Dez-atithi, the word for foreigner in his mother tongue could now apply to him as well. The two years he spent in Brysodine plus the year besides wond...ring and now he thought in the tongue of the region. Besides, his expulsion from his home marked him as an outsider anyway. Now his only connection to his home were the few Gurus that taught on campus and his quickly decaying memory. But by Ganesh, was it muggy! Mandeeb was stripped down to his loincloth, a broad piece of muslin simply folded and. But all that was going to change soon when he left for college and he knew he would never come back. It’s all he could think about until six today, Tom’s not thinking about leaving anymore, he’s only thinking about the last five hours. His friend Steve was having a party, it was nothing special, same people at the same house, even the same beer but then she walked in. She looked so different from the crowd and he knew he had to at least talk to her. It’s never been a question about courage. I didn’t try and run any of the enemy down, I took up the task of killing the wounded Raiders. None of those hanging on to life had long to live anyway. All my efforts were mercy strokes.“It’s great to see the land fertilized by shit,” Scout announced as he slipped to my side, pointing at all the dead Raiders.I thought it a fitting observation, so I playfully slapped him on the back.“You know they will send their best men after us?” He asked.I shrugged at the point, extending my arm to placate. I had a full and shaggy beard that hid my neck. I was 6’3” tall, and about 320lbs.“Dr. Susan Levine?” I said. It seemed appropriate.“Yes...” she hesitated, “Johnny? Is that you?”“Yes,” I said, “It’s me.”She threw her arms around me and hugged me very tightly. It was weird. It was not particularly affectionate. It wasn’t longing. It was sad, and ... relieved. I guess she was happy I was alive.The hug ended, and she looked at me kind of searchingly.“I can’t believe you are alive,” she said,.