Page 27 of Metal & Mud

Better than having a workout bag that smelled like vinegar and cheese.

"We just had a long day at work, and when I got to the gym I had to push a little harder to keep up with the big boys. They've got a rule on Friday nights. Once the plates go on the bar, they don't come off," Jess replied, opening the fridge and grabbing a carton of milk. "So I had to take a few extra hits of the smelling salts and really ramp it up tonight. Sorry, I should have texted you."

"It's okay, your dinner's in the microwave," Sabby said, relieved. "But you might be able to just go at it as is. I made shredded chicken enchiladas."

"Oh great!" Jess said happily before opening the carton of milk and draining what was left in it. A rivulet escaped her mouth to drip down her chin and onto her t-shirt, which Jess insisted on frustratingly calling a 'pump cover.' Why? Seriously, it wasn't like 'pump cover' was any easier to say than... 'shirt.'

So why?

Sabby put up with it, it was such a minor issue. Jess then proceeded to engage in the sort of behavior that only sisters would be comfortable with, quickly stripping butt naked in the kitchen in order to add her soaked workout clothes to the load in the washer. Dropping the carton in the trash, Jess walked towards the back, and Sabby had to chuckle. For someone who spent so much time working out and had the delts and arms to prove it, Jess had an Adams's butt... just larger because of the big muscles underneath the peach.

"So what was so hard at work?" Sabby called out to Jess as she decided to pop the microwave on for thirty seconds. Enchiladas in sauce were definitely one of those foods that could take the microwave, and warm cheese was better than cold every day of the week.

"Nothing really hard, we just had to go a little late," Jess called from her bedroom, coming out a minute later in a pair of Army PT shorts and a string tank top that did little to cover anything but her nipples. "In fact, I'm going to need to change our weekend plans."

"Awww!" Sabby said, trying not to whine even before she knew why their plans had to change. "But you promised we could to the movies together! You know I hate showing up for a movie alone like some sort of weeb who lives in their parents' basement!"

"I know, and I know you know I hate going fifty miles out of the way to watch some weird Japanese or Korean sci-fi horror flick that won't ever get released on Netflix even," Jess countered. "In this case though, I can't help it. Duty situation."

"One you can tell me about?" Sabby asked hopefully. If Jess could tell her about it, she wasn't putting her life in danger... excessively. "Or is it secret?"

"Not this time," Jess said, opening the microwave and taking out her large plate of enchiladas. Taking a sniff, she smiled. "You found some spice."

"Amazon delivery," Sabby said with a grin. "So what's going on?"

"I get to go play the bad guy for the next six days," Jess said. "There's a National Guard group that just arrived on post for their summer training. They've got field maneuvers for the next week. But the unit that was supposed to be their opposing force apparently came down with a virus."

"A virus?" Sabby asked, concerned. "Covid?"

"Probably not, not with the symptoms Major Kirk described. But whatever it was knocked them on their asses," Jess said. "Best guess, it was another National Guard unit and there was something in the water or the food when they got here. Or hell, they just didn't clean their gear properly, and so there was something in the system that they ate. Whatever, I didn't get the deets on it."

"Oh, okay," Sabby replied. While frustrating, she understood the situation better now. "So what do you have to do?"

"Well, in some ways it'll be nice for us," Jess said with a little hint of eagerness. Whatever she was doing, she thought it was going to be fun. "Most days, I'll be getting up at around six, going into the unit, grabbing our gear and heading out to where we'll be performing ambushes on National Guard patrols. It's going to be a lot of running around in the woods, shooting guns and having fun."

"Fun?" Sabby asked, and Jess nodded. "I mean, I guess."

"Trust me babe, we're going to be having a blast," Jess assured her. Talking around a mouthful of enchilada, she continued talking. "We get to just shoot people and do some hardcore fighting shit, but then at the end of the day we're going to be back sleeping in our own beds."

"Really?" Sabby asked, pleased with that answer. "So you're going to work a normal day?"

"Not quite, there's going to be nighttime ambushes and other stuff that'll have me in and out of here at some weird hours," Jess admitted. "That was part of the reason I really went at it hard with the big guys at the gym, I'm going to be going catch as catch can with that and might only be able to work in one full body lift just to keep things rolling."

"Well, that's better than your mission six months ago," Sabby pointed out. "You were gone for like, three weeks and came back saying you didn't do anything the whole time."

"Nothing but a butt-ton of calisthenics," Jess corrected her, shaking her head at the memory. "All that sitting around for two fucking day's worth of action."

"At least you came back with a nice tan, which is about the only clue I've got as to where the fuck you were," Sabby pointed out. "So I guess it'll be nice to let yourself come home at night. Better food, hopefully?"

"Oh for damn sure," Jess admitted with a grin. "Although I might ask you to keep it to a shred diet for me this week. I think I can peel a little bit of fat from the muscle this upcoming week."

"As long as you don't expect me to survive on chicken, broccoli, and brown rice along with you. I'm quite happy with my bodyfat levels, thank you very much," Sabby said. Thankfully, she always kept some chicken in the fridge for her sister in case things did happen. "So when's this going to wrap up?"

"Well, from what I was told, after tomorrow afternoon through Thursday and all of those wonky hours, Friday morning we're going to swap places. Charlie Company's going to be on the defensive in one of the training 'villages' out by range eight or ten, and it'll be a morning of them attacking us, urban combat throughout," Jess said. "We'll probably get wiped out, but fuck it."

"Why would you get wiped out?" Sabby asked, genuinely confused. "You guys are great. You should be able to take out a battalion of National Guard troops, right?"

"Yeah... but here's a bit of a secret I can share," Jess admitted. "The evaluators for these things, they're going to try and push the National Guard guys without embarrassing them. So as we go through the week, they're going to slowly put restrictions on what we can do, while they're going to be given a few boosts."

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