Thread: a new dawn || bear & frelance

Jake woke in a cold sweat from another nightmare where he relived what little he could remember of the night that had led him to this moment. He hadn't had not been able to sleep for more than a few hours at a time since his Humvee had been hit by an IED. He still couldn't remember much of what had happened. Jake had heard the explosion and the fire rip through the bottom of the vehicle as he and the rest of his squad did what they could to get out. The next thing he remembered was the being dragged across the ground as he looked down at what was left of his legs which were missing both feet around half his lower leg. He had attempted to raise his weapon when he saw that enemy combatants were following them but he blacked out before he could pull the trigger. The next time he woke up was when he was being transferred onto a gurney and rolled through a hospital. He couldn't remember if he had just been panicking or if the drugs had worn off and he was able to feel the pain but he had quickly been strapped down and he had felt the sharp prick of a needle in his arm just seconds before his eyes closed and he fell unconscious again. The next time he woke he was in bed and a nurse was standing over him. It had taken him an embarrassingly long time to remember that she looked familiar because she had been there when he had been brought in. It wasn't long after that the doctor was called in and he started to explain to Jake that most of his calf had been do damaged to save but his knees had not taken to much damage so they had been able to save them and a small portion of the calf. When Jake had pulled back the blanket on his bed he had wanted to scream at the man. There was barely more than two inches of his calf left and it had been the discipline drilled into him by the military that kept him from lashing out at the man but it must have been clear on his face because the doctor had quickly tried to reassure him that he was a great candidate for a pair of prosthetic. As the weeks went by he had wallowed in self-pity and guilt for surviving after he had found out that he had been the only one to survive from his Humvee. In that time his sister had visited and they had both put on brave faces that only lasted until she had left. He had told her that he didn't want to see anyone else and because of that he was not to surprised when she came with a letter and a copy of Starship Troopers that his high school English teacher had wanted her to pass to him on her next visit. He had left the both sitting by his bed for a few weeks but eventually the boredom of spending hours along in the room was to much and he had opened the letter and read it. Dear Jake, While I have not experienced the dangers you faced or the pain you are going through first had I have studied the subject extensively over the years. It is clear to me that to much time has been spent recording the events of battle but not enough is spent speaking about what the brave men and women like yourself have to go through to re-integreate into society when you return home from your tours of duty. Know you for the amount of time I did I have no doubt that you are not pushing forward with this new part of your duty but I am here to tell you that you are one of the rare nuggets that make my job worth it. So do not let that go to waste. We necessarily sift a great many pebbles, much sand, for each nuggetbut the nuggets Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers Ps. Once your read the book I would enjoy hearing your thoughts so I can use it as a teaching device for younger students. Sincirly, Mr. Davis Jake had read the letter a few times over the past couple days as he read through the book. When had woke up he had felt ready to try and prove to his teacher that he had been worth the praise in the letter and so when he had been served breakfast he had cleared the tray off in record time before he had been taken to see his counsellor but once back in his room he had got back to sleep only to be awoken by the smell of hot food. As he ate he kept glancing over at the wheelchair that had been left beside the bed and by the time he had finished his meal and pushed the table away he almost convinced himself to try and get into the chair. It was as he was sitting on the edge of the bed that Ms. Thorne came into the room. It was better than military rations so it was fine. He had pulled his attention away from the chair as he spoke and he couldn't help but notice how she seemed to be avoiding looking at the chair. I don't need anything but please stick around for a few minutes. He turned away from her without another word almost positive that someone had left the chair as a test for him which annoyed him but at the same time he couldn't bring himself to ignore it. So as he reached out to grabbed the armrests he spoke again. Someone here is a sadist you know that? I don't know the first thing about these fucking things. Even as he spoke though he kept shifting his weight as he tried to figure out the best way to get into the chair. Finally he tried to just reach to the far side and move his body over to the chair before lowering himself. It almost worked but just as he was lowering himself his left arm gave way and he fell hard into the chair with his weight to far to one side. I caused the chair to tilt and before he could reach out to the bed to pull it back the chair passed the point of no return. He curled into a ball just before it slammed into a floor tossing Jake from the chair. He let out a cry of pain as he rolled onto his back and reached down to the stump of one left. Mother fucker, that fucking chair can't be that complicated. He slowly released his leg and lay on the floor for a few moments before he got to his hands and knees ignoring the pain that shot up his legs so he could try and put the wheelchair back onto all its wheels.