Soldier's Story: Final Chapter

My breathing becomes uneven I don’t know where I am everything is pitch black. I scream hello into the darkness but no one answers; I scream again and yet again no one answers. I can feel my tears coming down my face I just start to run. I run anywhere away from this blackness but I don’t know where I am going I am just running. After what seemed like running for hours I just stop and fall to my knees crying loudly; I hug myself for support but can’t really do anything much about the darkness surrounding me. I hear mumbling in the distance but don’t pay attention to it. The mumbling continues but now I can somewhat understand it. Jennifer’s voice can be heard in the distance; I yell her name and get to my feet. I then start to run to where I think Jennifer’s voice is coming from. I run as fast as I can; as I get closer her voice gets louder. All of a sudden I feel I am on a bed and my senses start coming back.

I move a little on the bed just to make sure that I am on a bed. For some reason I feel tired; I then feel Jennifer’s hands on my cheeks. She calls my name a couple of times; I then open my eyes a little just enough so she can tell I am awake. She laughs and tears come down her cheeks “I am getting married to your brother” she says fast. I half smile at her “I know that isn’t on your list of important things right now but I just wanted to let you know” she says with tears. I then close my eyes and drift into sleep; I really didn’t dream of anything. When I open my eyes again the sun is still out; I take a deep breath and look around the room. Mark is standing at the end of the bed on the verge of crying; I then look to my right and Alan is there on my side. I take Alan’s hand and he laughs and cries at the same time “Hi” Alan says to me. I smile and say hi back to him; Mark then comes closer to me. Mark was about to caress my cheek but I pull my head back. Both Mark and Alan have this surprise look on their faces “Get out” I say to Mark. Mark looks at me confused and then looks at Alan; “Get out” I say again this time with hatred in my words. Mark takes a few steps back towards the door; his eyes never leave mine. “GET OUT” I yell at Mark; I then pick up the remote that’s on the side of the bed and throw it at him. Mark gets out of the way on time and the remote shatters at the wall behind him. I start crying and hug Alan; I can tell Mark and Alan are confused about the whole deal. “You should go” Alan says to Mark in a serious tone. I cry into Alan’s neck for a while; for the rest of the day Alan tries to get me to talk about Mark. I really didn’t want to think about Mark; he should be fine George will be there to lick his wounds.

For the next couple of weeks Alan and Jennifer take care of me. Alan helps me with my therapy; never would I have thought that walking again could be so hard. Jennifer took care of my health and forearm stiches. Dr. Collins comes into my room from time to time; he keeps telling me how much I am missed here. One day Dr. Collins and Jennifer walk into my room with smiles on their faces; “Good news” Jennifer starts. I look up and just stare at them “We can fix that scar on your arm” Dr. Collins finishes. I look at my forearm and see that the man who did it was carving coward in his language. Without hesitation I nod of approval; Jennifer then starts to prep me for surgery while Dr. Collins goes and clears a room for me. Jennifer starts to wheel me out of the room; we are at the hall and at the end of the hall I see Mark. I look at him and he looks at me; his face is soft and full of concern. I look at Mark and just look away; Jennifer has the biggest confused look on her face. Jennifer then starts wheeling me to the OR; “So you want Mark in the room with you” Jennifer says almost not sure of herself. I just shake my head and stay quite; “I’ll see you after the surgery” Jennifer says with a half smile.

Once again I didn’t really dream of anything; it’s like I have not slept at all. I wake up in the room alone; at least I think I am alone. I then look to my left and see George sitting next to the bed; George is looking at me. I was about to tell George to fuck off but he beat me to it “I saw him first” George chuckles “I know that is elementary thing to say but it does still apply to this situation” George continues “I met Mark long before you. I have been his friend longer than you and I have been in love with him longer than you” George says while looking at me in the eye. “For years I tried to get Mark to view me more than just a friend. Every day I was getting close to my goal….but then you come along and it’s like…..you stole him right from under me” George looks down. “I am sorry for the things that have happened to you…really I am. And I am sorry you had to find out about us the way you did. But please give me the man that I love so much to me” George says with a shaky voice. “You don’t know what it’s like to look at the man you love and when he looks at you….you know he is thinking of someone else” a tear comes down George’s cheek “So please give him to me” George whispers this to me and then he just gets up and leaves. I am just there lying in bed and somewhere along the way my heart goes out to George. It took a lot of courage and class for George to come to me and talk to me like I am his friend. I kind of put myself in George’s situation; for years trying to convince someone you love to view you as more than a friend is hard work. But it’s even harder when that person who you love falls in love with someone else; I envy George because I wouldn’t have except that….I wouldn’t have just let him walk away but George turned to a higher road that I possible couldn’t have taken.

It took a couple of more days for me to heal and to start walking on my own again. If I knew Mark he would be taking his frustration out on the other guys or even George. I don’t know why but my heart goes out to George; Mark deserves him and that’s the hardest thing to accept. After all I did end the relationship without explaining why to Mark and I was gone for a long time. One afternoon I made myself walk over to the mechanic area where I am sure to find Mark. As I get closer I can hear him screaming at someone; I was right Mark was taking his frustration out on other people. I stand in the open looking into the mechanic station; I almost laughed when all of the mechanics saw me and their faces where full of relief. George wasn’t around so this should make things a bit easier; surprisingly Mark was the last to notice I was there. Mark looks at me and I look at him “Can we talk” I say almost in a whisper. Mark nods his head and half smiles at me but somehow it seemed forced.

We walk into the office and Mark closes the door behind him; we just stare at each other for a while. The silence goes on as the ticks of the clock can be heard; Mark was standing there just looking at me and I was looking at him. “I umm….” I begin to say breaking the silence. “I have been here a while and no one has told me how long I was gone” I say with a half a smile. “Three months” Mark says in a soft voice. I love you those are the words I wanted to say to him; I kept saying those words inside my head trying to make those words come out of my mouth. I open my mouth to say it “I am sorry” Mark says before I could say anything. “I didn’t mean for you to find out about George the way you did….but I thought you were dead and I thought….” Mark says but doesn’t finish the sentence. “I would have wanted you to move on” I finish Mark’s sentence. My heart did go out for George but when I say Mark I just wanted to be wrapped up in his arms. I wanted Mark so bad that I really didn’t care about what George’s situation was but now that I hear Mark explain about George it’s a surprise. My heart started breaking and I was on the verge of tears; I did loose Mark and that alone is the most painful thing I have ever endured. It took all of my strength not to cry in front of him because I know that he won’t come to my side and comfort like he should be if he was still mine. “Well umm…” I begin to say “You’re not the only one at fault… I kissed Cory” I say just to sever any hope we have left in getting back together.

Mark straightens out and his eyes are both hurt and full of hatred; don’t know if that hatred is for me or Cory or both. The silence kicks in again and this time it’s needed. “I would have done the same thing Mark” I say trying to smooth things out. “It seems you did anyway” Mark says almost in a whisper but loud enough for me to hear. I had to turn away for a second to quickly wipe away the tear that escaped my eye. I was about to say something when I see pass Mark; George is standing outside of the office looking into the window where I stood when I found out about the relationship. I swallowed hard both Mark and I are looking down at the floor. This isn’t the way I thought it was going to end but it’s over….it’s over. I start to walk to the door; Mark has his back to the door and his hands are on his waist. I stop when I am next to him; I am so close to touching him but it’s not going to be the same if I did touch him. Both Mark and I are staring at the floor “I’ll see you around” I say almost in a whisper trying so hard not to cry. I then walk out of the room I don’t even look at George I just walk away.

I somehow manage to get back into the hospital and into the storage room where Jennifer and I put Alan to hide during the shooting. I close the door behind me and sit down at the very end of room; my breathing becomes uneven first. Then one tear rolls down my cheek and then another and another; soon I find myself crying out loud. Not loud enough for people to hear me outside the room but loud so I can let out all of the pain. I hug myself for comfort but the tears still keep on coming; nothing can comfort me at this point. How could anything comfort me when I just lost the love of my life? Things are going to be different now and I don’t think I can do this alone. I then put my knees up and hug them; I bury my face in them and cry some more. I then hear the door open and close I guess the janitor saw me and decided to give me my space. But then I feel someone sit next to me; I then feel a hand on the back of my neck. For some reason I think it’s Mark and I look up with red eyes; to my greatest disappointment and relief it’s Cory. He pulls me into him and I have my head rest on his neck; I hate that Cory knows why I am crying but he says nothing.

“Let’s get you back into your room” Cory says in a soft voice. He then puts his arm under my legs and one across my mid back. Cory lifts me up with ease and carries me to my room; the whole way I had my face buried in his neck. That night I didn’t even fall asleep I just spent the whole night crying alone in my room. By morning I hear a knock at the door; for some reason I think its Mark but when I turn to see who it is Jennifer is standing there half smiling at me. She comes in and sits next to me “I am so sorry sweetie” Jennifer says to me while she grabs my hand. I then start to cry some more and she hugs me in comfort. Jennifer knows that Mark isn’t mine anymore and my whole world is shattered. After a while I calm down; we then hear a knock and again for some reason I think it’s Mark but to my greatest surprise it’s Commander Stone. He stands at the entrance looking at me “I’ll be outside” Jennifer says. I try to tell her not to go; this man is the reason I went through hell for the past three months. As each seconds passed by my hatred came back to me; I was about to say something “I guess sorry wouldn’t mean anything to you at this point” Commander Stone says while he stands next to my bed. “I hoped that me saving your life would be the start of how sorry I am” Commander Stone says while I put on a puzzling look. “They didn’t tell you….I was the one who found you on the ground bleeding outside the mechanic office” Commander Stone stays his ground “I was the one who carried you to the hospital….and just in time too” Commander Stone says with a half-smile. “Adrian please I know I have done a terrible wrong here….and I am just trying to make it right” Commander Stone says with a surprising low shaky voice. This could only mean one thing; either Mark found out that Commander Stone is his father or Mark had been too busy looking for me that Commander Stone didn’t even matter to Mark for the past three months. “What do you want…..Sir?” I say trying to say it in a fuck you tone but yet still been respectful.

After all Commander Stone did save my life and I am very surprised he did. “Please give me my son back” Commander Stone looks at me with soft eyes. “I know that after three months you have the right to hate me with everything you have ….but please my son is the only weakness I have. With you gone he turned into someone else that I didn’t even expect him to be. George did the best he could to calm him down but it wasn’t enough; Mark’s love for you is to great” Commander Stone remains with his back straight and head held high but his eyes were full of pain. I should say fuck you to Commander Stone; I do have the right to hate Commander Stone with everything I have. But for some reason this wasn’t the case; I have gone through hell and back and I survived it…I survived. “You could just tell him the truth” I say in a calm voice. Commander Stone looks at me with a huge surprise look in his face. I guess because Commander Stone wasn’t expecting me to help him; he wasn’t expecting me to be so forgiving after everything I went through because of him. It’s just that at this point I just don’t care anymore; I am just happy to be alive. Commander Stone and I talk for about an hour and have agreed that he will tell Mark the truth the day of the wedding. As Commander Stone leaves the room I can’t help but think that Mark will need someone by his side when the news is broken to him. It’s at that point that I hope that George will be there for him….they…….really deserve each other.

A couple of weeks later Commander Stone signs me off to go home. He said that he was taking a lot of heat for sending a civilian to the pit; I argued that the board should let Commander Stone stay as the head guy on base and for me to stay. But after much debate the board decided to relief Commander Stone of his post and to send me home. I packed everything into three suitcases I don’t know really know how I got all of this stuff. My last day I spent it on the hospital saying good bye to all of my patients I had and all of the staff; Dr. Collins was the last guy I said good bye to. It was a long and tearful good bye but we agreed that we would see each other on the day of the wedding. “Good bye son” Dr. Collins says with tears in his eyes and one of his hands on my cheek. I hug him and hold on to him for dear life; we then hear a page for Dr. Collins and we break our hug. Dr. Collins just smiles at me and heads out of his office; I am left there to gather myself up. It was late afternoon when my plane was taking off from the base; as I headed to the plane almost half of the base was there. All of the soldiers that where there wanted to say good bye to me; it took about an hour to say good bye.

I was in tears because I didn’t know how much I meant to them here; I really didn’t say good bye to Alan or Jennifer because I know that in a couple of months I would see them. As we were all settling into our seats for the plane to take off a very familiar voice came from next to me. “Hey stranger” Cory says as he leans in almost saying it in a whisper. I turn and look at him; his dark green eyes lock into mine. That’s when I realize that maybe just maybe Cory can help me move on; Cory can be the guy who can get me back on my feet. Somewhere over the sea Cory and I sat at the very back of the cargo plane and talked; at one point Cory told me “I know I am not Mark but I would someday like to have what you guys had…will you be mine Adrian?” I just stared at him. “I…um…..Cory I…..” I stumbled to gather the words. “Take your time I’ll be right here by your side” Cory says in a soft but manly voice. We arrived late at night to the states and both of us just wanted to get some sleep. Cory wanted me to stay with him at his downtown condo but I wanted to stay at my house. “I’ll come and pick you up at 7 pm” Cory says as we part ways from the airport. It was around three in the morning when I arrived at my house; well it was my parents but since their death it became my house. Alan was gone most of the time so it was just me and the house; I really didn’t have the heart to sell it I have some memories here that I just can’t let go of. Since it was late January it was still kind of cold outside; I just turned on the heater and went to bed.

I didn’t wake up until three in the afternoon; I unpacked everything and at the end of my unpacking I found my camera. Even though I didn’t take that many pictures the two years I was there the ones that I got were pretty awesome. I even found one picture I took of Jake the day before he died; the rest just showed the bond of brotherhood the soldiers shared. That afternoon I submitted my photos to my editor to see if they can be published; before I knew it my cell phone was ringing. Cory was on the other end of the line saying that he was about ten minutes away from my place. I rushed to take a shower and put on a black suit; tonight Cory was going to be giving the Medal of Honor and I was receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Cory came and picked me up and we were on our way; the ceremony was to be held downtown. The president was visiting the city so my award was on the way; two birds with one stone I guess. We arrived and there were other soldiers there receiving the same award as well; the night went on and everyone got their awards except us. It was close to the end of the ceremony when a soldier comes up to the podium and starts talking. The soldier in the podium then introduces the President of the United States. The president comes out and takes the podium he then starts talking about Cory and I; he talks about a civilian who came to help and was captured. At the end of his speech the president calls Cory and I up to the stage; we got a standing ovation from the audience because they knew that we had killed the most wanted man in Iraq. Cory got his medal of honor and I got my freedom medal; Cory and I shook hands with the president and took a lot of pictures with him as well. We really couldn’t do that much seeing that it’s the president and there were secret service guys everywhere. “Thanks a lot son” the president says as he pats my back and leaves the stage. I really didn’t say thank you because he left in such a hurry; I guess the president had a lot to do now that Ashram is dead.

Cory and I stuck around seeing that everyone wanted to shake our hands and make small talk with us. “Are you copying me soldier?” a handsome soldier says while walking towards us. This soldier is good looking tall, blonde hair, blue eyes, and the cutest smile. Cory sees this blonde soldier and gives him a manly hug; they talk for a little while. “Sorry…..” Cory says as he turns and looks at me “Adrian this is Andrew Adams we served together for a while” Cory says to me with a huge smile. Andrew extends his hand and I shake it “Thanks for the service you provided” Andrew says with his cute smile. Than someone comes up from behind Andrew “David” I say; David then says my name and we both hug each other. “How are you?” David says to me as we part from our hug. Both Cory and Andrew are looking at us with a puzzled look. “We had clinical together a while back” I say to Cory just to clarify. David then congratulates me for my award “Andrew did you get an award tonight?” I ask but both David and Andrew look at each other for a moment. “I got mine about a year ago” Andrew says in a low voice. I was about to ask him for what “Adrian….he’s one of us” Cory says to me in a serious tone. That’s when I realize that Andrew was the soldier who everyone thought was dead. I quickly apologized but both David and Andrew were nice about it and told me that it was water under the bridge. All four of us talked for a little while longer; I said good bye to David and we traded phone numbers. Andrew then takes David’s hand and both walk away; they were close to the door way when Andrew gives David a kiss on his cheek. David blushes and both disappear around the corner. I smile to myself remembering that feeling when Mark would kiss me in the cheek. “So you want to go to a party tonight?” Cory asks me interrupting my thoughts. I look up at him and smile; I then nod my head “But we have to go to my house so I can change” I say while pushing Cory with my shoulder.

Soldier's Story: Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I stand on my own two feet in a room that looks like an OR. But yet at the same time it’s not an OR it’s just a room I am standing in. about five feet away from me stands a man with dark blue eyes and jet black hair. “Mark” I whisper his name. His eyes lighten up and a half smile comes across his face; he just looks perfect. Mark never takes his dark blue eyes off of mine; I feel so peaceful. I then whisper Mark’s name one more time; as I do I lift my hand up while holding a gun. I point the gun at Mark, scream his name and pull the trigger. I wake up in the same small room I have been in for what seems like a lifetime. The nights seemed to be getting colder so that would mean that we are somewhere in November or December. But it’s hard to tell what day it is exactly I stopped counting the days when it reached four weeks of my capture. More than four weeks have passed since the day we were attacked in the middle of the desert going to the pit. I have to remain strong but now my nightmares are occurring more frequently now. It’s the same dream over and over again; Mark and I standing in a room. I killed Mark so many times in my dream that I just don’t know what to make of it exactly; could it be that myself conscious is telling me that Mark is the one to blame for the situation I am in. to tell you the truth after more than four weeks in captivity it’s starting to sound like the truth but I just push those thoughts away. Mark is the one I love and I made the decision to go to the pit for our love; I made the decision to break up with him so he wouldn’t follow me. Sometimes I wonder if that was such a good idea; sometimes I wonder what things would be like if I told Mark who Commander Stone really was. Mark would have believed me but yet I didn’t know how Commander Stone would handle it. Commander Stone is the one to blame for all of this; Commander Stone is the one responsible for all of this.

My thoughts are interrupted when I hear Cory turn over on his side. I give myself a smile knowing that at least I am not the only one held hostage. After the bomb went off the two soldiers in the front died in a shoot out; Cory was unconscious but yet still alive. After we were brought here Cory was dead weight to our captures but I made them keep Cory alive. I made a deal with our captures; I would treat their wounded men while Cory would teach them how to shoot. It’s not the best of deals and not the one that I liked making; but it kept us alive all this time. Cory still has his eyes closed but I just look at him; anyone would be lucky enough to have Cory as a friend…..I mean boyfriend. As for me my answer has gone from no to maybe; I have been going over and over again in my mind why I have changed my answer. I don’t love Cory I love Mark it should be simple to be true to the one you love; but yet again after more than four weeks of been cut off from the world things do get fuzzy. Cory takes in a deep breath but yet hasn’t opened his eyes. When I met Cory he was clean shaved and now the same dark brown color hair goes down his chin. He trims it from time to time and yet he still looks sexy; Cory is one of those guys that looks good in any type of hair or beard style. I wipe my sweaty forehead with my forearm and lye back down on the ground. I only have one thin blanket for warmth and lately this blanket sucks at keeping me warm.

I shiver for about a couple of minutes until I find sleep; I am then awoken by the door swinging open and one of my captures screaming at me in his language. Cory opens his eyes and quickly stands on his feet; as for me I am dragged up to mine by my captures. Cory tries to defend me but is quickly hit in the stomach with a gun. I am dragged out of my little room and into one of the tents that is somewhere in the mountains. There are a lot of men around the tent; I am then pushed in and in the middle of the tent are four people. Two are holding down some guy’s chest to stop the bleeding while one is trying to gather all of the tools needed to save him. The man on the table is grunting in pain; as I look at him I realize this is a man of great importance to our captures. This guy that’s on the table is the guy who leads most of the rebels here in Iraq. I would do everyone a favor if this guy dies right here right now; but how do I make it look like I did everything I could to save him? I am pushed out of my thoughts as the man who dragged me in pushes me closer to the table. Everyone is screaming at me and I get to work on his chest; blood comes out like a river and I do my best to control it.

It took a couple of hours but I found the bullet and removed it all from his chest. The thought again comes into my head on how to kill this rebel leader without making it look like I killed him on purpose. Would it be so bad that I don’t do anything and get killed for it; I don’t mind giving my life for the countless soldiers this man on the table would kill if he lives beyond today. It then hits me a great idea on how to make this man dead in a couple of hours. I sow his artery back together but I leave gaps here and there. The gaps cannot be seen unless you were a doctor but these guys look on not knowing that I am killing their leader right in front of them. My heart starts beating and sweat begins to form on my forehead; my breathing becomes uneven but I control it without arousing suspicion. The guys are looking on around me making sure that I don’t do anything stupid; I glance at them from time to time. They must be thinking that I am nervous because if this man dies Cory and I die with him; I sow the last piece of artery and close him back up. Since we are on the mountains there is hardly any good medical equipment out here. Which means that this man will bleed out and no one will know it; I put everything away and look at my captures. Some have come to like me simply because I saved their lives but none will do anything to help me with anything.

I am then pushed into the small room with Cory; Cory catches me with his big strong arms. We both are in each other’s arms as the guard closes the door and walks away. “Did they hurt you?” Cory asks me with a worried look. “Fine but this may be the last day we will be alive” I say with half a smile on my face. Cory looks at me still holding me with his big strong arms. “Ashram was shot and I had to retract the bullet and sow his artery back up….” I begin to say while Cory looks on kind of guessing where this is going. “Let’s just say I may not have done a very good job of sowing his stitches tightly” I say while I look down at my feet. Cory looks at me for a while and with his hand he gently places it at the bottom of my chin and lifts my face up. I look at him and he looks at me; Cory’s dark green eyes say thank you because Ashram is the one guy no one could ever get. Cory then comes closer to my lips; I then feel his body heat. Cory’s lips brush up against mine and that is when I pull back “You’re still in love with him aren’t you?” Cory says in a manly whisper. I just nod and try not to make eye contact with Cory even though we are still in each other’s arms. I can feel the disappointment in the room as Cory let’s go of me and sits at the far end corner of the room. I was about to say something but I just didn’t move my mouth; simply because I had this feeling that Cory was just playing an act so I can feel bad. The worst part is that it was somewhat working but I didn’t say anything I just sat back down. The hours went by and nothing was heard; no one came to bother us except when the guard throws the food at us like we were caged animals. In the midst of waiting I begin to doubt if I had really loosened up the stitches to the point where there will be bleeding internally.

I begin to doubt myself; I may have done a really good job that the stitches hold and Ashram lived. The sun was setting and the night was getting colder by the second; I hugged myself hoping that I would keep me warm. For a couple of hours it did but as the night went on what little warmth I had was gone and the cold night air replaced it. I was shivering and rubbing my arms for warmth but that didn’t work; I could even see my breath and this time I couldn’t find sleep. I was shivering so much that I thought that I was going to die of it perhaps this is my punishment. “You could have just ask for help you know” Cory says as he lifts me up and sits behind me. Cory’s body heat feels so good that I don’t resist at all; his chest and abs connect with my back. Cory’s big strong arms wrap around my chest and stomach; I was still shivering but the heat that Cory produce was calming my shivering down. My mind raced with ideas but simply it was two guys sitting in a corner trying to keep each other warm. “Feel better” Cory whispers to me in my ear as I feel the side of his face on the back my head. I knew that if I push him away or say something wrong he would leave my side and the cold would return. To tell you the truth I didn’t want that to happen so I just nodded my head. I then lean my head back and it landed on Cory’s shoulder near his neck. I then heard Cory laugh to himself quickly but didn’t say anything; for some reason my eyes started to feel heavy and I drifted into sleep.

I am back in my room on base the lights are off. Someone is on top of me I can’t see his face but we are both naked and on my bed. The man on top of me then starts to kiss my neck and I moan in pleasure; it was Mark I know it was. I know Mark’s touch anywhere I didn’t have to see his face; I then tilt my head to the side so Mark can kiss more of my neck. Mark’s big strong arms are around me holding me tightly and his kisses are gentle on my neck. My hands explore Mark’s muscular back; my hands go up and down his back feeling every inch of it. I then turn my head and meet Mark’s lips the kiss is just as I remembered. Mark and I kiss for a while gently but yet dominant; all of my worries disappeared and only the man in my arms only mattered to me. I then spread my legs telling Mark in body language that I wanted him inside of me. Mark moves his hips back and forward as his dick gets harder; Mark’s dick rubs against mine and my dick gets harder. We kiss more passionately and Mark’s thrust get a little faster; I can hear his breath becoming uneven. My breathing becomes uneven as well mainly because I have missed his touch and kisses. I lift my ass a little so that Mark’s dick can slide down to my hole; with my legs I push Mark’s butt closer to me. Mark then pushes his dick in finally getting the message that I wanted him inside of me. It’s just as I remembered pain for a second and pleasure following; I moan in between our kisses and so does Mark.

Mark thrust his dick all of the way inside of me and pushes further down my hole even though his whole Marine dick is inside of me. I wrap my arms around his neck; both of our breathing has become uneven and sweat is starting to come down my forehead. Mark then slowly takes his dick out and pushes it back in with force. He does this several time and it just feels so good that I don’t want him to stop. His thrusts are deep and slow; Mark’s thrusts are powerful though so powerful that it knocks the wind out of me. Mark’s thrust then go to a short fast pace and his dick feels so good around my hole. By now Mark has been working on my neck and I feel so close to melting in his arms. All I can hear is my moaning, Mark’s manly moaning and the clapping sound that Mark is making with his dick as it hits my ass cheeks. Mark continues to slam me down for what seemed like hours until he stops working on my neck and kisses me. Mark’s manly moans can be heard between our kisses and then I feel hot liquid inside of me. Both of us are out of breath but don’t stop kissing each other; Mark then stops kissing me and looks at me. It’s so dark that I don’t see him but I know it’s him; then he leans over and turns on a light. My eyes widen as I see that is was Cory this whole time; Cory has a smile across his face and his dark green eyes sparkle as he looks at me. Cory is still on top of me; his dark green eyes locked onto mine. My breathing become uneven I fell like throwing up; how could I do this to Mark I feel so ashamed. Cory then gets a gun from nowhere and points the gun to the side of his head and pulls the trigger.

I open my eyes and for a split second I am out of breath. Cory’s arms are still wrapped around me as he sits behind me still providing me with warmth. “You ok” Cory whispers to me as he opens his eyes. “Yeah I am fine” I say trying not to make eye contact or tell him that I just had a dream about him. I was about to say something when the door to our little room flies open and I am yanked out of Cory’s arms. The guard then slaps me across the face but doesn’t let go of me. He then punches me in the face and pushes me hard to the wall. I hit my head and fall to the ground I feel blood coming out of my head; I place my hand on my head to stop the bleeding. My senses are off I feel lightheaded and I can’t concentrate right; I then hear a large cracking sound followed by a thud. My senses somewhat come back to me and I see the guard on the floor with his head twisted backwards. I then look up and see Cory breathing heavily looking at the guard with a cold hard stare. It’s the same stare Mark got when Alan slap me across the face when he found out that Mark and I were dating. I look at Cory for a while and that’s when it hits me; Cory Pearson cares about me and he wouldn’t let anything happen to me. I then shake my head and stand up as quickly as I could “Come one let’s go” I say to Cory while on the door way. Cory picks up the guards rifle and heads out the door with me. Cory has the rifle in one hand and is holding my hand behind him with the other.

My breathing becomes uneven but not that much because I know Cory can take care of us really well; after all Cory is an alpha. We head outside and everyone is running around the death of the leader meant that now there will be a power struggle. Cory takes a couple of grenades and throws them at every direction. All of the grenades explode, some things explode and other things catch on fire. The campground has turned into more of a war zone “Come one I think I know where we are” Cory says as he pulls me behind him running towards the mountains. I then stop dead in my tracks and Cory feels the tug; he’s so strong that I literally had to pull as hard as I can to stop him. “Go on” I say to Cory while thinking things over. “What? No I won’t go without you” Cory says as he tries pulling me to the mountain. “You know where you are and I will just slow you down….not to mention there are a lot of them we won’t make it far” I say looking into his dark green eyes. Cory looks at me knowing that I speak the truth but isn’t going to except it. Cory then says my name and moves closer to me; I then place his head in between my hands and kiss him. I had to tippy toe to reach his lips but I made it; I try to savor this moment. The kiss was soft, elegant and mesmerizing; another explosion goes off in the distance but I barely heard it. I pull back and take a couple of steps back the expression on Cory’s face is priceless. “GO” I yell at him “I’ll come back for you I promise” Cory says as he starts to run to the dark mountain. A tear comes down my face knowing that this time I will die here; it wasn’t a smart move to do but it was the last kiss I would ever experience. I run to the nearest semi-truck and start driving it down the dirt road.

I swerve knocking down tents, crashing other vehicles and try to avoid the bullets that seemed to be coming from everywhere. An explosion goes off behind the truck and it’s powerful enough to make me crash. I get out as quickly as possible and start to run down the dirt road; I can hear the men screaming in their language. Some even shot at me but I just keep running and for some reason I start to hope that I may actually escape. But my hope quickly vanishes as I am surrounded by vehicles; I stop dead in my tracks as twenty rifles are pointed at me. This is it this is how I am going to die in the middle of the desert; but I manage to help someone escape and he will spread the news that Ashram is dead. Someone gets out of the vehicle and walks towards me; his anger can be viewed by his walk and his eyes. I have both of my hands up just waiting to see who is going to shoot me first; the man that got out of the vehicle quickly hits me in the head with his gun and I black out.

I take in a deep breath and feel tile under me; my best guess is that I am somewhere back in the city. I then feel a sharp pain on my leg. I scream out in pain and open my eyes; I try to move but I am held down by someone who is on top of me. The man in a blue turban presses the knife deeper in my thigh and I again scream out in pain. “Do you know who I am?” the man in the blue turban asks me. Tears are coming down my face and the pain is so excruciating I don’t even answer. “You killed my brothers in this room a while back” the man in the blue turban says in an intimidating voice. I then force myself to look around trying to find something that can distract me from the pain. The room looks familiar and then it hits me; this is the room that I was brought to when I got captured the first time. There were three men; there was a huge light, and a camera. I try to breathe through the pain but that didn’t help “The camera recorded everything….and I saw you kill my brother with a knife….you stabbed him over and over again” the man in the blue turban says while trying to hold back his tears. “PL….PLE….PLEASE” I scream to the man who is on top of me. I force myself to look around the room one more time and there is no one except us. “I am going to kill you the same way you killed my brother….but before I do I am going to leave a mark so that everyone will know what you are…..a coward” the man in the blue turban than extends my left hand out.

With his left forearm he turns my head away and presses it to the ground hard. I cry even more and plea with him but he won’t listen to me at all even though I am screaming in pain. I then feel more pain as he gets another knife and starts carving down on my left forearm. I scream in pain again louder and louder each time the knife cuts into my skin; with my right hand I try to push him away but he is too strong for me. Tears come down my face while I scream as loud as I can in pain. I try to move away from him but he is too strong; he holds me down still carving something into my forearm. I scream out in pain one more time and that is when I hear bullets coming from outside of the room. It only lasts a couple of seconds but the man in the blue turban is too caught up in what he is doing to me. The door then swings open and the man in the blue turban is yanked off of me; I lay there not moving. I try to move, breathe and calm my tears but nothing seemed to working. I then see American soldier shoes; the man in the blue turban is now lying on his back while a soldier is on top of him. “YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE” Mark screams at the man in the blue turban as he is on top of him. Mark then start to hit the man in the blue turban over and over again on his face. I then see someone next to me “You’re okay Adrian” Alan says reassuring me. Alan then gets to work on my leg while Mark is still hitting the man in the blue turban.

Alan then yanks out the knife on my leg; at this point I am in so much pain that I don’t even feel Alan yank out the knife from my leg. Alan then throws the knife at Mark; Mark catches it and stabs the man in the blue turban in the stomach. Mark then presses the knife harder down making the knife go deeper into the man in the blue turban. The man in the blue turban dies a slow painful death; Mark then looks at me and his face softens. “How is he?” Mark says out of breath and kneeling beside Alan. “He’s okay for now but he still needs to go to the hospital” Alan says to Mark as he finishes patching me up. I am then lifted off of the floor but not by Mark or Alan; I still can’t move but I see that I am been carried out of the room and out to the hall. “I’ve got you” Cory says to me as he carries me down the hall, down the stairs and finally outside. We get to the Humvee and Cory places me in the middle; Alan gets on and searches his bag for something. I then see Mark he is not looking at me; he is looking at Cory with the coldest hard stare anyone can give. If looks could kill Mark slaughtered Cory with just his stare; “Can’t you give him something for the pain?” Cory tells Alan as he pulls out a small bottle. Alan then looks at me for a while and tears start to build in his eyes; a look of relief that he found me and of sadness that he has to see me like this. “I am going to give you a sedative; I promise when you wake up everything will be all right” Alan says as he gives me the sedative. My eyes feel heavy and before I close my eyes the last person I look at Cory; I could have sworn I say tears in his eyes before I blacked out.

I take in a deep breath and feel sheets underneath me; it’s the first time in a long time that I feel clean sheet underneath me. I open my eyes and look around; it’s the middle of the night. I see Alan on a chair next to my bed sleeping. For some reason I wanted to see Mark I haven’t seen him or touched him in a while and that’s all I want to do right now. I force myself out of bed and head for the door; I was so quite that Alan didn’t even notice anything. I sneak out of the room and out of the hospital; I then start to head for the mechanic station knowing somehow that Mark will be there. As I am walking to the mechanic station I can feel the stiches on my leg loosen and blood starts to come down my leg. I really didn’t care about that I just wanted Mark; it took a while but I finally made it to the mechanic station. The office light was on and I knew Mark was in there; I am ready to see Mark I am more than ready to hold him.

The office is on the back with large windows that you can peak through I walk towards them with a huge smile on my face. The pain on my leg mattered too little now knowing that Mark is on the other side of glass windows. I stop to look and see where Mark is but when I do my smile disappears and the pain comes back to me. I see Mark standing in the middle of the office but he is not alone; George Smith his mechanic buddy is holding him. George has his hands on Mark’s chest and both of their foreheads are touching each other. Tears begin to come down my face as I realize that Mark has moved on; Mark has found another person to love. There is a lot of blood coming down my leg; the pain returns but it’s nothing compare to what I am seeing. I fall to the ground; there is a small pool of blood around my leg. I try to apply pressure but I am weak and can’t do it. My eyes feel heavy and i lay down on the ground; I am bleeding out alone. It’s then that I realize that I am going to die because the man that kept me alive for so long now belongs to another.

Final Chapter coming soon…..

Soldier's Story: Chapter 6

Chapter 6

There once was a happy Iraqi family; a family who had everything. All were blessed with good lives; it seemed that their lives were perfect. But when the war came everything changed and the family was destroyed. The three members of the family where in the market one day with American troops walking around. Gunfire started and the family was caught in the middle of it; the man’s son Amir who was a year shy away from his teens looked on in horror. Amir had one flaw and that was bravery; Amir showed bravery when he shouldn’t. The gunfire raged on when an Iraqi rebel was shot dead no more than ten feet away from him.

Amir thought to himself that this would be a good chance to show the American soldiers what he is made of. Amir tore off of his parents grip and ran for the dead Iraqi rebel; Amir’s parents screamed for him to come back. Amir lifted the gun from the dead Iraqi rebel but before he could point the gun at the rebels he was shot. In the midst of the gunfire no soldier would stop and wait for someone to pick up a gun and see where they start shooting. To a soldier it is second nature to them to eliminate any threat before it becomes a threat to him/her and to his/her unit. To Mark it was second nature to point and shoot at someone who looked like the enemy.

To Mark it looked like an enemy was going to pick up the gun and start shooting at him or at his unit. An innocent mistake that turned deadly; when Amir’s parents ran by his side Mark knew what he had done. The boy was bleeding from his chest and gasping for air; Mark called a medic over. Alan came over and did the best he could to save the boy but the boy’s injury was far more than Alan’s capabilities. The father held onto his only child for dear life; the father didn’t understand that every second was crucial to his son’s survival. Alan had no choice but to rip them apart so he could take Amir to the hospital. The father and mother were left behind crying for their only son. When Alan came through the doors Dr. Collins was the first doctor on the scene; during surgery Dr. Collins did everything he could to save the boy. The boy lost too much blood and the bullet shredded his aorta; Amir died in late afternoon….it was a Tuesday.

When Amir’s body was handed over to his parents Dr. Collins personally told the father that he did everything he could to save his son. After the funeral several weeks past and the mother couldn’t take the pain anymore; she sliced her wrist open and bled out in the kitchen…she died on a Tuesday. After her funeral the father sat in his living room in the dark for days. The fathers thoughts went everywhere and anywhere and somewhere along the way hatred became his friend. The father devised a plan to kill the three people responsible; the father knew it would take years before he could make his move. It wasn’t murder or revenge but justice; justice to those who took away his family and his life…his plan was put in motion on a Tuesday.

As for me I told Mohammed to shot me instead of Mark; I told Mohammed my connection to the three men he was after. I didn’t know if it was love or just pure second nature; second nature to put myself in harm’s way for the betterment of several others. I guess a soldier’s thinking of the protection of his unit has rubbed off on me. The last thing that went through my head was Mark coming closer to me to give me a kiss but the gunshot beat him to it. I feel numb; nothing is happening. I don’t see a white light or heavenly music; I just don’t see or feel anything. I don’t even feel pain; maybe the bullet went so fast through my skull that death was instant.

I then hear Jennifer calling my name and I quickly open my eyes and take in a deep breath. I am still alive and still standing in the same spot that I was; I smile to myself and tears begin to come down my face. I look down and see that Mohammed is dead; a bullet hole is on the side of his head. But he did not commit suicide because the bullet hole is on one side and he is holding the gun in the opposite hand. I then hear a noise to my left and quickly look in that direction thinking it’s the other shooter. But to my surprise it’s Cory Pearson the alpha soldier I schooled yesterday; Cory is leaning against the door way with his small handgun pointed at where Mohammed was standing. I should have known the alphas always carry some sort of weapon with them at all times. I laugh out loud while tears are coming down my face; I then take a step towards Jennifer and Mark. “ADRIAN….” Jennifer screams my name and looks at me.

I then remember that the other shooter has found Alan and would probably shoot him dead. Jennifer then starts to work on Mark’s shoulder; I take a few steps towards her. “Adrian please…I am trying to save your guy….now please go and save mine” she says while she digs in for the bullet. I quickly bend down and grab Mohammed’s gun from his hand; I then rush out of the room passing Cory. I run as fast as I can to the storage room where I left Alan; in my mind I am thinking that he is already dead but I just keep going. I turn the corner as fast I could someone was standing over Alan with the gun pointing to Alan’s head. Without hesitation I point the gun to the man and pull the trigger.

I hit him in the back and I pull the trigger over and over again while stepping closer to the second shooter. The last bullet went into his neck and he fell on his back while his blood made a small pool all around him. I kneel on Alan’s side but he is not harmed in anyway; I then look at the second shooter and my mouth drops. Kareem the hot Iraqi nurse was holding onto his neck for dear life while gasping for air. Kareem’s blood kept coming out of his neck and the pool of blood got bigger; I just look at him and he looks at me. I just stay where I am not moving; not trying to save a fellow soldier. But after the events of today he, Kareem, is the enemy; and he tried to kill my brother. So I let him die right in front of me and I give his lifeless body a cold hard stare.

I then hear footsteps coming down the hall fast. I look up and see the rest of the Alpha team followed by other soldiers; I look at the Alpha’s and they look at me. “He’s in the OR near the entrance” I say to them knowing what they were asking me from their eyes. Alan was starting to come out of his sedation but he was still weak; I and some other soldiers got him into a bed and into his room. I stayed with Alan the whole time as the hospital began to come back to life. I stayed with Alan for a couple more hours until I see Jennifer walk into the room; she looks at me and I look at her. She smiles at me and nods; tears begin to come down my face and I hug her.

“Adrian… I….” Jennifer begins to say. “We’ll talk about it when Alan wakes up” I cut into her. She smiles and nods her head; she then turns her attention to Alan. “I’ll leave you guys alone” I say while I walk out of the room and across the hall where Mark is. Mark looks so peaceful; he has bandages on his shoulder. I grab his hand and kiss him in the cheek “I love you Mark” I whisper to him as my forehead connects to the side of his head. I then hear heavy footsteps outside the door and pull away from Mark. “Commander Stone” I say as he walks in. Commander Stone is the head military guy here; this is his base. He runs it and nothing moves unless he says so; he has short salt and pepper hair, dark blue eyes, and stands a good six feet. Commander Stone ignores me and stays looking at Mark “Is there something you need sir” I say while stepping closer to him. Commander Stone looks at Mark for a while and then looks at me; “Sir” I say confused as to why he is staring at Mark.

“Get out” he says in an intimidating whisper. I was about to say something but decided not to he is after all everyone’s boss here; I get to the door and look back. I don’t look at Commander Stone…I look at Mark with a sincere look. Commander Stone notices this and closes the door almost pushing me out of the room; I stand outside confused about the whole situation.

“Are you sure?” Jennifer asks me after I tell her that Commander Stone is with Mark. “Did he say what he wanted?” Jennifer asks again. “It doesn’t make sense at all” I say while deep in thought. “Well to tell you the truth Commander Stone and Mark have been good friends” Jennifer says to me and I look up at her. “Mark and Commander Stone are like you and me with Dr. Collins” she finishes saying. It then makes sense Mark is so good at been a soldier that Commander Stone took Mark under his wing just like Dr. Collins did to Jennifer and I. Alan shifts a little in his bed and both me and Jennifer stand still and hold our breaths but Alan doesn’t wake up. “Davis can I have a word with you” Commander Stone says while standing at the door way. As I walk out I turn and look at Jennifer and she shrugs her shoulders but then turns her attention to Alan. Commander Stone is outside of the room with his arms crossing each other and he is pacing back and forward. “Sir” I say almost in a whisper; even though I haven’t met Commander Stone personally this guy is intimidating down to his eyebrows. Commander Stone takes in a deep breath “I really need to talk you and I but I also need to follow protocol and so….when Dr. Collins comes back from his vacation we will talk” his voice sounded like he was trying so hard not to yell at me. Commander Stone then looks into Mark’s room and walks away; I guess he blames me for Mark been shot or something.

Alan hasn’t woken up yet so I decided to go to Cory’s room and thank him for what he did. As I get closer to his room I get a little nervous but somehow manage to put that aside. I step in and it’s almost the same thing as when I first walked into Cory’s room. Everyone is laughing and telling jokes but when they notice me all of them fall silent and look at me. “I…um” I begin to say but for some reason I can’t say thank you to Cory. Mainly because thanking Cory would mean that we would be friends and to tell you the truth I don’t want to be friends with him even though he saved my life.

I look up and see that Cory has his dark green eyes locked into mine. We stare at each other for a while I then take a deep breath in “Congratulations Mr. Pearson you are still fit for duty….when Dr. Collins comes back in a couple of days he will sign off on your reinstatement” I say and I begin to walk out of the room. “CORY” he says to me and I stop dead in my tracks. I then turn and look at him and has this half smile on his face I then smile and shake my head “Yeah right” I say and I walk out the room before this huge smile comes across my face and my cheeks turn red. As I walk back to Alan’s room I couldn’t understand why Cory had such an effect on me. I am with Mark and I love Mark; but Cory has this cocky attitude that makes him desirable. I just shake those thoughts out of my head and walk into the room. Alan is awake and he is staring at me with watery eyes.

Jennifer is standing next to Alan’s bed and Jose is leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. I almost busted out laughing because Jose has this worried look on his face; I then turn my attention to both Jennifer and Alan who are now holding hands. “Adrian we ummm…..” Alan begins to say “I know it just happened” I say with a half smile on my face. “But may I ask when did this happen?” I say while stepping closer into the room. “When you and Mark went to go visit Jake’s parents” Jennifer says with a serious tone. “She was there and I don’t know….like you said to me when I found out that you and Mark were dating….it just happened” Alan says. “They were actually more scared to tell you then they did me” Jose says with sarcasm on his tone. “My brother and my best friend” I say and smile. “I have to admit I didn’t see this one coming but I am glad” I say while hugging Alan and then Jennifer.

I spent the next couple of days alternating with Alan, Mark and my shifts. All around the base everything seemed to be at peace but only one thing was bothering me. Commander Stone’s words that he needed to talk to me kept looming around my head. What did Commander Stone have to talk to me about it’s not like I did anything wrong. As I walk to Alan’s room and I notice that the door is closed I was about to knock when I hear Jennifer laughing inside. I just pull back and decide to close Mark’s door; it was dark and only a small light illuminated the room. I step closer to Mark who was asleep; as I put my hand on top of his, he opens them. Those dark blue eyes that I love so much look into mine and that smile that makes my knees weak spreads across his face. I then smile back at him and take off my pants and scrubs “What are you doing?” Mark whispers to me as I get on top of him. “Just because you’re in a hospital doesn’t mean you can’t get some” I say while I pull the sheets down and his gown up.

By now Mark is rock hard and I spit on my hand and lube my hole. I then stick his Marine meat inside of me and in one quick motion sit all the way down. We both moan and I start to rock back and forward; with one hand Mark gets the back of my head and pulls me to his lips. We make out and my thrusts are slow and deep now. Mark then sits up and puts his hand on my shoulder pushing me down hard onto his dick. I can feel every inch of his meat going up and down my hole. The pleasure I get when Mark kisses me on the neck and when his dick is deep in me makes me so hot for him. I would never betray Mark he is my one and all; the thrusts get harder and harder. Mark grunts into my lips and I can feel his hot liquid inside of me; as we are both trying to catch our breaths we look at each other. We stare into each other’s eyes; my fingers caress Mark’s cheek and his hand is on my cheek. Mark goes soft after a while and I put my clothes back on. “Come here” Mark whispers to me and I lay beside him; his arm under my head brushing up on my forearm. I place my forehead on the side of his chin and for once I feel at ease; nothing can tear us apart. Before I drifted into sleep I heard Mark’s voice “You’re mine forever”

Dr. Collins returns to the hospital and asks me and Jennifer a million questions; but the main one was him asking us if we were okay. It took about an hour to calm Dr. Collins down but eventually he did and when he did he took a breath of relief that nothing happened to us. It was in early afternoon that Dr. Collins and I are in Cory’s room; Dr. Collins goes over the form and signs Cory off as still fit for duty. Cory thanks Dr. Collins and gives me his half sexy smile. I couldn’t help but smile myself and I had to look down because I felt my cheeks turning red. Dr. Collins leaves the room and Cory and I are staring at each for a while. I then clear my throat and break our eye contact “Congratulations” I say almost in a whisper and begin to walk out of the room. “Is that it?..... I don’t get a hug or something?” Cory asks me with his sexy smile and his dark green eyes checking me out.

I turn and laugh at him but I don’t say anything all I do is walk out the door before I say anything stupid. As I am walking down the hall I couldn’t help but think that I am acting like a child; Cory means nothing to me and yet I am here blushing and behaving inappropriately. Dr. Collins then breaks my thoughts by stepping in front of me his eyes meet mine. “Commander Stone is waiting for us in the conference room do you know why he is waiting for us?” Dr. Collins says all puzzled to me. I just shrug my shoulders and begin to walk with Dr. Collins to the conference room. As we enter the conference room Commander Stone is sitting at the head of the table; Dr. Collins closes the door. I am on Commander Stone’s left and Dr. Collins is his right; the room stays quite for a while. “I called this meeting due to troubling evidence that has been handed down to me” Commander Stone says while he opens a file. “The shooting that happened a few days ago was well planned….we know for a fact that Kareem was Mohammed’s inside man. But what troubles me the most is….is the fact that Mohammed befriended you and I can only ask myself what part did you play on his plan?” Commander Stone says with a serious tone. “Adrian had nothing to do with the shooting” Dr. Collins steps in and defends me.

“Out of all of the soldiers on base only Davis has been his regular customer visiting Mohammed almost every day” Commander Stone is looking at me with hate in his eyes. Dr. Collins steps in and defends me a couple more time; I should have spoken up I should have defended myself but something caught my attention and I couldn’t look away. Commander Stone’s dark blue eyes seemed familiar somehow; they look so familiar it’s like I have been seen them for a while now. Commander Stone looks at me one more time and that is when it hits me; that is when I find out who Commander Stone really is. “Oh my god” I say almost in a loud whisper. Both Commander Stone and Dr. Collins stop their arguing and look at me; I on the other hand have my hand over my mouth and can’t take my eyes off of Commander Stone. Dr. Collins looks puzzled but Commander Stone knows what I am thinking about; Commander Stone was about to say something when Dr. Collins’s pager goes off.

Soldier's Story: Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I can’t move my muscles; all I can do is just stare at Alan as he is still trying to gasp for air. My hands begin to shake as images of my parents come to mind. I am breathing out loud trying to move my muscles. I then take one step towards Alan and then another and then another; I am at Alan’s side with my hands on top of his chest. “HELP ME” I scream to anyone who is in hearing distance. “Okay listen to me I love you…you don’t get to die on me” I say with tears coming down my face and breathing unevenly. Some soldier then rush beside us but none have a stretcher; “I can’t live with out you…if you die I die it’s that simple” I say to Alan while he is looking at me straight in the eye. “You’re the only family I have left and I am not losing you out here” I say while some one finally brings a stretcher and places it on Alan’s side. We then get Alan on the stretcher and run to the hospital; my breathing is still uneven and the whole base is in chaos.

As we enter the building I look around and see if any doctor is available. I know for a fact that Dr. Collins is going home today for a couple of weeks. I look around trying to find someone to tell me which doctor is available; the helpless feeling returns once more. In the corner of my eye I see Dr. Collins; he is giving his last orders to a replacement doctor. Dr. Collins looks at me and I look at him with tears in my eyes; Dr. Collins then looks to the stretcher and notices that Alan has been shot. “Get Davis to OR 3 NOW” Dr. Collins says and runs ahead of us. We practically run to OR 3 and all of us place Alan on the table; all of the nurses are getting him ready for surgery. “L…Lis…Listen Adrian if I don’t make it I want you to know…” Alan begins to say “Don’t…Alan please don’t” I say cutting him off not wanting to think about the ‘what if’s ‘right now. “You’re going to make it…and ill be by your side when you wake up…okay” I say while my voice is somewhat breaking up.

Alan looks at me and forces a smile I then kiss his forehead “I love you Alan okay…and don’t die” I say. Alan starts to laugh and was about to say something but the anesthesia kicked in. I then look behind me and see that Dr. Collins is getting ready for surgery; I quickly run into the prep room and look at Dr. Collins for a while. “You can do this right sir?” I ask Dr. Collins while holding back my tears. “You know your wife is going to be pissed about you not showing up in time” I say to Dr. Collins as he is washing his hands. “She will understand” Dr. Collins says not looking at me in the eye. “Thank you sir” I say almost in a whisper; I then turn and take a few steps into the OR. “Where do you think your going?” Dr. Collins tells me as I stop dead in my tracks. I turn and look at Dr. Collins “Sir” I manage to say. “You can’t be in there…” Dr. Collins begins to say. “But sir” I was about to convince Dr. Collins to let me stay when he said “It’s not that it’s hospitals rules…for this screw the rules. But you can’t be in there…I can’t focus while you’re in there” I was about to say something when someone comes bursting through the door.

I look at Jennifer and she is looking at me with red eyes “Dr. Rodriguez you will escort Adrian to the waiting room” Dr. Collins says without turning to see who it is. Jennifer was about to say something when “You will keep him in the waiting room until I have finished with his brother…I don’t care how you keep him in the waiting room but you make sure he stays there. If Adrian so much steps into my OR or in this prep room I will have both your asses kick out of this base and sent home…are we clear?” Dr. Collins says with a serious tone. “Yes sir” Jennifer says almost in a whisper. “I will do my best…you know I will” Dr. Collins says to me in my ear as he passes by me and stands on the door way into the OR. I take a deep breath and look into the OR at Alan one last time; I then look at Dr. Collins and he nods. I then feel a hand on mine and Jennifer is pulling me towards the door; the last thing I see before the wooden door closes is Dr. Collins taking a deep breath before entering the OR. Jennifer and I walk slowly to the waiting room; it’s a wide open space near the entrance of the hospital. The hospital is still in chaos but not as much when I first set foot in it today; people then start to notice us.

Normally on this day Jennifer and I would be fighting for the soldier that needed treatment the most; we would probably rock at it and maybe save that soldier’s life. Both Jennifer and I were Dr. Collins spitting image (medical wise) and our reputation was well known. But today when there were a few fatalities both of us are sitting in the waiting room crying. I then see a couple of nurses whispering to each other on the front desk; I see one nurse put her hand on top of her mouth. The nurse then looks at Jennifer and me with a sympathetic look; the news is spreading that Alan is in the OR right now. I then start to look around more and people are staring at us with confusion in their eyes; but I am sure they can put the pieces together. I don’t have many weaknesses, I mean come on I shot people and stabbed others. My only weakness involves four people and four people only Alan, Mark, Dr. Collins and Jennifer.

If any of them get hurt bad I will break and not function like my usual self; if any of them die I would break but the one person that will break me the most is Alan. I then snap back to reality as I see that Jennifer is on the verge of crying her eyes out. She was about to open the flood gates when I said “Don’t you dare cry” with a serious tone. Jennifer then stops and looks at me with her red eyes. “Look it took me a long time to accept and call my stepfather ‘dad” I begin to say while trying to hold my tears back. “And when I finally did a semi truck hit our car…..and I watch my dad die right in front of me” I say with a shaky voice “And even after the accident it took me an even longer time to accept Alan as my brother…” I say while a tear came down my face. “And now that I have he is in the OR with his chest wide open and I can’t help but think that the worst day of my life is replaying again…So no you don’t get to cry” I say with a shaky voice. “One of my friends died today…the first explosion that went off…” Jennifer says with a shaky voice. I then reach for her hand and we stay holding hands supporting each other; still it didn’t make a lot of sense why Jennifer was crying so much. I really don’t have time to dwell as to why Jennifer is crying a lot when my brother is in the OR fighting for his life.

As the minutes turned into an hour some soldiers came by and sat with us. They didn’t have to say anything because they looked at me and nodded. With that nod it told me that they were here for me and for Alan. It was a quarter past the hour and the whole waiting room area was full of soldiers; I sometimes forget how many soldiers the three of us helped. Some soldiers came in wheelchairs because they where still recovering; others came in their beds. Some soldiers that where near me started talking to me and comforting telling me that it’s going to be okay and that Alan is a brave soldier. All I could do was shake my head “Shut up” I tell the soldiers that are talking to me “Look I am trying to be strong here…not only for me but for my brother as well” I say not looking at the soldiers “And you guys comforting me isn’t helping so just please…shut up” I say while holding back my tears.

The soldiers knew I meant well and they got my message loud and clear; all of them just sat back and talked amongst themselves. With all of the mixed emotions I was going through one of them was getting stronger; I started to become angry. Angry at Mark for not been here at my side; almost all of the soldiers on base where here in the waiting room. The person that I need the most right now is Mark and he is nowhere to be found. I take a deep breath and close my eyes trying to think about something else; I don’t know how much longer I can wait.

My thoughts then turn to that day when my parents died; I was around ten when my mother remarried. I wasn’t that thrilled about the marriage because even though my biological father left us one day he was still my father. My stepfather was nice he tried to do everything with me; he would even sign my report card when I was failing a class; my mother would have been furious with me. “Try harder to get a better grade and if you need help ask me” my stepfather would say to me. Alan on the other hand was already a mid teenager and he wasn’t as thrilled with the new additions to his family.

Alan would mostly ignore me but we made small talk here and there because we would see each other almost all of the time. As the years went by slowly but surely all four of us stared to know each other and became some what of a family. The day I went in search of my biological father I was very nervous but exited at the same time. I just thought that having a relationship with him would be best but all that was shattered when my father didn’t want anything to do with me and practically slammed the door in my face. My stepfather found out about what my father did and went over to his house. There was yelling and at some point fist started flying; to my surprise my stepfather won the fight. I watched all of the events from the car; on the way home my stepfather and I remained silent. When we got home my mother was furious with my stepfather and she started yelling at him. In the midst of their argument I walked up to my stepfather and hugged him “Thanks dad” I said while walking away heading to my room. I didn’t hear them argue after that. The next day I announced to my parents that I wanted to change my last name to Davis.

My mother was in shock and my father was proud of me because I wanted to change my last name to his. On that same day we went to some building that would allow me to change my last name; it took most of the day but at the end of the day my last name was changed. Alan on the other hand didn’t come with us because he had football practice and he couldn’t miss it. When we were heading home both of my parents joked and laughed with me; but that all ended when a semi truck crashed into our car. The semi truck miss judged the space of the lanes and it hit the side of our car; the car flipped over a couple of times. The car was upside down when it finished moving; I was in the back middle seat. I didn’t move for a couple of seconds it’s like I was paralyzed or something; I then took a deep breath in and looked at the damage. I manage to unbuckle my seatbelt and fall onto the roof of the car.

Both of my parents were not moving; I called out to them but there was no response. I checked my mother first called her name a couple of times but no response; tears began to come down my face. I screamed for my mother to wake up but she didn’t; I even tried to unbuckle her seatbelt but it was no use. With teary eyes and my breath uneven I placed my finger under her nose; she wasn’t breathing. I came to the hard conclusion that my mother was dead; my father on the other hand took in a deep breath loudly and screamed in pain. I unbuckled him and dragged him outside; my leg was hurting pretty bad but it wasn’t broken. By now people started to slow down and some even called 911 multiple times; I placed my father on his back. I looked into his eyes and he was in pain; I looked down and saw something stuck in his chest.

I didn’t know what to do tears where still coming down my face; I try to calm my dad down but he was in so much pain. I then did something without thinking; I try to pull whatever was stuck to my father’s chest out. It moved a little but it was stuck in his chest my father screamed even more in pain “Dad stay with me” I scream to him. I really got scared when my father stopped screaming and started closing his eyes as if he was tired or something. “Dad please don’t leave me” I say with a shaky voice and tears coming down my face. “S…son” my father said to me before dying in front of me. I cried as loud as I could pleading for my father to come back to me. I gathered all of my strength and pulled my mother away from the car; I laid her down next to my father. I sat next to my parents for what seemed like hours; the sun was setting. When the help finally arrived I was so exhausted that I really didn’t care what they did to me. After that day Alan step up and took care of me; we lived with our grandparents but somehow it wasn’t the same. I kept my distance with everyone; then one day Alan joined the Marines and left.

Alan would sometimes send letters and we would talk on the phone but we didn’t see each other until I arrived in Iraq. My parents are the reason I went into the nursing program; I wanted to save lives and not feel that helpless feeling ever again. But now I am sitting here in the waiting room and that feeling of helplessness is with me again. Suddenly I needed to be alone and it seemed that everyone that was here with me was staring at me. I let go of Jennifer’s hand and ran out the front door crying; I left everyone behind puzzled but I didn’t care because Alan will surely die today.

Mark

“Get the prisoners to the holding cells now ASAP” I yell at my team. I feel proud of myself because I caught the bastards that tried to take over the base. I walk to one of the hangers and in second’s gulf down bottled water. Another fucking hot day in this paradise; it’s a real hell hole here it’s not that I am complaining but it’s still a hell hole. Only one thing makes this hell hole bearable and that’s Adrian; just been around him makes me go on. I poor water over my head just to cool it down and it feels good; I can see that everything is starting to calm down on the base. I can’t wait for tonight because tonight I am holding my guy in my arms and maybe that could lead into some good sex too.

I smile to myself knowing that Adrian would have had his good day today and that would lead into some hot sex. I come to accept that I am in love with a guy; I am not very good with words and I have never been. Adrian on the other hand gets me I don’t have to say much for him to understand what I am saying. Guess that’s the Marine training…to show bravery even when you are at your most vulnerable; and when I am with Adrian I am very vulnerable. I take my gear off and slowly walk to the garage where surely some humvees are messed up and I can fix them. I always had a fascination towards cars; even when I was in foster homes cars where the only things that help me get through the day. With all of my gear in hand I looked into the engine of a hummer that was in front of me; “There you are” George says to me as he is running towards me.

George is just another mechanic buddy that I talked to here. “It’s Adrian” George says; my heart stops, my eyes widen, and I drop everything I have in my hands on the floor. I didn’t have to say anything George could read the concern written all over my face. My immediate reaction was to run to the hospital; and so I did fear gripping and taking over me. I run into the entrance of the hospital and see that almost everyone on base is in the waiting room. I look around for a while until I see Jennifer who comes up to me “Where is he?” I ask her out of breath. “Calm down Mark Adrian’s fine…it’s Alan he is in surgery right now he got hit in the chest” Jennifer says to me with a shaky voice. I take a breath of relief and look around for Adrian “He isn’t here” Jennifer interrupts my search. “We don’t know where he is” Jennifer says while looking down.

Soldier's Story: Chapter 3

Chapter 3

One month has passed since the day that Jake has died. One month of working tirelessly in the hospital, treating all of the soldiers that pass through the ER. Dr. Collins has seen my dedication to the hospital and to the soldiers and he has granted me two years on the base. Jennifer and I are still called the twins and I leaned on her for the past month. Alan however has been avoiding me, he does talk to me but sometimes he can’t even look at me. Dr. Collins has taken me under his wing teaching me techniques that only doctors know. Sometimes Dr. Collins talks to me about med school and pushes me to attend; he offers me a letter of recommendation so I can get in. I respectively decline his attempts; Dr. Collins doesn’t know my biggest weakness.

Now a month later I am in a car with Mark; we are driving down a road that’s full of houses. The car has been silent just like the flight over to the states. My heart begins to race as I know that we are nearing Jake’s house, Mark tries to make small talk but all I do is smile, nod or smirk while exhaling. I don’t know what I am going to tell Jake’s parents, “Sorry about the death of your son…hey by the way I couldn’t save him because I didn’t know what else to do” I say in my head sarcastically. Mark then pulls up to Jake’s house; it’s a decent one floor house that’s in the middle of the block. “Ready?” Mark asks me as we unbuckle our seatbelts.

I simply take a deep breath and both of us get out of the car slowly, it’s at this point that my nerves shoot up high. We were almost to the front door when I stop dead in my tracks, “I can’t do this” I whisper to Mark. “Hey, hey ,hey” Mark whispers to me while getting closer to me and holding my hand. “Yes you can” Mark whispers to me while placing his other hand on my cheek. I take a deep breath and walk to the front door leaving Mark behind; I look at the door bell for a while and finally press it. Mark stands next to me, he was about to say something when the door opens. A woman who has Jake’s eyes opens it and looks at Mark. She smiles and tears start to come down her face as she hugs Mark for a while. “Martha this is Adrian Davis” Mark says introducing me. “Hello Mrs. Evans” I say and extend my hand but she pushes it away and hugs me. She then tells us to come in, she then yells out for her husband. “PHILIP” Mrs. Evans yells and sits us down in the living room. Mr. Evans then comes into the living room, Mark hugs Mr. Evans and I shake his hand. We all sit in the living room for a while in silent not sure where to begin.

I look around and see pictures of Jake when he was a kid, funny I couldn’t picture Jake as a kid. Other photos where of Jake and Mark growing up, Jake’s graduation picture, his Marines picture and other pictures. I also notice the American flag folded and placed in a frame in the middle of all of Jake’s pictures. I look down in shame, and in the mist of the shame I start to hear a song coming from the kitchen. I can barely hear it but yet at the same time I know what she is saying. The song is called BRING ON THE WONDER BY SUSAN ENAN and it’s almost as if she is singing to me. I have been pushing Jake’s memory down for too long, I have been keeping myself busy in the hospital. My nights consist of me tossing and turning and sometimes crying. I think now is the best time to face what I have been pushing down for too long. “I uhhh…” I say breaking the silence “I know that the military can’t give you an exact explanation on how your son died” I say while forcing my eyes to look at Jake’s parents. “I also know that Mark isn’t allowed to give you an explanation because he has been told not to” I say while glancing at Mark. “However I am not part of any military branch and so I can tell you what happened” I say looking once again at Jake’s parents eyes.

Mark just stays still motionless almost as if pretending not to hear a word that I am saying. I then tell Jake’s parents how Jake and I got close, how he was friends with my step brother Alan, how Jake became my friend, how Jake looked after me, how Jake saved my life in that small room and the events on how Jake died. I didn’t know if I should have told them any of it but they had to know the truth. Once I finished my story Jake’s parents where holding each others hands and crying silently, when I finished my story Jake’s parents hugged each other in comfort. I stare are Mark and he stares back at me, Jake’s parents crying in silent. I then remember what I promise to say to his parents, “Your son was the bravest soldier I’ve met…and he stayed brave ‘till the very end” I say trying to control my tears. Jake’s parents look at me, “You should be proud of your son” I say while looking at the pictures one more time. “We are” Jake’s mom says while smiling at me.

I stay looking at them trying to ask them a question that has been wondering in my mind for a month now. I try to ask the question but nothing comes out and it’s getting harder to breath. “We forgive you son” Jake’s dad says to me. The way Jake’s dad said that last sentence almost sounded like he knew what I wanted to ask and he knew what I wanted to hear. The expression on my face says ‘I don’t believe you’ and so “We have forgiving you for a month now” Jake’s mom says while reaching out to me. I take her hand and tears start to come down my face, “Thank you” I say in a whisper. As we left Jake’s house both of his parents hugged me one more time and reassured me that they are grateful that Jake had met someone like me.

The sun was setting as Mark and I settled down into our hotel room, Jake’s parents urged us to stay but we kindly refused. Even though we have said everything that needed to be said it still didn’t feel right spending the night at Jake’s house. I open the back door and walk out into the balcony it’s a hotel with twenty floors and we are on the fifth teen floor. The sunset was beautiful and for the first time in a month I feel at ease. I hear Mark moving around in the room and think to myself that this is going to be a long night. I have faced my greatest challenge and I over came it, it feels good but now I face another challenge.

I hate to admit it but I still have feelings for Mark and I have been giving myself lectures to get over Mark because he is straight. Mark could never love someone like me because I am a guy and what happened back at the village was just the heat of the moment. I hear Mark again moving around the room and suddenly I needed to be by myself. I quickly turn around and head into the room and walk straight for the door. My hand was on the door handle, I was about to turn it when Mark steps in front of me. His big muscular body manages to squeeze between me and the door; I take a few steps back not taking my hand off of the door handle. “Please move Mark” I say while looking at the wall trying not to look into his eyes. Mark doesn’t move and he doesn’t say anything “Please move Mark” I say again and still not looking into his eyes.

I can feel his eyes on me while I look at everywhere but in his; “Mark” I say while my breathing becomes uneven. “Please….move” I say while holding my tears back. Mark still doesn’t say anything; he then takes a deep breath. “I wasn’t lying when I said that you scared me” Mark begins to talk in a quiet manly tone. “I didn’t mean to hurt you but I didn’t know what I wanted… in a short time I grew fond of a guy I just met. I grew fond of a guy and that scared the shit out of me. But the more I knew about you the more I fell for you. When we were in the city I thought you where dead and that destroyed me so much that I led my troops through multiple gunfire’s. I felt my world shattered when I came to the conclusion that you where dead.

When I saw you at the restaurant my world came back to life and that’s when I knew that I wanted to be with you forever.” Mark says to me in the gentlest voice I have ever heard. Mark then takes my right hand and places it on top of his heart. “You feel that, that is for you. You can hate me, you can ignore me and you can…” Mark pauses for a moment “You can fall for someone else but this will always belong to you” Mark says. When Mark finished his sentence he placed his forehead against mine. I am stunned I can’t move, I don’t know what to do Mark just spilled his heart out. I take a deep breath and slowly I begin to look up at Mark until I see his dark blue eyes. I can feel butterflies in my stomach once more and I let go of the door handle, my hand is still on top of his heart and I can feel it beating. I pull back my head so I can see into Mark’s eyes, as I see his eyes I can feel safe.

As I look into Mark’s eyes I can see that he cares for me, I’ve never seen that in my past relationships. We stay looking at each other for a while until I did something that just felt…right. I leaned in and pressed my lips against Mark, the wave of mixed good and passionate feelings went through my body. The first time Mark kissed me it was more of a shock that I didn’t really have time to feel something. Now that I am wrapped around his big muscular arms and making out I can feel so light and I can feel so loved by him. Mark then lays me on the bed ever so gently and gets on top of me, our kiss is more passionate. I know what Mark wants to do next and I hate that I am giving in to him; we kiss for a long time. I then put both of my hands under his shirt and run them all along his muscular back; it just felt so good to touch Mark again. Mark then breaks our kiss and puts his forehead on mine, “Are you sure you want to do this?” Mark asks me out of breath.

I look into his eyes and they are mixed with lust and passion. I don’t say anything all I do is pull Mark’s shirt off and kiss him again, Mark wraps his arms around me and kisses me with more passion. I then roll him onto his back, Mark lets go of me as I start to kiss his neck and head further down. I lick and kiss his nipples for a while; I can hear Mark moan in pleasure as I do this. I then head further down and lick his abs, one by one I kiss lick and lightly bite on them. I then get to his jeans and kiss his rock hard cock on top of his jeans. I then unbuckle his jeans and pull them down along with his underwear. A rock hard eight inch Marine meat is standing at attention and it’s all mine tonight. I lick the head and Mark moans in pleasure, I then move down the shaft and play with his balls with my mouth. I then take the whole eight inch of meat into my mouth; it surprises me how I didn’t gag.

It’s like his dick was meant for my mouth, I suck him going up and down slowly. I can hear Mark moaning and calling my name breathlessly. I then see that Mark tightens his muscle legs and I pull the dick out of my mouth. Mark looks at me kind of disappointed “Not yet” I say while my face is next to his dick. Mark then pulls me up with ease and kisses me again; he then turns me around so that I am lying on my back. “My turn” Mark says smiling seductively with his dark blue eyes. Mark kisses me and puts his big strong hands under my shirt. In one quick motion he takes off my shirt and makes a blindfold of it. He places my shirt over my eyes; I give a quick laugh and so does Mark. Mark then kisses my right ear “Don’t move” he whisper in my ear. Mark then starts to kiss my neck and it felt so good I almost came right then and there. But instead with my left hand I quickly place it on my side and grab the bed sheet. The bed sheet is between my fingers as I squeeze it harder as Mark is playing with my nipples. With my right hand I place it at the back of his head stroking his dark black hair; Mark then moves further down and kisses my belly button.

Mark then stops; I lift the shirt a little and see that his face is on top of my dick. I can see that he is debating whether he should suck it or not, “You don’t have to Mark” I whisper to him. Mark then rips off my jeans and kisses the side of my thighs; once again my left hand grabs the bed sheet and I moan as my breathing becomes uneven. Mark then lifts my legs and starts kissing my ass cheeks; I call his name out of breath. Mark then kisses my pink hole over and over again; then Mark sticks his tongue into my hole. I moan a little loud in pleasure; as I moan in pleasure my right hand reaches out for something to grab onto. I must have grabbed the radio because it started playing; I was in heaven that I didn’t notice the song that was playing. The song went so well for what we where doing; the song is BEAUTIFUL BY ME’SHELL NDEGEOCELLO.

As the song was playing Mark spits into his dick and gets on top of me. Mark takes off my shirt blindfold and starts kissing me, Mark then pulls away and he looks into my eyes. It’s as if the singer is talking for Mark saying that I am beautiful, I then smile and pull him closer for a kiss. Mark is kissing me with a lot of passion; he then pushes his hips forward and his dick enters me. I moan in pain as I hug him and bury my face in his neck; “Relax baby” Mark whispers in my ear. I then begin to relax and Mark pushes his hips more forward, the pain instantly turns into pleasure. Very slowly Mark sticks his whole dick in me; like I said before it’s like his dick was meant for me. The only discomfort I felt was when his dick first popped into me; after that it was all pleasure. Mark started to thrust his hips long but slow, he almost got his dick out of me but then pushed his meat all the way back in.

Mark wraps his big arms around me while my fingers are lightly digging into his muscular back, both of us are moaning in pleasure in between our kisses. Mark then starts to kiss my neck and it’s my biggest weakness, a guy kissing my neck but Mark knew where to kiss and how long he would stay before he would move to another place on my neck. This was all too much that I came in between our stomachs; I could tell Mark was turned on by this that he started to go a little faster but not too much. Mark wasn’t fucking me he was making love to me and the song just backed up my theory. Mark then exhales a couple of time loudly and I know he is close, Mark then grunts in between our kisses and I can feel hot liquid inside of me. Mark then just lays on top of me both of us are out of breath; Mark’s forehead is touching the side of my head. We are both trying to catch our breaths when “I love you” Mark whispers in my ear.

I turn my head and look at him but he has his eyes closed and still trying to catch his breath; he then opens his eyes. “I love you too” I say. Mark then kisses me and smiles, Mark has the most beautiful smile that I can’t help but smile myself. Mark then gets up and heads for the restroom, he must have been there for a while because I dosed off. I was lying on my side when I feel Mark sneak up behind me; he puts his arm under mine and his forehead on the back of my head. I smile and pull his hand closer to me; for the first time in a month I sleep through the entire night.

We only had one night on the states and so by mid afternoon Mark and I were on a cargo plain back to Iraq. This time Mark and I talk, laugh and share stories. I just love how Mark pays attention to me, not once when I talk does he look around. When I talk Mark looks into my eyes and absorbs everything I say; when he talks its like his eyes lighten up as he talks to me. Somewhere over the Atlantic I have my head on Mark’s shoulder; Mark then takes out his iPod and places an earphone on my ear. Without opening my eyes I feel what Mark has put in my ear, “Just listen” Mark says to me while grabbing my hand. Mark quickly kisses the back of my hand and presses play. The song is SMILE BY UNCLE KRACKER, as the song is playing I can’t help but smile myself. Mark is telling me that the ‘thought of me makes him wild’ I smile all through the song. When the song finishes I can feel Mark’s hand on my cheek and he quickly kisses the top of my head.

We get to the base and part ways, as I walk to the hospital Mark walks to where the humvees are. Mark likes doing maintenance work on them. We both walked backwards staring at each other until both of us where out of sight. The next day I am in the hospital doing my rounds, it’s kind of a slow day. For both Jennifer and I a slow day is kind of a bad day; guess that sort of thinking comes when you are hungry for surgeries. It was around noon when Jennifer and I where eating lunch; we never took fancy to the cafeteria so we would always eat outside in front of the building. I walk talking to Jennifer about a previous patient I had when Jennifer interrupts me. “You had sex didn’t you?” Jennifer says while smiling at me. I look at her in shock “No I didn’t”. “Yes you did…I know men can’t glow like women but you are glowing” she says while smiling and laughing. “Honey I am so happy for you. You and Mark made up…he must be hitting it out of the park huh?” Jennifer says intrigue for any answer.

All I can do is smile and shake my head. “To tell you the truth you and Mark belong together” Jennifer says. “You think so?” I say while taking a bite out of my sandwich. “You can tell right away. He moves you move. You move he moves. It’s almost like a perfect harmony” Jennifer says while sipping her cup. “Jealous” I say sarcastically. Jennifer laughs “Don’t worry about me I have my own” Jennifer says but then her face turns red as if she didn’t want me to know. “Who is he?” I ask her. “Nobody” she says while putting together her lunch fast. “Jen who is he?” I ask her now with determination on who it is. “Ill see you later” she says while she gets up and runs inside the hospital. For the rest of my shift I was going through every patient I could remember trying to figure out which soldier could tame Jennifer. I love Jennifer but she was a kind of girl that wasn’t impressed easily, except in surgery.

Soldier's Story : Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I take a deep breath, “I am alive” I say in my head. I take another deep breath just to make sure that my head isn’t playing any tricks on me. I then start to move my fingers and feel sheets beneath them; I am on a bed but not at the hill side village. I try to move my other hand but cant and so I wiggle my toes a little, I am on a bed but I don’t know where I am. I then start to open my eyes with trouble almost as if I haven’t used them in a long time. As I open them I see bandages on my left shoulder where I got shot, I try to move my hand again but can only move a little bit. I then look around the room and see that I am in a hospital building. I am on the base when I first got here, I am alone in the room but that doesn’t stop me from looking around. I then see a figure on the window he’s asleep, my eyes focus and my brain process what I am looking at. Mark is sleeping against the window and his barely visible beard has grown a little.

I take another deep breath and I close my eyes just in time when Mark opens his. I then hear my step brother Alan walk in as he checks my bandage I open my eyes and look at him, I stay looking at him but he hasn’t notice that I opened my eyes. I then take my right hand and place it on Alan’s forearm, Alan then notices me looking at him and his eyes start to water. “Your basic motor functions are working…your fine” Alan says while placing both of his hands on my head. Mark gets up and walks next to my bed “Your brain works but please Adrian form a word” Alan says looking at me worried. I grunt and say something that I couldn’t understand myself, “What? What is it?” Alan says while still looking at me. “O..OU….OUCH” I say with a horse voice. Alan starts to laugh and holds my hand, I give a smile and Mark start to laugh as well. I then look at Mark giving him a look of ‘thank you’ but I don’t linger on my stare like I used to. I look at Alan “After you where shot I patched you up as best I could” Alan says knowing what I was asking with just my stare. “Mark and I then called in a helicopter to transfer you here” Alan finishes “A couple of more hours and you would have been…” Mark starts but doesn’t finish the sentence.

“We got them Adrian…all of them” Alan says “Apparently they thought you where someone important and did everything they could to kidnap you” Mark says “Which explains both raids” Alan says. We then hear a knock at the door, a woman about Alan’s age comes in. she has dark long black hair, dark skin, a doctor, and there is something familiar about her dark brown eyes. “I heard little Davis is here” she says while walking in. “I am Jennifer Rodriguez” she says while looking at me. Then it clicks she’s the sister of Jose Rodriguez, aka the gentle giant. Jennifer is a baby surgeon but she has potential, that’s what I heard from Alan and Mark. “All right guys let Adrian get some rest” Jennifer says and smiles at me. I smile back and drift into sleep, relieved that I am still alive.

For the next couple of weeks I was getting physical therapy by an insanely cute Iraqi-American soldier nurse. Kareem is his name he has Dark skin, black short hair, big manly eye brows, muscular arms but not as big as Mark’s and his voice was ever so mesmerizing. I notice that he would handle me with care while his other patients well not so much. We made each other laugh and flirted like crazy when we were together on our exercises getting my left shoulder and arm to move again. Jake would visit me almost everyday “Orders” Jake says when I asked him why he came to visit me everyday. Alan was busy doing his rounds, for the weeks that I was in therapy Alan and some of the other guys that were stationed in the hill village were transferred here to the base. The base itself is huge buildings, hangers, planes, a place to train, a real gym and many other things. I would always walk around in my free time and I would always go to the same vendor. His name is Mohammed a mid-thirty Iraqi man who sells DVD’s (pirated). He knows me by now and I know him Mohammed has a son and a wife who he never brings but he always tells me that his wife is shy and doesn’t want to meet soldiers.

We both talk about everything even though both of us are from different cultures, but we always learned something new in each others culture everyday. For instance I know now that the men in the village kissed me on the cheek and held my hand is a sign of respect a norm around here. For the next couple of weeks Jennifer and I got really close as well both of us are the same in so many ways. I even came out to her, that’s how much we grew close to each other. Jennifer was that hungry surgeon and I was getting impatient that I wanted to help out around the hospital. I would mostly tag along with Jennifer helping her asses patients, we made a pretty good team together. We became known as the twins seeing that we never left each other side when Jennifer was on duty.

Alan wanted me to go home and get my therapy back in the states but I didn’t want to go I fought him for three days. I told Alan that I would be more useful here on the base than just sitting around back home, but as always Alan argued against me. I know he is more worried about my safety but come on sending me home alone won’t be any better. So I decided to talk to Dr. Collins the head surgeon and well respected doctor on base. Jennifer got me in to see him and I told him my situation, “How do I know you can handle the pressure” Dr. Collins asks me with a serious tone. Dr. Collins kept to himself no one questioned his methods because he has saved a lot of soldiers from death. “I can sir…if you know my brother and how hard he works I am just the same if not better” I say. Dr. Collins looks at me for a while and sees the hunger in my eyes to help out. “Ill think about it” Dr. Collins says while getting up and walking me to the door.

Mark and I started talking again but it is always short conversations because I don’t linger too long with him. One late afternoon I was visiting Mohammed, both of us were talking and laughing telling jokes. Mark stands next to me, looks through the DVD’s and looks at me; I look at him but quickly look away. I bid good bye to Mohammed because it was getting late and he wasn’t allowed on the base after dark. I start to walk away but Mark grabs my arm and stands in front of me; he just looks at me but I look away from his eyes. “Look Mark it’s not that I am not grateful for what you did and I thank you for that but we can’t…” I start to say but can’t finish the sentence. “We can’t what?” Mark says leaning in a little. “Don’t Mark…Just don’t” I say while I walk away leaving him behind, for some reason as I was walking away I had the urge to look back but I didn’t. it was at least two weeks later and I could move my arm again, Dr Collins hasn’t giving me an answer, Alan is always on shifts, Mark tries to talk to me but I ignore him, to my surprise Jennifer is defending Mark, and I have never felt more alone. Jake is the only one I can go and talk to, I promised myself that I wouldn’t tell Jake anything about Mark and I.

Jake has always been there for me and I see him as my brother now and so I decide to tell him everything. At first I thought Jake was going to be disgusted by what I was telling him but he just simply hugged me. We talked for hours it took me by surprise that Jake was so understanding and was willing to talk to Mark for me. I shook my head “Ill handle Mark” I said to Jake, it was around one in the morning when we finished talking. Jake walked me to my room that’s in a building next to the hospital and hugged me. I went to sleep that night feeling at ease and peaceful; knowing that I will take a chance with Kareem tomorrow.

It was around noon when my last appointment with Kareem was taking place. We were in the same small room where we would always do my physical therapy. The appointment itself didn’t last long because my arm was back to its normal self. Both Kareem and I were alone and his dark eyes where on mine checking me out. Kareem extended his arm to say good bye and I grabbed his hand ever so gently, we stay looking at each other for a while. Kareem then comes closer to me and in one quick move presses his lips against mine. We make out for a minute while our hands are exploring every inch of our bodies. Kareem would grab one of my legs and pull it up to his waist, we are both out of breath but that is not enough to stop us. Kareem presses his lips against mine harder and harder while he rubs his dick against mine. Kareem then turns me around to a massage table while he rubs his eight inch hard dick on my ass.

My back is on his stomach but our lips are still attached to each others, Kareem then pulls down my pants and grabs my ass. He then pulls down his scrub pants and his dick slaps my ass, he then breaks away from our kiss and spits into his dick. Once his dick is lubed up with his own spit he comes closer to my lips and we resume kissing. Kareem then stick his eight inch dick in my ass in one quick motion, I moan in pain but Kareem doesn’t care and he starts to fuck me hard. I moan in pain again and again but Kareem thrusts keep getting harder and harder. Kareem then picks up some speed but doesn’t pull away from my lips. Kareem then thrust his hips harder, he has his dick all the way up my ass as he shoots his load in it. Kareem lets out a long moan in between our kissing; he then pulls his dick out and pulls up his scrub pants. Kareem then gives a quick light slap on my right ass cheek and says “Thanks” and he walks away out of the room. I am left there alone wondering if this was a mistake, typical man doing what ever he can to get what he wants and once he gets it he leaves you behind. I pull up my pants and as I do all I can think about is Mark.

Three days later several platoons of soldiers are getting ready to go out into the city. It’s their usual rounds on keeping the city safe from our enemies. Kareem has been ignoring me and Alan wants me to stay in the base. But I can’t stay in the base so I force my way to tag along with one of the platoons that are just going a few miles away from the base. Alan is mad at me but Jake says he will watch over me, with that said Alan is at peace but I know that Jake has to go with another platoon. We all depart our ways it was suppose to be an easy day, all the soldiers on the humvee even said that we should be back with in an hour. Alan’s humvee left first, then Mark’s, then Jake’s and finally mine. I had my helmet and vest on and to tell you the truth not the most comfortable clothing I ever wore but I know how well these things do there job. I even have a small hand gun that Alan gave me and a knife that Jake gave me just in case if anything should happen. My team consisted of three other soldiers who where no older than me but yet they seemed more mature and advance in age than me. We would talk and joke about everything, sometimes we would stop somewhere in the city to talk to the locals. On our last stop we were a good seven miles away from the base, the three soldiers and I walked the street a little talking to everyone. As for me I talked to the children who learned how to speak English through school, they where all interested in me because I was the first civilian they saw from the states.

As the other soldiers where getting into the humvee a small boy at around eight years old holds my hand and pulls on it. “What’s wrong?” I ask the boy who is scared to death and yanks at my arm leading me away from the humvee. One of the soldiers calls out my name but before I could turn around an RPG hits the humvee and explodes the vehicle to a million pieces. Two of the soldiers died right in front of me while the third soldier is crawling away from the burning vehicle. Everyone around me runs away screaming as bullets start to fly by my head. I stay motionless for a while because my brain hasn’t processed what just happen, I then snap back into reality. I run across the street and pull the injured soldier into a small grocery store; bullets are hitting the wall outside. I check the soldier’s wounds; he has second degree burns but nothing to fatal. I pull out my small gun and point it at the door way shaking the whole time “What do we do?” I ask the soldier who is radioing someone. “The whole city is going to shit” he says while looking at me. The whole city is attacking us and it will be a matter of time until we are either caught or shot.

Just then a man with a gun comes through the door way but is shot dead by the soldier before the man can fire his weapon. “What’s your location over” the soldier says while I am looking at the dead body that lies on the door way. “Copy…Davis we are heading west” the soldier says but before I can answer another man comes through the door way shooting everywhere. I point the gun at the door way and pull the trigger three times. I manage to hit the man and he falls to the ground dead, as I point the gun at the door way both of my hands are shaking and my breath is uneven. I look to my left and see that the soldier was hit and he is bleeding from his neck. I quickly put my hands around his neck to stop the bleeding but its no use the soldier dies in a matter of seconds. Just then more bullets start to come through the door and start hitting all around us. I take my bloody shaking hands away from the soldier and look at him; I then look at the man in the door way that is dead because of me. I was about to have a break down but some how manage to put the feelings aside and focus on my survival. I then close the eyes of the dead soldier and grab his rifle; bullets are still coming through the door.

I look around and see that there is a back window leading into an alley. I know that I have to head west if I want to survive this, I know that in his last good deed the soldier wanted me to head west because that is where Alan is. So with out thinking I fire a couple of rounds outside and run towards the window, I open it and force my way out into the alley. I can hear gunfire and screaming in the distance, I also hear more bullets coming into the store. As I am walking down the alley my breathing is uneven and I have the rifle pointing in front of me. My hands are still shaking but not enough for the rifle to shake, I turn the corner people are running and cars are passing by. I take one step and then another I don’t know where I am headed but all I know is that I must head west. My breathing is all I can hear by now, uneven and my mouth is open taking in as much air as it can. Bullets then start to land on my right side as two men with guns are shooting at me; I aim the gun towards their direction and pull the trigger. I must have unloaded half of my bullets on them but I manage to kill both of them. My breathing becomes more uneven as I look at the two bodies of the men that I shot. I then look both ways as I am crossing the street no one is at this part of the city, but as I head west the gun fire is increasing. I turn a corner and then another, I don’t know if I am still going the right way but I just keep moving I just keep on breathing.

As I am in another alley I hear some footsteps quickly approaching I turn around and see some one with a gun pointing at my head. Everything slows down for that instant and I point the gun at this person and pull the trigger. Two bullets fly from my rifle to the person that has the gun pointed at me; my last two bullets are enough to kill the person that has the gun pointed at me. As I look at this person dead on the alley I begin to notice something that stops my heart. It’s only a teenager; a teenager is holding a gun and is dead because of me. My eyes water and a tear begins to come down my face, “What have I done?” I ask myself in my head. All I can do is look at the dead body of this teenager and feel disgusted with myself that I have taken a life of someone who has barely lived. I was to busy to notice that there where more footsteps coming from behind me and when I noticed it was too late. I felt a fist hit me on my face and I fall to the ground, I try to get up but I am kick down and then kick in the stomach. The vest absorbed most of the impact but some got through that it knock the wind out of me, as I look up I see three figures in robes. I try to fight back but all three men are hitting me and yelling at me in their own language. After a while of me getting hit I am tied my arms, legs and mouth are tied with duct tape. All three take me into a building that isn’t far away from where we were, I was been lead down hallways one after another.

Up the stairs and finally into a room close to the top of the building, I struggle and fight with all of my strength. All four of us are in a small room; a hole is on the floor leading into a room down stairs. My vest and helmet are ripped away from me like it was just a light piece of clothing. One of my captures who is wearing a red turban turns on a big light that is aimed towards me, the second and biggest of my captures who is wearing a black turban is holding me with a machete on my throat, and the last capture who is wearing a blue turban is pointing a video camera at me. The man in the black turban starts to speak in his language almost screaming into the camera, it’s not hard to figure out what the intention is. I am going to die in front of the camera; tears start to come down my face. I then remember that Jake gave me his knife and is in my right shoe, I slowly move my tied hands down towards the knife. Luckily for me none of the men notice what I am doing and in one quick motion I pull out the knife, pull my throat back away from the machete and stab the man in the black turban in the leg. The man in the black turban screams in pain and pulls away from me, I quickly get the machete.

The man in the blue turban runs towards me but I quickly swing at him and manage to stick the machete through his heart. The man in the red turban tries to push me down but I push him away from me and he hits the wall. I manage to free my legs but before I can do anything else the man in the black turban grabs me from behind and throws me to the opposite wall. Before I can get up he grabs me again and throws me to the opposite wall. As I try to get up the man in the black turban picks me up by my neck and is holding me high above the ground. I try and hit him in the face but he is too strong and I am running out of oxygen fast. I then stick my thumb into his eye, at first it doesn’t seem to bother the man but as I dig in deeper he begins to scream in pain. He lets go of me and grabs his eye and in that moment I grab the knife that’s still on his leg. I take it off of his leg and stab him in the shoulder with it. The man in the black turban screams in pain but its not enough to bring him down, he then pushes me to the wall while he tries to take off the knife from his shoulder. I quickly run towards him with my hands still tied and snatch the knife from his hands. I then start to stab him in the heart over and over again, he tries to push me away but I just keep digging the knife into his chest. The man then falls to the ground and I am on my knees on his side still digging into his chest. I then put my whole body into it; all of my upper body is going up and down along with the knife. I am then out of breath and hold the knife high above my head, waiting to see if the man is still alive. I then hear gunshots from behind me and cover my head with out thinking.

I turn to see that the man in the red turban is dead with bullet holes on his back. I then look at the hole that leads downstairs and to my surprise Jake’s upper body is visible. Jake is full of dirt, my guess is that he lost his platoon as well just like me. Then the door to the room opens both Jake and I look at the door and see more Marines. “Friendly’s” one of the Marines says. There are at least five Marines plus Jake and I, all of the Marines look at me shock to see what I have done to the man in the black turban and the man in the blue turban. Jake is the first one to move, he unties my hands and then my mouth. I quickly hug Jake on the verge of crying, “Not here” Jake says while pulling away from my hug and staring me straight in the eyes “Not here Adrian” I then nod my head and get my vest and helmet on. I then take the knife and place it on my shoe again, Jake then hands me his small gun. “Alan” I say to Jake “We have to get Alan” I say out of breath. “It’s too dangerous” Jake says. Not dangerous for the Marines but dangerous for me. “I am not leaving with out Alan” I say while heading for the door. Jake then puts his hand on my shoulder; he then tells the Marines that we are heading towards downtown which isn’t far away. All of them agree, “No one gets left behind” Jake says “Oorah” the other Marines say back. As we are heading out of the building some of the Marines stare at me and nod at me. My best guess is that it’s not everyday they see a civilian willing to risk his life for a Marine.

But it’s not just any Marine it’s my brother and I wont stop until I know that he is safe. As we are heading through the streets of the city the gunfire can be heard all around us. I stayed in the middle of the group seeing that is where Jake wanted me to stay. My hands still shaking and my breath still uneven, but I felt a little better knowing that I am not alone. It took us about twenty minutes to reach the downtown area because we got shot at twice by a group of bullets. As we reach the downtown area we came to a place that had a big circle in the middle and four streets heading in different directions. We where been fired at and we had to push through the line of fire to get into one of the buildings. All of us ran like hell into the building I was the first one to go in. as I am catching my breath I hear a noise coming from a room in front of me, I quickly point the gun in front of me. To my surprise I see Mark and he has his gun pointed at me, we stay looking at each other for a while. Seconds later the rest of the Marines come through and Mark leads us into a large room. It appears that we are in some restaurant/hotel except that the hotel entrance is caved in and the only entrance to this building is a huge hole in the wall.

Mark has about ten other Marines with him, “Are you okay?” Mark asks me while looking at my bloody vest. I nod “Where is Alan?” I say to another Marine who has the radio. “He’s fine” Mark says taking a step towards me “He’s in the opposite building across the street” Mark reassures me. I just look at Mark, “Davis come in” Mark says while grabbing his throat to talk into the radio. “Davis come in” Mark says one more time. “Davis your brother is here…he’s safe” Mark speaks into the radio one more time while looking at me. Then the Marine with the radio hands me this telephone handle “Hello” I speak into the handle. “Thank god your all right” I hear Alan’s voice on the other end. “Just stay there I am coming to you” Alan says. “No stay where you are” I say back. “Adrian…” Alan begins to say. “Alan we don’t know who’s out there. Just stay where you are I am fine and ill look after these guys don’t worry about me” I say reassuring Alan as best I can. “All right be safe okay” Alan says to me before I hand the handle back to the Marine.

I treat the wounded as best I can two of them I manage to get them back on their feet and back into the fight. The other two needed medical attention but they are not in critical condition, as I finish the last bandage on the wounded Marine I sit down. My hands begin to shake as I play back the events that lead up to this moment. Some of the Marines look at me while other explain what they saw on the room they found me in. I look at Mark as he is hearing the story and his face is expressionless, I don’t know what he’s thinking but what do I care. I then feel someone sit next to me on the floor, “You all right” Jake says to me while looking into my eyes. I exhale, wipe my sweaty palms on my pants and shake my head while giving Jake a smile. “Listen to me Adrian” Jake leans in a little “You did nothing wrong…you did what you had to do to survive” Jake looks into my eyes. “No one will hold that against you” Jake says “YOU did what you had to do” Jake says while pointing his finger at me. I swallow my feelings and nod my head, I know what Jake is talking about and I respect him for trying to calm me down. But for now I will deal with the feelings later we are not out of the line of fire just yet.

Mark is the one who interrupts our conversation stating that Jose, aka the gently giant, is on his way. “Alone” Jake asks. Mark nods his head; Jose had the same fate as all of us except he is the only one who survived in his platoon. Five minutes later Jose is in the distance, the gunfire has died down but it’s no secret that the enemy is waiting for us to drop our guard. All of the Marines that could move headed for the entrance of the building and are waiting for Jose to run into the building. I on the other hand am with the two Marines that have the greatest of wounds; we are on the back of the restaurant in the kitchen and all I can do is listen. At first I don’t hear anything, then all of a sudden gunfire starts and it lasts about a minute. All I can hear are the guys screaming and then I hear loud gunshots almost like a machine gun or something. Just as quickly the gun fire stops and everyone is screaming for a medic, the medic on the team is one of the Marines that can’t move. I take a deep breath get on my feet and walk to the front of the restaurant. My heart stops on what I see next, it’s a scene that I know all to well.

Jake is on a table bleeding from his chest, a bullet manage to penetrate his vest and land on his chest. My breathing becomes uneven and tears begin to start coming down my face but I don’t feel them. Everything then becomes silent I can’t hear anything; I know that everyone is screaming at me for help but I can’t hear them. Flashes of what happen that day when my parents died comes back to me and it paralyses me. My breathing them becomes uneven and I can’t move a muscle. Mark is the one who steps in front of me and snaps me back to reality, I look at him and he looks at me. I then realize that I am not helpless like I was on that day when my parents died. I then run into the kitchen to pick up the bag of medical supplies. I run back to the front of the restaurants where Jake is, “Everyone off” I say to all of the Marines that are trying to help Jake. All of the Marines step off and give me space to work, Jake is looking at me. Jose on the other hand is on the corner walking back and forward, I think he is blaming himself for what happen to Jake. I quickly turn Jake on his side and see that the bullet is still in his body near his heart. I put on some gloves and try to stop the bleeding that’s coming out of his chest.

I then notice that there is water on the back of my hands. I look at my hands for a second and look up thinking that the roof is leaking. “Where is the water coming from?” I say out loud. Jose then points at my face “Your crying Adrian” Jose says from the corner where he is standing. I then try to wipe my tears away but my hands are full of Jake’s blood, I then look at Jake and know the one thing that can make him feel a bit better. “Mark” I say “Get your sleeve and wipe my face” I say while looking up at the ceiling. Mark’s eyes kind of lit up and quickly came by my side and wiped my cheeks gently. “Thank you” I say to Mark. I then look at Jake’s face and he is more relax but not too much. “You’re going to be fine Jake” I say to Jake while looking him straight in the eye. “Don’t tell me lies Adrian….You will tell me if I am dying….don’t give me that bullshit when we tell someone it’s going to be all right when it’s not” Jake says kind of pushing the words out. Jake then grabs my arms and looks at me “I promise I will” I say to him while pulling my arm free and piling the bandages on top of his chest. “Mark stay next to Jake please” I say while trying to find the bullet. Mark stands next to Jake holding his shoulder, I glance at Mark and his face is full of concern. The one thing I know is that Mark and Jake have been best friends since they where kids, Alan was added to their group when they met a couple of years ago. The bleeding would stop for a time but then it would get out of hand and then it would stop again. I then realize that Jake needs surgery in order for him to survive. I then tell the Marine with the radio to get a helicopter over to our location so that Jake could have a chance.

All of the other Marines where either guarding the hole in the wall or looking out the window, by now it was late in the afternoon. After about five minutes I walk to the Marine with the radio but he tells me something that I didn’t want to hear. “They say that the area is to hot…backup will be here in one hour” he says hoping that would be some good news to me. “What?....No…N..N…NO” I say almost screaming to the Marine. “We need to get him into a hospital now he can’t wait that long” I say with a loud shaky voice. “Let me talk to them…give me the radio” I say while I try to take the radio from the Marine. The Marine with the radio resists me “GIVE ME THE FUCKING RADIO” I scream to him. “I am sorry” the Marine with the radio says to me while pushing me away. “Damn it” I say “DAMT IT…DAMN IT” I scream louder and louder. By this time I look at Jake and Mark and both are looking at me. My breathing is so uneven that I am on the verge of passing out, Mark and Jake are looking at me and I am looking at them. On the verge of crying I turn away from everyone and stare at the wall. I have my back towards Jake and Mark; I start to cry silently because I know what’s going to happen. I try to breath but it seemed that I couldn’t, tears begin to come down my face one after another. My hands begin to shake and for the first time since I got my nursing degree I don’t know what to do. I then gather myself up; I wipe the tears from my cheeks and take a couple of breaths. I then open my eyes and take one last deep breath, I turn around and take off the bloody gloves. I just simply walk back and stand next to the table Jake was in. I look at Jake and tried to tell him what is going to happen but nothing comes out.

I open my mouth but nothing comes out, Jake is looking at me and Mark is the one who breaks the silence, “Adrian please don’t” Mark says knowing that I can’t do anything more. “Adrian please your superman in this…there has to be something you can do…” Mark says to me but can’t finish the sentence. “I am sorry…I am really sorry” I say almost in a whisper. “But the heart is my kryptonite” I say while glancing at Mark. I then stare at Jake and he is staring back at me, “Yes Jake…you are dying” I say while trying to hold back the tears. Jake looks at me and he is on the verge of crying himself. “I just want you to know…that I will be here with you” I say while placing my hand on top of his. “Mark…and I and the whole squad will be here with you” I say while grabbing Mark’s hand and placing it on top of mine. Mark has his hand on top of mine and I have my hand on top of Jake’s, Jake then takes a deep breath. “Mark…you know what to do right?” Jake says with a shaky voice. Mark is looking at Jake and then nods. “Adrian will you please go with Mark…and please tell my parents that I fought bravely” Jake says while trying to hold back his tears. “You are the bravest soldier I know Jake” I say trying not to cry. “Please Adrian” Jake says while looking at me with red eyes. “Okay” I say “I know that it’s a lot to ask but promise me you will go with Mark to my parent’s house” Jake says while looking at me. “I promise” I say almost in a whisper.

Jake then places his hand on top of Mark’s “You take care of each other…Okay” Jake says while looking at me and then at Mark. “Okay” Mark says in a shaky voice. I then for the first time look at Mark, actually look at Mark. We both stay staring at each other for a while and I can feel Mark’s hand squeeze mine gently. I then look down at Jake and nod my head, Jake forces a smile across his face. “I never told you this Adrian but your not bad for a civiliiiiiiiiii” Jake says but doesn’t finish the sentence because death came for him. I then start to cry silently and place my forehead next to Jake’s. Mark places his hand on top of Jake’s head and closes Jake’s eyes. Mark then places both hands on his head and walks away with teary eyes; I then gather my strength and place both of Jake’s hands on his chest. I turn to look at Jose and he is motionless as well as expressionless.

About ten minutes later back up arrives with a lot of humvees and trucks, the helicopters do their job in covering us while we load up the wounded and Jake’s lifeless body as well. All of us fit in one of the trucks, as we return to base all I look at is Jake. The truck swings me back and forward gently but that isn’t enough to distract me. I can feel Mark looking at me but that too isn’t enough to distract me. As we reach the base all of the soldiers including Mark get off, I am the last one out. I take a deep breath knowing that I would have to face Alan, knowing that Jake was Alan’s best friend. As I get off the truck another truck parks a couple of feet away and the first one to get off is Alan.

He spots me and runs towards me, but before he can hug me I extend my hand and take a step back. “What’s wrong? Jesus are you okay?” Alan says while he looks at my bloody vest. I just look at him with teary eyes, I open my mouth but nothing comes out. I finally said something that is the basic saying if someone dies in a hospital “I….I did everything I could” I say with a shaky voice. Alan looks at me for a while confused to what I am saying to him, he than looks past me. The other soldiers are unloading Jake’s body, Alan’s face softens and his eyes become watery. Alan then looks at me “Okay….Okay” he says looking around as if trying to figure out something. Alan then looks at me “but are you okay” Alan says almost in a whisper. I stare at him for a while “I killed people today…” I begin to say “I killed six people today….one of them was a teenager…two of them I killed with a machete and a knife…and….and…and that doesn’t bother me.

It doesn’t bother me at all” I say while trying to hold back my tears but have a shaky voice. “I am over that, it doesn’t bother me one bit….what bothers me the most is that I broke rule number one” I say while looking into Alan’s eyes while tears are coming down my face. “How the fuck did I get attach?” I ask Alan “Damn it….Damn it….Damn it” I say and I break down. I fall to my knees and wrap my arms around my stomach and cry like that day I lost my parents. Alan quickly kneels in front of me and hugs me, I cry for about a minute out load. At this point I don’t care if anyone was paying attention to my conversation and I don’t care what they thought of me.

I then gather myself up and take a couple of deep breaths. I then pull away from Alan and stand up; I take off my vest and helmet. I then hear a radio in the distance that another truck is coming full of injured soldiers “ETA two minutes” the voice in the radio says. “I am scrubbing in” I say to Alan who stands up. “Adrian you can’t” Alan begins to say. “No I am scrubbing in….the hell like I am going to stand in the sidelines for this” I say to Alan. “Like hell I will let another soldier die in front of me” I say while passing my Alan. The truck came all beat up and full of bullet holes, I am the first one to help unload the injured soldiers. For the rest of the night I work tirelessly to save every soldier that crosses my path and all of the injured soldiers have Jake’s face.

Chapter 3 coming soon…