The Warrior (2 page)

“If you really thought I wouldn’t be able to
handle my position you wouldn’t have put me in it.” I say in a coy
voice. He really has no idea who I am anymore. I maybe even more
ruthless than he is.

“You got a point there. Just don’t fuck this
up.” He says as he stands.

“Didn’t plan on it.” I say as I stand and
follow him to the door. He stops in front of me as I walk around
him. He slaps my shoulder on the way out the door. Now that we have
that all taken care of I'm damn hungry.

***

Dinner went by without a hitch which I was
glad for. Dad pretty much talked about how things work around here.
Where the cargo goes while it’s here and how we work the ship outs.
He told me about how my training would come in handy since he put
me charge of training the other guys and new recruits. As glad as I
am to be out of the Marines I can’t help but feel like a piece of
me is still there. It’s like leaving one hell to go to the next. I
guess that pretty much sums up my life.

“What are you doing?” Bradon’s voice comes
from behind me. I turn around to see my little brother standing
there. It’s hard to believe he is a grown man now.

“Just hanging out. Couldn’t sleep so I
thought I’d get some air. What are you doing up?” I say as he walks
over and sits next to me.

“Just checking the perimeters. I was about to
head in when I saw you. What are you thinking about?” He says as he
looks up at the sky.

“Thinking how I left one hell for another.” I
say as I look up with him.

“That’s a fact right there. You ever wonder
what it would be like to get out of this shit?” He says looking at
me now.

“I was out. It wasn’t any better than this I
can tell you. But I know what you mean and honestly man; I don’t
know how to be anything but a warrior. I don’t think I’d survive
out there.” I say looking back at him.

“We’re still young though. Maybe one day.” He
says as his sentence trails off. I stand up and slap him on the
back.

“Maybe one day.” I repeat as I walk back
towards the house. I think about that as I walk into the house and
up to my room. What would I do if I was out of here? Where would I
go? I wouldn’t have anything and wouldn’t be anyone but then again
what am I here? I walk back to my door and go in locking it behind
me. I pull my shirt off as I walk towards the bed and crash.

***

The week goes by in a flash. Now it’s
Saturday and I'm heading to the gym to meet some new recruits.

“You heading out already?” Bradon says as I
jump in my truck.

“Yea meeting the new guys over there at 10.”
I say as I start the truck up.

“Ok I have some shit to handle than you want
to meet me for lunch?” He says as he picks up some duffle bags and
loads them into his truck. I don’t know what is in them but I don’t
ask either.

“Yea. Sounds good.” I say as I pull off and
head towards the gym. The ride there doesn’t take long. I don’t
know how much of a mood I'm in for this today but I guess I need to
suck it up and get used to it. I park in front of the old gym and
hop out heading towards the door. Just as I reach for the handle it
flies open.

“Holy shit Cadence!” David yells with a huge
smile.

“David man how are you?” I say with a smile.
I extend my hand as David takes it.

“Been a long time Cad. I heard you were back
I was wondering when I’d be seeing you.” He says as he watches
me.

“Got put on training duty so you will be
seeing a whole hell of a lot of me.” I say with a smile.

“Damn just got back and already up the ranks
huh? Well I'm glad you’re back. I will talk to you in awhile I need
to get over to the court.” David says as he slaps my back I nod at
him and head inside to get this day over with.

As soon as I walk in and to the back I can
tell I'm not going to like a few of these guys. It’s one of those
gut instincts you get when you know someone is a real fucking piece
of work. Yea that is the feeling I'm getting right now.

“I'm Cad. You the newbies?” I ask the guy
closest to me when I hear a female’s voice. It’s a strangled sound
and it doesn’t sound right. I look at the guy in front of me as he
shrugs. I turn and walk towards the sound and see one of the new
guys I met the other night with a bar bell against Nina’s throat.
She is clearly having trouble breathing and she has been crying. I
stalk over to the guy yanking him off her as he drops the weights
and turns to swing at me. I swing first and knock him back. He
turns ready to swing when I speak.

“Think that’s a good idea?” I say as I cross
my arms across my chest. The man I now remember his name is Drew
cuts his eyes at me and then back over to Nina.

“Take a walk man.” I snap as I watch him walk
away. I then turn my attention back to Nina who is holding her
throat and crying. I stride over to her and take her chin in my
hand lifting her face.

“Let me look at it.” I say as an order. She
slowly lowers her hand as I run mine across her neck. She is still
crying so I reach up and wipe her eyes.

“It looks ok. It might leave a mark but you
will be fine.” I say as I let go of her face and drop my hands to
my sides.

“Thank you.” She says as I snap my eyes back
up to meet hers. She is beautiful. Long blonde hair with blue
eyes.

“Don’t thank me. Watch your ass with these
guys. That right there.” I say pointing back to where Drew was. “Is
a fucking match. You keep striking at it and you will get burned
baby.” I say as I turn and walk away. I don’t know what the hell
was going on with those two but I'm not asking. Apparently this
little girl hasn’t been paying attention to the people she is
messing with. I turn my attention back to these idiots I'm supposed
to be training.

I train the guys but mostly I make them work
out. I was put in charge of some of the most out of shape men I
have ever seen. I don’t know where my dad picks these idiots up at
but he may want to find a new spot. Thank god this training shit is
over for today. I head out to meet up with Bradon.

***

“How was training?” Bradon says as I pull up
a chair and sit.

“That had to be the worst set of guys I have
ever fucking seen. Who the hell is in charge of picking these
dumbasses out?” I ask as I shake my head. Bradon just laughs. Glad
this is amusing for him.

“That would be good old dad on that one. He
has this theory that you can mold the weak into the strength he
needs.” Bradon says as he watches me.

“Well that is the stupidest thing ever.” I
say as Bradon waves over the waitress.

“Two burgers and two beers.” He tells her as
he slaps her ass as she walks away. I turn my head and cut my eyes
at him.

“What? She has a nice ass.” Bradon says as he
smiles.

“So what are we doing tonight?” I ask as the
girl sets our beers down and I grab mine.

“Scouting tonight. Thought we would head up
towards the college. We need to pick up those specials.” Bradon
says as he looks at me. I sigh as I look out the window at the
“Normal” people walking around. Why couldn’t we have grown up
normal? Why were we brought into this life?

“You going to be up for that?” Bradon says
watching for a reaction. I nod my head.

“Yea I got this. So how long has Drew been
screwed up?” I ask as the waitress delivers our food.

“Meet up later?” Bradon says winking over at
her as she nods shyly.

“What the hell Bra?” I say with a smile on my
face. Look at my little brother over there.

“What? I need some ass every once in a
while.” He says laughing.

“Drew has been off for a long time now. You
remember Jada?” He says as he takes a bite of his food.

“She was Matt’s kid right?” I say as I take a
drink.

“Yea that’s her. Well they hooked up awhile
back. Jada wanted out of all this shit but Drew knew they couldn’t
go anywhere. He tried to talk to her but she went all fucking
physco on him. She went running around the compound threatening
everything and everyone until one of the guys took her out. Dad
swears he didn’t order it but why the hell else would they have
shot her?” Bradon says as he eats some more.

I shake my head as I eat and order another
drink. This is one hell of a life to live.

“What time we need to head out?” I ask as I
nod to the waitress as she sets my beer down.

“Parties start up about 8. So I figure we hit
up a few bars before that. So I guess 7.” He says as he leans back
in his chair.

“What are we looking for?” I ask as I follow
suit and lean back.

“White girls. 5’7’’-5’9’’. Dark hair. Black
or brown doesn’t matter. Small waists.” He says without looking at
me.

“And these are special why? Sounds like
everyday kinds of girls.” I say as he looks over at me.

“Pretty much but they want zero tattoos. That
is not an everyday thing in college towns. Everybody has fucking
tattoos.” He says with a chuckle.

“Well that is true.” I say as with a laugh.
“I guess we need to head back so I can shower and get ready.” I say
as Bradon nods. We stand up and pay our bill and head back to the
house.

***

We are driving from bar to bar and this shit
is harder than it looks. A lot of the girls we have talked to have
had tattoos. We go in pretend we are drunk and ask about tattoos.
We are pulling up to road full of frats and parties.

“Should we split up or what?” I say as we hop
out of the truck.

“Why the hell not? Maybe we can get out of
here faster.” He says with a smile. Bradon starts towards one house
as I walk to the next. I go in and the party is wild. I have never
been to a party like this before. There are girls dancing
everywhere. I stalk the room for one that fits the description we
were given. I see a few potential people wandering around. I start
towards one and start to talk.

“Hey baby.” I say as I approach one. The girl
spins around to face me and she looks pretty good.

“Hey there. You new? I haven’t seen you here
before.” She says smiling as she takes a drink of whatever is in
her cup.

“Yea. Just moved here. Hey I was wanting to
get a tattoo know anywhere good?” I say with a little slur so I
sound drunk. The girl laughs.

“No I don’t have any but my friend Gina has
one. I can ask her. She so got this drunk tattoo that says I C U on
her ass.” The girl says laughing. I laugh with her and get her a
refill on her drink. We hang out talking and laughing as I make
sure she is drinking enough to fuck her up so she isn’t noticeable
when we leave.

“Come dance with me.” She yells as she slurs
and stumbles around. I grab her hand and pull her towards the
middle of the room.

“What’s your name anyways?” She says as she
throws her arms around my neck.

“James. What’s yours?” She says looking up at
me and I can see the fuzziness in her eyes.

“Krissy. I am Krissy. Do you like the name
Krissy?” She says as I grab her hips and move her to the music. I
lay my head against her neck kissing it. Hey Bradon said to do what
I had to do.

“You want to leave Krissy?’ I whisper against
her ear as I nibble on it. She squirms beneath my touch.

“Yea.” She slurs back at me. I smile down at
her and grab her around the shoulders as we make our way outside. I
stop dead in my tracks when I see Nina handing out some kind of
papers.

“I'm gonna throw up.” Krissy says as I lead
her to the side of the yard without every taking my eyes of Nina.
What the hell is she doing here?

“I’ll be right back ok?” I say to Krissy as
she nods her head. I stalk over to where Nina is standing by a van.
I push her back against it as her eyes shoot to mine. She is
scared. I startled her and she dropped all of her papers. I look
down at her and I can feel her heart pounding against my chest.

“What the hell are you doing around here?” I
snap at her never letting go.

“I was..just.” She cuts herself off to look
around a little.

“Just what?” I snap as she looks down at the
papers she dropped. I pull back from her as I bend down and pick up
her papers. I look over what’s on it.

“Missing. Melissa Hamons.” Who the hell? I
look at the papers and then up to Nina.

“Who the hell is this?” I say as I turn the
paper towards her. I don’t expect the reaction I get when Nina
snatches the papers out of my hand.

“She’s my sister!” she snaps as she tries to
walk away. Her sister is missing? I reach out and grab her arm
pulling her back in front of me.

“How long as she been missing?” I ask and I
know how this is coming out. I'm coming off as a nervous
physco.

“A little more than a year. Can I go now?”
She says looking at my hand and then back to my face. What is it
with this girl that is throwing me off? I take a deep breath and
swallow the lump that has formed in my throat.

“Why are you looking around here?” I ask
calmer now.

“She went to school here.” She says looking
down. I'm about to speak when I hear the drunk throwing up girl
come up behind us.

“James?” She says as I spin around to face
her. “We going?” She says with a smile as I nod. I turn back to
Nina and she looks like she is waiting for me to say something but
I don’t. I let go of her arm and walk off grabbing my job for the
evening and dragging her along with me.

***

“Let me go please.” The girl cries as I drag
her into my dad’s office.

“Close your mouth already.” I snap at her
after I have listened to her whine for the past hour.

“I won’t tell anyone. Please just let me go
home.” She cries harder as I grip her arm tighter. “You’re hurting
me!” She screams a little louder and damn it I want to slap
her.

“Oh now calm down sweetheart. No one here
wants to hurt you.” My dad says as he walks in the room and around
in front of us. He stops to look the girl over and gives me a
nod.