After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan during active war, 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐬. Staff Sergeant Nathan Grimes finds himself on the front lines yet again. This time however, was different. He would've never guessed the wors...
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Injuries. They're a nuisance but not because of the pain. It's the recovery time more so than anything else. At least for me anyway. It's different for everyone. Some think of it as a chance to rest and take a break from the stress your body endures during the day to day life. For me however, I find it unbelievably difficult to remain inactive for that long. Rehab is the worst because I'm constantly reminded to not over do it. but other than that there isn't much else to do.
That or sometimes my days would run together making me forget what day it even was. In a blink of an eye a week could come and go, but I remain slowly moving forward. That's what I hated about being on the go like this. Without the farm we had nowhere to go so that led to us traveling in circles seeking what shelter we could. Winter had passed and we were now back to sunny days with cool nights. That was one of the two indications of significant time passing while being on the road. Andrea used to keep track of the days but stopped after Amy died. Along with the seasons we now told time by Lori's pregnant belly. She wasn't far along when we had to leave the farm. She had just found out. But recently she's really popped. I'd say really the last couple of weeks I've noticed the biggest change.
We weren't really sure it was the correct day but we celebrated Beth's eighteenth birthday based off those indicators. Life on the road hasn't been kind to us, especially lately as far as food goes. On a good day we'd find enough to feed Carl and Jamie. It was never enough but they at least had something in their systems. On our best day there'd be enough to give Lori some of it. It was even becoming harder for Daryl to hunt. Never thought I'd miss the squirrels but listening to my stomach beg for any sort of protein would have me devour three or four whole ones before even thinking of stopping. To say we needed some kind of good moment to celebrate was an understatement.
"Happy Birthday, Sweetheart." Her beautiful blues met mine. She forced herself to give me a smile when I stood in front of her. Morale was too low amongst the group to get excited about much these days. She had been telling me since this morning when we decided to declare it her birthday that she didn't want to celebrate or make it a big deal, but I simply couldn't resist. It felt like this was for me as much as for her. I was in desperate need for something good for a change.
"You got me something?" She glanced down to the gift I held wrapped in a small hand towel.
"Déjà vu" I smirked. "Come on, Sunshine. Take it."
"Is it more jewelry?" She asked.
I shook my head and extended my arm out for her. "Open it and find out."
Beth took the cloth from my hand and tried to feel the shape of the object to take a mental guess. Unfolding the corners after giving up her brightest of smiles appeared. "Nate, Where did you find this?" She was memorized by the small tube of black unopened mascara.
"Why, did I not pick out the right one? I don't have a receipt but I can try to return it if you don't want it." My playful grin widened at the sound of her giggle. "Should've seen the woman trying to fight me for it."
