Shot Throught the Heart

twenty-one

After hanging up on Moms, I left the three member of my team in the common room and retreated into the women's bunk room. I did prop the door open though so that I could hear what is going on inside to make sure nobody is getting out of line. When I heard a noise inside the bunk room my eyes snapped up and I found Specialist Elizabeth McDonald sitting on her bed reading through some paperwork. Feeling eyes on her, she looked up and gave me a nod before going back to her work.

            I unclipped my holster from my leg and started to pull off my camo uniform now that our formal meetings are done for the day. Once the camo came off I pulled on a pair of shorts and a fresh t-shirt before I continued to unload some of my duffle bag into the truck for easy access. I knew I shouldn't get too comfortable because at a moments notice we could have to pack everything up and leave.

            So for now I just made myself a little bit at home, grabbed my ID badge and debit card before putting both in the holder and strapping it around my bicep. Next I put my holster back on my leg and grabbed my gun cases from the floor. I put them both on the bed and opened my rifle case and stuck my notebook inside of it before closing it again. Once I had them both in hand, I heading out of the room. Dexter and Grant were sitting around the table when I walked back into the common room. I didn't pay them any mind as I grabbed a marker for the white board and wrote out the team meeting time before I left our barracks.

            I walked down the hall to our gear room and unlocked the door. While I have some time now I claimed a locker for myself. It didn't take long to find my gear bag and to put together my gear to make sure everything was in one piece. With my gear assembled, I locked up my sniper rifle and rifle in the small cage each of the lockers are equipped with. Now that both of my gun cases were empty, I brought them back to my bunk and slipped them underneath my bed.

            Opening up the base map once I walked out of the building, I started to get familiar with the important building locations. After dinner and before the team meeting I already planned on raiding the store on base to see what they have. But for now, I tucked the map back into my notebook and walked to the mess hall.

            The dinner rush didn't hit yet so I got to take in all the choices the mess had. It was nice to get some hot food that actually looked appetizing for once before I looked out at the many tables in the room. A lot of them had people already sitting around them so I just found a table towards the back of the room and took the seat with my back to the wall so I could look out for when Ryan would walk in.

            It didn't take long before he showed up with a tray of food in hand looking around the room. I held my hand up and gave him a little wave which he saw and came over to the table. He put down his tray and gave me a smile.

            "Has the food always been this good?" I asked and took a bite of the chicken dish I selected.

            "Yes, honestly the first we night we were here, the team and I went to town and sampled almost everything they had to offer. The chocolate cake they have here is to die for and I suggest you get a piece now before they run out." Ryan said and started to dig into his food. I took one look at the piece of chocolate cake on his tray and got up from my seat to get in line again.

            By the time I got back with the piece of recommended cake, Ryan couldn't stop laughing. I just shook my head and went back to eating my dinner. We keep the conversation light throughout dinner and once we both finished and moved onto dessert Ryan sat back and watched me take the first bite of cake. It was so good, I almost moaned. I was able to keep it in but Ryan did laugh at me again when I took another bite of cake.

            After we finished our dessert and gave our trays back to the kitchen staff we returned to the reason why we were meeting in the first place.