In The Stars To Hold Our Destiny

A taco?

We went back to the military base camp and removed all of the excess bullets in two metal barrels with a tiny circle in them.

After that, I went for a walk with the soldiers who had just returned from battle, and I observed some guys playing poker, laughing and smiling, reading, sunbathing, playing soccer, ping pong, and, of course, lifting weights.

I immediately went to take a shower, which was weird because you had to shower next to someone, but it wasn't too bad because Justin was right there with me as I tried to remove all of the blood from my fingernails and face.

The soldiers would wrestle each other at random times. The infants thought they were ten feet tall and invincible at the beginning. They couldn't wait to start attacking. They were so desperate to kill that they were overconfident in our weaponry.

As I lay in my bed, as Marcus walks in and says, "I heard on the net that the men you placed in the helicopter are dead."

Justin and I stand up in astonishment and walk up to the top Sergeant."Hey Serge," I say, "Is it true that the guys that we put on the helicopter today are dead?"

He hissed, "Who told you that?"

"Marcus told us he heard it on the web," Justin said.

Marcus was standing a few steps away from us when he stated, "Well, Marcus is a fucking idiot."

"B-but that's what I thought I heard, Sarge-"

He interrupted Marcus. "Shut up, Marcus,"

Serge Brown is the one who likes to brag about killing 18 hajis. He terrifies me so greatly that whenever I spoke with him, I feel as if I am going to die.

"So they aren't dead?" I ask.

"Stop thinking about it so much, huh?" Serge Brown says, staring me dead in the eyes.

I nod my head and we leave.

We went back into battle the next morning, with myself in a military tank next to Marcus and Justin in a different military tank.

The region where we were stationed was even named "The Circle of Death."

We traveled for days to reach where we wanted to go, and we scanned every inch of it like a bunch of idiots. Most days, it felt like we were nothing more than exaggerated scarecrows pretending to be busy.

We passed through this run down village, and as we went through, children came up to us and said hello or something along those lines, which I couldn't comprehend since I couldn't understand what they were saying.

I called Everly for the first time in several months or more because I knew she was-maybe go.

"Everly, I miss you so much." I stated.

"I miss you more." Then she started coughing on the phone, which sounded awful, and after she was done, she added, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, no worries-"

"Look, Travis-I have to tell you something that I think is important." she added with a serious tone in her voice.

"Time." One of the troops stated, while I was on the phone, I noticed three more people behind him.

"Jeez, dude, I'm on the phone right now." I stated.

"Hurry up!" he yelled at me.

"What's up with you, man?" I asked.

Everly let out a sigh. "Travis, I'll give you a call later, okay?"

"Okay, I love you."

"I love you too." then she hung up.