Amber
Doomsday was coming, but all of us here in Alaska were strangely euphoric. I think it was the absolute freedom and beauty out here, far away from everything.
It probably also had something to do with the fact that our correspondence team had sent over the list of “maters” and been approved. Huzzah.
Today, we were headed to the drop zone to watch our paratroopers practice. Three planes were going up, and Rylen was flying the last one. I sat in a set of small bleachers in a local football stadium with Devon, Shavontae, little Tyree, Carmen, J.D., Officer Sean, and Matt. Both Texas Harry and New York Josh were learning to jump. I’d warned them both not to break a leg.
And just in case, I brought a stretcher, slings, and splints with all my regular medical supplies.
It was the most gorgeous day. Summer in Alaska was like fall in Nevada, weather-wise, but so much prettier. And the sky . . . Earth was just showing off with that dazzling bright blue and stacks of clouds moving across the horizon. When Rylen woke this morning, he stood at the window and said, “It’s a perfect day for flying.”
He’d been naked, by the way, chiseled peach bottom on display. Turns out it was a perfect day for things other than flying, too.
“I think I see one!” J.D. exclaimed.
Our heads turned at once toward the south. I shielded the sun with my hand. Sure enough, there was the black dot coming, with two trailing at a distance. I had to admit, seeing planes still freaked me out. And though I knew those were ours, I still couldn’t shake the gloomy feeling of things to come.
“Look!” Shavontae leaned closer to Tyree and pointed until he smiled and nodded, sitting taller to watch.
As they got closer, the planes slightly lowered, and tiny men and women dropped out, dotting the sky. Within seconds, one by one, their chutes opened. Tyree cheered. The next plane did the same. And then Rylen’s. I stared up at his plane, smiling, remembering the first time I’d ever seen him fly when I’d been a teen, and he was on the cusp of manhood. I remembered the smiles on my mom and dad’s faces, the wonder on Tater’s. My chest pinched with a deep ache for them.
“Ah, shit,” Carmen muttered.
I looked up. Every soldier was in a perfect slanted line in the sky, from the small dots a distance away, to the closer ones who jumped first, and were making their way to the dropzone in the middle of the stadium. But one tiny dot from the third plane was sort of veering off.
“I think that’s Tex,” Carmen said. “He was supposed to be the fifth jumper.”
“What’s wrong with him?” J.D. asked.
Carmen chewed her lip, worried. I whispered to her. “Did he say something before he jumped?”
She hesitated. “He might be a little afraid of heights.”
Oh, no. I looked up and my heart turned over to see he was going even more off course. He was freaking out up there.
“You fuckin’ serious?” Devon asked, laughing. “Dude’s afraid of heights?”
Shavontae whacked his arm and hitched her head toward Tyree, making Devon pull a whoops face.
Sean stood, keys in hand. “Let’s watch his progress and then go after him when he gets closer to the ground.”
“He is not gonna be fun to deal with in the vehicle,” Matt said.
I nodded, and we all got to our feet. One by one, the soldiers came down, running as their feet hit the ground, some of them rolling. I watched carefully, looking for any limping or turned ankles. Once the second plane’s soldiers were on the ground, I turned to Captain Ward, who was up a few rows. He’d brought his own med bag, too.
“I’ll leave you in charge for the rest. We’re going after Sergeant Harris.”
“Good luck,” he said with a smile. Everyone in the stands was chuckling.
“I’m staying here with Tyree,” Shavontae said.
Devon kissed her. “See you back at base.” He put a hand on Tyree’s head and jogged to catch up to the rest of us.
“Is this normal?” I asked Sean as we speed walked. “Because nobody seems worried.”
“Honestly, yes. People go off course. They land somewhere else. Sometimes get stuck in a tree, scraped up. The worst thing is dealing with the shit talking afterward, but he can handle it.”
I let out a deep breath as we got to the open-topped Humvee. Sean drove with J.D. in the passenger seat. Carmen and I took the middle, and Matt and Devon jumped in the back cargo area. We headed for the evergreen hills nearby.
Carmen and I saw his chute in the northern part of the biggest hill’s forest, and pointed.
“Damn, that boy must be shook,” Devon said, still chuckling about it, with Matt nodding and grinning his face off.
Poor Tex.
Matt walkie-talkied our coordinates to base when we had to stop because the foliage was too thick to drive further. We got out and I grabbed my medical bag. Tex’s chute was no longer in sight, but he couldn’t be far. If he got stuck in a tree, he could disconnect the chute and drop, or climb down.
It was funny to see a handgun in the back of J.D.’s pants as he walked alongside Sean ahead of us. I knew they’d been to the range. J.D. was not a fighter, but Sean wanted him to be able to defend himself if it came down to it, which it probably would in the end. For all of us.
We walked for about five minutes up the incline, which was steeper than it looked. Lots of fallen trees and dead limbs.
“Tex!” I called.
The others started calling too. A few minutes passed before Carmen stopped about fifteen feet away from me, tilting her head to listen.
“Hey, guys?” she said. Everyone stopped, turning to look. The sound came first—sprinting footsteps pounding the leaves, and a deep male voice, hollering. The hairs went up all over my body.
We each froze, staring up the incline. And then Tex appeared, running straight for us, his face screwed up in fear. What the hell? Was it rebels?
Everyone one of us pulled out our guns, pointing.
And then Tex’s voice rang down the hill, making his adversary very clear.
“Bear!”
Sure enough, not forty steps behind him, was a huge brown grizzly, bounding down the mountainous incline with quick ease, making angry growling sounds.
All at once, our group turned and ran, screaming, panting, leaping fallen logs. A crack and shout had me skidding and looking around to find Sean on the ground. He waved J.D. away when he tried to give him a hand.
“My ankle! And where’s my gun?”
The others kept sprinting, and Tex flew past us down the hill at top speed. I looked up and felt myself pale. The bear was too close, and was making a beeline right for Sean, who was scrambling around in the leaf litter to find his gun.
I pointed my gun at the bear, but before I could shoot, J.D. jumped out into its path and began waving his arms wildly around, yelling like a damned fool, and he shot his gun once, twice into the sky, making me cower. The bear stopped, lowering its head to watch them.
“Get!” J.D. shouted, roaring in his cute voice. “Get out of here!!” He shot again, this time in the direction of the bear, but missed. The bear sniffed the air and grunted, then turned and swished its furry butt back up the hill.
I ran to Sean and fell to my knees, lifting his pant leg. His ankle was already becoming discolored and swollen. J.D. crouched with us and let out a whine when he saw the injury. I opened my med bag, but Sean shook his head.
“Let’s get back to the Humvee first, then you can wrap it on the way back to base.”
“Okay.” I spotted his gun a few feet away. It had slid under some leaves, and I grabbed it.
J.D. and I put our guns away, and got under Sean’s shoulders. It was awkward with our height differences, and with me carrying my medical bag in my free hand, but we managed to make it all the way back down.
Tex, Matt, and Devon were coming back up the hill to find us, but not looking like they were in any rush, though they did appear relieved to see all three of us. Followed by alarm at the fact that we were carrying Sean.
“Hey, you good-for-nothing sacks of shit who left us to be eaten by a bear!” I said. “Come help!”
The three of them ran up and took Sean from us. J.D. and I slumped the rest of the way down. When we got to the Humvee, Carmen was standing there, her lips pressed together, with something I couldn’t read in her eyes.
“What?” I asked, feeling pissed off.
She brought the back of her hand up to her mouth, and tried to turn away, but just as the others got to us, she exploded with laughter.
For real, though? I put a hand on my hip.
“Did you see how fast Tex was running?” she asked, bending over and grabbing her side.
“Yeah, I saw it when he sprinted past us without stopping to help.”
Tex’s eyes got big and he brought his free hand up. “Give me a fucking alien or human asshole any day, but not a damn bear! I don’t do bears! And for the record, I swear to God I didn’t even see Sean on the ground.”
Matt snorted now, turning away like Carmen to try and hide it.
“It’s not like you didn’t have guns!” Tex said. “Which one of y’all shot it?”
J.D.’s lips pulled to the side and he scratched the back of his head. I remembered him flailing around like a rag doll, and suddenly found my own lips lifting into a smile. Our sweet J.D. scaring away the big, mean beast.
“That was J.D.,” I said.
He gave me a warning look as Tex and Matt got Sean to the car and helped lift him in.
“You shot it, man?” Devon asked.
“Um . . .” J.D. peered down at his nails. “Like, warning shots or whatever. To scare it.”
I broke into a full laugh now, sidling up to J.D. to hug him. “You’re our hero! You guys should have seen him!”
“What’d he do?” Carmen asked, wide eyed.
“He started yelling, and Aaahhh!” I jumped around waving my arms, and J.D. put his hands on his hips as everyone broke into laughter. “And it worked! You should have seen how the bear looked at him! All confused, like a freaking cartoon character.” I cocked my head to the side and made a confused sound, making everyone roll.
J.D. glared hard at me, and even Sean was laughing now, piping in.
“It was kind of incredible and brave. That bear knew danger when he saw it.”
“Oh, shut up.” J.D. slapped Sean’s unhurt foot and crossed his arms. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve had enough wilderness for today.” Everyone agreed, and started to climb in until J.D. said, “Oh, and Tex?” Texas Harry peered up at him from the cargo area. “Keep it in the drop zone next time, big guy.”
“Burn,” Sean said, slumping back to rest his head on the window frame.
I swear, Tex blushed as he shook his head and muttered, “Yeah, yeah.”
Carmen and I giggled every time we looked at each other. I fought laughter the whole way back to base as I wrapped Sean’s ankle.
It was a story that would live in infamy, and as it was told to the masses that night, the tale only grew and expanded, becoming more and more entertaining. And as I went to bed that night, snuggled in Rylen’s arms, I wondered how the Baelese would react to being chased by a bear. One thing was for sure: they wouldn’t end up in fits of hilarity by the end of it. And for that reason, I felt like we were the winners already.