Tammy was used to this, and was about to explain her television role, when Garcia surprised her.
“You were talking to Peters, just before we headed out from Kilo two-six this morning!” He said excitedly. “Sorry – the safe zone.” He added quickly.
Tammy thought for a few seconds, then nodded. “Mark.”
“Yes, that’s him! We were standing at the bus. Actually, you might also remember Collins. Lanky, skinny guy with the bad pick-up lines.” Garcia grinned broadly.
“Ah. Yes! Did you guys make it back to the safe zone? Were you there when it fell?”
Garcia’s face dropped.
“No. We had some ... complications.”
Breanne and Steve had walked into the tent. Breanne popped her head out and interrupted. “Hey, Soldier Garcia. Uh, where is your mess hall – that’s where you get your food, right?”
Garcia shook his head. “No dice, sister. Mess hall’s shut down. We’re on MRE’s.”
Breanne looked confused at that.
“Packaged meals.” Garcia said with a shrug.
“Oh. ... Right. Well, where can we get some of those? We haven’t eaten for a while. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse and chase the rider.”
Garcia grinned. “We got a few extras in our tent. Let me grab you some.”
“Wait, we’ll come with you.” Tammy offered. Breanne followed willingly enough. Steve looked like he’d prefer to do anything else but followed as he did not want to be left alone.
“Enter mi casa!” Garcia announced as he gestured them in through the doorway.
Tammy noticed two other men as she stepped inside the tent. One was lying on a cot and had raised himself up to his elbows. The other was sitting at a desk, apparently cleaning his pistol. Pieces of the gun were spread out in front of him on the table. He looked up at the newcomers but quickly returned his attention to the piece in his hands.
“Hey ... It’s you.” The soldier in the cot said. After a closer look Tammy remembered him too. It was that Collins character. She smiled at him. “Hi Collins, how are you holding up?”
He snorted, looking slightly poignant. “Not so good. Forgive me for not getting up.”
Garcia had gone ahead and was rummaging through a shelf. He came back with several packets just in time to overhear what was being said.
“Come on Collins. Cheer up. You’re depressing our guests!” He said it jokingly, but Tammy could clearly see the concern in his eyes. He caught Tammy’s eye and gave her a sad smile. Then seemed to remember himself.
“Ok, you’ve got a choice of Spaghetti, another spaghetti ... cheese tortellini, UH! Four dicks of death – pass on that one – OH! Beef ravioli. That one’s not too bad. ... This last one is Chili with beans.”
He looked at his guests. “What will it be?”
Steve surprised Tammy by speaking up first. “Um... What’s four dicks of death?”
Garcia shook his head with a grimace of distaste. “It’s actually called ‘beef links in beans’. It tastes terrible and,” He cast an embarrassed glance at the ladies. “well, looks like four dicks.”
“You mean it looks like male genitalia. Jeez Garcia, show some class.” Collins piped up from his cot.
That broke the tension a bit. Everybody picked their meal, making sure not to select the beef links. Then they stood there, trying to make sense of the packages. Garcia noted the confusion, so offered to cook the meals for them. The guests had no idea what to do with the MRE’s so quickly agreed. With practiced ease, Garcia had the meals cooking and ready to eat shortly.
Tammy, Breanne and Steve stayed to eat their meal with the three soldiers. It gave everybody a chance to tell their story. Well almost everybody. Steve was his usual withdrawn self, and the other soldier; Brown, did not offer to share either.
Tammy was sad to hear that Mark Peters had died but encouraged to hear about the survivors that they had set up at this school called the ‘Ren’.
Then it was Tammy’s turn to share her story. In typical newsie fashion, she remembered a remarkable amount of details.
Tammy laughed out loud when Collins explained what ‘ALF’ and ‘EMU’ meant. She had mentioned the names that Frankie had called their flight crew. Apparently, Alf stands for annoying little fuck, and Emu is a reference to the bird that can’t fly, which made sense when she considered the helicopter rescue and subsequent ride.
She caught herself when Collins, Garcia and even Brown stared at her with wide eyes. She felt her temperature rise in embarrassment and offered a quick apology.
“No! It’s not that, Tammy.” Garcia started.
Collins finished for him. “We just haven’t heard anybody really laugh for ... well, for a while now. Your laughter ... It’s beautiful.” That made Tammy blush even more.
When the meals were finished, the soldiers were kind enough to offer some tea. Breanne and Steve declined, and headed back next door to their own tent. Tammy was still too wired to end the day, so she stuck around.
They set up near Collins’ cot, and the foursome had a nice conversation interspersed with occasional banter from the three soldiers. It was obvious to Tammy that the men had grown close. She couldn’t help noticing that Brown and Garcia kept looking at Collins with concern in their eyes. Tammy correctly figured that the syndrome was causing Collins a lot of pain, and the young soldier was suffering.
Brown excused himself after a while. The soldier picked himself up from the ground next to Collins’ cot, patted his friend on the chest, and got back to his desk to continue to clean his gun.
Garcia, Collins and Tammy continued to talk for a while. Tammy was shocked, but not surprised, to hear that almost every soldier in the camp was suffering from the syndrome. Garcia didn’t say it, but his mannerisms clearly showed that his good friend was nearing the end stages.
Tammy watched Brown leave the tent, leaving the cleaned and assembled side-arm on the table. Garcia became somewhat agitated when he followed Tammy’s gaze
