Two Days Of A Dream (7 page)

"No. We're not sure who she is yet."

"What, not someone from camp?"

"Nope." Trouter’s questions made Duran apprehensive and he edged away; he had to get back and make sure she hadn't disappeared.

”Yes, sir” the captain said as he walked briskly away, leaving his second to oversee the cleanup operation. Duran was thankful to get away from Trouter. He detested the major’s attitude.

Duran’s mind transitioned out of fight mode, slowly at first, and then picked up steam, forcing his feet faster. He worried whether Kelly was all right. Or had she escaped, and he would never find her again? Not that it really mattered if he ever saw her again, but the colonel would have his hide if she disappeared.

Nearing the sleeping tents, the smell of acrid smoke burned his nose and made him cough. Then he saw the damage. The scud that had gotten through had hit the latrine and spewed a private’s worst nightmare in a twenty-foot circumference, knocking over everything in its path. The closest tents were on fire, but Duran didn't see any injured. This could have been much worse. He would talk to Graves, and maybe he would have some ideas for a quicker response.

Duran climbed through debris and found that his lane of tents had not escaped the damage.

"Kelly!" He scrambled over more wreckage. "Kelly!"

It looked bad; could she have survived the blast?
I shouldn't have left her here all alone!

Chapter Eleven

Kelly opened her eyes, but all she could see was the canvas of the tent. She closed her eyes just like she used to do when she was a small child and wanted something to go away.

"I'm ready to wake up now!"

She’d had other dreams where she woke herself because she was too scared. She opened her eyes but the view was the same: still just the hot, stuffy, sand-colored canvas. She was too scared and couldn’t understand why she wasn't waking up.

She heard more gunfire and explosions much further away. Her ears still rang from the last, really close blast that had blown the tent over, rolling everything in it, her included. Her knee still stung where she collided with something hard and metal.

The captain had said that if she stayed under the mattress, she would be safe. She squirmed under the canvas until she felt the edge of the material that barely made up the pad. The canvas and everything on top of it were very heavy, but she worked until she was securely under her safe spot again.

She mused that this dream couldn't last much longer. Then maybe she would go back to one of the more pleasant dreams. She figured with her luck, her stupid alarm clock would go off first.

Each time Kelly had heard gunfire or a distant boom, she had repeated her plea, "Please let me wake up!"

She was down to a mere whisper and on the verge of sleep when she heard returning footsteps. She couldn't hear any more gunfire. When had it stopped?

"Wow, what a mess." She didn't recognize the voice.

There was shuffling around and things being moved. She worried that they didn't realize she was there, she wanted to yell to them, but she didn’t know who they were. Would they hurt her? She was stuck between being freed from all the suffocating canvas and staying safe under the mattress. Since it was just a dream, and the captain had promised she would be safe if she stayed where he put her, she decided not to move. Doubt tiptoed in with,
what if he was wrong
?

What should she do? What should she do?

"Kelly!"

In the distance, a man called her name, and she wanted to crawl out and see who. The only problem was that she wasn’t sure which way was out.

Squirming through the mess to reach freedom, she felt more like a worm trying to dig through asphalt than the corporate riser she was. Someone pulled the canvas up and she saw daylight. The glow spurred her on, and she sprung out, throwing herself into Cap’s arms. He held her, relief dripping from his sweaty face.

No, this isn’t a dream, it’s heaven.
Kelly couldn’t believe the feeling and tried not to smile, but her face refused to cooperate.

She reached to grab around his wide chest but was unable to clasp her fingers, so she grabbed his black vest and clung to it. The light breeze of freedom felt wonderful!

"If that's military issue, where do I go to get one?" A big guy scratched his back pocket and wiped his nose on his bare arm.

A skinny one with a long nose shook his hand vigorously. "Look what she's wearing."

Cap stood straight, putting Kelly behind him as he turned. "What are you standing around gawking for! Police this area! I want it perfect before any of you go to chow! Is that understood!"

He flinched away, glancing at his men. "Don't worry about it." He didn't look any lower than her eyes. "Are you hurt?"

He was concerned about her? She thought he was sweet. But was he concerned with her, a woman, or a spy that he has yet to interrogate?

She shook her head. "I'm fine. I was safe, just like you said I would be." Kelly felt she sounded like such a child saying that.

"Let's get you out of here."

He pulled the tent back, and it fell away, revealing the rest of her. Kelly heard whistles and whispered comments about her gown. The wind gusted by, and she had to use both hands to keep her gown from flying up and showing off her white, lacy panties. She blushed from all the attention the burst of air brought. She felt like Marilyn Monroe. But she wasn't smiling, and there wasn't a subway below, just the hot wind and sand, lots of sand.

"Okay, everyone make yourselves useful. McKenzie and Farber, you two find the missing tent poles and the rest of you pull the tent up."

All the guys pitched in, and soon the tent was mostly up, held by pure Marine muscle. Hoo-rah!

The captain ducked in the tent opening, pulling Kelly after him. He found his footlocker, which had been abandoned when the siren went off. It had blown onto its top when the tent was blown over. He righted the locker, pulled out a T-shirt, retrieved the sweats from the floor, and shoved the garments into her arms.

Did he expect her to argue?
Maybe I should
, her impish side thought,
it might be fun
. Nah, she always picked her battles carefully, and this little skirmish wouldn’t get her anything but a power struggle.

She smiled despite herself. "Understood." Looking into his eyes, she found it hard to muster enough anger to spar with him, anyway. Something about his deep, brown eyes was oddly familiar.

He left, barking orders and secured the front flap ties. She would have to move quickly, if she didn’t want to give someone time to find a way to peek. Would he really let them drop the tent on her? Determined not to find out, she moved faster, slipping the sweats on under her gown. They were way too big but the drawstrings made them tight enough not to fall off, or at least she hoped they would stay put. Even with the elastic at her ankles, the bottoms of the legs drooped over her feet onto the ground. The man had seriously long legs. She looked around before she pulled her gown over her head. Holding the soft material close, she maneuvered the T-shirt over her head and let it drop, but the hem didn't stop until it reached her knees.

Picking up her beautiful white gown, Kelly looked it over to make sure she hadn't ruined it. To her surprise, it was in perfectly good condition. She draped it over her arm and held the gown securily.

Outside, the troops were trying to find all the tent poles to put the captain's Humpty Dumpty tent back together. As Kelly untied the straps of canvas and the front flaps fell away, all movement and voices stopped. Lifting her foot to step out, a young, lanky soldier blocked her way and she shrunk back.

"You can't come out, ma'am."

"What is it with the ma'am? Do I really look that old? Don't answer that!" Kelly threw up her hand as though to block whatever comment he might fling at her.

A lopsided grin popped out on his face.

Cap came around the side of the tent. "What's the matter, Corporal?"

The young man went serious. "Sir, the lady’s barefoot, and there's glass all over the area, not to mention the sand burrs, sir."

Cap looked at the littered sand and then stared at Kelly’s toes that peeked out from under the sweats. She looked down and cringed, regretting the decision to go with the candy apple red nail polish when she had her pedicure yesterday. She never used dark polish but had been impulsive when the woman held up her usual boring clear along with the fun, red one. She had wanted something different, but why had she gone so bold?

She shrugged. "I've never been carried before. Are you sure you can?" She knew she really shouldn't play with this behemoth of a man, but this was a dream and felt she could get away with all kinds of stuff in dreams.

The sun beat mercilessly, and Kelly felt the sweat collecting where Cap's arms held her body. Everywhere she looked, young soldiers cleaned up the mess from the attack. Each man stopped what he was doing to gawk as Cap carried her past. She wasn't used to this kind of attention.

"Yes, we're a fully integrated unit, except the men aren't allowed past check point Charlie." He chuckled as if it were a private joke. "If it were up to Talbit, that would be integrated, too."

She could just imagine how Talbit would integrate.

They arrived at an area that had been untouched by the bombs. A big, hand-painted sign nailed to a post read: 'Off Limits to Male Personnel Beyond This Point.’

This must be check point Charlie that he had laughed about. Kelly didn't see anything funny about it.

Cap looked her in the eyes. “You must behave yourself here.” Kelly glared back, intending a snappy retort, but instead became snagged on the captain’s dark brown eyes. “Did you hear what I said?”