The Severance by Elliott Sawyer Read Free Book Online Page A

with Jake and McBride to help man the radios for three-hour shifts.
    Later that night, Bena put down the paperback book he’d been reading and leaned back in his metal folding chair. The tiny desk lamp he’d been using to read was not a substantial light source. He still had another hour and a half before his shift ended. Bena let out a long yawn and rubbed his weary eyes. In past boring moments, Bena would gaze fondly at the picture of his wife that he kept in his notebook, but after she ran off with a neighbor, he’d thrown that picture away.
    “Fucking whore,” Bena muttered to himself, allowing his eyes to close for just an instant longer than normal. He just needed a minute to rest and he’d be fine.
    Out of nowhere, a banging reverberated on the roof of the tiny shack. The entire structure shook with the force of an impact. Bena fell out of his chair, making more thunderous clanging as the chair hit the floor.
    “Wake up, Benakowsky!” the small handheld radio on the table barked. He could hear a roar of laughter from the soldiers on the guard towers outside the shack. Gasping for breath, he looked down at his wristwatch. Twenty minutes had passed in what had seemed like an instant. He snatched the radio off the table.
    “I-I wasn’t asleep. I just accidently kicked over the chair,” Bena said. The laughter outside intensified.
    “Oh, I see. So you’ve been ignoring us for the last ten minutes, while we’ve thrown used double A batteries at the shack. That last one was a can of soup by the way,” the voice said again. It was Sergeant Nelson, an imposing man.
    “S-sorry about that Sergeant, is everything okay out there?” Bena asked sheepishly.
    “Oh, everything is just grand out here. Now if you don’t mind, could you bring me some more batteries, please?”
    “Okay, be right there.” Bena said, setting down his radio and grabbing a handful of new double A batteries. Turning around, he saw both Captain Roberts and Sergeant McBride sitting up on their cots. Sergeant McBride glared at Benakowsky, shaking his head slowly, while Captain Roberts bit his fist to suppress his laughter.
    “Tell you what, Bena, I’ll take the batteries,” Jake said, reaching down to grab his body armor and weapon.
    “And while the captain is out, I’ll see if I can wake you up a little bit,” McBride growled.
    With his vest on and weapon secured, Jake took the batteries from the soldier and turned to the door.
    “Need about 30,” McBride muttered, rising to his feet. Jake nodded, shrugging his shoulders indifferently as he walked out of the shack. Aside from a few hundred push-ups and a little verbal abuse, Benakowsky would be no worse for wear.
    The rickety old ladder groaned under Jake’s weight and his equipment as he climbed to the top of the perimeter wall. Once at the top, Jake carefully walked over to what he hoped was the right fighting position.
    “How you guys doing?” he said, sliding into the hardened fighting position.
    “We’re pretty good, Sir. We’ll be even better if you brought batteries,” Sergeant Nelson said. Jake reached into his cargo pocket and handed over the new batteries. Nelson examined the batteries for a moment, then gave them to Big Joe who was manning his M240 with a thermal scope attached. Big Joe immediately took the cover off the battery compartment and began loading the new batteries.
    “How long have you been blind up here?” Jake asked.
    “We didn’t lose the thermal scope at all. The battery indicator came on like ten minutes ago saying we needed new ones. That’s when we called and didn’t get an answer,” Joe said. Jake nodded his head thoughtfully as he surveyed the small fighting position the two soldiers had been sharing.
    “I hope you guys don’t mind if I hang with you for a few minutes. Sergeant McBride is reinvigorating Bena,” Jake said, sitting down and leaning his carbine against the wall.
    “Oh, no problem at all, Sir. I’d offer you a can of soup,