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There were certain tiers, subdivisions in the army, that went cross factions through all the different jobs that could be found. It was the same concept of unwritten rules; everyone knew but no one talked about, like one of those puzzles that had shapes hiding inside of other shapes.
Jack had honestly described it better. While Mac went on about an intricate puzzle system, Jack merely said they were like high school cliques or clubs.
“Yeah man, all the techs are like the science nerds, Watches are definitely the jocks, communication is like the news clubs or whatever, medics are like support so— I guess they’d be like the cheerleaders.”
“I am so telling Doc Roe you’re calling him a cheerleader.”
He wasn’t wrong, and it definitely made more sense than how Mac had tried to explain it, but there had been really just two large groups that played a part; those that could fight and those that couldn’t.
Strictly speaking, everyone there could fight. They all received defensive training and did drills, but not everyone had gone into the field to really demonstrate. Mac knew a hundred percent that Doc Roe could easily handle himself in a fight, but he wasn’t a combat medic, it wasn’t his job to meet guys in the field. There were also guys that should’ve known how to fight, but generally their bark was worse then their bite.
Then there was Mac.
Mac was apparently a clique all in himself. He knew how to fight, knew his way around a gun, but generally refused to do either because they weren’t called for. He knew how to fight, given the demonstration upon his and Jack’s first meeting, but he rarely ever need to, because Jack always kept any sort of danger away from him. He didn’t need a gun either for the same reason, plus he just didn’t like them.
So he wasn’t with the group that couldn’t fight, nor was he with the group that could fight. He was oddly placed somewhere in the middle. A sort of he could, but he doesn’t, so ultimately he can’t type of deal.
It wasn’t like Mac wasn’t used to rumors either. New guys coming in were usually the source of such gossip; hearing things from training officers or from friends they had that were already stationed.
They never necessarily bother him, a lot of them had figments of truth; he didn’t carry a weapon, he was a slow defuser, he did have weird ways of doing things. Even the ones that weren’t true at all didn’t faze him; he didn’t know basic weapon maintenance, he couldn’t handle himself in a fight, he cheated his way through training. They weren’t true and didn’t hinder how he did things, so why should he be bother by it?
They did bother Jack quite a bit though. Mac was his partner, he knew what kind of man he was and didn’t take kindly to people offhandedly insulting him through the course of a rumor. He’d seen newer guys gesture to him and heard older guys make up things, and Mac had to stop him from confronting them.
“How can ya stand around and let them say things like that? It’s like ya don’t even care what they think.”
“I don’t. If what they say is true then okay, fine, and if what they say is false then why should it bug me? I know it’s not true, you know it’s not true, everyone we know knows it’s not true.”
“It’s the principle of it man. New people be comin in and won’t respect ya if they hear the wrong things and make their own assumptions.”
“Isn’t that what you did?”
No argument had been made, nor had Jack actually confronted any guys about anything. Mac just continued doing his job, tuning out anything untrue. A few new guys had actually gone up to him on different occasions and straight up asked him about things and he always gave them the correct answer.
There had been a somewhat different group that had recently been deployed to their unit, one that held guys with a strong stereotypical view of how army life was. It wasn’t like it was a new thing, guys like that appeared all the time and had been set straight after a few weeks, mainly because their unit wasn’t a stereotypical one that was shown in movies. It was an EOD unit, a sort of specialty unit that dealt with, however it was looked at, more or less than stereotypical movie army units did.
Most of them had been infantry, the general working guys, with a handful of others that had actual job names and descriptions. They thought they’d be somewhat of a higher value, which they technically were, but they were still just guys that happened to have the same training as dozens of others. The infantry guys were the ones that had been a pain.
It had happened while Mac and Jack had been off field rotation. Normally when that happened, depending on how long they were off for, guys slept and filed out fully detailed reports. Mac and Jack had been on rotation for nearly a full month, so instead of the three or four days they normally had, they got a full week. A condition of that was they had to, more or less, break in the newbies, basically meaning just lead any drills that had been scheduled.
“Ya ever notice how we always seem to get these batches of guys? Think Angelo’s doin it on purpose?”
“Definitely doing it on purpose. I think he likes the shock value of it.”
“Also we ain’t even infantry. Why we doin infantry drills?”
“You answered your own question.”
It was a group of a little more than a dozen guys who had been there for a few weeks and still had that sense of needing to fill the stereotype of army bad boy.
“They’re so annoyin though. I swear if I hear anyone make a reference to Full Metal Jacket I’m makin them do push-ups the entire time.”
“That’s the stereotypical tough guy they’re expecting though. Come to think of it, you could probably get them to worship you.”
“Say what now?”
“Big Texan army man. Sorry to say Jack but you’re their type.”
“Now yer just bein insultin.”
Mac usually always took the warm up— leading jog, push-ups, jumping jacks— while Jack took lead on whatever training exercise was to be done, normally, and in that case, hand to hand.
“Why do ya always take on the warmups? Why not ever take the main thing?”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the guys respect you more straight off the bat. You look like a knowledgeable army sergeant and I look like a scientist out of his element. They take you more seriously than they ever would me.”
It never bother him. Outside of training sessions, Mac wouldn’t ever really interact with them. Did their opinions and respect for him grow after seeing what he could do? He didn’t know but it was really the least he could hope for.
“Alright, everyone shut up. I’m Sergeant Dalton and this is my partner Specialist Macgyver and we’ll be instructin y’all in hand to hand combat and defense strategies. You will refer to us as Sir or our titles when you address us in any way, shape, or form. Is that clear?”
A round of Yes, Sergeant went around.
“I know y’all learned all this in basic, and the trainin sessions you take part in will mainly be refreshers. Ya may not even see combat in which you would use these techniques, which is all the more reason why we keep doin them. Any questions?” A hand went up. “What’s yer name soldier?”
“Mills, Aiden sir.”
“What’s yer question Mills?”
“Have you ever had to use these techniques sir?”
“Not since I signed back up to be an overwatch, no. Handful of times while in the CIA and Delta maybe but not recently. Better to have the knowledge and not need it than to need it and not have it.”
“What about you, sir?” He asked towards Mac.
“I’ve certainly needed it a fair more amount of times than he has.” Mac answered with a slight huff. “Since techs are highly sought targets, we’re unfortunately the group that needs to know it most out of everyone.”
Another hand went up. “Name?”
“Knight, Marshall. Sir is it true that you escaped an enemy encampment by yourself after a week?”
Mac looked to Jack with a raised brow before answering. “It was four days actually.”
One more hand. “Logger, Caleb. Is it true ya also rigged everything in the base to explode once ya left, sir?”
“I— no. It did cross my mind but I didn’t have the time or supplies I needed to rig an entire base. I did managed to rig the truck I was in to blow after it reached a certain speed.”
And another. “Sir what—”
“Nah nah, no more.” Jack cut him off. “If ya got questions bout the techniques, you can ask. We ain’t here to talk about the past. Yer welcome to ask us after we’re done with everythin, but for now, let’s get started.”
Having new guys ask off topic questions wasn’t totally out of the norm either and neither of them minded, but the longer they stood there asking and answering questions, the longer the session as a whole would be, and even though Mac and Jack were used to the sun, that didn’t mean they preferred it over their bunks.
The whole thing was simple enough. Jack told them the purpose of the move, did one slow demonstration, then a fast one before they started themselves. He would count for each step that had to be done so everyone kept the same rhythm while Mac walked around them, correcting movements or postures.
It happened several times where the roles and moves were switched. After that was so called free training, meaning two guys were randomly paired and could decide what move they wanted to use to take down their teammate. Each guy practiced an offensive and defensive move of his own choosing before the session was over.
Everyone had formed a circle and Mac picked two random guys to be in the center, designating one offense and one defense. He watches the spar, shouting leading words that could help either of them take their partner down. Jack himself had been leaning on a post, watching it all happen.
Though it wasn’t uncommon for someone to think the whole idea of it was rather redundant and somewhat useless. And contrary to popular belief, Jack loved when that happened.
“I got a question Sergeant.”
“Name and question.”
“Sutton, Vance. Sir I understand that all this is important, but I don’t exactly get why we gotta practice move sets when the enemy won’t be doing what we’re expecting them to.”
“I don’t see a question in any of those words son.”
“What I mean, sir, is wouldn’t it be better just to sort of go with the flow of the fight since that’s what’s gonna happen if we encounter enemies on the field?”
Jack raised a brow and look the guy up and down. He didn’t look like a stereotypical army douche, which was all the more surprising for him to be the one to ask.
“Ya think it’d be a more productive use of time to pretty much let the guys go hog wild on each other since that’s how it’d be in the field.”
“Yes sir.”
“Ya know, yer right.” Jack slapped the guy on the shoulder. “Hey Mac, come’mere a sec.”
Mac had the guys pause for a moment while he went over. “Yeah what’s up?”
“Private Sutton here believes the guys should be cut loose of instructional binds since this ain’t how it is in the field.”
Mac looked at Sutton. “The purpose of having instructed sparring sessions is so you know all the basic offensive and defensive moves and are able to adapt as needs be if you ever come under attack or an ambush.”
“I understand that sir, but it seems counter intuitive to have us only practice the move sets and not our own personal skill sets.”
Mac raised a brow and looked to Jack, who had both brows raised in a hopeful, questioning stare. He shook his head and sighed. “Fine.”
“Yes!” Jack clapped.
Sutton looked between the two of them, obviously missing the silent conversation. “Sirs?”
Jack pushed himself off his spot and started to the circle of guys. “Alright alright move aside now.” He went right to the center, Mac and Sutton standing amongst the others. “It’s come to my attention that some of y’all might not think we’re doin the best kinda trainin, that we should let y’all loose to more so— explore yer own capabilities. So to show ya how not good of an idea that is, we’re gonna have a demonstration. Private Sutton, join me right here.”
Sutton stepped into the circle. Someone else called out.
“Sir isn’t it unfair to have him spar with you?”
“Yer right on that. I got Delta and CIA experience that’ll put ya flat on yer back in seconds. That’s why I ain’t gonna be his partner for this.” Mac stepped into the circle at that moment. “Mac is. Now before anyone gets all up in arms, Mac’s the best option for this because if it were any other guy, they’d most likely land ya in med for a few days.”
“I feel like you’re being a bit insulting.” Mac said but Jack seemed to ignore completely.
“Three rounds; offense, defense, then all out for both of ya. If Private Sutton can manage to pin Specialist Macgyver once, we’ll see bout, I dunno, cancellin the next trainin sesh.”
“Pretty sure you don’t have the authority to do that.”
“Sutton you got whatever you want for offense, Mac yer on instructed defense. Have at it.”
All the guys in the surrounding circle actually went quiet as Jack moved to join them.
Mac thought he had a decent idea about what was going through their heads. That wasn’t the first time a situation like that had come up and he doubted it would be the last. The guys asked him specific questions about a past mission gone bad, so someone in basic must have been telling stories, and was no doubt most likely part of the rumor mill. Everyone had probably heard of his reputation of no fighting and no guns. He said it before that it didn’t bother him, but he knew Jack wouldn’t stand for it, or stop doing whatever he could in disproving those rumors. Hence why Mac agreed to sparring.
He had to hand it to Sutton. He was a decent fighter that actually seemed to somewhat calculate the moves he made, but none of them were good enough to best Mac. Mac’s defensive moves had tired Sutton out enough for him to be taken down easily after a few minutes. The second round wasn’t looking promising for him either; Mac being relentless and throwing out move after move until Sutton had once again been downed.
He knew people would argue about experience levels; how Mac had three years under his belt and Sutton had three weeks. But that was how it truly was in the sandbox a lot of times, for both sides.
“Okay, let chance Private. Both y’all catch yer breath. It’s a free fight, but that ain’t mean it’s a dirty one. I don’t wanna have either of ya in med.”
“What’s the time?”
Jack looked at his watch. “Cuttin it pretty close there hoss. Boys still gotta do their warm down. Ya know Perez is gonna give ya shit if ya make them late to their classroom again.”
“This is all your fault to begin with.”
“Better make it snappy then.” Jack winked. “Come on, we got other places to be.”
That last round didn’t even last four minutes.
Mac had moved and maneuvered so quick that no one but Jack could really keep up with him; a few punches, a dodge, and a simple leg sweep had Sutton on the ground in what seemed like mere seconds.
“This is the reason we have instructed training.” Mac said, brushing his clothes off. “We can see the mistakes that were made and hopefully correct them in the future so you don’t wind up in a compromising position that could very much be you’re last.”
Jack stepped into the circle. “I know y’all will fight bout experience, but this was a more realistic fight yer more likely to come across out here in the sandbox if ya underestimate yer enemy. And I know y’all were thinkin Mac couldn’t fight cuz I said he wouldn’t land ya in med. Lemme tell ya he could put ya there if he wanted to. Other sparrin sessions with different guys will land ya there whether yer partner meant to put ya there or not. Lemme give ya a little word to the wise before I send ya off; underestimatin yer opponent will get ya killed. And don’t none of y’all forget, Mac pinned meeasily first day we met. Now go on and get.”
All the guys filled into position to begin their warm down run.
Mac held out his hand to Sutton who was still sitting on the ground. “You have good form but I think you might be a little too eager to try to perfect it.”
Sutton got up, ignoring Mac’s hand. “Yes, sir.” He sounded annoyed, as was customary after that kind of sparring session. “Thank you sir.” He went off to join the other guys on their run.
Jack leaned over. “I don’t think ya made a new friend today.”
Mac playfully smacked him. “It’s your fault to begin with.”
“I dunno, I think Angelo’s at fault for makin us do it, but I think we got the point across.”
“Uh huh, sure.”
***
Things went as they normally did after a session like that. Several of the new guys had sought out Mac specifically, either for a more in-depth explanation of what they’d worked on in training, or about any rumors they’d heard. More often than not were questions about the rumors. They still didn’t bother him, especially people asking because it gave him a chance to set the record straight, but he wasn’t too fond of the fact that they all just seemed to dance around the questions instead of just outright asking.
“Sir, uh, about that time with you being with the enemy…”
The other guys were getting a bit annoyed with it too.
“Christ, Hollywood we need to make you an FAQ about what’s happened to ya. Just like a paper we give to all the new blood so we can stop with this stuff every few weeks.”
Mac never put up a fuss for any question anyone asked. He answered them all the same with whoever asked. The only time he didn’t really explain himself was when someone asked about the gun situation.
He had noticed that Sutton was ignoring him like the plague. It wasn’t exactly a new thing, but something about it seemed different from all the other times other guys had done it. If they happened to be in the same place, Sutton would leave if it was an option. And Mac knew he was going out of his way to avoid him.
“He’s pissed and embarrassed. I asked Jonah what his deal was and apparently he was best at everythin in basic; heard bout the rumors surroundin you and thought he could pull one over on ya and be top dog.”
Well, he couldn’t make friends with everyone.
He just kept on doing his normal thing. It wasn’t like having someone not like him was hindering him in any way, though through his time there, Mac had seen that guys that tended to have some sort of distain for him didn’t exactly have the best time. He was heavily against it, seeing as he knew exactly what it was like.
He never had hard feelings, never sought to exclude them from anything, never purposefully ignored any of them. He was always open and willing to friendship if they wanted it.
So when Sutton approached him one night while they were both out, he obviously thought it was for that reason.
“Sir, can I have a second of your time?”
“You don’t need to call me sir outside of drills. Just Mac is fine. What’s up?”
“Okay, Mac. I’m not too sure how to actually do this.”
“If you want to ask about any rumors, best to just ask. Makes it less awkward than tiptoeing about the topic.”
“Did you actually disarm 127 IEDs by yourself in a single day?”
Maybe Sutton was actually starting to break out of that big bad army stereotype.
“Not by myself, no. We had gone in teams and I was grouped with a guy named Charlie from another unit. We had a bit of playful rivalry going on so it was kinda a competition to see who could disarm more. I beat him by a handful, but we made a really great team.”
Sutton nodded. “I heard that you set the new best score for the ASCAB exam. Are you really that smart?”
“I actually hadn’t heard that, but I did seem to pass with flying colors. And honestly, it depends on who you ask and why. Jack will probably tell you I’m an idiot because I dropped out of MIT to come here.”
“Where did you learn how to fight? I mean other than here.”
“No, it actually has mostly all been from here. I was a target for bullies when I was younger and my goto plan was usually to run. But yeah, nearly all of it is basic math that can be used to predict someone’s next move and stay a step ahead of them.”
“I know you have a problem with guns so, have you ever killed anyone?”
That was a leap in questioning that set off an alarm in Mac’s head. “Uh, yeah. Yeah I have.”
“How?”
“IEDs going off before I get to them, or by rigging them to blow myself.”
“How many?”
“I try not to think about it.” Mac cleared his throat. “I’m gonna head to my bunk. Make sure you get some rest.” He turned and got two steps before there were two clicks.
“I’d appreciate it if you stayed here, Mac.”
Mac wanted to kick himself. Vance Sutton seemed like a good guy, the kind of guy that Mac would sit and have a drink with; a rocky start to a somewhat friendship. Why he was currently holding Mac at gunpoint, he really didn’t know.
“What are you doing Vance?”
“How old are you?”
“I turned twenty-one this last March.”
He laughed. “That makes so much sense. Why— why you think you’re top dog around here.”
“I don’t think that—”
“You with your perfect score and— and not wanting to kill anyone. Guys going to you if they have questions about anything. I mean, your name is the only thing I’ve heard since I got here, and I gotta say, I’m getting real sick of it. All the bullshit rumors making it like you’re some pushover, only to find out you’re just some fucking— guy that’s got the whole unit brainwashed into thinking you’re some sort of super human.”
“Vance, listen to me—”
“Shut the fuck up.” He took a step towards Mac. “You think you’re in any position to speak to me about anything? You, who has everyone blind to whatever delusions you’re pulling? You, who doesn’t know what a true soldier really is?”
“No, no you’re right. I don’t know about that, but just listen to me for a second, please.” When Sutton made no move, Mac continued. “You’re a real military man, a true soldier? I know that you know what will happen if you pull that trigger. Okay? Guys will will come out and swarm you, and then you’ll most likely be dishonorably discharged and maybe even have a trial by court-martial.”
“Says you.”
“No, says the US Government when you signed up. I don’t know everything but I do know that for certain. If you pull that trigger, it’s not going to end well for either of us.”
Mac watched gears in Sutton’s head turn. He wasn’t best at negotiations, but everything he said was true. If Sutton believed him on one thing, it should’ve been that the army would definitely retaliate if he did anything.
“Okay, but what good is it to me now? You’re obviously going to report this when we’re through. You’ll get me kicked out while you stay here and keep leading everyone with your lies.”
“I won’t. I promise I won’t. We can just go our separate ways and pretend this never happened. You can ask the guys. They say I’m a bad liar, but, that— that’s all part of the delusion. I’m actually really good at keeping secrets.”
Sutton lowered his gun. Mac hoped he was getting through to him. There’d been a handful of times where guys confronted him, but usually they were dumb enough to do it with witnesses. Sutton had caught Mac in a storage corner where there wasn’t much, if any foot traffic. Mac himself wasn’t even supposed to be there, nor was it a normal thing he did, so either Sutton had been lucky on finding him, or he had watched him for those two days and decided that was the best time.
“No.” The gun was trained on Mac again. “If the guys believe you’re a bad liar, and the whole thing means you’re a good liar, then you’re lying to me right now. You would report this.”
“Vance, wait—”
“And if I’m going to go down for this, I’m taking you with me.”
***
“Checkmate bud. Try again next time.”
“That’s not what you say when you win in Poker.”
“This is bull. I thought you’d be at a disadvantage without your human calculator to count cards for you.”
“Sorry guys, but I’m the one who taunt Mac how to play Poker in the first place. He just taught me how to win every time.”
Jack laughed as all the guys threw down their cards. That day had been the last one where they were assigned some sort of work before they actually got to relax before being on roster again.
“Dalton, you’ve been with the new guys way more than any of us. Whatcha think about them? They good stock?”
“Yeah, I heard one of them got some sorta beef with Off Brand Google. Who started it?”
Jack huffed. “No one started anythin. The batch of guys was pretty much the same as everyone else round here; quick learners, they pay attention, most of them got good form. Curious sons a bitches, they had heaps of questions bout the rumors surroundin Mac.”
“Guy’s a legend, our own little celebrity. New boys are bound to be curious about him.”
“They just gotta get used to him and then they’ll find out he’s actually real boring to talk to. But what about the guy who’s got a grudge?”
“Private Sutton. Jeez, I can’t believe they let a guy like that join up. He’s a typical army brat; has one a those holier than thou personalities. Ya know he came up to me when we were runnin drills basically sayin they were useless to him? He ain’t understand why we were doin them.”
“Did ya go all Sergeant Dalton on him? Push-ups, pull-ups, yelling up a storm, whole nine yards?”
“Nah, even though I woulda enjoyed it thoroughly. I had Mac kick his sorry behind instead.”
“You what?”
“Well, Sutton wanted to use his own skills to prove we didn’t need to be doin drills, so I put money where his mouth was and had him face off against Mac. Needless to say, Mac won, and he lost.”
“So you’re the one that started it.”
The guys all laughed as Jack rolled his eyes and shuffled the cards. “Yeah yeah, whatever. I just don’t think it’s gonna turn out like all the other times guys underestimated Mac.”
“How you know?”
“Because I was one of those guys. I know how they think, but that guy just don’t think the same.”
“In all fairness, I don’t think anyone thinks the same as you, Tex.”
Jack was doing his best to hide his worry. It was definitely no secret that he and Mac were practically joined at the hip ever since Jack reupped. All the guys that were on a good basis with them would regularly throw out teases when they were separated for any length of time.
Mac’s last job before having free days had to do something with storage, which should’ve only lasted until 10pm. It was currently 10:31pm and he still hadn’t come back. Numerous things could’ve been factored into why Mac was late; replacement was late, lost track of time, pulled away by someone else for something. But it just felt different. That was a thing Jack was teased on constantly; he just always seemed to know Mac’s location and current state of being.
“I think the ass kicking was deserved. How long have they been here? Two months at most? I got a new guy in comm, good kid, catching on quick, said he was in basic with Sutton and was hoping of getting different units because he’s a control freak; busted chops with anyone that challenged him at all.”
“Yep, Jonah said he needed to be top all the time.”
“Buncha guys bust chops with each other though. Give him—”
There was a sound, one that every man there knew, one that made them inadvertently duck no matter where they were.
“Fuck was that?”
“That was a shot, wasn’t it?”
Everyone dropped what they were doing and went outside; dozens of other guys had also filed outside to see what was up.
“Where’d that come from?”
“Are we under attack?”
“That was in base.”
Jack knew in the pit of his stomach something was wrong.
So he ran.
Ran through the base faster than any other guys.
Ran towards storage because he knew that’s where the shot came from.
Jack kept running until he heard yelling. The only thing was, it wasn’t Mac. It was a mixture of voices, one standing out in particular. He finally stopped when he got to the source of the commotion.
Mac was sitting on Sutton’s back.
He had the man pinned on his stomach with an arm wrapped around his back. He was shouting all sorts of profanities, trying to get Mac off him with every movement, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t shake him.
Mac was sitting rather calmly, unbothered by the man beneath him. Though when he looked at the surroundings, at the guys that had come to witness the situation, Jack saw blood running down Mac’s face.
“I swear to god I’m gonna fucking kill you Macgyver! You have no right—”
Jack couldn’t move from where he was standing, or more so thought better that he didn’t because he didn’t know what he would do to Sutton if he got hold of him. So he let other guys take lead, but even they didn’t know what the situation was or how to handle it.
“You lying son of a bitch! I’ll kill you in your sleep!”
“What in the goddamn hell is going on?” Jack hadn’t noticed Commander Willis joined the spectators.
“I can explain the situation sir, but I’d feel better doing so if he were apprehended.” Mac’s voice sounded calm, but Jack could tell there was an underlying tone of some sort. He just couldn’t put his finger on what.
“Fuck you Macgyver! Wannabe piece of shit!”
Willis gestured for a few men to separate the two of them. While Mac had gotten off and stepped away, Sutton surged up, pushing guys out of the way so he could get to Mac. He was ultimately stopped by men holding him back.
It was then that Jack had seen blood was also trailing down Mac’s arm, down Sutton’s face as well; an injury he didn’t care about and believed was most likely well deserved.
“You’re so lucky these guys are holding me back! Just wait until I get my hands on you!”
“Take him to the detainment cell.” Willis commanded, ignoring any and all things Sutton was saying. He turned to Mac. “Give me the short version so you can get patched up, Specialist. I know you weren’t the one to fire that gun.”
Right, the gun shot, the reason everyone was currently there.
“I was finishing up in storage when Private Sutton approached me, sir. He asked if we could talk.”
“About?”
“The rumors surrounding me, sir.”
“And from what I gather, he didn’t take the answers well?”
“No, sir.”
Willis sighed. “Alright. Go get patched up in med. You’ll give a full report in the morning. All you others back to your bunks.”
“Yes, sir.”
When guys slowly started returning the ways they came is when Jack snapped out of whatever stupor he was in and fully approached Mac.
“Hey, hey, come on. Let’s get ya over to Doc Roe so he can patch ya up. You alright to walk or need me to carry you?”
“I’m okay Jack. My legs work fine.” He wiped the blood coming from his nose, wincing at the action, only for more to take its place. “Could you grab the pistol and mag? I have a feeling they’ll be needed tomorrow.”
Jack looked to where Mac gestured, two different spots a good throw away from each other, and retrieved each part. “Yer not gonna make me wait to hear that there’s a bullet lodged in your arm from Doc are ya? That things bleedin like a mother.”
“I can’t tell honestly but I think it’s just a graze. My nose hurts more than anything.”
“Think it’s broke?”
“No… maybe. Having a gun in his hand made the hit harder.”
“Hoss are you tellin me he pistol-whipped you? Actually, I don’t wanna know. Let’s just get ya to med so Doc can fix ya up.”
***
Mac’s nose wasn’t broken, and there wasn’t a bullet lodged in his arm. It had been a graze that needed some stitches, and Roe was surprised when Mac didn’t seem to have a concussion to go along with everything. He had kept Mac there until his stitches were finished and his nose had stopped bleeding, to which he gave some pain killers and sent him back to their bunk, even if Jack thought it better for Mac to stay in med for the night.
Their bunk mates had, of course, stayed up until they got back, clearly hoping for a first handed play by play about what happened, but Jack had shut it down immediately.
“Y’all are worse than nosy school girls. He ain’t doin nothin tonight but sleep. You’ll get a story in the mornin if he wants to tell ya. So shut yer eyes and go to sleep.”
Needless to say, Jack himself was in fitful false sleep all night, waking every moment he heard Mac stir above him, listening to the short, almost choked sounds of Mac breathing and a hiss of him rolling onto his arm. Though the lack must have caught up with him in the early hours of the morning, because when he surprisingly woke up, Mac was gone. He would’ve been lying if he said it didn’t make him panic slightly, but figured Mac was with all the COs, relating his story of what happened the previous night.
It had been nearly an hour until Mac returned to bunks. The rest of the guys had filed out, to get food and whatnot, so it had just been the two of them.
Mac had honestly looked miserable. Around his nose and eyes had signs of starting bruises along with the tired bags. On top of it all he looked exhausted from lack of sleep.
Jack gave him a sympathetic smile. “I feel dumb askin but, how ya feel?”
Mac sat besides him and heaved a heavy sigh. “Sure I’d feel worse without what Doc Roe gave me. That was a whole new experience that never crossed my mind.”
“Ya wanna give me some insight into what happened? Gotta say, bunch of the guys nearly went to get Sutton themselves.”
Mac snorted. “That’s honoring, truly. But uh, yeah. I was on the way back, Sutton stopped me, and he pulled a gun on me.”
“That what you told all the COs?” Jack raised a brow.
“Jack—”
“Just humor me will ya?”
“He— he was asking me amount the people I’ve killed. When I told him I’d rather not talk about it, he pulled a gun on me, wouldn’t let me leave. I tried to talk to him but he wouldn’t hear anything; socked me with his gun hand. I went down, and the more I tried to talk, more pissed he got.
“He took a shot, missed obviously— kinda, then I took him down. Leg sweep and curl. I got his gun, threw the mag and piece in different directions, and kept him pinned until someone came. That’s pretty much what I told the COs.”
Jack shook his head. “I’m sorry ya had to go through that. I shoulda been with ya.”
“Jack I didn’t think I needed to tell you this wasn’t your fault.”
“Wouldn’t of happened if I were there with ya.”
“But you didn’t need to be there with me. There’s nothing wrong with that. You’re allowed to enjoy your own time without me there every second. Besides, we were on base. Neither of us knew this was gonna happen.”
“Damn army shoulda known.”
“They did, at least, they found out.” Mac rotated his shoulder. “Willis had his psych eval reevaluated. They told me he had the exact answers as someone else.”
“He cheated on his psych eval? Jesus man. No wonder. They say what’s gonna happen with him?”
“He’s gonna be transferred to a prison stateside. MPs should be around later today or tomorrow. I have to give another statement to them, and then depending on if they do a trial or not, I might have to be there, but Martinez said it’s unlikely since he cheated his way in.”
“Thank god for that.” Jack patted Mac’s leg. “Well, I know bout a dozen and a half guys that’ve been dyin to know bout all that happened, and they’re fixin to swarm ya as soon as they see ya. Ya wanna risk the canteen or want me to bring ya somethin?”
Mac snorted. “Nah, best I just bite the bullet and tell everyone at once. Not like this will be the first time I have to tell it anyways.”
“Please don’t talk bout no more bullets. I don’t think I can handle it.” Jack stood, holding a hand out to Mac. “On the plus side, I don’t think any newbies will question yer ability to handle yerself in a fight anymore.”
Mac rolled his eyes and took Jack’s hand. “Yeah, definitely looking forward to the new rumor that’ll take its place.”