“Another time, alright?” he asked.
Taylor took a few steps to go past them, but one of the MDF soldiers shuffled along to block his path.
“Let him be!” Kelly ordered.
The despondent soldier glared into Taylor’s eyes before the Commander shouted his command a little louder.
“Lieutenant Perera, step aside!”
Taylor didn’t remember ever meeting the younger officer, but he could see the hatred in the man’s eyes.
Perera moved aside and watched Mitch like a hawk as he avoided eye contact and shuffled on towards the restrooms. Jeez, thought Taylor. Save the fucking world and they’re still not happy.
As he stood relieving himself, he thought back to his last battle. The killing of Karadag should have been an event to celebrate for years to come, but it did not bring the satisfaction he sought.
The doors swung open behind him, and he caught a glimpse of Jones staggering in to stand at the receptacle beside him. The Captain had a delirious grin on his face and was drunk enough to have forgotten the horrors he had seen for just a while.
“We moving out?” he slurred.
“That’s right. To Reims.”
“They got better beer there?”
Taylor chuckled.
“Captain Reyes reckons he can score a few kegs of English ale for us. I told him you might be interested.”
Jones turned and looked in amazement.
“No shit?”
“Hey, if it can be done, I’ll have it.”
“Feels could to kick back and enjoy life a bit, don’t you think?”
Taylor thought for a moment before mumbling in agreement. He couldn’t think of a town or a country he even wanted to be. All he wanted was Eli and to leave it all behind. He loved the Company and all the friendship within it. But their faces reminded him every day of all those he would never see again.
“The Major believes the Krycenaeans are far from gone,” said Taylor.
“Ah fuck it, they’re not here now, are they?”
Taylor smiled. He’d never seen the British Captain be so vulgar and casual. It was a relief to see life return to his eyes. It made him wonder why he felt so down. Jones had been through all he had and worse, and yet was in a better place emotionally.
“How do you do it?” asked Mitch.
“What?”
“Put all this behind you and move forward?”
Jones grimaced as he thought back to his horrifying experience as a prisoner of the invaders. He tried to smile through it, but Taylor could see the pain still burning inside.
“There’s nothing else to do, is there? You can wallow in it all and become a head case like I did, or man the fuck up.”
Taylor’s eyebrow lifted as he turned his head and looked at his old friend in surprise. For a moment he had sounded like the forever cool headed Captain Friday. It was a sad reminder of the loss of one good friend, but a pleasant experience to see the return of another. Jones stepped past and patted him on the back.
“Come on, Mitch, this ain’t half bad. War’s over, and we can finally enjoy ourselves a little.”
Taylor finished up and strode over to the washbasins as Jones left the room. He cupped water from the tap and splashed it over his face. The cool clear water instantly gave him a wake up kick. He breathed in deeply as he tried to relax and settle down. For all the time he had wanted to see the war end, having to confront a new life of peace was more difficult than he expected.
He walked past the drier and shook his hands off as he stepped back out into the bar. Within a few metres, he was once again stopped by one of the MDF servicemen. Lieutenant Perera stood before him with an angry face and a bottle held at its neck by his side. Taylor shook his head. He only wanted to return to Eli and enjoy the rest of the evening.
“Come on, man, give me a break,” Taylor snarled.
“You were there when it all began. You were there and could have helped,” replied Perera. “Where were you when our people were butchered, and we fled for our lives?” he spat.
Taylor shook his head in astonishment. He couldn’t help but feel that after everything he had done, he didn’t owe the man anything. He looked down away from the Lieutenant’s angry eyes and could not find any words to utter.
“The deaths of our people are on you! You could have helped!”
Mitch could feel the anger brewing inside as he was being condemned for not saving the lives of people he could never have helped. Perera stood tall in front of him and awaited an answer. Finally, Taylor looked up and stared into his eyes. A frown grew in his face as his tolerance of the man seeped away.
“I have done everything in my power to save as many lives as possible. Why don’t you take some fucking responsibility and stop acting like a pussy?” growled Taylor.
Perera’s face went red with anger, and he took a wild and uncontrolled hook for Mitch’s face. The Major was a little dulled by the alcohol but no more so than the Lieutenant. He ducked under the strike and drove an uppercut into the man’s stomach. As the man reeled in pain, he yanked him back upright and drove a push kick into his torso that threw Perera back across the room and tumbling into several other MDF soldiers.
Before Taylor could marvel at his work, he felt a sharp pain as a punch connected with the side of his jaw. His stumbled a few paces before regaining his balance. Kelly stood there with his guard up and firmly ready to defend his colleague.
“Get ‘em!” shouted Monty.
The bar burst into action as a melee erupted. Taylor was rushed by two of the Moon soldiers who came between him and Kelly and tackled him to the ground. He struggled to get them off but was trapped under their weight. He punched up into the flank of one to soften him up, and the man yelped in pain but did not move. He lifted his knee and smashed it into the same man’s chest that made him gasp for air. The other punched him hard in the face. His head bounced off the ground, and his vision blurred for a moment. He gritted his teeth and thrust upward, striking the man on the edge of his chin. His head recoiled backwards but quickly recovered.
Taylor struggled to get free but could not get out of the grasp of the two men who stubbornly refused to move, no matter how much he softened them up. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jones rush across the room and launch one of the men across the room with a brutal kick. Mitch cut down with a knife hand to the other man’s collar, quickly incapacitated him. Jones hauled Mitch to his feet, and they looked around for their next targets.
“Can’t take you anywhere,” Jones smiled.
Over a dozen soldiers were engaged in an all out battle across the bar with others joining in as it spread. Jones turned to face off against an incoming bunch as Taylor squared up against his next opponent. The MDF soldier before him was a woman, a fact that made him hesitate for a moment. She saw the opening and jabbed him hard to the face, and blood burst from his nose. He turned back with a smile as the blood gleamed on his teeth, her feistiness amusing him.
The woman thrust another strike forwards, but Taylor voided it and took a hold on her arm, wrenching her forward. As she was launched off her feet towards him, he drove a knee into her stomach and quickly followed it with a left to the jaw that knocked her to the ground. He looked up with a smile to revel in the destruction but was met with a snooker cue being wrapped around his face.
Taylor staggered back and tripped over the woman’s body, landing hard on his back. The cue had snapped and splintered off. The impact had been taken on his left cheek and side of his head, momentarily disorientating him. He got to his feet and took a wild swing at another soldier that sent them both off balance and the other man flat on his face to the floor.
He turned around and swayed to one side causing him to stagger and fall into a table. He could feel blood trickling down his face and more than a little dizzy. Sirens rang out from outside the building, quickly followed by the cries of the Military Police as they rushed into the complex with stun batons. He ducked under a strike from one of the batons and hit the officer with an uppercut to his gut. The man folded and collapsed down.