Page 1 of Wick
Prologue
WICK
Arustling sound wakes me from sleep, and I crack my eyes open to see Damien sitting on the edge of his bed, scribbling on a piece of paper. "What the fuck are you doing up? We have to be up in three hours, man."
Damien looks up from his paper. "Can't sleep."
Sitting up, I swing my legs over the side of my bunk, reach down and snag my cigarettes from the pocket of my pants. Placing the cigarette between my lips, I light it and take a drag. "I've noticed you haven't slept much since you got here."
"You know how it is," Damien shrugs.
Damien's unit landed here in Kabul three weeks ago. I was stoked when I found out we would be finishing out our current deployment together. Damien and I graduated from high school together then shipped off to basic training. Three years after joining the service, Damien and I both were deployed to Afghanistan. That was ten years ago. Then Damien and I fulfilled our aspirations two years ago when we officially became Special Forces. Over the years we served side by side three times. We have eight weeks left with this deployment, and then we get to go home. Damien's lack of sleep this go around is something I have noticed since we've been bunked together. "You want to talk about it?"
The pen in Damien's hand pauses, but he doesn't look up. "Naw. I'm good, man. I'm just restless. Thinking about going home."
I take another drag of my cigarette. "Shit. I hear ya. Eight fuckin' weeks, bro."
Damien and I are silent for a moment before he stops what he's doing and gives me a strange look. "Can I ask you to promise me something, Malik?"
"Of course. You're my best friend, Damien. You name it, and I got your back."
"Promise that if something happens to me, you'll look after Vayda."
My friend's request catches me off guard. I don't want to fathom something happening to him, but because he's my best friend, I agree. "You have my word."
A relieved yet somber look comes over my best friend's face. "I knew I could count on you, Malik."
Damien finishes with what he's writing, folds the paper, and shoves it into an envelope. "One last thing." He pushes the envelope toward me. "In the event I don't make it home, give this to my sister. Give it to her on her wedding day."
A weird feeling settles heavy in my chest at the mention of Vayda getting married. Shaking that thought away, I narrow my eyes at Damien. "You're acting as if something is going to happen to you; like you won't be coming home with me at the end of these eight weeks."
"Look, Malik. I'm sorry I'm suddenly dumping all this heavy shit on you out of the blue. The truth is, I haven't been sleeping well because I got shit on my mind. I'll sleep better knowing my sister is taken care of, and I can't think of a better man for the job than you."
"Fuck, man," I sigh. "Okay. I'm sorry." I take the envelope from his hand. "If something happens, I'll make sure she gets it. But nothing is going to happen. You're going to say whatever is in that letter to Vayda yourself when she marries whatever fucking dickhead she gets with."
"Why do you sound so pissed about my sister's hypothetical husband?" Damien narrows his eyes, but I also see the humor in them.
"Shut up, asshole." I shoved the envelope inside my pants pocket and lay back in my bed. "Can we please get some fuckin' sleep now." What am I supposed to say? Confess to my best friend, I have a thing for his baby sister; that suddenly, the thought of her getting married has me wanting to commit murder. Hell, no. I don't see that shit going over well.
Damien's chuckle is the last thing I hear before falling back to sleep.
* * *
The next daythe sun beats down on us as we walk through a nearly deserted town. The small village was struck about a month ago, and aside from the few families remaining, the place resembles a ghost town. Casualties were high, and half the town's structures were destroyed. Walking on foot while a Humvee follows us, Damien, and myself, along with a couple of other fellow soldiers patrol the streets keeping vigilant of all potential threats. "I can't fucking wait to get through these next eight weeks. After six months we finally get the chance to go home." Damien says with enthusiasm as he walks beside me.
"Two weeks. That’s all we get before they ship our asses off to our next assignment," I remind him.
"Fuck. That's two weeks I get to be with my family, and two weeks I get to spend with my girl back home." Damien grins, bumping my shoulder with his. "You and your folks still plan on celebrating Thanksgiving with us?"
"Yeah. Mom couldn’t stop talking about it in the email she sent last week. Her and my dad have my entire two weeks planned out for me when all I want to do is sleep in a decent bed and fill my belly with my mom's home-cookin'." We come to a stop as we walk upon a stalled truck hauling crates filled with chickens in the middle of the narrow road that goes through town. Damien calls out to the two men standing at the front of the truck, who look around the hood at us. "Move!" He yells in their native language. The men look at him before ignoring his command as they continue to whisper amongst themselves before calling back, telling us the truck will not start.
"Shit," I mumble. "Fixing fuckin' broke down hunks of metal hauling smelly ass foul in the middle of 100-degree weather is not what I signed up for when I wanted to serve my country." Turning to my comrades flanking Damien and myself, I signal I'm going to help so we can continue forward and get our asses back to base. "Come on, let's get this piece of shit moving and out of our way," I tell Damien, and we advance toward the rear of the truck. We don't make it past the back tire when an explosion blinds my vision and propels my body backward, slamming me into a concrete wall.
Disoriented, I look around trying to pinpoint the rest of my team. I shake my head a few times, clearing the cobwebs from my brain.
"Malik!" I faintly hear my name called. "Malik!"
I recognize the detached voice again, before I feel my body being tugged on, and dragged several yards. Damien's face appears in front of mine. He's moving his lips, but through the ringing in my ears I can barely make out what he says. As I come around, and my disorientation dissipates, a searing hot pain like I've never felt before radiates down the entirety of my left side like someone has melted the flesh from my body. "Shit. Hold on, brother. We're going to get you out of here." Damien does his best to assess my injuries as my teeth grind together and I try to push through the pain.
