The Rain: The End by Marietta Standlee (good summer reads TXT) 📕

We do have a decently sized force assembled at Fort Lewis and could be sending a lot more soldiers, but the military has shrunk so much that every hand is valuable and needed here.

Just the twenty-five hundred will be sorely missed and mean others will have to work extra time. I hope the small number will not offend our alien allies.

Colin is in command of the troops, and I'm his second, probably not the best choice, but then again, who said it doesn't pay off to sleep with your boss?

Colin assembled twenty-two teams, consisting of one hundred soldiers each. Each group is a mix of Americans, Russians, military, and militia under the command of a Captain who decides the ranks of their teams and reports straight to us.

Among several others, some of these Captains are Derek, Litvin—who decided to join us, Drew, Commander Vandyke, Katrice Smart, and so many others it's hard to name all of them. From the twenty-five hundred, three hundred are pilots, all under Lieutenant Commander Joanne Bricks command, who also reports to us.

The chain of command is somewhat askew. Bricks technically outranks us, but us being militia nullifies that, blah blah blah. Honestly, I didn't pay much attention to what the General and Admiral were telling us, and I don't think any of these high-ranking military people did either.

None of this matters because, at the end of the day, it's Colin and me who have the enemy combat experience. Everybody knows it, and everybody respects us for that. After all, Colin was put in charge, at the President's request.

Even with the language barriers, all goes astonishingly well. Colin asked our alien liaison, Commander Phuran, for some of those translator thingies and was promised we would receive them as soon as we landed on Cenlar and started our training.

I'm about to meet Colin at Professor Dunn's new office and take the opportunity to make a quick trip into the lady's room, where I run into Astrid, drying her hands.

"Astrid." I greet dryly.

"Viv." She steps over and hugs me.

"Oh, okay." I manage before hugging her back. This is a new development.

"I'm so glad I ran into you. I've wanted to talk to you for so long." She doesn't seem to notice my apprehension, or if she does, she's ignoring it.

"I wanted to apologize to you," she says with a sincere expression on her face.

"Apologize for what?" I ask, after all, I was the one who decked her, but that was, what.... months ago?

"You know, the way I behaved around you and Colin." She is actually blushing.

I wave my hand dismissively. "Oh that, please don't worry about it, that was so long ago."

"Well, that's not all that I wanted to say. Oh, man." She turns even redder. "This is so hard. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I wanted you to know how much I admire you."

Honestly, I'm at a loss for words. She could have fooled me the way she was acting. Admiring me? Is she up to something?

She leans against the sink and avoids my eyes. "Look, it was hard for me. My family is in Sweden, and I don't know where they are or if they are even still alive. When we all left Oregon... it was like leaving home again all over. I felt lost."

I lean against the wall. For the first time, I see her as the young woman she really is, lost in an unfamiliar country. At least she has her brother, but I wouldn't want to be her. Yes, I lost my family, but I had other family members around, even if I didn't acknowledge them as such at the time. I also had lots of friends. All Astrid has is her brother and the professor who has been taking care of the twins, but it's hardly the same as being able to rely on people you have known for years or all your life.

"I admire your strength. I wanted to be like you, and I think that's why I threw myself at Colin, which wasn't right. I think I.... I just wanted you to notice me too."

She looks so forlorn that I step forward and take her into my arms. "I'm sorry too, Astrid; I wish you would have told me sooner."

"I wanted to, but you always had friends around, you didn't... you don't need another friend." She explains, on the verge of tears.

"I always need more friends." I smile. "I'm sorry, Astrid. I really should have paid closer attention."

"Well," she sniffs and wipes a tear away. "I know I didn't make it easy."

I hold my hand out to her, "New beginnings? Friends?"

She takes it. "Yes."

"Alright, let me take care of my... business. I'll meet you in Professor Dunn's office? What does he want anyway?"

"Oh, it's a surprise for you, from the President." She giggles and leaves the bathroom so that I can do what I came here to do in the first place.

A few minutes later, I meet everybody in what appears to be a lecture hall. Half circle stadium seating leaves enough room for not just Colin and me, all twenty-three of our team leaders are present as well, and still, the room doesn't seem crowded. The professor insists that all team-captains find seating in the auditorium while Colin and I are to stand with him down at the bottom with him.

"Alright, enough of the cloak and dagger stuff, the suspense is killing me; what's up, Professor?" Colin gets to the point.

"Astrid, Sven," the Professor calls out.

The twins arrive, pushing a rolling stretcher. A large sheet covers whatever is underneath. A rising suspicion makes me shudder, and Colin gives me a This is your doing wink.

"Voila!" The professor grins. "The President called me personally and told me what he wanted me to do for you guys before some of my esteemed colleagues contacted me and filled me in with their own research."

With a grand swiping motion, he pulls the sheet off the