Chapter 6: Bodybags
Thomas Garter
Will's eyes held a fury like Thomas had never seen in him before. During their training sessions, he would often get angry, but he never had the hurt he seemed to hold now.
"You disobeyed my direct order, soldiers." Will spat, pacing back and forth in front of Usui Ousawa and Thomas Garter. They stood at attention, trying their very hardest not to flinch while their Sergeant bellowed at them. "Or are you even soldiers?! No, you're not. You're cowards."
"With my permission, sir, they're not cowards." Spoke Gary from off to the side. He wasn't forced to stand in the line, but Thomas found himself thinking the man might have enough common sense to keep quiet. Will had never been a forgiving man. "They saved that other soldier, the one with the glasses."
"Shut up!" Will barked at him. Gary shrunk back into his shoes. "They didn't save shit! The ambulance would have shown up whether they stuck around or not. What do you have to say for yourselves, assholes?"
"We couldn't abandon the scene of the crash, sir." Usui answered him, maintaining his gaze straight ahead. "It's illegal."
"Son, I will tell you what's legal and what's not." Will told him, locking in eye contact. Thomas felt a bit glad Will hadn't forced him to speak. Usui was going to take all of the shouting, and by the time Will's attention was directed to him, his anger would be diminished. "We could have worked it out with the law. It would have saved lives..."
"Saved lives, sir?" Usui asked, seeming a bit concerned. He took a step out of the line, but then remembered he was in attention and stepped back into place. Will noticed and sneered at him, but he passed it off as it was nothing.
"Do you want to know what happened while you two were sitting on your asses, waiting for your fucking ambulance?" He sounded very harsh. Usually, he was never this angry unless there was a reason.
"Yessir." Usui and Thomas replied at the same time. Will turned around and walked through the military base. They strolled past the armory, the barracks and the vehicle warehouse. This was where Thomas practically lived for the last few years. He had grown accustomed to its cruel, unforgiving environment. It was certainly more structured than his first home.
Thomas lived in a poorer neighborhood before he joined the army. His parents, Martha and Rob, were kind to him, and everyone else. They were good people. Thomas wasn't sure where they were now, but he knew, if ever found them again, he'd tell them he loved them. When he left, he did it in spite of them. It wasn't until a year after he left that he realized he was wrong.
In the schoolyard where Thomas would often play basketball with the other boys, they would tease him for being black. He remembered one time where Phil Wendell and his gang of followers jumped him one day after school. They tried to beat him up and take his lunch money...but Thomas didn't know why they were being so mean. He wanted to be able to restrain himself, but he was so angry that day... His aunt had only just passed. Three of them left with various cuts and bruises, and the last one...a broken leg.They took the boy into the principal's office afterwards. They wanted him to tell the boys sorry, and he did... But that wasn't enough for their parents. They had the young Thomas Garter expelled. That was the first and last time Thomas every got angry enough to inflict violence on someone else. He hated violence. It was disgusting.
Will pushed open one of the doors into a small room that was the morgue. It had a very light. Thomas had never been in here, and he wished he never had to again. There were four body bags lying in the center of the room. Thomas thought back to what he was doing when Will called him. He didn't remember doing anything out of the ordinary. Then he remembered the machine gun fire that issued from the radio...
