The Savior

They hadn’t seen anything but desert for days. The invasion had come quick and it had been totally unexpected. No one had been prepared, and everyone had suffered. Now it was his job to drive to the classified base here in the desert and deliver the man who could save them all. Jason glanced in the mirror at the so-called savior.

The guy didn’t look like much. He was small, bald, wore thick glasses, and appeared weak. Jason rolled his eyes. He himself was a special-ops solider. He was trained in multiple styles of fighting and was stronger than anyone else he knew. He was trained to not have weaknesses, and if he did then he damn well better hide them. Jason couldn’t wrap his head around the idea that the world could be saved by some weak-ass squint, and not by the soldiers he had trained beside. Isn’t that why they had trained so hard, for situations just like this one?

When the world looked around for a hero, they didn’t look for someone like the guy sleeping in the back seat. They looked for someone like Jason, or at least in his mind they did. He had always felt that a hero should look the part. They should be a visual representation of strength. A hero needed to emanate strength, and ooze leadership. As he drove Jason thought about the heroes he had loved growing up. He had always been in awe of Captain America, Batman, Superman, and the like. Those were who he looked up to when he was a child, they were who he wanted to be.

From the time he was little he had dreamed of being a hero. He wanted to save people and protect them from evil. His whole life all he had ever wanted was for people to look at him the way the people in the comic books and movies looked at super heroes. He had fought and worked hard to become a special-ops solider, because to him they were the epitome of the hero ideal.

Now, here he was chauffeuring one of the weakest, nerdiest people he had ever met in hopes that this tiny little man would save the world. Jason rolled his eyes again, and sighed. He gripped the steering wheel tighter, he was growing more frustrated with the situation the longer he thought about it. He just wanted to get to the base, drop the squint off, and get back to his unit. He was ready to get in the fight already. He still didn’t understand what they were waiting for.

But then again, his job wasn’t to understand, his job was to do what he was ordered to do. That’s why he had been driving through the desert for days now. The classified base was getting close though. He would finally be rid of this guy and be back where he was most comfortable, a weapon in his hand charging head first into any situation. He wasn’t built to be a babysitter.

Just as the gates to the base were coming into view, the little man in the backseat stirred and opened his eyes. He stretched and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Jason was so glad one of them got to be well rested during this trip. He pulled up to the gate and flashed his ID at the guard.

“Delivering Dr. Niedam to Command HQ.” He stated.

The guard checked over his ID, looked at the doctor in the backseat, and waved them through the gate. As he drove across the base to the Command HQ, Jason glanced from side to side. The entire base was on high alert for obvious reasons. Teams were rushing around readying tanks, and Humvees, and planes. It seemed as though everyone was doing something, not an idle hand left on the entire base. This kind of activity got Jason’s blood pumping. He loved the adrenaline rush of the moments just before a fight. He could feel the heat rushing through his body. He was ready to get in there and kick some invader ass.

Jason parked the tactical vehicle in front of HQ. He opened the door and slowly unfolded himself from the driver seat. He stretched each part of his body, happy to be standing up again. He’d had little time outside of the vehicle in several days. He opened the back door and ushered the little man out, keeping his eyes open on the area around them. He knew that just because they were on base, that didn’t mean he could let his guard down.

He escorted the good doctor inside HQ, checking in with the guard at the front. The guard informed him that the General was in the ops center. Jason nodded and lead the doctor through the maze of hallways to the ops center.

“Jeffreys.” The General said, nodding at Jason.

“Sir.” Jason nodded in return.

“Dr. Niedam, I am so glad we were able to find you and get you here.” The General reach out a large hand to the doctor.

“Yes, well, if it’s all the same to you, General, I’d like to get to work. We don’t have much time after all.” Dr. Niedam stated, adjusting his thick glasses as he talked, not looking the General in the eye.

The General glanced over Dr. Niedam’s head at Jason, and all Jason could do was shrug. He had been in the car with the doctor for days and they hadn’t said more than a handful of words to each other. The General nodded once again, and lead the doctor over to the table in the center of the room that held a large screen in the center of it. The General swiped his hand across it, bringing up a map of some kind.

“That will be all Jeffreys. Get back to your unit and be ready for anything.” The General didn’t even look up as he addressed Jason.

There was a part of Jason that wanted to argue, he was after all very curious as to how the tiny doctor could be the savior of the world. But, he knew better than to question the General. So, he turned two and headed back out the door following the hallways to the front of the building. He was going to have to lead foot it out of here if he was going to meet back up with his unit in time. It was a three day drive back, and he definitely didn’t have that much time.

He hustled back to the tactical vehicle and drove as fast as he dared off base. As soon as he was passed the gates, however, he put the pedal to the metal and pushed the vehicle as fast as it could go. He couldn’t wait to get out of that desert. He was so sick of the sand, and the cacti, and the sand. It reminded him of when he was in Fallujah. He had itched to get out there too. He hated the desert.

The dust rose up behind his vehicle in a cloud as he cut through the middle of nowhere. There was no road leading up to the base, but as soon as he hit pavement he knew he would fly all the way back to the city. He did just that. He made the three day drive in two. He met back up with his unit just as things were heating up.

He strolled into the briefing tent and took a seat in the back as his commander was explaining how it was all going to go down. He sat there listening to this plan and his eyes grew wide. He couldn’t believe what the commander was proposing they do. In his whole life he had never heard a plan like that. But, damn if it didn’t sound like it would work. Then, as Jason listened to every detail, it hit him. He sat up straighter in his chair.

“He did it! The squinty SOB did it!”