The alarm on the nightstand went off awaking Carbine at 4 a.m. He turned to the alarm with hazed eyes. The sheets were on the floor because the night was blazing in the summer time on base. The alarm on the alarm clock continued to pulse with irritating blares. Carbine slammed his fist on top of the alarm and it turned off instantly. The house was still pitch black with the night and the heat was still making the atmosphere feel like an oven. Carbine swung himself off the bed feet first and landed on the polished wood floor. He felt around the wall to find the light switch, stumbling in the dark. He found the switch around the left edge around the door of the closet. Carbine flipped the switch and was nearly blinded by the vivid light the LED lights in the ceiling gave off. “Stupid lights, I need to get those changed.” He grumbled.

He slowly approached the voice message machine on the counter next to the restroom sink and pressed the red button. The monotone computer generated voice echoed throughout the room, “You have one new message. Received on June 30th, 2013 at 3:15 a.m. Sent by Mark Snarks.” Carbine began to brush his teeth as the machine relayed the message from Mark, “Hey, man! One hell of a party last night! I just wanted to remind you that the parade is today at 6:00 a.m. at the air field.” Carbine spat out the water in his mouth after almost choking on it from his surprise about the parade. “I am so excited that we are getting deployed today! I get to put all my training you gave me to use! Well, see you there bud!” The message stopped and the monotone voice came back on, “end of messages.”

“SHIT! The parade!” Carbine said in an exasperated voice, “I can’t believe I forgot! I need to get ready and get out!” As he shaved and he combed his hair he had a thought, “Why would Mark want to get deployed? He hasn’t seen the hell I went through. Each fight with the Robotnik’s gets worse every time we have a victory. Kid is going to find out pretty quick that there is nothing cheerful about war. Once he sees his own blood or another’s he will see the seriousness of the matter.” He hit a knot in his hair, “argh!” He tugged on the knot and pulled it out. Carbine turned off the bathroom light and shut the door. He ran to the closet and pulled out his BDU’s (Battle Dress Uniform) and his black boots and threw them on. Carbine tucked in his pant legs into the boots and proceeded to polish the boots thoroughly till they were reflective and looked like plastic.

“Alright, I’m out of here.” He grabbed his keys, rifle and helmet then shut the door behind him and locked it. He sprinted down the white hall way with his boots pounding into the steel floor. He slid his helmet on and tightened it as he cascaded down the steep steps of the stairs leading to the main floor. He stopped for a second and looked behind him, “I swore I saw… never mind. I am going to be late.” He pushed the door open and walked into the beaming sun. The day was bright and beautiful, the birds sang, the children at the park nearby were laughing and the fountains water sprinkled like liquid gold. Carbine jumped into his Humvee and took a look at the scenery and smiled, “This is what we are fighting for.” He drove out of the drive way and headed east to the air field.

Meanwhile, Shadow and his wife Tamber were sitting in chairs inside the auditorium waiting for the parade to begin. “Why do we even have the military? I’m pretty sure we can hold our own. These men and women are needlessly dying for this land.” Shadow said with a concerned face. Tamber retorted, “Shadow! They are not wasting their lives! They are fighting to make the world a better place so that their children, our children and other’s children can live in peace and so that our lives aren’t always hell! Give them the respect they deserve Shadow.” Shadow looked at her then looked at the clear sky and turned to her again and nodded.

Carbine arrived inside the flight hanger and jumped out of the Humvee and took his place as the leader of the parade. He saw the crowd that was waiting in anticipation for the performance. Mark was in the front row and tapped Carbine on the shoulder, “Dude! You were this close to being late” he made a gesture with two of his fingers as if he was pinching the air. Carbine turned around with a serious face and said, “Don’t speak at all during the parade kid, now is the time to be serious.” Mark stuck his nose in the air in abrupt disrespect. Carbine rolled his eyes and looked at the rest of the unit. He nodded at the band to begin the drum roll and set the beat.

Carbine then sounded off, “FORWARD, MARCH!” and the entire unit and he marched out into the sun and the crowd began to cheer and whistle. “LEFT FLANK, MARCH!” Carbine yelled and the the whole unit made a left turn and kept marching. They reached the front of the auditorium and Carbine sounded off again, “UNIT, HALT!” the unit and Carbine stopped marching and stood at attention and the band stopped, waiting for Shadow’s speech.

The crowd grew silent and Shadow stood up to the pedestal and tapped the microphone to check if it was on. He looked to the crowd then at the group of soldiers in front of him. “Welcome, 11th devil cat unit. I have come to wish you men and women luck to have yet another great victory against the Robotnik’s. Your service and your dedication are greatly appreciated and we will miss you all while you are away. The one thing that keeps us from living a life in hell is people like you who choose to defend the land you love, that we all love. This unit has earned my respect multiple times including their great leader Carbine Striks who has led over twenty successful missions in a row and has left his mark on history as the only leader to lead more than 13 successful missions in a row. Give him a round of applause. The crowd screeched, whistled and clapped, Shadow and Tamber clapped with satisfaction and impressment upon their faces.

Shadow and Tamber stopped clapping and the crowd fell silent. Shadow grinned at the soldier’s and closed with one last statement that repeated in the minds of the men and women in the unit, “Give them hell Devil Cats.” The crowd went nuts and Shadow sat back down in his chair and Tamber kissed him, “You did great darling” Shadow smiled and kissed her back, “thank you.”

Carbine turned around and sounded off, “LEFT, FACE!” the entire unit turned to the left and stood at attention. “FORWARD, MARCH!” Carbine shouted and the unit marched towards the helo’s that were set and ready to fly to their destination. Carbine turned and faced the unit and sounded off, “READY, ARMS!” everyone in the unit pointed their weapons diagonally in the air. Carbine sounded off again, “READY! FIRE, SALUTE!” the unit simultaneously fired their weapons once. “ORDER! ARMS!” Carbine yelled and they all retrieved their weapons into stand by position. Carbine had a satisfied look on his face and yelled, “UNIT! FALL OUT! GET TO YOUR RESPECTIVE AIRCRAFT!”

The unit broke apart and climbed aboard the black helicopters. Mark got in the same one as Carbine with a scared expression on his face. Carbine grinned, “Nervous kid?” Mark nodded, “yeah. Kind of, I have been having second thoughts.” Carbine laughed, “Like you had a first thought! Hahaha! Don’t chicken out kid, alright?” Mark snapped back to his serious face and nodded, Carbine always knew how to motivate him. Carbine looked out of the bullet proof window and watched as the city faded away as the helicopters headed West to their destination of their deployment.

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