A Soldier in Love (6 page)

“Today, we are all going
out to the range,” The Commander yelled.

Michelle wondered if he
ever got tired of yelling. She watched as his face became redder as he became
louder.

“Run,” he shouted.

More running, surprise, surprise…

Michelle began to run,
passing a few others in order to catch up with Kate. Whatever Kate lacked, she
made up for by being the best runner out of all of them. It surprised Michelle
a lot that Kate could out run her, she knew it was highly unlikely Kate had
received an additional injection like she had, but still, she couldn’t help to
wonder.

How does she run so fast in this heat?

Kate smiled to her as
they ran side by side.

“Over the hill and
through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go,” Michelle turned her head to see
Aaron catching up behind them although he looked a bit winded.

“Be careful or The
Commander will yell at you for talking,” Kate scolded as she slowed down to a
jog. Michelle followed her pace as some of the others began to pass them.

“Maybe he’ll have a
yelling fit and have a seizure,” Michelle retorted dryly.

Kate looked horrified
and Aaron laughed.

“What? I’m fucking sick
of running. Its bullshit,” Michelle huffed.

“Well, today were not
running,” Aaron chimed.

“Then what do you call
what we’re doing now? Shit, I thought I got out of this to get the crap beat
out of me by Bryce every day,” Michelle retorted as she panted and sucked in
another gulp of air, “I’m sorry, I’m being testy aren’t I? I used to like to
run on Earth. I used to think it was fun, can you believe it?”

Kate and Aaron both
grinned.

“We’re almost there,”
Kate said warmly.

Kate, always so nice, always trying to keep the
peace
, Michelle thought to
herself.

She looked to Aaron and
Kate and quietly thanked God for them. Although sometimes they made her feel
like an awkward third wheel they kept her sane. Michelle wasn’t sure what she
would do without them.

“Aaron, where did you
say we are going?” Kate asked.

“Guns and missile
training,” he replied.

Finally, something useful to know instead of running,
Michelle thought to herself.

“How’d you find that
out
…
Oh, wait you’d have to kill me if you told me,”
Kate said.

They arrived a few
minutes later at the makeshift shooting range. Michelle remembered she had shot
a gun before in basic training, but again, everything was fuzzy.
 
She looked down at firearm that was handed to
her. It was larger than any other gun she had ever held. It had a huge sight on
top along with a strap to allow her to carry it on her back.

It’s a rifle… no wait, a bayonet,
she realized as she saw the sharply pointed end.
She examined it further and noticed a third unknown part.

“It’s got three modes
soldiers. It’s got one with regular bullets, a knife, and then it’s got a hazing
mode. The hazing mode will temporary disorient and blind most opponents. I say
most because we don’t know this enemy very well,” The Commander called out.

Michelle took her place
as the soldiers lined up at their posts to practice on targets. She felt the
hot waves of heat radiating onto her as she loaded her firearm with ammunition.
She balanced her rifle in her arms and took her stance. She aligned her sight
with the target and shot. The others did too. She wished for ear plugs but
there were none. They were always unprepared it seemed. The others had all began
shooting. She did the same until she was out of ammo.

It seemed like target
practice went on for hours. She reloaded and continued shooting. Her shoulders
were beginning to become stiff.
 
She
watched as the sun began to lower itself. It was getting close to evening. She
unloaded her gun and fastened it to her back.

She took a drink of
water from her canteen and looked up to see Kate.

Kate let out a
frustrated sigh. “I’m just not good at this sort of thing. I keep telling you
I’m not a good soldier.”

“Hey you can be the
fastest runner but you can’t be the fastest runner and the best shot. That just
wouldn’t be fair,” Michelle said warmly.

Kate rolled her eyes. Michelle
motioned for her to follow her back to the targets.

“Here, let me show you
just try holding it like this it will make a huge difference,” Michelle
explained as she gently guided Kate’s shoulder in place. Kate tried the stance
and Michelle nodded in approval.

Michelle stepped back
as Kate reloaded and began to fire again. She could see that she was more
confident.

She turned her
attention to Aaron as Kate concentrated on her new found skill.

“Aaron?” Michelle called
out.

“Hey,” he replied as he
made his way closer to her.

“What’s in this gas?”
she asked in a soft tone.

He shrugged his
shoulders. “I’m not sure.”

“Do you think that you could
find out?”

He nodded. “I’ll see
what I can do.”

***

Michelle heard a soft
knocking on her door. Michelle looked over to Kate who was sprawled out on her
bed.

She rose and opened to
door.

“Aaron?” she said with
relief.

“Hey, I found out
what’s in the gas,” he said as he entered their room.

“What is it?”

He slipped Michelle a
small piece of paper. It read
,
the gas will be gone.

The gas they use
wouldn’t affect them because it would evaporate before it got to them is what
she supposed Aaron meant.

Aaron smiled at Kate
and motioned for her to get up.

Michelle rolled her
eyes. “OK, lovebirds you guys can leave me in peace.”

The pair gave her a
mischievous grin as they exited the door.

Michelle sighed and
tapped her IS on. She had
work
to do. She listened to
its monotonous tone and took mental notes.

Worry and anxiety
stationed themselves deep within her soul. She rolled over on her side and
tried to relax against her thin mattress. Despite her physical exhaustion, her
mind raced.

I have to have a plan.

She couldn’t do it on
her own. She needed Aaron and she needed Kate to help her. She just wasn’t sure
how they could help yet.

She shut her eyes. She
wasn’t sure how but another day had come to end on Redex. It could wait until
morning she was tired.

“Aaron,” Michelle
called out as she made her way down the hallway towards the cafeteria.

“Hey,” he spun around
and smiled. His blue eyes were intense and his face looked concerned.

“Hey, you OK?” she
asked softly.

He nodded. “Yeah, I’ll…
I’ll have to tell you later, OK?”

“You coming to lunch?”
she questioned despite already knowing the answer. Aaron didn’t eat with them
in the cafeteria. She figured he liked furniture instead of sitting Indian
style on the concrete floor. He was a doctor, he was afforded such luxuries.

He shook his head. “No,
you go without me. I’ll come find you later, OK?”

“OK,” she replied furrowing
her brow.

Aaron doesn’t seem like himself today. I wonder
what’s going on

“Hey,” Michelle’s
thoughts broke as she looked up to Kate, who was in the cafeteria line behind
her.

“Hey,” Michelle replied
warmly.

***

Michelle and Kate
quietly made their way out of their bunk to just outside of the concrete
building. The night’s air was cool. The howling of the winds could be heard,
but beyond that it was quiet.

Michelle shivered, it
was a strange thing, just hours earlier she was sweating due to the intense
heat. Now, with the green sun down she was cold. She didn’t know what was worse
being burnt or being frozen. She used to feel as though the heat never left her
body. In those first weeks, she would lay awake at night sweating, but now she was
cold. She supposed it was from being so thin. They had been reducing the amount
of food rations for weeks now. Now instead of sweating, she lay awake at night with
worry as she traced her fingertips over each individual bone in her ribcage,
counting them. She wondered how much longer they could go on for.

Aaron was waiting
outside near the dam just as he said he would. It would become a frequent
meeting place for the trio. The sound of the water rushing down could be heard.
It was clear it was a manmade dam; there was barely any water to be found on
the God forsaken planet.

Michelle and Kate sat
down next him and watched the water pool up beneath them. It was loud, but not
too loud. It made for a safe place to have a private conversation.

Michelle looked to
Aaron’s face, normally it was happy, yes, even in Redex somehow he had a
positive attitude, but now he looked different. His icy blue eyes looked
serious. He had a worried expression that cast a shadow over his face.
 

“Aaron?” Michelle
called out softly as she tried to make herself comfortable on the cool stone
beneath her.

“
You
going
to tell us why we’re both here?” Kate asked gently.

“You both have memory
fog,” he said looking into the dam.

“We have what?” Kate
asked again.

Michelle moved in
closer in order to hear
better
.

“The Earth Army has
been giving it to all the soldiers, well, almost all the soldiers. I guess
since I’m a doctor, I’m exempt. The Commander is exempt.”

Michelle just stared at
the both of them. She was unable to speak.

“That’s why you never
eat with us?” Kate asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, I
guess they didn’t want me to lose any of my memories in case it somehow
interfered with my abilities.”

Michelle groaned, “But
I was just a… what was I?”

“Aaron,” she said as
fear gripped her, “What was I on Earth? I can’t remember.”

“I don’t know what you
were on Earth, Michelle. You were hard to get to know at first, but whatever
you were before, it doesn’t matter; you are a soldier now.”

“Brain damaged
soldier,” she added fretfully.

“Calm down, it’s
reversible and it won’t cause any long term damage. The problem is there isn’t
any normal food I can give you.”

Michelle calmed herself
as she exchanged worried glances with Kate.

“What do you mean?”
Michelle asked.

“The meals, the oatmeal
type substance and the protein shakes, they all have memory fog. There’s little
food here that doesn’t have memory fog because well there is now very little
food.” Aaron replied.

“Everyone is already
thin,” Kate pointed out concerned.

“Most are thin because
of a lack of sustenance. Everyone looks healthy because those things have a ton
of vitamins and minerals, but it’s barely enough calories to sustain everyone,
especially with the running.”

“Damn, see I knew we
shouldn’t have been doing so much running,” Michelle added. It was a small,
almost laughable victory for herself.

“I still don’t
understand, Aaron. Why would they give us memory fog? What difference would
that make?” Kate asked.

“They have been giving
the soldiers memory fog so they would forget their home life. They have been
running us so hard to beat down our will power. They want to make us robots. If
we are robots we are easier to manage,” he replied.

“So, what happened to
all of the food?” Michelle asked before doing a quick spot check around them.
She wanted to make sure they were still alone.

“We were supposed to
get a supply drop, months ago. We never did,” Aaron sighed. “I’m sorry if I
scared you, but you have to keep eating. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything…”

“We’ll figure this out,”
Michelle said with an unwavering strength. She wasn’t sure where the strength
came from, but it was right there with her.
 

“We have another
problem…the molcos hund. I’m not sure but this book it talks about vicious creatures
that inhabit this planet,” Aaron said as he held up an old notebook. “They
called the vicious creatures,
molcos,
they learned it
from a trader. Then one German explorer added hund. They kind of look like a
cross between a
dog
, a monkey, an alligator,” he said
wearily. His blue eyes looked tired.

“I
heard about them…” Michelle replied as worry consumed her. She wondered if it
was best to tell Aaron and Kate the truth that the original explorers of the
planet all perished or if she should be optimistic.

“Wait, Michelle. How
did you know?” Kate interjected. “How did both of you know?”

“I found this notebook
and Michelle saw me reading it,” Aaron said quickly to cover for Michelle.

Kate arched an eyebrow.

“We’ll all get through
this, we’ll get through it together,” Michelle added as she tried to make her
voice sound as hopeful as she could.

***

The next morning
Michelle and Kate made their way to the cafeteria. Michelle took her tray and
watched as Kate took hers. They exchanged nervous glances as they found a quiet
spot away from the different clicks and groups.

Michelle’s stomach
rumbled with hunger. She hesitated for a moment but then began to drink her
thick protein shake.

Kate watched with a
worry look and didn’t touch her own food.

“You have to eat,”
Michelle said softly to her friend.

Kate shook her head.

“What good
will not eating do
?” Michelle asked keeping her voice low so
the others wouldn’t hear their conversation.

“I might remember,”
Kate said with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

Michelle shook her
head.

“Doesn’t matter
if you remember anything, if you’re dead.
Let’s focus on living before we focus remembering,” Michelle replied calmly as
she took a bite of her gray oatmeal.

Kate gave her a sour
look.

Michelle held out her
hand in a gesture for Kate to eat.

Kate sighed and finally
took her protein shake. She slowly brought the bottle to her mouth and took a
few sips.

Michelle wasn’t sure
when she had last been so thankful for something. She didn’t know what she
would do without Kate if she were to fall sick and she surely would if she
didn’t continue to eat.