Reykjavik, Iceland
15:00 June 1st, 2023
The globe master jumbo jet came to a halt, and cut it's engine. We had landed in Iceland to refuel. This meant a two-hour wait. Also a two-hour break. The ramp of the globe master lowered, and all 42 of us walked off it. I had been put on a US globe master troop carrier jet by Townes. Since it was the ONLY thing going through Germany. So I hopped on a plane with forty two people I barely knew, but we were all going to the same place... Hopefully.
We could do whatever we wanted (well not entirely) for two hours. Everyone headed for the terminal, including me. I was gonna catch a cab to the town. So that I could buy Sidnee something hopefully. We had landed at a civilianish airport. Iceland was a major fuel hub for allied aircraft, so it turned most of its airports into military air bases. Reykjavik was one of the airports that was halfway spared.
Once I had made it through the terminal, I caught a cab and took it to the outskirts of Reykjavik. Where I could probably get Sidnee something nice. The outskirts usually had nice stores that had nice things for reasonable prices.
After the cab dropped me off next to a merchandise store, I paid the driver and sent him on his way. I could call for another ride, I had the number of a private cab service. I can get a ride within fifteen minutes at the max.
Anyway, I walked into the store, and was greeted by a employee. He spoke Icelandic, and shook my hand. "English?" I asked in english, wondering if he spoke it. "Ah yes sir, I do. What can we help you with today?" He asked happily in english. I was glad he spoke english, if he didn't, I was screwed. "I'm looking for something for my girlfriend back home. Got anything she might like?" I asked, the merchandise stores in Iceland had everything. Jewelry, souvenirs, guns, etc.. So whenever you needed something special, you headed to the merchandise store.
"Yes sir we do, follow me." The employee motioned me to follow him. I did so, and he lead me past Nordic products, weapons, and souvenirs in general. Iceland was founded by the Vikings way back when, so if you ever wonder why everything in Iceland is Nordic, thats why.
We finally reached the jewelry section, and the employee stopped me. "Wait here." He then quickly went behind the counter and slid the cover off the back of the jewelry cases. He pulled out a few pieces of jewelry. I could tell they were vintage, original, and just plain ol' real.
"Here we go, Nordic style and modern style jewelry. They're all equally perfect for your girl probably, but theaw really stand out..." He picked up a necklace, which was part green, part black, part gold, and part silver. He then picked up a ring, which had the same colors as the necklace. They both shone with a brilliancy. "Made of Osmium, the densest element in the world. They are next to unbreakable, and besides platinum, is one of the most beautiful and brightly shining elements. While the green, black, and gold may not go together, these only show up in the shade. But if you take these out in the sun... They shine the bright color of silver, except two times better. This is because the bracelet is dotted with near-microscopic Osmium crystals that are lightly colored with reflective paint. The reflective paint sorta "disappears" in the light, but in the shade they show up as those three colors. Incredible ingenuity..." He explained with a happy tone. "So what's the price?" I asked in a suddenly deep, raspy voice. My voice was going in and out ever since I had ended the madness of me hunting down and killing people. "Oh for a normal customer it would be five hundred-" "Euros?" I interrupted. "Yes." He replied quickly. "So one thousand American dollars?" I said, "Yes sir... You're good." He said, I had simply known that the Euro was two times more valued than the US dollar. "Anyway, but for you, these two fine pieces of jewelry could be fifty euros." My eyes widened. I knew these weren't fake, it would take a smart person to fake these things. Plus, Iceland isn't known for fake products. "What?" I said in shock, "Yes, fifty euros." He said with a smile. "My friend, I can guarantee you her happiness with this." I finally gave in, the guy was nice, and knew a lot about the product. I pulled out a hundred dollar bill. "All I gotta say is thank you sir." The man waved his hand, took the hundred dollars, and put it into the register. "Don't mention it. Anything for a service member. Brother's in the military himself." He put the ring and necklace into a bag, and handed it to me. "Good day sir." He said, I took the bag, shook his hand, said good day, and walked out the door.
***
I was already back at the airport and ready to fly back out after leaving the shop an hour ago. I had called the private cab service, and got a cab within five minutes. The driver took me on a small tour through Reykjavik. It was only for a part of the city though. After that, the driver took me to the airport, wished me farewell, and got paid in US dollars. Now I was sitting in the specially sectioned off military terminal, which was mainly empty. Except for two or three soldiers sitting on the other side of the terminal.
I was reading a book about Colin Powell titled:"Soldier" until my phone rang. "The hell? I had service?" I thought to myself as I pulled out my phone. Once I got it out, I flipped it right side up and saw who was calling. It was Sydney. I hit the answer option on the screen. I was using a apple iphone, quasar edition. It looked like the apple 4s, except it had more efficient battery, could get better signal, take better pictures, and many other cool things. I put the phone up to my ear. "Alright, how much do you want?" I asked, expecting a male voice to be demanding a ransom. What I got back was a nice, soft, female voice. "I see how it is, your selling me out to your friends." She said, "Oh its you, I was expecting someone to have said they were holding you hostage." I said, chuckling. She snickered, "Whatever, so is right now a good time?" She asked, I responded with;"Yeah." She then said,"Good! So where are you babe?" She asked. "Uh, what did you just say?" I snapped back. "I said where are you babe-" "BABE?! Ok, first rule, Do not, I repeat, do not, Call. Me. Babe. Alright?" I snapped as I cut her off. "Yeesh fine. My question still goes unanswered hun." She said calmy, "I'm in Iceland. Plane is refueling, we're gonna take back off in less than an hour I suspect." I explained, "Oh." She said, "Alright." "So where are you, and what are you doing?" I asked. Her voice shot up, excited. "I'm on the road, heading towards Missouri." She said, my heart dropped. "M-m-Missouri?..." I stammered. "Yeah.... Oh.... Crap. I had to leave early, I heard my caretaker couldn't stay for long. I forgot that you lived in New Jersey... I'm sorry..." She explained. I rubbed my face with my free hand and then replied. "Well luckily for you and I, I can drive too. I can also get a flight to Missouri. You don't have anything to be sorry about, at least you told me where you were. Where in Missouri do you live?" I asked, "Here's my address." She said, my phone vibrated, I pulled it away, and saw that she had sent me her address. I tapped it, and it pulled up an image of a house, I zoomed out, and saw that it was a ranch out in the middle of nowhere. I exited the map app, and pulled up the call again. I put it back up to my ear. "You live outside of Mexico Missouri?" I asked, "Yeah." She responded, "I can get a flight there easily. Or drive if I need to. I have a friend that holds my extra truck for me in Mexico, so flying there would be better." I explained. She quickly responded, "Yeah, that would be better." She wanted me there ASAP, I could tell from her tone. "How far down the road are you?" I asked. "I'm about twenty miles from my ranch. I left late yesterday." She explained. "Oh ok. Hey you know what tomorrow is right?" I asked, she replied, "No, what is it?" I quickly said,"My birthday." She kinda squealed. "Oh my gosh! I'm gonna make you something!" She said. "Nah, it's fine. I may be delayed tomorrow if my family decides to surprise me." I explained, "Oh ok. That's fine. As long as you get here..." She replied.
As she did, a major came up, and tapped my shoulder. I looked behind me. "Sir?" I said. "We leave in five minutes." He said. "Thanks." I replied, I then turned back around. "Who was that?" She asked. "I got five minutes, so I gotta go." I explained. "Oh ok. Well, I'll see you when you get here... Hey, can I say something?" She asked. "Sure." I replied. "I love you." She said. "I love you too sweetheart." I replied softly. "Bye hun." She said. "Bye." She then hung up.
I then put my phone back into my pocket, and stood up with my duffel. I then walked out a door that led to the outside of the terminal. The Super Globemaster was there, I walked up the ramp after walking around and took a seat. This GM had been outfitted with extra seats to carry more troops. Ironically, there were only a few of us like I said. I took a seat, and set my bag underneath my chair. After five minutes, the rest of the soldiers showed up, and took seats, each left a one or two seat gap since there were enough empty seats.
The GM then started to taxi once everyone was onboard, and once they were cleared. After a short two minutes, we had reached the runway, and begun to take off. In seconds, we had lifted off and begun ascension. "On the highway to home boys." Said the pilot on the intercom. There was some cheering, but not much. Once we had reached the designated altitude, the GM leveled out, and cruised.
Talking then started amongst some of the soldiers, but it soon died down as everyone fell asleep slowly. "Another day, another sunset, another flight." I thought to myself as I started to fall asleep myself.
***
June 1st, 2023
19:00
Fort Bragg, NJ
"We're gonna have some serious jet lag." One of the soldiers said as he woke up, stretching. The GM had begun its descent to land had Fort Bragg. There was still a lil' bit of light outside, but not much. Everyone started stirring, I had been awake since an hour ago. I looked down at my watch, it read "19:01." When we left it had been around four-ish, or 16:00-ish. So subtract the hours... Add the fligh- UGH. Hate math.
The flight had technically been six hours, but due to the amount of time zones we passed, it made it seem like it was three hours looking at a clock. My watch was designed to be a GPS, and to track my position on the globe. It auto-sets its time so that I don't have to worry about it. But it does occasionally need to be calibrated.
Anyway, the GM had begun to descend. We all got our stuff ready, and rummaging could even be heard over the roar of the engine. "Landing in five minutes." Said the pilot. Four minutes passed. "Brace for landing." Said the pilot. Fifty five seconds passed, then the GM hitting the runway smacked us around, but the weight of our bags kept us glued to our seats. The GM finally turned a few times, and came to a stop. The engine cut, and ramp behind us lowered. "All right boys, we're home." Said the pilot on the intercom. Cheering came from the soldiers as they got up from their seats. I pushed my bags to the seat beside me, got up, picked up my bags, and followed the soldiers to the edge of the lowering ramp. Once the ramp was completely lowered, we all walked off. "All right, lets get to the terminal." Said a soldier as we walked towards a large, two storied building by the air tower.
Fort Bragg had multiple runways, and a terminal for military personnel. It was strictly a military airbase-ish.
Anyway, irrelevance beside... We all walked into the terminal, which was spacious, and large. It was empty, or so we thought. As we walked into the main terminal, there were dozens of people holding signs, balloons, stuffed animals, and whatever. They were family, friends, and girlfriends. There to welcome home their fathers, brothers, friends, and boyfriends home. The soldiers and crowd all came together, hugging, kissing, whatever. It was heartwarming, and a happy moment for these people.
Me? I simply walked through the crowd, with people sorta looking at my colonel rank on my ACU hat. Some of the people asked the soldiers;"Is he the base commander?" "Who is that?" "Is he a colonel?" "Is he a ranger or somethin'?"
All of which the soldiers couldn't answer. I just kept walking, not wanting to really correct them on their guesses. I just needed to get home, and prepare for a long night of flying.
After getting out of the terminal, I quickly found my truck. I threw my bags into the back seats, and hopped into the driver seat. I cranked up the truck, and pulled out of my parking spot. I drove up to the gate, and a soldier saluted me while he raised the gate. I saluted back, and drove out of Bragg. I then made a right, and headed home.
It was night out by now, and it was pretty dark as I drove. There was barely anyone on the road, so it made it an easy drive home.
After a short ten minute drive, I finally made it home. I turned off the car once I came to a stop on my driveway that was sorta inclined on a hill. I then hopped out, got my bags out so that I could wash them, and headed for the door inside the garage. I heard a noise, and quickly and quietly slammed myself against the wall. My garage was mostly empty, besides the multiple safes where I keep my ammo at.
I knew what that noise was... My family. They do this every year, whenever my birthday comes around. Whenever it rolls around, my family gets together, drives to New Jersey without telling me, and while I'm gone at work(Bragg), they setup a surprise birthday party in my house. Every year, they've gotten me, but not this year. I was ready.
I set down my bags, opened up my duffel, and pulled out a flashbang. I then quietly opened the door, pulled the pin on the flash, threw it, then slammed the door. The flash went off, I then grabbed my bags, opened the door, hopped into the doorway and said; "GOTCHYA!!!!" But there was no one there... Huh...
I set down my bags, leaned out the doorway, shut the garage door, and then shut the main door. I then looked around the whole house, nobody. "Damn... They got me this time..." I said as I sat down in my chair in the living room. I had practically made a fool of myself... The noise was probably just a pinecone falling...
Tired, stumped, and just plain bored, I prepared to go to bed. After getting something to eat, and doing my constitutions, I went to bed.
"What a day." I said as I flopped into my bed. It had been a day. With a long as hell flight, buying Sydney something, learning that Sydney wasn't here in New Jersey, and then being made a fool of... The whole day was near-crazy.
As I pulled the covers up, I looked over at the picture of Addison and I. I thought about it, her, and us. She had always wanted what was best for me, she always wanted my happiness. Always looked out for me, like she was my CO... I guess that's why I met Sydney. She may have influenced Ryan and Kaden from all the way up there. I wouldn't be surprised if she did, she's always the one to do something like that.
After a few minutes, due to the soreness in my body, and just being tired, I fell asleep.