Chapter 6

I sat and watched the coordinated hustle and bustle of the well-entrenched operating area. A thought occurred to me next, and I hopped up and started trying to find their cars. I was convinced they didn't walk here. I bumped into a medic who gave me a wide smile.

"Lost?" She asked. I shook my head "no." "Curious?" She asked next, her voice had a bit of a southern twang. I nodded.

"Well, I'm not supposed to really talk to ya'll ... but what do ya wanna know?" She asked quietly.

"How did you get here?" I asked just as quietly.

"Oh hun, they fly us around on big helicopters, we were inserted to this place." She informed me.

"So there are more of you?" I asked, a little astonished.

"Hundreds hun." She said, then she flashed her toothy smile at me again and disappeared. I just wandered around more, not knowing what else to do.

I walked around some more and eventually found where the commander guy with the funky beard was sitting. He was cleaning his gun, a typically manly thing to do I thought. I smiled at him and sat down across from him. He barely looked up at me as I crossed my legs.

"What?" he asked

"Can I have my guns back?" I asked

"I guess" he said, he gestured behind me. "Tommy has your hardware." I turned around and saw another guy sacked out in a nylon hammock. I started to get up.

"Careful about waking him, these guys are wound tight." He cautioned. I just waved him off and trotted over.

"Tommy" I said softly, but sternly. He didn't stir. "Tommy!" I tried again. Nothing. I sighed and moved a little closer. I looked back over my shoulder, and three people were watching me. I felt my face turn red and I felt myself feeling exposed and embarrassed. I sighed. "Tommy!" I said in a conversational tone. I looked back again, someone was gesturing by doing a standing pushup. I looked back at the sleeping guy.

My right hand slowly inched towards the guy's shoulder, then it stopped. I was really worried. I wasn't entirely sure about what 'wound tight' meant, but the audience behind me had me wondering what was going to happen if I succeeded in waking up this guy. I sighed. "Tommy!" I said a little louder, my hand touched his shoulder.

In a blur, this guy came to life and locked my arm behind my back. I felt something sharp pressing into my side. "AHHH!" I shrieked about half a second too late. The audience laughed. Tommy let me go and slipped his knife away, then shook his head.

"What do you want? Do you have a death wish?"

My heart was still racing in my chest, I took a deep breath. "Can ... Can," I stammered.

"Go on, spit it out" He prodded, laying back down.

"I ... want my guns."

He just pointed to a small pile of stuff about ten feet to my left. I walked over and found all my stuff. As I reached down, I realized my hands were shaking. I made fists and knelt, trying to control myself. I closed my eyes and took a couple deep breaths. Once I was composed, I started putting stuff back on. The Glock, the M4 I strapped to my back. Then I saw Samantha's "go" bag, so I grabbed it. I laced my arms through and went in search of Samantha and Thom.

Samantha came up to me from behind, I heard her approaching me and she put her hand on my shoulder. "Hey" she said.

"Hey" I replied.

"Thom said they'll take him and I, but not you." She said

"Why not?" I asked

"You're too green." She said. "We're going to help them get this Arthur guy."

"No" I said, my voice was a little louder than I'd thought it would be. "You're all the family I have."

"Courtney, I'm sorry, but this is duty calls, those men have been killing innocent people, I am not going to stand by and watch! Besides, it's a simple snatch and extract." She said.

I just looked at her dumbfounded.

"We're just arresting him, they want to talk to this guy." She said

"No!" I all but screamed. I saw some people coming over.

"Courtney, keep your voice down." Samantha said quickly.

I started crying then, Samantha pulled me in close to her and held me as I cried. "It's okay Courtney, we're just support, we won't be in direct action. We'll be home safe." I was squeezing her with all my strength, tears flowed unrestrained into her camouflage parka.

"No!" I sniffled "I cannot lose you." I sniffled again.

"It's okay" Samantha said, her hand ran through my knotted hair. "It's okay, where'd you find my bag?"

"In a pile" I sniffled

"Well, hang on to it, it'll make a good pillow for you." She said, still holding me tight. I just nodded.

"Courtney, I have to go talk to the group I will be with. It's just a small group on the back end."

"Fine" I sighed, disengaging.

I felt her lean in and kiss my forehead, then she turned and walked purposefully away. "I hate everything" I said quietly. "I ****ing hate my life" I sighed. I felt my stomach knot up with anxiety and I plodded over and asked one of the women where to find a cot to lay on for a while. I was then directed to another area, and after descending a small hill, ducking into another small room, I laid next to another lady who was fast asleep. I used Samantha's backpack as a too big and pokey pillow and I fell asleep.

The lady next to me woke up, and I guess she didn't know I was there because she bumped into me, waking me up in turn. I stirred and watched her disappear out of the space. I sighed and sat up. Thom poked his head in.

"You in here?" He asked

"Yes" I said, a little angry.

Thom came in and sat on the cot next to me. "Hey" He said next. I just laid there and gazed up at the webbing ceiling. "I know you're upset, but you have to understand, the 5th murdered our children. We cannot run, Courtney."

"I don't want you to get hurt, promise me you will be okay!" I cried.

"I cannot promise that." Thom said quietly.

I cleared my throat. "At least promise me you won't leave me alone."

"I can promise that." Thom said, he reached over and took my hand. He slipped something into it. I felt the cross press into my palm. "It's something I've carried every day since Kuwait. I want you to have it." Thom said. I just squeezed.

"Look, I don't know what people have told you, but this isn't a special operations outfit. They're small militia and National Guard mostly. I can make a difference here, so can Samantha, and you can too." Thom said, I smiled.

"What do you need me to do?" I asked

"When the time comes, I will let you know." Thom said

"Fine" I sighed.

I heard Thom get up and walk out. I curled up into a ball and just stared at the rock wall. Vile thoughts consumed me. "They must not love me" I thought. "No one loves me." Was my conclusion.

I laid there for a little longer and eventually pulled myself out. Thom and Samantha were in a cluster talking. They were trading stories of conflicts from the sounds of it. Thom was animatedly using his hands to explain how he navigated his aircraft into the "LZ" and under the torrent of heavy gun fire, extract the wounded soldiers. This elicited "oohs" and "aahs" from the group.

I wandered past them to another group who were handing out the packets of food. I took one and settled down to munch on its contents. The ground wasn't exactly comfortable. Sighing, I bit the pouch open and dumped the contents out into my lap then started going through and eating whatever I could.

It was late day when Thom and Samantha caught up with me wandering around. Thom had his longer barreled AR with the scope out. "I need your M4" he said. I unsnapped the M4 and traded. He looked It over. "Okay, we're heading out." He informed me. I let out a long sigh. "We'll be back around sunrise." I let out another long sigh.

"Okay" I said in resignation. I watched as he went and formed up with his new friends. I stood there, with this big awkward gun in my hand watching the group leave. I wandered back to the place I'd been sleeping and curled up on the cot, not even bothering to remove the backpack. After a little while I realized it was going to be cold, so I pulled myself up and asked for a guide to take me back to the truck. I pulled the sleeping bag out inside the cab and cracked a window. I smiled as I realized that I felt very safe in the truck cab.

Locked inside of the truck, the rifle on the floor and my pistol stuffed into a map pocket on the back of the seat, I kicked my boots off and immediately decided to roll the windows down a little further. The stench was incredible. I wondered if this was how my mom felt cleaning out my soccer bag. The truck aired out a little bit and fatigue overcame me once again I yawned big and pulled myself into the big sleeping bag, then finally let my eyes close.

The sun woke me up the next morning. My nose was really cold, but I was otherwise toasty warm. I stirred lightly and then woke up with a start. I'd actually slept the whole night. I rolled around for a second and then sat up. I yawned big and looked around. I was then suddenly reminded that Thom and Samantha were due back. I kicked the sleeping bag off and pulled my boots on, holstered the pistol, grabbed the rifle and walked purposefully back towards the thickets where everyone was. I walked by a pair of perimeter guards who just looked at me and I found the place was still desertedd.

"Where is everyone?" I asked the first person I saw

"Not back yet." They replied

I started feeling sick. "When will,"

"I don't know" they cut me off.

"Who would?" I asked

"Commander might." The guy pointed absently, clearly annoyed with me.

I sighed and moved past him, looking for answers. As I spotted someone who I thought might be helpful, I heard a commotion behind me, a large group was coming into the camp. The reaction of the half dozen around me told me this was the capture party. My heart raced. I walked quickly and found both Samantha and Thom, I embraced Samantha in a death grip squeeze.

"Now now..." She said, holding me. "We made it back.'

"Thank you" I said

"It was nothing" she said as I disengaged, "Light security."

"I'm happy you're okay."

"Me too" She said as she pushed away from me. "I have to go help with the after action report" she told me.

"Can I come?" I asked

"No" She replied

"Okay," I sighed. I turned and walked out. I glanced at the cluster of people surrounding the prisoner. He didn't look like much, wearing khaki pants, loafers, and a white button down. His jacket was on the ground at his feet. I just shrugged inwardly and walked back to the truck, which was the only place I really felt safe.

I reached the truck and more or less tore the back passenger side door off its hinge opening it. I was pretty angry, I felt like my family was abandoning me. I curled up on the back seat and just stared at the back of the driver's seat. The windows were still cracked, so I could hear some of the going on in side the treeline, the guy wasn't being very quiet and the brief pauses in his whining gave me the impression he was being hit.

I thought I fell asleep for a bit, because the hour started to grow late. The sky was turning an orangish purple. Then I heard a single gun shot.

"POP!" I immediately sat bolt upright and looked around. I looked back towards the tree line and saw no one moving, I looked back across the wide clearing, and saw a cluster of three guys standing there, in black uniforms, surveying the area. Using Thom's rifle, I set it on the back of the 40-20-40 seat with the muzzle propped on the dashboard. I could see them a little more clearly through the low power magnifier. The three looked like they were surveying. One held a small device, another had a radio, and they all three were heavily armed. I couldn't tell if they knew I was there. I quickly scanned some more, and I found a larger group to the left of their position. My mind started racing.

"I don't know how they know where to look, but this is bad" I sighed. I pulled the gun down and pushed the center arm rest down so I could reach the ignition. I carefully turned the key to "ON" and sat back. I took a long deep breath and pushed a snow brush between the driver's seat and the steering wheel. Once I was satisfied it wouldn't fall out, I gingerly pushed the back door open and tossed the sleeping bag and Samantha's "go" bag out. I reached my right foot out and used the muzzle of the rifle to tap the snow brush down the seat, increasing pressure on the horn.

"BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!" The noise was deafening in the still air. I used the magnifier to look back, the trio were now speaking wildly into their communications devices. Another group of ten appeared to join the group of five. Behind me I heard people running.

"They're coming!" I screamed. "They're coming!"

Someone started blowing a whistle, a guy came up and slammed into the truck beside me. "Where" He asked. I pointed. He knelt and looked "****" was all he could say. "Get the ****out of here, now."

I started to move then he grabbed me. I heard a whistling sound and then WHAM! There was an explosion in the woods. The sound was followed up by another succession of blasts.

"When I tell you to, you run north." He pointed. "You run and you do not look back. You hit the tree line and you set up defensive fire across the field." I could feel my face had gone completely white now, my mouth was slightly agape. "GO!" He screamed at me. A series of rounds hit the front of the truck. The horn stopped.

I stood and grabbed the go bag and the rifle as tight as I could. I sprinted the hardest I'd ever run before. I heard a whizzing sound and then the sound of a tree taking a bullet. I prayed as I ran. "Oh Lord, let me survive this day!" I almost screamed it as another series of trees took the bullets for me. As I hit the tree line, I tripped. I fell face first to the ground. It took me a second to realize I wasn't dead. Working quickly, I found a couple closely spaced trees and set the backpack between them to form my shooting position. I set the rifle atop these and looked down the field. I couldn't see anyone moving, so I laid there and waited, praying for a miracle. I heard the explosions escalate, it sounded like it was raining bombs. I flicked the safety off and tried to find the three scouts, I couldn't see anything. I felt my cheeks glistening with dampness when the wind blew softly. I blinked and my vision got blurry.

Sniffling hard I refocused, searching for something, anything. I heard the rifle fire start. Someone was still putting up a fight. I saw muzzle flashes in the twilight, a group of five were making their way across the field, from my right to my left. I sighed and elected to join the fight. I figured it would be best to wait until they were shooting before I shot, so I waited, they were nearly two thirds the way across the field when they opened up again. I took aim at what little of their bodies I could and started shooting.

POP! POP! POP! I was just flicking the trigger as fast as I could, sending the little 72gr rounds towards the five man team. I saw a couple tumble over. I had no way of knowing if I was even on target and participating in this fight, or just making noise. I felt the gun lock back empty. I cursed audibly and pulled the magazine out, then fished around for what felt like ever looking for a new magazine. I eventually located one and reloaded the gun.

"Snap" My heart froze, I reached for my hip and grabbed my pistol, rolling over as I did so. A big black silhouette was there, he didn't have his gun pointed directly at me, and his face was barely visible, but what I could see was utter shock.

"Who are you?" I whispered

He didn't answer, instead he started raising his gun towards me. I squeezed my eyes shut and fired. I felt my fingers lock the trigger back on the pistol. I heard a thud just ten feet away from me.

"Time to go" I thought, I stuffed the pistol back into its holster and hefted the rifle, then I pulled the backpack on. I mimicked what I'd seen Thom and Samantha doing, scanning and letting the gun lead me. I stalked just inside of the tree line, breaking twigs and crunching dead undergrowth as I went along. The gun fire had all but stopped. So had the explosions. As I neared the area, I heard a lot of screaming.

"Where is he!" a voice clearly screamed. I saw a bright flash and then heard the shot. I slowed and moved carefully now. I heard crying to my left, I looked and saw a mass of bodies. I moved to it and looked, making sure no one I knew was there. I started moving towards the center again, I could hear lots of people moving around. Despite every fiber of my body saying "run away" I knew I owed it to Samantha and Thom to at least see if they were alive.

I hid behind a tree, it was getting really dark now in the woods. The Fifth District miitia men were using flash lights. Their beams played all around. I saw the carnage, the small craters from where the bombs had hit. I choked back a whimper and I took a deep breath. I had to find Sam and Thom. I moved from where I'd been hiding and immediately tripped over a body. I threw my arms out and caught a tree as I fell over, I landed on my side. I pulled my feet up and looked around, the space around me was lit up.

"Probably just another ****in animal" someone said, and the beams moved away again. I looked down at the body I'd tripped over. I recognized it was one of the corpsman, a southern girl. I sighed and started moving again, I was trying to count voices.

"Five" I said to myself. "There's five left." Almost on cue, I heard someone on a radio, so I sat and listened to the one sided conversation.

"****we need reinforcements, send them now! ... no, we can't wait a day, just mobilize and send me ten men so we can search this ****ing area,, what? ... no,,, ... are you ****ing kidding me?!,,. We took heavy losses because some ****sounded an alarm,,, that's right, ... no it was a truck horn,. Some ****ing kid or something, fine whatever, ... Raindown out."

I let out a breath and thought about what to do. "What would Samantha do?" I asked myself. I thought back to how she took out the three guys in the living room. I smiled as I envisioned myself running around like a ninja taking these guys out one by one. Then realize came back to me as I heard foot steps approaching where I was hiding.

I held my breath as they came even closer. Then I heard a metallic sliding sound, and I heard the sound of liquid hitting dry leaves to my left. I envisioned what was happening and how the guy would be standing. I unsnapped the knife from the go bag and gently set the rifle down. I got up into a squat balanced on the balls of my feet. "Five" I told myself. I lunged up.

The guy was looking to his left as I came out from behind the tree in a blur, I jammed the knife up into his midsection with all my might. His face turned white in the darkness and his head snapped back to attention. He looked down at my hand, and the river of blood coming out of him over my hand. I jerked the knife out.

"AHhhhhhh!" the guy started screaming bloody murder. I punched him with the knife again, this time in the chest. I felt the blade glance off a rib then go into soft tissue. I heard people running, so I pulled the knife out, grabbed the rifle, and ran into the black forest.

Crack! A branch exploded into a shower of wood chips. THUD! THUD! Behind me, the sounds of bullets hitting trees echoed in my head. I tried to put it out of my mind as I kept running, my quads and calves were burning, my back was taking a beating from the backpack bouncing all over creation. My hands ached from carrying the rifle and the knife as I was. I saw a mental image of myself, running like a mad person.

I reached a spot I thought I would be safe from approach and I ran to the other side of a small tree dotted hill. Once I was there, I literally collapsed from exhaustion. As I laid there panting away I sheathed the knife and made sure the rifle was still going to work. I felt strangly happy I had killed someone, or I thought I had killed them. I couldn't be certain, the last thing I remembered was hearing them screaming, then running for my life.

I reached out and grabbed a rock and pulled myself over onto my hands and knees, then I stood and slowly walked down the other side of the hill. It dawned on me again that I was once again alone. My shoulders slouched and my legs grew heavy.

"I have to keep moving" I told myself. "I have to keep moving ... there's more coming."

I focused on just putting one foot in front of the other, moving as fast as I could. I came to a depression and started to move across it. I heard voices on the far side, then flash light beams were scanning all around. I didn't know who they were, so I moved perpendicular to the search party, and found a spot to hide. I set the fore grip of the rifle on a rock and waited for someone to get close enough to shoot.

I watched the search party for a long time. They were combing down into the depression I was going to cross. Their beams played left and right across the rocky ground. I thought about what to do. If I moved, they'd probably find me, but if I stayed, they'd probably find me.

"Hmm" I said softly as I watched the group. I counted four light beams, I assumed there would only be four people then. "If I shoot, they'll know where I am" I thought, I started looking around in the darkness, trying to sort out where to go. The moon was providing okay illumination, at least enough to make out rock formations and trees. I settled on trying to sneak past them. I quietly pulled the backpack off and rigged the rifle to the side of it. I cinched the backpack as tight as I could and slowly crouched. I watched the light beams for another moment and stepped out of my hiding spot.

I moved quickly in a crouch, careful to make sure the rifle didn't catch anything. My first task was to find a way out of the depression, but that was going to be an issue. The rocks were loose and would make noise if I tried to just climb outright. I carefully made my way around behind where I'd been hiding and started up the hill to my right. It would give me a better view of the area.

One hand over another is the way I climbed, careful to test everything before I put weight on it. I inched my way up the loose hill and laid flat atop the small rocks. On a clock, I'd say the four guys were between my two and three o'clock from where I wanted to be. I elected to stay there a little longer, and just watch to see if I could make out any patterns to their movement.

I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, but after a few moments I realized I was hearing footsteps coming up the hill I'd just climbed. I felt my stomach tighten as I thought "oh no."

I crawled on my belly for the edge and slithered down just far enough so my head was all that remained atop the hill. The footsteps grew louder, and I realized there were more than one set. I sighed and scooted down half a foot and started inching away. I heard the two guys stop and talk.

"Unit one, move to your west, units two and three, converge on my position atop gamma, we'll get this guy."

I sighed and moved as quickly as I could move quietly, inch by inch. I had lost sight of the four lights, but now I was under the impression that there were eight more guys coming after me. I reached a cluster of trees after an agonizing long time and I pulled myself up into them. Then I slowly walked, pistol in hand, away from the guys on the rise.

I felt my hair snag on a tree and I gently pulled it off, "snap!" the little twig gave way. I stood paralyzed, waiting. I heard nothing, so I resumed moving.

POP! A sound to my right, a tree next to me took a bullet. "****" I thought, I started running again. "****" I cursed inwardly as I pushed through evergreen trees and stumbled over jutting out rocks. I heard voices yelling behind me, I slowed way down and turned left, towards the top of the depression. I moved as carefully as I could now, I wanted them thinking I was still running away from them. I pushed out into the clearing and looked around for a few seconds before I jogged the distance lightly, checking my foot falls as I went. I hit the opposite side and quickly climbed the small hill to get to the other side. Below me, a 200ft mostly cleared valley ran, and I didn't see any silhouettes trying to cross it. I took a sigh of relief and made my way into the woods more. I could hear the people searching for me as I pushed gently into some denser trees. They sounded to be consolidating into a search party, I wondered how long I'd be able to evade them. I began to have thoughts of what would happen if they caught me. I thought the best case was I'd be a prisoner of whatever, but more likely, they'd shoot me on the spot and call it a day. I gulped and thought about where I could hide.

It didn't come on suddenly, but fatigue was quickly becoming my number one adversary. The people I could negotiate by keeping ahead of them and changing my direction out of their search path, but my body was another adversary altogether. The running for my life bit had caused me a lot of physical stress, and that stress was starting to take an emotional and mental toll. My legs were getting heavy again and I could feel myself stumbling more, a sure sign I was going to compromise myself. I sighed and stopped.

I stood still for a few minutes, just listening to the wind blow softly through the pines. I thought I could hear the searchers, but I wasn't sure. I slowly set back off, maneuvering now to my left, which would take me away from my current tracks, if I was leaving any.

I trudged on for what felt like hours, pushing my way through trees and brush, and I came to a road. I wasn't sure what to do. I looked up and down it, it seemed empty, but how would I know for sure until I stepped into the middle of it. The idea of taking the road was quite alluring, as tired as I felt, I didn't even know what I was doing. I walked on autopilot, my feet carried me up the road about a mile, and then I found a ditch with some brush in it. I pulled some more brush over and laid down on my side, I pulled the extra brush over top of me and succumbed to some much needed sleep.

VVVvvvrroooooooooommmmmmmmm, ... the loud exhaust woke me with a start. My eyes shot open in time to see nothing as the racing motor ascended the hill past me. The sun was bright and shining with seemingly infinite luminosity. I closed my eyes again and tried to relax, but having seen the light, it seemed to penetrate my brush cover and squeezed eyelids. I sighed and tried to move. My muscles were rigid with exhaustion. I elected the slow approach was the best approach.

After listening for a little while longer, to make sure no one was walking up the road, I straightened my legs out with some effort. I resisted the grunt and then the moan as my hips and knees popped, then I pulled myself up, pushing off the brush as I did so. I looked around and realized what a terrible place I'd chosen. The ditch was more like a shallow hole, and while there was brush it wasn't nearly what I had wanted. I thanked my lucky stars that no one had found me yet, and I quickly got up and hobbled awkwardly into the treeline.

I pulled Samantha's backpack off and started looking through it. Thankfully, she knew how to pack and I found several of the pouches labeled MRE. I tore into one and started devouring the contents. Then I drank down a pouch of water. I didn't bother to inventory stuff as I needed to find my way back to the camp and see if anyone was still alive. I sighed and started looking for a map. There wasn't a great one, but the road map would have to work. The idea of trying to find a hidden camp in the middle of no where seemed like an impossible task to me, so I decided on the next best thing, and that would be to check the closest 5th district camp for prisoners. I considered it for a while, and then after guessing where I was, based on the few landmarks the map showed, I guessed I was sitting somewhere along a little dotted line that ran north to south for fire access. I smiled faintly as I traced my finger down the road a second time, and I made a mental picture of where I should be, then I looked for the major road we'd been on, and then I looked at the intersection where the roadblock should have been. Using the legend, I estimated I'd traveled six miles northwest, which meant I was now three hours away from being able to help anyone. I felt defeated, but I tried to move past it. "I have to go look" I told myself. "If that road block was there, the camp should be here, and the 5th's base should be around here." I allowed a small grin and folded the map up. I pulled the backpack back on and set off down the road, my legs felt a little better.

The road on the map was twisty, so I would have ample time to hide if I heard a car coming. I took the road for what I judged to be two hours, and then I turned into the forest, following the same depression I had crossed the night before. The depression brought me back to the gravely hill, so I climbed it, and saw all the foot prints in the dirt. I moved back and into the forest, using the early morning sun as a guide. Satisfied that I wasn't completely useless, I knelt quietly and untied the big AR. I clipped it to the shoulder strap on the backpack and moved quietly through the woods back to where I thought the camp was.