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A book about three brothers fighting to save their home in East Texas WC 3253 so far |
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Leaves had fell all around his twisted body. A small tree limb lay over his mangled left leg pinning it to the ground. Flies had found a new home among his sores, cuts, and scrapes. He appeared dead, but the men that found him realized when they moved him to put him with the deceased that he was indeed alive when he moaned. It startled the men slightly because they were not expecting any noise to be coming from a dead man. The rest of the men around him were in pieces and dead. They didn't recall seeing him before. Therefore, they didn't recognize him, and there was no way to tell who he was because his dog tags were missing. Maybe someone would know him though. They had several new companies join them for this battle over the past few weeks, and there had been a lot of new faces. Someone from one of those companies would know him, surely. The two men were getting tired after loading all the bodies and body parts into the wagon for hours. It was either talk or go nuts with this situation, so they started talking. "What do you think Earl? Whose company do you think he belongs to?" Earl was deep in thought. He didn't want to make a mistake. He wanted to impress his captain with knowing more than he does so; he can get a promotion. "I'd like to find out whose company he is from, but we are out here in the middle of nowhere and we don't know everyone. I am afraid it looks like a Viet Cong attack, and we will just have to let the captain decide on what to do about him." "Right, a booby trap or ambush. The Viet Cong is sure good at that, and we are at a loss as to how to fight them with them all being underground. I hate this war. Don't you Earl?" Matt was one to ask a lot of questions from his fellow army buddies, and they grew a little tired of it after a while, so Earl wouldn't answer many more of his questions for fear of encouraging him. It is not Matt's fault really. He is an only child, and his parents are too busy to write very often, so the team is his family. He has money, but he acts poor as a church house mouse. The guys think he does it to spite his parents, but he does it because he feels fake dressing up in those kinds of clothes. He is just a normal guy born into wealth. Matt and Earl put him on a stretcher and tried to coax his name from him and tried to entice water down his throat, but failed at both. The man just seemed confused, or he had a head wound. "Yes, I think so Matt. Maybe he has a head injury, and it's affecting his brain. What do you think and why do you constantly say my name in every sentence? We are the only ones here?" "It's a habit of mine. And yeah, I'd say so. He has a good sized indentation on the back of his head there, and a lot of dry blood caked on his scalp. Did you feel it when we lifted him up on a stretcher?" "No, I had his feet. I wouldn't doubt it though. Those head wounds can be nasty things. Hold old do you judge him to be" "He would have to be near fifty or so he looks about as old as my old man. Why are you asking?" "He might have family somewhere we could notify if we could get him to come around. I am sure the army will do that in their own time though, but what if he has amnesia?" "Yeah, but all the guys here have some family. If we could get him to come around we could notify someone for him. Write a letter or something because, you are right… it may be amnesia, short term, but amnesia at least with a head wound like that. It's not like we haven't seen it a time or two already. Those head wounds are something. No telling what hit him" "He had to be in the middle to not have been hit harder. The jeep is blown to bits, and so are his teammates. God had to of sent an angel to cover him is all I can say." The men finally got the man up to their captain's tent and asked him what shall be done about this stranger. "We need to get medical over here ASAP to get a good look at him! He has an opening at the base of his skull, and that will likely kill him if he is not seen soon!" The captain radioed the medic and had the man transported to the onsite hospital for evaluation. Matt strolled into the medic tent a little later that day. He wanted to check on the guy they found today. He was the only one found alive in that area, and the captain was still trying to find his company to report him hurt. His dog tags were missing so, there is no identification on the man. He saw a nurse and walked over to her. "I'm here to check on a patient that was brought in around noon time He had a pretty bad indentation on the back of his head. I don't know what company he belongs to, but I'd like to see how he is doing." "That solider is in a coma right now and we have yet to be able to find his company or ID as of yet. I will take you to him, and you can check on him for yourself. He a friend of yours? If so then we need to talk to you." "No, no friend of mine. I was just concerned. It is unusual for a solider to be without his dog tags, and we are still trying to find his company as well. He is new to the area. He must have come in with one of the other companies that flew in yesterday. We plan on getting all of the men in charge to come take a peek at him to see if he belongs with them." "Good. Thank you sir, and if you do find out anything, please let us know. His injuries are pretty severe." "I will. Thanks, ma'am." Chapter two Christian loved this place but hated working this ranch. He hated the fact that his father and two brothers had gone off to fight in a war that had not concerned them in the least. He is an educated man out here shoeing horses and branding cattle for Christ's sake! He thought that God had a plan for his life, but it has been sidetracked by the whims of others. There were five thousand acres here in the piney woods of East Texas, and he was getting a thousand of them on which to settle his family. A family that he has already got started making. His wife had already had one son, Kason, and was expecting another one that they will call Tucker if the baby is a boy. He had hoped he would have had his law practice established and had a house built on the land by now, but life had other plans for him. His mother, Isabelle, needed him right now and he would be there for her. He was the foreman of the ranch. A ranch they call "Amazing Grace" bought from his father's oil strike here on his father's original one acre lot that he bought for the family to live on. Suddenly rich though, he bought everything that could be bought up from all four sides and wrote in his will that it couldn't be sold. They would be settled for some time to come and their children and theirs as well. Isabelle and Grace walked about the house trying to cause Grace to go into labor. They had tried every old wives tales there was and she still hadn't went into labor. She was already over forty weeks, and the doctor wanted to break her water, but Grace wanted it to happen naturally. She was beginning to be in enough pain, however, that she was about to take the doctor up on his offer. Just about when they were going to sit down for a glass of lemonade Grace's water broke. Isabelle ran to the phone to call the doctor, and once that was done ran for the door to call for Christian. She had a mess to clean up before the doctor arrived though. She wouldn't want the doctor breaking his neck on bodily fluids. Three hours later Tucker came into the world screaming like his big brother, Kason, had done. "He has a nice set of lungs on him." Remarked Dr. Moreland. "I remember when Kason was born and he screamed just like that. How many more of these young men do you plan on having there Mrs. Grace?" "Oh, as many as God chooses to bless us with. We believe he will provide." "That He will ma'am that He will. How does Kason feel about being a big brother?" Replied Dr. Moreland. "He is excited. He is outside waiting to come in right now. He has been waiting for three years to have a playmate. All he has around him are a bunch of cowhands." "Which he loves by the way. And he has us." Isabelle replied holding baby Tucker. Chapter three Kane and Jackson were hoping to be kept together, but they would just have to see. Once the bus gets here, and they get to the training center and barracks, maybe they would find out then if they could stay together. If only this bus would get here. The flight was long enough; they were ready to relax a bit before basic started. Suddenly they saw several old, rickety look school busses pullup in front of the airport with United States Military printed on the side on it, and when they park several drill instructors step out. They knew what to do next; they would file into those busses and be on their way to the worse few weeks of their lives. The drill instructors waited for the last of the bunch to get on before he stepped on himself. He looked mad about something. He looked as though he were about to say something, so everyone quieted down. "Attention ladies you are now property of the United States Government. You are not allowed to deface, cut, or damage anything that is government property. That includes yourself. You will be assigned to a training platoon, and all drill instructors such as myself, the ones with the big brown covers with a strap in the rim are drill instructors you will address them as sir at all times is this understood? Maybe I didn't make myself understood is this clear Privates?" "Yes sir," they all shouted in unison. "I'm just worried about you Jack," Kane said. Jackson was stuffing his duffle bag full of clothes and toiletries "I am aware of my reputation brother, but I am a fully grown man now and I can't be seen under the guard of my brother or I'll be a laughing stock. You have to understand that Kane." He finished his repacking and zipped his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "I know that Jack, but I just worry about you, you know? I've always been there to bail you out and now I won't. We are not stationed in the same barracks together and won't get to see each other that often. Make sure you seek me out during chow time though, so I can see you once in a while and if we don't then… I love you." "Okay, Kane, I will. Now will you quit mothering me and let me get to my barracks before all the bottom bunks are taken?" "May God go with you little brother. You take care of yourself and come back to us?" Kane said with a catch in his voice. "You do the same big brother. I don't want to come home to you not being there with us either. This is a bad war, and I think we are a little stupid for joining up, but they are forcing everyone to join up anyway right?" "Right and you be at the supper table when I get back as well. Write to me, okay?" "I will. I love you. " "I love you, too." Jackson steps out of the buss and gets in formation of four guys to seventy in length. They are leading them to their barracks to get settled in then to the mess hall. The guys beside seem to be a little out of place, like himself. Maybe wondering what had just happened and wondering what they had just gotten themselves into. The barracks are just a continuous line of steel bunk beds. Jackson is assigned his bunk and, thank God, it is a bottom bunk. Prayers are even answered here, so he knows it will be okay. He didn't want to think of home, but it crept into his mind anyway. He already missed momma, but of course, he wouldn't tell anyone that. He would never live missing his mom down. The guys would peg him for a momma's boy right off, and life would be miserable. He hoped he would find some strong Christians to bond with. He knew that war brought out faith in everyone, but he needed the strong bond true Christians brought with them. Two guys came sauntering over to where Jackson sat on his bed. One was tall, blonde, muscular through the chest, seemed to be about twenty-one or twenty-two. The other short, brunet, barrel chested, and looked like momma's boy, but you never can tell. The blonde introduces himself as Marshall Reese and the brunet introduces himself as Cheyenne Lawson. They had five minutes to unpack and unpack right because there would be an inspection. The Marshall guy reminds him of his brother Kane and Cheyenne reminds him of himself when it comes to how they look. Kane and Marshall are big, about six foot two inches and weighing in at two hundred pounds. Brown hair and a medium complexion and both with brown eyes. Cheyenne and Jackson barely weighed in at one hundred pounds and were about five feet five inches and was skinny as a rail, and their coloring this pale white like they had never been in the sun before. “Hi guys, I’m Jackson. Jackson Masterson, but everybody calls me Jack.” Jackson stood to shake their hands and the guys stepped forward with hands outstretched. The dark haired one started to speak for the two of them. “I’m Marshall and this is Cheyenne. Marshall Reese and Cheyenne Lawson. We grew up together in East Texas. Where are you from Jack?” “Funny you should ask. I am from East Texas as well. Over by Palestine. Where abouts are you guys from in East Texas?” Cheyenne answered for them this time. “We are from over near Tyler and Chandler. Really somewhere in between. We are not that far apart.” “No we’re not. “ Jackson commented when all of a sudden the drill sergeant was there in their faces yelling at them to get into formation and quit dolling around like a bunch of hens. After lunch they are back in formation and headed to the training barracks. The platoons are arriving in fifteen minute intervals. There are big double doors and the two men on the right take the door to the right and the two men on the left take the door to the left and they do that until all seventy are in the training barracks. This place is huge. It is large enough to hold all of the men at the unit at the same time. Some men are running, sit-ups, jump in jacks, running in place, and push-ups. The drill sergeant started barking orders and getting in everyone’s faces again telling what exercises to do. This started a ring effect. As soon as you were done with one exercise you were moved to another. This went on for a couple of hours and then everyone was forced to run in perfect formation for a couple of miles before being allowed to return to their bunks. Jackson was readying his bunk for sleeping when Marshall and Cheyenne came up to him. They were curious as to what he was doing with the bible out on his bed. “Hey Masterson,” Marshall said. “You serious with that book there or is it just for show?” Jackson gave them a confused look because he didn’t know where this conversation was headed. “I am dead serious about it. Jesus is my Lord and Savior and can be yours as well. Would you like to hear the good news about how He can save your life?” “Naw,” Cheyenne said with a smirk on his face. “That holy rollin’ stuff ain’t for me. I have to hear enough of that from my mom as it is. Don’t you go gettin’ any ideas about preaching to me man. I won’t be listening.” With that Cheyenne turned and walked away, but Marshall hung around a bit wanting to talk a little. “So,” Marshall started. “How long have you been a Christian?” “Oh, all my life. I was raised by God fearing Christians and went to church since I was born. How about you? You ever go to church or anything like that?” “A little, but I have kind of backed away from God a little bit in my older years. Found freedom from my parents, ya know what I mean?” Marshall had his head bowed slightly like he was ashamed to be admitting he had strayed from the flock of God and Jackson noticed this. “Well, there is no time like the present to come back to Him Marshall. All you have to do is say the word and I’ll pray with you if you need support.” Jackson was hoping to lead him back to the Lord right then and there, but he was afraid Cheyenne had a little too much influence over Marshall at the time for that to happen. “I’m good for now ya know, but I will keep that in mind. Would you do me a favor though?” Marshall seemed a little nervous to be asking, but he had and now all he could do is wait and see what Jackson would say. “Sure, name it.” Jackson said. “Would you send a letter to my folks back home or deliver it if something happens to me over there?” “Sure thing buddy. I’d be proud to do that for you. I am curious to know why you’re not asking Cheyenne to do it for you though.” “Cheyenne and me, we go way back, but he is a little wild and I am afraid he won’t make it back. He takes too many risk, so I wanted to entrust my letter to someone who might make it back is all.” “Well, I’m glad to do it and I’ll be praying for the two you and if ever you need anything please don’t hesitate to ask, okay Marshall?” “Okay.” WC3253 |
| Chapter | 1 | Chapter two | 3.08k |
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