The Severance Read Online Free

all over him.
    “So what did you do, Westbrook?” one of the soldiers asked.
    “My name is Eastman.”
    “Whatever you say, guy. Now what did you do?”
    “I assaulted a lieutenant,” Big Joe said softly. The one time in his whole life that he’d gotten angry had been the one time that he’d needed to show restraint and had been the one time he hadn’t.
    “How ’bout you? What did you do?” another of the soldiers asked Benakowsky.
    “Don’t be an asshole, dude. Mind your business,” Bena replied. The soldier was not dissuaded.
    “I’m not being an asshole, whatcha do?” the soldier asked again.
    “I went AWOL and tried to go to Canada,” Bena answered. His round, dimpled face wasn’t built for frowning. He looked more like a child than a hardened combat veteran.
    “How’d you get caught?” the soldier asked.
    “I didn’t have a passport. I didn’t know you needed a passport to get into Canada,” Bena replied. The soldiers standing across from Bena and Big Joe cackled in laughter. Bena wasn’t a pushover like Joe, but the first rule in the Kodiak platoon was that the only fighting they were allowed to do was against the enemy. Bena and Big Joe stood there awkwardly, as the other soldiers called them screw-ups and idiots. The rest of the Kodiak platoon shook their heads and grumbled under their breath. They were all used to this kind of treatment. Finally, one of the other soldiers stopped laughing long enough to ask another question.
    “What keeps you guys in line?”
    “The battalion commander said if we performed well he’d give us General Discharges Under Honorable Conditions instead of the Bad Conduct and Other than Honorable Discharges,” Big Joe answered, before Bena could stop him.
    “So they’re letting you off?” the soldier asked.
    “Well, no. The commander told us we’d get some of our veterans’ benefits, but no G.I. Bill. But it’s the best deal we could get,” Joe answered. The other soldiers laughed harder. One of them pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
    “Please don’t smoke out here,” Joe said.
    “Why the fuck not?”
    “Because the Taliban can see the cherry for miles around. It’s really dangerous,” Joe said.
    “Are you fucking stupid? We killed all the Taliban out here,” the soldier said and took a long drag. The burning end of the cigarette glowed even brighter.
    “You’re going to get us in trouble,” Joe said meekly.
    “Don’t be a freaking Nancy, West—” Suddenly from nowhere a gloved hand snatched the cigarette from the soldier’s mouth and crushed it. In a flash, the soldier was nose to nose with the hand’s owner.
    “Eastman, his name is Eastman!” the man barked.
    “Huh?”
    “I said his name is Eastman! Now say it!”
    “Say what?” the soldier said, voice trembling.
    “Are you fucking stupid? Say Eastman!”
    “Eastman.”
    “Call him anything other than Eastman and I’ll knock your fucking head off, get it?”
    “No, yes! I won’t mess his name up again!” the soldier said, taking a pigeon step back. The other man wasn’t finished.
    “Now, what my large friend here failed to mention is that there are more than six goddamn Taliban in this fucking country. They are everywhere and always watching, and for a group of guys that spent its first firefight in a fucking ditch, you talk a lot of shit! Do yourself a favor and shut up!” the man said, sticking his index finger in the soldier’s face.
    Then he turned and gave Joe a gentle pound on his front ballistic plate.
    “You doing all right, Joe?”
    “I’m all right, Sir,” Big Joe replied.
    “Don’t let these jerks pick on you. You did a brave thing tonight. They give you any more shit you come find me, okay?”
    “Yes, Sir,” Joe said and the man walked off toward the front of the formation.
    “Who the hell was that?” the soldier asked, still trembling.
    “That was Captain Roberts. Our platoon leader,” Bena replied casually.
    “Our platoon leader doesn’t