Page 19 of Almost There
8
Landon
“My house is less than a mile away.” Sgt. Brittany’s knee bounced as he sat in the plastic chair of the clinic waiting room and scanned the faces of the other Marines. “A mile away. It’s so close it hurts.”
“It’ll be alright, brother.” Sgt. Sierra sat on the chair next to him. “We’ll get them next. Just as soon as we make sure the kid is alright.”
Landon watched him stoically. They were all feeling the strain too. After all this time, six months of deployment—almost seven months now—a few miles were all they had left. But they had to wait. Hurry up and wait. The story of his entire career. How long could Tessa wait for though? His thumb brushed his ring, the calloused skin catching on the tear, and he closed his eyes, ready to break.
“I could walk there.” Sgt. Brittany looked to the glass doors of the clinic entrance.
“Hang on.” Landon turned on his heel and marched down the hall to the patient room.
“Can I talk to you, Gunny?” Landon asked. GySgt. Fuimaono had pulled the chair next to Aliana’s bed and was playing rock-paper-scissors with the two girls while Wallis and her husband spoke quietly in the corner of the room.
“What is it, HM2?” GySgt. Fuimaono didn’t turn around as he cracked his neck from side to side, annoyed at the interruption. Landon sighed and reached into the box of gloves attached to the wall by the door.
“It’ll just take a minute.” Landon pulled out two gloves and blew each one up, tying them off with a knot. He tossed the makeshift balloons to the girls who squealed in delight as they scrambled for them.
“Don’t move your arm,” GySgt. Fuimaono commanded, holding Aliana’s bicep steady with the IV needle taped to it as he caught one balloon and handed it to her. She settled down against the pillows and stuck her tongue out at her older sister. Gunny turned his hate filled glare to Landon. “This better be important.”
Landon stood under the fluorescent lights of the hallway that the generators were working to keep on. But for how long? He thought of the machines that wouldn’t work, the equipment that would be needed and useless, once the gas to power them ran out.
“Sergeant Brittany’s family is just down the road,” Landon started, despite Gunny’s hardened stare. “I’m thinking it would be in all of our best interests if we retrieved them while we were waiting.”
“Are you saying we should split up our unit?” GySgt. Fuimaono’s deep and heavily accented voice boomed down the quiet hallway.
“It’s not about that, Gunny.” Landon straightened his shoulders, trying to stand tall in front of the man and make him see reason. “I’m saying that if this situation is only the start of our mission, then you might want to think about the Marines wondering if they should go AWOL to check on their own families.”
It almost caused physical pain to speak the truth out loud. He wasn’t like the people he grew up with, family if you could even call them that, and his word was worth something. Never in a million years did he think he’d be in a situation where he’d break a commitment. But the edge of his resolve was getting dangerously close and he wasn’t going to slip off in silence. Besides, he’d been reprimanded for worse.
“And you’d abandon a Marine and her children in their time of need?” GySgt. Fuimaono asked, but there was no malice to his tone.
“No, Gunny.” Landon stood his ground. “She’s received the correct medication. They are safe and should stay here together. But a mile in our own country, in friendly territory, isn’t too much to ask.”
A low throated growl tore through GySgt. Fuimaono’s nose. “Put two Marines at the half mile mark. One of them as a runner to get back here at any sign of trouble. Take a three-man team in the AAV and the duty van…”
His voice trailed off and he paused, staring through Landon at something no one could see. But he could feel it. The internal struggle was written as clearly on the gunnery sergeant’s face as if it was in his own brain. The urgent need to hurry. A different kind of fear twisting at their gut. This wasn’t foreign soil. This was home. But home was slipping out of reach.
“Screw it.” GySgt. Fuimaono sighed. “I’m driving. Get a watch posted at this door and two Marines to stand back to guard the second AAV. We leave in an hour. Make it happen.”
Landon nodded, a sense of relief rushing through him. Each family they checked off the list was another one closer to his own. He knew the Marines would be happy with this and was already running through the orders he needed to put into motion, but he paused when GySgt. Fuimaono opened the patient room door instead of rallying the troops.
“Gunny?” Landon arched an eyebrow.
“What?” GySgt. Fuimaono narrowed his eyes. “You gave them those stupid balloons and nothing to draw on them with. They need entertainment until we get back. I thought you had kids, squid. Go get everything else ready to go.”
“Aye Gunny.” A half smile played across Landon’s lips as he rushed back to tell the Marines to load up.
“Thanks man.” Sgt. Brittany climbed into the passenger seat of the duty van and sat motionless with a deep calm radiating from him for the first time since this whole thing started.
“Don’t thank me.” Landon turned the key in the ignition when Sgt. Sierra gave him the thumbs up from the open turret hatch and the AAV charged forward. “Gunny was itching to go too.”
“Wallis’s kid will be okay though, right?” Cpl. Hemming packed in another dip, reclining against the upholstered back seat instead of riding on the hard bench in the AAV.
“She’ll be fine.” Landon looked to the rearview mirror. HM3 Cooper and Cpl. Bailey stood next to the AAV watching them go. While the rest of the city seemed abandoned, the clinic parking lot was still teeming with life. “But we’ll hurry back anyway.”
“Turn here.” Sgt. Brittany pointed.