
are the space station refueling,” he answered. His voice was low and hoarse. “We
are to take nourishment, rest for one night, and then some of us will take the
next shuttle to Redex tomorrow,” he continued.

“But
I thought we were going to First World II?” she questioned.

He
shook his head. “First World II is gone. The Cabaka have taken it over too.”

Michelle
remained quiet. She felt a wave of sadness come over her. It all felt hopeless.

I have been spared. We were so close…
but why? Why was I spared?

Michelle
came to her senses,
To
fight, that’s why I was spared. I have to keep fighting.

“Any soldiers awake?”
she heard a deep masculine voice call out.

“Yes, sir,” she called
with a few others in unison.

“Make your way up,” the
voice called out again.

Michelle unstrapped
herself and carefully made her way up to the front.

She felt unstable. Her
legs felt like two heavy rods of iron. She struggled to move forward and to
keep her balance. She felt a headache forming in the back of her head and another
wave of dizziness hit her.

She took a few deep
breaths in and crouched at the front of the shuttle before making her way down
the steps to the docking area. She felt tired, shaky, and her muscles were
weak. She took another deep breath and moved forward shaking off the dizziness.

“Wrist,” a large
uniformed man hissed. He had no obvious concern for her condition. She was just
a number to him, data to be collected and kept track of.

She nodded weakly and
held out her left wrist as her eyes adjusted to the bright lights of the
station.

“
A3343Z,
make your way to the dining hall,
take nourishment. You are assigned to go to Redex in the morning,” he said.

Michelle nodded.

Redex… I haven’t heard of Redex…

The space station was
one of the smaller docking stations. Everything about it seemed cold, bleak,
and gray; it made her feel the same.

The halls were empty as
she followed the signs to the dining hall. Her steps were slow but her body
slowly rebalanced itself. She felt a sudden pang of hunger. She knew they had
traveled far and long but as for how long she wasn’t sure. Time passed
differently in space than it did on Earth.

She stood in the
cafeteria line and took her meal. It was the same gray porridge and protein
shake, not that she minded. She was just happy to eat.

She quietly sat down at
the unattended end of a talkative table in attempt to gain some sort of
information. She took a bite of her porridge-like dish and tried to listen
closely to the conversation going on.

“I heard they sent us
here to preserve some sort of human life in the universe,” a young black man
stated matter-of-factly to the group.

A young woman with short
jet black hair shook her head. “No, we are here because we are hiding out as
back up. You know, to throw the Cabaka off.”

“We are here because it
is not just the Cabaka we are fighting,” a dark haired man interjected.

The table went silent.

Michelle quickly finished
what little food she had been given and put her tray up. She wasn’t sure if
what the others had said was true or not. She learned not to trust rumors long
ago. She stuck to her instincts and to the facts as those were what would guide
you.

She made her way to the
bunks and claimed an open sleeping platform. She slowly unlaced the black laces
in her boots, neatly lining them up in front of the sleeping platform.

She pulled the thin blanket
over her body. She inhaled the musty scent of the cloth and looked over to the
empty sleeping platform beside her. It was a two person suite but thankfully no
one else had claimed the second space.

She looked around the
room one more time and then the door before lightly tapping the metal bud in
her ear.

“IS
activate
,”
she whispered hoarsely.

The small piece of
equipment chimed in her ear to let her know it was syncing to a satellite.

“Stream sound to me
directly, topic Cabaka invasion of Earth,” she commanded.

She closed her eyes and
listened as the monotonous tone began inside of ear, “No updates available.”

Disappointment gripped
her. After all the trouble she had gone to get an IS it was proving to be
rather useless. She sighed and closed her eyes. She was unsure how another day
came and passed but it had.
 

***

The next morning,
Michelle was awoken by a loud buzzing sound. She slowly sat up as her eyes adjusted
to the dim light.

It was cold on the
space station, very cold. It seemed like such a bleak place and all too
metallic even for her tastes. Michelle could smell what she thought was bleach
or cheap disinfecting cleaner down the hall. It felt about as inviting as a
sterilized hospital room.

“
Oi
,
we are leaving in an hour. Take nourishment and report for shuttle,” an unknown
voice called out loudly from the hallway.

She removed the thin
covers from her body and quickly made her way to the bathroom and brushed her
teeth with the disposable toothbrush and toothpaste on the counter.

She removed her uniform
and stepped inside the shower. The warm water washed over here. She closed her
eyes and tried to imagine she was any place else. The water ration wouldn’t
last long, maybe three minutes at most and that was being generous.

No, I can’t think of that. I have to hurry, I’ve got
to eat.

She quickly stepped out
of the shower and dried herself off with a towel. It all felt so rushed, it
felt impersonal.

Before putting her
uniform on she examined at her naked reflection in the small mirror. She was
thin, thinner than the others. She could see her hip bones and rib cage were
already slightly visible. She splashed some water on her face to help her wake
up and then slipped into her drab uniform.