The Gun Bunny Chronicles - 2: All I Want for Christmas...
I just want you for my own, More than you could ever know. Make my wish come true, All I want for Christmas is you...
December 24, 1930 Hours. FOB Anvil, Afghanistan.
"Brr...It's cold.." Such an obvious statement, yet no one called her on it. They were too busy trying to use what meager decorations they had to beautify the outside of their little pods. Pods were small trailers with three rooms a piece built in. Two normally occupied each little room, but because the FOB was so small, they had enough to give everyone their own room. Elise just wondered how this little corner of the desert was able to get them. The decorations had just come in from assorted care packages sent by family members and loved ones; they had to wait before sending them so it could get approved.
The blue and white bunny was currently stringing a small strand of lights over her doorway, small pieces of steel safety wire she had nabbed from the aviation guys helping her cause by keeping the lights fastened in place. Her hand jerked back quickly..it was the third time she had pricked a finger on the metal wire.
"Careful sergeant, that stuff can poke out an eye." Her gaze shifted right to look at their too sexy for his own good Lieutenant. A slight shiver went up her spine. Hey, she couldn't help it. Damn GO1 didn't help anything, either.
"Good thing they aren't on my fingers, sir. i'd be blind by now." She sucked maybe a bit too provocativly on her index finger while she descended the step to stand in front of him, other hand reaching up to push the white ball of the santa hat on her head out of her face. The wolf eyed her and tried to force himself not to look at anything except her face. Blue and white fur contrasted uniquely with the MARPAT the Marines wore, and although the Army and the Corps. made their uniforms to leave things to the imagination Gun Bunny was an exception. The MARPAT covered her according to all regulations, of course, but one couldn't help noticing her name tapes getting shoved out and stretched along a very generous bosom. Adding to the way her pants hugged her hips and pert rear end, the Corps could have used her as a poster child for womens equality.
"We can't have that Gun bunny. Party Rock can't have a blind driver." Papa's familiar drawl came behind her like a slap in the back of the neck, and she accomplished three things in the span of a second: Got the shit scared out of her, squeaked, then spun to see who the offender was.
"Damn it Papa, quit doing that shit!" She had no earthly idea how someone so big was able to move so quietly. It was impossible, just impossible.
She spied Simon and Sellers coming up behind him, care packages under their arms and big grins on their faces. She was glad to see Simon in high spirits again. After that mission last month he was really shaken about the whole ordeal. She couldn't blame him, each of them had been the same way the first time they had seen a fire fight. She shot them a grin and waved half heartedly when they rolled up, slightly panting.
"We got here as soon as we could. Hope you didn't get too far without us!" Sellers, as usual in a cheery mood, said while trying to balance his box and open it at the same time. "So, what did you guys get?"
Marcus stepped forward slightly and scratched his chin. "Hm..how about we combine whats in the boxes and then decorate as we go?" He set his own box on the little plywood and 2x4 table Gun Bunny had re-allocated from another company. He pulled his own decorations out and laid them on the top. The others followed suit, Gun Bunny glaring at her errant lights before doing the same.
After careful inspection, they leaned back from the table where their heads were almost touching. Gun Bunny scratched her cheek idly whilst Marcus folded his arms over his chest.
I think we'll be good. Alright, start at your rooms and spread out from there!" They grinned in unison and set to work. By some miracle all had gotten santa hats in their boxes, so instead of standard issue headgear, they opted for the more festive option. Each was busy hanging lights, garlands, and even a few got a couple of small wreaths. Sellers was more preoccupied with setting up the little tree his church had sent him in the box. Already decorated, he puffed out the branches and set the little tree in the middle. Elise glanced down, then nudged the table with her foot, eyebrow raising towards Sellers as the poor little tree swayed, unsteady.
"Ah...shit Um...GB, I don't suppose you got any.."
"Go by my bed and look in the second plastic drawer thingy."
He grinned and ducked under her arm and into her room. of course, it was the only thing that had a nice smell to it out here. He re-appeared a few second later and uncorked the super glue. Leaning over, he gently applied a little line in a circle and set the tree in it, twisting for good measure. "Fuckin A, man. This thing rocks."
She nodded and ducked into her room. Her hand pushed her sunglasses ontop of her head while she searched inside for her iPod and speakers. Her eyes rested on the little plushy snowman with a black tophat that had taken up residence on her pillow. Head cocked, she picked it up slowly and turned it around in her hands. There was no name associated with it, but it could have been any of the guys. They knew she liked snowmen. She gave it a soft little hug and set it back on her pillow. Turning slightly, she nabbed her speakers and the iPod connected to it. Her hand had just finished hitting shuffle and play as she stepped out, and when she set it on the table Muse started blaring out.
"Nah, don't go for the carols or anything. Not like it's Christmas or nothin." Sellers shot at her from the side, in the middle of fixing a wreath to the outside of his door.
"I have a couple hundred gigs of crap on that thing. If you wanna pour through it to find the few i got, dude you are more than welcome to." A sideways grin split her lips as she glanced at him. It was dark already..she slid her sunglasses off her face and tossed them into her room.
"Nah, i'm cool. I know better than to try to find anything in that unorganized bottomless pit." He chuckled to himself. So did papa. Marcus grinned but held his tongue while he affixed duct tape to the light strand he was working on.
"well, my area's done." he turned slowly and nodded. "Damn, rock on guys. Looks great." His hands slid to a foldy chair and tugged it underneath himself, him being a little too lazy to move himself to the chair. The rest followed suit, Elise taking the seat on the opposite side of Marcus, the table with the little tree between them. Sellers, Simon and Papa brought their chairs out and formed a horseshoe around the table. Elise slid a cigarette from the pack on the table and stuck it between her lips. Hand bringing out her zippo, a click sounded as the little lid opened, and soon the air directly infront of her became occupied with a trail of smoke from the cherry.
She didn't realize exactly when the sparkling grape juice had appeared on the table, but it was there, pilfered directly from the DFAC. Little styrofoam cups were stuck inside each other, and elise wasted no time in unscrewing the cap. Soft fizzling sounds came as each cup was poured. They all lifted them and tapped the rims together with narry a sound.
"You know...although you army guys couldn't find a hole if you fell in it..." Gun Bunny began Marcus and Simon started to retort, but she held a hand up. "Hold on, hold on. That being said, this deployment wouldn't have been the same without you guys. I'd gladly put some Marpat on you if I could."
She raised her cup and they tapped the rims together with an enthusiastic shout. They slammed the fizzy drink back and slammed the little cups down. Marcus took the initiative and refilled them to the brim. They picked up their drinks once more. Simon cleared his throat to get everyone's attenton.
"Guys...I'm glad I had you for my first deployment. This shit really sucks sometimes, and as you all know, that was my first firefight. I don't think i would have kept my sanity if it hadn't been for all of you. Thanks..a lot."
They cheered and slammed their cups together, getting more of the fizzly stuff on them than anywhere else. The remainer they chugged and slammed the poor little cups down again. Marcus refilled them once more, then looked at the group.
"Thats what it truly means to be a soldier, Simon. It doesn't matter if you are Army or Marine, the only people we got out here is ourselves. If we don't take care of each other, no one will. We may not be family by blood, and we may not all agree with being over here, but we are a family in purpose, and our purpose is to do our jobs and get back to the states. I know you Marines aren't used to a year long tour, but what makes it better is the people you serve it with. They can sometimes drive you batshit insane.." They had a good laugh and slammed their drinks once more. Marcus refilled the as he continued to speak.
"...Or they can be closer than your true family. Thats why a lot of people don't really understand some of the things we do. I don't mean our job, thats different. But the way we interact with and treat each other is what makes us truly unique, because nobody but us knows what we go through. So never forget the time we spend here. It may be miserable sometimes, but these are the memories you will look back on the most."
They nodded and tapped their glasses together.
"Well said Marcus." Gun Bunny said before downing her drink and setting the cup on the table. She nabbed her speakers and her iPod and tugged it into her lap.
"Christmas carols...I know I got some on here.."
Just as she began scrolling she heard the soft whisper of a very familiar enemy just before a mortar hit near them, detonating in an ear ringing explosion not too far away from then. The suprise sent Elise and the others flying out of their chairs to hit the ground on theirf aces. Dirt and bits of concrete rained down upon their backs. Elise tilted her head up and looked around slowly.
"Is everyone okay!?"
She didn't get an answer before mortars two and three hit, Shaking their little area to the core. Instincts kicking in, they stood up one after the other and ran down the concrete pathway. Each dov into their rooms and came out a split second later with their assigned weapons. That wasn't quite protocol, but they would be damned if they would be unarmed when shit was happening. They all knew what to do, and where to go. Chests pumping, lungs heaving, they dashed towards the nearest bunker. Sellers jumped into the concrete archway first, skidding on his shoulder right into the middle. Papa and Marcus entered next and took a seat near him, weapons between their legs and held in a white knuckled grip. Gun bunny ran n soon after.
"Everyone here!?" Marcus called, looking around in the darkness to make sure they were all accounted for. Papa looked but his face grew grim.
"Where is Simon!?"
Elise looked around, heart slamming into her throat as she looked out. Simon had lagged, and although he was going full throttle towards the bunker, the mortars seemed hell bent on coming right for him. Explosions flared and shrapnel blew all around him, and for Elise, it moved too much like a slow motion movie, but for this one, anything could happen.
Determination set in his eyes and he took one last step before a mortar blew behind him, close enough to send him off his feet and hurling into the bunker. His fur black with ash and debris, he sat his aching body up next to Elise.
She immediatly looked around him for any wounds ut he held up his hand. "It.." Cough "...it didn't get me."
"What the fuck Simon!?"
He didn't have much time to answer before the next mortar hit, silencing all of them. Simon covered Elise as best he could while covering himself, eyes squinting shut, ears ringing and head pounding. The inderect fire was sporadic but consistent, happening every so often so far.
He looked up at her and pulled up the hand he had on the other side of him. He plopped a stuffed snowman into her lap, a little blackened from when he flew, but no worse for the wear.
"Had to..save that for you. You have no idea how much I had to go through to hide it." he smiled and leaned his head back against the bunker.
She blinked in surprise and looked down. The mortars seemed fainter somehow, and that helped for some reason. She tenderly picked up the snowman and smiled, brushing it off when mortar flashes illuminated it, then she set it back into her lap. She turned to Simon and leaned over, her hand resting on his cheek. Although it was dark most of the time, she didn't need to see for now. She leaned forward and pressed their lips together in a gentle kiss.
Sellers hit the light on his watch and grinned through the blasts.
"Midnight! Hell of a way to start Christmas day! Haha!"
when the next blast hit, her iPod and speakers fell off the table. it couldn't have been a more lucky shot. The front of the iPod landed on a small rock at the perfect trajectory and hit play, and through the blasts the speakers blared out a well known christmas carol.
They all smiled in the darkness...all except Elise and Simon, who were still sharing that sweet, sweet kiss.
'All I want for christmas...Is you."