All characters original, except the speaker at the end, who's owned by Aaron Sorkin, John Wells Productions, Warner Bros., & NBC. Standard disclaimers apply. The title is from Horace via Wilfred Owen. Please send feedback.
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Violet & Cinnamon
"They may be a lot of things, but cannibals they're not!"
Tyler laughed. "Good one. Give me another beer."
"You're drinkin' me out of house and home," Dennis complained, as he tossed him a can. "Buy your own."
"I can't," Tyler pointed out. "Not until one year from next January."
"Well, you could help pay for it."
"I'll owe you next time."
Dennis snorted. "Yeah, right."
Tyler chuckled and took a swig. "What time is it?"
"Quarter after." Dennis drank his own beer and glanced out the window. "We've still got a little while."
"Okay." Tyler cracked his neck and looked out the window himself. "Dennis, man, check out that redhead."
Dennis followed Tyler's gaze. "Holy shit!"
"If we didn't have plans tonight, man...." Tyler trailed off and lit a cigarette.
"What? You'd nail that girl?"
"Hell, yeah, I'd nail her."
Dennis laughed harshly. "You'd have better luck getting a nun into bed."
"I could get your sister." He grinned. "She's no nun. Nikki spreads--"
"Shut up--"
"Like butter on a hot biscuit."
"Asshole." Dennis cuffed him affectionately. "Nikki's a good kid."
"Says so," Tyler teased, "on men's room walls all over the state."
"Don't make me kick your ass tonight, huh?" He frowned. "She better be at home right now. I don't want my mom sitting around by herself."
"Mine is." Tyler leaned on the wall and looked at the floor. "I didn't think about that. My dad's workin' this shift."
"Don't worry," Dennis said. "They're why we're out here, right?"
"Right."
"Damn skippy. Sometimes you just have to stand up and be a man, and the hell with it."
Tyler nodded. "And anyway, what were we gonna be doing tonight? Sitting around in your basement?"
"Yeah, or driving around with the guys, yelling out the window of Joey's truck, like always.
"This is better."
"Yeah." Dennis lobbed his empty beer can at the wastebasket in the corner, and missed. "So have you heard the one about the pizza?"
"I was the one who told you that." Tyler rolled his eyes.
"Oh, right. It was a good one." He glanced out the window again. "Hey."
"Time to get going?"
"Looks like."
Tyler stubbed his cigarette out in his beer can and walked back to Dennis's side. "You ready?"
"Been ready all night. Hell, I been ready all my life." Dennis chuckled. "This is gonna be great."
"Shit, yes."
They stood together and waited, and it did not occur to either of them to be scared until it was too late. It all happened very fast, so fast that Tyler was startled to find himself reeling backwards, too surprised to be in much pain.
Glancing to his left, he saw that Dennis was crouched on the floor.
"Get up!" Tyler shouted. "Get up, you son of a bitch!"
He felt his chest sting, like a paper cut. He tried to step forward, but his legs crumpled under him and he fell on his back. The air swirling around Tyler chilled his skin. He shivered, and his eyes wandered over to Dennis' frame, still in a ball next to him. Tyler tried to kick the other boy, but Dennis' head was just out of reach.
"You did good," he said, softly.
Tyler found it hard to breathe. He stared at the sky, watching clouds pass in front of the moon. He shivered violently now, and as his eyes closed, he heard a voice shouting somewhere below him.
"Who's been hit?! Who's been hit?!"
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