" He nodded at me, and let me by him. "Pull them down slowly, really grab the handles, close them most of the way, and let them slam the last few inches." I said as the doors slammed shut. "The quarter-inch thick steel, that I added is really heavy." I chuckled. "Have you seen one of these?" He shook his head. "It's The club, its basically a steering wheel lock, put the key in, pull it apart, feed it through each Handel, on both top and bottom sets of handels." I turned to him and walked by him. "There are lights, but it's just a straight walk across the room to the stairs, The only thing down here is are the battiers and power inverters, , that's all long the walls down here. Its seven paces." I counted as I walked, we walked up the stairs. We got upstairs and I turned on the lights.

 

 

"It's clean." He said starkly.

 

 

"Ok, let's take a look at this cut, take off that shirt." I said.

 

 

He looked at me. "I'm not cool like you."

 

 

"Look, everyone now is a solider kid, if you learn anything from today, that should be it." He rolled his eyes, and groaned at me. "Yea, that teen, I don't care Bullshit won't work on me, I was a teen not long ago. Deep down you feel you aren't good enough. You can't afford to think like that anymore, all my buddies, did something better than the rest of us, Banger, well he made things go bang, Dags was leathal with daggers, Clap, well he was good with woman." He laughed. "They all had something they liked to do, something that they could bring with a passion to the team. You may never be able to do a thousand pushups on your knuckles, but there will always be something you can bring that no one else will."

 

 

"Thanks." he smiled. He slid off his shirt. "You must have been pretty high up." He froze as he saw the blood-soaked shirt,

 

He wobbled.

 

"Yea, that is what I thought." I sighed, as I grabbed his arms. "Come on sit on this chair." I said as I put him down. I took my arm and pushed off the puzzle had been working on. I walked to my linen closest, and reached behind a stack of towels, and grabbed a medkit. "Ok so tell me what your name is?"

 

 

"Uh..." He stammered. "Jeffrey. But your cute so you could call me Jef." I sighed to my self

 

 

"Ok, Jeff!" I said as Cherrfully as I could, he wasn't dead already, but this could still be pretty bad. "We are going to get you up on the table here in a second." I threw the medkit on the table, took out the rubbing alcohol threw some on the table and wiped it down, with a paper towel. "Ok, let's get you up here and on your back. "I said helping him up. I looked at the cut as he laid down, I winched. "It's not that bad."

 

 

"Don't lie." He ordered me.

 

 

"I wasn't, Jeff, it could be worse, lots. Can you take pain meds?"

 

 

"One time I took one of my moms diliduad by mistake." He said nervously, I suspiciously half rose an eyebrow at him. "We both had medicine in the cabinet, and we split the cabinet down the middle, after that, I got the top two shelves." I sighed and shook my head, at his innoncence, then morned it's pending demise.

 

 

"Ok, that's great, cause your going t need this." I said as I took out the Morphine kit. "What do you weigh?"

 

 

"One-forty-two."

 

 

I nodded and gave it to him. "Ok, how's that feel?"

 

 

"Hot." he smirked up at me.

 

 

"Easy there Romeo." I chuckled. I ripped off my belt. "Bite down on this." I put on the gloves. "On three." He nodded at me. I pulled on his cut. "Three," He didn't seem to mind much, only his lip quivered. "Ok it looks deep, but there isn't much blood, I am sorry, you are going to feel this." I sighed, as I poured a bit of rubbing alcohol on his gash, he writhed in pain and made ungodly noises, no one his age should make. They were too remnant of the battlefield.

 

I shook it off.

 

He thudded to the table, and passed out.' I cleaned out his wound with some gauze and stitched it up. I put a bandage so large it and so tight it would keep him from moving much, I wasn't a medic, I did sit in on the classes before I came here, I was glad I did.

 

 

Now that he was out of danger, I shot him up with some antibiotics and cleaned up the rest of the mess, I had made. I sat in the living room, listening to music, and watching the infrared cameras I placed around the walls, to watch for unexpected company.

 

 

He started to mumble in his sleep, I sighed, I knew he had been brave when he told me he didn't know where his parents were. He put on his tough soldier face, even marines do it. Younger ones, just all have the same face, it was just a young person face. he had proven that. That was just a bit more than enough morphine, for some crazy dreams, and given what had just happened I knew what they were about. I walked to him and ran my hair through his hair, and smiled at him, for a second he was calm until suddenly, he wasn't.

 

 

 

"No...." He mumbled, he shook his head, slowly... "...Mom, no..." He shook harder. "Leave her..." He shouted, shooting up, then winching, grabbing his side.

 

 

 

"It's ok." I whispered, putting my hand on his arm.

 

 

He put his arms around my chest and cried. "She's dead, isn't she? They took her and killed her..." He sobbed. Only if she was lucky, I thought to myself, I held him. He was a boy, at least for a while longer, I had seen boys become men on the battlefield. Calling for their moms, others with looks on their faces, that said they never wanted to been seen by their mothers again. War sucks, it isn't the killing, that becomes easy, that becomes my life or yours, us or them. It is the realization that it has become easy, that makes war hard. It is waking up, to the fact, that you have killed, and there is no going back, and you'd do it again, and you will. It is hearing boys call for their mom's, little brothers, you want to run to, and hold them, and tell them they will be fine. I wasn't going to fail a brother, not now, not again, he may not be the same, but I will be there for him.

 

 

"She may not be Jeff, but it doesn't look good." I half told him the truth.

 

 

"Yea." He sighed.

 

 

"How's the pain?"

 

 

"Not bad, unless I have to breath." He paused. "It didn't hurt really at all until I saw it."

 

 

"That's shock, your mind can't handle the pain, so it 'ignores it', sometimes it can be useful, sometimes you can wander off and get lost." I stood, and walked over to the pantry, pulled out a pipe and a bit of CBD, and handed it to him. "This should help," I said as I tossed my lighter next to him.

 

 

"Pot?" He said sniffing the bowl. "Really?"

 

 

"No it's CBD, it may not be widely accepted  but the science is there, and it's an easy medicine to grow."

 

 

"Damn, I was hoping to try pot." He chuckled. He smoked the bowl, I took the last few puffs and put it away.

 

 

"I have that too." I chuckled. "That isn't any harder to grow, but right now, you need to take it easy."

 

 

"You smoke pot?" He asked flabergasted.

 

 

"I am not that much older than you." I chuckled I was starting to feel like I was reminding him. For a second I was worried that my hair had started to go grey.

 

 

"Yea but you're some badass marine."

 

 

"Have you looked around out there?" I shot him a funny glare. "There is no United States, No Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Hell there isn't even a Cheyenne. You just witnessed the death of modern life."

 

 

"So no marines." He gulped somberly.

 

 

"I am just a guy with a gun, and a skill set." I sighed.

 

 

"Like Liam Neilson." He chuckled, he smiled, that was nice to see, in the new hell.

 

 

"Yes!" I agreed. "If your feeling well, I do have a TV, and a collection of DVD's."

 

 

"Yea, I think if you help me." He said nodding. I gave him my arm, and helped him to the recliner. "What do you have?"

 

 

"I had a friend in the AIrforce get me into, Star Gate SG1."

 

 

"The marine guys liked Stargate?"

 

 

"So you're a fan?" He nodded. "I think we will get along then... We all love stargate, Jack acts like we all wish we could."

 

 

"Good." He grinned as I put in the first disk, laid back on the couch, and started it. The first disk played through, he was asleep. I picked up Kate, tossed her on my back, and picked him up, and carried him to bed. I took off my shirt and my pants, and crawled into bed next to him.

 

 

 

My alarm went off 0500, the next morning. He had curled up next to me, and used my chest as a pillow. "So early." He mumbled.

 

 

"How'd you know?" I chuckled. "There's no natural light," I said turning off my alarm, then turning on the light.

 

 

"I'm eighteen, I know these things." He grunted sleepily. "Shit what is today?"

 

 

"July seventh."

 

 

"Nineteen, yesterday." He sighed. I sighed with him. "What?"

 

 

"You told me you thought I was cute last night."

 

 

"OH, shit." He groaned. "I am so sorry." He said rolling over and hid from me.

 

 

"Hey, it's not bad your cute, right now we have to worry about surviving."

 

 

"Yea and?" He chuckled. "... falling in love, isn't important?"

 

 

I sighed. "Yes, I suppose, Kid, I am a train wreck, I have self-destructed my last three relationships. Have you even been in three?" He shook his head. "You don't deserve that kind of trouble." I sighed as I got up and showered, the door opened in the middle of my shower. "I'm not done." I sighed.

 

 

"But you can't leave." He sighed. "You can't tell me that you can't be fixed..." I groaned It was early, and I was not in the mood, to aurge the subtle points of life with a teenager.

 

 

I poked my head out of the shower. "No, but what makes you think you can?"

 

 

"True." He smiled at me, hopefully. "Where else are either of us going to find other gay guys?" I groaned, he was right, if nothing else, he was cute, and am actual, 'battlefield brother' wouldn't suck. Battlefield brothers, were legends, of two Marines, who were cut off, or just got extended periods of alone time, saw to eachothers, needs. Beyond the call of duty, at the risk of their careers.  THey were always, career officers, most people didn't understand how they could through away a career, to sleep with a coworker, nor could they understand introducing sex into the 'sacred brotherhood'.  It was of course against regs, and both always got court marshaled.  I came close, damn close, once, but in the end, I was the Marine I needed to be, I swore I'd never put myself, in the position of having to choose the Corps and my lover. Fate seemed to be thickle.

 

 

"The closest gay bars were in Denver." I chuckled I finished my shower and stepped out. "Now you see." I sighed.

 

 

"You're missing your foot?"He shot quickly at me. I rolled my eyes a bit at him. "That's all?" he smiled softly, for the first time, I didn't feel like it was the only thing anyone saw me for.

 

 

"I've held friends and watched the life leave their bodies. Then fought on in rage, that changes you. Once you have seen that kind of death..."

 

 

I paused and looked so so sorry at him. "...I suppose, you'll know it too..." His eyes deadened. The Core was my life, loosing my foot, almost killed me. I tried twice, almost did once."

 

 

He smiled. "Your not just my hero, you are a hero!." He said while handing me my towel.

 

 

I wrapped up. "We should look at your wound." He nodded and went back to the bed. I tossed on some underwear and dried off. I returned, he was staring at me, but not my foot, it was the running spring design. He was staring at my junk. "My eyes are up here," I smirked at him.

 

 

He blushed. "Yea, but now one has been that comfortable around me."

 

 

"Kid, one time we got drunk in a bar in Tokyo, we ran five blocks naked in the pouring rain back to our hotel. when you got it, you gotta flaunt it." I wiggled my dick around, letting it flop, in my boxers."

 

 

"I wish I 'had' it." He sighed.

 

 

"You do. You're a cute guy, short, brave, adorable..." I ran my rough fingertips across his cheek and pulled the back of my fingers across his cheek.

 

 

"How am I brave?"

 

 

"You did what you needed to escape." I paused. "There are many who don't."

 

 

"You've done this before?"

 

 

I chuckled. "A dozen, or so, you were the first to follow my instructions though."

 

 

"Did they make it?"

 

 

I shrugged. "Don't know, I booked it for the capital building, I can save your life, only if you do what I tell you."

 

 

"Can bring a horse to water..."

 

 

I nodded at him. "...But can't make them drink. Also: You can only do what you can do..." He looked at me confused. "I'm a Badass Marine, because I know my limits, and play on my strengths." I paused. "That is what all of us badasses really do."

 

 

I unwrapped his wound, cleaned it. and redressed it. "How is it?" He asked.

 

 

"Pretty good" I smiled at him. "A few more days of antibiotics." He groaned. "Don't worry, I have horse pills too."

 

 

"But first breakfast please." He smiled, as he walked to the pantry. "Whats MRE?" His head poked into the pantry.

 

 

"Meals Ready to Eat...."

 

 

"Oh, I see frosted wheat..." He picked up a box. "Does this mean you have milk?" He asked excitedly.

 

 

I reached in and grabbed a jar of powdered milk. "Here,,," I handed it to him. "...I have oatmeal too, but lunch is going to be MRE's."

 

 

"But there's food at the base." He half whined.

 

 

I sighed. "If you're feeling up to it..." I sighed. "... everything comes with a cost, stuff from the base costs too much."

 

 

"But it's free." He pointed out. He didn't understand yet, 

 

 

I sighed and shook my head. "There are no free lunches." He sighed, and thought for a second. "It may not cost money, but he'll expect something else."

 

"You sound so sure."

 

 

"I have seen his type before, he rose quickly to his rank, this is only a stop for his bid for president. Had he, could have waited as he should have, he would have learned how to be a good one, now he is a shit stain of a man, who has all the power he ever wanted, and no checks or balances... " I sighed pausing, I was getting to worked up over such a small man. "Do you feel up to it?"

 

 

"Yes, but I could make do..."

 

 

"Kid I ain't had a steak in two months, if he has cattle, he probably has pork, and eggs."

 

 

"And milk! I can wait for food." He sighed, looking at the jar of powdered milk, despartly.

 

 

I reached in the pantry and grabbed some Meal replacement bars. "No, not now, in this hell." I handed him a bar. "you have to be 100% at all times..." He was sharp, I could see when I spoke at him, like he was an trained Marine, he could keep up. He made the connecton between, eating, and performing well, he made the connection that 100% meant, even here, in the house. The hope left his eyes, for a second, when he realized it. The first part of his inner boy to go, there was no sacred space.   "Let's go through the basement."

 

 

"Why the basement?"

 

 

We walked to the front door, I pointed up. " Anyone steps through that door, that Saw, will dump 200 rounds in them, same with the back door, and they're boarded up.."

 

 

"What the hell, did you do in the past?" He asked as we walked into the basement, and to the door, up outside.

 

 

"Special ops. shit, mainly. If you watched the news and thought that was impossible, that was my team." I said holding the door for him. It was not to boast but was the simplest, and cleanest way to answer his question.

 

 

"And why were you in Cheyenne? What could a marine do here?"

 

 

I lifted my pant leg. "I retired, from the marines to the CIA. I still had all my clearances, and I was always good at getting the intel we needed, even if I had to look like someone else. My name was Sheets." I nodded at him.

 

 

"Sheets?" He asked as he closed the door. I locked the club locks, on the outside handels..

 

 

"As in what you put on to look like a ghost." I chuckled. "Unless I was sick." I laughed. "Then it was shits." He grabbed his side, and winced.

 

 

"So who were you spying on?"

 

 

"Tracking, and eliminating, a Cell from Russia, that was suspected to be trying to incite unrest. In fact, that is why I have this." I waved my arms, around as we walked through the gate. "The CIA didn't know where they were, so I had to be far outside the city, and if something, did happen, and there was a loss of power, there are enough soal panels and wind turbines, to power more than three houses this size. A well, for water, it is essicentallly set up to be independent." We walked down the road to the truck. "Can you drive?"

 

 

He blushed a bit."No, I haven't been taught."

 

 

"Have you played a racing arcade game?" He nodded. "OK." I tossed him the keys. "Until we get to the highway again."

 

 

"But..."

 

 

"All you have to turn the truck around and drive straight, this is something I need you to learn how to do."

 

 

"Ok." He sighed. "But why?"

 

 

"It's either that or you learn how to be lethal with an SR15."

 

 

"I like driving." He chuckled. we got in, I guided him, in turning the truck around, made him change lanes a few dozen times, speed up, slow down, all at different rates so he'd get the feel for the truck. "That wasn't bad." He smiled at me as we traded spots.

 

 

"Pretty good." I smiled at him. "Keep your eyes out, learn what the scenery looks like, where busted out cars have moved, or in town, signs of people. The little details like a door that wasn't opened, or a knocked over a trash can, could be important now." We drove to the base. The guard let us in, and the commander met us by the entrance to the main building.