District 42-Chapter 151: Casper’s past part 1

Casper was waiting for the time to come. His heart was throbbing inside the chest. Even after so many missions, it was difficult for him to bear that anxiety that dominated his heart whenever he was going to a dangerous situation.

Nonetheless, the problem there wasn’t exactly what he was going to do. He had confidence in his abilities, experience, and intuition. He was the perfect person for that operation. He would surely . No matter what, he wouldn’t let anything take his life from him. Casper learned a good while ago that he should do whatever it takes to accomplish his objectives.

That day he woke up at the Headquarters of the Yanke Forces. He was still on his bed in the dorms of that place. The mattress was hard, and they didn’t have breakfast there, so Casper would probably do intermittent fasting, even though he was very hungry for not having a proper dinner last night.

Since the start of the week, he was very busy because of the upcoming operation. He needed to do a lot of bureaucratic labor and tactical planning. He also was charged to supervise the resource management, the plotting of all the action that would take part that night, and... the thing that was giving him goosebumps since he woke up that morning.

He generally held himself to go against the orders of the marshal. The guy was really tough, he never took back his orders, particularly because he hardly was wrong in something.

The marshal was the one who created the Yanke Forces. He had almost sixty-five years inside the army, and his past was just amazing to hear, such were the feats that he could accomplish.

Casper didn’t dislike him. He was someone who deserved respect, and he had acknowledged him when he was just another pawn of the army, allowing Casper to participate in something bigger than he was before.

Go against his orders and advice was just like confront a parent for reasons that weren’t so reasonable, and Casper felt ashamed for this, but he couldn’t hold himself there. It was something important for the soldier, and a decisive point for him to act at his max potential during the mission.

Casper changed to his usual uniform. He didn’t even remember when he wore off that thing since he didn’t tend to do it when he was still inside the Headquarters.

The soldier organized some things inside the dorm. The place was just a small block filled with dozens of bunk beds. Backpacks we’re on top of them, together with lots of dirty and sweaty clothes. However, it wasn’t the least unorganized. Every piece of clothing on top of each bed was, at least, folded. The backpacks weren’t opened, and nothing that should be kept in them was spread around.

When he finished with everything, double-checking just to be sure that he did it alright, he wore his boots and walked off the dorm, but was interrupted when arriving at the exit door.

Someone opened it before he could. The man was way taller than Casper, with black skin, calm eyes, and very short hair, which was the standard for the military there. The soldier knew, though, that he couldn’t mess with that man; behind those calm eyes and comforting aura was a very moody and rigid captain.

Among the Yanke Forces, Casper had more prestige and respect than him, but it wasn’t too good to be imprudent when dealing with someone like that captain.

"Good morning, Captain Raymond." He saluted him quickly, but emphatically, and the man repeated the gesture for him.

That day, he seemed to be in a good mood, so it was ok for Casper to be more casual. "Hopefully he won’t go to 1% to 220% all of a sudden and start something. I am not in the mood to take a fight either, particularly with this guy."

The army wasn’t a place where people would be disrespectful and keep picking fights with each other. They were disciplined, and very strict. They appreciated that, and not just it, they find it to be a must among them. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Besides, Yanke Forces was an organization of Tactical operations, generally made in a group. The synergy was needed for this. Therefore, all of them should learn how to live with each other. The case between Raymond and Casper was slightly different from all the others because of past controversies.

The captain walked inside the room, putting himself beside the door, leaning his back against the wall. Casper thought that he was just opening space for him to cross the exit, but when he was about to give his first step forward, the sarcastic voice of Raymond echoed in the empty and quiet dorm.

"I heard that you are going for that operation soon." He crossed his arms, looking somewhat discontent. The soldier didn’t get why he was acting like that. Maybe the man was envious because he wasn’t the chosen one for that mission, or he just found it to be a pity that Casper would be the leader of the group going for that place. "Yes, I am going there."

"And what do you think about this?"

Casper looked back at him, suspecting that something was off. He clenched his fists while thinking what that stubborn captain was planning to say, but he calmed himself down, knowing that he was being too anticipated there.

The soldier turned his body to him, giving up on exiting that dormitory so soon. His eyes were cold, and his face wasn’t in its better state now.

"Is something up, captain?"

The man giggled, though not ironically like he usually did, but a sad giggle.

"I am not preparing anything, Casper. Today I am not even in the mood to do it, you know? I just am wondering if there is something wrong with the marshal."

The soldier felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He couldn’t hide his frustration, so he shut his eyes as if he was in pain, clenching even more tightly his fists, but his anger now wasn’t directed towards Raymond.

"You can’t disagree with me now, can you? You are aware of what’s happening. I can see the dark circles around your eyes. You are without sleep for several days, trying to find another way around, aren’t you?"

Casper shook his head positively, this time he barely could sustain his look, he was wanting to avoid it as soon as possible, but the soldier hated to show his weaknesses.

"You didn’t find anything, I suppose." Casper lowered his head slightly, showing a hint of his defeat.

The captain walked some steps closer to him, then pointed to his own eyes. There were huge dark circles there as well, though Casper noticed it a long while ago, as well as his tired and pale face.

"I am doing it as well. And not just me and you, but a lot of other high-ranked soldiers are doing the same. Since that meeting we had the last week, we have been working on it together. We even tried to count with the help of some people outside the Yanke Forces. Do you know what we could get from this?"

Casper didn’t ask, he knew very well what would be the response. If he couldn’t find anything, no one could.

"Yes. Nothing. This mission is just crazy, and that meeting was an offense. You are the one that is more respectful for the Marshal among all people here that I know, and you even voted in favor of this operation just for the sake of his desires and plans, you really trust your life for that old man, but you also think the same way. I can see it in your eyes."

Casper was trying since that morning to hide the truth from himself, to forget about what happened in that meeting. He knew that, if he kept paying attention to that, he would just break. However, it was just expected that it would show up at some point. There was no way that he could keep running away from that. When the night came, he would need to face the facts, willing or not.

"I will find a way to do this, and to convince him of what I really wanted by taking this responsibility..."

The captain seemed to be dumbfounded. He couldn’t understand what Casper meant by that quote, but everything started to clear in his mind.

The soldier walked off, ignoring his presence, unwilling to proceed with that unproductive conversation.

"Colonel!" That was the first time that Raymond afford himself to call Casper by his rank. Casper stopped to walk for a moment, even if he didn’t want to.

"You need to think a lot on the value of the lives of everyone around you, but what’s the point when you can’t evaluate enough your own? What you are doing isn’t heroism, and you know this!"

"When I come to want your opinion about something I am going to do... I will ask for this, captain." The colonel kept standing at the same place until Raymond closed the door of the dorm and left him alone. Just then he began to walk again.