A blog started the forever war--a global war set in the not so distant future between two groups (the Rebels and the Coco's).
Dylan Austin has grown up with the war being a constant background to his life; his dad has just returned from war missing a leg; his older sister is missing and presumed dead from the war; and all through school war has been embedded into everything they teach. Teens have been raised on educational war video games, and their minds are polluted with the idea that war is just a game.
Unlike most kids Dylan's age, he does not eagerly await the day he can serve the Rebel cause. At sixteen, Dylan is one of the weakest kids in his class, and is always picked last for war games; he's not even good at the government issued video games that are supposed to make you more combat ready. Unfortunately for Dylan, war has come early, and he has no other choice but to fight.
No one suspected he could last a single day in battle, but after Dylan, along with two of his friends, wins an unusual battle inside the Disneyland amusement park in Anaheim, he becomes something that no one (not even himself) ever suspected: a hero and leader.
Dylan is sent with his two friends, Trinity and Hunter, to Seattle, where the fighting is worse than anywhere else in the country. He is expected to lead a company of over two dozen into one of the worst combat zones anyone has ever seen--but first he has to earn their trust and respect.
The longer Dylan fights, the more he learns that true leadership has little to do with physical strength. He also begins to learn the true origins (and absurdity) of the war that he is forced to fight in, and looks for a way to stop it.
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Dylan Austin has grown up with the war being a constant background to his life; his dad has just returned from war missing a leg; his older sister is missing and presumed dead from the war; and all through school war has been embedded into everything they teach. Teens have been raised on educational war video games, and their minds are polluted with the idea that war is just a game.
Unlike most kids Dylan's age, he does not eagerly await the day he can serve the Rebel cause. At sixteen, Dylan is one of the weakest kids in his class, and is always picked last for war games; he's not even good at the government issued video games that are supposed to make you more combat ready. Unfortunately for Dylan, war has come early, and he has no other choice but to fight.
No one suspected he could last a single day in battle, but after Dylan, along with two of his friends, wins an unusual battle inside the Disneyland amusement park in Anaheim, he becomes something that no one (not even himself) ever suspected: a hero and leader.
Dylan is sent with his two friends, Trinity and Hunter, to Seattle, where the fighting is worse than anywhere else in the country. He is expected to lead a company of over two dozen into one of the worst combat zones anyone has ever seen--but first he has to earn their trust and respect.
The longer Dylan fights, the more he learns that true leadership has little to do with physical strength. He also begins to learn the true origins (and absurdity) of the war that he is forced to fight in, and looks for a way to stop it.
Buy a Digital Copy
Buy a Print Copy
Excerpt
Level 1
Rebel Frosted Flakes
A blog entry started the Forever War. It had been fifteen years since that blog.
Dylan Austen’s father, James, was trying to tell him about the blog, but Dylan stopped him. “I don’t care about the blog or this war. This is your war, not mine.”
“That kind of attitude will get you in trouble one day, boy. Show your rebel pride!”
From the porch, Dylan looked at the smoke in the distance, and imagined the fighting that was ensuing beneath it.
The California borders had been secure for most of the sixteen years that Dylan had been alive; the fighting on the western front had been mostly along the Washington / Canada border—over a thousand miles from Dylan’s home in Carlsbad.
The smoke in the distance and the booming sounds that came with it had become familiar to Dylan over the past several weeks—ever since his father had returned from war missing one of his legs. Every time Dylan saw the smoke or heard the sounds, he knew that the war of his father would soon come for him, and he would have to fight in a war he did not understand.
Dylan watched a fighter jet making its uneven way across the horizon, flames coming from its wings. As it got closer, it made a long, hollow, screeching sound. He kept watching until he could see it no more, and then waited for the explosion. When it came 15 seconds later, and it shook the ground.
Dylan’s father came hopping out the front door so anxious that he forgot his crutches. He supported himself on the doorframe and scanned the horizon until he saw the smoke that indicated where the plane had crashed. He brushed his long bangs back from his eyes and squinted. “Was it American?”
“I couldn’t see. Too high up,” Dylan replied, staring at the stain on his father’s collar. Like Dylan, and everyone else in Carlsbad, James’s clothes were all used. It was rare to find someone wearing a shirt or a pair of pants that didn’t have a tear, stain, or hole somewhere on it. Most of Dylan’s father’s shirts were novelty t-shirts, which were given away free to veterans. Today’s featured a small dog with the a caption, “¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!” His father had told him it used to be the advertising slogan for a fast-food chain.
James looked disappointed. “I once shot down one of those Coco Puffs with a single bullet from my pistol.”
“It looked like it was heading for the Mexican border.”
“It was a Coco Puff, then—had to be.” Satisfied, he hopped towards Dylan, patted him on the shoulder, and said, “Small victory for America, son—every one counts.”
Dylan nodded, then helped his father back inside to the couch, where he had been watching a recording of the nonstop coverage of the Forever War; the reception on the TV had gone out the year before, and recorded footage was all they had. The war department had sent the recording home with James along with a medal. Dylan’s father now took the medal from his pocket and rubbed it as he continued to watch the news.
“A recruiting truck is coming!” Jacob, Dylan’s 10-year-old brother, said as he ran into the house. “I just saw it down the street!”
James clapped his hands. “It’s about time! You’re going to war, Dylan! You’re going to war!”
Dylan walked to the door and saw the truck making its way slowly down the street. It was old and rusty; its Army-green paint was fading and chipping away. A kid Dylan’s age drove the truck, while an older man sat in the bed with a megaphone.
The man’s face was badly burned, and a scar covered the left side of his neck. Dylan’s father had a similar scar on his neck. The man’s arm shook as he lifted the megaphone to his mouth and said, “By order of the President of the United States, all able-bodied men and women 13 to 30 are to report by six o’clock to the main entrance of Legoland for immediate deployment. Cowards will be shot.”
Dylan’s father stood up quickly, too quickly to balance himself on his one leg, and fell to the ground. “Amy! Amy, did you hear? They’re finally shipping out our boy! Not the couch, boy!” James said as Dylan began to help him back up, “Take me to the bathroom. All this excitement makes me have to pee!”
Dylan’s mother, Amy, entered the living room with a steaming frying pan. Her eyes were watery. “He’s only sixteen.”
“That’s fight age!” his father proudly said.
“Don’t cry, mom,” Dylan said, “it’s not good for the baby.”
Amy had gotten pregnant just after James’s return. He said he was under orders from the President to make new soldiers to replenish what was lost and continue the fight.
“Dinner will be in ten minutes,” Amy said, trying to hold back tears as she walked away.
“Do you think they’ll take me?!” Jacob asked.
“You still got three years ‘til you reach recruiting age—but if you bulk up a bit, I bet when you’re twelve you’ll be able to lie your way in.” James turned to Dylan. “I can hardly hold it in—come on and help me before I wet myself!”
Dylan took his father’s arm and put it over his shoulder, then helped him to the bathroom.
“Pride of country is not something learned,” James said as he dropped his trousers and Dylan sat him on the toilet. “It is something acquired—you’ll know this real soon. Go get packing and I’ll call your brother when I’m done—it’s going to take me awhile to finish up.”
As Dylan walked away, his father hollered, “Take plenty of socks—when you’re walking all day, a good pair of socks is what’s going to separate you from the rest. You can take some of mine—I only need half as many now that I only have one foot!”
Dylan surveyed his room. He spotted his backpack under a pile of dirty clothes, and he emptied the contents of it onto his bed. All of his clothing was too old, too small, or too big; his mom got them at the Army trading post. After all the retail stores closed down in Carlsbad, the Army came in and offered secondhand goods and clothing. Usually his mother traded aluminum cans, which the Army could recycle into ammunition.
He thought back to when his sister, Chelsea, left for war He was only 10. The recruiting trucks didn’t parade through the streets then like they had today; the recruiters went right to the high school and asked for volunteers. Chelsea was the first one to raise her hand. She was brave—much braver than Dylan. He walked with her the day she left for the Army buses that would take her away, and said, “I’ll join you one day.”
Chelsea hugged him tightly and said, “You’re too fragile for war, little brother—stay home and take care of mom.” Dylan didn’t believe her then, but he did now. He would never be ready for war, but that didn’t matter, because he’d have to go anyway.
Dylan stood in front of the mirror on his closet. He had his father’s brown wavy hair, but that was it. He flexed his arms and looked at his lack of muscles, and then acknowledged to himself, “I won’t last a week.”
“What are you looking at?” Jacob said, entering the room.
Dylan jumped back, embarrassed. “Nothing.”
“What are you going to take?”
“I don’t know? What are you supposed to take?”
Jacob began going through Dylan’s drawers and tossing boxers and socks onto the bed. “I bet they give you a uniform, but Dad says it’s always good to have extras of these.” His eyes lit up. “I read about a guy in Soldier Magazine that lived in the woods for three years, and all he had was one pair of clothes. He killed like two hundred Cocos too, I think.”
Dylan went to his desk and pulled out his iPod. Last week, his teacher told his class for homework they were to make a playlist of battle music—something that would inspire them to fight harder. He tossed his iPod onto his bed and continued going through the desk, collecting anything that seemed useful: PSP, small flashlight, pen, paper, seven dollars in bills, one dollar in coins, and the Swiss Army knife his father gave him when he returned from war all made their way onto the bed.
Jacob got down on the floor and began doing pushups. “How many can you do?”
Dylan watched his brother for a moment, then admitted, “Never really counted.”
“I can do a hundred.” He counted off to 10, and then stood. “Do you think they’ll give you one of those big guns like the characters always have in video games?”
“War isn’t like video games.”
“It’s pretty close. Why do you think the schools make us play them all the time?”
“Because they ran out of things to teach?”
Dylan looked at a stuffed animal on his bed; he had several others next to it. He picked up the one closest to his pillow and looked at its eyes.
“You’re not going to take that, are you?”
Dylan tossed it down. “No!”
“Why do you even have those? Soldiers don’t have stuffed animals!”
“I like them.” He turned around, and added, “And I’m not a soldier.”
“Whatever—so where do you think they’ll send you?” Before Dylan could answer, Jacob said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if they sent you to Seattle? Dad says that’s where the heaviest fighting is.”
“Maybe the Navy,” Dylan said hopefully, as he browsed his video game collection and decided which ones he’d take.
“The Navy?! There’s hardly any fighting on boats!”
“Exactly.”
“Don’t you want to kill the Cocos? For Chelsea?”
“Chelsea’s dead. Do you think killing some Coco who wasn’t even there—who doesn’t even know why they’re fighting in the first place—is going to bring her back?”
“Yes.” Jacob paused, and then added, “Corey Handler’s brother just came home from war, and he says every time you kill a Coco the government gives you points, and once you kill like fifteen you can start buying things with the points—like games and guns.”
The toilet flushed, and their father called, “Jacob, get in here and help me clean up —we’re out of toilet paper and I can’t reach a new one.”
Jacob left, and Dylan shoved everything on the bed into his backpack. When he finished, he stood back and looked at what he would be taking with him—all he could take of home. For the first time, he felt nervous. “I hate this country,” he muttered, throwing the bag over his shoulder and leaving his room.
Everyone was waiting for Dylan in the dining room. “All packed?” his father asked.
Dylan nodded, set his backpack next to the table, and took a seat.
“Enjoy your meal, son. When you’re in combat, sometimes you don’t get to eat for days, and the only thing that’s going to satisfy you is thinking back on the last meal you ate with your family.”
“He’ll have plenty of other meals with his family when he comes home,” Amy quickly said as she put dinner on the table. Tonight, Amy had made rice with canned vegetables, like most other nights. The nights they didn’t have rice and canned vegetables, they had canned beans.
“But he’ll be different then—he’ll be a soldier. You never can eat a meal like this the same way when you’re a soldier.”
Dylan looked at the seat to his left; it was empty, but there was a plate in front of it. His mom always put an extra plate on the table, just in case Chelsea came home. She had been officially listed as missing in action two years ago, but everyone knew she was dead.
“We should pray over the food,” Amy suggested.
“Pray?” Dylan asked, confused. “We never pray.”
“It just seems like a good thing to do today.”
As Amy prayed, Dylan began to eat, while Jacob made his fingers into a gun and took target practice at Dylan’s forehead.
“You can’t pray?” Amy asked, offended, when she finished.
“I was listening,” Dylan said.
“Let the boy eat in peace,” his father said.
“I just wanted this to be a nice, normal, family meal before he left.”
“It is nice, Mom.”
“You’ll be a brand-new man after your first kill,” James interrupted.
“Let the boy eat in peace, James,” Amy said sarcastically.
“You’ll bulk up a lot once you start killing—you’ll be as big as your sister was.”
“That’s enough, James,” Amy said. The table of silent after that.
When Dylan was almost finished, Jacob pulled a game cartridge from his shirt pocket and handed it across the table. “I want you to have it.”
Dylan read the title, then looked at Jacob. “This is your favorite game.”
Jacob shrugged, “It’s about war, and it’s supposed to teach you battle tactics. I figured you need it more than me.”
“Is that the game the government endorses?” James asked, looking at the cartridge curiously.
Jacob nodded, excited.
“Thanks.”
The mantle clock in the next room chimed, and James said, “You better start heading out, or you’re going to be late.”
Dylan nodded.
His father took his crutches and stood. He grabbed Dylan’s backpack at the end of the table and said, “I’ll wait for you outside.”
Dylan went to his mother, who was pretending to eat while she quietly cried. He kissed her on the cheek.
“Did you pack any of your stuffed animals?”
“No, Mom!” Dylan said, rolling his eyes. “I can’t take something like that.”
“Why not? It will let everyone know you have a soft heart—the ones with soft hearts stay behind and make everyone dinner. They don’t fight battles.”
“I’ll be fine, Mom.”
“Promise me you won’t be brave like your father.”
Dylan nodded.
“Say it—say you promise.”
“I promise I won’t be brave,” Dylan said.
“I don’t want you to come home missing any body parts. You just let the bigger kids do all the brave stuff.” She rubbed her hand on his arm. “You’re not strong—you’ll die if you try to be a hero—do you understand me?”
Dylan nodded again. “I need to go, Mom, or I’ll be late.”
“Write every time those Coco Puffs don’t have you cornered,” Amy added desperately as he left the room.
“I will.”
His dad was leaning against the front door. He handed Dylan the backpack as he passed, and then saluted him, “Make me proud, son—make me proud.”
Dylan nodded, but did not salute back.
“And if you ever see a three-fingered Coco Puff general, you put a bullet right between his eyes and tell him as he lays dying that your daddy says hi.”
Jacob ran to Dylan and gave him a hug. “I’ll see you in three years when I join up. Save a few Cocos for me!”
“Just take care of Mom, yeah?”
Jacob saluted and joined his dad on the porch to watch Dylan walk off. At the end of the street, Dylan turned and waved one last time.
Legoland was two miles away. The last time Dylan had walked there was a summer ago, when he had taken Jacob. It had been closed for years, so the rides were all covered with weeds and bushes. Jacob said they buried Cocos there and the park was haunted. To please his little brother, Dylan agreed to spend the day hunting for bodies; he only agreed because he knew there would not actually be bodies. The only thing they found was a few dead fish and ducks, though.
“Hey, Dylan! Wait up! You’re going to walk there without me?” Trinity, one of Dylan’s neighbors and best friends, called, said. She was dragging a large roller suitcase and wearing a homemade summer dress with flower imprints. Dylan wondered for a moment if she was going to the Legoland entrance or running off to live with some distant relative.
“You’re bringing a pretty full load, aren’t you?” Dylan and Trinity were in the same grade and had walked to school together every day for the past five years. She had moved to Carlsbad with her mother after her dad died of cancer. She was the only person he knew who had a father who had died in something besides the war. They lived with her grandma. Dylan’s father had always suspected her grandma was a spy, because she only spoke Spanish. But Trinity was one of Dylan’s best friends, and, though he refused to admit, he had always had a crush on her.
Trinity nodded. “My mom said it was better to bring a lot and throw it away than not enough.” She paused. “You nervous?”
“Nervous about dying? Who’d be nervous about that?”
“We aren’t going to die.”
“Not now, but how many people do you know who have made it out of this war alive?”
“What about your dad?”
“My dad is missing a leg and half his brains. He’d be better off dead.”
Trinity stopped. “You know what, Dylan? Walk by yourself. I’m afraid, and you’re not doing anything to help.”
“Come on, Trinity! I’m sorry. I just don’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything.”
Dylan grabbed Trinity’s suitcase and began pulling it for her. They walked silently for several minutes. Finally, Dylan offered, “Your hair always smells good.”
Trinity laughed and shyly brushed back her curly black hair, “You’re flirting with me now?”
“Shut up! I’m not flirting. I’m just saying even when we’re going off to fight some war, you still smell good.”
“You’re flirting, Dylan!”
“Fine, then I take it back. I was just making talk.”
“The smell of hair and dying! You find funny things to talk about.”
Dylan looked at the other kids who were also walking towards Legoland and said, “It kind of looks like everyone is just walking to school, doesn’t it?”
She looked down sadly and shrugged.
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you really think it will happen? Do you really think we’ll die?”
“Don’t think about that. I’m sorry I said it.”
A transport truck drove across the intersection ahead of them, carrying wounded soldiers. That kind of truck had become a more frequent sight in recent months; the soldiers who had a chance of living were all taken to the naval base in San Diego.
Trinity stared after the truck. “You won’t last like that. They stick the weak ones on the front lines—they’re not going to waste someone strong when they got someone like you.” She looked up hopefully. “Let’s run, Dylan! They can’t take us if we run!”
“Where do you want to go? The armies are everywhere—the war’s everywhere! They’ll recruit us on the spot the minute they see us and use us as guinea pigs. At least this way we have a chance.” Dylan looked over and saw that Trinity was crying. He hesitantly took her hand and said, “I’ll take care of you.”
Trinity’s voice quavered. “I don’t need you. I can take care of myself.”
“It will be easier if we take care of each other.”
Trinity looked at him and smiled through her tears. “Your hands are sweaty.”
“So?”
“So you’re nervous—guess you’re human after all.”
# # #
Rebel Frosted Flakes
A blog entry started the Forever War. It had been fifteen years since that blog.
Dylan Austen’s father, James, was trying to tell him about the blog, but Dylan stopped him. “I don’t care about the blog or this war. This is your war, not mine.”
“That kind of attitude will get you in trouble one day, boy. Show your rebel pride!”
From the porch, Dylan looked at the smoke in the distance, and imagined the fighting that was ensuing beneath it.
The California borders had been secure for most of the sixteen years that Dylan had been alive; the fighting on the western front had been mostly along the Washington / Canada border—over a thousand miles from Dylan’s home in Carlsbad.
The smoke in the distance and the booming sounds that came with it had become familiar to Dylan over the past several weeks—ever since his father had returned from war missing one of his legs. Every time Dylan saw the smoke or heard the sounds, he knew that the war of his father would soon come for him, and he would have to fight in a war he did not understand.
Dylan watched a fighter jet making its uneven way across the horizon, flames coming from its wings. As it got closer, it made a long, hollow, screeching sound. He kept watching until he could see it no more, and then waited for the explosion. When it came 15 seconds later, and it shook the ground.
Dylan’s father came hopping out the front door so anxious that he forgot his crutches. He supported himself on the doorframe and scanned the horizon until he saw the smoke that indicated where the plane had crashed. He brushed his long bangs back from his eyes and squinted. “Was it American?”
“I couldn’t see. Too high up,” Dylan replied, staring at the stain on his father’s collar. Like Dylan, and everyone else in Carlsbad, James’s clothes were all used. It was rare to find someone wearing a shirt or a pair of pants that didn’t have a tear, stain, or hole somewhere on it. Most of Dylan’s father’s shirts were novelty t-shirts, which were given away free to veterans. Today’s featured a small dog with the a caption, “¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!” His father had told him it used to be the advertising slogan for a fast-food chain.
James looked disappointed. “I once shot down one of those Coco Puffs with a single bullet from my pistol.”
“It looked like it was heading for the Mexican border.”
“It was a Coco Puff, then—had to be.” Satisfied, he hopped towards Dylan, patted him on the shoulder, and said, “Small victory for America, son—every one counts.”
Dylan nodded, then helped his father back inside to the couch, where he had been watching a recording of the nonstop coverage of the Forever War; the reception on the TV had gone out the year before, and recorded footage was all they had. The war department had sent the recording home with James along with a medal. Dylan’s father now took the medal from his pocket and rubbed it as he continued to watch the news.
“A recruiting truck is coming!” Jacob, Dylan’s 10-year-old brother, said as he ran into the house. “I just saw it down the street!”
James clapped his hands. “It’s about time! You’re going to war, Dylan! You’re going to war!”
Dylan walked to the door and saw the truck making its way slowly down the street. It was old and rusty; its Army-green paint was fading and chipping away. A kid Dylan’s age drove the truck, while an older man sat in the bed with a megaphone.
The man’s face was badly burned, and a scar covered the left side of his neck. Dylan’s father had a similar scar on his neck. The man’s arm shook as he lifted the megaphone to his mouth and said, “By order of the President of the United States, all able-bodied men and women 13 to 30 are to report by six o’clock to the main entrance of Legoland for immediate deployment. Cowards will be shot.”
Dylan’s father stood up quickly, too quickly to balance himself on his one leg, and fell to the ground. “Amy! Amy, did you hear? They’re finally shipping out our boy! Not the couch, boy!” James said as Dylan began to help him back up, “Take me to the bathroom. All this excitement makes me have to pee!”
Dylan’s mother, Amy, entered the living room with a steaming frying pan. Her eyes were watery. “He’s only sixteen.”
“That’s fight age!” his father proudly said.
“Don’t cry, mom,” Dylan said, “it’s not good for the baby.”
Amy had gotten pregnant just after James’s return. He said he was under orders from the President to make new soldiers to replenish what was lost and continue the fight.
“Dinner will be in ten minutes,” Amy said, trying to hold back tears as she walked away.
“Do you think they’ll take me?!” Jacob asked.
“You still got three years ‘til you reach recruiting age—but if you bulk up a bit, I bet when you’re twelve you’ll be able to lie your way in.” James turned to Dylan. “I can hardly hold it in—come on and help me before I wet myself!”
Dylan took his father’s arm and put it over his shoulder, then helped him to the bathroom.
“Pride of country is not something learned,” James said as he dropped his trousers and Dylan sat him on the toilet. “It is something acquired—you’ll know this real soon. Go get packing and I’ll call your brother when I’m done—it’s going to take me awhile to finish up.”
As Dylan walked away, his father hollered, “Take plenty of socks—when you’re walking all day, a good pair of socks is what’s going to separate you from the rest. You can take some of mine—I only need half as many now that I only have one foot!”
Dylan surveyed his room. He spotted his backpack under a pile of dirty clothes, and he emptied the contents of it onto his bed. All of his clothing was too old, too small, or too big; his mom got them at the Army trading post. After all the retail stores closed down in Carlsbad, the Army came in and offered secondhand goods and clothing. Usually his mother traded aluminum cans, which the Army could recycle into ammunition.
He thought back to when his sister, Chelsea, left for war He was only 10. The recruiting trucks didn’t parade through the streets then like they had today; the recruiters went right to the high school and asked for volunteers. Chelsea was the first one to raise her hand. She was brave—much braver than Dylan. He walked with her the day she left for the Army buses that would take her away, and said, “I’ll join you one day.”
Chelsea hugged him tightly and said, “You’re too fragile for war, little brother—stay home and take care of mom.” Dylan didn’t believe her then, but he did now. He would never be ready for war, but that didn’t matter, because he’d have to go anyway.
Dylan stood in front of the mirror on his closet. He had his father’s brown wavy hair, but that was it. He flexed his arms and looked at his lack of muscles, and then acknowledged to himself, “I won’t last a week.”
“What are you looking at?” Jacob said, entering the room.
Dylan jumped back, embarrassed. “Nothing.”
“What are you going to take?”
“I don’t know? What are you supposed to take?”
Jacob began going through Dylan’s drawers and tossing boxers and socks onto the bed. “I bet they give you a uniform, but Dad says it’s always good to have extras of these.” His eyes lit up. “I read about a guy in Soldier Magazine that lived in the woods for three years, and all he had was one pair of clothes. He killed like two hundred Cocos too, I think.”
Dylan went to his desk and pulled out his iPod. Last week, his teacher told his class for homework they were to make a playlist of battle music—something that would inspire them to fight harder. He tossed his iPod onto his bed and continued going through the desk, collecting anything that seemed useful: PSP, small flashlight, pen, paper, seven dollars in bills, one dollar in coins, and the Swiss Army knife his father gave him when he returned from war all made their way onto the bed.
Jacob got down on the floor and began doing pushups. “How many can you do?”
Dylan watched his brother for a moment, then admitted, “Never really counted.”
“I can do a hundred.” He counted off to 10, and then stood. “Do you think they’ll give you one of those big guns like the characters always have in video games?”
“War isn’t like video games.”
“It’s pretty close. Why do you think the schools make us play them all the time?”
“Because they ran out of things to teach?”
Dylan looked at a stuffed animal on his bed; he had several others next to it. He picked up the one closest to his pillow and looked at its eyes.
“You’re not going to take that, are you?”
Dylan tossed it down. “No!”
“Why do you even have those? Soldiers don’t have stuffed animals!”
“I like them.” He turned around, and added, “And I’m not a soldier.”
“Whatever—so where do you think they’ll send you?” Before Dylan could answer, Jacob said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if they sent you to Seattle? Dad says that’s where the heaviest fighting is.”
“Maybe the Navy,” Dylan said hopefully, as he browsed his video game collection and decided which ones he’d take.
“The Navy?! There’s hardly any fighting on boats!”
“Exactly.”
“Don’t you want to kill the Cocos? For Chelsea?”
“Chelsea’s dead. Do you think killing some Coco who wasn’t even there—who doesn’t even know why they’re fighting in the first place—is going to bring her back?”
“Yes.” Jacob paused, and then added, “Corey Handler’s brother just came home from war, and he says every time you kill a Coco the government gives you points, and once you kill like fifteen you can start buying things with the points—like games and guns.”
The toilet flushed, and their father called, “Jacob, get in here and help me clean up —we’re out of toilet paper and I can’t reach a new one.”
Jacob left, and Dylan shoved everything on the bed into his backpack. When he finished, he stood back and looked at what he would be taking with him—all he could take of home. For the first time, he felt nervous. “I hate this country,” he muttered, throwing the bag over his shoulder and leaving his room.
Everyone was waiting for Dylan in the dining room. “All packed?” his father asked.
Dylan nodded, set his backpack next to the table, and took a seat.
“Enjoy your meal, son. When you’re in combat, sometimes you don’t get to eat for days, and the only thing that’s going to satisfy you is thinking back on the last meal you ate with your family.”
“He’ll have plenty of other meals with his family when he comes home,” Amy quickly said as she put dinner on the table. Tonight, Amy had made rice with canned vegetables, like most other nights. The nights they didn’t have rice and canned vegetables, they had canned beans.
“But he’ll be different then—he’ll be a soldier. You never can eat a meal like this the same way when you’re a soldier.”
Dylan looked at the seat to his left; it was empty, but there was a plate in front of it. His mom always put an extra plate on the table, just in case Chelsea came home. She had been officially listed as missing in action two years ago, but everyone knew she was dead.
“We should pray over the food,” Amy suggested.
“Pray?” Dylan asked, confused. “We never pray.”
“It just seems like a good thing to do today.”
As Amy prayed, Dylan began to eat, while Jacob made his fingers into a gun and took target practice at Dylan’s forehead.
“You can’t pray?” Amy asked, offended, when she finished.
“I was listening,” Dylan said.
“Let the boy eat in peace,” his father said.
“I just wanted this to be a nice, normal, family meal before he left.”
“It is nice, Mom.”
“You’ll be a brand-new man after your first kill,” James interrupted.
“Let the boy eat in peace, James,” Amy said sarcastically.
“You’ll bulk up a lot once you start killing—you’ll be as big as your sister was.”
“That’s enough, James,” Amy said. The table of silent after that.
When Dylan was almost finished, Jacob pulled a game cartridge from his shirt pocket and handed it across the table. “I want you to have it.”
Dylan read the title, then looked at Jacob. “This is your favorite game.”
Jacob shrugged, “It’s about war, and it’s supposed to teach you battle tactics. I figured you need it more than me.”
“Is that the game the government endorses?” James asked, looking at the cartridge curiously.
Jacob nodded, excited.
“Thanks.”
The mantle clock in the next room chimed, and James said, “You better start heading out, or you’re going to be late.”
Dylan nodded.
His father took his crutches and stood. He grabbed Dylan’s backpack at the end of the table and said, “I’ll wait for you outside.”
Dylan went to his mother, who was pretending to eat while she quietly cried. He kissed her on the cheek.
“Did you pack any of your stuffed animals?”
“No, Mom!” Dylan said, rolling his eyes. “I can’t take something like that.”
“Why not? It will let everyone know you have a soft heart—the ones with soft hearts stay behind and make everyone dinner. They don’t fight battles.”
“I’ll be fine, Mom.”
“Promise me you won’t be brave like your father.”
Dylan nodded.
“Say it—say you promise.”
“I promise I won’t be brave,” Dylan said.
“I don’t want you to come home missing any body parts. You just let the bigger kids do all the brave stuff.” She rubbed her hand on his arm. “You’re not strong—you’ll die if you try to be a hero—do you understand me?”
Dylan nodded again. “I need to go, Mom, or I’ll be late.”
“Write every time those Coco Puffs don’t have you cornered,” Amy added desperately as he left the room.
“I will.”
His dad was leaning against the front door. He handed Dylan the backpack as he passed, and then saluted him, “Make me proud, son—make me proud.”
Dylan nodded, but did not salute back.
“And if you ever see a three-fingered Coco Puff general, you put a bullet right between his eyes and tell him as he lays dying that your daddy says hi.”
Jacob ran to Dylan and gave him a hug. “I’ll see you in three years when I join up. Save a few Cocos for me!”
“Just take care of Mom, yeah?”
Jacob saluted and joined his dad on the porch to watch Dylan walk off. At the end of the street, Dylan turned and waved one last time.
Legoland was two miles away. The last time Dylan had walked there was a summer ago, when he had taken Jacob. It had been closed for years, so the rides were all covered with weeds and bushes. Jacob said they buried Cocos there and the park was haunted. To please his little brother, Dylan agreed to spend the day hunting for bodies; he only agreed because he knew there would not actually be bodies. The only thing they found was a few dead fish and ducks, though.
“Hey, Dylan! Wait up! You’re going to walk there without me?” Trinity, one of Dylan’s neighbors and best friends, called, said. She was dragging a large roller suitcase and wearing a homemade summer dress with flower imprints. Dylan wondered for a moment if she was going to the Legoland entrance or running off to live with some distant relative.
“You’re bringing a pretty full load, aren’t you?” Dylan and Trinity were in the same grade and had walked to school together every day for the past five years. She had moved to Carlsbad with her mother after her dad died of cancer. She was the only person he knew who had a father who had died in something besides the war. They lived with her grandma. Dylan’s father had always suspected her grandma was a spy, because she only spoke Spanish. But Trinity was one of Dylan’s best friends, and, though he refused to admit, he had always had a crush on her.
Trinity nodded. “My mom said it was better to bring a lot and throw it away than not enough.” She paused. “You nervous?”
“Nervous about dying? Who’d be nervous about that?”
“We aren’t going to die.”
“Not now, but how many people do you know who have made it out of this war alive?”
“What about your dad?”
“My dad is missing a leg and half his brains. He’d be better off dead.”
Trinity stopped. “You know what, Dylan? Walk by yourself. I’m afraid, and you’re not doing anything to help.”
“Come on, Trinity! I’m sorry. I just don’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything.”
Dylan grabbed Trinity’s suitcase and began pulling it for her. They walked silently for several minutes. Finally, Dylan offered, “Your hair always smells good.”
Trinity laughed and shyly brushed back her curly black hair, “You’re flirting with me now?”
“Shut up! I’m not flirting. I’m just saying even when we’re going off to fight some war, you still smell good.”
“You’re flirting, Dylan!”
“Fine, then I take it back. I was just making talk.”
“The smell of hair and dying! You find funny things to talk about.”
Dylan looked at the other kids who were also walking towards Legoland and said, “It kind of looks like everyone is just walking to school, doesn’t it?”
She looked down sadly and shrugged.
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you really think it will happen? Do you really think we’ll die?”
“Don’t think about that. I’m sorry I said it.”
A transport truck drove across the intersection ahead of them, carrying wounded soldiers. That kind of truck had become a more frequent sight in recent months; the soldiers who had a chance of living were all taken to the naval base in San Diego.
Trinity stared after the truck. “You won’t last like that. They stick the weak ones on the front lines—they’re not going to waste someone strong when they got someone like you.” She looked up hopefully. “Let’s run, Dylan! They can’t take us if we run!”
“Where do you want to go? The armies are everywhere—the war’s everywhere! They’ll recruit us on the spot the minute they see us and use us as guinea pigs. At least this way we have a chance.” Dylan looked over and saw that Trinity was crying. He hesitantly took her hand and said, “I’ll take care of you.”
Trinity’s voice quavered. “I don’t need you. I can take care of myself.”
“It will be easier if we take care of each other.”
Trinity looked at him and smiled through her tears. “Your hands are sweaty.”
“So?”
“So you’re nervous—guess you’re human after all.”
# # #
