Enlisted

Walking down the street with her in your arms your mind begins to wander. The thoughts running through your head drift from one fantasy to another. They usually involve you and her lying in a field or forest, with exasperated looks on your faces, right after some fiery act of passion. You hope that something similar will happen, after you get her leg checked out, when you get home and are finally able to relax away from all of this mayhem. Since you probably won't ever come back to this hole the thought of what you'll do for a job when you rotate back to the world comes to mind.... probably private security... habits, like shooting people for a living, die hard.

"How's your leg?" you ask a little concerned

"Well, either I can't feel it anymore or it just doesn't hurt enough for me to notice. I'll be fine til they try to pull all the pieces out."

"Why until then?"

"Cuz I know for a fact that they'll treat it as an emergency and they won't wait for the anesthesia."

"Oh that'll be fun, won't it?"

"Yeeaa, and by the way, when they're operating I'm probably going to break your hand from squeezing it." she says with a nervous smile.

"Hey I have no problems being there with you when it happens. If it hurts you can squeeze all you want."

"Thanks..." her expression shows she's a little blue. "I'd usually end up in there alone, I'm really glad to know I can always count on you." she has a sad smile on.

"Hehe, didn't the whole 'me getting shot at' scenarios demonstrate a bit of that?"

"Please, don't remind me." she says still keeping her smile.

The conversation stays light hearted while the both of you enjoy your leisurely stroll. Trying not to let her notice you, you slowly scan the alley ways you walk by and the street corners where men just stand and stare. Maybe you'll get lucky and you won't get shot at on your walk, but with your luck you'll probably end up hauling ass down the street with Dash firing at mulisha over your shoulder. Normally, in the back of your mind, you'd find yourself unintentionally hoping for some form of conflict, but for some reason you catch yourself and realize that now's not the best time. Still, if anything does arise, you have complete and total trust in her accuracy and quick trigger hoove.

"They're staring at us, aren't they?" she says irritated.

"Yea... they are... They're also asking for FMJ's to be buried in their skulls." you say gesturing towards some men through a window wearing ski-masks .

"I almost tempted to let you open up on them, but today's not the day to go pick a fight.... let's just try and keep to ourselves."

"Fine, but if anyone stops us or even looks like they're pointing a weapon at us, I won't even think twice about emptying this magazine." god... even with shrapnel damage she's feisty as ever.

"Heh..." she's not joking. "I'm cool with that, just don't point it at them until you plan on killing them."

And with that your luck goes down the proverbial drain. 2 men and 3 ponies, with ski masks and rifles, walk onto the street and form a mini- blockade about 10 feet in front of you. Damnit.... Well, so much for not getting shot at today...

"Can I point this at them now?" she asks sarcastically.

"Yea, go ahead. Just don't hit anyone else."

"You mean aside from old terrorist women?" she says with a giggle.

"Most definately. Theres still a few mags left in your bag, right?"

"Yea, I got enough to deal with these clowns."

"Just checkin'. I'm going to end up running from one side of the street to another, hope you're accurate on strafing runs."

"Well we'll find out now won't we?" she says smirking.

At this moment the two of you and the blockade were just eyeing eachother while she gripped her M4. Hope she's ready. You pivot on your left foot and haul off towards the alley that is now in front of you, while she hosed down their end of the street. As soon as you hit cover she reloads while you walk a small distance into the alley for a head start to pick up speed on the next run. Right as she chambers the first round you take off running to the opposite side of the street and she begins draining her magazine into the ones still standing.

"Did you get them all?" you ask now in the other alley.

"Not sure, why don't you take a peek?"

You lean out from the alley just enough to see where they used to be standing. Now there is just a pile of bodies squirming on the ground and groaning in pain.

"Well... they're not dead, but you got em'."

You walk over to them and discover that she'd shot them all in the stomach. They were all curled up in the fetal position as they bled on the ground and you knew they weren't going to reach for their rifles, they were too preoccupied at the moment. It's probably a good idea to shoot them at this point, but you're pretty sure they'll have more fun if you just left them how you found them.

"So, am I going finish it?"

"Naaah, they're enjoying themselves. Let's not ruin it for them, plus we still need to get your leg checked out and plan on being home before the week is out."

And once again you start up the street, but no one stops you this time, with her still in your arms. The conversation from this point on is just the two of you pointing out the places you've raided, or the still bombed out buildings you had taken an AT-4 to.
Despite the nostalgia, you aren't going to miss this place. Now that you think about it, pretty much the only thing that made this livable was her company. As the setting sun turns a dark orange you find yourself just strolling into camp like it was just any other day. Other crews, who you've hung out with between rotations, begin badgering you about where you've been for the past 2 days and why Dash's leg has holes in it, and why your vest has a giant blood smear on it, and why you aren't answering any of them.

You walk into the infirmary and lie her down on the nearest bed and begin yelling for a medic. Your shouting is met with two medics in dirty lab coats and one of them was holding a syringe and the other a metal tray with some instruments. You reassuringly take her hoof while they give her the injection and wrap a tourniquet above the wound cluster.

"Don't worry, I'll be here with you the whole time." you say as she shuts her eyes.

"I know... I know... Just don't let go.."

"Never.." you say as you kiss her forehead.

The medics take about an hour and a half to get every last little fragment dug out of her leg, and through out the whole thing she never let loose her grip on your hand. They finish their work and bandage up the wounds and leave you two alone. She scoots over to make room for you and you wrap your arms around her and lie there with her in almost complete quiet. You almost fall completely asleep before you feel a hard tap on your shoulder, followed by an "Ahem." You roll over and are greeted by the image of your commanding officer holding what you hope is yours and hers relief papers. Almost falling out of the bed you quickly stand at attention.

"It's been an honor serving with you two, but right now it's clear to me that you both need to go home." he says 'matter of factly.'

"Thank you sir. We'll hopefully be headed out in the morning."

"At ease. Happy trails corporal." he says then walks out.

Lying back down with Dash you kiss her neck, wrap your arm around her, and settle in for the night.

"We're going home Dash...we're goin' home."

Sunlight slowly creeps in through the windows, which were just holes blown out in the walls, and awakens you to the picture of a beautiful rainbow mane that smelled of two days of gunfire.... magnificient. You find yourself lying awake just waiting for her to wake with you. You really want to get home today, but for some reason this seems more important to you. You only need to wait another hour before she rolls over and faces you with those beautiful pink eyes.

"Mornin' beautiful." you say still a little sleepy.

She puts her hoof on your cheek and kisses you.

"Mornin'." she says with a smile.

Your morning is spent gathering all of your gear and saying your goodbyes to the crews that you hung out with. It carries on a little slowly, but you don't mind because you're leaving all of this behind soon.
It's noon now and the both of you are in the back of an escort jeep on the airstrip that'll drop you off at your ride home. It's going to be a long ride home, but you both have eachother to keep company and that.... that's all that matters anymore.