Rough Trip

PROLOGUE It had been days since Sage and his team were deployed out into the field in Afghanistan. He felt like they had walked miles upon miles every day in a never-ending dry land. The sun had not helped as it constantly hung above them day in and day out like a predator waiting for its prey to die after it had struck. The heat had started drying out the water that had remained in their systems since their last sip, which had started to feel like months ago instead of just a few hours. Sage kept picturing himself back at home in the pool in his backyard, surrounded by clean and fresh water. The thought of it didn’t help him, though because he started to feel like his skin was tightening from the dehydration. He started to feel as though he was literally a fish out of water. “This heat is killing me,” Jason said. Jason had been a private for a while now, and Sage would never understand why. He complained about everything which he found irritating, as did the rest of the team. “It’s killing us all,” Ryan said. He had always been the forward one in the group, never batting an eyelid when it came to being honest. Everyone laughed at his statement, everyone except Jason, of course. “You don’t have to be such a d**k, Ryan,” Jason said as he glared at Ryan, who had his back to him. “I’m not being a d**k, I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking.” “Now, now, children. There’s no need to fight,” Laura said. Everyone could hear she had a smile on her face as her voice had sounded playful. “Exactly, Jason, no need to fight, child,” Ryan said. “Oi, cut it out. The lot of you!” the sergeant yelled. “You’re all acting like children. Lord knows why you even bothered joining the army with the attitudes you lot have,” he said. “Sorry, Sir,” Jason said with a sarcastic salute since the sergeant was in the lead facing away from everyone. Jason had always had a problem with the sergeant, no one ever knew why. “Yeah, sorry, Sir,” Ryan said. “Yeah, yeah. Now shut your mouths. We aren’t out here for fun!” Sage could agree with him there. He would rather be back home. Again he pictured himself in his pool or better yet watching a game on TV while having a cold beer. That would also be great, Sage thought. At the thought of a cold beer, Sage recognized just how dry his mouth had become. He was sure that all of their mouths had become so dry it felt like sandpaper rubbing against their gums every time they tried to bring saliva back; none of them were used to such dry climates. The heat wasn’t as much of a problem as the dryness was; the dryness was almost unbearable. They had been surrounded by sand, dust and run-down buildings most of the time. Everything dried out and ready to just dissolve into nothingness. Sage was certain that soon, his body and everyone else on the team's bodies would dissolve into nothingness from the dehydration. The wind was constantly bringing a whip of dust across their faces, making their faces look dirty and dry during their walks. It felt like their skin would just start cracking at any moment. They hadn’t seen people for miles, and they had started to doubt that they would. There wasn’t much reported civilization left that far out; they had either been killed or told to leave. Sage had wished that they hadn’t come this far out. He knew the job they had to do but it was so far away from anything that it started to look like those abandoned towns that he’d seen in movies just before zombies and monsters started attacking. He had always had an imaginative mind, and although he wasn’t exactly scared, he couldn’t help but wonder why anyone would come this far when it just felt dangerous. They had to continue to look for a group of insurgents that had been reportedly shooting at teams while they were out patrolling the area, they had even shot at civilians. It had been their mission to shoot at any threats that may appear. They could not risk losing any more men than they already had. “Take cover ladies. We can’t risk being seen,” the sergeant said to the team. Why does he always call us ladies, Sage thought, it had always frustrated him. Maybe it was to show superiority or something, but it had just made the team dislike him. The sergeant had been belittling the crew from the beginning, although they had fought alongside him a few times, and he had hand-picked them to be his team. They had all been trained to meet his standards, and he had trained them hard, drilling the team every day at unexpected times. It had done them all good. Expect the unexpected. Sage had constantly kept a close eye on Laura, it had been the hardest thing to accept when they had been called out for the mission. He could remember the day he had asked her to stay behind, but she had told him she would not stay behind when her team would be out in the field. It had been her duty to fight with her team. "Sage, please do not ask me to stay behind. This is what I signed up for when I joined the army. How would it look if you went and I stayed here? We’re both privates, and I have to stay with my team," she had said. "How can you expect me to be okay with you there? You don't have to go. Please, just think about it." "I know I don't have to go, but I need to fight with my brothers, I need to fight for my country." "Laura, anything could happen while we’re out there." "And anything could happen while you're out there and I'm here, waiting for you to come home. I couldn’t sit and wait for either good or bad news, Sage. I joined before I met you and I'm very lucky to have met you, but this is not something I can just walk away from. This is my duty." Sage knew fighting alongside her would not be easy. He felt he had to make sure she was constantly safe although he knew she could look after herself. She was on his team, after all, and had been trained with him but fighting in a war with the love of your life would not be easy for anyone placed in the same shoes as Sage. He didn’t want to imagine a life without her in it. He hoped that this mission would go smoothly so they could be in and out. "Keep close; we're coming to an open area. Keep alert and aware of your surroundings," the sergeant commanded. As they started to move forward they all ducked under anything they could to keep low and covered. They started weaving in and out of empty buildings, looking for any signs of life and possible movement. There didn’t appear to be any. Most of the buildings that surrounded them had already been blown up or shot through, the walls were half gone with wide holes here and there, and they had to almost crawl on their bellies across the ground to stay covered. Besides their breathing and footsteps, there were no other sounds, the saying 'silence can be deafening' came to Sage’s mind. It had started to feel too quiet, there should be at least a few people out here Sage thought. They continued to move forward, after all, there was no going back. Moving slowly and carefully, making sure that their foot movement could hardly be heard. They came to a higher wall where they could stand straighter. Just as they all started to stand up straighter, gunshots started to ring out across the empty buildings, echoing across the empty area that surrounded them. They started out distant and soft but as the firing picked up, soon the crackling sounds of bullets hitting cement would be the only thing anyone could hear. The team started looking around, searching for the main source of fire. "Laura, stay low!" Sage yelled as the ringing in his ears got louder. He couldn’t risk her getting shot. The team had begun to fire shots in all directions, hoping that they were shooting at the source as they were still rather clueless as to where the shots were coming from. "Fall back!" the sergeant yelled, "stay low. Get as low to the ground and as close to a wall as possible!" Shit, Sage thought, this can't be happening. The team ducked down, again almost on their bellies as they tried to take cover. It had been made out to be an easy mission. Go in, get to the group of insurgents, take care of them and then get out. Simple. Nothing was ever simple though. The ringing in Sage’s ears had become deafening; he was certain he had lost his hearing as the firing started to sound muffled. He could see the mouths of his teammates moving around him but he could no longer hear what they were saying. The remains of the walls around them started crumbling to the ground, soon there would be no walls at all and they would be completely exposed. The dust and sand had started to kick back into their eyes as bullets continued to fly in their direction. Sage looked around them; there was nowhere else to hide. They were going to die, and when he looked at his teammates’ faces he knew they knew it too. They kept firing and reloading their weapons in the hopes that they could at least injure the enemy. He looked over at Laura and could see the look of panic written all over her face. He looked around him and forced himself to focus. He could see at least one shooter in the distance so he wasted no time and shot directly at them, taking them down with just a few hits. One down, a couple dozen to go, he thought. The team followed his lead and tried to focus on targets to shoot at instead of just all over the place in their panic. Slowly they began to fight back properly, but the insurgents had them surrounded. They had planned this attack so thoroughly that the chances of survivors were slim. The sergeant had already radioed in for reinforcements but that would take a while and they all knew it. They were stuck on their own and the only way out would be to fight back - this is what they had been trained for. Sage continued to fire at any target he could see, he had to try. Constantly turning this way and that to get a better angle of their attackers. “Jason! On your right!” he yelled. Jason took note and turned to his left, shooting the target. Soon they all worked together and yelled out targets for each other, forming a circle with their guns pointing out and their backs pressed against each other. He looked in one direction and saw a grenade heading toward them. “Everybody move!” he yelled. They all looked in the direction he was looking, seeing the grenade they all tried to move out of the way, running as far out of the area and yet there was nowhere for them to go. Sage headed for Laura. If he were to die, he would die next to her. He had gotten to her just as the grenade landed in the center of the group, causing them all to be pushed further back in every direction. Sage was engulfed in darkness. He could feel the wind blowing around him, he could feel it tugging at his hair as he came to. The more he became aware of his surroundings, he could hear people yelling and a high pitched whistling noise ringing in his ears. As he regained full consciousness he could feel an enormous amount of pain flood through his body and became so overwhelmed that he couldn’t help but yell out in agony. Someone close heard him scream and rushed over. “You’re okay private!” a young male said as he leaned over him so his head popped into view. “You’re on your way to Charité, a hospital in Germany. They’re going to take care of you,” the person yelled. As Sage’s sense became clearer he realized his head was restrained and his body had been tied down so he couldn’t move. He also realized he was on a helicopter. That could only mean that help had come after the grenade knocked him out. “Laura? Where is Laura?” he started to ask. He tried to break free from the restraints that held his body down. “Private, please. You need to stay calm and you need to stay still!” the person yelled over the sound of the rotors. “Where is Laura?” he cried. He looked around him and couldn’t see anyone else from his team. How many people could fit on a helicopter while on a gurney, he asked himself. It wasn’t long till the helicopter landed and he was rushed into the E.R. “Laura? Laura?” Sage continued to ask once he had gained his consciousness again. “Private Anderson, my name is Dr. Müller. I worked on your head in surgery. You suffered a blow to your head, shards from the grenade that had blown up near you hit you on the right side of your head. You’ll have a scar there for the rest of your life, about 4 inches long but you will survive,” the doctor said. He registered a pounding in his head, he reached his hand up and touched his face. He felt the bandage wrapped around the side of his face and proceeded to wince a bit as he applied pressure to the bandaged area. Stupid idea, he thought. Sage then looked around him, taking in his surroundings. White walls and clean beds all with their curtains tied back. The smell of medicine in the air. Machines beeping and people coughing in the far distance. He zoned in on one detail - the beds. All clean beds he noticed, clean, empty beds. “My team? Where is my team? Where is Laura?” he asked, panic rising in his voice. “Private Anderson, I’m sorry to inform you but you’re the only one who made it,” the doctor said. “No, no don’t tell me that,” Sage said as tears started filling his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Private.” Sage closed his eyes as tears started streaming down his face. She was gone, Laura was gone and he would never get her back. He would never say goodbye, he would never kiss her, touch her or hear her voice ever again. His chest began to feel tight and he felt a pain deep within. Why had he survived? He should be with his team. He should be with his team and not in the hospital getting patched up. How could he be the only survivor? He didn’t deserve to be alive. “Please leave me alone. I need to be alone,” he said. He could not bear being so vulnerable around people. He felt as if his whole world had crumbled around him. “Yes, of course. Please press the red button next to your bed if you need any assistance,” the doctor said as he turned to leave and closed the door behind him. Sage was left in the room by himself as he broke down and sobbed for the loss of his team, the loss of Laura.