A Soldier in Love Page 5

  Kate nodded. “Friends.”

  Chapter Seven

  Michelle sat alone in her bunk. She knew she wouldn’t be alone for much longer because Kate had decided to bunk with her in the first few days. Michelle and Kate had grown closer but Kate had also grown close to someone else as well. Michelle didn’t have to question where Kate went most nights; she knew Kate and Aaron had been spending a lot of time together. How or why anyone could fall in love on Redex, she was unsure but she knew she didn’t mind. She needed the time alone. It was the only time she could get the IS to work without anyone catching on to her.

  Suddenly, it dawned on Michelle, the exploration team, the original one that first came to Redex. She quickly tapped her IS on. She had been so tired and worn out from training that she hadn’t thought of it. It was hard to keep everything straight in her head. She had no paper or pen to write with and even if she did she was sure they would be taken away.

  “IS activate,” Michelle said softly.

  She heard it beep in agreement to her orders.

  “IS stream to me topic, Redex Exploration Team 700,” she commanded.

  “Topic found, Redex Exploration Team 700. Team was sent on Earth Army mission number 700.”

  No way, what great classification skills, she rolled her eyes

  “Redex Exploration Team sent to find other planets suitable for human life. Their final ruling deemed Redex as unsuitable for mankind.”

  “Unsuitable? Why? IS please provide report,” Michelle commanded.

  “Despite an effort to garden planet life for sustenance molcos hund destroyed it. Standard Redex vegetation is unsuitable for human digestion. Three members of the original mission died from complications.”

  Damn.

  “Earth Army deemed the hide of the molcos hund too tough for bullets or knives to pierce. Several bullets must be fired to kill. Molcos hund destroyed equipment, food, and supplies. Exploration Team 700 did not return to Earth. There were no known survivors.”

  ***

  Over the next several weeks it seemed that running had become a standard part of life.

  Through the few weeks that had passed they had slowly became acclimatized to the sweltering heat. The cooling packs helped some which was good because they were able to do drills without getting heat exhaustion.

  The heat felt different on Redex. Maybe it was because the green sun didn’t cause sunburn. Instead of hitting your skin like on Earth, it felt like the heat just went straight into your body and didn’t want to ever leave. Long after the drills were over, even in the cool concrete building, one could still feel the heat radiating deep inside. At night, when the sun set and it became cool, Michelle still felt the heat. It gnawed at her, it drove her crazy. Well, it drove everyone crazy.

  I’ll get used to it, I have to, Michelle told herself over and over. She thought if she repeated it enough she would eventually get used to it. She guessed you could get used to anything if you had to.

  Michelle continued running in the desert sand with the others. She always started slow, the others would pass her, they would get hot and slow down and that’s when she would speed up.

  Michelle thought the running drills were idiotic.

  We shouldn’t be running from the enemy we should be learning how to defeat them. What does he mean we don’t know the enemy? The IS told me about the inhabitants of Redex. We have to learn how to fight these damn things off…

  Anxiety gripped her body as she realized that The Commander was probably adamant that they run because that is most likely what they would be doing when they confronted the enemy.

  No one really knew what was going on. No one knew if the Cabaka would come to Redex too.

  What frightened Michelle the most was that no one knew if something else was coming or if something else was already here.

  Not knowing is always the worst kind of torture.

  Chapter Eight

  “Michelle?” Kate called out quietly in the dark.

  Michelle turned to her now best friend and bunkmate. “Yeah?”

  They had been through a lot together in the past few weeks. Michelle was thankful that Kate had accepted her. Now, Michelle wasn’t sure how she got as far as she did without a friend, without anyone to talk to. Although, she had kept the IS and the information she attained from it a secret from Kate. She didn’t know why but her gut had told her to keep it a secret as best she could.

  “I was just seeing if you were awake?” Kate said in a hushed tone.

  “I couldn’t sleep. I’m hungry,” Michelle replied staring at the ceiling in the dark room. She lightly traced her fingertips over the top of her ribcage.

  “Yeah, me too. It feels like they don’t give us enough food for all the drills we do,” Kate said softly.

  “I’m sure it’s plenty. I mean my hair keeps growing, well, everyone’s hair grows so quickly here. I bet it’s all the vitamins and minerals,” Michelle replied trying to be optimistic.

  “Maybe… I guess you are right about that,” Kate replied.

  Michelle relaxed against her thin mattress and looked over to Kate in the darkness. She couldn’t really make out anything beyond her figure. She gently massaged her aching muscles. It seemed like there wasn’t a time in which she wasn’t sore or tired. She wished for ibuprofen, or aspirin, or a stout drink, anything to take the edge of the pain.

  “Do you think the Cabaka will attack us here?” Kate questioned.

  Michelle remained quiet for a moment. She was unsure whether to be optimistic or honest with Kate. Hesitantly, she decided on the later. She wanted her friend to be prepared. “I don’t think it’s the Cabaka we will have to worry about here.”

  “What do you mean?” Kate asked.

  Michelle sighed unsure of how to explain. She thought for a moment to herself.

  “What’s going on? Just tell me,” Kate said with a worried tone in her voice.

  “Why do we run every day?” Michelle questioned. Maybe Michelle could help her figure it out on her own instead of outright telling her.

  “Because it’s protocol,” Kate began.

  “Fuck that. I don’t give a fuck about protocol. I care about living,” Michelle said vehemently.

  “What do you mean?” Kate asked in a frightened tone.

  Michelle sighed. Her little emotional outburst caused nothing but stress for the sweet natured Kate.

  “I don’t think The Commander knows what to do… Why do we run? It doesn’t seem right. Shouldn’t we be doing something more productive with our time? Fighting the Cabaka? Engineering something? Moving to a different planet? You know, one that doesn’t suck.”

  “I don’t know,” Kate admitted.

  “I don’t want to scare you, Kate,” Michelle said still unable to see her friend in the darkness that cloaked both of them.

  Kate let out a small laugh. “Michelle, I’ve been scared ever since…” she paused. “I can’t remember a time I haven’t been worried and frightened. ”

  “There’s something else here on this planet.” Michelle interrupted.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m not sure exactly but the original explorers who came here, the ones that built this place… well, they never came home.” Michelle’s stomach turned. She wasn’t sure if she did the right thing telling her or not. Was ignorance bliss in this case or would it be more important to know? Should everyone know? She didn’t know what the answer was. She only knew she could take things day by day.

  “Michelle, I promise you this. I’m with you and we are in this together. No matter what happens I have your back.”

  Michelle was thankful the darkness hid the tears in her eyes.

  “Kate, you’re my best friend.”

  “You’re mine too.”

  ***

  The next morning Michelle took her place in line along with the other soldiers.

  “A3343Z,” The Commander called out as he looked down at a list fastened to a clipboard.


  “Sir, yes, sir,” Michelle replied stepping forward. She was just a number, just a soldier.

  “At ease, you are to go to the training room instead of running from today forward,” The Commander ordered.

  Michelle nodded.

  He scribbled something on a notebook. “You still have to run when we do drills.”

  “Yes sir,” she replied.

  “Well, go on then, go!” he barked as he violently waved his hands in the air.

  She turned and made her way to the training room. Her heavy boots pounded down on the concrete floor. She entered the training room. It was small but it was reminiscent of combat and martial classes. It held a thin mat on the floor, an old punching bag, and a pile of gloves in the corner of the small room. It was dusty and upon further examination she could see that the equipment was almost ancient. She figured it could do though.

  She watched as a young black man entered. He was about average height, maybe a little taller than her. He was muscular but not bulky. He was still lean like a true fighter would be, maybe a little too lean since the food rations.

  “Hey,” he said warmly as he shut the door behind him.

  She nodded in return.

  “Hey, you’re the one who pulled me inside, well one of the one’s, when we first got here and I had collapsed,” he exclaimed snapping his fingers as if it would help him to remember better.

  “Yeah, I’m sure you’re used to the heat now,” Michelle offered.

  He nodded. “Well, I don’t know if anyone ever gets used to the heat here. I’m tolerant of it now, at least.”

  She nodded and gave him a weak smile.

  “It was a big change for me. I had been stationed in the Earth Army on the space station before. It’s cold there you know. Guess they’re trying to thaw me out here,” he grinned flashing a set of perfectly straight, bright white teeth. He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter really. Let’s get started. This is what’s going to matter.”

  She stepped forward as he handed her a pair of combat gloves, a helmet, and a mouth guard. She took the mouth guard out of its case and slipped it into her mouth. She shook the dust off of the rest of the things.

  “I’m T8924 or Bryce by the way. I don’t know if I ever told you my name,” he offered as he put on his own equipment.

  “I’m A3343Z, but just call me Michelle,” she replied. She was hesitant to tell him to call her “Z” like Aaron did. It felt like something special that Aaron had reserved just for her. Not that she was special to Aaron, he was with Kate. No, Aaron was more like a big brother to her. She loved Kate and Aaron desperately. They made this shitty planet somehow bearable.

  She looked around the empty room. It was warm; she wondered why it wasn’t as cool as the rest of the building. It was at least cooler than running in the desert, she reminded herself.

  “Just us today?” she questioned as she looked around the otherwise empty room.

  “Yeah, you’re good on the running. The Commander said we got to start training for hand to hand combat. Running first then combat,” he replied.

  “Then what?” she questioned trying to get more information.

  “Then let’s start,” he ordered.

  He made his way to the mat and Michelle followed. She got into a semi-crouched stance as he quickly paced around on the balls of his feet. Michelle kept her hands balled into fists close to her head. She watched as he quickly hopped around on the balls of his feet, closer he came towards her, but she hopped backwards.

  Always protect your face, your head, she could faintly hear Eric’s voice still calling out to her.

  What is wrong with me? Why is everything so fuzzy in my head?

  Her thoughts ended up abruptly as Bryce lunged forward at her throwing a punch. She ducked and stepped back. He came at her again but she was quicker. He pulled back shuffling on his feet from side to side. Michelle lunged at him quickly and threw an uppercut. He tried to block but she hit first.

  “You are good at this,” he called out in a surprised tone.

  They spared for a few more minutes before he called time. He spit out his mouth guard and left the room for a second.

  Michelle took out her mouth guard and waited for her racing heart to slow down. A good fight always made her heart pound out of her chest.

  “Says in your file you practiced martial arts on Earth,” he said coming back in with water and what looked like paperwork.

  Michelle nodded and took a sip of the water. It was warm and it had a distinct bitter taste to it. She could vaguely remember doing martial arts on Earth. She could feel the feeling of anger and rage for some reason as well.

  I had to protect myself there… but why? Why is everything fuzzy? What is wrong with me?

  “What about you?” Michelle asked as her green eyes met his deep brown ones.

  “I’ve always been a fighter,” he replied proudly leaving it at that. It was such a simple explanation but she understood it.

  She nodded and wiped the sweat from her brow.

  “So, what we training for?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “Wish I knew.”

  She took another sip of water.

  He looked down at his watch. “I think it’s time take nourishment.”

  Michelle took off her helmet and gloves and followed him to the dining hall. They walked the rest of the way in silence. She figured he was tired of her asking pesky questions he didn’t have the answers for.

  “Kate,” Michelle called out down the hall to her friend. She nodded to Bryce as he went ahead of her down to the cafeteria.

  Kate turned around and smiled and waited for Michelle to catch up with her.

  “I didn’t even run today and you still have to wait on me,” Michelle grinned and patted her friend affectionately on the shoulder.

  Kate let out a pretend sigh. “I know!”

  “Did you have to run today?” Michelle asked in a lower voice.

  Kate shook her head. “No, you should be happy you didn’t have to run today either.”

  “I am more worried than happy,” Michelle frowned.

  Kate’s face mimicked her worried expression as she bit her lip out of nervous habit.

  They remained quiet as they entered the cafeteria. They took their bottled protein shake and oatmeal and sat down on the floor as per usual. There were still no tables. There was no chance of getting any either; there was nothing to make them from on Redex and there weren’t any supplies left to make any either.

  Michelle wondered if the Earth Army truly meant for them to come here or not. They seemed incredibly unprepared to house soldiers. She tried to push the thoughts of the Exploration Team 700 dying out of her head.

  We’ll be fine, everything is fine, Michelle told herself.

  “You think we’ll ever get any decent food?” Kate asked interrupting her worries.

  Michelle grinned. “Better than nothing, I suppose.”

  “Once when we were running, I saw some melons growing, in the vegetated area,” Kate began.

  Michelle shook her head. “Don’t eat those.”

  “What? I won’t… but why not?” Kate said giving Michelle a confused look.

  “I… I just know. Please don’t eat them. They are poisonous to us, OK?” Michelle replied unsure whether to tell Kate about the IS or not. Aaron was already one person too many who knew about it.

  Kate covered the opening of the bottle of her protein drink with her thumb and attempted to give it a small shake in hopes to make it less lumpy.

  “They’ve been giving us less lately,” Kate said pulling her thumb from the bottle.

  Michelle nodded. It was true they had been cutting back on rations.

  “Maybe it’s because they’re finally making us stop running all together,” Michelle offered.

  Kate shook her head. “I don’t know…”

  Michelle smiled as best she could. “Look everyone here is in great shape. Look at their skin, their hair, and their nails. These things
,” Michelle paused to pick up her protein drink, “have a ton of vitamins and minerals. We’ll be fine on less.”

  “Then why do I feel hungry every night?” Kate moaned.

  Michelle couldn’t deny that she felt the same hunger each night herself. Some nights she couldn’t sleep because her stomach ached from so much hunger. She looked around the room and it seemed that most everyone looked as though they went to bed hungry every night. Despite the baggy uniforms she could tell everyone was lean. Some were beginning to look gaunt they were so thin.