His Keeper

Chapter 2

            Nate arrived at basic training and was instantly liked by everyone who came into contact with him. He earned the respect of his peers and drill instructors although the drill instructors made him earn it. I believe the first two weeks were the hardest on him. Not the waking up early for early morning exercises, but the fact that he was home sick. You see Nate was a borderline homebody. He didn’t go out much during his high school years even if he was the popular one in school. He was the star quarterback and led his team to the championship 2 years in a row, but had a heart-breaking loss his senior year at the state championship. Nate was the student body president for his 11th and 12 grade years. He was even offered a full ride college scholarship to a lot of colleges to play football, but he knew in his heart that he wanted to join the military. And this was the first time he was away from home. Although during his 3rd week in basic he would begin to get close to a handful of other guys. Seven to be exact: Stephen, Brandon, Johnny, Vincent, Abram, Adrian, and Jeff.  As time went on, they developed a bond that would later towards the end of basic training earn them the nickname, “The Wolfpack.”

The last week of basic loomed and “the wolfpack” talked about their plans for when they returned home and how they had made it through their hell hole together. Stephen was planning on going home to his family and asking his girlfriend to marry him. Brandon was looking forward to getting back to the farm and having home cooked meals prepared by his momma, because he was a mama’s boy. Johnny going home to his wife and 2 children. Vincent was just looking forward to resting, partying, and all the above. Abram, the quiet one of the pack, was looking forward to sleeping in his bed and of course the home cooked meals. Good ole’ home cooked meals were the group consensus and most important thing they were all looking forward to. Adrian and Jeff had asked if they could go home with Nate because they had grown up in the foster system and didn’t really have anything close to a home to go to. Nate was looking forward to introducing his two boys to his family and friends.

            The last day of basic training flew by with a sense of relief for them as they celebrated by making a detour to the local tattoo shop to get matching tattoos of wolves. After it was all said and done with each of them sporting their new ink, they made it to the airport, walked towards their respective gates amongst people clapping for them which made the pack walk a little taller. On the flight home, Nate told Adrian and Jeff more about his family and what to expect when they got home, as Nate’s last conversation with his mom was telling him about his new wolfpack brothers.  Adrian and Jeff couldn’t help but be a little excited about being considered part of his family.