EDDIE LOOKED AT his leg, dangling over the tree branch. The
surgery scars were back. So was the pain. He felt a welling of something
inside him that he had not felt since before he died, in truth, that he had
not felt in many years: a fierce, surging flood of anger, and a desire to
hurt something. His eyes narrowed and he stared at the Captain, who
stared back blankly, as if he knew what was coming. He let the cigarette
fall from his fingers.
"Go ahead," he whispered.
Eddie screamed and lunged with a windmill swing, and the two men
fell off the tree branch and tumbled through limbs and vines, wrestling
and falling all the way down.
WHY? YOU BASTARD! You bastard! Not you! WHY?" They were
grappling now on the muddy earth. Eddie straddled the Captain's chest,
pummeling him with blows to the face. The Captain did not bleed. Eddie
shook him by the collar and banged his skull against the mud. The
Captain did not blink. Instead, he rolled from side to side with each
punch, allowing Eddie his rage. Finally, with one arm, he grabbed Eddie
and flipped him over.
"Because," he said calmly, his elbow across Eddie's chest, "we would
have lost you in that fire. You would have died. And it wasn't your time."
Eddie panted hard. "My... time?"
The Captain continued. "You were obsessed with getting in there. You
damn near knocked Morton out when he tried to stop you. We had a
minute to get out and, damn your strength, you were too tough to fight."
Eddie felt a final surge of rage and grabbed the Captain by the collar.
He pulled him close. He saw the teeth stained yellow by tobacco. "My...
leggggg!" Eddie seethed. "My life!"
"I took your leg," the Captain said, quietly, "to save your life."
Eddie let go and fell back exhausted. His arms ached. His head was
spinning. For so many years, he had been haunted by that one moment,
that one mistake, when his whole life changed.
"There was nobody in that hut. What was I thinking? If only I didn't
go in there.. ." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Why didn't I just die?"
"No one gets left behind, remember?" the Captain said. "What
happened to you—I've seen it happen before. A soldier reaches a certain