(Aaron's PoV)

    Sgt. Blake didn't follow through with his threat of putting low scorers on the front-line, simply because we all were on the front-line. Granted, our platoon's job was just to guard a small and seemingly unimportant base, but it was still a little unnerving. There was a barricade of metal boxes and empty steel barrels, but we all were wondering if those would be enough.

    No one was talking. It was so quiet it was bothering me. There was no conversation to distract me from my thoughts. Guilt was churning inside of me. I looked over to Matteo, who seemed fine now, but I felt awful about the thunderstorm incident. I felt compelled to apologize, but my jaw was locked in place.

    We had purposely scared him. Well, Connor went out of his way to scare him, but I just let it happen. I thought about myself in Matteo's unfortunate position and the knot in my stomach grew even tighter.

    "Connor," I blurted out. He was caught off guard and nearly dropped his weapon.

    "Yeah?" He replied, snapping back to his senses.

    I shifted awkwardly. "Do you think...what we did to Matteo...was wrong?"

    He scrunched his face together. "No," he said quickly. After a moment, he sighed. "I don't know...do you?"

    I shrugged. "Maybe. Kind of. I know he's annoying, but I just feel like we took it too far."

    Connor pursed his lips. I certainly couldn't be mad at him. Not since I knew where he was coming from. He was so desperate not to be the victim anymore. So desperate, he would put someone else in his old place.

    Still, it didn't make it right.

    "I think you're right," he finally said. "I'm not sure how I feel about it. I've been trying to avoid thinking about it."

    "By trying to find anything else to talk about," I suggested the same thing I had been doing.

    "For God's sake, we were talking about peanut butter this morning," he said.

    I laughed, relieved to have that off my chest. It didn't fix anything, but I could at least be open with Connor again.

    "Keep me in check, will you?" he asked. "I don't wanna be like Jordan."

    I was taken a little by surprise. Connor rarely talked about Jordan, much less was the one to bring him up.

    "Yeah," I told him, trying to cover a stutter. "I've got your back."

    Before he could respond, a loud gunshot went off next to us. We turned around and to our shock, it came from Sean. His mouth was hanging half open and his blue eyes were bigger than ever.

    "What's wrong?" Connor asked.

    He seemed to be having trouble speaking. "I-I heard...something...c-coming...and, and, and I panicked."

    "It's okay," I tried to comfort him. "It's all right, you didn't get hurt."

    "What if I hit somebody?" he exclaimed.

    It took a moment for me to let that sink in. Connor and I exchanged worried glances, unsure of what to do next. Sean was more concerned with someone else's, a stranger's--an enemy's--life more than his own.

    "Just stay with us," Connor advised.

    Sean immediately hugged onto me. "It's gonna be okay," I told him, hoping I wasn't lying. I felt his head buried against my chest. How could anyone send him here?

(Clayton's PoV)

    Logan folded his arms. "I don't like this."

    "No kidding," Trevor said flatly.

    Right now, all we had to do was wait for someone to cross and then shoot.

    "It could be more dangerous," Daniel added, trying to put a positive spin on the situation. He still kept an apprehensive grip on his gun though.

    I scoffed at his fake-positivity. "This sucks."

    "Yeah," Trevor agreed. "I mean why should we have to be here risking our lives for a country that obviously doesn't care about us."

    Daniel tried to rationalize, but he couldn't, so he didn't say anything.

    "Everything sucks."

    We all jumped at the voice. We turned around to see Seth staring at us with his creepy, dark grey eyes.

    Logan gave a small, nervous laugh. "Dude, don't scare us like that."

    Seth didn't speak for several moments. The rest of our group exchanged nervous glances.

    "Life's a pit of sorrow," he said.

    Daniel bit his lip. "I mean, I know we're going through some hard times, but I wouldn't go that far."

    "Lucky you."

    I honestly would've felt more comfortable if his voice had been mocking instead of monotone.

    "What's the point?" Although he didn't sound like he was asking a question. "What's the point of anything? Why live if life is just gonna get worse?"

    I didn't want to think about how life could get any worse, except for maybe if I had to do math.

    Seth set his gun down and stood up. "I'm not going to try." We looked at him in confusion as he began to step around the barricade.

    It was only a few moments before Daniel gasped and muttered, "oh my gosh."

    "What's going on?" Logan asked.

    "Yeah, Daniel, what's up with him?" I added.

Daniel, however, was way too frantic to pay any attention to us. He stood at the edge of the barricade, pleading. "Seth, please, you've got to listen to me."

Seth wasn't listening though. He walked into the middle of the field and stood there frozen until several bullets went through his heart. He collapsed onto the ground in a pool of his own blood.

"Holy shit!" Trevor exclaimed. Daniel was wide-eyed, while Logan and I just stared at each other in shock.

"Is that...suicide?" I asked slowly.

"I'm not sure," Daniel replied, still in a daze.

We thought it would be a good idea to tell Sgt. Blake, but none of us

could really get our story straight for him.

"Seth was-"

"He was talking all creepy-"

"He kept saying 'what's the point of life' and-"

"Then he got up-"

"I tried to talk him out of it-"

"And he got shot," I finished.

Sgt. Blake remained nearly as emotionless as Seth was. "It happens," he responded.

    "He died when he got shot," Logan pointed out.

    Sgt. Blake sighed irritably. "Listen, I'm not gonna sugar coat it for you. People die in war. Now get back to your spots," he ordered.

    We did what he said, but none of us could calm down. Not with Seth lying dead only twenty-some feet away from us. Trying to focus on war while seeing his bloody body was even harder than paying attention to one of Mr. Justfine's math lessons.

(Daniel's PoV)

"I...I can't believe he did that," I said breathlessly for at least the fiftieth time. Even when we were back at our base, I still couldn't take my mind off of his death.

"All that blood," Logan said. Based on his facial expression, the image was still clearly engraved in his brain.

Even Clayton, who rarely cared about anything, seemed shaken up, but he tried to hide it though. "I mean he was depressed," he tried to rationalize. "He hated life anyway. He said it himself."

"Still," I thought. How bad did it have to be to take your own life, or at least not stop someone else from taking it.

His death was all anyone could talk about, though it was obvious Sgt. Blake was ready to change the subject.

"Yes. He died. I know. This might be some of your guys' first experience with death, and I highly doubt it will be your last. Holly, let Lt. Schultz know."

"Why can't you do it?" she argued.

"Holly," he repeated.

She folded her arms, but reluctantly obeyed. She returned rather quickly though. "He's not in his room," she said.

Sgt. Blake's face hardened. "What do you mean he's not in his room?"

"He's not in his room," she said again. "Or any of the other rooms for that matter."

Sgt. Blake, if possible, was growing even more tense. "Did anyone see him come in?"

We all shook our heads. It turned out that no one had seen him this afternoon whatsoever. My throat went dry and my stomach felt tight. I didn't want to think about it, but I couldn't come up with any alternative than the likely horrible truth. Seth was one thing, but Lt. Jason...

    He loved life. He was always so nice and enthusiastic. He was also a Lt. If he couldn't make it, how did any of the rest of us stand a chance.

    No one could really bring themselves up to talk. If you spoke, you might have to say what we were all thinking. I was lost in thought for nearly an hour and a half until we heard a noise outside. It sounded like boots stepping on twigs.

    Someone was coming.

    "Grab your weapons," Sgt. Blake ordered.

    I reached over to grab my gun. I only held it for a few seconds though. I set it down once I heard the shocked voice of Michael, who was on guard duty at the time. "No. Guy's. I-It's fine."

(Gavin's PoV)

    "Hey everybody," a familiar voice greeted us. We all stood there with our mouths gaping open. Lt. Jason was standing in the doorway, holding several paper bags with golden arches on them. "I got McDonalds!"

    Sgt. Blake attempted to muscle down what he had just heard. "You...you what?"

    Lt. Jason remained unphased as he began to unpack the bags. "Oh I just thought the boys did such a good job. I mean only one death on the first day, that's pretty impressive. I figured they deserved a reward."

    Sgt. Blake tried to interject. "Their 'reward' should be not dying."

    "And chicken McNuggets," Lt. Jason added.

    "They don't need chicken nuggets," Sgt. Blake argued.

    "Oh don't worry," Lt. Jason assured him. "I also got some Big Macs and some McDoubles and some french fries, but I didn't get any soda cuz that would have been really hard to carry-"

    "Lt. Schultz," Sgt. Blake interrupted. "You mean to tell me, you walked into civilian territory of the enemy...just to buy fast food."

Lt. Jason didn't seem to notice the anger building in his colleague one bit. "Yep," he replied. "And I got a really great deal thanks to the military discount."

    Sgt. Blake facepalmed. "That's not for our military, you idiot."

    But Lt. Jason had stopped listening. "I didn't know what everyone wanted, so I got a little bit of everything, except for the salads cuz this is America!"

    "This is China," Sgt. Blake corrected through gritted teeth.

    "Whatever," Lt. Jason brushed it off. "Burgers are awesome. Dig in!"

    We were all mesmerized by the actual food. After our MREs this morning, we were craving something good.

Marcus gave a small laugh as Jean-Paul grabbed a burger. "Being the food snob you are, I would've thought you'd want no part in this."

    After finishing opening the wrapping, Jean-Paul replied in all seriousness, "anyzing is better zan an MRE."

    "Who's supposed to be guarding?" Sgt. Blake demanded.

    Michael put his hands up in defense. "My shift ended."

    "You can't make us guard," Clayton pleaded. "We haven't had good food in six weeks."

    We all joined in, hoping that our extensive whining could break our drill instructor.

    "Shut up! Shut up!" he yelled at us.

    Holly seemed to straighten up even more. "I could do it," she said matter-of-factly.

    Sgt. Blake shifted his gaze down towards her. "Oh, but that would be impractical because you don't have a weapon." Holly opened her mouth, but he cut her off. "And you're not getting one."

    Holly's teeth and fists were clenched, but Sgt. Blake just laughed. "I'd sooner do the job myself than give it to a girl." He handed her a pitcher from one of the cupboards. "Know your place."

    As Holly continued to bicker with him, growing more flustered by the second, Landon, Tristan, and I could hardly contain our laughter. I was mainly just happy Sgt. Blake was willing to guard, meaning we didn't have to.

    I helped myself to a McDouble and a handful of fries.

    "McDonald's is the best," Tristan said before taking a bite of his Big Mac. He smiled at the taste then held up a cup. "Oh Holly," he called. "My drink is empty."

    She stormed over to us. "All right, listen. I am not your maid. Or your sex toy. Or eye candy. Or an object or anything else you might see me as." She shoved the pitcher at Tristan. "If you want a damn drink get it yourself."

    After chewing a mouthful of fries, I asked. "Didn't Sgt. Blake say-"

    "I don't care what he says," she interrupted. "My only job is to be the nurse, so it might be a good idea not to piss me off so much, seeing as I'm the one who's supposed to help you if you get hurt. And knowing you guys," she looked around the room at all the guys either stuffing their faces or playing with their food, "that's pretty likely."

    "Nuh-uh," Tristan said indignantly. "It's actually really easy as long as you stay behind the barricade."

    "Yeah, I didn't even get hurt once today, and the other side was within hearing distance," I added. "Although, I couldn't ever understand them. They were always speaking Chinese."

    Holly stared at me for a moment, then sighed in annoyance. "Are you really this ignorant?"

    Landon gave a small clap. "Wait to go, blondie," he fake-praised. "That's a pretty extensive vocabulary."

    "Yeah, using a seven letter word," I chimed in.

    "Eight," Landon corrected.

    Holly rolled her eyes. "Of course they're speaking Chinese. We are in China," she articulated. "They'll only use English if they're mocking or threatening you."

    "Holly, can I have something to drink?" One of the choir boys asked.

    "No," her face flushed as she spoke. "I can't stand all of you," she muttered under her breath.

    "No kidding," Landon whispered loud enough for her to hear. "Oh yeah," he switched subjects, "I saw you arguing with Sgt. Blake this morning. What was that about?"

    "None of your business," she snapped.

    "It's funny," Tristan noted. "I thought you two would get along since you're both so strict and boring."

    She slammed her fist on the table. "I am nothing like that narrow-minded, misogynistic asshole."

    "What if we told him you said that?" Landon challenged.

    "I would break every bone in your body one by one," she replied without missing a beat.

    Landon smirked at her. "You're adorable."

    She scoffed. "You're annoying."

    Their momentary stare down was interrupted by Lt. Jason. "Is everybody liking the McDonalds?"

    "Hell yeah," I responded.

    Lt. Jason smiled and turned to Holly. "You should get something to eat too."

    "This isn't the type of food you should be eating while in the army," she explained.

    "Yeah, but it's good," he told her.

    "I'm fine," she said coldly, before going back to her room.

    Lt. Jason just shrugged before grabbing another burger.

(Matteo's PoV)

    After dinner I crawled into my bunk with a pencil and paper. The lighting in the barracks wasn't great, but I had to make do.

    Dear Emmy,

        I  love you and miss you so much. I can't believe we're done with Basic Training already. We just got to China yesterday. When you write, you'll need to send it to this address now. It's so sad to think that letters will take longer to get to you. I really wish we could talk more often. I loved getting to hear your voice during our phone call.

        But anyway, I hope you're doing all right. I'm fine (even after a day of fighting). One boy died because he walked out onto the battlefield. I feel awful thinking about it. But don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I'm all right.

    The storm, I thought. I couldn't tell her about the storm. I didn't want her to know I was scared. I didn't want her to think I was weak.

    But you are, my mind mocked me.

    I put my head in my hands. I didn't want to lie again, but what else was I supposed to do? Whether or not I could give it to her, she looked to me for protection--from the world around her and her own mind. I couldn't just scare her like that. I loved her too much to worry her.

    It's for her own  good, I tried to convince myself. It only worked part way though. I bit down on my lip and my hands shook with guilt as I finished.

        Everything is fine. We were told that we are gonna be mainly defense fighting and that's a lot safer. So there's no need to worry about me. I'm fine. I love you and I can't wait to hear from you again.

                                        Love,

                                            Matteo

    I reread the letter, feeling worse with each sentence. "I'm sorry, Emmy," I whispered before folding it up and placing it into an envelope.