Eyes Of A Rookie (Infinite and Rookie)

Chapter 23

Returning to base and enjoying a nice meal with the others, we had all conversed about our plans for after war. Okay, well, I say NICE meal, but in reality it was all hardtack and water. Yeah, THAT food, the very cheap cracker made from flour and water, sometimes salt. Lasts forever though, mostly used as a long-lasting replacement for perishable or spoilable foods. By itself, it tastes like... well, plain hardtack just tastes like shit, not lying at all. Supposedly really good in stews to soften it up.

So basically lunch was a pack of very hard-to-bite-through, thicker-than-Saltines and a glass of life giving water, nectar of the gods. Shrugging off both the taste and the fact I chipped a fang, I found myself sat on a set of crates, holding my brother close to me, chatting with Daniel and Taylor about what we wanted after the war was over.

CJ: So glad that you're back, big brother. Don't you ever, and I mean EVER, do that again.

Me: I'm sorry, CJ. I really am, I just wasn't thinking right. My mentality went down the drain, and I just... forgot I was even part of this.

Daniel: It's okay, Gadget. Not like something terrible happened to you, except for the head injury the two Golden Retrievers told me about. Speaking of, how do you feel now?

Me: I'm feeling perfectly fine, Daniel. Taylor? You good girl?

She kept her arms around herself and pulled her knees closer to her body. I know she's mute, but she never strays from conversation with friends. Rubbing her shoulder and crying softly, Daniel held her shoulder and sighed very softly.

Daniel: Don't you understand, Gadget? We're all alone in the world now, no family or nothing. At least you have your brother. We lost everything now, except for friends, if you can call them that.

Me: I know... I know. I'm... sorry for even asking. Well, don't you guys think there's any other-

Daniel: Gadget. Read my damn lips. No, fucking, family. Nothing, we've lost EVERYTHING.

CJ: We've lost-

Daniel: CJ SHUT UP!!

Me: HE'S JUST A KID, DAN!! YOU DON'T YELL AT HIM WITHOUT RETALIATION, YOU KNOW THAT!!

???: H-HOW ABOUT B-BOTH OF YOU??

All three of us perked our chins up as we looked around for who shut us up. Glancing a bit around the command center, we realized that it wasn't any of them. There was only one person to ever say that, and it shocked us.

CJ: T-Taylor? Was... was that you?

Taylor: YES! I'm sick of the arguing. And I'm sick of all the sign language. Please guys, you're my friends.

Daniel: Don't think just because we're friends doesn't mean we HAVE to be friendly with each other.

Taylor: Please guys? There's nothing that says we have to kill each other in here.

Daniel: Then I suppose we may have to take this outside then.

Me: That's not what she meant. How about this, dude? We get through this war, we can leave each other alone.

CJ: Big brother, why are you saying that? D-Do you have something against these two?

Me: Against Taylor, I don't have anything on her head. It's whatever happened with me and Daniel years ago.

Taylor: You don't need to talk about this now.

Daniel: I think we DO need to talk about it. Taylor, you remember the story, right?

Taylor: That was three years ago, you guys were mid-teens. Again, so was I, but still.

Me: It doesn't matter now in war. The past doesn't matter when in the present, it's life or death. We don't need to cause a scene