Annihilation Prequel - Psychic Beginnings (9 page)

He saw Cynthia’s face again and closed his eyes. Fort Benning was still a day away and the task of basic training awaited him. It was time to learn the disciplines of combat. It was time to grow. First he would learn their weapons and then he would master his. He smiled and fell asleep.

• • •

The next morning he awoke as the bus pulled in to the Greyhound Station in Hickory, North Carolina. AG went inside and washed his face and took a short break while the bus was being refueled. He bought a breakfast sandwich and saw a young man being lectured by his mother just outside the front door.

“You shouldn’t have joined, Charlie. I can’t bear the thought of losing you.”

“Mom, I’ll be ok.”

“Your father said the same thing and look what happened.”

“I know, I know, but some things are worth fighting for and our family has always answered the call. I will not dishonor their memory. This is what I have to do to honor his death.”

AG watched the woman wrap her arms around the young man and cry. He walked back to his seat and watched her hold her son tight until he had to board the bus. The young man walked down the aisle and AG nodded toward the empty seat beside him, “No one’s sitting here.”

“Thanks, my name is Charles Weston.”

“I’m Anthony Gardner but you can call me AG.”

“I use Charlie. Where are you headed?”

“Fort Benning.”

Charlie’s eyes grew wide and he smiled, “So am I. Basic training?”

“Yes.”

“Great, maybe we’ll end up in the same platoon. Did you volunteer?”

“No, I was drafted.”

“That’s ok; it’s not how you fly; it’s how you land.”

AG smiled and listened to Charlie talk all the way to their destination. Charlie’s family was military as far back as ten generations. AG thought that some of their enemies were talked to death. Still, it was interesting and it helped keep his mind off missing Cyn.

They arrived at Ft. Benning and the wild ride of army induction started and didn’t let up for forty eight hours. AG followed instructions without questions and kept a low profile. Charlie had already done a hundred pushups and AG smiled at the garrulous young man’s struggles. He just couldn’t help himself; he had to talk. AG stood in the back ranks and managed to go unnoticed.

• • •

Sargent Frank Weber sat in his office looking over his platoon’s personnel documents. He saw more than thirty percent of the new draftees were sent by various courts. He started looking to see their crimes and found one with a note from a Captain Green attached with a telephone number. He shrugged and dialed the number.

“Captain Green.”

“Sir, I’m Sargent Weber and I’ve just found your note on…” He looked over and picked up the file, “Anthony Gardner’s file.”

“Is he assigned to you?”

“Yes Sir, he is.”

“Sargent, I am being shipped out to Vietnam in three weeks because of that young man.”

Frank grew nervous, “What did he do to you?”

“It’s what I did to him that’s getting me shipped out. He was accused of a crime he didn’t commit. The ones accusing him lied about what happened and the judge forced him to join the Army. I discovered when the mistake was uncovered that he made a perfect score on the SAT and was a 4.0 student. The principal of his school insisted he was the school’s smartest student.”

Frank hesitated and said, “You didn’t release him?”

“No, I did not. After the fact, I would have if I had known the brouhaha I started.”

“Why didn’t you do it?”

“I’ve asked myself that question every day since. I guess I was tired of taking the trash out and now I had a soldier that was superior to everyone I’ve ever enlisted. I just couldn’t make myself do it.”

“I imagine the boy fought tooth and nail not to go?”

“I was surprised by his reaction. It was almost as if he expected it. He did not put up a fight.” Green paused and said, “There’s something about that young man that is different. I don’t know what it is but I can sense it.”

“I’ll keep an eye on him, Sir.”

“I’m not worried about him, Sargent. I just want you to make sure that you notify me on the completion of his training so I can make sure he is assigned to my company. Will you do that for me?”

Frank shook his head. This was the first time this had ever happened. “I will, Captain.”

“Thanks; if I’m going to be punished for not releasing him, I should get the benefit of having him assigned to me. Thank you, Sargent.”

“Good night, Sir.” Frank looked at the document and saw that there were no corrections to the charges that were filed against Gardner. The soldier would not be slated for advancement unless this document was corrected. Frank saw that Captain Green was trying hard to prevent this recruit from being noticed…or wanted by any other officer. He put the file aside and decided to watch Gardner closely and see what was going on. He leaned back in his chair and tried to visualize the man and couldn’t. That was unusual. He was always able to store the faces of the new soldiers in his mind. He could not remember ever seeing this Gardner. Somehow he had avoided being seen. Now that was not easily done. He would have to check that out the next morning.

• • •

Frank stood in front of the platoon the next morning before he took them out on a five mile run. He looked down the ranks of his four squads and looked for Gardner. He didn’t see him. He looked at the current corporal and said, “Has roll been called?”

“Sir, yes Sir; all present and accounted for, Sir.”

He looked and saw that all the squads were equal length so all forty were present; but he could not pick Gardner out. What’s wrong with this? Where was he? He just couldn’t find him. “Lead em out corporal.”

“Sir, yes Sir. Right face. At double time, forwaarrrd, march.”

The platoon moved out and Frank followed them out. He searched the faces of the running soldiers but could not find Gardner. The platoon sang out their cadence in various verses and wondered why Sarge wasn’t yelling at them in his normal fashion. Frank finally decided to solve this mystery. He shouted, “Platooooooon, Halt.”

The Platoon halted and stood in ranks. He looked at the troops and said, “Gardner, front and center.”

“Oh crap. What have I done?” AG ran out of ranks and to the front of the platoon. Frank saw him leave his place in the third squad and could not understand how he had not seen him. “Corporal Clarke, take his position.”

Clarke looked disappointed and gave AG a stare as he moved into ranks that would have melted an iceberg. Frank stared at Gardner and saw that he was about six feet tall and well built. “Finish the run, Gardner.”

Frank watched the other members and saw they appeared to have more energy when Clarke was replaced. Gardner said, “Platoooon, at double time, forwaaarrrrddddd, march.” The platoon actually ran faster and sang louder with Gardner leading. They recognized him as a leader. Clarke did not command the same respect.

Frank knew that Clarke was going to confront this new leader shortly and he thought about heading it off but decided to wait and see what happened. He would keep the curtains slightly open and watch what happened from his office at the front of the barracks. He’d step in if it got out of hand but his curiosity was up. He was curious to see if Clarke had any more success at finding Gardner than he did.

• • •

AG avoided Clarke easily. He just went where he wasn’t looking. The big Scotsman had a mean temper and was the barracks bully. He intimidated most of the members of the platoon and demonstrated he possessed great physical strength. AG knew that if a confrontation occurred he would lose the ability to maintain a low profile so he just avoided Clarke.

Clarke for his part was getting frustrated and his anger was high. After searching the barracks he decided to take his anger out on Jimmy Chen. Jimmy inadvertently stepped into Clarke’s path and accidently bumped him. Clarke grabbed the small Chen and lifted him off the floor and held him at eye level. Chen was left hanging in front of Clarke and knew he was about to be punched. Clarke sneered, “You need to watch where you’re going punk.”

AG sighed and knew it just wasn’t right to have Chen pay the price for his selection. He stepped out from his bunk and said, “He told you he was sorry. Shouldn’t that be enough?”

Clarke saw AG and immediately forgot Chen. He tossed him aside and rapidly walked toward AG. Clarke was six inches taller than AG and sixty pounds heavier. “You have a way of butting into other’s business. You should learn that will get you in trouble.”

AG slowly shook his head and sighed, “Do you really want to do this?” Clarke’s anger exploded. He rushed forward and launched a haymaker at AG’s head.

Frank Weber saw the exchange and started to get up but knew he couldn’t arrive before Gardner was hit. When AG leaned back and let the blow go by in front of his face and then step around Clarke, Frank sat back down. Gardner moved faster than anyone he had ever seen.

AG said, “You need to just walk away, Clarke. I won’t ask you again.”

Clarke couldn’t think straight he was so angry. He turned and rushed AG intending to wrap him up in a bear hug. AG watched him come and just as he arrived he delivered a short quick punch into Clarke’s chest just below his sternum. Clarke froze with his arms spread and couldn’t move or breathe. The pain radiating out of his chest was unbearable and he couldn’t move. He started falling and AG grabbed him before he hit the floor, turned him over on his back, and said where only he could hear, “You will never be a warrior. You are just a mere fighter and you will always be less for it.” Clarke was starting to feel panic; he couldn’t breathe. AG delivered a quick hit on his chest and his lungs started working again.

AG looked at Chen and said, “Help me get him to his bunk.”

Chen and three others came over and lifted Clarke and put him on his bed and then stepped away. AG massaged the area on Clarke’s chest where he had hit him until he could talk.

“What did you do?”

AG said quietly, “Stopped you from being a thug. Don’t continue to bully our teammates; I don’t want to have to do this again. Nod if you understand.”

Clarke nodded and knew the pain he felt was the worst he had ever experienced. He decided that he wasn’t going to do anything to anger this smaller man again.

Frank decided it was time for him to come in, “What’s all this noise? It’s time for lights out now, get in your bunk and pretend you’re sleeping.”

The forty trainees ran to their beds and jumped in. AG could hear them murmuring among themselves and knew he had given up some of his privacy. He also knew the Sargent had seen what happened. That was not a good thing. He closed his eyes and thought about Cynthia. He fell asleep with her face in his mind.

T
he next morning as the platoon lined up for their morning calisthenics, Frank noticed that no one was in front of the Platoon. Clarke refused to take the position. He was still embarrassed from the night before and chose to remain in ranks. AG was not going to move out front. Frank looked over the group and found he couldn’t see Gardner again. How in the heck does he do that? “Gardner, get up here!”

“Oh crap.” AG ran up to the front of the platoon and stood at attention. “I thought I told you to take charge of the platoon yesterday?”

“Sir, no Sir; you told me to just finish our run.”

“Are you telling me I’m wrong, Mr. Gardner?”

“Sir, no Sir, the Sargent is never, wrong, Sir. My feeble mind was unable to understand the high level of your commands, Sir.”

Frank nearly broke into a smile but somehow managed to keep his face stern. He said loudly, “Some of you can learn for Mr. Gardner’s comments. Just to make sure you do, we will start this session with a five mile run.”

Frank Looked at Gardner and he said, “Platoon, right face. Forrrwwwwarrddd, March. At double time, March.” Frank focused on Clarke and saw that he was following commands and keeping his head down. He might as well get used to it; the only way to keep track of Gardner was to have him away from the others. That’s where he was going to stay.

• • •

Two weeks later AG was in Frank’s full attention again. The platoon had learned how to field strip an M-16 and reassemble it in the dark. Now they were at the firing range and taking turns on the firing line trying to hit a target a hundred and fifty yards away. Most were able to hit the man size target with a couple of shots but were nowhere near proficient with their shot groupings. “Cease firing. Weapons clear.” Frank watched as the M-16s were put down and he ordered, “Go get your targets.”

The fifteen draftee’s ran forward and took their targets down and rushed back to stand at attention with their target in front of them. He walked down the line telling them how worthless they were as human beings and especially how they could never be real soldiers. Ten year old girls can shoot better than this.” He arrived in front of Gardner and saw one hole in the middle of the target’s head. He started to really get on the new corporal but noticed that the hole was just lightly bigger than a .223 round. He looked up at Gardner, who had no expression giving away his thoughts. He didn’t want to even think what he suspected was a possibility but he decided to find out. “Gardner, you will take that target back down range and have it reattached. Now move it!”

Most of the other platoon members saw the single hole and knew the Sargent was furious. As AG ran down range, Frank picked up his walkie talkie and said, “I’m having a refire. I want you to watch the metal behind the target and count how many shots hit the metal.”

“Yes Sir.”

AG arrived back and Frank said, “You will fire again at the target, Corporal Gardner. Load ten shots.” AG loaded and assumed a prone position on the line. “All clear on the firing range. Weapons ready.” Frank paused and said, “Hit it in the heart, Gardner. Commence firing.”

AG thought about what he had discovered when he fired the AR16 for the first time. He lined up on the target and saw a black line extending from the barrel toward the target. He had fired at the black line and wondered what the result was going to be. He was just as surprised as the Sargent when he only saw one hole. He assumed a prone position and fired ten shots in less than five seconds. “Cease firing. All clear on the firing range. Retrieve your target.”