100% OF READERS DECIDED NOT TO SAY ANYTHING.
________
TOM HAGEN presents
an OTWDF production
PORT RICHMOND HIGH SCHOOL,
MAY 2004
"Tell me the truth" Admin seemed to be cool, but the anger was noticeable. "Whose... idea... was this?"
"I don't unders--"
"Then try to!" Admin replied harshly. "Whose idea was this?!"
Harp turned to look at Rock. His eyes were empty. Harp realized that this was the million dollar question, but he didn't know which answer was the right - if there even was one.
Admin urged him to say something. "Well?"
The pause felt like an eternity. Harp exhaled deeply.
"It was..."
He took a deep breath, but no words escaped his lips.
Admin waited for a moment, expecting an answer, but didn't get anything. Instead, his eyes met Harp's hardened gaze.
"Oh... I see."
Admin walked away and sat behind his desk.
"I'm offering you a chance, but you're turning it down for a friend."
Harp glanced at Rock, who kept on staring at his feet.
"Very well then" Admin rubbed his eyes. "As I said... I won't report it, even though I should. But your time at Port Richmond High has ended."
This was what finaly caused Rock to pay attention.
"Wh... what--?"
"I won't lie," Admin harshly interrupted him. "I'd let one of you stay here and finish the studies... the one who didn't plan all this, I mean. But since Mr Harp here, a man of... academic achievements... decided not to cooperate, then I don't have any reason to keep in my school the two rascals who tried to steal tests"
Rock looked at him, his mouth wide open in disbelief, while Harp felt that his blood began to boil.
"Consider yourself dismissed. Not just from this office. You're out, effective immediately" Admin emphasized each word. "I expect you to leave your rooms by afternoon"
Harp didn't wait for anything else. He just turned around and left, with Rock following him soon after.
It was hard for Rock to process what has just happened.
"I can't believe this..." he sighed. "My chance... at Columbia... it's all fucking lost"
Harp snarled. "You don't say"
Rock was taken aback by his tone, but was soon annoyed by it. "You could've told him something!"
Harp spun around. "What?!"
"You could've came up with something, he'd listen to you!"
He quickly made a few steps towards Rock. "You're saying this is my fault?!"
Rock took a few steps back. He didn't see Harp like this since... well, he had never seen him like this, to tell the truth.
"He asked me to pin a blame on someone, and I'm sure as hell I wouldn't say I was the one came up with something so fucked up!"
He pointed his finger at Rock.
"I was the one who got you a goddamn chance! But instead it's not just you who got fucked over, you dragged me down with you!"
Rock gritted his teeth. "How was I supposed to know that Deadwaste would be at school, late hours? Stop telling me it's my fucking fault!"
"It IS your fault!" hollered Harp. He has had enough - he turned around and walked away.
Rock yelled after him.
"The you should've fucking said that to Admin!"
But Harp ignored him. He wanted to get away from Rock, otherwise he would do something he would regret. Something a lot worse than trying to steal tests.
At least his rap sheet would remain intact.
He made it to the dorm as fast as he could. Although he was sure that Rock went somewhere else for the time being, he didn't want to dawdle around the room until Rock came back. He didn't want to see him.
Harp was an organized man, so it didn't take long to pack his stuff. He took his bags, returned the keys to the guys from the staff downstairs and left.
As he was walking down the road, his phone began to ring. He looked at the screen to see that it was Lucy. She was either worried that he didn't call or see her since yesterday. Or maybe she got the news.
Admin would keep all this secret - even if only for Harp's sake, despite openly rejecting his supposed 'help' - so she probably heard that, quite unexpectedly, Rock and Harp left the school prior to final exams, reasons unknown.
But Harp didn't pick up. It's not like he didn't want to talk to her. He just didn't want to talk with anybody.
Slowly climbing up the flight of stairs, Harp made his way to the platform. The next train was supposed to come in several minutes.
Harp looked down at the street below. People marching on the sidewalks, enjoying themselves, having fun in the bright, warm sunlight... He would give anything to feel like this in the moment, completely oblivious to the harsh reality that brutally hit him in the face. He made a serious mistake.
The train approached the platform. After some of the people walked out, Harp got inside, putting his bags on the floor and sitting just by the window. Slowly, the train departed the station. Looking outside, there was only one thing on Harp's mind.
What now?
FORT LEE, NEW JERSEYIt was almost evening.
Slowly making it to the door, Harp was neither angry nor tired. Most of all, he was unsure of what will happen now. He knocked on the door gently, waiting for a response. After several seconds, it opened to reveal his mother.
"Harp! What a surprise!" she was more than happy to see his son. After a moment, she looked around to see he had his bags with him. "We didn't expect you this early!"
She moved away to let him come in. Harp quickly walked inside and left the bags in the entry hall.
"Honey, Harp is back home!" his mother called out.
"What?" they heard a noise upstairs. Seconds later, his father came down. "Harp!" his father hugged him.
"Hey, dad" Harp smiled weakly.
"The exams were supposed to take place this week, I thought you won't come back home until after them" his father said. "Unless you decided you want to have a break from all this studying"
Harp tried to say something, but the voice got caught in his throat. Both of his parents observed him, getting slightly unnerved after each passing second.
"Harp?" his mother asked. "Is everything okay?"
The silence was getting unbearable, and only then Harp realized that this will be a lot more harder than he thought. For a moment, he almost questioned why he came here.
Of course, that's where he lived, but his parents counted on him so damn much, they almost tore their fucking guts for him to attend the best school possible... and he let them down.
There's no point delaying the inevitable now though.
"There... there won't be any exam" said Harp silently.
His parents exchanged concerned looks. "What do you mean?" his father asked. "The exams were called off?"
Of course, they didn't get it. Why would they? They didn't expect something so fucked up to happen.
"No" Harp shook his head. "I won't be attending them... because I was..." Harp took a deep breath. "...expelled"
Even longer silence fell upon the place.
"H... hon?" his mother asked after a while. "This is not funny... Please tell me you're joking or--"
"No. That's true" replied Harp, his expression blank.
He then proceeded to explain to his parents - who grew even more shocked with every passing minute - how everything was fine, but then he made a mistake byu agreeing to help his friend to steal the test, but got caught by the teacher - and the headmaster decided to expell both of them, but not report all this.
When he was finished, there was no response. His parents just stared at him. To tell the truth, Harp would give anything - ANYTHING - for them to say something.
Instead, his mother covered her face, mumbled something that Harp didn't understand, but it sounded a lot like "oh my God", then turned around and walked deeper inside the house and into one of the rooms, disappearing from the view.
"Looks like you're your own man, fully aware of what you've done" his father hissed. Harp didn't know how to respond to that.
His father nodded. "Very well then." His father rubbed his temple. "Leave"
Harp suddenly felt distraught. "What?"
"Leave" his father repeated. "You're an adult now. We've given you everything you needed, but you decided to throw it all away. We're not going to help you any more than we did. You're on your own from this moment forward"
Before Harp could say anything, his father picked up one of the bags and threw it in the driection of the entrance.
"The door's right here" he said, emotionless. "Go."
Harp stood there, dumbofunded - but realized that it was a losing game. What did he expect?
He picked up both of his bags and walked outside, with his father slamming the door behind him. He was right - Harp was now on his own, without graduation, without friends, without the place to call home. For a small moment Harp wondered what Rock was doing right now, but he pushed that thought away.
The clouds covered the sky and soon it began to rain.
He thought that he could look for a place to stay with the help of social assistance of sorts.
And find a job.
NEW JERSEY,
FALL 2004 I won't pay, I won't pay ya,
No way!Harp opened the door to his run-down studio at a cheap apartment building, which looked closed to being condemned. He threw his bag away and immediately fell on the couch, completely exhausted. He only managed to set his alarm before trying to sleep. He heard his neighbours arguing in the place next to his, but he didn't care. They did this every day.
Before he nodded off, he made a mental note about cleaning up the place - even though he would completely forget about this by tomorrow. And then he would think about this again, and also forget about it. Besides, why cleaning up if he's barely here at all?
"Shut up, bitch!" was all he heared through the wall before giving in to sleep.
Now, now - why don't you get a job?"Everything's delivered" Harp sighed, exhausted. He hung up his red pizza delivery cap. He turned around to see the owner looking at him - and she didn't seem pleased.
"89 Nassau Street" she said.
Harp looked at her strangely. "What of it, ma'am?"
"Nothing was delivered"
"That's impossible" Harp replied. "I've been everywhere"
"Not at Nassau. I know, because we've got a call from Tremont Ave. They didn't get what they ordered, the delivery must've been mixed up"
Harp stared at her. He realized that she was probably right.
"My bad, ma'am. Won't happen again, scout's honor"
The woman sighed. "This would mark the fifth 'last time' you did something wrong"
Say no way, say no way, ya,
No way!NEW JERSEY,
JANUARY 2005Harp opened the door to his run-down studio at a cheap apartment building, which looked closed to being condemned. He threw his bag away and immediately fell on the couch...
Now, now - why don't you get a job?"Good morning. Verizong HSI support, my name's Harp. How can I be of service?"
"Yeah, it's about damn time someone picked up the goddamn phone!" said an annoyed man over the line.
"Our lines are full, I'm sorry you had to wait" replied Harp, trying to be as polite as possible.
"I'm calling because it looks like I have a backdoor trojan on my computer. I don't know's that possible!"
Harp rubbed his temple. "I'm sorry, sir, but we're providing support regarding problems with internet connection. We're not providing any support regarding the actual usage--"
"You're supposed to be a fucking internet support!"
"Sir" Harp tried to be patient. "I understand you're upset, but please don't use any swear words. Otherwise I'll be forced to end the call."
The guy was getting hysterical. "Don't even try it, I'll file a complaint!"
"But you must understand, sir, that we do not--"
"Just help me solve the fucking problem!"
Harp felt that he almost had enough. He was forced to deal with people like that for almost the entire day and needed a moment to calm down. "Just please wait a moment, I'll consult this problem with our R&D department"
"What's R&D?"
Harp rolled his eyes. "Rootkit and detection, please wait" sighed Harp and turned off the microphone.
"It's research and development, you imbecile." Harp snarled to calm his nerves down. "And you would know that people do this when they need a break from shits like you. Fuck the trojan in your fucking backdoor, you goddamn s.o.b.!"
He took a deep breath. He would tell the guy to run a full computer scan to detect anything and call later.
But only then Harp noticed that the microphone button was on. He remember turning it off, but he probably pressed it a little too lightly.
"I think I'll file the complaint after all" Harp heard the voice in his earpiece.
I won't pay, I won't pay ya,
No way!Harp opened the door to his run-down studio--
Now, now - why don't you get a job?NEW JERSEY,
JUNE 2005"So you're an all-star right now?" Harp asked Sos while working on a coffee machine.
"Hey, how long do I how to wait?" some customer from the back of the cafeteria said, voice raised.
"I'll be there in a minute!" Harp tried to figure out what the hell was wrong with this infernal contraption.
"Wouldn't say so" replied Sos, observing Harp's ministrations with amusement. "But everything's working well, both the coach and the school are happy, we're always dominating on the field."
"Despite everything that happened, I'm happy for you that everything worked out. I truly am" said Harp, sighing.
"I believe you, but I can't say it's been easy for you. You should've came to me for help" replied Sos.
"You had enough on your plate, with exams and stuff. Beside, I didn't want to bother anyone. Being a fucking burden" hissed Harp. He pushed one of the buttons and something happened with the coffee maker, because it suddenly stopped working. Harp tried launching it once again, to no avail.
"Having trouble?" asked Sos, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.
"Right now or lately?" Harp asked back.
Harp hissed through gritted teeth. He threw the apron away. "Screw this, I'm out"
He walked towards the door, with Sos following him. "Just like that?"
Harp shook his head. "Not my first time."
"Hey! What about the coffee?" the customer asked again.
Harp grabbed the door handle and turned to the guy. "Go and make it yourself, you impatient brat!" fired Harp and walked out. Both he and Sos slowly walked down the street.
"Wow. Anger management, maybe?" offered Sos.
"I'm not angry. I'm just impatient" Harp laughed.
Sos raised his eyebrows. He thought about what Harp said to the customer before leaving. "But you just said--"
"Whatever" Harp waved his hand.
He stopped by the wall. Sos didn't know why.
"What are you doing?" he inquired.
Harp gave him the 'isn't-it-obvious' look. "I'm looking for a new job" he motioned at the announcements posted on it. "I've just quit one, didn't I?"
Both guys stared at the papers, looking for something even remotely interesting.
"Oh, maybe this one?" Sos pointed at one of them. "Support center--"
"Trust me" Harp interrupted him, smiling. "It's not a good idea."
Harp observed each poster and announcement until he came across something that caught his eye.
Of course. Why didn't he think about this earlier? It's not like he was fit like a sportsman, but he was fit enough. Besides, even though he didn't officialy graduade, he - not so modestly - considered himself a smart guy.
"This looks good" he pointed at one poster. Sos looked at it.
"No." His eyes went wide. "No way."
VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA
MARCH 2007After two and a half months spent at Fort Benning and almost two years at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Harp was a lot different man than he was back then. Completing the basic military training and jumping right into AIT - at which he exceeded almost everyone's expectations - he finally managed to get to Little Creek. His final training would begin quite soon.
The wait was almost unbearable.
"Hey there" one of the guys nudged him. He had quite long black hair, sporting a moustache and a stubble. He didn't look like one of those guys you see in pictures, quite the contrary. "Where from?"
Harp looked at the man for a small moment. "Jersey."
"Well, isn't that close to home?" laughed the man.
"Wouldn't call it home, really" Harp replied.
"So you're here, trying to get away from something. Aren't we all" the man smiled. "Phoenix, by the way"
"Well then" Harp sighed. "You made quite a tour from Arizona"
"But don't regret a single thing that got me here." The man extended his hand. "I'm Carlos"
Harp shook his hand. "It's Harp"
One of the soldiers came out. "Alright, ladies, this way. You're about to meet PO1 who whill oversee your training"
"PO1?" whispered Carlos to Harp as both of them, as well as the rest of the soldiers, walked down the corridor and into an open field. "I thought they had training officers for this sort of thing."
Harp shrugged. "Maybe something's changed. We'll see."
The guys stood in two rows, waiting. Moments later, a man, walking slowly but surely, made his way towards them.
"So you're the ones who completed both BMTs and AITs and are either trying to get here or were advised to do so" announced the man in the commanding tone.
Harp froze.
"What?" Carlos noticed the change in Harp's expression.
"No fucking way" whispered Harp.
"I know the main reason for you to do so" PO1 continued. "You want to survive the war, not to be a meat to shoot down on the front lines. Either you're smart or you're all cowards"
"I know the guy" whispered Harp.
"No shit" Carlos replied. "You served together?"
Harp raised his eyebrows. "In a way"
"It's my job to find out about this. I guess we're stuck together, trying to make even better men out of you. I'll try to train you, but no doubt many of you will drop out."
PO1 kept on observing them.
"No time to lose for being gentlemen. Besides, there's no place for men like this in here. I'm Rock, Petty Officer First Class. Remember that name, it'll haunt you in your dreams, no doubt. Change into your PT gear, we're starting right now."
No more than five minutes later, everyone went out with their clothes changed, but Rock wasn't pleased.
"I thought you were trained to do everything a lot faster than a granny. We're running up the hill." He motioned at a small hill nearby. "Move!" he yelled.
As if on cue, everyone started running, but Rock outpaced them. He was way ahead of everyone else.
"Damn!" Carlos hissed. "The guy's nuts!"
"They didn't say it'll be easy" grunted Harp. "But the guy's training us... he behaves a lot more like a maniac since the last time I saw him"
He didn't say anything more. He would run out of breath way faster while talking.
After everyone made it to the hill, Rock was already there.
"We'll work on that, you're way too slow. I don't know what the fuck are they thinking at the basic training, passing people like you" he said, annoyed. He motioned at the lake nearby. "Down to the water, we're swimming across."
He then ran forward without looking back, with the rest following suit.
"After the run?" hissed Harp. "People will drown!"
"He's testing us, no other option" replied Carlos. "He's checking who'll chicken out"
And, as predicted, several guys did not feel up to the task and remained on the shore. By the end of the day they were sent back to their respective units.
After all the first day training, Rock gathered the guys who managed to complete it - half the original number, with Harp and Carlos still among them.
"Dismissed. We'll start again tomorrow. And again, and again, for the next two years" replied Rock.
Harp elbowed Carlos slightly.
"I'll be back in a minute"
Carlos nodded slightly and left, as well as the rest, while Harp dragged on. He then turned to Rock.
"What the actual fuck?" he said, right off the bat.
"Mind your language in the presence of a man superior in the ranks"
"What the fuck?" Harp repeated. "You? In the SEALs?"
Rock didn't change the tone of his voice. "I always knew that if I fuck up my so-called academic career, I'll enlist myself in the army. Don't look so surprised"
Harp seemed disoriented. "I spend almost one and a half year wasting time on part-time jobs--"
"While I began training" Rock interrupted him. "I didn't have to undergo AIT, they said I'm good enough. At least my PE training and fucking practising paid off, just not in the matter I expected it to"
"You're PO1" Harp pointed out.
"Because they took a great risk and cut half a year off my training and sent me directly into one of the missions. 2006" Rock continued, emotionless. "Now I'm back, because they thinking I should take a break after everything"
Harp was about to ask about this particular "everything", but Rock eyed him.
"You didn't have any trouble severing any ties with me. Also, pining the blame on my stupid plan for being expelled from the school. I'm the reason you're here, yet you don't complain"
"Fuck off" Harp hissed. "I don't complain, because this is the best option I got. Doesn't change the fact I wouldn't be here if it weren't for your brilliant-yet-shitty plan to steal the tests"
"I said, mind your language" Rock raised his voice. "Contrary to you, I'm already a SEAL. One more word and I'll make sure you'll never get to be one"
Harp stared him down, turned around and left, with Rock shaking his head. Both of them still seemed to suffer from being stubborn, just like they did all those years ago.
Despite what he said, Rock wouldn't make any problems with Harp. They needed as much men as possible, and Harp would be a great addition to the team.
******
GRAND CENTRAL STATION, NEW YORK
AUGUST 2009"Never been to New York" said Carlos, not hiding his excitement.
"I'm not sure you'll like it" replied Harp, laughing. "It's not much compared to Arizona"
"Are you shitting me? Everything's better than the fucking desert"
Harp winked. "Then what are you doing in SEALs, huh?"
They walked through the station.
"There he is!" Harp motioned towards the man nearby.
"Harp!" Sos greeted him. "It's been so fucking long! Looking good, man! I've never thought I'd see the day when you'll look tougher and more fit than me"
"Times change" replied Harp, smiling. "This is Carlos"
"Army guys, eh?" asked Sos, shaking his hand.
"He's never been in New York, though" Harp mentioned.
"Oh" Sos grinned. "We'll fix that soon, won't we?"
******
"Alright, it's the last one" said Carlos after emptying the beer mug and putting it down. "Can't get too funny"
"That's right, sir" Harp agreed.
Sos laughed at them. "Geez, can't even have fun properly!" He drank his own beer. "So you're saying that good ol' Rock is your supervisor?"
"Yup" Harp nodded.
"And you'll be out of country soon?"
"Yeah" Carlos joined in. "But we can't tell you anything else, it's confidential"
Sos looked at them. "If it's confidential, then it means it's dangerous as fuck"
When there was a moment of silence, Sos eyed Carlos.
"Harp, uh..." he started. "Does Carlos know about your--"
Harp nodded.
"Well then" Sos sighed. "I think you should visit your parents while you're nearby. I think they'd like to know what's going on with you."
"No." was all that Harp said.
"He won't budge" Carlos told Sos. "I tried to convince him on the way, with no luck."
"There's no point" Harp finished his beer. "They didn't want to have anything to do with me. If something happens, they'll receive a letter from Uncle Sam. I guess they'll be relieved"
"Don't say that" Sos said, furrowing his brows.
"It's true." Harp continued. "They won't give a fuck, though. They didn't when I was expelled and really needed help"
Sos and Carlos exchanged glances.
******
LOCATION UNKNOWN,
END OF 2009The doors to the base bursted open, with Rock entering first, while Carlos and Harp carried one of the SEALs, leaving a bloody trail behind them.
"Man down, we need help right now!" Rock yelled.
"What happened?" asked one of the medics.
"Contact. He was hit in the leg." said Carlos, while he and Harp laid the man on the table. He was moaning in pain.
"We tried to stop the bleeding, but it won't fucking stop!" yelled Harp.
All three of them sat down where they stood, almost exhausted, while the medics worked on the injured SEAL.
"This was a fucking disaster!" Carlos hit his fist against the wall. "We were walking into a trap!"
"They were as surprised as us. They didn't know we'll make a move. We didn't know they'll regroup today, though" Rock tried to recall everything that happened. "We didn't expect so many of them."
"Fuck that!" hissed Harp.
"Stop it!" Carlos tried to calm him down. "We fucking made it out, be glad about that!"
"Guys" all three stopped their arguing. The medic approached them. "The bullet damaged the artery in the leg."
Rock's head slowly rose up. He knew what that meant.
"I'm sorry, but he lost too much blood--"
Rock didn't wait for him to finish, he just left. Carlos and Harp, while still shocked, left after him.
All three were outside. Rock kicked the sand, causing a small cloud to appear and disintergrate in the matter of seconds.
"Shit!" hissed Rock.
He stood there, with his back turned - even though he knew that Carlos and Harp are behind.
"Rock?" Carlos asked slowly.
Rock still didn't face them.
"You won't understand."
"Then help us understand!" Harp urged. "We're mad that he died too! It shouldn't fucking happen, but it did! You can't change that!"
"You think I don't know that?!" Rock fired back. "It's--" he stopped.
"It'll be a piece of cake" said Rock. "We'll set up a bomb trap and we're out. You've got everything, right?"
"Yeah" replied ILC. "Packed tighter than nun's arse"
"I didn't know that expression" Rock said, amused.
"You'd figure it out if you were young and visited a monastery full of young girls in capes, ready to spread and share their love just as their Saviour taught them to"
"Fuck, man" Rock replied, disgusted. "I didn't need to know that."
They slowly approached the building, checking whether no one was around.
"This is the place, right?"
"Yup" confirmed ILC. "At least to our local informants."
"Informants?" Rock looked at him questioningly.
"When you help a local by stopping a fuckin' terrorist unit from painting the wall red with his fuckin' brain and he provides you some useful information, then yeah - I'd say he counts as an informant" ILC grinned.
"You never cease to amaze me, ILC" Rock smiled.
They stood on both sides of the door.
"On three" whispered Rock. ILC nodded.
"One--Two--"
And then the door exploded, throwing both men several feet away.
Rock didn't hear anything other than ringing in his ears. He scrambled to stand up and noticed people running from inside, through the smoke...
"Contact!" he yelled, but could barely hear himself. "He shot at the men who aimed at him and ran for cover, but couldn't see ILC anywhere.
He kept on firing, but had to duck to avoid being hit himself. He picked up a grenade and threw it in the direction of the building. It smashed one of the windows and landed inside, exploding soon after, with screams also being heard.
Rock rose slowly and killed whatever remained of the terrorist squad, but barely two or three people remained unharmed from the explosion, so he took them down in no time. He walked from behind the cover and tried to find ILC.
The mist spread out and Rock noticed a man lying nearby in a pool of blood. He was shot three times in a stomach. ILC was breathing heavily, a pistol in hand.
"ILC!" Rock yelled.
He ran towards ILC, but suddenly the dying soldier raised his pistol and aimed it at Rock.
"STOP!" he screamed, but he sounded weak.
Rock realized that ILC suffered from a shock and probably recognized him as an enemy.
"ILC!" Rock tried to reason with him, but ILC gritteed his teeth and fired.
Rock closed his eyes...
...but realized that he wasn't hit. He opened his eyes and saw that ILC dropped the gun. Rock turned around to see a terrorist sneaking behind him - but ILC managed to shot him in the head. The man fell to his knees, mouth wide open, and then fell down, dead.
Rock quickly made it to ILC.
"You'll be fine!" he tried to calm down.
"I look like a swiss cheese... you know I won't" ILC tried to joke, breathing heavily.
"I'm telling you, you'll be fine!" Rock tried to convince himself more than ILC.
"No..." ILC grabbed him. "Listen... You must.... do something for me." ILC was getting weaker.
"What is it?" Rock listened to him, holding him in his arms.
"There is someone... important to me..." ILC coughed up blood.
"You... must... f-find... m-my--" ILC exhaled. He opened his eyes wide, probably trying to force himself to talk, but to no avail. His hand fell to the ground and his eyes turned empty.
Rock just sat there, looking at his dead friend, as if the entire world stood still."That's what happened in 2006" Harp said quietly. "That's why they said you needed a break."
"God doesn't look at a calendar" replied Rock. "He calls upon people whenever he wants."
He paused for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts.
"My friend counted on me. He tried to pass a message, but he was not given a chance. Something important he wanted me to do... and now I'll never find out what it was. No one will find out. It was a simple fucking operation!" he suddenly raised his voice.
"You can't beat yourself about it!" Carlos reasoned with him.
"I promised myself I'll never lose anyone else!" hissed Rock through gritted teeth. "But I did. Today. And what? He'll be flown back to our goddamn homeland, where his family will listen to a goddamn list of big words, how heroes change the world and how this man died trying to do so. But it's all fucking shit! Nothing's honorable about dying in a field where you're gutted. It's not a death anyone's seeking. Do you think those men want to die in a fucking desert, long way from home? No! They're dying here because the big guys call the shots, but the little ones have to carry out a fight. And I'm the one of the little guys, being forced to watch all this!"
"You're a goddamn SEAL, get a grip on yourself!" Harp interrupted him. "People die everyday, you can't change that! And no one forced them out here. They're here because they believe that they're doing something good and their deaths don't go to waste!"
"Do they?" Rock fired back.
"I'm sure they wouldn't want to think of their sacrifice as a waste!" replied Harp, effectively ending the argument.
Everyone exhaled deeply.
"I need some sleep, you should get some too" Carlos said, walking away.
"Yeah, he's right" Harp agreed and both he and Rock soon went back inside the base.
******
ABOTTABAD, PAKISTAN
MAY 2011SEALs advanced inside the compound. Only one of them was slightly injured by a firefight with Al-Kuwaiti, but they managed to take them down and everyone proceeded as planned.
While others, along with Carlos, secured the area, two SEALs remained on the first floor to clear it out, Harp and Rock went for the second floor, while other two went for the third floor.
The inside of the compound was chaos from all the explosives used to breach the doors, but the mist was clearing out. Harp and Rock heard two shots downstairs and received a report that two men, presumably connected to their target, were killed.
"Where is he?" asked Rock.
Right then, one shot was heard upstairs, and after several seconds three more followed.
"Report" they heard in their headsets. Fucking officials from D.C.
"Neptune Spear on" the SEAL replied. Harp and Rock exchanged glances.
"He's dead" Harp whispered, not believing what he heard.
Suddenly, a flash grenade exploded on the second floor and both Rock and Harp were blinded. Rock noticed a motion in front of him and saw Harp being knocked out by a terrorist, who grabbed Harp by the head and put a pistol to it, screaming something in a foreign language, but then quickly switching for a broken English.
"The gun! Dropped!" yelled the man. "Or he death!"
"What are you waiting for?!" screamed Harp, still weak. "Shoot him!"
But Rock, a Navy SEAL, didn't have a clear shot. He was still shaking from the explosion, slightly blinded. He couldn't be sure whether he'll kill a terrorist or his friend. And risking his life... after everything that happened, when he promised to himself that he won't lose anyone else in combat...
And then, for a very small moment, the entire world stood still. He looked at a gun in his hands...
-> TAKE A BLIND SHOT <-
-> DROP IT<-
END OF PART 2