Claude, in order to prevent his brain from flooding his mind with a gallon of nostalgia, detailing him of every delicious food item his mother once cooked for him, started to quickly ingest it without savoring his meal. Those his strong tastebuds were able to catch a whiff of flavor, it was not strong enough to remind him of what he could have had back home.
He did make an exception for the cherry blueberry cobbler, as it was the one item in the MRE packet that his mother had not made for him. Since it did not spark any memories at all, Claude made sure to savor every bite he took.
Once he was done with his meal, he got up, walked over to a nearby trashcan and disposed the leftover plastic wrappers. After the plastic had been taken care of, he walks over to the back of the supply truck retrieves his gun.
As Sergeant Jake Skinner instructed earlier, Claude and the other rookies were to look out for any demons headed their way, while the experienced soldiers who had been holding them back took the time to rest.
Claude instinctively sets up in his original position, where he took cover behind a bunch of sandbags as he gunned down a dozen armored demons, trying to break through their defenses. He sets his rifle up on the top like before, using his ACOG scope as a binocular to look further out into the distance. He would then wait there, patiently examining the road, on the lookout for some demons.
Soon enough, more recruits took positions somewhere near the barricade, their guns pointing at the road still littered with rotting demon carcasses. Clancy set up right beside Claude, just about 3 feet away. Claude sees that Clancy still has that stoic expression plastered on his face, all while staring down the road.
As Claude glanced at Clancy, his mind brings the conversation he had with the recruiter, Doakes. He remembers Doakes telling him how important it is to foster friendships in the military, as it would help the group survive as a whole. Seeing that there are no demons around, Claude thought this was the perfect opportunity to start a conversation.
However, before he opened his mouth, Claude tried to think of an opening liner, something that could grab his attention and help him maintain a conversation. As he takes his time, trying to think up of something, nothing came up that Claude thought would stick. There were a few contenders of course, but none of them feel like they would hit him.
"You see anything so far?" Clancy speaks up, turning to Claude.
"Huh? What? Me?" Claude asks, snapping out of his train of thought.
"Yes, you. Private Bowman. Do you see anything? Anything at all?" Clancy repeats.
"Eh, no. Not yet," Claude replies.
"Hm…good," Clancy comments, before turning his head away. Seeing that Clancy made the first move by opening up, he decides to speak back, thinking that he'd be better off making it up along the way.
"So, eh… your name. Um… It's eh… Clancy, right?" Claude asks. Clancy turns his head back to face Claude.
"It is, yes. You heard it on our way here, in the APC," Clancy answers, with tone dry of any emotion.
"Well yeah, but… it takes a few tries to remember, you know? Names are… they are hard to remember!" Claude retorts.
"Hey, aren't you part of the experienced ones? The guys who fought the demons while we were in training?" Claude asks.
"I am, yes."
"So, what are you doing here? I thought only the rookies were supposed to be guarding," Claude inquires, remembering what the Sergeant told him.
"I am not tired, private. Plus, I need to look after you all. Make sure you don't do something stupid. It's a part of my job," he replies.
"Oh, Alright," Claude states. He then pauses for a second, before speaking up again.
"So, eh… how many demons have you faced so far?" Claude asks Clancy.
"I mean, you have must have fought a lot. Have there ever been other kinds of demons. You know, other than these ugly blue giants, and those little gremlins," Claude continues.
"I have, yes. Don't worry, you'll get to see them with your own eyes soon enough," Clancy replies, before turning his head again. Claude got the sense that Clancy was not the talkative type. Still, he wanted to try one more time, just before giving up on him.
"So, eh… do you know any other people? In the force?" Claude throws one more question. Clancy flinches, before slowly turning his head to Claude again.
"You know, for someone who doesn't seem to have a lot of social skills, you seem to really, really want to talk with me. What's up with that?" Clancy deflects with a question of his own, slightly frowning in anger.
"Eh… well… I mean… I am just following someone's advice, that's all." Claude replies.
"Whose advice? Some guy from the internet?"
"Eh, no. From a eh… military recruiter. Someone called Doakes. That's all," Claude answers honestly.
"Doakes. Doakes. Doakes…" Clancy mutters under his breath.
"What did he tell you?" he inquires.
"Well, he told me to make some friends here. That's it is important if I want to survive. That's all I am trying to do," Claude explains, still remaining honest. Clancy stares back at Claude, looking into his eyes for a good minute, before letting out a sigh.
"Eh… no. Not really."
"Oh really? Well, good for you, because let me tell you, it isn't pretty," Clancy Claims.
"I used to run with a group, a different group, filled with people like me. We had all gone through and finished bootcamp, and were about to be deployed to the middle east," Clancy speaks up, gearing up to tell Claude his story.
"But one day, that demon portal opened up in New York, and we were sent there to fight it instead. My group and I took down as many demons as we could find, while helping civilians to evacuate the area."
"It was all going well. The demons, they were no match for our weapons. The roads looked something like this over here…" Clancy points ahead to the wide road littered with demon bodies. They had all stop bleeding and started oozing a faint, yet putrid smell.
"But then suddenly, we got attacked by this… blue haired demon, that looked an awful lot like that purple one in Central Park. He…" Clancy pauses, taking a deep breath before he speaks again.
"He used his magic to summon up a bunch of portals. I don't know how he did it, but he used them to send our bullets back at us," he explains with a taint of anger and sorrow in his voice.
"I managed to escape by pretending to lay there, dead. I was treated just in time, but the others couldn't make it," he finishes his story.
"We are not fighting other people here. So sure, war has its dangers, but these demons are unlike anything we have ever faced," Clancy claims. He then points to the dead blue and green demons before them.
"The ones you see here, they are the weakest of the bunch." Clancy lowers his finger.
"Sooner or later, they are going to send you to fight something like that, something like what I faced in New York, and when that day comes, you will find your guns worthless, and you will lose some of your friends.
Best case scenario, you die alongside them in a blaze of glory. Worst case scenario, you survive and be haunted by them for the rest of your life. Either way, it's not looking good," Claude explains.
"The best thing you can do, as a rookie, is to not attach yourself to the people you are fighting with. So, when they die, you can move on and not lose the motivation to fight these demons in the first place," he hands Claude some piece of advice. Claude pauses to think about it before replying.
"But… don't I need to work with them to survive?" Claude asks. Clancy scoffs at his question.
"You can work with people without getting attached to them, Private. If you can't do that, I am afraid that this line of work isn't for you," Clancy retorts with a rather aggressive voice. He lets out another sigh, and turn his head away from Claude.
"Now, eyes on the road, Private. We wasted enough time talking to one another," he instructs. Claude looks way from grunts under his breath, feeling a little heartbroken that he doesn't want to be friends.
As he looked down the road, Claude's thought about his advice and how different it is was compared to William's. He felt that, although Clancy had a point, he was far too cynical of the world thanks to his recent loss.
Therefore, Claude thought it was best that he kept his faith with William's words, feeling that it held far more weight compared to Clancy's own. He'd hope that one day, Clancy will calm down, and will see the error in his ways. Claude had a lot more respect and confidence in the man who helped him join the force, than the one who turned away from people the moment he lost someone.