The Soldier Next Door

What terrifies me the most? The sounds of their voices getting louder as they are getting closer? Or the crippling thought that I have heard this voice before?

Here, where I had felt safe only a second ago, I have an incredible fear that in only a few seconds, my trembling body shall be discovered and that I shall be ripped from underneath the thick brush.

So, with a suffocating grip on my heart, I wait patiently as their feet passed me one by one. The sounds of their boots squashing as they disappear into the mud are even more horrifying than the deep laughter that is coming from their chest. The mere sight of their belt-fed machine guns brings so many memories crashing into my mind. For one moment, it feels that I cannot breathe.

But my determination and the mission at hand snaps any thought from my mind. This has now not only become an urgency for the protection of the camp, but I shall bring down on him what he deserves. I am not a man for revenge, but a man that is scorned is even more lethal than any gun that one can hold. This has now become a greater mission for me.

What finally seems like a near twenty minutes of hiding in the mud under the lush green bush, we can with confidence come from our hiding place. The first to say a word is Gibbs, but only in confidence to me.

“Sergeant, I am sorry if I am speaking out of my turn, but the one man does sound familiar.”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

I need not have to answer; the simple drop of my head to my leg says all I need to say. But this does bring a whole new concern to light.

“But Sergeant, was this man not supposed to be dead?”

“My very same question Gibbs, I think that someone is going to have some explaining to do.”

“Do you want us to push ahead?”

“Yes, the sooner we get this done, then we can come back to take these bastards out.”

Between Gibbs and me, we choose not to mention anything to the rest of the squad; their focus should be on the mission at hand and not my desire that I have to settle a score.

So we push further on; with each step I take, I turn around to make sure that we are not being followed. These animals do not have a calm to brutally savage you in any way that they can.

As we find our way through a winding way, off the path to where we will be setting up camp, for now, I can almost sigh in half relief. The easy part is done, now for, do I even dare to say the most thrilling part of our mission.

In less than five minutes, each man has his tent erected; while Williams keeps watch, the rest of us run through our next step. We shall move in later under the cover of darkness and observe their camp.

We shall be looking for weak spots where it shall be easy to enter, the security patrolling the camp, their numbers, and most of all, find the main tent where we shall find the leader. And more importantly, where to head for the battle ops tent before they destroy any information that shall give us an idea of why they are out here.

After wheying in all our options, we take a much needed break, and Lewis also relieves Williams, who comes directly to me with what seems a great concern on his face as he approaches me.

“Sergeant, I know that this is not my place, but I do believe that I heard the voice of a man that we have encountered before.”

“Yes, Williams, you are correct. Please keep this between us; I do not wish to put fear in these men.”

“Sergeant, I promised you that if I get the chance, I will slice him apart.”

“Oh, I want to be the one that will be doing that. I want to see the look on his face when he realizes who I am.”

“Pushing that to the side, I just want to come to give you an update; I am for certain that we shall be safe here. Can I be as bold and say that you can rest, we have traveled quite a distance today.”

“Thank you, Williams, but I shall be doing no resting. Give the word to the rest of the camp that they can do so.”

With that, Williams is gone, leaving me with my own turmoil in my mind. I have dreamt so many nights about what I shall do if this day would ever come. And today it has, and now I have no idea what to do with him. Do I truly want to become the same monster as him? Is there truly comfort in revenge? Even though it might not take the pain away, shall it make it somewhat better if he receives as what he gave?

The thing is that any one of these men shall do the very same thing. Some would be for their own personal reasons, as where some others would do it in retaliation for what I have been put through. That is what makes us brothers, that is why we have a bond that no man, not even another squad in the camp, can break. I shall give my life for every single one of them.

So as evening approaches, we pack up our stuff and make the silent way into the forest. It only takes us a few miles, and we can start seeing the flicker of camp lights up in the distance. With a few hand signals, Williams shows for us to lower down to a chrouching position. We form a close circle as I start to give the orders for every one to split off into groups of two. With Lewis by my side, I watch as the man is eagerly anticipating the excitement of his first mission. I only but smile at him; I can remember when I was a rookie, I thought I was unstoppable. I shall let him savor his moment.

Then we get into place behind a rather large rock that is in line with what seems to be the main tent. I observe as each man come and go out of it, seeking the one thing that I am looking for. And as if on perfect timing, I see him emerge out of the tent. I look on over to Lewis, and my god, the man is sitting with a pencil and a little pocket book drawing a map of the camp. I can only but smile at his brilliance. I show for him where to place the battle ops tent, and as the asshole walks further through the camp, we can easily place the location of his tent.

While we are placing each location, the number of tents, and the significance that we assume they hold, Gibbs counts the number of militants. Williams is surveying their defenses and establishes the ease we shall have in entering, the weak spots, and the ones that we cannot by any way get through.

This we do throughout the entire evening, then for the whole of the morning until early afternoon. Once I am satisfied that we have got all the intel needed, we fall back into the deep forest. We all sigh out with the satisfaction of a mission well done, but there is no time for celebration just yet; we need to find our way home without getting noticed.

Back into file, we make the way through a far drier thick brush. It takes us once again, the better half of the afternoon and early evening, to follow the very same trail back home. With the camp coming into sight, I can feel all that nervous tension escape. And with a final foot past patrol, a loud cheer amongst ourselves echoe thrugh the camp. In less than a minute, we are surrounded by the other squads greeting us with a much needed welcome.

But the job is not yet done, and I have a few questions of my own. So as my eyes scan for Ray, we finally meet up in the battle ops tent.

“Well, Sergeant, well done on a very successful first mission. I am proud of you; you have once again proven me wrong.”

“Yes, about that Ray. I was very surprised by what we found over there.”

“What do you mean? Is there something that we did not expect?”

“Well, you can say more, something that I did not expect. Now please, before you choose to insult me and lie to my face, I beg you, man, to man to be honest.”

“Sure Ethan, man to man, what has got you so bothered?”

“Whatever happened to them?”

“Who? Whom are you referring to?”

“The two assholes that left me half a Marine.”

I watch as the anger creeps into Ray’s face; I am not sure if he is upset that I even dare to ask him such a thing.

“Ethan, you are not half a Marine; you are a Marine. As for those two, they were supposed to be held captive.”

“What do you mean by supposed to be held captive. I thought they were dead?”

“Well, no. We decided to take them captive for intel, but we got ambushed.”

“Do not fucking tell me that they got away?”

“I am afraid to say that they both did.”

I feel as if the wind has been knocked from my chest; a burning fire takes a hold of my heart. I can barely think of one simple thought as there are so many awful ones that are running through my mind. The visions come flooding back, and I can not help to but swallow hard as I remember all the sensations of pain. There is a sting that rips through my leg; I have to fight every urge to grab hold of it. And as I am about to see stars, I keep reminding myself that I cannot fall apart, but I am so close. Pushing tears away that will bring me so much comfort; I pull myself straight.

“Ray, I have good news for you.”

“What do you mean, Ethan?”

“You have just found them.”