Post Number 59 Reckoning

Posted on Sun Dec 11th, 2022 @ 9:16am by Major David Hurd Senior
Edited on on Sun Dec 11th, 2022 @ 9:27am

Mission: BUGS OH NO!!
Location: Earth, Hurd Property
Timeline: Current

On-
Hurd, as much as he didn't want to, had known he had had to come back home. His Anger, Rage, Fear, and Guilt he was feeling was destroying him, and if he didn't confront and at least try to make peace with it, that it would envelop him as surely as the sun would rise. Shaking his head slightly, he started down the path towards his family property, a place he nor anyone else had been in quite some time. Although, he noted looking around, someone had been taking care of the place judging by the trimmed grass and memorial flowers that dotted the place.
As he entered the main property, the first thing he saw, to his left, was his Family Graveyard. Tears filling his eyes, he walked over and stared at the 3 rows of Graves. Wiping his eyes, he looked closer at them, the names eteched upon the stones. Every emotion inside of him welled up, and Hurd's legs started to shake, causing him to drop to his knees.
His entire Family was buried here. His Mom, Dad, his Grandparents, everyone. Starting to shake more violently, he reached out and placed his hands on his parents Graves. In a breaking voice, he said, "Mom, Dad, I hope you, wherever you are, are proud of me". Breaking down completely, he looked over to the side, where his Wife, Kids, and Grandparents we're buried.
Breaking down further, his body wracked with sobs and bawling like a baby, he began, through a broken voice, to speak. "I'm so damn sorry I couldn't save any of you". Running his hand gingerly across his Wife and Kids Gravestones, he broke completely and said, very faintly, "So Sorry, so damn sorry", he repeated over and over again, crying and shaking, filled with sadness, anger, and guilt ". For a time afterwards, he just knelt there, crying and screaming things , tortured things from his heart and soul, to the uncaring, unyielding sky above.
After some time, Hurd was able to stand on his shaking legs. Glancing at the Graves, he softly kissed the top of each grave, Crying all the time he did so. After what seemed like a eternity, he stepped back in front of all of them. With tears still streaming down his face, he drew himself into a salute, holding it for a few moments. Lowering his arm, Hurd turned and walked further into the property, not wanting to, but ready to face his other demons.
After a few minutes, he came across the Memorial to His fallen Men and Women. The memorial was a couple feet taller than Hurd, shaped in the SFMC emblem, and was eteched with the names of every Man and Woman he had ever lost under his Command. Anger, hatred, rage, and overwhelming sadness filled him. There were literally over 450 names on that Memorial. As he stood there, shaking violently, that's when the flashbacks started.
In his head, he could hear the screams and wails of the dying. He could taste, smell and sense everything in his mind. Visions of Blood, Explosions, of holding his dying Marines in his arms as the begged to be saved, begged for their mom's, all the while knowing that he couldn't do aamn thing for them and he would be the last thing they ever seen. He watched the light leave their eyes, their bodies grow limp. He, in that singular moment, was filled with so much anger and guilt that it felt as he felt so helpless, so small, knowing that, in his heart, at that very moment he was a broken Man.
After a indeterminate amount of time, a cool breeze started to blow across the place.The tears on his face felt cold as ice, which snapped Hurd back to reality. Looking at the sky, It was dark, the moon and twinkling stars lighting the night sky. Struggling to get back to his feet, he saluted, saying under his breath, "Peace to the Fallen". After a time, he dropped his arm slowly, and looked around him at both the Memorial and his Family Gravesite. Still shaking, still bawling, the Amadora crossed his mind. That was his home, and the people there now his only remaining family. "I have to go home", he repeated a few times. The thought of the Amadora and his friends there let a little warmth into his otherwise ice cold heart. With a still trembling hand, he tapped his Combage, and said, " Hurd to shuttle Alpha, one to beam up." As he dematerialized, the very last thing he could have sworn he saw were the spirits of his Family and Marines, smiling serenely at him.
Off