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eyes were only inches apart. “No time for hero shit. You have to guard his six o’clock! If those alien fucks are down there, you could make him a sittin’ duck if go all chicken-shit and try to run home to your momma!”
    I knocked his hand away, freeing myself, I could feel my upper lip snarling. I didn’t like him touching me. He had put his hands on me too many times as it was.
    “There ya go…can you feel those nuts finally dropping?” Keller said mockingly.
    “Fuck you,” I blurted out.
    “Ooh, somebody thinks they’re a badass now.”
    “Shut your holes! Both of you!” Buckley said. “Let’s go, kid.”
    We stayed on our bellies, crawling through the brush till we neared a drainage ditch on the side of the road. Buckley had climbed to his feet, squatting down behind a tree. So I did what he did and took my place beside him.
    “In the ditch,” he said shoving me.
    As I took that first step the icy ground gave way. I went down face first into the ice and snow, rolling up into a ball when I hit the bottom.
    “Smooth, dickhead,” he hissed at me.
    Looking back at him, I observed the proper way to do it. It was like he was playing baseball, sliding into second base. He slid down the steep slope feet first, but when he hit bottom he was swiftly back into a squatting position.
    “Get your ass up!” he said, gritting his teeth. “Stay three meters off my six. When I stop, you stop; when I move, you move. Got it?”
    “Yes sir,” I whispered back.
    We made our way down that hill slowly, Buckley stopping every so often and motioning for me to get down on my belly while he checked over the edge of the ditch. When the coast was clear, he’d point at his eyes and then in front of him, signaling for me to follow.
    Once we ran out of ditch, he dragged me back into the woods. We only had a small field, fifty yards or so, to cover before hitting where the back gate used to be.
    Buckley clicked off his rifle’s safety. I thought he wanted me to do the same thing, but he covered my hand. As I looked up, he shook his head no. I didn’t understand how I was supposed to cover him if I couldn’t fire my weapon.
    “Stay here. Don’t make a sound. Keep your eyes forward and watch for me,” he whispered before sprinting off through the woods to our left.
    He was only gone a few minutes before reappearing in front me, crawling across the frozen terrain, holding his rifle in front of him and pushing snow as he went. When he hit the gate he sat up, placing his back against the concrete wall. With a quick twist, he turned upward onto his knees to face the wall, his rifle drawn and sticking though a blown-out section as he swept the area. I was impressed with how clean his movements were. With a blink of the eye, he sprang back to a sitting position. He signaled for me to come to him, so I started crawling in the same way that he had. But that wasn’t what he wanted. He angrily gestured for me to stop, get up, and run. I rose up, trying to run, but my feet slipped as the snow gave way. The more I stumbled, the angrier Buckley got.
    I collapsed next to him. “Sorry,” I breathed out.
    His hand immediately covered my mouth, “Control your breathing,” he said in my ear as eased his hand away.
    “What now?” I asked.
    “We’re going through that hole, I’ll go first and you’ll take position behind me. When I signal all clear, you come through.”
    “Got it.”
    Like a cat, he was up and through the hole. Much to his distaste, I grunted as I tried to copy what he had done earlier, my rifle banging against the concrete. He tilted his head sideways looking back at me, flipping me the bird.
    Way to go dickhead , I thought. I was pissed at myself. I told that cocksucker on the hill that I was capable of doing this and now I keep screwing it up.
    I went through the hole and followed him through the rubble of burnt-out buildings, upside-down vehicles, and a few of what I thought were dead bodies. It was hard to