Meaning, I don't intend any copyright infringement on CC or 1013 productions. They the Man and I'm just the Woman trying to make a story with their stuff. Nothing really all that bad. Maybe some language, no sex or situations. Time: pretty damned obvious, but the story was started before the season finale, before Zero Sum and all that mess. So deal. =) Note: Excerpt of Johnny Got His Gun used without permission, but no copyright infringement was intended. All words belong to Dalton Trumbo, and the publishing house responsible for the reprinting. Archiving: XFFF, Gossamer, ATXC Summary: Skinner's past in Vietnam comes back to haunt him. Good Soldiers (1/5) By Teresa Owens AKA Fox's Phile (Foxzphile@aol.com) 10/30/97 "Only the dead have seen the end of war." --Plato "In war, the truth is always the first casualty." --Aeschylus Fort Leavenworth, Kansas July 4, 1997 7:21 PM Shelly Bruno found herself hypnotized by the passing scenery inside the old fort. Nothing but houses passed by now. Mostly officers resided on the fort, so the houses were extremely well kept. She held her hand out the open window, flexing her fingers mindlessly. "I swear, Shelly, I hate coming up in here on the fourth of July," Chandra Woodhouse, nicknamed Charlie by everyone, complained. She honked the horn and muttered a curse. "These damn people," she grumbled. "Out of staters." She brushed her straight, jet black hair out of her eyes and glanced over to Shelly. "Roll up your window. I wanna kick the air conditioning on." Shelly blinked, snapping out of her daze, and turned her sable eyes to Charlie. "We're going to be out of the car soon," she said. "By the time you get the car cool, we'll be there." "I'll just turn it on full blast then put all the vents on me," Charlie replied. She pulled her hair up from the back of her neck as she stopped along with the rest of the cars. "I'm hot now. Unlike you, the heat bothers me." She glanced in the rearview mirror and sighed. "Great. Now I look just awful. I rarely see Austin nowadays, and I look like crap whenever I do." Shelly only met Charlie's boyfriend, Austin Demme, twice. He seemed pretty nice, like a good man. Charlie had a real string of losers since the mid-80's. Austin was part of the reason Charlie bit the bullet to come see the fireworks display at the fort. He was a sergeant in the National Guard, which helped the fort's soldiers out with the display. Charlie made a left when the light changed. "You know, Shel, you may find a cute guy out here tonight. Austin says there are plenty of single guys with real futures working this thing." She smiled a little. Shelley looked back out the window. "Charlie, I'm not interested." "Girl, you can't spend your whole life alone in that apartment of yours. Overland Park is such a nice area, and you don't even try to meet anyone there." Charlie sighed. "You have never tried, Shelly." "Maybe I don't want to make some attachment that can be severed without a moment's notice," Shelly snapped, resting her elbow on the inside of the car door. "Damnit," Charlie growled. They drove past some pure white headstones which made up what looked to be a small cemetery. "Great, just great." Shelly stared at the headstones, which were lined up in neat little rows. Some had flowers decorating them, along with little American flags. She felt a churning in the pit of her stomach, unlike anything she'd felt before. "Shelly, keep an eye out for Pershing Avenue," Charlie said as she slowed to a stop at a stop sign. "Shit, we're on the wrong side." She took a second to glance at her watch. "7: 25." Shelly pulled her gaze away from the cemetery and felt the churning subside. She drew in a deep breath. "Hey, Charlie," she said, pointing out the window. "There." It was a sign directing them to Pershing Avenue. "Good," Charlie said taking a right at the sign. She smiled when they were back on Pershing. "Oh, hey, you going to the ten year reunion?" Shelly frowned. "I don't think so." "Why not?" Charlie asked, glancing at her. "It'll be a hoot! Aren't you dying to find out what old snooty Julie Moore did in Europe? And with who? Don't you want to see any of our old gang?" "I didn't like most of the people from high school the first time around," Shelly told her. In fact, Charlie was the only friend she had actually liked. The rest were just acquaintances. "I don't want to waste a good evening on them." "You're such a stick in the mud," Charlie said jovially then turned right, pulling into a parking lot. She glided the car into an empty space and shut off the motor. "Finally!" she exclaimed, opening her door. Shelly opened her door ad climbed out. It felt good to be out of the car, having a nice breeze blowing on her body. The wind fluttered the light blue, thin strap sundress she wore. A matching blue hair scrunchie held back her long chestnut brown hair. The sounds of music and a large crowd nearby filled the air, along with the smells of grilling hot dogs and hamburgers. Shelly watched people cross the street she and Charlie had just come up, then disappear down a slope on the other side. "This is the biggest thing that goes on in this one horse town and you've never been to it," Charlie said as she opened the trunk to her red Volkswagen bug. She pulled out a small cooler and a blanket then slammed the trunk shut. "Sometimes I think you live in a cave." Shelly smiled a little and turned to start on her way but bumped into someone. "Whoa! Excuse me!" Shelly looked to see who she bumped into. It was a nice looking young man dressed in green fatigues, smiling at her apologetically. "Sorry," he added. In Shelly's mind though, a scene much like a memory flashed, taking over. A man in a green uniform, complete with a helmet, a gun and a heavy looking pack on his back looked right at her. He was filthy, and had a few lacerations on his face and arms. Explosions were shaking the ground around her. She distinctly knew she was in a battle and they were on the losing end of it. "Come on, Hemingway!" the young man yelled at her. "We gotta get the fuck outta here!" He raised his rifle to motion to the men behind him. "Shelly?" The sound of Charlie's voice calling out jerked Shelly out of the strange vision. She sighed, then turned her eyes to her friend. Concern covered Charlie's face. "You ok?" Charlie asked. "I'm fine," she lied, nodding. She swallowed. That churning feeling had returned. "Hey, that guy you plowed into was cute," Charlie went on. "You should've talked to him instead of turning into a zombie." She saw that strange look back on Shelly's face. "Are you sure you're ok?" Shelly nodded once. But inside she was frightened. The dreams were coming to her in her waking hours. She had no refuge from it now. "I'm just fine, Charlie," she said. "I just need to sit down and look at this lovely sunset here." As they crossed the street Shelly listened to Charlie chatter about the golf course they were going to be seated on. When they reached the top of the slope, they saw a widespread crowd of people with blankets, lawnchairs and whatnot covering a pasture of green grass. The setting sun reflected off the lake to her left. To her right she saw huge speakers, the source of the music, set up, along with some refreshment stands. Further ahead, a ways back on the grass, were three cannons. About ten soldiers loaded the cannons and shouted orders to each other. Shelly kept her eye on them as she and Charlie made their way closer to them, looking for a place to settle in. "Right here," Charlie said, setting the cooler down in an empty space. "This is as good as it gets for coming this late." She spread out the blanket and glanced at Shelly. She followed her gaze to the cannons not but a couple hundred yards away. "Yikes. We're gonna get an earful of that when they go off." She waved to the soldiers manning the cannons. "Hey!" she called. She smiled and pointed to her shirt which looked like an American flag. The men at the cannons applauded and cheered for her. Shelly started to sit down on the blanket but one of the cannons fired a mortar round and another vision came rushing into her mind. She felt herself hit the ground hard. She knew it had been a close call; she'd almost been blown to bits. She looked to her left to see a young black man covered in blood, missing an arm, writhing in terrible pain. "Oh, Christ," she heard herself say, but it wasn't her voice. It was the voice of a young man. Her hand reached out to the injured soldier and she saw the filthy, bloody hand of a man. "Oh, Jacks! Man! Medic!" Shelly jumped a mile when Charlie touched her shoulder. She breathed hard, her eyes wide in fear. She felt her hands go to her throat, massaging it lightly. "God, Shel, are you ok?" Charlie asked jerking her hand back. "You spaced out with this look on your face. Really spooky." Shelly slowly sat on the blanket. "I'm fine. It's probably just the heat." Charlie raised an eyebrow. "In all the years I've known you, you've never been affected by the heat." "Why are they firing cannons anyway?" Shelly grumbled, twisting around to look at the soldiers loading another one. Charlie opened the cooler, removed a Coke. "They're marking the half hours till the fireworks," she explained. "You want a drink?" Shelly nodded, turning around. She accepted the Coke from Charlie and cracked it open. Using both hands to hold the can steady she took a long gulp from the can. She sighed a little, and calmed herself down. Charlie watched Shelly closely, wondering what was going on with her friend. She was about to say something else when she saw her boyfriend headed towards them. "Austin!" she exclaimed, jumping to her feet. She ran to meet him and gave the young sandy blond man a hug and a long kiss. Shelly smiled at them. It was nice to see people happy like that. Austin Demme looked down at Shelly. "Hey, Shelly," he greeted. "Hi," she softly replied. "Glad you two could make it," Austin continued, looking to Charlie still in his arms. "It's just a bad deal I volunteered for this. I won't get to spend a lot of time with you." "Then you'd better make sure it's a good show," Charlie told him. "For more reasons than one." "Oh?" he said, raising an eyebrow, smiling. "This is Shelly's first time to this," Charlie said, poking him in the chest with a finger. She grinned. "She never does anything fun." Shelly shrugged and looked down. "I'm just not that big on the 4th of July," she replied. "I don't like fireworks either." "This is going to be a great display." Austin and Charlie sat down. "We're going to have a 21 gun salute, honoring those who died for our country." "You do that every year," Charlie said. "I know. I'm telling Shelly what's she's been missing," Austin replied. He smiled at Charlie's petite friend. Shelly felt a little more at ease over the next 15 minutes as she talked with Charlie and Austin. Perhaps her dreams would leave her alone for the rest of the evening. "How would you like to be right on the front lines when one of these cannons fires?" Austin asked as he got to his feet. Charlie glanced at Shelly then asked, "Is that ok?" "If you stand where I tell you, it'll be ok." "Well, I'd like to see that. Anything new, you know." Charlie got to her feet. Shelly stared at the guardsmen loading the cannon through the entire conversation. She felt that old fear coming back up to the surface. "How about you, Shelly?" asked Austin looking down on her. "You want to be on the front lines?" Shelly raised her eyes to his and solemnly replied, "I've already seen it." After a moment, she turned away from them. "No, you two go ahead." Charlie tugged at Austin's arm to get him moving. "She's been acting strange since we got here," she said to him as they walked away. Shelly sighed and gazed out across the lake in front of her. The sun would completely disappear soon. Only a few beams of orange light remained. The sounds of "Gimme Some Lovin'" rang out over the speakers. A lot of the older people in the crowd, in their late forties and up, danced to the tune, most likely remembering their younger years. For Shelly, it only brought back more visions of a terrible place she didn't know. It was hotter than hell as she stepped off the plane with so many other young men. The sun beat down mercilessly on the tarmac of the airstrip. The sweat immediately poured down her face, her neck and back. A name popped into her head to go with this place now. Vietnam. The song echoed on someone's radio nearby. The person had the radio cranked up as loud as it could go. She looked down to see a green duffel bag in her male hand, and a book her right--The Sun Also Rises. So hot, she heard her thoughts echo in her head. And what the hell is that terrible smell? God, if I had to guess, I'd say it was Death. Other soldiers on the tarmac moved past the new arrivals carrying black body bags. More men unloaded bags from jeeps. They didn't seem phased at all by the small mountain of bags. "Mmm," said a soldier who was passing by the new arrivals going towards the plane. He was a young man, as were the others who followed him, but something in his eyes sent chills down her spine. "Fresh meat," he added, grinning. Another soldier passed by with the same wicked, almost sadistic grin, taking a drag off a cigarette. He shook his head and said, "Shit, more FNGs." He looked at the soldiers behind him and went on. "Uncle Sam keeps sending us full planes instead of some goddamn empty ones!" The next man looked straight into her eyes as he passed then laughed. "Whoo hoo! You boys is gonna love the Nam!" he exclaimed then laughed again along with a few others. She shuddered with fear. She jumped a little when someone touched her shoulder. She looked into the face of a nice looking young man with dark brown hair. "Hey, Tours," he said gently. "We're gonna be all right, man." Wally. The name of this young man was Wally. She knew him! Yet, she didn't. "Come on," said Wally. "Don't pay any attention to them." Shelly drew in a deep breath as the strange vision let go of her. She glanced around but no one was paying attention to her. She remembered that the cannon firing brought her out of the vision. She turned to see Charlie massaging her ears and saying something to Austin. The speakers began to spew out patriotic music, starting with John Philip Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever. The crowd clapped along with the music. She heard the shouts of the guardsmen again and looked to see them taking up positions by the cannons. Seven of them had rifles and moved up to the right of the color guard. The guardsman closest to the color guard was Austin Demme. The patriotic music died down on the PA and a man's voice came on. Shelly didn't listen to what he was saying, though. The only thing she remembered hearing was the man asking everyone to rise for the National Anthem. The anthem played over the speakers and some people began to sing along. Cheers erupted through the crowd when the song ended. "We now honor those men and women who made the greatest sacrifice for their country, to ensure freedom and democracy for the future generations," the man said. The first round of shots went off and Shelly jerked as her mind took her to a nighttime battle, back to horrible screams of pain and frantic yelling. She felt the ground shaking underneath her as explosions went off all over, lighting up the night sky. She started to get to her knees but a searing hot sting hit her in the middle of the back. In the real world, Shelly grimaced and doubled over in pain. She screamed as she got to her feet. She looked at the guardsmen who finished firing and charged through the crowd, headed straight for them. Austin Demme didn't see her headed for him. He dropped his rifle and gagged when Shelly, that petite little woman, grabbed him in a headlock. "Hey!" yelled one of the other guardsmen taking a step towards them. "Don't!" she screamed, tightening her hold on Austin's neck. "You bastards are getting me! I'll fucking kill him! I'll break his goddamn neck! You hear me?" Charlie yelled out to Shelly but got no response from her friend. Austin choked as he grabbed Shelly's wrists. Two of the men from the color guard caught Shelly from behind and yanked her off before she could hurt him. Austin Demme collapsed to the ground coughing, his hands on his throat. Shelly slipped out of the grip of the color guard men and fell to her knees. "Austin!" Charlie yelled as she knelt down to check on him. She saw he was ok then looked to Shelly, sobbing on her knees. "Shelly?" "Tours, Martin L!" yelled Shelly at the people around her. "Rank: Corporal, United States Marine Corps. Serial number--" "Shelly!" Charlie yelled at her friend. "Stop it!" Shelly stopped yelling out the name, rank and serial number of Martin Tours and slumped over to the ground. She curled up into the fetal position, mumbling very softly over and over again, "Wally, you knew. You knew. You knew." Then louder, she recited, "Name: Tours, Martin L. Rank: Corporal--" end part 1