SoldiersBrave

For my buddy, and brother, Dan,who wants to be a soldier in the

United States Army

Table of Contents

Three Weeks In..........................................................................p. 11

Base Camp...................................................................................p. 23

Goblins.............................................................................................p. 35

At the Canteen............................................................................p. 47

City Lights......................................................................................p. 59

To the Front..................................................................................p. 71

Crisis in the Pantry....................................................................p. 81

Thanksgiving.................................................................................p. 93

Cave Crawlers.............................................................................p. 105

War..................................................................................................p. 115

Hospital..........................................................................................p. 125

Monks.............................................................................................p. 135

Underground...............................................................................p. 145

Zeus.................................................................................................p. 157

Alexander......................................................................................p. 169

Bring Him Home........................................................................p. 181

Epilogue..........................................................................................p. 185

The setting is the desert in an unknown time in the future. Another world war, fought on

enemy territory. The life of the army has changed from what it was like in the fifty years

following the second World War.Soldiers from the United States are sent to

fight a war the old-fashioned way.Face to face with the enemy.

Chapter 1

Three Weeks In

“Take your shot, Baker. Just try and hit me. Bet you can't even do it!” Dan Baker leveled his eyes against the sun toward the protagonist standing in his line of vision. The blaze of the desert was ruthless. He could hardly see the figure only thirty yards in front of him. But he knew his aim was true. It always had been. Even when he was a kid, hustling around the back yard with his air soft gun and his buddies. Or playing baseball in the summer. He shucked a hard throw, and almost always landed the ball exactly where he had wanted it to hit. “Can't hit me, can you?” Dan didn't respond. He only held his ammunition in his hand, twisting its hard casing. “Come on, Baker. Just try.” The taunting was escalating. Dan only laughed silently, keeping his brown eyes at a squint against the west. And then... Smack! “Yow!”

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Nick Lawson was on the ground, clutching at his arm. “You got me! Oh, ya got me!” Dan bent over laughing as Nick dramatically rolled around on the ground in mock agony. “That's what you get,” said Dan, walking over to give him a hand. “That's what I get for you hitting me with a baseball!” “You were supposed to duck, you moron.” Nick was back up on his feet, still rubbing his inflicted appendage. “You throw hard, Baker. How come you stunk at baseball if you could throw like that?” “Didn't like baseball, that's why,” said Dan. “Come on. It's dinner time.” Nick and Dan headed back toward the base camp under the early evening of the desert sun, starving after five hours since lunch. Three weeks away from home, already. Training wouldn't be finished for another three. The first wave of homesickness had passed after the first week. They were far from home that Sunday afternoon. On the way, they were joined by Drew Thurau(1) and Jay Watkins, napping in the shade of a rare tree. “Lazy,” Nick called over his shoulder as they walked by. Drew shucked his shirt at him. “Not lazy,” he said. “You want two soldiers falling asleep on night guard?” “Weak.” Drew just slung his shirt at him again. Their spirits were high. The call of duty had been more than inspirational, especially, perhaps, for Dan. His life-long dream had been the Army. Lived, breathed Army since he was seven. And there he was, twelve years later, with his best buds from childhood. All four of them together in the desert, waiting for skirmish. For a guy like Dan, little could be better. Except that he missed his

(1) Pronounced -- Tour-ow

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family. It was October. Mom would be at home making apple cider for his niece and nephews, who came to visit often. Dad would mow the lawn for the last time before winter. Dan would miss seeing his younger sister pick out her pumpkin from the patch. As old as she was getting, it might be her last year to make a jack-o-lantern. Sometimes, at night, as good as it was to serve his country, as much as it made him proud, he would lay awake on his cot, looking at the pictures of home tacked above his bed. Just two of them. A photo of his family right before he had left. All of them. Even the older sisters and brother already married with their own families. All smiling at him. Another photo of the front of the house -- home. “None of you sissies have any pictures of girls,” said Nick, when they had first arrived. “Lame.” Somehow, even at nineteen, things hadn't changed much from when they were twelve. “Don't need a girl right now,” said Jay, easily. “Have more important things to do with my time.” “Yeah,” said Drew. “Like save our country from terrorists.” Nick just scoffed, and pinned up the picture of his pretty girlfriend back home. “Just hope she doesn't send you one of those, what're they called, 'Dear John' letters,” said Jay, in retort to the scoff. Nick had thrown a shoe at him. That was the first day. Three weeks later, and Nick was missing more than his girlfriend. Even he had to admit that he missed his family. “Another nine months of this, dudes,” said Jay, as they continued their walk to the mess hall. No one responded. They each had their own thoughts about being in the desert for so long. It was exciting to be

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almost to the front. Almost to the action they had waited so long to see. They could almost hear it from their base camp. It was so close. The mess hall was already crawling. Sunday afternoons were down time for the troops. It was a good squadron. Four hundred soldiers stationed just south of the border where the heavy fighting took place on almost a daily basis. For three years. There didn't seem much chance of it lightening any time soon. It was particularly crowded that afternoon because something special was on the menu. “Sent these down from the embassy,” the cook grunted from behind the cafeteria line. “One per customer, Jess,” he instructed the private dishing out the desserts. A monumental moan rose from the soldiers already in line who heard the order. “One per customer?” Nick repeated. “What the heck?” “One what?” asked Jay. “What are they serving?” Nick, who was a little taller than the others, stretched his head over the crowd. “I don't know,” he said. “But whatever it is, it has to be good, or they wouldn't give us only one.” As the boys received the usual grub at the front of the line -- the predictable tuna casserole -- they tried to see ahead. “Cookies!” Jay exclaimed, passing the information behind him. “Chocolate chip!” The boys had been deprived, all of them, of sugar for three weeks. Applause erupted from the ranks as Jay's news was passed further down the line. “Holy cow!” said Dan. “That's what I'm talkin' about.” He eagerly passed his plate toward the private, who unceremoniously dumped a cookie on top of it with his gloved hand.

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“Save one for yourself while you can, man,” Dan advised. “Or we'll come back for seconds,” said Nick, just behind him. “Already did,” said the private. “You'd be surprised how many of you guys try to come back for seconds when there's anything half-decent to eat around here.” “What's that, private?” the cook asked. The private pretended not to hear, as the boys took their seats at one of the long tables. “Dessert first, man,” said Nick, eating half of the cookie in one bite. Drew just shook his head and dug into the tuna. “Dude,” said Nick. “Even Mom couldn't bake 'em this good. Must have shipped 'em from overseas.” Dan waited until he finished his tuna casserole until he brought out the cookie. “Best for last,” he said. “Something to look forward to.” And it was worth the wait. For a boy who could never get enough to eat, a chocolate chip cookie, no matter how small, was at least three bites more than he could have had. “So you think we'll come back with war wounds?” Jay asked. “Who even asks that?” Drew said, laughing at him. “We should prepare for the worst,” said Jay. “What's wrong with that?” Dan shook his head. “Maybe we should prepare to keep ourselves safe. And worry about the wounds later, if we get them.” “You're no fun,” said Jay. “What's battle without wounds?” “See that kid over there?” Nick nodded toward the private still behind the lunch counter. “Ya think he's got even a chance of seeing the front?”

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Drew shook his head. “Naw. He'll be serving slop till we get shipped back home.” “Why do you want to know?” Dan asked. “I don't know. It just seems like a waste to come all this way for nothing.” The private behind the counter was still landing cookies on plates as the soldiers continued to stream through the line. It seemed, to them, that he would have looked happier if he was behind an M-4 instead of the lunch counter. “Wonder where he bunks,” said Jay. “Haven't seen him around before.” “He's probably a fresh shipment,” said Drew, finishing off his cookie. “They could have him bunked down south camp.” “We should talk to him,” said Dan. “You're such a girl,” said Nick. Dan laughed. “We should though. Admit it, Lawson. Even you've been homesick. And I don't think he knows anyone here.” Nick looked a little irritable toward the private's direction. “Fine. You talk to him. I've got other things to do.” “Now who's being lazy,” said Drew over his shoulder, as the boys left to pile their dishes in the crate. Nick just punched him in the shoulder and left the mess hall for his bunk. The rest of the boys headed outside to wait for the private to finish his shift in the kitchen. Sundays were easy days at base camp. No drilling, no training. It was the one day they could recuperate from the endless hours the previous six days of the week. Sometimes the soldiers gathered for baseball, or a game of football once the hottest part of the day had passed. “I don't care what you say,” Jay told Nick one afternoon. “Call me a girl. No way am I playing football

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when it's over 110.” Nick liked to be the tough one. Back home, he had played football through high school. He had spent a summer working with his uncle in the logging business in Oregon. He could lift the most, climb the fastest. Only Dan was faster than him, running. The boys let him take bragging rights, for most things. So when the other boys didn't mind waiting around for the private, Nick found it more important to lift weights in his tent. “This is ridiculous,” Jay said finally. “No one takes this long to finish KP. Maybe he left already.” All three of the boys were lined up on the side of the mess hall, in the cool desert wind. “Yeah,” said Drew. “We'll catch him tomorrow. Come on.” “Go on,” said Dan. “I'll wait a little longer. I don't have night guard.” “Yeah. Rub it in,” said Drew. “Come on, Watkins.” Dan shucked a pebble after them as they hustled off. A small star glittered over the desert hills. Once again, Dan thought of home. He thought of summer, sitting up on the roof with his sister when the stars had come out. Sometimes they'd watch storms in the west, before they came too close. “Back down, Dan,” Holly would warn him. “I can't be responsible for you getting fried by lightening.” That was in the old days when he was still in junior high. The good old days, he called them. When almost everyone was still at home. Only his oldest sister was married and gone then. “Hey.” Dan turned around. It was the private, with a sack of garbage slung over his back. “Hey, man. It's Jess, right?” “Yeah. Jess Night. Saw you with your buddies earlier.”

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“Guess you saw everyone today.” “Yeah. I'm on KP every day.” “Every day?” Dan thought to himself. That was strange. Jess brought the garbage over to the side of the building. “Been out for any training yet?” “Naw. Just got here a week ago.” “Enlisted?” “Sort of. Didn't finish school.” “College?” “Nope. High school. I'm 17.” “How'd you pull that off?” “My dad's a colonel. Stationed in Korea. He thought I could use the discipline.” “Man. So you don't really want to be here?” Jess shucked the bag in the bin. “I'm not complaining. Better serving lunch than learning how to use a gun.” Dan was surprised. “You've never shot a gun?” “Hope I never have to.” “Well, man, sorry to tell you this, but, I don't think you're in the right place.” Jess laughed. “I've gotta get back to my bunk, man. I'm expecting inspection tomorrow morning. Gotta clean up. I'll see ya around.” “Yeah, see ya.” Dan turned around to leave. “He's more of a kid than I am,” he thought. “No wonder he doesn't want to fight. He's probably scared they'll try to make him shoot something.”

D

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By morning, Dan was a soldier again. The baseball and cookies of Sunday were forgotten as he stood tall in his fatigues on another Monday. Drew was back from night guard, passed out on his bunk. Jay was probably in the same condition, stationed with Nick in another tent several rows down. Dan took pride in his appearance. Clean shirt and pants, boots laced straight, dog tags polished. The boys made fun of him for it. “No one cares about that stuff,” said Nick. “Not for training. Save that for when you guard the Tomb of the Unnamed Man.” “You mean the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.” “Whatever. No one polishes dog tags, dude. That's just weird.” But Dan didn't care. How many times had he reminded himself that he represented The United States of America? Just about the only thing that gave him chills was hearing the National Anthem played when he stood in uniform, hand in salute. Nothing could match that feeling. Drew let out a snort in his sleep, mumbling something about losing his shorts, as he turned over on his bunk. They had been buds for so long. The four of them. Dan had few memories that didn't somehow involve one of the guys. They were his brothers, in many respects, which explained Nick's ribbing. It was part of the code, to rib each other. Dan laced his boots, sitting on the edge of his bunk. He tried to remember what he was like when he was thirteen, back in the days when his mom had to peel him out of bed every morning to do his chores. Those were the days of braces, peach fuzz, and day dreams of go-karts. Five minutes later found Dan standing solidly straight in a line of fellow soldiers. Straight back in clean fatigues,

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blended to the sand of the desert around him. His dark brown eyes stared straight ahead, waiting for the sergeant's orders to march. Five o'clock in the morning. No breakfast till seven. But Dan was ready for the two hours of marching, running, climbing ropes, and shooting targets. He was always ready for it. With the cutting command from the sergeant, he took off leading the pack into the desert. He knew that Nick was somewhere behind him in the tromp of boots on the brown earth. Dan hadn't enlisted. Neither had his buddies. They were, between the four of them, all in the top fifteen percent of their class in military school, direct from high school. After a year of intense class and training, they were ushered into the military as corporals. Once dispatched to the Middle East, they were sent to the last part of their journey before combat -- the American base camp. At the end of those six weeks, they would be fully prepared for desert combat. Sometimes, the thought struck Dan with a sense of tremendous power, during those weeks of running in the desert. Training so hard for so many hours. But then at other times, mostly at night when the moon glazed the desert sand -- then the responsibility became overwhelming to him. Only nineteen. He wasn't sure he was old enough, experienced enough. “Pick it up!” his sergeant shouted from behind. Dan began a jog. For the next half-hour, he shuffled between leading the pack and pacing somewhere in the middle. “Baker,” Nick mumbled at him as he passed him. “Race you.” Dan just shook his head, cracking a smile. Nick would always try to get him in trouble, always set out the bait.

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Dan never took it, no matter how many times Nick tried. And Nick knew he never would. By seven, Drew and Jay were back from their six-hour reprieve, having sat up the six-hour night watch shift. “Dude,” said Jay, rubbing his face in his hands, “tell me there's something good for breakfast.” Nick laughed, as if Jay had just cracked a good joke. “When hell freezes over,” he said. “Check it,” said Drew. “All the tasteless oatmeal you could ever possibly want.” “And apples, three weeks old,” said Nick. “Sounds great, doesn't it?” He thumped Jay on the back. Jay only ran a hand over the grizzle of hair on his head. “Sometimes the only thing that gets me off the bunk, are meals. This is not helping.” “Eh,” said Nick, “you'll get over it. Hey, Baker, there's your new friend again.” It was Jess, dishing oatmeal into bowls behind the counter. “So were you promoted, or demoted?” Nick asked him as they passed. Jess looked at the stack of bowels in front of him. “Horizontal move,” he said with a smile. “No perks in this job.” Fortunately the ill-humored cook was out of hearing. The boys found their table. “So did you find anything out about that guy?” Nick asked Dan. Dan started the routine shovel of oatmeal down the throat. “Not much,” he said between mouthfuls. “Doesn't want to fight, though. Sent here by his dad. Only 17.” Drew choked a little. “How'd he get out here?” “Dad's a colonel.” “They sent him all the way out here just for KP?” Nick asked.

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“That's what he said.” “I don't buy it,” said Jay. “Maybe he's undercover.” “For what?” Dan asked, with a laugh, taking a swig of his milk. “Don't know... maybe they check for terrorists trying to be officers in training camp.” “Naw,” said Drew. “They'd of figured that out by now, back in the States.” “We should ask him to play baseball on Sunday or something,” said Dan. Nick grunted. “Yeah,” said Jay. “He's probably feeling kind of wimpy for coming all this way just to wash dishes.” “Maybe he likes doing that.” “I'm just saying.” Breakfast was finished, and the boys split up for individual training.

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Chapter 2

Base Camp

Base camp. In the central desert of the southern kingdom. Jurisdiction hadn't been applied to the larger extent of that ancient world. It had passed through the hands of Muslims, Christians, and Jews, for thousands of years. Even modern governments couldn't keep up with who officially ruled over the land. That's where the base camp sat, in the middle of that harsh place. Beat by sun and wind. No rain. Only springs from the east, channeled inland. Above them sat the flats of Russia. Below them were other unnamed countries. And the enemy was only a league away, where their own base camps flanked those of the Americans, the Australians, Brits, Germans, Canadians, South Africans, and Japanese, each in their own station, receiving direct orders from the joint efforts of the Pulsing Station at the hub of the activity. It was a mad conglomeration of soldiers, massed together just below the front. And the tension of war was spilling out of every man, in preparation for the next skirmish.

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The war was in its third year, only. Against the strange and sometimes illusive activity of terrorist regimes (comprised of both men and women), known by the free world as “Goblins”. They hid in the caves of southern Russia, bearing down on unformed governments in the Middle East. No one knew when, how, or why they had formed themselves. They specifically avoided media attentions, and focused all plans and energies on gorilla warfare and all-out desert battle. Some people thought they were the remnants of a former colony of estranged Buddhist monks, the shattered villages formerly persecuted by Muslim fanatics. In reality, there were only several thousand of these “Goblins”. The trouble came with the backbone of underground Communist China. While the new Republic of China denied any form of contact with the underground force, they were unwilling to fight against their own people, and remained curiously neutral in the fight against the terrorists. And so it happened that the handful of horrifically disgruntled monks grew increased ranks at a rapid rate in its first year of war. And still, no one knew why. Southeast Asia was oppressed by famine, almost entirely, and could send no help, only hoping the terrorists would forget about them. Africa was penniless, forever plagued with its own civil wars. Most of Europe was tired of foreign interactions and pled bankruptcy. And while South America was slowly emerging from its dark ages, it was still mostly incapable of sending help. So the rest of the modern world was left to help their Middle Eastern neighbors from the chaos imposed upon them, for unknown reasons, by a self-proclaimed nation of demonic figures. The demonic connotations were hardly exaggerated. Rumors of their unnatural appearances to civilians and

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soldiers, alike, were told at the camps and small cities further south. Their mental attacks were legendary, and sometimes too frightening for even the soldiers to report amongst themselves. It wasn't good for morale. Jay, in particular, however, appreciated the stories of strangeness more than most soldiers in the camps, and took the opportunity to spread them whenever he heard a new rumor of the “Goblins”. And so while in the second year of official war, the skirmishes ranged in the low hundreds, while the full-scale battles, involving every form of non-nuclear weapon, numbered only five. Each base camp was ringed by rolled barbed wire on two nine-foot fences. This not only served as detriment for wandering civilians, wild animals, and deserting soldiers, but as a barrier between the last hope for the Middle East, and the Goblins. “Creeps me out,” said Nick that same afternoon. “How they get around this stuff, and no one sees them...” he almost shivered. “They're just rumors,” said Dan. “Trying to scare us back home,” laughed Drew. “But maybe they're real,” said Jay mysteriously. Dan punched him on the shoulder. “You'd like that, wouldn't you.” Nick just continued to stare at the barbed wire, hands in his pockets. They had just come from lunch hour, finishing their apples outside. “I just don't get it. Does night guard fall asleep when they get through?” Nick continued. “Do they just sit outside, waiting, until they all fall asleep, and get through?” “Night guards never fall asleep,” said Drew. “That's impossible.” “There's no cameras. Who says they don't fall asleep, and we never know it.”

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“Rumors,” said Dan again. “They probably never get past the German camp. Even if they did, they'd never get over that fence. They'd just get a good zap.” “I don't know,” said Nick. “Nothing much scares me. But that... I don't know. I just don't get it.” “My dad always says that it's only the stuff we can't explain that scares us,” said Drew. “Yeah...” said Dan. “And it's probably just stories anyway, like I said. Soldiers get bored waiting for another skirmish. They probably invent it to scare the rookies.” “Come on,” said Drew. “Let's go.” “Still,” said Jay, “it could really happen.” “Shove it,” said Nick, punching him on the shoulder. “Ow!” said Jay. “You guys always do that to me.” “Serves you right,” said Drew. “You know Lawson's afraid of ghosts.” “Especially Goblin ghosts,” said Dan with a snigger. “Lay off,” said Nick, landing a punch on Dan's shoulder too. “You guys are all nerds.” And that usually ended the conversation. The boys left for the range. M4s were the standard weapon of choice those days. The free world governments had mutually decided to remain nuclear free for as long as possible, provided the Goblins didn't unearth their own nuclear devices in coming years. There were no evidences that they possessed anything nuclear. But there were still concerns. “What'd we do if a terrorist got his hands on an A-bomb,” Nick said one day, whistling through his teeth. “We'd all be gone.” “Boom!” said Jay. All the soldiers were aware of that possibility. Most of them joked about it to relieve the tension. The more serious characters didn't discuss it. Dan would often fall into the second category. And often, it made him mad.

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“Who do they think they are?” he declared one day. “Buzzards! If they ever did something like that, I'd wipe them all out.” “It'd be too late for that,” said Drew. “We'd be gone before you could do anything.” It was solemnizing. “If only we could get rid of them all now,” said Dan. “Pack 'em off to the moon,” said Jay. “That'd fix 'em.” But after only the first week at base camp, Dan had already begun to forget about the threat. He put his mind into training his body for war, and his thoughts for the time where he would need concentration the most. The range was full that morning. Their company, D, met with Companies E and F for afternoon shoots. Their schedule was predictable, from day to day, except for the soldiers who served guard for that particular shift of the day or night. Dan had the piece of paper tacked above his bunk, as a reminder. It wasn't necessary. Each hour's specific activity was ingrained in his head. But he kept it there, nevertheless.

4:45am – awake 5:00am – march/run 6:00am – morning shoot 7:00am – breakfast 7:30am – grenade field 8:30am – obstacle course 9:30am – gym10:30am – march/run11:30am – lunch12:00pm – reprieve12:30pm – afternoon shoot 2:30pm – gym 3:30pm – battlefield lectures 5:30pm – night shoot 6:30pm – dinner

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7:00pm – shower 7:30pm – reprieve 8:30pm – lights out

It would have shocked him, as a kid, if he knew he would be going to bed at 8:30 every night. But it was necessary for the health of the soldier, to keep alert in the field. Dan was happy for what was often called “reprieves” during the day. Those brief half-hours of time free to himself, and his buddies. He had never been much of a reader. The only book he brought was his Bible. But the guys had thought to bring their own reading material to share with him. “Calvin and Hobbes. Oh yeah,” said Jay, tossing him a copy that evening. Dan caught it. “I feel like we should be studying battle plans,” he said, looking with uncertainty at the water-stained copy with duct-tape lining the spine. “Clear your mind, man,” said Jay. “Everyone needs a little Calvin & Hobbes in their life.” It didn't take long for Dan to be laughing alongside Jay, who had taken over Drew's bunk. Drew was at the small desk between their bunks, writing. “Writing your girlfriend?” Nick asked, entering the tent at that moment. “Dork,” said Drew. “Come on,” said Nick, looking over his shoulder. “Have a secret sweetheart we don't know about yet?” Drew shook his head, still scratching the pen on the paper. “Tell us, Thurau,” said Jay. “Who is it?” Dan laughed and poked him between the shoulder blades with the Calvin & Hobbes.

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“Ah!” Drew exclaimed. “You made me scribble, Baker. Cut it out!” “Just tell us.” “No,” said Drew, turning red. “Come on.” Drew mumbled something incoherent. “What was that?” Nick asked loudly. “My....(unintelligible).” “Huh?” “My mom, ok?” Drew said very loudly. “Happy with that? Gosh!” “Oh, little Drew writing his mommy,” Nick laughed at him. “Could have told us in the first place.” Nick crashed onto Drew's bunk, smashing on top of Jay's feet. “Yow!” Jay cried. “You'd have still made fun,” said Drew, going back to his letter, less red. “She likes to know what's going on. She worries.” “All our moms worry,” said Nick. “I don't write my mom letters though. No news is good news, she always says.” “Well, maybe you should write her,” said Drew. “She only told you that because she doesn't want to stress you out.” “Stress me out?” Drew grinned. “We all know you can't write.” “You nerd!” Nick came over to scrub Drew on the head with his fist. “Can too write.” “Ok. Spell 'Dear Mom'.” “Fine. D-E-E-R.” Jay almost rolled on the floor. “Dumbo!” Nick crossed his arms. “Can write, just can't spell,” he barked. “Got better things to do with my time.” Dan buried his face in his pillow, to cut down the laughing. “Dudes,” he said. “I think we're getting slap-happy.”

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“Guys don't get slap-happy,” said Jay. “That's girl stuff.” “8:15,” said Nick. “Come on, roomy, let's get back before they send the dogs out for us.” Nick and Jay were successful in returning before the curfew call, seeing as their tent was almost next door. As Drew put away his letter and turned off the desk lamp, Dan put away the book and got into his bunk for the night. Images of home soon came to his mind. It was almost Halloween. He was going to miss his two young nephews and niece dress up back home, and hit the neighborhood for trick-or-treating. He wasn't just going to miss Halloween. He'd also miss Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. Easter. He'd even miss Lydia graduate from high school next May. He might miss that the most. By the time he got back, his little sister would be a new college kid. Then he thought about Jess, and wondered if he even had anyone to go home to once his term of service had ended. Where would he celebrate his next holiday back in the States? Alone, waiting for his dad to return from Korea? He fell asleep with images of ghosts, holiday turkeys, and Christmas presents leading the way to dreams.

D

The following morning was Dan's shift for morning guard. He had served night guard one of his first days at base camp, which had worked out with his lingering sense of jet-lag. But day guard was going to be different. More activity. More possible interference from civilians in the city just down the hill.

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It was usually quiet, but some days, interested native spectators climbed the footpaths and came to watch the training from a distance. Dan took his station in one of the high towers overlooking the city. It was maybe twenty feet above the ground, planted at the southern edge of the camp. The city was a former Muslim colony in the valley. Dan could still see the traces of minarets glazed over in the heat of the morning. Some painted blue. Others, faded sea green from the attack of sand in the wind. And even from the high distance, he could see the small dark figures of its citizens walking the streets around the open market. Dan stood at the rail, keeping eyes split between the camp and the outside of the fence, watching for anything unusual. There was no seat up in the tower, no place the watchful soldier could rest. It kept him more alert without the temptation to sit and fall asleep, particularly during the night watch. Dan kept his gun slung on his shoulder. He was used to its weight. The first time he had carried one for several hours, his shoulder ached. But he hardly felt it anymore, not even for the six hours of his shift. It seemed weightless. “Baker!” Dan looked down below. It was Jess, standing at the base of the tower. “Yep?” Dan called back. “Need something, Night?” “Passing out snacks to the morning guard.” “Snacks?” Dan asked with almost a laugh. “It's not preschool anymore.” Jess smiled. “Cook's orders. Too much left over from last night. Doesn't want to serve it for two meals in a row. Doesn't want them to go stale.” “What's that?”

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“Rolls.” “Well, uh, can you toss it up?” Dan asked. “Can't throw too far. I'll bring it up.” “Well...” Dan continued to scan the camp. “Real quick. I'm supposed to watch the camp the whole time I'm up here.” Jess slung the basket behind his shoulder and climbed the vertical stairs to the platform. “Thanks, man,” Dan called downward, taking his two rolls. “Guess no one really liked these too much yesterday.” “Cook ran out of butter. They're a little dry.” Jess hesitated on the ladder. “Anything else, man?” Dan asked, setting aside the rolls. “I got some orders today,” Jess said, suddenly a little less cheerful. “Orders?” “They're adding to my KP duties.” “More dishes to wash?” Dan asked. “Naw... They're sending me out to the field.” “Uh... I thought you weren't here for that.” “Yeah. That's what I thought too,” said Jess quietly. “I don't even know how to shoot a gun. But they're getting short-handed.” Dan was a little concerned when he heard that, eyes still roving the camp. “What do you mean, they're short-handed? We've sent out three platoons just since I've been here.” Jess was quiet. “What did you hear?” Dan asked, gripping the strap on his gun a little tighter. “They're losing numbers out there. All sides.” “Enemy?” “Just allies.”

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“We've had few casualties. What do you mean they're losing numbers? One or two a week, right?” “Dozens.” “Per week? How did we not hear that yet?” “No. Not per week. Per day.” Dan broke his attention on the camp to look at the private. His eyes narrowed. “Per day... Where are they? We haven't had that many bodies returned.” “That's the problem. They're disappearing.” “Deserting?” “No one knows. They just disappear, in the night.” Dan turned his gaze back to the camp, but he was a little rattled. “Where did you get this information?” “Heard the cook talking with the sergeant this morning. I wasn't supposed to hear it. But they're concerned enough to train every hand in the camp. Even the cook, if they have to.” Dan was silent for awhile, circling his eyes over the activity around his stretch of the camp. Finally, he breathed in deep. “Thanks for the rolls, Night. And don't worry. You'll be a regular soldier in only a week. They train you good here.” Jess nodded, backing down the ladder. “What kind of gun is that?” he asked, when halfway down. Dan looked over his shoulder. “M-4,” he said, wondering how Jess could not know that.. “That's about all we use out here.” “No knives?” “Nuh-uh. They're not usually used in battle. Maybe gangs.... or something.” “Right,” said Jess, continuing to descend. “Maybe I can just learn how to use grenades.” “You'll have to do both, man,” said Dan. Jess gulped, landing back on the ground. “I'm hopeless, Baker,” he said.

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Dan didn't know what to say, as he watched the private trudge off toward the next guard station. He felt bad for the kid. Something about him was too weak to be a soldier, maybe. Too scared. Too young. Or maybe it wasn't that he was weak. Maybe there was some other reason he couldn't make himself handle a gun. But more than anything on Dan's mind the next hours, was the news Jess had relayed to him. Something strange was going on out there in the desert. Something unnatural. Dan remembered Jay's many and varied ghost stories of the Goblins' visits to soldiers in the night. But Dan only shouldered his gun and waited for his guard shift to end, eyes still split between the camp and the outside of the fence.

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Chapter 3

Goblins

“Dude, why'd you tell me that,” Nick groaned. “You're making it up.” Dan shook his head. “That's what Night told me. Jess Night over there,” he nodded back to the cafeteria counter. “He said he heard the sergeant talking to the cook.” They were in the mess hall for lunch again. Dan had shared the news with his buddies. “Cool,” said Jay. “Maybe the Goblins took 'em.” “Not funny, Watkins,” said Drew. “It's not a ghost story. They're actually disappearing.” “You're no fun,” said Jay. “I bet it's not that bad. They're probably just deserting. Can't take the heat.” “So they leave in the middle of the night when it's freezing,” Nick replied. “Yeah, that makes all kinds of sense.” “I think the private doesn't hear too well,” said Drew. “It's just a rumor.”

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Dan shrugged. “Maybe. But why else would they be calling him to active duty?” The boys were quiet. “That's just freaky,” said Nick. “We're not going to talk about this anymore.” The other boys decided not to egg him on. A grumpy Nick was not a Nick worth having around. And they finished their afternoon without speaking about it again. That evening, the boys caught up with Jess after his evening shift in the kitchen. Nick caught him by the sleeve of his shoulder. “So, man, we hear you've been telling stories about things.” “Easy, boy,” said Drew. “Let him explain himself.” Jess was already looking a little worried. “It's my last shift tonight,” he said. “They're sending me to my first day of training tomorrow. If that's not a sign, I don't know what is. I've never even held a gun before.” “Never even held a gun?” Nick repeated, almost dumbfounded. He let his grip slip on Jess' sleeve. “What do you mean you've never even held a gun? How'd they let you come over here?” “Like I said to Baker already,” Jess replied, calmly, “My dad set me up to come over here and learn about the life of a soldier. I didn't ask to come.” “I don't get it,” Nick said, almost ignoring Jess' response. “Are you sure you heard that dude right? There's really guys disappearing out there?” “That's what he said.” Nick scratched his head, but said nothing. “Where are they stationing you?” Drew asked next. “They're moving my tent up to Company D.” “Hey -- that's our company,” said Jay. “We'll be war buddies.” Nick rolled his eyes. “There's nothing buddy-buddy about being soldiers,” he said.

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“Don't worry about him,” Jay said to Jess. “He's always mad about something.” Nick crossed his arms over his chest. “Listen here, private. Why they're even asking you to go out there and learn how to shoot a gun, is ridiculous. You just watch yourself, and don't go exploding anything you're not supposed to explode.” “Yes, sir,” Jess replied. Jay laughed. “Come on, guys,” said Nick. “We've got stuff to do. See you at Company D tomorrow, private.”

D

The next day was blistering. Dan could tell from the amount of sweat beading on his arms even at 4:45 in the morning, that it would be almost too hot to see by the time early afternoon arrived. And it was Jess' first day on the job. “We have to get Lawson to take it easy on him,” Dan said to Drew, as they laced up their boots. Drew shook his head. “You know he's not going to take it easy on him. Nothing we can say'll change that. Jess is just going to have to prove himself out there.” Dan knew he was right. And if Nick wasn't willing to give him a break, none of the sergeants would even think about it. Jess was in for a rough experiment. He would join them after breakfast, in the field. “I guess the private was right about training today,” said Nick, as they sat around their usual table. “He's not serving slop this morning.” The cafeteria line had been thinned out. As opposed to the usual fifteen to twenty staff behind the counter, it had

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been cut to a mere four. “They must be desperate,” said Drew. “Hey, dudes, I've got a new one for you,” said Jay, shoveling down another bite of oatmeal. “No more,” Nick demanded, slamming his spoon into his bowl. “No more ghost stories.” Dan and Drew almost giggled. “You can't say stuff like that, man!” Dan whispered loudly at him. “You want the other guys to think you're scared?” Nick scowled. “As I was saying,” said Jay, rolling his eyes, “Heard this one from Paul down at the shower house.” “Oh no,” said Dan. “What did he have to tell you this time?” “Important stuff,” said Jay. “His info is good.” “Sure it is,” said Drew. “Has he ever even told you anything that actually happened?” Nick asked. “I believe him. So anyway, there's this soldier in the German camp who's been hauled out to mental health this week.” “What for?” “They think he's crazy because one morning he got up at, like, two o'clock in the middle of the night, and started running around the camp in circles, yelling.” “What was he yelling about?” “He kept saying, “Go away! Go away! Go away!' And when they finally got him, he kept swinging his arms at things, like there was something in the air or something. When they brought him into mental health, he told them he'd seen a ghost in the middle of the night. And whatever it was, it was so terrible, it scared him into a fit. And it told him to leave and never come back.” Jay looked proudly around at the guys at the table, including several others who had listened in, almost as if

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he expected applause for his shared information. “So?” Drew asked. “So, what?” “He probably had a nightmare.” “They found tracks outside his tent.” Nick set down his spoon again. “Dude. We live on sand. There's always thousands of footprints outside every tent.” Jay shrugged. “It looked like someone had been running, from the way the tracks looked.” Nick just shook his head. “I'm telling you, it was something weird,” said Jay, going back to his oatmeal. “You'll believe me some day.” “Yeah right.” The other soldiers finished their breakfast, and quickly forgot about Jay's ghost story. Back out to the field in the intense heat of a Middle Eastern morning, the soldiers were gathering at the shooting range. “Yo,” said Drew. He raised a hand toward the private, standing awkwardly at the end of the soldiers on the field. “Hey,” Jess called back, a hard swallow cutting his word in half. “Nervous, man,” said Dan. “Don't sweat it, Night. You'll be able to shoot this thing in your sleep by the end of the week.” “Yeah,” Jess replied, uncomfortably. Dan could see that Jay was trying not to laugh. He turned around, clapping a hand over his mouth. Jess did, Dan had to admit, look pretty funny. Fatigues a size too big. Probably two. His boots were big enough for clown shoes. He carried the gun like it was a boa constrictor, slipping around in his hands. He hardly knew which end fired, by the looks of it. He was visibly scared of it.

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Nick took one look at the private, grunted, and joined the ranks further up front. “Here,” said Dan, “take a place by me here, and stand straight.” “And when the sergeant comes by,” said Jay, “pretend you know what you're doing.” “Don't look scared,” Drew whispered, as the sergeant's shrill whistle blasted the morning air. Jess nodded and fumbled himself into the line next to Dan. Dan wanted to look over the private's appearance one more time to see if there was anything he could help him fix before the sergeant arrived. But it was too late. Dan thought he had stationed them toward the end of the inspection line. But the sergeant liked to mix things up. That morning, of all mornings, he decided to begin his inspection from the east end of the line. He stomped sternly from the first soldier to the next. Jess was about tenth in line, right after Dan. Dan was deemed satisfactory. He winced, knowing what was coming next. The sergeant, for once, had no words. It was deathly quiet as he stared at the private, actually shaking in front of him. And then, the silence was pierced. The sergeant ripped into the private, slamming him up and down with the harshest language Dan had heard from him in the past three weeks. But there was nothing Dan could do. He continued to stand straight. “Please, please, don't cry, Jess,” he thought over and over to himself. “Whatever you do, don't cry. Don't cry.” Dan had seen soldiers cry after a razing speech like that. Too many times. But never in front of the entire company. In a place like that, it would be akin to suicide to cry in front of that many soldiers. Dan himself had shed enough tears to fill a teacup since he had arrived. And Jess, of all the soldiers there, would get the worst of it if

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he couldn't control the tear ducts. Dan just held his breath. Eventually, the sergeant thought he had expelled enough words about the horrible appearance of the private, the way he held his weapon, the way he stood, the way his clothes were wrinkled, etc. And he moved down the line to the next victim, albeit not as well raked over the coals. Dan forced himself to look forward, keeping his head straight, until the sergeant's whistle echoed back to them over the sand. It seemed like eternity. But then he heard it. Dan's mouth almost dropped open as he turned toward the private. Jess was smiling. “What?” Jess asked. “I've heard worse than that from my old man. I thought it was going to be really bad.” Dan just shook his head, laughing. “Dude,” said Jay, “if you could take that beating, you'll have no problems, man.” “Welcome to Company D,” said Drew with a grin. That evening, the boys sat around the dinner table with a very tired private. He could hardly hold his head up above his soup bowl. “Good efforts today, man,” said Dan. “You did alright out there.” “It was awful,” Jess replied. “I didn't shoot that thing straight once. Not once.” Again, Nick grunted. But he didn't say anything to the private. “You'll get better,” said Dan. “There's lots of guys out there who aren't that smart. You'll learn real fast compared to them.” “Heck they will,” said Nick. “Quit babying him. He has to learn just like everyone else.” Jay threw an air punch toward him. “Ignore him,” said Drew. “Seriously. That's just the way he is.”

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“No, he's right,” said Jess, head resting on both hands. “I've got to learn this on my own. Even if I am younger than all you guys. I'll figure it out. Don't worry about me.” Nick pretended not to hear. “How about some more of those ghost stories, Watkins,” said Drew, looking Nick square in the face. “Hear anything good since this morning?” “Well...” said Jay. Nick glared at him. Jay just smiled. “The goblins are kind of like these ancient warriors. They wear masks. Like voodoo or temple things. I don't know. They wear them at night when they haunt soldiers in the field. But one soldier, in the Australian camp, one night, said that he saw one of these dudes come into the camp and walk around one of his buddies, sleeping on the ground. He could only see the back of the guy at first, so he thought it was a night guard. But then this guy started dancing around his buddy and whispering these weird things. Nonsense words. And then he turned around and he looked the guy in the eye. Like, he knew this soldier had been watching him the whole time. And he ran over, like, zoomed up real fast, and his mask was two inches from his face. And he whispered some curse at him. The Aussie guy was so freaked out, that he just shut his eyes. Then he heard an evil laugh, felt this, flash, of light. And then he opened his eyes. And the dude was gone!” Again, Jay looked around the table for reaction. “That's just freak stuff,” said one of the other soldiers further down the table. “Oh, he sensationalizes everything,” said Drew. “Don't take it seriously.” “Yeah,” said Nick. “He'd tell you he swears the moon turns purple at midnight, just to get some attention.” The other soldiers just laughed, and went back to dinner.

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“You ruin everything,” said Jay. “Quit busting my stories, Lawson!” “I'll believe you if I see one of your goblins,” said Nick. “Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it,” said Drew. “Maybe you shouldn't have said that,” said Jay darkly. Dan just gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. “Eh, get over it, Watkins. They're just messing with you.” “Yeah....” Jay trailed off. “What the...” Nick exclaimed, looking in the private's direction. Jess' face was in his soup bowl. He had fallen asleep.

D

News had come with the night. Dan and Drew heard it as they laced up their boots that morning. “To the front! To the front!” came the cry, as a solider ran through the camp. “What the heck?” Drew asked, sticking his head outdoors. “What's going on, soldier?” “Company D to the front!” came the reply. “I repeat -- Company D to the front!” Drew went back to his bunk to sit on the edge. Dan gulped, waiting until his voice could be steady, before he spoke. “We're headed to the front?” “That's what he said,” Drew replied, fidgeting his hands together as he sat there. “He's got to be bluffing. We've got three weeks left.” “I don't think so.” Drew trailed off, as his gaze automatically took him to the picture of his family tacked above his bunk. Dan took a seat opposite Drew on his bunk. “I thought it'd be a little more exciting than this.”

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“Yeah,” Drew tried to grin. “I'm a little more nervous than I thought I'd be.” “Now we know what Jess feels like all the time, I guess.” “Yeah.” The boys sat silently there for only the next minute or two. It was time to join the troops again in their morning run. “We've got to just get out there and pretend like it's a normal day,” Dan said finally. “It's bad enough for Jess. We can't make it worse by looking scared too.” Drew nodded. “Yeah. You're right.” He paused, then grinned. “It's bad enough Jay talking about those stupid Goblins all the time.” “Yeah,” Dan laughed. “Just imagine that they're clowns instead, running around with those crazy masks.” “Yeah. They probably trip over stuff all the time 'cause they can't see where they're going. Who even wears stuff like that?” “No one serious about war,” Dan replied. And with semi-bolstered spirits, the boys joined the others out on the field. “Hear we're moving out?” Jay crowed, as they gathered in their ranks. “Woo hoo!” “That's dumb,” said Nick, knocking him upside the head with the back of his hand. “This is serious stuff, Watkins. You sound like a girl. Go join the cheerleaders or something stupid like that.” “Aw, you're always in a bad mood,” said Jay, grinning back at him. “Maybe you're scared.” Nick grunted again. This was his universal sign for -- “Don't bug me again about it.” As they gathered, Jess joined them in the ranks. He was looking a little green that morning. “I was kind of sick last night,” he said, still walking slowly to the front.

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“What kind of sick?” Drew asked. “Sick, sick.” “Dude, can you handle running today?” “All I can say, is, if I fall over dead, it's better than getting shot at the front,” he replied with a funny-sickly smile. “Maybe you should sit it out this morning,” said Dan. Jess looked at Nick, still grumpy, who wasn't paying attention to the conversation. “No...” he replied. “I'll do it. It's only my second day. I still don't know how to do anything yet. And they're sending us out there soon, I guess.” “They wouldn't send you out there already,” said Drew, surprised. “I'm part of the Company. They don't hold anyone back. If you're going, they're sending me too.” “Dude,” said Jay with a whistle. “God help you.” Drew turned around on him, “Who even says that?” Jay shrugged. “You'll do fine,” said Dan. “You'll figure it all out fast.” “Yeah, I'm just kidding with you,” said Jay. “We've got your back, man.” Jess smiled weakly as he took his place in line. It didn't take long before the soldiers were addressed by the sergeant-at-arms. Not only had the soldier been correct – they were leaving for the front the next morning – but their last afternoon on base would be reserved for a visit by a performing troupe for the U.S. Dan heard Jay whisper under his breath, “Righteous!” And with that final dated response, the soldiers were given orders to jog, followed with whistles and cheers once the silence had been broken. Jay was clearly inspired and took off toward the front, hooting at his fellow soldiers, making ridiculous comments as he raced past them.

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“He's crazy,” said Drew, as he, Dan, and Jess fell toward the back. “Hanging in there, man?” Dan asked Jess. Jess just nodded and continued his jog. By the end of the hour, Dan and Drew crossed the end of their mark, with Jess between them, pale as snow. Nick met them, hands in his pockets. “Finally,” he said. “Let's get to the range.” Nick tossed one look over at the sickly Jess, but didn't say anything. He just gave a nod, and walked off to get his gun. “You just got a nod from the Lawson,” said Drew to Jess, congratulatory. “Yeah, man,” said Dan, almost laughing. “That actually means something coming from him.” “What'd I do?” Jess asked, breathing heavy. “You finished the run. You didn't quit. You didn't complain about it. He respects that.” Jess smiled broadly, then ran over to a smoke tree to relieve his whirling stomach.

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Chapter 4

At the Canteen

There was nothing like a good show. None of the soldiers had seen entertainment since arriving in the desert. No radio, music, no media. Nothing live. Nothing at all. “When was the last time we were at the movies?” Dan asked Drew that afternoon. They were in their tent preparing to join the others at, what had been called, “The Canteen”, in the temporarily reconstructed mess hall. “Don't know,” Drew replied, cuffing his sleeves. “Couple of months. Why?” “Trying to think when we saw something more entertaining than the shooting range.” None of the boys had been shipped over direct from home. They had spent their last month in the States, preparing at their first base camp before their tour began in the Middle East. Entertainment had also been excluded from base camp life during that month.

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“Forgot how good a show could sound,” said Drew. “Even if it's just a bunch of singing and skits and stuff.” “Yeah. Guess it's going to be kind of like what they had in the old days during World War II.” “Hope it's not the same as that though,” said Drew. “That's pretty old stuff. They just sang about love and... mushy love junk. That's dumb. Maybe they'll have something different.” Dan nodded. None of the boys were eager to hear songs from the 1940's about romance, which still occasionally happened with bases abroad. It didn't take much longer for Dan and Drew to complete their wardrobe. Uniform. “Why'd they have to make us wear this stuff?” Jay mumbled, joining them on their walk to the mess hall. “We're not meeting the president. We're just getting a silly song and dance.” “Maybe they have an important colonel visiting,” said Drew. “Something's up,” said Nick suspiciously, looking around him. “Everyone's whispering about things. Hey, where's the private?” “He says he's sleeping early to wear off the sickness,” said Dan. As they arrived at the mess hall, they could see extra afternoon guards stationed around all the doors, with guns at ready. “Dude,” said Jay. “You're right. Something is going on.” “Told you.” Inside, the hall was at complete order. The soldiers had already begun to file into their seats. A heavy dark blue curtain hung from the ceiling at the end of the room. And a single floodlight had been attached to the central beam of the ceiling. “Maybe they're going to show us something cool after all,” Drew whispered. “Does everyone else know

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something about this that we don't?” “I feel like we need to get Night down here, even if he's sick,” said Dan. “It's like he's going to miss something big if we don't.” “No time,” Drew whispered back. Just at that moment, the curtain had begun to rise. The soldiers began their mandated applause as the first actor appeared on the stage. “Dude,” Jay whispered, predictably. “Where'd he come from? The dark ages?” Then another man walked onto the stage, and a dialogue began:

“Who's there?” “Nay, answer me; stand, and unfold yourself.” “Long live the king!” “Bernardo?” “He.” “You come most carefully upon your hour.” “'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed,

Francisco.”(1)

Dan looked down the line to watch both Jay's and Nick's mouths drop open. Nick crossed his arms over his chest, irritated, and slouched a bit in his seat. Jay's mouth was still hanging open. “Shakespeare? Is that Shakespeare?” Dan could hear Jay whisper to Nick. “What the heck? They think we're in drama school?” But Jay wasn't whispering for long. As the play progressed, he quickly became quiet. For the next couple of hours, the soldiers hardly moved, as the actors and actresses rewove the old play, first seen in faraway London many years ago.

(1) Shakespeare's “Hamlet”

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Dan found, as he sat in perfect attention, that he had forgotten where he was and what was going to happen the next day. And it seemed to him, that the other soldiers, even somewhat sour Nick, were experiencing the same thing under the spell-binding tale from Shakespeare's pen. The last actor whispered off the stage as he spoke his final lines.

“Let four captains“Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;“For he was likely, had he been put on,“To have proved most royally: and, for his passage,“The soldiers' music and the rites of war“Speak loudly for him.“Take up the bodies: such a sight as this“Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.“Go, bid the soldiers shoot.” (1)

The curtain landed with thunderous applause and whistles from the companies. There were no less than four curtain calls from the thoroughly impressed audience. Dan, who had never learned how to whistle, could only shout “bravo” toward the cast on the stage. “Nerd,” he heard Drew say. But Drew was grinning. Everyone had been amazed with the production. As the cast disappeared behind the curtain for the final time, the sergeant-at-arms appeared on the stage. “Soldiers,” he bellowed over their heads, never in need of assisted amplification, “we are at war. But never, gentlemen, is there a time when the art of the stage is lost upon society. As well,” he paused a moment, looking

(1) Shakespeare's “Hamlet”

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to the side door of the stage, “there is never a time when the art of democracy is lost upon our society. Gentlemen, I give you -- the President, of the United States!” With a sweep of his hand, the door opened to the man himself, the President. As he walked smiling across the stage to shake the sergeant's hand, the stunned room took several moments to respond. It was such a shock. And then, the room erupted. Dan was overwhelmed. He looked around him, clapping his hands raw. There were soldiers in tears at the sight of their President, smiling warmly at all of them, waving at his cheering army. And then he remembered Jess. “Night!” he cried. Drew turned to him. “No, man. You'd never get back in time to hear the President.” “I've got to do it, dude. I'll be back.” Fortunately Dan's seat had been at the end of the row. He slipped out to the back door with no one seeing him. Once lose from the mess hall, he sprinted across the sand toward Jess' tent. He never looked behind him. “Night!” he cried, crashing into the tent. “Get up, dude! Get up!” Jess bolted from his bunk. “What? What!” “The President,” Dan panted. “The President is here! Now! Come on! Our President!” That was all it took. Jess was gone with Dan to the mess hall, in his fatigues. In thirty seconds flat, they were back to the mess hall. They both flashed their I.D. cards at the guards on their way inside. Inside the hall was perfectly quiet. Everyone was at complete attention. Dan had only been gone for two minutes, and the applause had only just ended. The President was about to speak. There wasn't time to take their seats. Dan and Jess stood behind the last row,

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waiting for the President. “Gentlemen,” said the President warmly, “can't say how good it is to meet with our soldiers here, defending our country's freedoms, and the freedoms of the peoples here in the Middle East...” Dan's eyes were glued to the President, as were every other soldier's eyes in the hall. No matter what party they adhered to, each soldier was more than willing to give their President due respect. They listened to all ten minutes of his speech, and applauded without cue. By the end of those ten minutes, the soldiers were re-inspired, rejuvenated. “So God bless you,” said the President. “God bless your efforts here, and God bless America. We're behind you boys.” There was erupting applause. Dan's hands once again went raw. “Great speech!” he shouted to Jess next to him. “Great President!” Jess nodded, also clapping wildly, despite his white face. “Doing alright, man?” Dan asked, after several continued seconds of clapping. Jess nodded again. “I'll be fine.” It took only a few more moments for the others to join them. “Let's go shake his hand!” Jay shouted above the thunder of the crowd. “Come on!” He immediately squeezed his way forward through the eager assembly. “Look at him go!” Drew exclaimed. “He's almost to the front already.” Dan looked over to Jess, who seemed to have turned a little green. “Maybe you should go back to your tent, Night. You should probably rest.” “No,” Jess shook his head, looking a little feverish. “I want to meet him. What are the chances we'll ever see

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him again?” “Let's push through,” said Nick. “No way am I missing out on meeting this dude.” The crowd was tremendous. No one wanted to leave. Every soldier in that mess hall on an early evening in October, wanted his chance to visit, even if briefly, with the President of the United States. Dan could see that Night was beginning to have trouble after they had been standing in line for twenty minutes. They were at the back of the line, crunched forward, in case any gaps would open in the surge. Jay had already wandered back toward them in a daze. “Dudes... He's awesome! And he's so funny!” “Want to join us for another round up there?” Dan asked. “No, man. They already said one handshake per soldier,” he said with a grin. “The President has to fly over to Yugoslavia or something after this.” “Want to wait for us?” Drew asked. “Naw. I'm getting a pudding cup before they're wiped out. Later, dudes.” And Jay soon disappeared in a sea of uniforms wandering back to the cafeteria counter. After another fifteen minutes of standing, Dan was getting concerned about Jess. “Man, you've got to sit down. I'll call you over when it's time.” Jess was looking a little wobbly. “I'm fine. We're almost up there. I just wish I put on my uniform.” “Don't worry about it,” said Drew. “He'll get it. He seems like the kind of guy who doesn't care about protocol too much.” Another ten minutes saw them one man away from the front. Then Nick went first. Dan couldn't hear what he said. The hall was still too noisy. Then went Drew. Dan strained to hear. All he could see was the President speak to both of them, shake their hands in a tight grip,

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and he saw both boys grin back at him, and move out of the way for Jess. Dan pushed him in front of him. The sooner Jess was able to greet the President, the better. And for that conversation, Dan heard every word. Jess' face lit up. He wasn't pale anymore. “Sir,” was all he could say, as he shook the hand of the President. “Hello, son,” said the President with a smile. “I see you come casual. I like that. Makes me feel at home. Did you enjoy the show?” “I would if I had been here, sir. Feeling a little sick. Oh. Sorry, sir. I should have washed my hands first. I think I just gave you my germs.” The President laughed. “Son, I've just shook the hands of over three hundred soldiers. I'll be washing my hands myself.” Jess laughed. “Fight well out there, soldier,” said the President. “Every soul here can make the difference in this war. We're all counting on you back home.” “Yes, sir,” said Jess. “Thank you, sir.” And with that, Dan was the last soldier to meet the President. As he was about to step forward, he suddenly saw one of the Secret Service agents grip the arm of the President. The President's face took on a look of immediate concern, as the agent whispered something to him. “Ok, Joseph,” he said grimly. “I want to speak to this last soldier here. Then we'll head out.” The agent nodded, and stepped back a few inches. Then the President turned to Dan, his old smile returning. “I don't want to keep you, sir,” said Dan, stepping forward to shake his hand. “Don't worry about that, son,” said the President. “I'm glad to meet you. What's your name, soldier?”

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“Daniel Baker, sir, but the boys call me Dan.” “Well, Dan, I hear some of you boys are moving out to the front tomorrow.” “Yes, sir,” said Dan, standing even straighter. “I'm one of them, sir.” “Do us proud,” he said. “I have no doubt that you will. You seem like a fine soldier.” “I do my best, sir.” “And that's all our country can ask of you, soldier.” Then the President's smile faded for only a moment, and he looked Dan in the eye. “I don't say things like this often, son. But I'm going to say it to you today. There's a light that brings this nation through the darkness. He's always there. He's always watching us. He's the only thing that's kept us so strong, so safe for so long. You boys have to remember that while you're out at the front. It's the only thing that will keep you from being too scared to fight.” Dan was quiet a moment. “Thank you, sir. It wouldn't mean the same coming from someone else.” “Presidents get paid to say things no one else would say, son. I can be as poetic and mysterious as I want to be,” he said, with a wink. Dan nodded. He didn't know what else to say. “Good to have met you, son,” said the President. “Hope to you see you again, and hear good reports of your bravery.” “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” The agent behind the President quickly moved forward to escort the President from the room. As the President hurried toward the door, he held a hand up toward Dan. “Be brave, soldier!” Dan held up a hand in return, and watched until the President was through the door. He waited there, just standing, forgetting about everything else. He, Daniel Baker, had just met the President of the United States. It

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was going to take awhile before it fully registered with him. “Dude,” said Drew, coming up to him with a pudding cup in each hand. “It looks like you just came back from Mars and saw Martians or something. What's wrong with you?” “What's wrong with me? Did you, or did you not, just meet the President of the United States of America?” “I know -- awesome.” “It was more than awesome, dude. It was beyond awesome.” Drew just stood there with the pudding cups in his hands. “I wish I could call home and tell everyone,” said Dan, still looking at the door. “I didn't even get my picture taken with him.” “I think I did.” Dan turned around to a soldier with a digital camera on the side of the room. “You did?” Dan asked eagerly, walking over to him. The soldier was flipping back through the last shots. “Yeah,” he said. “There.” He pointed to the screen. “Got you just as you shook hands.” It was a good picture. Maybe the flash was a little bright. But Dan didn't care. “Wow, man. Is there any way you could... save that for me, for later?” “No problem, man. Good thing I brought it. My mom made me bring it. I'll save it on the laptop in the sergeant's office. I do some work for him. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. I'll email it to you when we get back to the States. Write down your address for me.” Dan quickly found paper and pen. “So you do work for the sergeant?” Drew asked, still holding the pudding cups.

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The soldier nodded. “A little extra pay on the side, you know.” “Any word on what part of the front we get tomorrow?” “It's a little under cover, I think,” said the soldier. “Nothing very secret. But I do know you'll be headed for cave country.” “Cave country?” Dan asked, handing his email address to the soldier. “They haven't sent anyone out there yet.” “Maybe that's why they haven't said anything to your company about it. I wouldn't pass that around much. It's dangerous country.” Dan punched the trigger on the pen in and out. “So what's the difference between that place and the rest of the front?” The solider shrugged. “Who knows for sure. None of the fighting's happened there yet. There's just been more activity out there. More actual terrorist cells. Maybe they're hiding in the caves.” “Is that what you've heard?” Dan asked. “It's happened before,” said the soldier, slipping the paper into his pocket. “Gotta go, guys. See you around.” The boys watched him leave. Drew gulped. “Want a pudding cup, man?” Dan didn't feel like eating the pudding cup, but he took it anyway. Suddenly Drew looked a little scared again. “You alright, Thurau?” Dan asked him. “We'll be in the middle of the valley, with caves right above us. That can't be good. They'll jump on us in the middle of the night and kill us, even without a fight.” “They won't,” said Dan, trying to ignore his own surge of suspicion. “They wouldn't camp us right at the base of the cliffs. That'd be suicide.” Drew still hadn't opened his pudding. He sat down on one of the empty chairs. “You don't think they're sending us out there just to keep the terrorists busy? Chasing us

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around, killing us off while the stronger companies fight at the real front?” Dan dipped the spoon into his pudding cup. His mouth was feeling dry. “Naw,” he said, trying to sound cheerful. “They wouldn't do that to us.” “They might, man. We're not that good yet. They're shipping out people like Jess. Dude, we're bait. We're just sitting there long enough to distract them so they can get in the good companies to...” Dan stopped listening to Drew. He could feel his heart thumping harder, and he couldn't concentrate on what Drew was saying. Then he remembered what the President had said to him. “It's the only thing that will keep you from being too scared to fight.” Dan shoved the plastic spoon into the pudding. “Quit it, dude. We're going to be fine out there. Stop thinking about it. Have a little faith in our country. They're not going to send us out there unless they think we're ready. So we must be ready,” his voice rose a little with determination. “Now come on, let's find the guys.”

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Chapter 5

City Lights

That evening, the boys sat together at the end of the camp. No more drills, no further instruction. They were leaving the next afternoon for their new site. Their seat at the front of the line. Jay had supplied all five of them with sodas that evening. Something in short supply on base. “Dudes,” he said, taking a swig of his Dr. Pepper, “I can't believe they're letting us down there tomorrow.” He looked at the valley to the tiny yellow lights of the city beneath them. “What do you mean?” Nick asked. “We're not going down there.” “Sure we are,” Jay replied. “They're giving us three hours to see the city and stock up before we head out.” “Since when do they ever let soldiers off base?” Nick asked with almost a scoff. “You've been given bad information... again.” “Have not. Didn't you pay attention after dinner?” “After dinner? Dude. Get to the point.”

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“I went back in line for seconds. You must've all left already. The PA said that Company D gets free access to the city tomorrow. Eight AM till eleven. Then we head out after lunch.” “What are we, baby girls in lace dresses?” Nick growled. “What are they trying to do with us? We don't need a shopping trip!” Jay shrugged and took another gulp of soda. “That's what they said, man. I'm just passing it on.” “Yeah right,” said Nick. “They'd never let us do that. We're too...” “Tough?” Jess finished for him. Nick scowled at him, but said nothing. The boys continued to sit on the ridge of sand, mostly silent, as the desert stars began to glow in the east.

D

But Jay had been right. The next morning, as the boys were all preparing their packs to move out, the PA called all soldiers of Company D to attention outside the camp. “Company D,” the sergeant yelled through his device, “you will assemble back here at eleven o'clock sharp. All purchases will be examined before packing. No weaponry of any kind shall be purchased. No beverages. No...” His list droned on for the next several moments, as Dan tried to ignore Jay working at getting his attention down the line. “Soldiers dismissed!” the sergeant finally called to them. “I'm surprised they're letting us buy anything at all,” said Drew, as the soldiers split their separate ways.

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Dan could tell Drew was still worried. Back in their tent the night before, Drew had stayed awake in his bunk, unable to sleep. “Dan,” he said, at one point, “they're sending us out for the kill. Why else would they give us recreation time? Last day of fun before we die.” Dan had never heard Drew talk like that before, and he didn't like it. He let Drew talk for awhile, but in the end, Dan had never needed to respond because Drew had fallen asleep in the middle of a sentence. “So who's up for a beer?” Jay had just asked. Dan slugged him on the shoulder. “Seriously!” Jay cried. “Why do you always have to do that to me?” “We're underage, genius,” said Drew. “You've never even had a beer before.” “We're not underage here,” said Jay. “Don't they make beer over here that eight year-olds drink, or something?” Drew rolled his eyes. “You can't anyway. We're about to head out to the front lines.” “Aw. You're just mad because you didn't think of it first,” Jay retorted. “Make merry for tomorrow we die,” said Nick grimly, starting for the gate. The others hurried up behind him. As the groups of soldiers headed down to the city in the valley, the mood was lightened. The worries about the front started to fade, as they talked to each other about life back home, poked fun at Jay's goblin stories, and shared their thoughts about meeting the President. But Dan kept most of his conversation with the President to himself. It didn't seem like it was the right time to share with the boys what the President had said to him. Drew was already on edge enough as it was. In a surprisingly short amount of time, most of the soldiers had reached the outskirts of the city.

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“Looks bigger down here,” said Jess, who had been mostly quiet that morning. He was still recovering from his unknown illness, but had insisted on coming. “Where should we go?” Drew asked. “You guys look around. I'll catch up with you,” said Jay, already beginning to wander off. “Where do you think you're going?” Nick called after him. “Around. If I don't meet you back here by eleven, go back without me.” “You have to be back at camp at eleven,” Drew yelled, as Jay hurried off in the crowd. Jay just waved a hand in response, and soon disappeared in the busyness of the main city thoroughfare. “What's he in such a hurry for?” asked Drew. “Probably buying a present for his mom,” said Nick, as though it were a weak thing to do. “Come on. I'm hungry for something other than slop.” He gave Jess a look, as though he had been responsible for the endless meals of tuna, flavorless chicken, and unidentified green vegetables, week to week. The morning was already hot. The vendors on the street had large shade umbrellas spread over their stands. Most of the vendors were men. Very few were women, with faces almost entirely clothed. Only their eyes could be seen around their veils, mostly white. “Smart,” said Dan, “for them not to wear black. Too bad we can't have white uniforms. Keep more of the heat off us.” Jess looked down at his fatigues. “I'm kind of liking them,” he said, as they continued to push through the crowds. “They kind of make me feel more important, you know?”

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“I don't know where the heck I'm going,” Nick said finally, having led their small pack for the first several, what might have been called, city blocks. “What do you want to eat?” Jess asked. “What? Now you know what you're talking about?” Nick asked. “Never said I didn't,” Jess replied. “Don't act like you know this place,” said Nick. “You've been here less time than we have.” “I've lived in the Middle East before.” “What?” said Drew, surprised. “Why didn't you tell us?” Dan asked. “Didn't come up.” “Well then, genius, why don't you tell us where to eat then,” said Nick, upset that he was no longer the most knowledgeable soldier in their group. “Do you like hummus?” Jess asked. Nick, clearly having no idea what hummus was, backed up a step, swooped his arm before him, and said, “Lead the way, private.” Jess tried to keep the smile of triumph less visible as he stepped forward. It wasn't long before he had them sitting on a set of metal chairs under the large umbrella of a vendor's stall waiting to be served. Dan watched the desert street slowly bead sweat on his arms as they observed the passing crowds, more heavily filled with the green and tan of military fatigues than with the clothing of the natives. “So when'd you live here?” Dan asked Jess. “How long ago?” “Yeah, and why?” Nick asked, trying not to appear too interested, although to Dan, it was painfully obvious that he was. “I lived here from about sixth grade till my dad moved on to Korea a year ago, and I went back to the States to

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live with my grandma.” “Dude. Talk about keeping secrets from us,” said Drew. “Your dad was stationed here all that time?” “Yeah. Until my mom died about two years ago. Then Dad couldn't stay here any longer. That's when he kind of got angry, all the time. So it was good, in a way, that we took a break from each other for awhile.” The table was quiet. Nick lightly tapped his finger against his water bottle. “Dude,” he said softly. “It's ok,” Jess continued. “I mean, Mom was real sick, and she's gone now. Dad just, couldn't stay here after she... you know. So I had a good year living back in Massachusetts with Grandma. I just feel bad because she'll be lonely now. Neither of us have seen Dad all that time. He's just still taking it pretty hard I guess.” Jess drummed his fingers on the table. “He'll be alright. I write him sometimes.” The table was still awkwardly quiet. “Sorry,” he said. “That was too much info. Uh. If you want, I can order for us.” “Don't tell me you speak Arabic,” said Nick, trying not to be impressed. “Yeah. Well, I mean, it was hard not to pick it up living here for four years.” The server approached their table at that moment, and Jess rattled off something about hummus and herbs and chicken and other things. Because several minutes later, two servers brought out several large dishes of steaming foods. Dan took in a deep breath of the spices and herbs, the smells of the Middle East all set together under his nose. “Wow, that's good stuff,” he said. “Let's dig in.” Just at that moment, they heard a crash. “What the...” said Drew, craning his head around a pile of people sprawled on the ground.

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“Sorry! So sorry!” they heard someone yell over the chaos. “I'll get that. Yeah.” “Oh no,” said Drew. “Turn around. Pretend you don't know him.” It was Jay, picking his way through the crowd of people on the road. Somehow the overly-excited Jay had run straight into a pile of large gourds. Not only had he sent the cart of gourds flying through the air, but he had managed to kick the cart free of its locks to barrel down the street toward the crowd. The angry merchant was already yelling at him. “What? What?” Jay yelled back. “I'll pay for them. I promise. Look. Look. American money!” The anger on the merchant's face seemed to melt a little, until he was wearing a full-blown smile and chuckling to himself. “Look,” said Jay eagerly. “Look.” He unfolded the wrinkled bills and began to count them out slowly, as if by counting more slowly, the merchant would be fooled into thinking he had been given more money. “One... two... three... four... five... ten. There. Ten whole American dollars!” Jay held up all ten fingers wearing a ridiculous smile on his face. The merchant shook his head. “I no fool,” he said. “Twenty. Twenty dollar.” “But!” Jay protested, mouth dropped open. “Twenty! Or I report you to police!” “Police! You don't have any police!” “Twenty!” Jay could see that he wasn't going to win. Shoving his hand back into his wallet, he retrieved a ten dollar bill, smashed it into the merchant's hand, and ran away before he could demand anything further. “Let's call him over for lunch,” said Jess, about to rise from his chair.

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“No!” Nick exclaimed, grabbing him by the arm to pin him to the chair. “We can't have him here. They'll kick us out. And I'm going to enjoy this last decent meal before they send us into the wilderness.” “What do you think he bought?” Dan asked, as they watched Jay continue to jog down the street. He carried a paper bag under one arm, and it looked as though he had more places to go, as he kept looking from stall to stall as he continued down the street. “Oh, who cares,” said Nick. The boys shoveled into their meal as though it was the last one they would ever eat.

D

Dan followed the others back down the street. He held a special snack wrapped in waxed paper. Baklava. He knew he didn't have a lot of money left to spend. But when he saw it sitting under one of the last vendor's stalls, he couldn't pass by it. It reminded him of his sister's baklava that she used to make back home on special occasions. It smelled like honey. He knew what he was having for dinner that night. They had each found little things for family back home. Even Nick had remembered something for his mom. They were all made by natives from the outlying villages. Dan remembered something for his little nephews and niece. Drew had things for his brothers. Jay found a few things for his older sisters and little brother. Nick decided it wasn't necessary to purchase anything further for the rest of his family. “Mom's special,” he said. “She deserves it.”

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None of the boys found it necessary to bother him about that statement, as much as he had teased them about “missing their mommies”. As they walked back up the hill, Drew turned around for a site of the late morning city. “Oh no,” he said. “There he comes.” It was Jay, roughing it up the side of the hill, carrying a bulging sack of who-knew-what. Jess and Drew gave him a heave up the rest of the way, as Jay bent over panting from the exertion. “Woo!” he cried in triumph. “What was that for?” Nick complained. “Aw nothing.” “Come on. What did you do? What did you spend all your money on?” Nick asked, tugging at the sack. “Mind your own business,” said Jay, pulling it away. “What'd you get for your girlfriend?” “Nothing,” said Nick, turning a little red in spite of himself. “Does it say 'I Love You'?” Drew asked. “Does what say 'I Love You'?” “Whatever you got for your girl.” Jay began to make kissing sounds. Nick punched him on the shoulder. “Never mind,” he said with a scowl, marching back to camp. Several minutes later, everyone had packed their gear and were ready. “What the...” said Drew. “How are you going to get away with that?” “With what?” Jay asked, pretending that the large pack on his back wasn't twice the size of every other soldier's pack. “Seriously. What are you doing?” Nick asked, setting his pack in one of the transport trucks. “Nothing. Just bought too many souvenirs.” “And they let you through with that?”

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“Yup. It's all approved.” “No way.” Jay tossed his pack with a grunt into the back of the truck. “What in the world did you get?” Dan asked. “And none of it's breakable?” “Well, I guess it's breakable,” Jay said, stuffing his hands into his pockets and looking back at the truck as though he hadn't thought about his pack's content being breakable. “Maybe.” “You moron,” said Nick. “Hope none of that stuff was for your mom. Wouldn't she be disappointed if you broke whatever it is you got her.” “Oh, heck,” said Jay. “It's fine.” “Whatever,” said Nick, walking off. “Just you wait,” Jay said under his breath. And with that, they joined the rest of the soldiers piling into the open-topped trucks, to leave the base for perhaps the final time. They each took a seat on the benches lining the bed of the truck, and grabbed the pole above their heads as the trucks started off into the desert. “We might never see it again,” said Jess, as they exited the gate. “Girl,” said Nick. “Sentimental.” Jess ignored him and watched the barbed wire fence disappear across the desert floor. The drive was two and a half hours across the wilderness. No canopy from the sun. Each soldier had tucked his hat low over his eyes. Dan had learned long ago that sunblock was useless. Any soldier caught with a bottle of it, was just laughed at. No one used it. Their skin learned to bake with the sun. And they just got used to it. But the trucks created synthetic winds over the desert face, which relieved some of the heat.

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Even well-trained soldiers couldn't operate under certain conditions -- when the sun was close enough to touch the earth. When it was that hot, no one could move. Everyone would stay inside the tents. But the Goblins seemed impenetrable to the heat. It didn't seem to bother them. Reports, the few that existed of their conduct in battle, seemed to suggest a complete disregard for the heat of the desert. No matter the temperature, no matter how hot at day, or cold at night, they were always moving. They didn't seem to rest from the start of the battle until its end. And while Jay loved to talk about these reports, his pals did not. And so, for the duration of their ride across the desert, Nick found it necessary to threaten Jay with a roll of duct tape if he said one more word, “one more word”, about any “stupid goblins”. Jay took the message and, instead, talked about alien space ships for the next two hours to the soldier sitting next to him.

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Chapter 6

Isolation

“Too bad all this sand isn't food. Like brown sugar or something,” said Jay, sifting a large handful through his palms. “Brown sugar isn't food, man,” said Drew. “Better if it was... cake, or something.” “Cake?” Dan laughed. “That's not food either. Better if it was all chicken. Fried chicken.” “Yeah,” said Jay. “Cold fried chicken's the best.” “Like when the Israelites got birds from heaven to eat,” said Jess. “That'd be the best. Chickens from the sky,” said Jay. “Too bad God doesn't work like that any more.” Nick just laughed. “You all are crazy. It'd have to be real meat. Not chicken. Red meat.” There was a pause as the boys reflected on this last submission. “Naw,” said Jay finally. “Chicken's better.” “Yeah,” said Dan.

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“Well, you pretend it's chicken, and I'll pretend it's red meat,” said Nick. The boys were sitting outside their tents, waiting for orders. The sergeant still hadn't arrived by four o'clock. It had taken only ten minutes to set up camp. The rows were perfectly set in the sand. But no one seemed to be in full command. Everyone was waiting for the sergeant to arrive. Some of the senior soldiers looked a little worried, trying to contact the base with their talkies. But they didn't seem to be getting through. “Maybe their truck took a tumble on the way in,” said Jess. “They look kind of upset over there.” A huddle of them waited several yards away, shielding their eyes against the horizon, waiting. “This can't be good,” said Nick finally. “I'm going to walk around. Can't wait here doing nothing.” He walked off with a grunt, saying something to himself about finding something to eat. But the others waited, still seated on the sand, hoping something would happen soon. Their base was set precariously against the high cliff back of the edge of the flat desert. The cliffs were high and red, riddled with caves. Numerous caves. And while they seemed perfectly empty, no sounds, no falling rocks, they made Dan uncomfortable. What was their mission there? No clear direction had been given. Nothing concrete. No one knew where the enemy was based in relation to their camp. “It's kind of like they didn't know where to put us,” said Drew, “so they dumped us at the edge where no one's been. Maybe they're just putting us here to kill time until the war's over.” “That's no good,” said Jay. “We need to see some action.” “The less, the better,” said Jess. “I still haven't finished training. What am I supposed to do if they attack?”

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“Shoot,” said Drew. “It's pretty simple.” Jess didn't respond. Another half hour passed. Still no sign of the sergeant. “This is weird,” said Dan. “I'm going to find Lawson. See if he's heard anything.” He walked off through the row of tents, looking to left and right for Nick. Then he saw him -- talking to one of the officers at the far end of the camp. “What's going on?” Dan asked, as he walked over to them. Nick looked visibly concerned. “They don't know what happened to the sergeant,” said the soldier. “No contact since we left base five hours ago. Base camp said he left just a few minutes after we did.” “Did they send out a convoy?” “Yeah. From here, and one from base camp. No sign of him.” “No tracks?” “Nothing.” Dan gulped. All of Jay's stories began to ring in his ears. “Maybe Watkins' stories aren't all made up.” “Quit it, Baker,” said Nick. “That's just dumb stuff. Maybe they got lost. Things like that happen.” “But there's no tracks.” Nick scowled into the desert. “Are they going to give us orders?” Dan asked. “Soon,” nodded the soldier. “They're sending out a new sergeant. Sergeant Felthouse. Maybe he can explain things by the time he gets here. Help rally the boys' spirits.” The soldier was called over to the sergeant's tent, leaving Nick and Drew still watching into the desert.

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D

By the time evening had arrived, Sergeant Felthouse was on base. He didn't say much to the soldiers as they assembled at attention on the desert floor. Only basic regulations, strict orders to remain within certain parameters of the camp, and schedule of daily meals. Nothing else. He only addressed the sergeant's disappearance as temporary, and that “every effort is being made to recover him”. Dan didn't know what to think. As he prepared for the night, his thoughts were with home and family. Old friends still at home. And he felt very alone. At some point in the middle of the night, Dan heard a terrible yell. It was Nick. Dan flew out of his bunk, smashing through the tent flaps into the night air. The night guards were already running toward Nick's tent, where Nick was madly punching at a dark figure poised next to him with cat-like claws stretched toward him. Dan felt his stomach drop as he saw the moon illumine the face of the predator. All in black, except for the face – a mask painted in hideous contortions -- red eyes, blue mouth, and white face. Streaming black hair. A wildman! A Goblin! Nick was still thrashing at the goblin, who still only stood poised, waiting for Nick to take a false move. The soldiers were still running toward them, guns raised. But Nick was in the way. Dan could only stand in the sand, mouth dry. “Lawson!” he tried to shout, but nothing would come out. He swallowed hard and tried again, “Lawson!” Once again, nothing. Then he found some strength somewhere in his legs, and took off the few meters to

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where the figure stood. As Nick threw a last attempted punch toward the figure, Dan flew threw the air, taking the punch in his face as he knocked the figure to the ground. “Aw!” the figure cried. “Stop it! Stop it!” Dan sprang backward. “What!” The no longer fierce-looking creature was smashed into the sand. His mask was equally smashed. It was Jay. “You idiot!” Nick cried, springing forward to punch at him. “They could have shot you!” “Serves you right,” said Jay, irritated. “You thought I was a Goblin, didn't you?” Dan ran ahead to catch the guards and assure them that everything was alright. The last thing they needed was Jay being carted off to the isolation tent for pulling a practical joke. By this time, Jess had also emerged from his tent. “What's going on?” he asked, rubbing his eyes. “I thought I heard Watkins yelling.” “You did!” said Nick, gripping Jay by his shirt collar and pulling him to his feet. “So this is what you wasted all your money on today. A stupid mask and a black cloak. Why'd you do that?” “To scare you. Why'd you think?” Jay replied, scowling. “You're crazy!” Nick cried, releasing him from his hold. He stomped back into his tent. Drew, on the other hand, couldn't stop laughing. He was on his hands and knees, face buried in his arms. “Uh oh,” said Dan, “I think he's crying from laughter.” Jay lost his scowl. “Well, at least someone thought it was funny,” he said, dumping the remains of his mask onto the ground. “Did you really spend all your money on that stuff?” Dan asked, as Drew continued to rock on the ground in silent laughter.

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“Yup,” Jay said. Then he grinned. “And worth it too. I've never seen Nick so scared before.” “And probably never so scared again,” whispered Jess, with a wave, going back to his tent. Then the boys parted ways for the night, Dan helping the almost incapacitated Drew back to their tent.

D

Nick was not in a good mood the next morning. Although he didn't say anything about the incident in the middle of the night, he complained about a headache and lack of sleep for the rest of the day. The other boys just tried not to laugh during breakfast while he sat stationary over his hot cereal, looking as though he were about to fall asleep. And Jay didn't feel sorry for him. “Maybe he'll listen to me next time,” he said later. In the meantime, Sergeant Felthouse had taken on his new position with strict authority, more so, perhaps, than their first sergeant -- who, as Jess knew more than anyone, had little trouble dishing out the cutting reprimands. And Jess didn't seem to be getting any better with his gun. “It doesn't like me,” he said the following day after target practice. “Sure it does,” said Jay. “Just pretend it's another arm sticking out of your body. Then it'll start to listen to you.” “Yeah...” Jay replied, unconvinced. “Maybe I'll try that.” All the boys but Nick had taken their hour reprieve that afternoon to visit the cliff wall for shooting practice. A station had been set up in the shade of the towering cliffs

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for afternoon practice once the sun had passed far enough across the sky. As of their second full day at the front, no specific schedule had been established. Sergeant Felthouse seemed to have no orders from the front. Little news was passed back to the soldiers. No explanation for their early departure from base camp. No updates on the enemy, or their locations. No directions for battle. Nothing. “This is so weird,” said Dan. “What are they waiting for? It seems like we should have already had some kind of encounter with the enemy. But...” “It's too quiet,” said Drew, finishing for him. “Yeah,” said Jay. “Something's not right,” Jess finished for all of them. The boys were quiet. Dan went over to the red cliffside to sit under a rare Joshua tree. He set his gun carefully on the ground next to it, and took back a step to stare upward to the uneven rows of cliffs in the face of rock above him. “Wish we could get up there,” he said. “Who knows what kind of stuff they've got stashed in those caves.” “What makes you think anyone's ever been up there?” Drew asked. “Like I said,” Jay cut in, “the Goblins live in caves like this. They probably lived in these at some point.” Drew also craned back his neck to look upward. “They'd kill us if we tried to get up there.” “They don't live up there anymore,” said Jay. “Not them,” said Drew. “I mean, Sergeant Felthouse would kill us. They don't want anyone leaving base.” “How would it be leaving base if it almost hangs over our tents?” “I just don't think it's a good idea.” Dan agreed with Drew. But part of him wished they could go into those caves. Even if there was nothing left of

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Goblins, maybe they had been used in the past by other people. Whatever had been up there in the past, there was sure to be something left. “Come on, Danny boy,” he heard Drew call to him. The other boys had picked up their guns to head back to camp. Dan sighed to himself, picked up his gun, and joined them on the walk.

D

The next several weeks continued in the same way. Random drilling, meals served at the large base tent. Still little contact with the rest of the world. No news on the lost sergeant. And no words about battle at all. The boys were getting restless. There was little to entertain them. Cards. Some board games. Packages and letters were few, if any. Convoys brought in food and water once a week. And there was little room for anything else to pack into the trucks. “This is ridiculous,” said Nick one day. He and Dan had guard duty on the western face of the base. They had been pacing the border for forty minutes, scanning the horizon, waiting for the hour to finish and the next shift to occupy their places. “I have to agree,” said Dan. “What are we here for? If they can't give us something to do, we're just wasting the Army's time and money. I doubt there's one enemy within ten miles of here.” Nick held the field glasses up to his eyes once again. “I'm ready to ship back. This is worthless,” he said. “Makes me wonder why I even signed up for this thing in the first place.” “I don't think it's their fault,” said Dan.

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“Whose fault?” “The Army's.” “Who's else would it be?” Nick asked with a small laugh. “I think they're waiting for something.” “What?” “I don't know,” said Dan slowly. “But I think it might have something to do with the President.” Nick lowered his field glasses. “Why do you say that?” he asked, keeping his voice quiet. “I don't know,” Dan replied, still scanning the horizon. “I just think it might.” “You're something else, Baker.” Nick lifted the glasses back to your eyes. “That'd be creepy if you were right though.” “Don't take it seriously,” said Dan. “It's just an idea. I'm probably wrong.” “I don't know, dude. Sometimes you say things. Makes me think you have inside information.” The boys were quiet for the last part of their shift. Dan kept running the President's words over in his head. There was nothing unusual about the President had said to him. No secret code. Nothing very important. But for some reason, Dan felt that the words the President had said to him were going to help them.

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Chapter 7

Crisis in the Pantry

The next days were still all the same. If the boys thought that they had a form of cabin fever before, it had only grown worse. And the food was growing equally bad. “I can't take it any more!” Jay cried one lunch hour. “It's too terrible!” There was the immediate sound of spoons clattering to the table, from around the mess hall. Everyone knew that Jay would eat anything. Almost anything. If Jay wouldn't eat, there was little chance that anyone else would try it. After breakfast had been mostly skipped over by the camp for the day, the soldiers retired to their tents for the rest of the morning. “This stinks,” said Jay. “I can't even eat anything. That was the only good thing about being out here.” All five boys lounged on the sand outside their tents. The sun was not as scorching that day. Everything was quiet.

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“I'm serious,” Jay drawled on. “I have to do something about this. I'm not eating garbage anymore. No more scraps. We need something decent to eat, or we won't have any strength left to fight.” “Like that'll ever happen,” said Drew. But Jay hadn't heard him. “I'm off,” he said, and shot up from the sand, as though he had just received a great sense of inspiration. “Where's he off to?” Nick asked, hat pulled down over his eyes. “Who knows,” said Dan. “Probably to scavenge for something edible in the kitchen. And what do you mean, 'like that'll ever happen?'” he asked Drew. “They're just keeping us here as a facade, to draw the enemy toward the center,” said Drew. “We're like those balloon tanks they used in World War II to make the enemy think there were more of us then there really were. We don't know what we're doing. We're just here to make the numbers look good.” “I don't even think they know we're here,” said Jess. “There've been no fly-overs.” Drew shrugged. “They've probably seen us from across the valley. They're like hawks. They know we're here.” “Then why haven't they done anything about us yet? We're kind of a small company. You'd think they'd have tried to wipe us out already.” “Naw,” Nick cut in. “We're in too good a place. Too many giant rocks to hide behind. They'd be coming across an empty plain. No shelter.” “And they can't get us from above,” said Dan. “Those cliffs must go back for a hundred miles. What kind of an army could they get up there? Nothing to wipe us out. We'd get them first with the artillery guns.” Jess seemed a little less on edge. “Well, that's good news for us,” he said happily.

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“You are a wimp,” said Nick. “Don't you have any pride in defending your country?” “There are different ways to defend your country,” said Jess. “Maybe this isn't the best one for me.” “Oh, get over it,” said Nick. “It's time to fight, man. When they don't listen to negotiations, and they're wiping out your allies, it's time to fight.” “I'm not arguing with that,” said Jess. Nick took the hat off his eyes. “Then what's your point?” “I've never shot at anything before. No one. I don't think I could kill anyone. I'd freeze up.” “Dude, we've never shot anyone either. What makes you think you're special here?” “Not special. But you guys have been trained for a year or more in this. I never signed up. I was just sent in.” “No one made you come here, Night. Even if your old man sent you over here, he didn't make you sign your name on the dotted line.” Jess was quiet for a minute, sifting the sand in his fingers. Then he replied, “You're right. I can't say I was forced into it.” Nick rolled over onto his stomach to avoid the sunlight on his eyes. “Man, you're just going to have to go out there and pull the trigger when we're called out. If you see anything move over there, anything that even looks like the enemy, and you're ordered to shoot, you shoot. It's not murder. It's defense. Just remember that.” Jess just nodded. The boys continued to look out to the desert in silence.

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D

It was the next day that the boys finally saw Jay again. He had been mysteriously absent from dinner and breakfast the following morning. “Where the heck did he disappear to?” Nick asked the others by the time they were in the lunch line. “He was up before I was this morning. I think he might have been in the kitchen.” “I saw him running out of someone's tent after breakfast,” said Jess. “Looked like someone threw something at him. A shoe or something.” “A shoe?” Dan laughed. “What's up with that dude? Maybe he's stealing stuff. He's so desperate for something good to eat.” “Wouldn't put it past him,” said Nick. “If he doesn't show up for this meal, we'd better hunt him down.” “What... is this?” Drew asked the private behind the lunch line. “Don't know,” said the private, staring at the ladle of glop. Dan looked squarely at the pile of goop on his plate as he took a seat at the table. “It kind of looks like rice soup mixed with.... sea shells,” he said. “Well, if I didn't want to eat it before, I really don't want to eat it now,” said Drew, pushing away his plate. “Thanks a lot, Dan.” “What about this yuck looks like sea shells?” Nick asked grumpily. “I don't know. They look like little crunchy things,” said Dan, poking it with his spoon.

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“They're probably roots,” said Jess. “I've heard of bedouins eating them when they're really hungry and they find dry desert plants.” “Aw, just eat it,” Nick commanded. “We're not going to see anything better for months, probably. So get used to it.” The boys gingerly dug in. Lunch was not a pleasant experience. And Jay didn't show up either. “Ok,” said Nick, stacking his dish in the pile after lunch, “let's go find him.” For nearly an hour, they walked around the camp, calling into various tents of random buddies, prowling around the dining tent, walking over to the range, etc. No Jay. “Maybe he went up into the sky with the aliens,” said Drew. “He had to have checked in somewhere. They'd probably shoot him if he tried to leave,” said Nick. “Come on.” He led the way to the sergeant's tent. “Dude,” said Dan, “we probably shouldn't just go in there.” “Well we can't knock, can we, Baker? Just call out something.” Dan hesitated at the tent flap. “Go on,” Nick urged him. Dan cleared his throat, “Ahem. Corporal Daniel Baker reporting, sir. Permission to enter?” Dan tried not to laugh. He felt ridiculous talking to a tent flap. But almost immediately, the tent flap was swept aside, and two privates stepped through to create a passage into the tent. “Aren't you dudes supposed to be guarding the outside?” Nick asked them under his breath. But they didn't respond. Dan could see the sergeant seated at his portable desk, looking over charts.

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“Come in, Corporal Baker,” he said, without looking up from his charts. “Did I send for you boys?” “No, sir,” Dan replied. “We have come to report Corporal Jay Watkins as missing, sir.” “Missing?” he looked up at Dan for a moment. “He hasn't signed himself in with anyone?” “No, sir. We think he might have had the urge to go caving.” “Well, there have been many disappearances lately,” the sergeant replied, shaking his head. “You have permission to conduct a search around the perimeter.” “Thank you, sir,” Dan replied, thankful that he didn't have to ask permission. “Report back here when you find him,” said the sergeant. “That will be all, corporals.” Dan handed out a salute and retreated from the tent behind the other boys. “What's happened with all the protocol?” Jess asked, who had been quiet for awhile. “War, man. We're in a war. Protocol doesn't always work,” said Nick. “Let's go check the cliff perimeter. If you're right, Baker, he's probably in one of those caves.” A few minutes later, all four boys were standing in front of the cliff. “I don't think he could up there,” said Jess. “It's too high up.” “Don't put it past him,” said Nick. “He's always getting into trouble.” “Watkins!” Dan called, cupping his hands over his mouth. “Don't do that!” Drew cried. “Falling rocks, man!” “How else is he supposed to know we're looking for him?” “I don't know,” said Drew. The sun beat down on their heads as they continued to stand at the perimeter.

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“Oh, what the heck,” said Drew. “Watkins!” “Watkins!” Nick called out even louder. “You'd better come back now! Deserter!” They continued to take turns yelling for him. “Where could that dude have gone?” Nick asked, starting to look a little concerned. “There's no other place he could have gone.” “Watkins!” Jess yelled. “Come on!” Suddenly, a head popped out above the desert floor. “Hello!” It was Jay, hanging out of a small cave, maybe forty feet above them. “Watkins!” Nick cried. “You moron! What are you doing up there?” “Hanging out.” “Hanging out! You idiot! Get back down here, or they'll come shoot you down.” “Naw,” Jay laughed. “Down in a sec.” “That kid bothers me,” said Nick, crossing his arms over his chest. “What's wrong with him?” “He's up to something,” said Drew. “I don't even know how he got up there.” “Look out below!” Jay cried from the top. “Watkins!” Drew shouted. “Don't jump!” It was too late. Jay was in the air. One second later, he was on the ground. “What's wrong with you?” Nick ran forward, dragging him to his feet. “Did you break something?” Jay shook his head. “I've jumped out of trees higher than that. But forget it. I've got connections now.” “What does that have to do with jumping out of caves?” Drew asked. “Nothing,” said Jay. “But I've made some trades.” “So that's what you've been doing the past two days,” said Jess. “What'd you get?”

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Jay smiled widely. “Food. Good stuff. I traded all the soldiers for their things shipped from home before we left. Cookies, chips, sodas...” “Dude, why in the world would they give you that stuff?” Dan asked. “Yeah,” said Nick, gripping him by the collar. “What'd you give them in trade?” Jay pretended not to hear very well. “Oh, you know... But we got cookies.” “What did you trade them?” Nick demanded. “Just some stuff.” “What stuff?” “All kinds of stuff. I'm doing KP like fifteen times next week. Gonna write a couple of letters for some of them...” Nick almost laughed at him. “That is so not worth it, Watkins. I'd rather eat slop then write some dude's letter to his mom.” “I think they're for girlfriends.” “Even worse!” “Well, it is too worth it,” said Jay. “And none of you guys are gonna get any of it. I hid everything.” Nick stepped back. “Oh, no. You didn't really...” They all looked up to the cave where Nick was looking. “You put all your stuff up in that cave, Watkins?” Drew asked, laughing at him. “So what?” said Jay. “No one'll ever get it there. And I'll feast like a king till next June. I got one sweet deal.” “How'd you even get up there?” Jess asked. “Easy. Got some climbing gloves from home. Thought they'd be useful. It's easy once you get momentum going. Oh, and there's some weird stuff up there.” “What stuff?” Dan asked. “Oh, marks on the walls. Maybe Arabic. I don't know. There's a lot of them though.” “That could be important,” said Drew. “Did you write down any of them?”

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“I don't read Arabic!” Jay exclaimed. “Who do you think I am?” “You could have at least tried to copy them so Night could read them,” said Nick. “You make me wonder sometimes, Watkins.” “I'm smarter than you, Lawson. Who stashed together enough junk food to last me till next spring?” Nick didn't answer. “We're sending you back up there tomorrow. And you're copying down that writing. Hear me?” “Alright, alright,” said Jay. “Keep your shirt on.” The boys headed back to the camp. There was no very good reason for them to be interested in the marks on the cave walls. They had probably been there for a long time. Maybe from kids. Probably nothing important. But it was something interesting. It had been so quiet. So tense. Waiting for something to happen. But that evening, the boys forgot about caves and stashes of junk food. The night was getting cool. Dinner was long over. Everyone was getting back to their tents for the night. But the boys weren't interested in bunking down yet. They sat in a sprawl on the sand outside Nick's and Jay's tent, watching the night. They could barely make out the shadows of the two night guards pacing the eastern front. Everything was quiet. Only the stars glittered. The moon was gone for the month. “It's almost Thanksgiving,” said Drew. “Wonder what they'll be making for the meal back home tomorrow.” “Ham,” said Dan, rubbing his stomach. “You don't eat turkey?” Drew asked. “Sometimes. We like ham better.” “I never liked stuffing,” said Jay. “I won't miss that.” “I'll miss mashed potatoes,” said Drew. “Pumpkin pie,” said Nick.

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“What do you have for Thanksgiving, Night?” Drew asked. Jess stretched back on the sand. “Well, Grandma and I were in kind of an old apartment. So the stove didn't always work.” Jay covered his mouth in a sputtered laugh. “So we had turkey sandwiches from the little grocery store across the street,” Jess continued. “And we bought a frozen apple pie. It's too bad. Grandma cooks great.” “Couldn't cook better than my mom,” said Jay. “Or mine,” said Dan. “Your mom,” said Nick to everyone, and that seemed to settle it.” The boys were quiet a little longer, stretched out on the sand, mostly thinking about Jay's junk food stash, and their individual methods of getting their hands on a fraction of it without too much trouble. “Remember that night we camped out in your backyard, Baker?” Nick asked just then. “And Thurau, here, thought he saw a ghost in the treehouse?” Dan laughed. “Man, that was hilarious!” “Was not,” said Drew. “Hey, it could have been,” said Jay. “You weren't even there, Watkins,” said Nick. “It still could have been real.” “Well, whatever it was,” said Drew, “it was white and it glowed.” “Aw, it was probably one of Baker's sisters pulling a prank on you, dude,” said Nick. “Well, what about that time you fell in a hole?” “What does that have to do with anything?” “Oh, yeah!” Jay exclaimed. “That one was funny!” “Well, if your dumb foot hadn't been in the way, I wouldn't have tripped into it.” Jay had been hit with a laughing attack, recalling the incident. It would take about a full minute for him to

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recover. “So you guys have all known each other for a long time, I guess,” said Jess finally, once Jay was quiet again. “Yeah. Awhile,” said Dan. “You have any buddies back home from school or something?” “No. I lived here for so long, it was kind of weird going back to the States. I was too busy with other things to bother with friends.” The boys were quiet again. It was a little awkward sometimes, hearing about Jess' past. It was so different from what they did growing up, and he seemed so lonely, that they didn't always know what to say back to him. “Well, you've got some buddies now, anyway,” said Dan. “And you know how to shoot a gun now. Looks like things are getting better for you.” “Yeah,” said Jess, smiling up at the stars. “At least I won't look like an idiot on the field now.” Nick laughed. “Yeah, dude. But you've gotta figure out how to shoot straight. You can't go out shooting at everything that moves.” “Yeah,” Drew agreed. “You almost took my arm off yesterday.” “Sorry,” said Jess, trying not to laugh. “Dude,” said Nick with a sigh. “I think tomorrow we've got to give you some more shooting lessons. And don't thank me for it either. I'm just helping you to save my life in advance.”

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Chapter 8

Thanksgiving

The next morning, Jay found himself hauled out of bed and dumped on the ground. “Watkins!” Nick hissed at him. “Get up!” Jay scrubbed at his eyes. The other boys were also standing over him, waiting for him to get up. “What the...” Jay protested, laying back down on his bunk. “What're you dudes doing? It's four o'clock in the morning!” Jay crashed his head back onto the pillow, just as Nick sat him up again. “We're going to those caves, man. Before breakfast. The rest of the day is booked.” “What do you mean, the rest of the day is booked?” Jay replied, in frustration. “We do the same thing every day. Breakfast, sit around, lunch, sit around, shoot stuff, dinner, sit around...” Nick slapped a hand over his mouth. “Do you want to wake up everyone and have them find out what you have stashed up there?”

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Jay shook his head. “Good, then. Come on. We're getting this over with before they call us for breakfast.” Jay got dressed and followed the boys out of the tent. “You're insane!” he whispered, as he mucked through the sand behind them. “The sun doesn't rise for hours! And you don't think they'll notice five dudes running around with flashlights in the middle of the night!” “You're exaggerating,” Drew whispered back to him. “Can it!” Nick commanded from the front. “We've got to get out of here before they see us.” Fortunately, the night guard was spread thinly enough to not notice the small crew crouching in a run across the desert floor. “You're ridiculous,” Jay continued, after they had crossed the base border. “The guards are going to see us up there. Heck -- they'll hear us. You know how loud I was climbing those rocks?” “You're not going to use a flashlight,” said Nick, as soon as they reached the cliff face. “What!” “Use the light of the stars.” “That's crazy!” “The guards won't see you, man. They're too far north. Just get up there and use the flashlight once you get inside the cave.” “I'm only going if everyone's coming,” said Jay stubbornly. “Everyone.” He pointed an accusing finger at his four companions. “If I'm caught, we're all caught.” “Dude, where's your spirit of Thanksgiving?” Nick asked. “Thanks for what? For letting you kidnap me and send me on a suicide mission in the middle of the night?” “No. For not reporting you for hiding food in forbidden territory.”

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“Well, you're all here now. So you're in forbidden territory too,” Jay continued. “No climbing, unless we're all climbing.” “Oh, come on, man,” said Dan to Nick. “He's right. We can't force him up there by himself. Besides, if we can get Jess up there, it's easier than having Jay copy down signs he doesn't know.” “Don't have paper or pen anyway,” said Jay. “Fine!” Nick finally exclaimed, rolling his eyes. “But you're first, Watkins.” It took an amazingly long amount of time for all five of the boys to climb forty feet above the desert floor. The crevices were sturdy. But fear of falling rocks kept them climbing one at a time up the side of the cliff. It took so long, in fact, that by the time Nick, the last of them, reached the top, the very earliest light of the rising sun glowed in a band around the horizon. Nick collapsed in a heap on the floor of the cave opening. “Never...” he gasped, “doing that again.” “Now you believe that it was a dumb idea to come out here?” Jay asked. “Then why did you do it?” Jay ignored him and started walking. “Dude, how big is this thing?” Drew asked, turning on the flashlight. He covered it with his hand to prevent the full glow lighting the entire interior. “Wow!” said Jay. “I couldn't see back that far the first time.” Drew continued to shine his light faintly around the cavern. It was hard to tell how far back the cave went. It was massive. Red and brown rock carved back hundreds of feet, pocketed in several places near the opening with orange desert globemallow and purple cave primroses. “Of all the caves you had to pick!” Nick exclaimed, giving him a punch on the shoulder.

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“What'd I do this time?” Jay asked, rubbing his shoulder. “Flowers?” “I didn't plant them. Don't blame me.” “Where are the writings?” Jess asked, who had been very quiet so far. “Come on,” said Jay. “They're right over here.” Drew shone the flashlight carefully over the wall, several yards past the opening. “Dude...” said Drew. “This is some heavy writing. You didn't say they wrote a book in here.” “Yeah,” said Jay scratching his head. “Maybe I got the wrong cave.” Jess looked over the words while Jay ran further back into the cave. “Where are you going?” Dan asked, trying to catch him by his shirt tails. “Be right back!” Jay called. “Always up to something,” said Drew, shaking his head. “So do you know what it says?” Nick asked, a little impatient, keeping one eye on the rising sun. “Yes,” Jess nodded. “It's a little sloppy. Like they wrote it in a hurry. But it's talking about coordinates. Landmarks, I think.” “Like for maps or something?” “Well, maybe. They're just lists, really. Lists of places. Some of them are actual numbers. Some of them, like this one here just reads, 'the black rock'.” “That's weird,” said Dan. “How old do you think these things are?” “Not old enough!” Jay exclaimed, wild-eyed, crashing back toward them. “What's up with you?” Nick asked. “Dudes, I thought sure I had the wrong cave. But I didn't! All my stuff's still back there behind this rock.” “So? Why wouldn't you have the right cave?”

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“Man, these writings weren't here yesterday afternoon. I promise. Someone's been here. They've added to it.” Nick took a step back, gulping. “What do you mean, Watkins?” “Like I said, all these writings weren't here yesterday.” “Are you sure, man?” Dan asked. “Heck, yeah, I am!” Dan could see that Jess was a little white. “Let's get out of here!” Nick exclaimed. There was a sudden mad scramble as everyone rushed for the cave entrance. Dan nearly choked himself as he scrambled to the edge and clothes-lined himself on Drew's outstretched arm. They were all in a panic, shouting at one another to get out of the way. If someone had been standing on the desert floor beneath them, he would have seen a large puff of dust fly out of the cave as all five boys tumbled over one another to climb out of the hole in the wall. Within in an amazing five minutes, all five boys were back on the ground. None of them really knew how they had descended. Somehow they had all arrived at the bottom in one piece, and all were sweating profusely. “Dude!” Nick cried, a shaking hand going to his forehead. “What the heck! How'd someone get up there without us seeing them?” Jay was doubled over, breathing heavy. “I don't know. I don't know.” “That's just wrong,” said Drew. “No one should get up there without us seeing it.” “Maybe Watkins is right,” said Jess suddenly. “What do you mean?” Drew asked. “Maybe it's those goblins after all.” “Night!” Nick ran over, grabbing him by his shirt collar. “I thought I told everyone here not to mention those things again!”

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“But he could be right, man,” said Dan. “Those things are weird how they get around with no one seeing them.” “And why would they want to get up there anyway?” Drew asked. “Those things on the wall. Maybe they're making some kind of aerial map. Some place they meet and share information about us. Where we're camped. Where they think the next battles are going to happen.” “That makes a lot of sense, Thurau,” said Nick. “I'm sure they have nothing better to do with their time than climb forty feet into the air and write on an old cave wall. This isn't the dark ages, man.” “But that's just it,” said Jess. “They live in the dark ages. They don't use modern stuff.” Nick paced a few steps. The morning light was starting to glow brighter over the horizon. Finally, Nick said, “We don't have time for this now. If we don't get back to our tents, we're gonna be shot anyway.” The boys didn't discuss it any further, and hustled back to their tents. Almost as soon as they arrived, the morning guard was temporarily in transition, and they weren't seen crossing the border to their tents. The breakfast bell was rung only moments after hurrying into their tents. “Perfect!” said Dan, splashing his face with the remnants of a water bottle and trying to wave away the smell of sweat. “Just hope no one notices,” said Drew. “Yeah. That our uniforms aren't smelling too nice,” said Dan. “Eh. They'll just think you forgot to do laundry or something,” said Drew. “Don't worry, Baker. You don't smell any worse than you usually do.” Dan grinned and popped him on the shoulder with his fist.

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The rest of the day was quiet. Nick had afternoon guard. Jay was already beginning to fulfill the first of his bartered KP duties. A large Thanksgiving dinner was being prepared for the evening. And Jess was busy copying down as many of the coordinates and landmarks that he could remember from the cavern walls. “We can't go back there,” he said, sitting with Drew and Dan outside of their tent. “What if there was someone up there while we were there? They'd slit our throats if we tried to come back.” “Like they'd try that,” said Dan. “There's a whole company below them. They'd be dead meat before they started.” “I don't think so,” said Jess. “They're fast. If they wanted to kill us off, they'd do it without thinking.” “They'd miss us back here,” said Drew. Jess nodded. “Yeah. But they'd never look in a cave for us. We'd just sort of disappear and be forgotten. They'd think we deserted. You know how much shame that'd bring the families back home?” “But what if that stuff's valuable information? Let's just tell the sergeant and get it over with.” “They don't have time for that,” said Jess. “Not only would we be in super trouble for leaving base at night. But they've got more important things to take care of right now. Our commanding sergeant's disappeared. And look around, dudes. There's something up.” Jess was right. The upper commanders were tense. The sergeant was distracted. Something was wrong, and they hadn't been given all the information. “I told you they were just putting us here for some kind of bait,” said Drew. “There's no good reason for us to be here. They're waiting for something to show up. Of course they're nervous. We're going to be eaten alive.” “Look at us,” said Dan, sitting up on the sand. “We're a bunch of cowards. Look how we acted in the cave this

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morning.” “Yeah,” Drew chuckled. “Like a bunch of girls.” “We've got to go back to that cave and get all those markings written down. Even if we have to find the end of that cavern. Something's going on, and if we can take care of it... maybe it has something to do with why the sergeant went missing.” “They could kill you, Baker,” said Jess, wrapping up the paper in his hands. “I knew that coming here,” said Dan. “We all did. We're soldiers, man. And if there's something we can do to wrap up this war, then let's do it.” “You're so sappy, Baker,” said Drew, tossing a pebble at him. “What if I am?” Dan replied, shucking it back. “Are we going to do this, or what?” “When?” “Tonight. While everyone's at the dinner.” “Oh, come on, man,” said Drew. “We can't skip out on that. Watkins will never go for it. He has to have his food.” “Well... alright. After dinner. Once it gets dark.” “Why can't we just go over there during the day?” asked Jess. “They'll just think we're going to the shooting range. “It's still outside the perimeter,” said Drew, shaking his head. “Leave it to Jay to find a cave outside our jurisdiction.” Several hours later, all five boys were sitting at the Thanksgiving table, stuffing themselves with the little good food that had been saved for the occasion. “Finally!” Jay exclaimed, eyeing the mounds of sweet potatoes and buttered rolls. “I might even temporarily forget about my stash of junk, this looks so good.” He took a chubby-looking glass of milk from the end of the line to complete his table setting of orange and pink and green Thanksgiving fluff foods, and sat happily at his

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end of the table. “So we're all ready for nine o'clock?” Dan asked, once they were all seated at the table. All of the boys nodded. It was starting to feel like special ops. Everything had been so slow. They were finally getting involved in something exciting, something that might bring glory to the war. Another step to ending the terrorism. At dark, each boy was sitting outside his tent, waiting for the hour to change. The guards were stationed at the far corners. It would be easy to cut through the western front and hike a run to the cliffside on the southwest corner. As long as they were silent, they would make it without detection. “Dude,” Drew whispered to Dan. “No wonder we get all these stories from soldiers about the goblins getting through. If we can sneak out without anyone seeing us, no wonder they can.” Dan nodded. It was almost embarrassing. But their numbers were too small to filter guards across the full fronts on all four sides. Dan's hands were already clammy. At nine o'clock sharp, he and Drew walked to the outer ring, and then dropped to their stomachs. He knew they were breaking rules. But it didn't matter. Jess was right. If they told anyone about their little adventure the night before, even if they were pardoned for leaving the camp after dark, no one would listen to them about the writings. They were too busy with other things. Minutes later, Dan and Drew joined the others at the base of the cliffside. “Who's first?” Nick asked. None of the boys was too eager to reenter the cavern. “Guess I'll go,” said Jess finally. “We'll spot you,” said Drew. “If you get up there and someone sees you, just fall backward. We'll catch you.”

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“What?” “Well, we'll do our best.” Realizing that this was the best reassurance he was going to be given, Jess started his climb. One hand above the other, all the way to the top. Fifteen minutes later, he disappeared into the cave. Seconds later, came the all-clear whistle. Jay was next. Then Drew. Then Dan. And finally, Nick. By the time an hour had passed, they were all inside the cave, ready to switch on the flashlight. “This is amazing,” said Jess. “They've added since early this morning.” He was right. The scrawl on the walls extended further back into the cavern. As Jess began to read, Dan took the other flashlight and began walking carefully toward the back of the cave. “Careful!” Drew hissed after him. “Not too far, Baker.” “Just checking it out,” Dan called back softly. “Going to see how far back it goes.” “I'm coming with you,” said Drew. “Come on, guys.” “No way,” said Jay. “I'm getting a soda. Let me know what you find back in the creepy black hole.” Dan laughed him off and continued walking, Drew right behind him. The floor was covered in stones, fallen from the ceiling. No more flowers or shrubs of any kind after the first thirty feet back. The end of the cavern was jagged and abrupt. “Whoa!” Dan suddenly called out. “What?” Drew asked. And then he saw. At the end of the cave, which had seemed to be a dead end, two passages forked off, one to the left, and one to the right. “You think they dug this out?” Drew asked. “This doesn't look normal.” “Come on,” said Dan. “I'll keep the light low. Maybe there's more writing back here.”

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“Which way?” For no reason in particular, Dan turned to the left. He tried to keep the crunch of his boots on the rocks as quiet as possible. There couldn't be anyone there, he thought to himself. But something made him walk quietly. Carefully. He kept the light on the ground. And as they continued, the walls began to open up, slowly. Before they realized it, the walls had opened up to a very large room. It was wide enough, and tall enough, to house a company. “Wow...” Drew couldn't help but say aloud. Dan shone the light slowly around the reddish-brown rocks of the walls and the ceiling. “This is amazing!” said Drew. “No kidding,” Dan whispered. “They must have dug this out, like you said.” “No, not that, man,” said Drew. “Look, Baker.” Drew pointed toward what Dan had thought was a pile of rocks and rubble. “What the heck!” Dan hurried over to the formation. Piles and piles of sacks, filled with what seemed to be bottled water, canned food, and blankets. “Guns!” Drew said angrily, as he tossed aside several of the packs. Behind the small mountain of supplies were several large boxes, filled with guns and ammunition. “They're planning a raid on us!” Drew continued. “Why else would they have all this? Pretending not to use any kind of modern weapon. Yeah, right. They were going to storm us with all this loot...” Dan clapped a hand over Drew's mouth just then. “Shut it, man!” he whispered. “What if they're in the other chamber back there. Keep it down. We've got to get out of here!” “Yeah, and this time, tell the sergeant about it,” Drew said. “Let's take some of these guns with us.”

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“No, no...” said Dan, unsure. “If they see something missing, they'll know we found them. Then they might start the raid before we can be ready for them.” But Drew wasn't listening. “What was that?” he asked. Dan turned toward the wall where Drew was looking. “What?” “Behind that rock.” Then Dan heard it. A shuffle. Silence. Another shuffle. Then a muffled cough. Dan and Drew both jumped when they heard it. And then, almost instinctively, they hurried forward. Drew got there first, behind the boulder, and grabbed the shoulders of the shadow. Dan quickly shown the flashlight on the face of the bound and gagged man. Dan almost choked, “Mr. President!”

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Chapter 9

Cave Crawlers

Dan almost fell over. Drew's jaw had dropped so low, it nearly hit the cave floor. “Mr. President?” Dan repeated. He was obviously unconscious. Dried blood was crusted on his face. “That can't be him!” Drew whispered. “It's him, man. Quick -- take off his gag.” Dan set the flashlight on the rock as both boys carefully supported his back against the cave wall and untied the gag. “What the heck,” said Drew quietly. “What have they done to him?” “That's why the sergeant has been so weird,” said Dan. “We've gotta get him out of here.” “I'll run back and get the guys. Maybe we can make some kind of stretcher for him.” “Wait,” said Dan, catching him by his sleeve. “We might not have enough time for that. Let's at least send Nick back to the camp to get some help.”

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Drew nodded. “I'll have to take the flashlight. You stay with the President.” And with that, Drew was gone, and Dan was alone in the complete darkness of the cavern, keeping watch over the President. The seconds knocked away in Dan's mind, each one like an hour. He could feel the beads of cold sweat trickle down his arms as he held the head of the President. The muscles of his arm began to cramp, the longer he held him up. He began to wonder if someone had been in the cave already and had caught Drew on his way back to the entrance. He closed his eyes against the dark. If he left them open, it felt like his eyes would grow wider and wider, trying to see something, until they would pop. Suddenly, there was a loud crack and a tussle. Dan found his head locked in a tight grip. “Who are you!” he heard a raspy voice exclaim. “Dan Baker, sir! Dan Baker, Mr. President!” Dan cried out as quickly as he could. The President immediately loosened his grip. “Dan Baker!” he replied. “Son, can you tell me what's going on?” “You were gagged here in the cave, Mr. President. My buddy and I just found you. He's going for help.” Dan could hear the President holding his head. “Are you in pain, sir?” Dan asked. “Not enough to keep me down, son. Let's get going, wherever that us. Frankly, I have no idea where we are. They slipped a bag over my head and carted me off before I knew what happened. The devils.” “You're in a cave above our camp, sir. Company D. You don't know how long you've been here?” “Well, it happened two days after we spoke at your base camp, corporal,” the President paused. “Are you telling me, son, that none of you or your fellow soldiers knew that I was missing?”

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“No, sir. We had an idea there was something going on. But we didn't know what it was.” The President actually chuckled a little as he tried to rise from the floor. “Trying to keep up the morale. The little...” The President trailed off as he reeled backward. Dan caught him by the shoulders, and tried to steady him. “Don't try to get up, sir. Help will be coming. You've been injured. Best not try to do anything right now.” “Maybe you're right, corporal.” The President sighed as he carefully took his seat again. “The leader of the free world stuck in a cave in the middle of nowhere. How victorious.” Dan smiled, but said nothing. “Seen any war, soldier?” the President asked. “No, sir. That was one reason we thought things were kind of strange. Haven't seen the enemy at all. We knew there was someone around here though. There's a whole pile of supplies and guns in the corner over there.” The President seemed to be contemplating a moment. “They're strange ones. Those goblins, devils... whatever they are. Kidnapping the President of the United States. Right under the noses of my Secret Service men. Very clever, those fools.” Dan thought it best not to inquire further. Just then, he saw a patch of light around the corner. “That's Drew, sir, coming for us. Wait here, and we'll find a way to get you back down to the ground.” Dan rose from his seat next to the President. But Drew was running, followed by the other boys. “Get down! Get down!” he cried. “They're coming!” “Who's coming?” Dan exclaimed. “The goblins! Sorry about this, Mr. President,” Drew said quickly, running over to him, “but we have to put the gag back, sir. If they know we're here, they could do something terrible before we can rescue you.”

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“No problem, son,” said the President, gallantly tying the gag back in place. The other boys had already piled behind the stack of supplies as Drew tied the President's hands together. Dan smashed himself in behind them. Then Drew dove in behind him, switching off the light in the last moment. Jess was right next to Dan. Dan could feel his breathing, going a little hysterical. It was too loud. The light was coming from around the tunnel. As Dan clapped a hand over Jess' mouth, he couldn't help but think to himself, even in that terrifying moment, how very brave their President was. Not even the smallest amount of fear in his face. If he was scared, he didn't show it to them. And then Dan realized, as the light grew brighter, that the President probably was, very afraid. Anyone would be afraid in such a situation. But he had been brave enough to hide it, for the sake of the five very young soldiers coming to his rescue. The light was almost there. And as it flashed around the corner, Dan unconsciously bowed his head and prayed for his President. Somehow, that prayer seemed like a lifetime for Dan. Whatever happened out there with the President while he was praying, he didn't know. When trying to remember it later, the only think that came to his mind was a string of words. Monotone. Nothing. He didn't understand any of it. It wasn't Arabic. Jess could tell them that. Whatever it was, it was so smooth and quiet, that even if they had understood the language, they might not have heard it enough to know what had passed between them. And then they were gone. Disappeared. Dan didn't even remember seeing them actually leave the room. But the light was gone. All six or seven of them, maybe a few more, were gone. They waited several minutes, saying nothing. They were perfectly still. Waiting.

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“Well that was the weirdest thing I've ever seen,” said Nick suddenly, unwedging himself from the pile. “Who were they?” “Who do you think?” Jay replied sourly, tossing aside one of the packs. “The goblins.” “Now, I warned you, no more of those shenanigans...” Nick began, then trailed off as he saw Drew shine the flashlight onto the President. “Dude!” he cried, running forward, “he really is the President!” “Of course I am!” the President replied. “You youngsters are very fortunate you weren't seen just now.” “They might still be here,” said Dan. “We're going to have to make our way back, maybe two of us, to get help.” “Yeah,” said Drew. “Sorry, Mr. President. But before any of us could get back to the ground, we saw the goblins coming and had to hide.” “Are you alright, sir?” Jess asked just then, seeing the wound on the President's head. “Good enough, son,” the President replied. “I think you boys had better hurry on out of here. You can leave me until you get help. I'll be fine.” “No, sir,” said Dan. “Sorry for contradicting you, sir. But we are not leaving you alone with the enemy.” “That's right, sir,” Nick added. “Only two of us need to go. As long as at least one of us gets back to base, we'll be ok.” The President smiled. “And that's why you earn the title of soldiers,” he said. “I'd come with you myself. But I don't think this leg will get me anywhere.” Then the boys realized, for the first time, that the President also had a wound on his leg. A nasty one at that. “Don't worry, sir,” said Drew. “Dan and I can head for the entrance, if that's alright.”

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The President nodded. Although he was putting on a very brave front, Dan could see that his face was pale from the pain. “And don't worry, corporals,” he said, resting his head against the rock wall, “they won't be back for at least awhile.” “Yes, sir,” said Dan. “But how do you know that, sir?” “The President always has a few tricks up his sleeve. Never told the American Public I know more than just English, did I?” The boys all shook their heads. “Permission to leave, sir?” Drew asked, anxious to get going. “Permission granted, soldier.” Dan and Drew didn't hesitate further. While they had been speaking, Nick and Jay had thought to resurrect two of the M-4s from the corner stash and fill them with ammunition. It might help them get back to base without falling into trouble, if any trouble found them. Drew was first out of the cavern, running silently down the passage. Dan was close behind him, keeping eyes on all the indentations in the walls and above him. Several minutes later, both boys arrived in the front room of the cavern. There was no sign that any other person had been there since they had left only fifteen minutes, or so, ago. Maybe there were a few more writings on the walls. They couldn't tell. “I wonder if the President knows anything about these?” Dan thought to himself, as he and Drew crept to the opening. The moon was pure white in the sky over the desert. Both Dan and Drew carefully stuck their heads out over the desert floor, watching the ground all around them. “Looks clear,” Drew whispered. “I'll go first.” Then Dan caught him by the shoulder. “Hear that?” “What?”

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“Gunshot, I thought.” Both boys were silent, listening. Then Dan heard it again. This time, Drew also heard it. “Couldn't be rocks falling, could it?” Drew asked, knowing already that it wasn't. They held their breaths. There was another moment of silence, and then, from the base, they heard the yelling, the shooting. There was no other explanation. The base was under attack! Dan gulped. “What do we do?” Drew asked aloud, a little wide-eyed. “Do you think those same dudes who were just up here, are down there now?” “I don't know. We can't get help. I don't know...” Dan trailed off, trying to think. “I don't even know how many of them are down there. It could be a whole army.” “If they wipe out the company, we're done for. No help,” said Drew, trying to keep down the panic. “We'll be here protecting the President in the middle of nowhere.” Suddenly, Dan felt a very cold place around his heart. And he knew, for the first time, that he was really afraid. He closed his eyes as he hunched himself near the opening of the cave while Drew continued talking aloud for the both of them. He heard the gunshot, as though it were very far away. And then, almost like he was in a dream, he saw himself back at the base camp, shaking the hand of the President. He could hear the President speaking to him again...

“There's a light that brings this nation through the darkness. He's always there. He's always watching us. He's the only thing that's kept us so strong, so safe for so long. You boys have to remember that while you're out at the front. It's the only thing that will keep you from being too scared to fight.”

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Dan opened his eyes. The moon was so bright. And it was then, at that moment, that he could feel the fear slipping away. “We're going to be fine, dude,” he said, clutching Drew by the shoulder. “You just pray. We'll all pray. And while we do, we're going to wait here until the fighting stops.” “But what if they come back?” “We'll just have to hide again, and hope they don't look through all the supplies. Maybe we'll find a better place to hide. We haven't checked the other passage yet.” “But the President needs help. He might get real sick if we don't get him out of here.” “I know,” said Dan. “But if we bring him down there, it could be even more of a blood bath. The safest place for him is here. They're probably keeping him for ransom. Why else would they have held him here for so long?” Drew stood up against the shallow opening, trying to see any part of the base from the entrance. “I guess I'll stand watch,” he said. “Good. I'll go tell them what's up.” Dan was gone again, running back to the group in the cavern room. It could be a very long night.

D

Somehow, all the boys and the President made it unharmed through the next hours of the night. No one returned to the cave. The President didn't revisit his unconscious state. They only sat quietly, waiting for any news from Drew at the front, followed by Jay, who took the next shift. Sometimes they slept, but only for short moments at a time.

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The fighting was still going on by three o'clock in the morning. “They must have clear wiped us out by now,” Nick said, dazed. “What could be left of us down there?” “There must be so many of them,” said Jess quietly, “to keep us fighting for so long.” “You must be happy at least,” said Nick. “Skipping out on the fighting.” Jess didn't answer. The President had been quiet also, for the past hour. At first, he had been almost jovial, talking to the boys about their work in the army, life back home, trying to keep up their spirits. But it was around the middle of the early morning that he wasn't talking as much. Finally, he fell asleep. “Do you think he's ok?” Drew asked. “I don't know, man,” said Dan. He pressed a hand over his eyes. He had been asleep for the past hour or so, and hadn't caught up with what had happened. “I think he's pretty bad off,” said Drew. “I don't know what else to do,” said Dan. “I've gotta go trade shifts with Watkins. As soon as it's quiet down there, we're going to have to send a scout.” “Dude, you might not have that long,” said Nick. “If the President starts getting worse, we've gotta get him out of here.” “But they could take him again, if we get down there, and... we're losing,” said Drew. “That's just a chance we're going to have to take.” Nick then lowered his voice. “It's either that, or he might die. Look at his wounds. They're infected. Anyone can see that. He can't stay up here much longer.” Dan knew that Nick was right. Either way, the President was going to be in danger. At least, if they tried to get him back to camp, he'd have a better chance than

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staying where he was. “I'm going to check on Watkins,” he said. “If the fighting hasn't stopped by the end of my shift, we'll take him down. Agreed?” The three boys nodded. “Agreed.”

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Chapter 10

War

It was only minutes later, that the very tired Jay had given up his watch to Dan, who settled himself against the cavern wall, eyes peeled to the desert floor. “Baker,” Jay called over his shoulder as he tumbled back down the passage. “Remember. Goblins' eyes glow yellow. You'll be able to tell if it's them or not, if their eyes glow...” And the almost-asleep Jay trailed off around the corner. Dan couldn't help but smile at Jay's almost incoherent speech. When the mind was too tired to function, strange things happened. And Dan was worried that it would start to happen to him too, even after his hour nap. But he sat ready, gun in hand, praying for the President. The stars still glittered above him. No trace of the sun would show, not for several hours. And the crack of gun could still be heard, echoing back to him over the valley. He tried not to listen very hard for the shouts, should any of them be the last cries of pain from fellow soldiers in

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the camp. He sat, poised, watching and waiting, for another hour. The same gun crack, the same shouts, the same inky black. And then... it stopped. All of it. Dan sat up straighter, thinking that maybe his ears had become too accustomed to the shooting. Maybe it was a trick of the mind. But, no, it had stopped. He glared hard into the darkness, looking for anything that moved. He ignored the fear catching up with him. If the enemy had taken the camp, they would probably be coming back soon for the President. He wanted to run back to the others, to tell them that they could leave for help. But there was no one to watch his post. He couldn't leave until a relief guard came. “Oh, please don't have fallen asleep all of you,” Dan whispered aloud. What seemed like hours passed before Nick stumbled sleepily into the front chamber. “What's going on?” he asked, scrubbing at his eyes, gun slung over his shoulder. “Lawson!” Dan almost cried, trying to be quiet. “It's been quiet for almost an hour. You've gotta stay here. I'll take Drew back down to the camp for help.” Nick nodded. “I'm faster than Drew is.” “Yeah, yeah, we know. You're the best, man. But Drew already said he'd come.” “Quit patronizing me, Baker,” Nick commanded, laughing at him. “Just get going.” “How is the President?” Dan asked over his shoulder, as he ran off. “Not good, dude.” Nick was right. As soon as Dan entered the room, he could see that the boys were worried. Jess sat next to him, carefully watching for any changes. “Is he sleeping, or unconscious?” Dan asked, while Drew quickly put his gun together.

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“I think he's out,” said Jess. “I don't want to try to wake him up if he's only sleeping though.” “Yeah, don't,” said Dan. “I don't know what to tell you guys. We'll try to get back as fast as we can. But if there's no one left, well, I guess we'll have to hurry back even faster.” Dan didn't want to think about what the camp might look like after such a long night of battle. He had never heard of night battles in that part of the world before. He knew they probably had happened, but not during that particular war. But if Jay had been right about anything, he was always very adamant about how the Goblins attacked at night. “They're sneaky that way,” he'd always say. But Dan pushed that out of his mind, especially the part about how their eyes glowed. He didn't need that image in his mind, running across the desert in the black of the night. “Come on, Thurau,” he said quietly, “let's get going.” Dan threw a last quick look to the President, watched by Jess and Jay. “Take care, Mr. President,” he said. Back at the front of the cavern, Nick was more alert again, watching carefully. “Be fast,” he said. “Don't get caught by anything. If you do get captured, or trapped, or anything dumb like that, I'll come rescue you.” “Wait at least a day,” said Dan, suddenly realizing that they had next to no sort of back-up plan. “It might take that long if there's trouble.” “Will do,” said Nick. “Just don't do anything stupid.” Dan tossed him a salute, and slipped over the edge of the cave. Within a minute, he was back on the ground, hunched against the cliff wall, waiting for Drew to join him. “Bombs away!” he heard Drew say above him, shortly later dropping in a small puff of dust a few feet in front of

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him. Both boys immediately took on silent mode, and began to creep around the edge of the cliff face. Dan was proud of themselves. He led the way around the bended wall, both of them perfectly silent. Except for the occasional whisper of boot against desert sand, no one could have heard them approach. It seemed much longer than the ten minutes it took to round the bend of the cliff. Never before had Dan been so careful with every step that he took. Because every step could mean an encounter with the enemy. Dan could feel the sweat and the dirt crawling down his face. He wouldn't take a hand off his gun to push it away. Nothing to take down his guard. And then they could see the camp. It was still lighted. Just a few lights. around the edge, and more of them concentrated toward the center near the mess hall. Dan collapsed to his stomach on the sanded floor, as did Drew. There was no way to tell whether the enemy had taken over the camp, or if it was still safe. Through a series of somewhat unusual invented sign language, Dan and Drew were able to communicate to one another that they would crawl to the camp border and see if it was safe to enter. There was no other way to tell. They were too far away. If they walked, or ran, or did anything other than crawl, they could easily be spotted, even with only the light of the stars to give them away. So that's what they did. Yard by yard, they mastered their way across the sand toward the base, guns tucked level beside them gripped in one hand, their faces low, always watching for anything that might be moving on their quiet horizon. As they continued their endless crawl, Dan realized that it was still quiet, almost deathly quiet. No sound at all was coming from the camp. No shouting. No calling to one another. Nothing. He couldn't decide whether it was a

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good sign. Or not. Were they all killed? Again, Dan forced himself not to think about it. The adrenaline of their approach began to work away the fear of the hour. After more minutes of straining through the sand, Dan could see the border, only a few feet in front of him. He could only tell it was there by the large black boulder several yards to his left which unceremoniously marked the western corner of their base. He held up a low hand in signal to Drew that they had arrived. Unfortunately, there was still no way of telling what had happened. The only sign that there had even been a battle, was the fans of bullets spread over the desert floor. No bodies. No carnage. Just shells and bullets. “This is weird,” Dan thought to himself. “They must have cleaned up fast.” Dan knew that Drew was thinking the same thing. But they had to keep crawling. They couldn't get up and walk until they knew the base was secure. On they went, into the night, creeping closer and closer to the outer ring of tents, one of which was their own. “They'd better not have messed with anything in there,” Dan thought unconsciously to himself. There was a sense of patriotic pride that would be severely disgruntled if he knew that the enemy had tampered with his personal belongings. Finally, they arrived at their own tent, worn down into the grit of the desert floor. Not a soul around. If there had been a night guard, they once again had grievously misjudged the possibility of intruders slipping past the western front. “This is ridiculous,” Drew finally whispered, before Dan could clap a hand over his mouth. “I don't care,” he said, pushing away Dan's hand. “What the heck! Stupid night patrol. No wonder they got attacked. We keep slipping in and out, and they never see us.”

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“They might still be out there,” said Dan quietly. “We've got to get to the center and see if anyone's around.” “Maybe they're next door,” said Drew, jerking his thumb. “I'll go check the next tent.” “Wait!” Dan whispered loudly, following him out of their tent. He didn't have long to go. Dan almost ran into Drew's back, he had stopped so short. “What is the meaning of this, corporal?” a loud voice boomed from the night as a screaming bright light shone in their faces. “Sergeant! Sir!” Drew cried, as both boys dropped their guns and saluted. “Answer the question, Corporal Thurau!” the Sergeant almost thundered at him. “Sir, yes, sir!” Drew said loudly. “We missed the battle, sir.” “I can see that,” replied the sergeant, “as all your fellow soldiers have been gathered at the mess hall since midnight.” “Yes, sir. Might I ask, sir. Victory, sir?” “Ongoing battle, corporal. But not a soul lost. And no thanks to you and your fellow Corporal Baker.” Dan was about to burst with the electricity of their urgent mission. “Permission to speak...” Dan began. But he couldn't finish. Before he even had the opportunity to finish his request, a terrible explosion rocked them to their feet. “Blast them!” the Sergeant yelled into the night. “Back to central, corporals!” he shouted at the two guards behind him. “You two!” he glared at Dan and Drew. “Back to the mess hall. Load your weapons!” “But, sir!” Dan cried, “The President...” It was too late. The Sergeant disappeared as another blast landed several tents away.

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“Not now, Baker!” Drew yelled to him around the tremendous sound. “We can't get him now, anyway. Come on!” Dan suddenly found himself racing through the desert night toward the mess hall. His heart could never have pounded faster or harder. The explosions were heavy and burst in shocks of sand, blown high into the sky. An occasional rocket found its mark in flammable substances and burst into orange flames, pocketing the camp. Moments later, he and Drew arrived at the mess hall, where soldiers everywhere were scattering for weapons and ammunition. “Don't tell anyone about...” Dan said suddenly to Drew. “If the enemy overheard anything, the guys could be in serious trouble.” Drew nodded, snatching at another round of bullets. “No worries, Baker. Got it. Come on!” Within seconds, Dan had found his ammo, and was racing neck and neck with Drew to the front. His mouth was dry. His hands were so clammy, he thought the gun might slip away from him while he ran. He was running so fast, and not thinking about anything at all, that the terror of first encountering the enemy was almost lost on him. He didn't even recognize whether or not he was frightened. All he knew was that he had to shoulder his gun and stay alive long enough, at least, to rescue the President. Dan threw himself onto the sand as they approached the eastern border. The trenches that had been dug only the day before were already filled with soldiers. It was old-time warfare. There was nothing but trenches to keep them away from the fire maybe five hundred feet away. “Watch your head, Thurau!” Dan called to his buddy, tossing him a helmet. “Save your brains!”

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Drew caught it, securing it to his head as the shot rang above their ears. “Dude!” he cried, “what are they even firing at? They're just wasting shot!” “Good thing for us!” said Dan, aiming his gun toward the horizon. It was so hard to see. For a moment, he thought that maybe the glowing yellow eyes of Jay's goblins might give away his target. But then he remembered that they couldn't possibly be fighting the goblins, at least not the enemy firing at them. Goblins weren't supposed to use modern weaponry. “Who do you think's out there?” he asked Drew, who was also trying to aim into the dark. “Don't know,” said Drew. “Couldn't be anyone besides those underground Chinese, right? Goblins don't shoot guns.” Dan continued to aim into the black. He saw that hardly any of the other soldiers, except some of the especially nervous privates, were shooting at all. Finally, he put down his gun. “How long till sun-up?” he asked. “Two hours,” said one of the soldiers next to him. “Let 'em waste their bullets. No need to shoot at 'em until we can see. No flares.” “No,” said the corporal next to him, “gotta fire at something out there. They're gonna blow everything up behind us if we don't take 'em out. They can't see much more than we can.” There were no orders being given though. Dan could barely hear the shouts of the camp sergeant occasionally drifting from somewhere in the distance, but he couldn't tell if he was in the trench, or in the camp. “Where are the talkies?” Dan asked the corporal next to him. The corporal shook his head. “They got most of 'em in the first round. Took out a tent full of 'em. Don't know why

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we stock piled 'em there. There's still a few floating around though.” “Has anyone tried to get out for backup?” The soldier looked even more grim as he replied, “They got 'em all. The jeeps. Blew 'em up. None left.” Dan choked as he listened to the shot still flinging above his head into the camp's tents. No talkies. No transport. Suddenly, Dan began to realize how bad things were. “Any idea who's out there?” he asked, barely audible, as he tried to control the fear creeping back to him. “Could be the underground,” said the soldier, “but there's all kinds of newbies out there, working for the goblins now. Could be anybody.” This wasn't good news. Even as he sat there, gun aimed into the dark, Dan knew that, even if they won the next round against the enemy, and they left them alone, there was now the question of supplies. No transports, no supplies. No weapons. Ammo. Food. Water. Maybe the most important thing of all. Without water, they couldn't last very long at all. Especially the President. Dan could feel the fear trying to come back at him. But once again, just at that moment, he heard the President speaking to him back at the base camp.

“It's the only thing that will keep you from being too scared to fight.”

And so he prayed, even with the shot screaming above his head. He held his gun steady. “You're right,” he said to the corporal next to him, “if we don't at least try to hit something, they'll destroy everything in the camp. Can't hear the sergeant's commands anyway. I say we hit a round and see if the shot slows down.”

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“Agreed,” said the corporal. “This night ain't getting any younger.” Drew nodded approval, and they began to pass the word down the line. Dan shouldered his gun, pressing his finger against the trigger. And right down the line, the soldiers' guns blasted shocks of bullets into the dark.

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Chapter 11

Hospital

The crack of shot blistered down the line, screaming across the black desert sand toward the unknown enemy. “Cowards,” Dan thought to himself as he pulled the trigger. “Fighting us at night. Can't even see their faces.” He unapologetically let loose another round. And then he realized something. “Maybe there aren't that many of them out there. Maybe they come out at night because they want us to think there are a lot more than there really are.” The idea was an interesting one to Dan. His mind bounced between that thought and the concentration of drilling bullets into the pitch black of the early morning. It was easy, he found, to think on outside thoughts, even in the midst of the action. No one was wounded. No one was crying out in pain. “This can't be real battle,” he thought to himself, as he paused. The ringing of shot still flew over their heads. But it wasn't as often. Not as much. It grew less and less over

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the next hours. “It's like they're just messing with us,” said Drew at one point. “They're not doing much. They haven't killed off any of us.” It was strange. Dan didn't express his idea to any of the other soldiers around him. It was likely that every enemy soldier firing at them, knew that the President was stationed just around the corner. Maybe they were really trying to use him for ransom. “If they wiped us out completely,” Dan thought, “then they wouldn't have anyone to get the ransom from in exchange for him.” Dan realized just then, that he knew very little about the enemy. Why they were fighting. What they wanted. Did they want to take over the world? What was their point? Why did they do what they did? And then Dan knew, as the tumble of childlike questions continued to cascade over his tired mind, how completely exhausted he was. He looked over to Drew. Drew was almost asleep. His eyes were half-closed as he stood slouched over his gun. As the very pale light of the early sun began to flicker over the horizon, Dan strained his eyes into the desert. If only he could see what was out there. How many there were. But the harder he looked, the more his vision seemed to darken. Dimmer and dimmer, and dimmer...

D

Dan opened his eyes sometime later. The light was still dim. But that was because he was stretched out on a bunk in the hospital tent. He pressed both hands to his face. He wasn't in pain. He didn't feel tired. He blinked his

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eyes several times, trying to remember what had happened. Why he was there. He stretched both arms toward the ceiling. “Feeling better, Corporal Baker?” Dan turned his head toward the voice. “Corporal Baker?” “Sorry. What? What happened?” He saw the doctor walk around to the base of his bunk. “It seems that you passed out from exhaustion,” said the doctor, looking over a small chart. “Where was I?” The doctor looked at him oddly. “You were at the front, soldier. In the trenches. Do you remember fighting? I was told they found you slumped over your gun.” Dan blinked his eyes again, staring at the ceiling trying to remember. “You've been here all day, sleeping. In fact,” said the doctor, looking at his watch. “It's about ten at night.” “Ten...” Dan repeated. “Am I injured?” “No, corporal. In fact, you're in perfect health. Give yourself a few minutes. You'll be ready to get back out to the front again in no time. I'll be 'round outside if you need me. Have to go check on one of the boys. Seems he's coming down with toothache.” Then Dan was alone again. He clapped a hand back to his eyes and rolled his head around to look at the rest of the tent. Then he saw Drew, still sleeping on another bunk. “Drew!” Suddenly, everything began pouring back over him. “The President!” Dan threw himself forward, grabbing at his head at the rush of sudden energy. “Drew!” he shouted. “Drew! Did you tell anyone about the President? Drew!”

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Dan ran over to him and tried to shake him awake. But Drew was out cold, still. Dan stood back up, trying to stabilize his uncertain balance. Giving no second thoughts, he tore out of the tent into the night. Would he ever see the sun again, he thought randomly to himself, as he raced over the sand. Where was everybody? He stumbled over himself, bracing his hands into the sand. Why couldn't he get his balance? “Seriously, where is everyone?” he thought. He was disoriented. He didn't know which way it was to the sergeant's tent. But it didn't matter. He had to find someone to tell about the President. Anyone. Dan started running. He was getting frustrated. No matter how fast he was trying to run, his legs wouldn't cooperate. It was like he was running in a bad dream where he couldn't run right. And he could never run fast enough. “Knock it off!” he yelled aloud to his legs. “Knock what off, soldier?” Dan almost choked in relief. He grabbed the soldier by his shoulders. He didn't even know his name. “Dude!” he cried. “Help! They've got the President up in a cave. We've gotta go help him!” Dan knew, as soon as the words came out of his mouth, that he sounded crazy. “Let's get you back to the hospital, man,” said the soldier, who tried not to smile. “I think you're probably a little sick.” “Dude, no!” Dan cried. He grabbed the soldier's shoulders even harder. “I know I sound crazy. But it's true. My buddies and I. We found him. The goblins have him. We've gotta help him!” “I don't think so, buddy,” the soldier seemed a little concerned. “Man, shell-shocked already.” He whistled to a couple of other soldiers standing off to the side.

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“Man!” Dan yelled at him, almost wild-eyed. “You've got to listen to me! The President could die!” But the soldier wasn't listening. Two other soldiers had arrived, and each had taken hold of Dan. Dan was almost stunned. He didn't even struggle as they helped escort him back to the hospital tent. What good would it do? “Corporal Baker?” It was the doctor, returning at the same time to the hospital tent. “Back so soon?” “It looks like we have a case of shell-shock here, sir,” said the soldier gripping Dan by the shoulder. “Talking all kinds of nonsense.” The doctor looked at Dan over his glasses. “He checked out fine with me, corporal.” “He might need some rest then, doctor. He doesn't seem right in the head.” The doctor scratched his own head. Dan still didn't say anything. “Well,” he said finally, “I'll have you stay on a little longer, Baker. We'll run some tests later. Have a seat in there with your buddy. He's still out of it, I'm afraid.” Dan pushed back the flap of the tent and entered, as the other soldiers walked back to their posts. “I'll have my aid check in on you in about an hour,” said the doctor. “I need to leave for awhile. I can trust you to stay here?” Dan nodded. “I will, sir.” He took a seat on the bunk after the doctor had left again. It was very quiet. He pushed his fingers together, waiting. Drew was almost snoring, he was sleeping so deeply. Dan still waited. He could slip out, but he'd be seen by someone. And then they'd really think there was something strange going on. They'd think he'd be trying to escape.

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Drew let out a grunt and rolled his head over to the left, mumbling something about pizza. “Well, tells me where his mind is,” Dan thought to himself. If there was only some way he could get out without anyone seeing him. It would have been easy enough the first time. Everyone seemed to be stationed toward the center of the camp. “The doctor probably had someone stand as a guard,” he thought. “He wouldn't trust me to stay here if they think I'm crazy.” Dan began to pace. He couldn't sit any longer. Someone had to get to the President. But if they caught him, they'd never listen to him. He would have to wait, and think of a way to rescue the President without help. He looked around the tent. Some medical equipment. He couldn't even begin to know what the President would need. Bandages maybe. He grabbed a roll and stuffed it into his pocket. Maybe some kind of ointment. Dan rubbed a hand over his head. He didn't understand most of the names written on the tubes and jars in the small cabinet. Only one seemed like it would work. He took that too. “It's not stealing,” he told himself in the back of his mind. “It's to help the President.” He had a knife in his pocket. But they needed something to make a stretcher. Some kind of heavy cloth maybe. Poles. He found a heavy blanket. A roll of rope. Maybe not long enough to lift him out of the cave safely to the ground, but it was a start. He rolled the blanket tightly and tied it with the rope. What else? Dan didn't have time to think of anything else. Quickly, he laced the blanket pack to his back with the remaining strands of the rope. There was Drew, still sleeping soundly. He couldn't leave him a note. If someone found it before he woke up,

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they'd be after him immediately, maybe stopping him before he got to the cave. “Sorry, buddy,” Dan whispered to his snoozing companion. “But I'm going to have to leave you here now. Come find us, if you wake up.” Drew snorted again, mumbling, “Bananas.” “That's what you are,” Dan whispered to him. He walked carefully to the tent flap. As he suspected, he could see two faint shadows just nearby. They were far enough away for him not to hear what they were talking about. But they were close enough to see him if he came out the front. He would have to slip under the back wall of the tent. And it wasn't going to happen easily. Dan hurried to the other end of the tent, untying the pack from his back as he did so. He pressed his face as close as he could to the crack under the tent wall to see if there was anyone around. He couldn't see anything. Maybe there was someone around; maybe not. But if he stayed there any longer, the doctor would probably return, and then there would be nothing he could do to get away. Carefully, he pushed away the sand at the base of the tent, smoothly brushing it to the side. As soon as the space was wide enough, he pushed his head underneath into the night air, feeling as though a guillotine were hanging over his neck. “I can't believe I'm doing this,” Dan thought to himself, as he pulled his arms through next. With a few more brief seconds, he was out into the desert again. No one was around. Not a soul that he could see. And he wasn't waiting any longer. He slung his pack over his shoulders, knotting together the rope over his chest, and slipped past the next tent. He knew that once he was past the first several rows, it wouldn't matter if anyone else saw him. He made it that far, and then took off in a run. No one was behind him.

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Everything was clear. At the base perimeter he slung himself back onto the ground, inching back over into the forbidden territory. Then he slotted himself into a run again, not even looking behind him. It was a short trip for a run. As he was about to come around the corner of the cliff wall, he thought he could run even faster. Whack! Dan thought his lights had been thrown out. He could almost feel his body flying through the air to land back on the sand. “Dude!” he heard someone groan. It was Nick. “What the heck, Lawson!” Dan almost yelled at him, rubbing his head. “Why are you down here? It hasn't been 24 hours yet.” “I don't care,” said Lawson, throwing himself back up off the ground. He grabbed Dan and shoved them both against the cliff face. “Dude, they're up there.” “Who?” “The goblins, who else? I got down here just in time.” “But Watkins. Night. Where are they?” “Don't worry. They're in disguise.” “Disguise? What disguise?” “Goblin disguise. Don't worry. We found something cool for them to put on. They're having fun playing dress-up.” “But...” “Cool it, Baker. Let's get back to base.” Dan grabbed Nick by the shoulders. “Dude, we can't.” “Hey, wait a minute,” said Nick. “Where's Thurau? What's going on? Where's the help?” “There is none,” Dan hissed at him. “That's the problem. They think I'm crazy. They don't believe the

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President's up here.” “And it took you that long to get back!” “We had a battle down there. Couldn't you hear it? Besides, they had me under observation at the hospital for being shell-shocked. I had to escape.” Nick clapped a hand to his forehead in disbelief. “How could you guys mess it up that much! I knew I should have gone.” “Now listen here,” said Dan. “This is stupid. The President's getting worse and we're down here arguing. How is he?” “Not good,” said Nick grimly. “We've gotta get back to camp. Maybe they'll listen to me if I'm telling them the same thing.” “You'd better hope,” said Dan in irritation. “Some rescue squad we are. Come on!” The boys raced back into the night. “Oh yeah,” Nick called out to Dan, “I forgot. Night says he thinks he knows what all those things on the wall are about.” “What?” “He knows where the enemy's camped now. We could take 'em out.” “Where?” “Underground cave.”

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Chapter 12

Monks

The boys raced away to the base. They didn't even stop when they reached the perimeter. Dan only hoped that he wouldn't be recognized as the “crazy soldier”, as they tore toward the center of the camp. As it was, no one stopped him. In fact, Dan and Nick realized, all too quickly, that everyone was very busy with something else. They could already hear the enemy rockets tearing overhead. “Again!” Dan exclaimed. Nick didn't say anything. It would be his first time to face the enemy. He had forgotten about the President. “What can we do anyway?” Dan asked, roughing a hand through his short hair. “If they've got the goblins up in the cave anyway, there's nothing we can do to help. As soon as they'd see us coming, they'd shoot us.” “We can't even get a doctor to him,” said Nick in frustration. “We can at least get information to the sergeant about where the enemy is based.”

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“To the front, soldiers!” a corporal shouted at them, as he raced past. “Get going, men!” “Come on!” Dan yelled to Nick over the blasts. “We've gotta get to the trenches.” Nick followed Dan, as they ran for the ammunition tent. At that point, Dan didn't even know if their bunk tents had been blasted away. There wasn't time to look for their own guns under those circumstances. So they took the first guns they saw inside the ammo tent, hoping they were in working order. Minutes later, the boys were crawling under the line of fire to the trenches. “Back again,” Dan thought to himself as he rolled himself into the small canyon on the desert floor. “If I die out there,” said Nick suddenly, “you know what to tell my mom.” “What!” “Come on, man.” “What am I supposed to tell her?” “Don't make me say it.” “Well, you're not going to die, Lawson. So shut it.” “I'm serious, man,” said Nick, shifting the gun next to his shoulder. “You've gotta tell her, because I haven't said it in a long time.” “What?” “You drive me insane, Baker! Tell her that I love her.” And Nick sent a crack of shot driving into the night. Despite the moment of battle, Dan smiled to himself. Nick Lawson, a mamma's boy after all. And they all knew it. But Dan didn't have time to think about anything else. It was time for battle. He tucked the gun into his shoulder. He had always been right-handed, and as he stared down the scope to the enemy line, he strongly wished that they had been given the infrared scopes that had been promised to them back at the base camp. But there hadn't been

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enough to go round, and they had mostly been sent to the true front, further north, where all the allies were based against the border. Dan heard the scream of bullets. Some of them ricocheted, on occasion, against the many tent poles of the eastern front. But most slammed harmlessly through the now-battered tent flaps. “It's bizarre,” he thought to himself. “No casualties yet. They just keep shooting at nothing. It's almost like they're trying to keep us distracted.” Dan didn't say anything aloud. He was too busy trying to see something, anything, across the enemy line. But there was still nothing. The moon was only the faintest sliver in the sky. And while it illumined, in a small way, the cliffs behind the camp, and further into the east, the enemy line was conveniently stationed in the shadow of one of the cliffs. “This is useless,” Dan thought to himself again. “It was de ja vu.” He rubbed his eyes, still not having shot a single bullet. “The President!” Dan's jaw dropped. They knew. Somehow, they knew that they had found the President. Dan couldn't be sure, but why else would they continue to distract them with pointless battles? They were trying to keep them away from getting help to the President. Distract them long enough, and they could do almost anything up in the caves with the President. They could carry him away under their noses, never seen, and hide him some place else. “No, no, no!” Dan mumbled to himself in rising crescendo. “Get down!” Nick yelled at him, yanking Dan lower to the trench's level. “What are you doing? You almost got your head blown off!” “Dude! You haven't been here. Think about it -- they're just playing with us. They've gotta be distracting us from

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the President. Someone must have seen us going up there. They're just trying to keep us occupied in battle until they can move the President somewhere else where we can't find him this time.” Nick shoved back his helmet, looking a little confused. “That's dumb, Baker. They could just blast us to smithereens and then take the President.” Dan set down the gun and tried to think very hard. “We're the only platoon anywhere near this place. They need us here for something. What? What are they waiting for? They can't kill us because they need us to do something. Something... Did Night say anything else about those marks on the cave?” “What?” Nick shouted back against the screaming bullets. “You're not making much sense, Baker!” Dan tried to think harder. He crammed his fists against his ears to try and drive out the sound. He closed his eyes tightly. For a second, he was back at home again, sitting at the kitchen counter. Mom was fixing dinner while Dan worked on a science quiz. “I don't know the answer, Mom,” Dan had groaned. “I can't think.” “Think outside the box, Dan.” Dan snapped his eyes open. “Where is this underground cave supposed to be, Lawson? Did Night tell you?” “Somewhere close around here. He couldn't tell though.” Dan rustled his hands over his head again. There was something about it all that seemed connected. “Dude, shoot something,” Nick ordered, nodding toward Dan's gun on the ground. “Give a hand.” “Can't, man,” said Dan. “Come with me. I've got an idea.” Nick's jaw almost dropped. “We can't leave, Baker. Are you insane?”

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Nick took another shot into the dark. “We'll do more good doing what I'm about to do,” said Dan. “Are you with me?” “Baker, you're crazy!” Nick yelled back at him. “Well?” Nick slung the gun over his shoulder and followed Dan out of the trench, and soon both boys were crawling on their stomachs back to the interior of the camp. Once safely away from the bullet range, Dan began a run toward the other side of the camp, followed closely by Nick. “Dude, hang on,” Nick shouted at him, finally. “What the heck are we doing here? We can't go back to the cave.” “I know that,” said Dan. “We're going to the sergeant's tent to find some maps.” “Maps?” “Maps of this area,” said Dan, continuing to head for the tent. “There's got to be something there about this place.” “What does that have to do with anything?” “If we can find where that cave is, maybe it'll give us an answer about why they're fighting us like this.” “I don't think I follow you, Baker,” said Nick, “but whatever, I guess. Just don't get us in trouble for deserting.” “We're not leaving. We're staying in the camp. Besides, the President's life could depend on it. We've gotta get help to him.” “And looking at maps is going to help him?” Nick asked in frustration. “I don't know, man. We've just gotta try something. Shooting at the front isn't going to help that much right now.” Nick shrugged. They had arrived at the tent. Sergeant Felthouse was clearly not at home, stationed at the front

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giving orders to the confused trench-full of soldiers. Dan didn't even stop. He marched straight through the tent flaps. “Sorry about this, Sergeant Felthouse,” he said aloud to the air. “But the President needs us.” Nick rolled his eyes as Dan went to the first set of charts he could see stacked on the desk. “This is dumb, Baker,” said Nick. “You don't even know how to read these kinds of maps. You don't even know where we are. None of us do.” Dan didn't stop shuffling carefully through the stack. “Are you going to help me?” he asked, not looking up. Nick wandered over. “What are we looking for?” “Anything that looks like an aerial view of the camp. Satellite photos. Terrain. Anything.” “You think it'll show an underground cave?” “I don't know. Maybe.” “Well, I guess I'll look for some big black hole on this thing,” said Nick, looking at one particular chart upside-down. “Maybe that means there's a cave there.” The boys spend several minutes looking hurriedly through the sheets and charts, and the few maps set carefully on the sergeant's desk. One after another. Maps of the allies at the front, charts of the water sources in the hills (for emergencies, which helped relieve Dan a little), supply charts, even a calendar of the stages of the moon for night battle... And then... “Gotcha!” Dan whispered, sticking his pointer finger on one of the last maps in the stack. “What the...” Nick gazed on it in confusion. “It's huge!” Dan said in awe. It was clearly a cave of immense proportions, running for maybe a mile or more under the sand. “Holy cow,” Nick said, suddenly realizing. “That's us. That's us right there. That cave is right under us!”

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“That's it!” Dan cried. “Look at that. You see that! How could we have missed it?” He pointed a finger to the entrance of the cave. “It's right there, on the western front, the entrance. Must be under sand or something. Oh!” “What?” “I'll bet my last dollar that thing leads up into the cliffs.” “What makes you say that?” “It runs off the edge of the map, right into the cliffs. You think it might lead back up to the President?” Nick scratched at his chin. “I think you're stretching it, Baker.” “But if it does, that's how we could get the President out of there without them seeing us coming for him. An attack from the back.” “What does that have to do with them fighting us every night? No casualties. Nothing. Why would they waste their ammo to distract us?” “I don't know. Maybe they don't want us to find the cave entrance, now that they know we know the President's up there.” “That still doesn't make any sense,” said Nick, randomly tapping the map with his fingers. “They don't need to distract us. They could just blow us away.” “I don't know; I don't know. But it doesn't matter right now. We just have to get to the President.” “We can't go just the two of us. There's twenty goblins up there. Maybe more now,” said Nick. “No way are just you and I going down into a cave, that's probably already full of goblins, and try to find a secret passageway up to the President. They don't make caves like that.” Dan almost laughed. “They could have tunneled it out. It's the best place to hide a President. You've got to admit it. Besides, they've got all their soldiers out there, fighting. There won't be too many in the cave.”

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“Maybe there's only a few of them out there though. What if they left most of them under the cave to guard it?” “Dude! We don't have time to keep counting off the risks. We've just gotta get down there.” “Not doing it, Baker. Let's go convince some of these guys to come with us.” Suddenly, there was a thrash of tent flap as the figure of a somewhat muddy soldier burst into the tent. “I made it!” he exclaimed. “Watkins?” Nick asked. “Is that you?” “You bet your mom it is,” said Jay, smiling a very white smile at them in comparison to the mud splattered all over his uniform. “What happened to you, dude?” asked Dan, coming over to slap him on the back in greeting. “Short cut. Mud pit. You get the idea.” “But the goblins,” said Nick. “How'd you get away? Where is your disguise?” “Oh, I tricked 'em. Easy,” said Jay, sticking a head out of the tent to see if anyone else was around. “They thought I was one of them. Once I got away, I switched back into the uniform.” “Doesn't matter anyway,” said Nick. “How is the President? Is he still out?” “Yeah, man,” said Jay solemnly. “Dudes, I don't know what to do for him. He's pretty sick. Night's the only one with him now.” “Scared, isn't he?” Nick asked, unsympathetically. “Actually, I don't think he is. He's the one who offered to stay.” Nick didn't say anything. He only grumped a little to himself. “Where's Drew?” “Sleeping his life away,” said Dan. “But listen. We've found something.”

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Dan quickly explained the idea of the cave. Jay didn't think about it long. “I'm up for a hunt!” he said happily. “Hunt?” Nick scoffed. “What's wrong with your brains, Watkins? We're on a rescue mission.” “Hunt the goblins, I mean. Let's go get some goblins.” “You're an idiot,” said Nick. “Besides, we're not going. We need more men.” “They won't listen. I'm telling you,” said Dan. “Besides, they're all at the front. We don't have time. I'm going to find that cave.” Dan didn't think again. He pocketed the map and pushed through the tent flaps. Nick and Jay only hesitated a few moments before they decided to follow him. Dan didn't even know where he was going at first. He just knew that he had to show Nick and Jay how very serious he was. He had no idea whether or not the underground cave actually led into the cliffs and up to the caves. It seemed like it was at least a possibility. Jay himself had talked about how sometimes the bedouins of the dessert carved tunnels into the cliffs. But Dan wasn't thinking about all that. He was thinking only about saving the President at any cost. “Where are you going?” Jay whispered after him. “Don't you need stuff? Like, I don't know... a flashlight!” “I'm taking care of that,” said Dan. And he was. Somehow, in the inertia of the moment, he had unconsciously stormed across the sand to his tent. “Alright, alright,” said Jay, as Dan began rummaging around the tent. “You can thank me now.” He pulled two large lumps from out of his backpack, crumpled in small heaps, which he dumped on the bunk. “I know. I'm a genius,” he said. “What the heck is that?” Nick asked. “Monk disguises.”

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“Where did you find those? I thought we couldn't get any more out of that supply pile.” “That's just how good I am,” said Jay with a ridiculous grin. “That should get us through the cave without being shot,” said Dan, grabbing at one of the bundles. “Nice work, Watkins. Wouldn't have thought of that.” “Thank you,” said Jay. Moments later, all three boys had armed themselves, each, with a gun and ammo, a flashlight, and a length of rope (which were quietly retrieved from the supply tent when the guard wasn't looking). “It's too easy to get around places here,” said Nick once again. “Something's up with these guards. I don't know about you, dudes, but if I'm on guard, I'm a lot more careful about people sneaking around.” Dan agreed, but there wasn't time to discuss it further. Moments later found all three boys running across the sand just outside the camp border.

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Chapter 13

Underground

Dan couldn't see anything on the map in such darkness. Their path was hardly lit by the stars. Dan wouldn't think of turning on the flashlights so close to the camp. “Not till we get inside and see what's in there,” he whispered to them. “Can't see anything unless we turn them on,” said Jay. Dan didn't reply. As they approached closer to the presumed entrance of the cave, they walked slower and very quietly. Dan held up a finger in silence as he saw the desert floor take a sudden dip. “I don't remember seeing this,” Dan thought to himself. “Maybe we never came this far. How could anyone miss it?” And then Dan saw why. It didn't matter that there was a dip in the ground. It graduated into an overhang of rock, under which sat the opening to the cave. It was perfectly in sight, and yet not. It was a good hiding spot. No one would have ever noticed it unless they had continued to

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walk across the desert beyond the camp, and had then turned around. They had only seen it because they knew it was supposed to be there. “Dusty waffles!” Dan whirled around. It could only be Drew, calling out their secret password into the night. They had had it since they were kids together. And there he was starting to take a tumble down the sand bank toward them. “Dusty waffles!” Jay whispered back to him. “That was dumb,” Nick chastised Drew. “Why would you say 'Dusty Waffles'? If we were goblins, we would have known right away that you were American, and the enemy.” “Well, you're not goblins,” said Drew. “So we're good.” “How'd you get out of the hospital?” Dan asked, still crouched by the sand bank. “I just walked out. No one saw me. I saw you dudes headed this way. I was pretty sure it was you anyway. So I followed. What's going on?” Dan quickly, once again, reiterated the plan. Drew shook his head, “Man, that sounds crazy. I don't think we'll find the President this way.” “Well, we can't go back up the normal way without them finding out,” said Jay. “One -- they'd get suspicious, because I think they have their own pass code to get up there. They never asked Night and me for one, because we were already up there. Two – I don't have another goblin costume. I could only find two.” “Then what am I supposed to do?” Drew whispered back. “I'm not waiting here.” Jay slowly grinned. Dan could see what he was thinking. “No, man. No way.” “You don't even know what I'm thinking,” Jay retorted. “Yes, I do. You want us to pretend he's our prisoner. That's crazy!”

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“Yeah,” said Nick, “what if they ask us where we're taking him, and we have to talk to them?” “It's not happening,” said Dan. “We'll just have to start walking in there, and if someone's inside and sees us, Drew is just going to have to hide.” “I think Jay has a good idea,” said Drew. “Besides, they'll probably try to talk to you anyway.” “We'll just have to nod and bow a lot and stuff,” said Jay. “That's kind of like a language. All that bowing and everything. I'll think they'll get it. You know. Desert sign language.” Nick rolled his eyes. “They won't believe we're all mutes!” “We don't have time for this,” said Dan. “They could be listening for us at the entrance already. So, fine. We'll all go in there. Shoot, only if they're going to shoot at you first. And, Drew... I don't know what to tell you, man. Just take it easy. Walk behind the three of us. And if we see anyone at all, hide.” “Got it, sir,” said Drew, with a mock salute. Dan turned toward the cave, and tried not to let the other guys see him gulp a little in fear. They were about to walk into, perhaps, a death trap. But the adrenaline was running. The life of the President was on the line. And as he remembered once again, what the President had told him only a short time ago, he gripped his hand around gun and torch, and walked carefully into the dark hole.

D

Dan's eyes began to adjust very quickly to the deep darkness of the cave. It was so silent. After only a few yards of carefully shuffling into the abyss, Dan knew they

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had no option but to switch on at least one flashlight. “Just mine,” he whispered. “We've got to see what's going on here.” With the click of a button, the path was illumined in front of them. Dan quickly, but methodically, swept the beam around the heart of the cavern. It seemed small at first. Mostly just the dark gray rocks of the floor and the path, which, it seemed to Dan, had been traveled over rather frequently by its worn marks. The walls were narrow. No great room. Mostly just a passage further into, and under, the desert floor. No one moved at first. “Are you sure this is right?” Drew asked. “Was there anything else on the map? What made you think the goblins use this place?” “It looks pretty uninhabited,” said Nick. “I don't know if they use it all the time,” said Dan. “Something just tells me that we need to take this to the end.” “Something tells you...” Nick scoffed. “You sound like a girl.” Dan ignored the comment. “You don't have to come,” he said. “But it's the only thing we can do to help the President.” “You're crazy,” said Nick. But they all followed Dan down the passage. And no one spoke. The quiet would have been deathly but for the faint echoes of warfare, still snapping somewhere to their east above their heads. The further they walked, however, the less and less they could hear it. Slowly and steadily, they were walking deeper into the crust, further and further away from humanity, from safety. Further toward the enemy. The walk might have been a half hour. The boys couldn't tell. Between the fear and the adventure, the

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gripping adrenaline, and the unknown, their sense of time had vanished. And Dan led them, keeping the light spread thinly across the horizon of the cavern floor. The further they walked, the harder his heart began to pound. Deeper and deeper, darker and darker. Then Dan's heart thumped one last time, almost loud enough for his buddies to hear. He had stopped short. Jay almost ran over him. “Dude!” Jay cried, rubbing his nose. Dan held up a hand in silence as he switched off the flashlight. Everyone stopped. Perfectly quiet. No one moved. Then Dan inched forward one step. He could faintly hear the grit of the ground underneath his boot. Then one step more. Into the darkness. Then... he thought he could hear it. Far away. But it was there. The sound of footsteps. And quiet talking. But too far away for them to be heard, if they walked very quietly. Dan switched on the light and turned around to his buddies. “We're going to have to take it slow. And I'm going to leave the light down.” He could tell by the looks on their faces that the others had also heard the far-off sounds. Dan turned back round to face the black passage. But he didn't need to go far. Several yards more around a bend in the path, and they were there. In fact, it happened so quickly, that Jay once again ran right into Dan's back. This time, however, he knew better, and didn't say a word. The boys were too dazzled to say anything at all. Immediately, they crouched down, parallel to the wall of the overhang suspended above the cavern floor, deep below them.

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The twists and turns of the passage behind them had masked how very close they were to the enemy. Below them, illuminating the high ceiling of the very ancient room, sat a blazing fire, flickering red around the walls. But they weren't normal walls of rock. They were painted blue and gold. In ancient forms. Greek, maybe, Dan thought to himself. The boys looked ever so carefully over the edge, and through the cracks of the short rock wall before them. Looking downward to the floor, they saw the goblins. Only a few of them there. Sitting around the fire, walking back and forth. Speaking quietly. Their masks lined the walls on pegs. But even more curious than their revealed faces... Drew poked Dan on the shoulder, pointing to the center of the room. A small dark blue pool. It seemed very deep. But in its center stood a very wide once-white pedestal, carved up the sides, also in a Greek fashion. On its top rested a case. Maybe a sort of casket. It appeared to be very old. “What the...” Jay mouthed silently to all of them. Dan immediately wondered if it was an ancient cult, a sort of goblin king inside the box. “This is really weird,” said Nick almost as equally quiet as Jay. “Maybe we should leave.” Dan vigorously shook his head, still wrapped in the goblin garb. “I don't get it,” said Drew. Dan held a finger up, indicating silence. If only he could speak their language. Whatever it was. He looked around the room below, and then down the passage, still snaking like a catwalk around the room. He could see that it ended in stairs, leading downward to the room. If one of the goblins decided to walk back up the stairs towards them, there would be no saving themselves.

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Dan drew in his breath. Even with the racing of his mind at that moment, and his urge to find the President, he couldn't help but wonder if that box below him, held the answers to why the goblins had gone to war in the first place. But Dan didn't have time to think about any of that. He carefully slipped himself even lower next to the wall, trying quickly to think. “Hey!” Nick suddenly exclaimed in a too-loud whisper. Dan quickly clapped a hand over his mouth. “That dude,” said Nick so silently, pointing an accusatory finger to the ground below them. “I've seen him before!” “That's ridiculous,” said Drew. “They wear masks.” “You don't get it,” said Nick, irritation rising in his voice. “That dude. Right there. He was one of the guards in Sergeant Felthouse's tent!” The other boys stared in shock at the man below. “Are you sure?” Drew asked. “I swear it!” The longer Dan looked at the man below, the more he had to agree with Nick. “But he doesn't even look Asian,” said Jay. “Maybe he's a mercenary,” said Drew. “Or a hired spy,” said Nick. “That's how they knew we had probably found the President!” said Dan, almost angry with himself. “They heard us talking with the sergeant about going off to look for you, Jay. So they figured out we probably found out something.” “They didn't know we went caving.” “I'll bet they did. We were gone long enough.” Dan slouched even lower, looking carefully at the man, pacing around the fire, talking with the other goblins. “Well, now we're really going to have trouble,” said Drew. “He'll recognize us for sure, especially me without

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the disguise.” “This doesn't make any sense,” said Dan. “They sent out moles before we even got here. Unless that dude came with Sergeant Felthouse... “That's it!” Drew cut in. “Sergeant Felthouse! He must be working for the enemy!” “Yeah,” said Nick. “All that baloney about the first sergeant being lost. I'll bet they kidnapped him and lied to us about it all, so then Sergeant Felthouse gets sent in here with his goons. And that's why they haven't been fighting us. Must have finally decided to make up some fake battles so we didn't get suspicious.” “Which means,” said Dan, “they either need us for something. Or...” he looked at the box sitting on the pedestal, “they just want to keep us away from finding that.” Nick was getting mad. “Idiots! All these weeks. Wasting our time in this dead hole. We could be out at the real front. Instead, they've been looping us around, just trying to keep us from finding out about some dumb box.” “But why did they take the President?” Dan asked. “That's the real question. Why do they need him alive?” No one had an answer. “Well, we can't just wait here till they leave,” said Nick finally. “What else are we going to do?” said Drew. “I can't come down there with you guys dressed like this.” Nick looked skeptically at him. “I don't think we can pass you off as a prisoner.” “We're wasting time,” said Jay. “Gotta go save old Uncle Sam.” “Be respectful,” said Drew. Jay shrugged. “I think he'd like that nickname.” The boys sat, without moving, for several minutes more, waiting to see if anything would happen.

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“I don't think they're going to move,” said Dan. “They'll probably get a guard change or something. Look at that thing. Whatever it is, looks like it's guarded all the time.” “Bingo!” said Nick, snapping his fingers. “We'll just pretend to be the new guards.” Dan just shook his head again. This was going nowhere. But he didn't need to say anything else. Just then, the guards began to shout at one another. No more of the quiet monk-like voices, speaking quietly to one another around the sacred campfire. They were yelling at one another. “Fight! Fight!” Jay exclaimed, pounding his fists in the air. “Shhhh!” Drew cut at him. “They'll hear you.” But there wasn't much chance of that. They were really angry at one another now. Between the six of them, four were ready to swing at one another. As the argument escalated, two of the goblins drew guns. “Whoa!” Jay couldn't help but say out loud. “Yeah,” said Nick, “so much for none of them using weapons.” “I think we found that out when we saw the stash in the cave,” said Drew quietly. The boys watched as the argument continued. All of them were shouting at one another. “This is intense!” said Jay. “Maybe they'll all knock each other out!” “Unlikely,” said Nick, continuing the running commentary. Jay didn't quite get his wish, but it came close enough. Three of the six were swiftly knocked to their feet by their opposing counterparts. The boys looked on in amazement, as the three were tied, hand and foot, and then tied once again to the ground, into metal rings fixed to the cave floor.

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“Righteous!” Jay cried. “They've done half our work already!” And it wasn't much longer before their new opposition was whittled down even further, as two of the three remaining captors suddenly ran off. “Dude!” Nick cried out, as they ran up the stairs. “They're coming this way!” “No, wait!” Dan whispered, catching him by the sleeve of his disguise. “There's another doorway!” He was right. They hadn't seen it before because of the shadows, but as the goblins ran back up the stone steps and disappeared through the wall, it became quickly apparent that there was, indeed, another passage cut into the rock. “Hey, Baker,” said Nick. “You might be right yet.” “Let's go!” Jay cried. Dan and Drew tried to grab for him. But it was too late. Jay was racing around the stone catwalk toward the chamber below, yelling like a mad man. “Come on!” Nick cried. “Gotta go catch the luny!” The boys didn't waste any time. Before the last free goblin had a chance to even take aim, Jay had knocked him flat on his stomach, sending the goblin's gun flying toward the dark blue pool. Nick was right behind, aiming his gun at the plastered figure. “No false moves, buddy,” he said, “or this thing goes off.” The goblin said nothing. He only grimaced, as Jay began to tie him down with his gun strap in a rather tight and painful knot. “That's what you get,” he said comically, as he gave the strap one last hard yank. “You're not going anywhere.” Dan provided a gag from some of the cloth cut from his costume. And the deed was quickly done.

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“Come on!” Jay yelled. “Let's go catch us some goblins!” It was too late to make any other plans. The boys took a last quick check to make sure the others were bound as well as the last, and they were off up the stairs toward the unknown passage. “See ya later, dudes!” Nick laughed at the goblins over his shoulder as he bounded up the stairs.

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Chapter 14

Zeus

Dan raced up the stairs, gun slung over his back, trying to catch up with Jay. But he wouldn't say a word out loud. The goblins had only been briefly gone. Dan had no idea how far down the tunnel they were. And he knew, he knew, that they would be returning with more goblins, and probably very soon. So the chances of them crossing paths, was very great. There was no stopping Jay. He practically zoomed upwards. Like a rocket. Dan could hardly gain anything on him. And Nick and Drew were doing no better. Dan was finally running so hard and so fast, that his vision seemed to be tunneling, in light already so dim, that he could hardly see. He didn't stop to think why he could still see the path without the aid of his flashlight, until he finally looked up. Just there, directly in front of them, was a window to the sky. Lit only by stars, the last very early-morning stars. But it was enough to see by. Just a rounded hole in the face of the rock. And, finally, when Jay arrived at that

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window, he stopped. “Dude...” Dan could hear Jay whisper, as he stared out the natural window. Dan didn't even ask. He only pounded the last of the steps up to the lookout. And what a lookout it was. Swallowing against the exertion of the climb, he looked out the rounded hole. Below him was the entire camp, swept over by the fire-flash of bullets and rockets. The entire camp. All of it. He could even see, from so high up, the enemy line in the distance, set under the rock overhang of the opposite cliff wall. So far away. But they were above it, looking down on all of them. “Man,” he said. “If we can just get the President back down there alive.” “Yeah,” Jay whispered, equally out of breath. “And then what? Corrupt sergeant? Who knows how many of those dudes are his goons down there. We'll be toast.” Nick and Drew had just joined them. “What the heck, Watkins?” Nick asked, doubled over from his run. But Jay didn't answer. Nick joined the three at the window. “Well, gents,” said Jay, inspecting some random part of his gun, “let's be off.” “Dork,” Nick managed to reply, before they were off again into the passage. Despite the gun on his back, Dan was still able to get his arms pumping again, as he followed Jay once again down the path. This time, it was more of a level run. No more stairs. No steps. Dan was even able to ignore the cramps in his side, which slowly simmered away as he began to breathe more deeply again. Finally, they could tell that the passage had snaked far enough away to the west, that it was very likely at that point that they were near the President. Dan could hardly believe that his idea had been correct. But it wasn't time

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to celebrate. Not even close. Dan knew, even with the surge of adrenaline, that he could lose his life in the next hour. Maybe even sooner. Seconds later, Dan had closed in the gap on Jay. They were side by side, as Dan held up a hand, signifying an ease in pace. Soon, they were barely jogging, guns pulled to their sides, fingers ready to pull triggers, as necessary. By the time Nick and Drew had arrived just behind them, Dan and Jay were creeping, one step behind the other, carefully, along the irregular dark gray wall of rock. Dan had suggested the ease in pace, because he knew, as they all did, that they must be approaching the cave entrance. Somewhere soon. As they walked, so carefully, Dan's mind flew back, unexpectedly to his meeting with the President. Just a flash of them shaking hands, of the President smiling warmly at him, and greeting him by name. The President taking the time to speak with him. It was at that point that the light became brighter. So slight even then, but Dan knew, immediately, where they were. They had just arrived at the crossroads. The tunnel that split to the right and the left, just inside the interior of the original cave. “Holy cow!” Jay exclaimed, also realizing it, just as Drew slapped a hand over his mouth. “We get it,” said Nick. “We're here.” Fortunately, for all of the boys, the cave entrance was silent. No one there. They followed one another in a careful line over the gravely base of the cave floor toward the entrance. And there it was -- the beautiful, quiet valley, the great expanse of desert. Off away into the faint summer yellow of the rising sun. “It's been a whole night already,” said Dan to himself. “Not even tired.” “Me either,” said Nick.

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“We should get to the President,” said Drew, carefully looking over the edge of the cliff. “Looks clear all the way round.” “Where's Jay?” Nick asked, looking behind him. Jay had disappeared. The boys immediately pulled their weapons out. Nick held up a hand for complete silence, as they began to walk forward, back into the shadows. Then there was a wrinkling sound coming from behind a rock. More wrinkling. The boys stopped moving, to listen. More wrinkling. Munch. Munch. Munch. Dan could almost see Nick roll his eyes, even in the dark. “Show yourself, Watkins,” Dan said into the dark. A moment later, Jay stumbled out from behind a rock, a mini bag of potato chips in one hand, and a small package of cookies in the other. “Watkins!” Nick almost thundered. “We're on a mission to rescue the President. And you're stuffing your face with junk good?!” “Buth I wath thrymeem thoo...” “Swallow,” Drew commanded. Jay did so. “But I was trying to eat something so I don't faint.” “Only girls do that,” came Nick's predictable response. “Are you calling the President a girl?” Nick lunged for him, but Dan cut in the middle. “This isn't helping anything,” he said. “Jay, you'll have to finish eating later. The President's in trouble.” “No problem,” said Jay, chucking the now-empty bag of potato chips behind him. “I've got my energy back now,” he grinned. “Thurau, you're going to have to stay here, so they don't suspect anything” said Nick. “Watch the entrance.” Drew nodded. “I figured that much.” “If you don't see us come back in an hour,” said Dan, looking at his watch, “then... I don't know. Head back to

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camp. Spread word about the sergeant. Anything you can do.” Drew saluted, with a smile, and slipped the gun behind his back once again, and headed back to the entrance. “I'll watch the tunnels, “ said Jay, “make sure no one comes up and gets Drew in the back.” “I heard that,” Drew whispered from the front. “Besides, “ Jay continued with a grin, “I'll be closer to my stash.” “That leaves you and me to rescue the President, Baker,” said Nick, pulling his gun forward once again. “Yup,” said Dan, doing the same. “You ready for this?” Nick gave a nod. It was time to go. Dan looked one last time over his shoulder to his buddies, stationed in the cave. Both gave a wave as Nick and Dan headed off into the tunnel. “Right behind you, man,” Nick said low, as they rounded the first corner. Dan gave a thumbs up, without taking his eyes from the path ahead of him. It felt like it could be a long walk. Who knew what might be at the end of it. Would the President still be alive? Would Jess still be disguised? Would there be too many guards in the way? Dan didn't think about any of the possible answers to these questions. He only continued forward, gun held at the ready. Moments later, Dan could see the split to the left in the tunnel. He held up a hand behind him to Nick, to indicate that they had arrived. Dan could already hear voices. They were louder this time. Not nearly as quiet as when they had hid behind the piles of supplies. They were angry. “Probably because of the little incident back in the cave,” Dan thought, unconsciously to himself. He took inch-steps toward the opening, knowing that at any moment one of them could see him, and bullets

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would be flying toward his face. Only a few inches at a time. An eternity later, Dan had slipped enough around the corner of rock, to see the backs of two of the goblins. Just two. But he could easily tell that they were talking to someone else. Maybe someone with Jess and the President. One false move, and it was over. Dan slid one step further, keeping himself hidden from view of the rest of the chamber. He knew that Nick was still right behind him, silent. Dan wished very much that they had talked about a plan of action first. But there wasn't time for that. He didn't want to shoot the goblins. It was an equivalent of a knife in the back. He couldn't do that. A knock to the head. A non-fatal knock. That was all he could think of to do. And he could only hope that Nick would follow his lead. As for the other goblins further inside... It was one of those moments that didn't require any more thought. In another flash of a moment, he heard once again, the President speaking to him:

“He's always watching us. He's the only thing that's kept us so strong, so safe for so long. You boys have to remember that... It's the only thing that will keep you from being too scared to fight.

Dan knew what he had to do, and he did it. Almost silently, he ran with attack toward the goblin closest to him. With the butt of his gun, he smashed it into his head. With a rush past him, Nick had done the same. And before he could even look up to see who else was in the room, he heard a crack. And then another. He looked up, half expecting a hole to have been blown through his stomach. But it wasn't the crack of a gun. “Night?” Nick asked, also somewhat stunned. “Did you just do that?”

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Jess removed the cloth covering most of his face from his costume. He almost grinned as he lowered the butt of his gun back to his side over the bodies of two more goblins. “Sure did.” Dan could have hugged him. “You just saved our lives, man.” “Well, you saved mine. Had to return the favor.” But Dan was already next to the President, crouching carefully on the ground by him. “How's he doing?” he asked. “I don't know. It's been a long night. He hasn't woken up or anything. I just hope the Secret Service believes me when I tell them that I didn't hear him mumble any national secrets to me in his... current state.” “Coma?” Nick said aloud, more to himself. “We've got Drew and Jay back out at the front,” said Dan. He pulled the tarp from the inside fold of his costume. “We've brought this to make a stretcher.” The boys hustled. Somehow, they made a stretcher out of the tarp. In record-breaking time, they punched holes through the sides and strung rope through each hole to make enough support to hold the President safely in the center. Then with the greatest care, they lifted the President onto the crude stretcher. Dan felt like he was carrying something very valuable made of delicate glass, maybe an antique of his mom's from back home in the living room. He shook away the thought, and held his breath until the President was laid out on top of the tarp. “Ok, guys,” said Nick, “let's get him back to base.” “And just hope the sergeant doesn't have more than a few goons down there,” Dan whispered. Throughout the entire quarter of an hour it took to carry the President back down the rocky tunnel, Dan quietly explained to Jess, everything that had happened.

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And he realized, as they walked, and as Jess asked questions, that Jess seemed different. Older. Less afraid. Brave, even. “I know what they call themselves now,” said Jess, when the conversation had broken. “How could you know that?” Nick asked. “I thought you said they didn't speak Arabic.” “Well they have the past couple of hours. I don't know why. Good thing for me. They're called The Zeus.” “The Zeus?” Dan asked, raising an eyebrow. “What the heck does that stand for?” Jess shook his head. “Don't know. They just kept talking about themselves as 'The Zues', and something about guarding 'the great box under the earth'. Their words.” “But did they talk about anything important?” Nick asked. “I guess that's pretty important. Kind of tells us, maybe, why they're hear. Guarding that box for some important reason. Trying to keep us away from it. It has to be pretty significant.” Dan looked down at the President. Pale. Oblivious to what danger he was in. And Dan almost wished he was oblivious too. But he pushed away the fear once again. This time, at least, there was a break in the adrenaline rush. He could be a little certain, at least, that there were no goblins hanging around the corner. Jess and Nick were still talking. “Nothing good, huh? Nothing about battle plans? Ransom notes?” “I guess they thought I knew everything already,” said Jess. “Why would they go over their plans with me?” “And they didn't ask what you were doing there?” “I was guarding the President. I guess they don't know the names of every single goblin in their clan.”

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The conversation droned on. Clearly, neither Nick or Jess were very worried about what could lie just around the corner. But Dan was more concerned about getting the President back down to the ground. That was not going to be easy. Step by step, they inched their way back toward Jay. And there he was, sitting in a sort of junk food coma, slumped face-first into the potato chip bag. “Watkins!” Nick hissed. “Get up!” Jay almost set off his gun in the event of being shocked awake. “I'm up! I'm up!” he cried, tossing aside the empty potato chip bag. “Hide that,” Nick commanded. Jay stuffed it behind a rock. “Not that they won't be able to smell your chip breath all the way back to the camp,” Nick mumbled. Fortunately, Jay didn't hear him. He was too amazed that they had successfully rescued the President. “Holy cow,” he whispered, staring at the President's ashen face. “Is he alive?” “Have a little respect, Watkins,” Dan chastised him. “He's sick. But he'll be fine.” But Jay couldn't take his eyes off the President. Maybe it was a little too real, a little too close to danger. But he couldn't move. “Snap out of it, Watkins,” Dan ordered. “We've gotta get him back to base. Watkins?” Jay's eyes were wide. “You sure he's not dead?” “He's not dead!” Nick said, raising his voice. “He's cool, man. Come on. Just help us get him down.” Dan could see Jay force himself to blink his eyes. “Dude,” said Jay. “That's so weird. He looks dead.” No one else commented. They were slowly moving toward the entrance, where Drew still watched the horizon.

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“Anything suspicious?” Dan called to him. “None.” “Watkins, keep an eye on that tunnel,” Nick said over his shoulder. Jay shook himself out of it. He shouldered his gun again, and tried to forget about the very ill-looking President several yards ahead of him. He looked sharply back down the tunnel to the left, waiting for anything that might move. His potato chips had been completely forgotten. Finally, the President was laid carefully on the smoother part of cave floor, just next to the opening. It had been worn down enough by soldiers, goblins. Dan found himself watching the little orange flowers still blooming around the walls and floors. They almost glowed in the early sun. “Ok,” said Nick, sitting himself in a heap on the floor. He was breathing heavy. It had been a long walk. “How are we going to do this?” “We're going to run out of rope, aren't we?” Jess asked. Dan shook his head. “Not if we get two or three of us down there first. If we can hold up our arms high enough to catch him as he's lowered, that's maybe seven, eight feet up rope less that we'd need.” “Right,” said Drew. “That means we have Lawson, me, and Watkins down there. Let's move.” Drew took a last look at the desert floor. Nothing. The sun was rising so fast. They had to be quick before they could really be seen from across the valley. Like lightening, each of the three boys rappelled to the ground. Then Dan and Jess carefully strung the ropes through the corners of the tarp, and tied them with almost immovable knots. “Ok, Mr. President,” said Jess quietly, “safe landing.”

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With all of the strength Dan could manage, he and Jess pushed the President toward the edge. “Please don't let him fall. Please don't let him fall,” Dan repeated over and over to himself. With an almost sickening lurch, the President was suddenly dangling in space over the sand. Dan thought he could almost fall over from the scare. Somehow, the President was still upright in his tarp, unharmed. Still oblivious to where he was. The strain of the rope made Dan's hands raw. He could see that Jess was also having trouble. Inch by inch, moment by moment, the President was slipped lower and lower to the earth. Dan almost bit his tongue in concentration. “Come on, dude. A little slower. Just a little.” And then he heard the relieving call of, “Ok!”, and he knew the President was safe. Dan had to sit down for a moment. “You ok, dude?” he asked Jess, who was also sitting, head between his knees. “Yeah,” he said with a half-grin. “Dude, that was rough. I thought I was gonna die any time these past two days. Good thing you showed up when you did. Those dudes were threatening to take the President away again. Then we really would have had trouble.” “You did good, soldier,” Dan said, returning the grin with a slap on the back. “Let's go.”

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Chapter 15

Alexander

Suddenly, Dan was back on the ground, and they were all running, running with the President still in the stretcher between them. They couldn't risk inching him across the desert. They were on even ground. Solid ground. They could run. Their strides were even. Drew ran in front of them to lookout for anything ahead. Their guns rattled against their backs. What was left of the disguises laced around their bodies, had slowly come unfolded in their run through the cave. Fortunately, they had been altogether unnecessary in the first place. They had never been seen. “What are we gonna do,” Jay huffed, “when we get there? How do we know which ones are the goons? All the Asian looking dudes? The Arab looking dudes? Which ones are they?” “Don't know,” said Dan, trying to concentrate on keeping stride. “We'll just have to hope that the first ones we see are the good guys.”

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They could still hear the occasional gun crack across the desert in the early morning. The whole sky was deep bright blue and then red from the rising sun. The heat was already boiling up from the west. Dan could feel it on his face. And there was no chance, now, to hide from the sergeant and his soldiers, if any of them were patrolling the eastern border. He could only hope that the skirmish in the west was keeping them occupied, even if it was in bluff. Their run took them fast to the border. All seemed clear. It made more sense why so often the guards so weakly patrolled the camp. Some of them, at least, were the enemy, and wouldn't find it necessary to guard anything. “Ok, plan!” Nick choked, out of breath, “We need a plan, fellas.” Everyone automatically slowed their pace, just inside the border. “Yeah, let's don't blow this thing,” said Drew, who had come back to join them. “Who's gonna do what? We've gotta try to go in there and capture this dude.” “Yeah,” said Dan, “I'm sure the rest of the camp'll have no problem if we just run up there and arrest the sergeant. We can't even do that.” “No,” said Drew. “But if we can catch him when no one else is around...” “We need some evidence,” said Nick. “Yeah, but what,” said Jay. “They're not gonna keep anything lying around. No papers that say, 'We're the bad guys.'” The boys were silent. Jay started flicking bugs across the sand with his fingers. “We could trick him into it,” said Jess. “How?” Nick asked. “I saw a lot of stuff written up in that cave,” said Jess, “but not all of it made sense until after I heard those

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dudes talking. You wouldn't have even had to explain about Sergeant Felthouse. They were already talking about him. Well, at least whenever they were talking in Arabic...” “Cut to it,” Nick interrupted. “So, yeah. I think all we have to do is this...” Jess' voice melted into the faint morning breeze of the desert. Whatever he said, the boys liked it, and agreed to follow the same plan.

D

It was on an unusually hot morning in December that Sergeant Felthouse found himself still walking the trenches. It had been a long night for the troops. Most of them, oblivious to the allegiances of their supposed sergeant, were half-asleep in the trenches. Their weapons were pointed into the west, but the enemy was still mostly hidden. Who could say whether there were a dozen or twelve dozen enemy soldiers across the valley. The shadows were deceptive. Uncanny. But Sergeant Felthouse had pulled a good show. None of the men would have suspected him to be false. Covered in sweat and sand. Bags under the eyes. It was a good presentation. The sergeant stomped back and forth, handing out random advice to the soldiers as he passed. But they were too tired to listen anyway. Suddenly, a young soldier walked over to him from down the line, wearing a half-ridiculous grin on his face. “Corporal...” the sergeant greeted him. “Why don't you have a weapon on your person?”

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“Sent on an errand, sir. You're needed in your tent. Something's come up.” The sergeant immediately looked lightly concerned. “Are you certain, corporal?” “I'm certain, sir.” “And your name?” “Corporal Jay Watkins, sir.” Apparently that was good enough for the sergeant. He left the trenches and headed toward the tent. Jay snickered, and ran off in the opposite direction. So far, so good. A few minutes later, Sergeant Felthouse entered his tent. He faced the backs of two soldiers, looking over various papers at his desk. “Soldiers!” the sergeant declared. “At attention! How dare you involve yourself in the personal property of a sergeant of the United States!” “But the question is,” said Dan, turning around from the desk, “are you really of the United States?” “Corporal, I demand you to stand at attention.” “But you haven't answered the question, sergeant,” said Jess, also turning around. “Are you a citizen of the United States of America?” “Of course I am! What is this nonsense?” “We happen to have reason to believe,” said Dan, walking toward him, “that you are nothing of the sort.” The sergeant stood very still, his face like stone. Jess continued, “You, sir, apparently, go by the alias of...” Jess looked around to see if anyone else was listening, mockingly serious. “Mr. Peanut Butter and Jelly.” “You'll be sent to prison for this, boys,” said the sergeant steadily, but his eyes flicked to the left and the right. “And how do you think we know this?” Dan asked. “Well,” said Jess, “we just happened to go caving one afternoon, and found something... unusual. I just

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happened to have a camera with me, and took a snapshot of this.” Jess whipped a small digital camera out of his pocket, displaying a picture of the cavern wall, covered in markings. “And do you see that?” he asked. “That's your name. Sergeant Felthouse. And do you see that there? It says 'Sergeant Felthouse will be the alias for 'Mr. Peanut Butter and Jelly'.” The sergeant could no longer stand the ridiculousness of this encounter. “Of course it doesn't,” he said. “It says 'Guardian of Alexander'.” “Oh, so you do read Arabic,” said Dan, beginning to walk his way around the sergeant. “You see,” said Drew, “that would have worked, if it had actually been written there. But you, sir, don't understand any Arabic. In fact, I'll bet you don't recognize a single mark on this photo. I wrote that. Just outside on a rock. And it's gibberish, by the way.” “You've been tricked!” Jay yelled, no longer able to take the excitement. Before the sergeant could move, Jay had slapped a rope behind his arms, and the sergeant found himself tied up by five young, strong soldiers, faster than he could understand exactly what had just happened. “You boys are gravely mistaken,” the sergeant growled at them. “I'll be laughing at you behind prison bars in a week's time.” “Make that, us laughing at you,” Nick retorted. “You're in deep mud, mister.” “You see,” said Jess. “I saw all those writings of your cronies up in the cave. It was just too bad I didn't have a camera to document it. But this guy here,” he pointed to another soldier who had just entered the tent. “he did. I saw something up in the cave that said, 'Sergeant Felthouse will be the alias of the Guardian of Alexander'.

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So I knew that was you. All I had to do was pretend to rewrite it on an old rock, and trick you into thinking it was the real thing.” “And what made you think I can't read Arabic,” the fake sergeant growled at him. “It could be me that's tricking you, corporal.” “I don't think so, dude,” said Jay walking over to him. “I knew you didn't speak Arabic all along.” The sergeant glowered at him, not asking for any explanation. “I know you want to know how I knew,” Jay continued with a silly grin, “so I'll tell you. I was snooping around looking for food just before Thanksgiving. And I happened to be walking past your tent. Heard a couple of your goons in there with you. I didn't know then that you were a traitor, but I did hear you say, and I quote, 'Shut your traps, you beepin' beep beeps. You know I can't read a syllable of Arabic.' And that's,” said Jay proudly, “how I knew.” “What's more,” said Drew, “you and your crew would have done a good job of hiding the President, except that you didn't plan ahead for the boredom. You kept about a hundred soldiers sitting around the desert with nothing to do. That's why Jay had time to go off looking for food, and then he went looking for a place to hide all of it.” “Nice try at faking battle, by the way,” said Nick. The false sergeant was seething with rage. But he still said nothing. By that time, word had gotten round the camp that the President was in the hospital tent. And there was an all-out hunt for the goons. They began filtering in, one by one, strapped down by several soldiers apiece, and sat together in a large circle outside the sergeant's tent. “This should fix 'em,” said Dan, looking straight into the face of the goblin who had been stationed with the President in the cave.

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All six of the goblins they had encountered while in the cliffs, and under the ground, had been retrieved. “You have no help,” the goblin grunted. “you have no way of calling for help.” He grinned wickedly. “You will starve here.” “I don't think so,” said Jess, walking over to him. “We already took the radio from the sergeant's tent. Had one stashed there all the time. Help's on the way.” The victory was complete. Within the hour, Dan could see two black hawks on the horizon, accompanied shortly later by a stream of tanks and trucks, laden with supplies, weapons, ammunition, and a fresh surplus of soldiers, who were soon chasing down the enemy on the opposite horizon of the valley.

D

By early evening, the original sergeant had called a brief conference in, what was rightfully, his tent. “Congratulations, boys,” he said. “You've saved the President. Saved me, and so many soldiers spirited away to desert caves. You've brought many of the enemy to justice. And you might have just solved the real reason behind this war.” “What's that, sir?” Drew asked. “I'd have Goblin the Goose out there explain it to you,” said the sergeant, jerking his thumb toward the circle of goblins still sitting outside the tent. “But I have a feeling he won't be cooperating too well. Bottom line, boys. We're bringing in an expert team of archaeologists tomorrow morning. That cave you found down there. You remember seeing something that looked like a casket?” “Yes, sir.”

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“And do you have any idea what might be in it?” The boys looked puzzled. No one really knew what to guess. “Alexander!” Jess suddenly exclaimed, rising from his seat. “The 'Guardian of Alexander'! Is it really...?” “Yes, corporal,” said the sergeant, almost smiling at the boy's enthusiasm. “Alexander. The Great Alexander the Great. Missing for thousands of years. Now found. We won't know for certain until the body is exhumed, but we've got a pretty darn good guess.” “Who's that?” Nick asked. Drew shushed him. “You can be very proud of yourselves, boys,” the sergeant continued. “I'm informed that you will all be awarded with medals of bravery. Awarded from the President himself.” “But, sir, isn't he in a coma right now?” Jess asked, concerned. “The President's words, corporal. Not mine.” “You mean he's going to be alright, sir?” Dan asked, not even trying to hide his relief. “Yes, corporal. Thanks to all you soldiers. I'm told that if he had been kept there much longer, he would have probably not made it. They had plans to keep him for a hefty ransom.” The sergeant rose from his desk to extend a hand to Jess, sitting closest to him. “My thanks to you boys, and from your country.” He shook each of the boy's hands, congratulating them individually. They walked in a daze from the sergeant's tent, toward the mess hall. “Dudes...” said Jay. “Did we really do all that? I feel like a hero.” “Don't get cocky,” said Nick. “We just did our duty,” said Drew.

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“I don't care,” said Jay. “We're getting medals for bravery. From the President. How cool is that!” And the boys happily followed the rest of the troops to dinner. A good, hot meal.

D

The next morning, the boys woke up under the canvas of their own tents. Dan had to shake his head and think very hard for a few moments before he remembered where he was, or what had happened to him. But it slowly came back to him. As much as he tried to remember, however, he didn't know what day it was. “Is it Thursday?” he asked Drew, as they got ready for breakfast that morning. “Seems like a Thursday.” “Don't know,” said Drew, lacing up his boots. He rubbed his face, trying to think. “It could be. Seems like a week after Thanksgiving. I don't know though.” After a hot breakfast of biscuits, gravy, and sides of bacon, the soldiers gathered together, mostly to keep an eye on the circle of goblins in the center of the camp. They were to be escorted to a prison camp later that afternoon. None of them spoke. They had been denied the request to wear their painted masks. “Can't trust 'em with those things on their faces,” said the sergeant. “Who knows but they have some kind of secret weapon inside those darn things.” And so, instead, they sat together, faces like stone, staring in opposite directions of the compass. It started to become a little eerie. But then the team of archaeologists arrived. It was kind of exciting to see them come in.

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“Yeah!” Jay exclaimed. “They get to come dig up old bones and stuff.” “They don't have to dig up anything, you moron,” said Nick, punching him on the shoulder. “It's already out of the ground.” “Is not,” Jay protested, rubbing his shoulder. “It is too underground.” Nick just shook his head. It was interesting to watch the group of goblins as the team walked past them. That was the only time they moved. Some of them began chanting, as if they were working up curses on the archaeologists for disturbing their highest of sacred relics. Others spat at them. “It's like a scene out of the Bible or something,” said Jess. But once the archaeologists had passed them, the goblins returned to complete silence. Later that afternoon, the soldiers were given a celebration of lemonade as the President, who had regained enough strength to leave the hospital tent, addressed the entire camp seated on a platform outside the sergeant's tent. “Huzzah!” Jay cried, as the President finished his brief address. “Huzzah!” “What!” Nick asked him. “What are you saying?” “Don't they still say that sometimes?” “Huzzah? I don't even think I've ever heard anyone say that before.” “Well, they did somewhere, or I wouldn't have heard it, and I wouldn't have said it.” As the boys' semi-ridiculous argument continued, Dan noticed Jess watching the goblin, once titled “Guardian of Alexander”. Jess' arms were folded across his chest, but he was watching the goblin very closely. Dan looked at the goblin too. There didn't seem to be anything unusual about the goblin. He wasn't moving. His eyes seemed to

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be glazed over, looking into the west toward the tomb of Alexander. In the time it took Dan to turn back toward Jess, the world turned upside-down. Jess turned toward the President. In one of those awfully slow moments, he was running toward the President. The goblin, with some supernatural sort of strength, had torn his bonds and propelled himself off the sand toward the back of a soldier standing several feet away from him. Before anyone could think, the goblin ripped the gun off the back of the soldier. Jess was inches away from the President. The goblin whipped around toward the President, and took his devastating shot. In the next few terrible seconds, Jess was shocked backward against the President by the force of the bullets. The camp was silent for only a second. The worst second Dan had ever known. The goblin was knocked into the sand by a half dozen soldiers. Several more ran to Jess. The President tried to hold him up as the blood spilled down Jess' chest. And in those darkest moments, Dan found himself in a trance, holding up Jess' head off the sand, as his breathing came in halted gasps. Stunned.

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Chapter 16

Bring Him Home

The ceremony was on a rainy day, back in the States. Massachusetts. Dan could see the faces of Jess' grandmother and his father, standing next to each other in the front row of chairs under the awning. Behind them were seated many rows of soldiers. So many of them just back from the desert. It was so cold. Even as Dan stood there, so tall and straight in his uniform, holding his gun, he could hardly stop from shivering a little. It was only three days ago that he and his buddies were at the camp, watching the team of archaeologists arrive, the fresh troops round up the enemy... The President had addressed the company, so proud of all their work. And then it had happened. Poor Jess. In the blur of a bad dream, Dan still perfectly remembered what Jess had said to him. Even through the last struggle of trying to hold on for just a few minutes longer.

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“Dan,” he said, “make sure my grandma's ok. She's gonna be alone now. And tell my dad, tell my dad...” Dan shook his head to clear his thoughts as the President walked up to the lectern. He couldn't see him very clearly, through the gray drizzle of the rain and the haze over his own eyes. Dan stood closest to the President, nearest to the casket. It was closed. On top of it sat a basket of white ghost flowers, taken from the desert just before they left. To Dan's left stood Drew, Nick, and Jay. Just the four of them, standing together, ready to give the salute. The President, with great dignity, walked to the lectern. No notes. Dan vaguely noticed the several Secret Service men placed around him and further beyond several of the tombstones. The President was quiet for a few moments, and then, he spoke. “Friends. It is with great honor, that I speak on this young soldier's behalf this morning. Jesse Alexander Night. Seventeen years old. Son of General Alexander Robert Night. Grandson of Mrs. Lily Noble Night. His life was taken, defending the life of the President.” Dan swallowed hard. “And with all the bravery and selflessness of the best American soldiers, he gave his life, willingly, for his country.” The eulogy wasn't long. But it was right. It was good. The President did Jess justice. Dan could see Jess' grandmother sitting in the front row, holding a small handkerchief. And Jess' dad, holding her hand. And somehow, he didn't seem so tough. Not so much like a colonel. More like just a dad. After the President had finished, the boys drew their guns. Crack!

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Three more times, they fired their rifles into the gray rain. Four salutes for their fallen friend. The President was already in line to greet Jess' family, all that he had. Dan followed directly behind him. He held out his hand to Jess' grandmother. “Dan Baker, ma'am,” he said. “I served with Jess. He was a good man. A brave soldier.” The little grandma took his hand in both of hers. “Son,” she said. “You boys did us all proud. I'm so happy to know that he had a friend, four friends, at the end.” And then she hugged him. Dan didn't even mind the tears rolling down his face. It didn't seem very important, at just that moment, to try to be that brave. Dan walked a step over to Jess' dad. He had to look up to see him. “Dan Baker, sir,” he said again. The colonel held out it hand. “Dan Baker,” he said. “I've heard about you. You were a friend to my son. I thank you for that.” For a moment, Dan was sent back to the desert. He could see Jess again, grabbing onto his arm, trying to get out a last few words before it was over. “And, Dan,” he said, even smiling a little, “tell my Dad... tell him, that I love him. And I hope I made him proud.” The general, for the first time, looked as if he were going to cry. “He said that, did he?” he asked quietly. “He really said that?” “He did sir.” The general then shook Dan's hand again and clapped him on the shoulder. He couldn't say anything more. Dan walked away then, toward the President. “Corporal Baker,” said the President, holding out his hand to Dan. “Mr. President.” “You've come through a lot, son, you and your friends.” “Yes, sir.”

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They both stood there for a few moments, watching the rain sweep over the graveyard. So many white stones stretching over the hills. “You should know, Dan,” the President continued, “that with everything that you boys accomplished, you also found a valuable piece of history. I think that Jess would have been happy to know what an amazing discovery it really is.” “Alexander the Great,” Dan said with a sigh, “the best soldier who ever lived.” “No, son,” said the President. “He wasn't the greatest. He lived to conquer. Jess died to save another. That will always make him a greater soldier.” Dan smiled, still through a haze. The other boys had joined them. And for just a brief time in their lives, they all stood there together with their President, at the side of their friend.

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Chapter 17

Epilogue

It was summer again. Back home in St. Louis. The President had made a special authorization bringing back home all of the boys in that remote desert camp, of which they had been a part. That had been in December. Then there had been Jess' funeral. A sad, proud cold day just before Christmas. On that particular afternoon, so far removed from that winter morning, the four friends found themselves sitting on Dan's front porch, half-baking in the sizzle of a hot St. Louis July. “Think we'll ever get back over there?” Jay asked aloud. “Naw,” said Nick. “We've got school to finish.” The boys sat silently, drinking lemonade that Dan's mom had made for them. “It kind of seems like it never happened, doesn't it?” Drew asked. In some ways, that was true. Dan thought about the shining medal under glass in his room. They had all received one -- the medal of honor from the President. At

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that moment in time, it was the most important thing that Dan had ever received. And he kind of thought it would stay that way. “Dudes...” said Jay, “I kind of wanna go back. See the place again sometime. See where Alex the Great was, and all that stuff.” “Maybe we'll take a reunion trip some day,” said Dan. “Visit Jess' grave too.” The boys nodded, sitting silently, watching the heat wave. There was a distant rumble of thunder. And a small breeze kicked up. “Let's go to the movies,” said Drew. “I'm up for that,” said Nick. The boys sat there a little while longer, finishing their lemonade. “Hey!” Jay suddenly exclaimed, “I wonder what happened to my junk food stash.” Nick snorted. “Always thinking about your stomach.” And somewhere, thousands of miles away, in an abandoned cave, a very happy little desert mouse enjoyed the feast of a lifetime.

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