Page 28 of Almost There
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Landon
“Be safe. I love you. See you later.” He’d held her against his chest a moment longer, the kids already anxious to leave, and breathed in her scent a final time before turning to the mountain of gear stacked behind him at the order to “board the bus.” Her slender fingers slipped away from his and then, all at once, she was gone.
Everything was gone.
He turned to each direction, searching for his family, his gear, his Marines. But nothing except a vast expanse of desert and sandy hills greeted him. It was so dry that he choked.
Landon’s head rolled to the side on the plastic chair in the clinic waiting room and he jerked himself fully awake. The staff had dimmed the lights out of respect for the military escort that accompanied the young patient. Landon checked the wall mounted clock that was slowly ticking away the minutes. 4AM.
His gaze traveled over the room, to Sgt. Brittany who slept on the floor with his wife and son in his arms on a pile of blankets they’d packed. And then he looked to the other side of the room to Sgt. Forges with his wife and daughter, the baby asleep on its mother’s breast. The destruction in Sgt. Brittany’s neighborhood yesterday had emboldened them, instilled a sense of urgency, and they pushed the next five miles to Vista to retrieve Sgt. Forges’s family before Gunny ordered them back.
It was only jealousy, he knew it, but the pain in seeing their comforted embraces hit him hard. You’ll be okay. He closed his eyes and tried to conjure up another dreamlike image of his wife. I’m almost there. But his body was restless, urging him to move faster or get up and do something despite the quiet of the early morning.
“Can’t sleep either, Doc?” Sgt. Sierra carried over snacks from the vending machine and offered him a package of pop tarts.
“Keep it down. This is a hospital.” Landon groaned as he sat up straight and ripped the plastic apart with his teeth.
Sgt. Sierra looked at him pointedly and then shrugged as he dumped a package of cookies into his mouth. “Bro, I’m surprised that we’re still here. Why haven’t we gone to get Tessa yet?”
Landon’s thumb moved to his ring cautiously, hating that the break in the band had disrupted his normal calming rhythm, but finding comfort in it all the same. And still, bitterness choked him and he had to swallow it down along with the sickeningly sweet pastry. “Gunny is right. I’m not the only one with a family out here and we don’t know what state they are in or if they’ll need medical care right away.” His gaze traveled to the dimly lit hall where Wallis and her family sat waiting with the antibiotics working through the little girl’s body.
“But what about your family?” Sierra ran his finger around the inside of the foil packet checking for any stray sugar that had missed its mark.
Landon hardened his face as he handed the second pop tart back to him. “You’ve obviously never met my wife. If anyone can get through this, it’s her.”
“I know.” Sierra sighed as he slumped onto the seat beside him. “I’m just starting to think this is all bullshit. You see what it’s like out there. What kind of future is there in the military for us? Are we going to end up patrolling American streets? None of us signed up for that. We’re here to protect the nation from foreign threats, but I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon, and I’m not sure I want to stick around to see what’s coming next. Besides, Tessa makes those chocolate peanut butter cookies and I’d kill for one right now.”
“How are you this skinny with the amount of junk you eat?” Landon tried to put humor into his voice but it was still tainted with something dark. “And anyway, you swore an oath, just like I did. Do we abandon it now because the lights went out? Do we…”
The hollow motivational speech died on his lips. He was too tired, too angry, to finish the thought.
“Whatever you want to do, I’ll be here to do it with you.” Sierra yawned as he leaned back against the chair and closed his eyes.
The adrenaline and early morning sugar rush left Landon’s pulse racing. He clenched his jaw as he stood and crept out of the waiting room.
The dewy mist of early morning fog pushed away from the coast and stretched itself inland. It settled on Landon’s skin, doing nothing to cool him down. The faintest bit of gray broke over the mountains to the northeast and in that direction, somewhere towards the slowly rising sun, was his house and family. 30 miles give or take.
He could hike that if he had to. He could leave right now and head home. Tessa. Whispering her name squeezed at his heart, tearing him apart along with every other commitment he’d ever made. Sierra was right, this was bullshit. Screw the military and this job. Nothing was more important than them.
“HM2 Ward.” GySgt. Fuimaono stepped through the glass doors, alert and refreshed as if he’d managed a full night’s sleep and was about to start a mass physical training session. “Our little Marine needs you. The doctor is in there speaking with them.”
Landon stood by Aliana’s bed and waited for the doctor to finish her inspection.
“Fever is gone, so that’s good.” The doctor checked the girl’s ear with the otoscope while Aliana tried not to squirm. “The drainage and swelling are still there, but I have high hopes that the antibiotics will take care of that in a few days. Bring her to your regular provider in three weeks for a follow up, sooner if she spikes another high temperature or gets lethargic again. Tylenol for the pain.”
“Not Motrin?” LCpl. Wallis looked to Landon for confirmation and he shook his head. Most Corpsman prescribed Motrin for everything but he’d always been a bigger fan of acetaminophen anyway. The doctor looped the stethoscope around her neck.
Landon followed her out of the room, stopping her in the hallway before the next patient’s door. “What happens if it didn’t work?”
“Does the base hospital have antibiotics?” The doctor reached for the next clipboard. Landon glanced at the handwritten name at the top of the page. Appendix rupture, age 5, was gone.
He straightened his shoulders and turned to avoid her impatient stare. “I don’t know, ma’am. I haven’t been there yet, but I imagine the same situation is playing out everywhere.”
“Well, if she doesn’t get better then I wasted those meds.” The doctor took a deep breath and exhaled softly, placing her hand on the door. “Do me a favor and don’t bring her back here if she does get worse.”
Landon grit his teeth, quelling his misdirected anger. “Do you have a family, ma’am?”