Drink

“Hey guys, want to hear some news?”

“Shut up you idiot, whenever you give us some ‘reliable’ news we puke for the next two days. Enough’s been enough!”

“But I…”

“Shut the f…”

“Hey you guys, keep it quiet, your commanders drinking booze here.” Yelled the bartender and spit on the floor.

This small cafeteria got filled up to the top with the soldiers from the 110th. Solders from Ghost Battalion were all already sleeping. They got used to be called lazy bastards but it did them a lot of good: they could stay awake and fight for days with minimum rest. Grozni and Cpt. P. were just finishing their first glass of brandy and drinking tea.

“So P., what’s your story?”

“I don’t know what you mean sir?”

“Quit siring me, we are away from the HQ, call me Grozni like everyone else.”

“Ok sir…Grozni, what do you mean by saying ‘my story’?”

“What do I mean? Well, how come you ended up in our little slice of hell?”

“Aha, I see what you mean. Well, I was…I am technician; actually I am modding games in peace time. When the war broke out I volunteered to…”

“You what?”

“I have volunteered to the army.”

“A toast for another idiot.”

“How do you mean, another?”

“I have volunteered as well. Actually, army sacked me long before the actual war has started. So, when it was obvious to me that Albos will make some big mess on the south I have returned back to my ultimate love – army. And she accepted me like on the first night of a honeymoon. However, it took me a while to realize I was amongst the first guys to be fired upon.”

“Wait a minute. Don’t tell me you were in KZB when they crossed administration line.”

“Yeah man, I was down there, checking the outpost. When I saw those Albo tanks rolling towards me I got scared like hell.”

“Haha, you scared?! I don’t believe you. From what I heard you have been constantly in the enemy rear, making havoc, pissing the hell out of their command. You need a lot of guts to do so.”

“Yeah, but difference between coward and brave man is what you will do with the fear.”

“Common, whenever I heard about you I imagined you are some Rambo style guy, ready to kill in every moment.”

“Don’t listen to the gossip too much. It’s usually wrong.”

“So, you are scared battalion commander who did all those brave things, made such a mess in the enemy lines that even our command got surprised but still you were scared. I don’t buy it.”

“And I don’t sell it, that’s up to you to realize soon.”

“Major Grozni Sir, general is expecting you and Cpt. P. in his quarters, please follow me” said the soldier who just came in. Grozni looked at him and almost puked: he always hated those smelly, all fixed up wanna be soldiers who spend all of their war time duties in the rear with the gear, guarding, sleeping and drinking. In the se time there are people dying out there, getting killed. Grozni just hates them but never said a word about it. That’s one of his little secrets; one of many Cpt. P. is going to find out. As they walked out couple of Grozni soldiers walked in. he just looked at them and they ran out. He is well known for his harsh discipline. Also known to overreact sometimes. Cpt. P. was surprised a little bit. Not by Grozni attitude but with the soldiers. They are not allowed to drink before the mission. “I should follow that principle in my unit” Cpt. P. thought while they were entering base command building and second before he was almost run across by some artillery sergeant.