Chapter 66: Soldier Bros

Peter finally made it to Springfield, Missouri where Chris lived. The same house he had gone to so many years ago and was denied entry stood in front of him once again, but the situation was more pressing than it was back then.

Peter walked up to the door and was about to knock when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Well, well, well! Who do we have here?" The voice said.

Peter turned around and saw his best friend in the entire world standing just a few yards away.

"Hey, Chris! It's good to see you again. You look good," Peter said with a sincere smile.

"I'm okay for a guy with one eye," Chris said as he raised open his eye patch and closed it, "You're not looking so bad yourself," he remarked.

"Thank you," Peter replied.

"I'm doing a little bit of work in my garden at the back. I could use a little help," Chris said.

"Of course," Peter said, and Chris led the way to the garden.

**BACK AT THE BUNKER...**

Sharon was finally done with cleaning up all the guns and ammunition. She put everything where they were meant to be and went to a part of the bunker where a punching bag hung from the ceiling.

She began hitting it, first calmly and then, violently. She was pouring out all her anger and frustrations on the punching bag and she screamed her head off as a way of catharsis. She stood still, with her eyes shut and her arms around the bag.

"Oh, Sharon! When will you stop running?" Addicus' voice suddenly said and Sharon turned around and saw him standing right beside her.

"No, no! You're... you're not here. You can't be here," Sharon said in a panic.

"Don't you see Sharon? It doesn't matter where you go or who you run to, I'll always be with you. I'm in your mind and your heart, "The illusion of Addicus said.

"No! You're not in me. And I'm no longer afraid of you," she said defiantly, trying to convince herself that she no longer feared him and that he had no control over her mind.

"Really? You're not?"

"No, I'm not. I'm coming for you, Addicus. I'm not running away anymore. The days of me being afraid of you are long gone. It's you who should be afraid because I will make you pay for everything you've done to me," Sharon said with all certainty.

Addicus gave her a wicked smile before a sound that came from the security system sprang her back to reality and the illusion of him disappeared.

Sharon went to inspect what caused the alarm to go off and found out that one of the tripwires had been triggered by someone too close to the area of the bunker.

It could either be an animal that scurried onto the wire, a random local that was just passing by, or the third and most likely option; Addicus and his goons.

She really hoped that it was either of the first two and not the latter. Sharon climbed the ladder to the top of the bunker and opened the emergency hatch. She took out a pair of binoculars and scanned through the woods trying to spot whatever it was that tripped the wire.

"Come on. Where are you?" She said to herself.

She kept looking until she saw what she had feared; JJ and a few of his men, at least five of them but no Addicus. They were armed to the teeth and looked like they were here for blood.

"Damn it!"

Sharon jumped back into the bunker. She took all the weapons and opened a hidden compartment on the floor of the bunker and put all the weapons in except two handguns. She locked the compartment shut and disposed of the key.

She put on a bulletproof vest and strapped both guns to her body. Although she was completely terrified, she was ready and if she was to die today, then she would die fighting.

.

.

.

**Springfield, MO**

"So, how's the army been treating you since I left?" Chris asked while the two men cleared out the weeds in the garden.

"Come on, Chris. Don't pretend like you don't know I left the army ten years ago," Peter replied.

"Really? I had no idea, honestly. You ever found yourself a dame? Start a family?" Chris asked.

Peter took a deep sigh before he answered, "I did! We got married and had a daughter but they passed away more than three years ago."

Chris stopped tilling the ground and stared at his friend with empathy, "I'm so sorry about that, Peter. What happened to them?"

"They were lost at sea. Never found their bodies."

Chris was silent for a while, unsure of what to say so he just reached into his cooler and pulled out a bottle of beer and handed it to Peter.

"Here you go."

"Thanks," he said and took a sip, "I need your help, Chris," He finally said.

Chris stood up straight while shaking his head.

"Why am I not surprised? We haven't spoken in what, fifteen years and you come looking for me only when you need something?" Chris said in offence.

"I was here a long time ago, Chris but you turned away. You wouldn't even talk to me," Peter replied.

"And why do you think that was, huh?"

"I don't know. You tell me," Peter demanded.

"I wanted you to be safe, Peter. I wanted you to leave that world behind before it consumed your soul and leave you as an empty shell just like it did me," Chris lamented.

"I know, Chris but I had a duty to my country that I couldn't just abandon without a good enough reason," Peter replied.

"Duty? What duty? We were little boys and they made us fight their useless wars for them. What did we all die for? Power? Territory? What?!"

Chris was very upset now and it seemed like all the anger that he had bottled up inside for so many years was finally being released.

"We're humans and we make bad choices. Unfortunately, war is one of them and fighting in it has its costs," Peter said to him.

"This is what it costs, Peter," Chris said angrily while ripping off his eye patch and pointing at the hole in his face where his eyeball should be but wasn't.

"This is what the freaking war cost and this is as good as it gets because if you don't end up disabled for the rest of your life, you get killed."

"Chris?" Peter tried to soothe him but he wasn't having it.

"You've heard the rumours, haven't you? It could probably take years but it will happen. There's going to be a global war and many more young innocent men are going to get killed. We could avoid it before it even happens, but we won't. Why? Because we love war! We need it and that makes us monsters," Chris said hysterically, and began walking away.

"You were right, Chris," Peter said aloud to him which caused him to stop walking, "You were right. I should have left when you did. I know you can't just get up and stroll out of the army but I could have found a way. You have no idea how many more deaths and bloodshed I witnessed. The pain and suffering; it was excruciating. Going into every battle and not knowing if I would ever come back and the terrible nightmares haunted by the screams of my fallen brothers," Peter said with so much emotion that couldn't be concealed.

"It was that bad, huh?" Chris asked, less angry.

"It was... and what made it worse was not having my best friend by my side," Peter said to him.

The two men were overcome with emotion and walked up to each other to share a long and much-needed hug. They were both in tears now and they let it flow without any shame or restraint.

"I'm sorry I wasn't by your side, Peter. I wanted to be there, but I just couldn't," Chris apologized.

"I know, Chris. I know. It's okay, it's all okay."