Chapter 18: Sniper School Sunday 16 September 2007

Khudabah, Pakistan — Morning of day eighteen

Sleeping in a bed was much better than hanging from the ceiling, and would have been almost perfect if the bed didn't have bedbugs and lice in it. It also would have been nice if they hadn't tied me down so tight that I couldn't move. I never thought I'd have to compare, but being bitten by bedbugs and lice is better than the fucking rats trying to eat me. I didn't sleep much better, though; I'm conditioned to vigilance because of the rats, so I still woke up many times during the night...

Today, when the guards and Zarika come in and move me back to my cell for the day, I tell her about the bedbugs and the lice. She looks so pissed. She promises to see what can be done. There is a nice side effect of my condition — when she tells them, the guards stay far away from me for awhile.

Then they come in, tie me back to the ceiling, strip me, and throw buckets of what smells like bleach on me. It hurts like hell when it gets in my eyes and cuts. I want to punch someone.

Now one of them cuts off all my hair. I feel some relief; my hair has been feeling shaggy compared to my normal buzz cut. When they shave me, I almost feel human again. They throw some more bleach water over me, and leave me literally hung out to dry.

Zarika comes in later, after I've dried, and looks at all the bedbug bites, putting ointment on the worst ones. She checks me to make sure she can't find any lice. It's embarrassing to have her examining my privates, but I sure as hell am glad it's her, and not one of the towelheads.

When she's decided I'm clean, she gives me new pants and has the guards tie me to the chair. She redresses the rat bites and the bruises and cuts on my face. She says she's already eaten, but she goes and gets some food for me and feeds me.

Hussein and Mustif come in after I'm cleaned up and fed. Hussein apologizes about the bed and assures me they've burnt the mattress and found me a new one to sleep on tonight. He asks if I feel better today, and I tell him it is still a good day to die.

He hit Mustif and called him some names after I said that. Hussein and Zarika leave me with Mustif, and he has the guards untie my left hand. We play chess for most of the day. Mustif keeps trying to talk to me, but I ignore him.

It really pisses him off, and he shoves the chessmen and chessboard onto the floor, pulls out his syringe, and gives me an injection that puts me in dreamland again.

Then he starts asking me questions and I started giving him bullshit, but seems happy that I'm talking again. I wonder what Hussein will do to him when he finds out that Mustif drugged me again.

As if he knows what I'm thinking, he assures me that if I tell anyone about getting drugged, he'll come back at night and kill me. The look in his eyes leaves no doubt that he's serious. He injects me three more times with lighter doses.

When Zarika walks in with our food, she can tell with a glance that I've been drugged. She turns to leave, to tell Hussein, but Mustif grabs her and threw her to the floor. Then he gets really close to her and hisses something in her ear that really scares her. The son of a bitch, stood up and kicked her twice before he left, laughing.

I'm going to kill that bastard some day.

Zarika is frowning and her eyes shine with tears she's holding back. I hold her in my lap and stroke her hair with my free hand. When she simmers down about ten minutes later, she tells me that Mustif threatened to kill her and that he is dangerous.

We eat in silence, both still upset. I can't stand that this one decent thing in our captivity is being stolen by that asshole's actions. I start telling Zarika some stories about America to cheer her up. She is really interested in Jens. I think she has a little crush on me. Shit, I think I'm the only man who's ever treated her with respect, so I can understand it happening.

Zarika checks the bed for bugs when the guards come in and take me up to it. The guards tie me just as tight as last night; I guess they're afraid I will escape. I'd be afraid of that, too, if I had abused a US Marine. I'll kill them if I get the chance, and they know it.

Worst of all, they are keeping me from Jens.

Kaneohe Bay Hawaii — Sunday Day Sixteen

Jens sure knows how to wake a guy up. She was hugging me tight and had me in a serious lip lock with lots of tongue.

I held her and returned her kisses. Things escalated until we finally come up for air.

"Good morning my fiancé", Jens said. "It's about time that you woke up, sleepyhead. I got tired of waiting for my morning kiss."

"I've never been woken up like that before, but it was pretty nice." I answered. I held her to my chest and started sniffing in her ear like a puppy dog, tickling her until she was thrashing around and trying to escape. I held on tight and kept it up for several minutes.

Finally Jens squeaked, "I'm going to pee my pants if you don't stop!"

Not wanting to cause an accident, I relented.

With a quick kiss, she jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom. I made the bed and headed into my bathroom to get ready for the day. As I went through the living room to my bedroom, I heard Jens singing in the kitchen, so I made a detour.

Jens was busy making breakfast. She was wearing her short shorts and a t-shirt and was barefoot. When she turned sideways to me, I saw that she had stuffed a shirt inside of her t-shirt and looked pregnant.

Smiling at me, she said, "Tell me, don't you fantasize about keeping me barefoot and pregnant?" She laughed.

It was a good thing I didn't have a cup of coffee; I would have choked again, I was laughing so hard.

"I guess I hadn't thought about it."

Jens started pouting.

"But I do have to say you're the most beautiful 'pregnant' woman I've ever seen," I added.

She smiled and tried to hug me, but her fake belly got in the way so she pulled out the t-shirt and let it fall to the floor. She hugged me tight, even picking me up.

I teased, "I didn't think pregnant women were supposed to lift heavy objects."

"Oh, I guess you're right," Jens answered. "Perhaps I should just sit down and let you do everything." She put me back on the floor. I scooped her up, making her squeal with surprise, carried her over to her chair, and sat her down.

"No problem my princess. You just sit your cute butt in that chair, and I'll finish breakfast." I took over cooking.

"I'm your princess and I have a cute butt?" Jens asked.

"Of course you're my princess, and yes, your butt is very cute. Why do you think I let you run in front of me? It's not because you're faster."

Jens answered, "Oh lawdy me, Ah do believe Ah've been abducted by a lecherous old ma-yan who only wants me for my body."

I replied talking like a pirate, "That's wrong thinking, missy, I's a pirate and I'm only after yer booty."

She broke into laughter and choked on her coffee. I hurried over and whacked her back until she stopped choking.

"Hey, you make a pretty good pirate." She winked. "Perhaps you'd like to plunder my treasure?"

Seeing me turn red, she laughed. "You're so cute when you blush."

I ignored her comment and finished cooking the oatmeal. When I served the toast and cereal, Jens started to pray, so I bowed my head.

Curiosity was killing me. I had to ask. "My honey and my love, (she got a worried look on her face) I don't want to upset you, but I'm wondering why you pray every time before you eat."

She smiled and placed her hand on mine. "I wondered when you were going to ask me about that. So, you finally got brave enough? I bet you know me well enough to answer this, but I'll tell you anyway.

"I looked at things and analyzed all the information and came to the conclusion that this world couldn't have happened by an accident or by evolution. It was created by a superior being. Your Cherokee ancestors called him Unayquah or Great Spirit, my ancestors called him God.

"I'm convinced that He put both of us on the Earth at this time to be together." She chuckled. "You might say that 'we're on a mission from God.'" She imitated the Blues Brothers.

Then she was in earnest again, and squeezed my hand. "I'm also sure that He protected you on some missions before we became a couple. So when I pray, I just thank Him for the food he has given us, and I thank Him for you. In time you will acknowledge Him."

I was relieved to get that question out of the way. It was much easier than I'd thought it would be. I wasn't sure about the 'acknowledge' part, but what she said made some sense.

"Thanks, my love," Jens said, reading my feelings. "Of course we will never fight about this, but I do know there will come a time that you'll meet Him."

Jens smiled at me, "See, it's getting easier for you." And yes, it was, that had happened without really trying.

I leaned back and thought about the plans for the day. We needed to clean up the house and get our weapons and ourselves ready for the sniper competition on Monday. Plus, the General and Mrs. Donaldson were going to stop by later along with our advertising firm. Shit, I could hardly believe that we need an advertising firm. It was just so strange.

If we had time later, a swim in the bay would be nice...

Jens picked right up on that. "That sounds like a good plan to me, and it does seem strange that we have an advertising firm. I'm not sure how to feel about that. But I do trust Daddy, and if he feels that we need this, then I believe him."

Then I felt her thinking, "A moonlight swim in the nude would be nice," And I started blushing. She just gave me a mischievous look, winked at me, and smiled.

Damn, she's even teasing me in my mind now.

Jens grinned. "You better believe it!"

I cleaned up the breakfast dishes and Jens headed off to start cleaning the rest of the house. By the time she took care of her bathroom and our bedroom, I was done with the dishes and did my bathroom and the living room. We met together in the kitchen to finish.

I could resist snapping her cute butt with a wet dishtowel, and that got us into a wrestling match on the kitchen floor, which of course ended up with us hugging and kissing each other.

"It's a good thing we have a clean floor in here, as much as we roll around on it," Jens said. "I can't wait till we're married; I plan attacking you and screwing your brains out in every room of our cabin. I hear that washing machines are especially nice." She batted her violet eyes at me.

"So tell me, just how much research did you do on sex?" I asked.

She winked at me. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"Shit, the way you're talking, you might screw me to death." I laughed.

"At least you'd die with a smile on your face," she chuckled.

Again, I was at a loss for words, so I started nibbling her neck.

She tried to wriggle away. "Hey, no fair, you're getting me all hot and bothered, and we can't do anything about it," Jens complained. She was squirming and moaning, but I had her pinned, and I was enjoying how she felt.

She stopped wriggling and locked gazes with me. "Listen, mister: you'd better stop, or I'm going to rape you."

I decided I'd better let up, but I couldn't resist giving her one more good bite and a hickey.

"Did you just give me a hickey?" Jens asked. "I've always wondered what it would feel like. I really liked it. Let me up so I can go see."

Thankful that she was distracted, I let her up.

She ran to the bathroom, and within seconds, I heard, "Whooo hooooo! My first hickey. I can't wait to show mom."

Oh great — she does tell her mother everything.

I finished up the little bit of the kitchen that we had left and went in our bedroom. She was still admiring the hickey. "Of course I tell mom everything," she answered my thoughts. "And yes, I'll even tell her what a wonderful lover you are after our honeymoon."

I just shook my head in resignation and went to the extra bedroom to start working on the weapons.

Jens came in a couple minutes later. "Sorry, my love, but Mom has been my only real friend. That's why I tell her everything. I was so far advanced in school there were no girls my age that I could talk to, so Mom just took over that role. You don't have to worry. She loves you; you have impressed her by making me wait until we're married.