Coming Home

Brooks helped me lay down in my bed, pulling the covers up around me like I was a small child. I looked up at him, hoping the appreciation was clear in my eyes. Words were kind of difficult right now. Shortly after my argument with Rae, they had sent me home.

"Matt, do you want to talk about your conversation with Rae?" Brooks set a glass of water by my bed. He held my pain relief pills in his hand. I don't think anyone would be trusting me with those in a long time.

"Not really, Wackerman. I... I just want to talk about anything else. I don't want to talk about why I did it, the hospital, or Rae anymore." I reached for the water and took a gulp. Talking was still kind of hard.

Brooks sat down on the foot of my bed. "Okay, well, you know we aren't leaving you alone. I once again get first watch." A small smile crossed his face. "So, what do you want to talk about, Shadows."

A smile managed to cross my face hearing Brooks say my stage name. It was kind of ridiculous that we had taken our Alpha signs from the military and made them our stages names. And all of the reasons for our stage names were stupid! Granted, we had received them when we were very young. I looked at my drummer. Did the Green Berets give out Alpha signs?

"Brooks, did you ever have a call sign in the Army?"

His eyes watched me. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, think about it. I'm Shadows, Brian is Gates, Johnny is Christ, Zacky is Vengeance and Jimmy was Rev. You have been with us for six years. What was your call sign?"

A chuckle came from the man's throat. I could see the wheels turning in his head as he recalled the reason behind his name. "Alright, Matt. I'll tell you the story. Does this mean I get a stage name?"

"The fans gave you a Deathbat. I think you deserve a stage name too." My dimples flashed at the older man.

He sighed in contentment. "I joined the Army when I was eighteen. Much like the SEALs, the tests for the Green Berets are intense. We have to train mind, body, and soul so that we can do what other Special Forces can't. The Air Force para-rescuers go in and save people in the absolute heat of battle. The Marine Force Recon do the reconnaissance before any other Special Forces drop in. The SEALs do the shit that no one else wants to do. They're men of action.

"Green Berets are different though. We are technically trained to kill, but our main goal is to negotiate. They send us to rebuild, to prevent the crisis from happening in the first place. When it came to Iraq, we did the best we could. But let's be real, that was a ticking time bomb. The US had intervened too much for that to come back to a good place.

"When I passed my tests, I was probably about twenty-six. I was one of the youngest Berets that had come onto the team. Much like you, this was before Iraq happened. I was one of the few chosen to go over first. It was the first time the Green Berets were picked to lead the initial strike.

"The Iraq Invasion didn't really happen until about 2003, but we were sent over at the start of 2002. We were the horse guys. I think Chris Hemsworth is actually about to star in a movie about that. Look, for months on end, I rode a horse through the fucking mountains of Iraq. It's not the highest point of my life.

"That's where I earned my call sign. I know in the SEALs, you guys earn your Alpha signs long before your first mission. It typically happens in BUD/S or for the other branches, after you finish training." Brooks laughed, a smile appearing on his face. "Not the Army. You have to earn the name given to you."

"We didn't know we'd be riding these fucking horses. Half of us had never ridden in our lives, me included. The Iraqis we were riding with were short guys. Their horses were not designed for the heights and weights and gear of us. I got the most stubborn, ugly looking fucking thing. The Iraqis had named him Shado.

"Shado didn't not like me, and he would be the first horse I would ever ride. The Iraqis weren't going to wait for us to get on these things; they needed to get back to their hideout. Basically, we hopped on and hoped for the best.

"Suffice to say, Shado was not a fan of me. I got on, he immediately tried to buck me off. But this little fuck wasn't going to get me off him. I was hunched over him, a sixty pound pack on my back and then we hit a rock."

Brooks looked at me, tears of laughter streaming down his face. "I fell off the god damn thing and was hanging on by a hand on the reign and a foot in the stirrup. I rode the rest of the four miles like that. The guys we were working with came out laughing their fucking asses off. They kept calling me something in Pashu. Eventually, I asked our translator. He said it meant tenacious. So, my call sign became Tenacious."

I stared at Brooks, laughter bubbling out of me like I couldn't stop. "Brooks Wackerman... Tenacious. I like it. That's your fucking stage name. Tenacious Wackerman."

Notes

I know it's not the update that Shade wanted, but YOU HAVE TO FUCKING WAIT! The perspectives change chapter by chapter :P Basically, I just want to torture you all more before we hear Charlie's reaction.

I also all hope you caught the origin of Brooks stage name.