Searching For That One

Chapter 2

“You are a soldier in a war zone.” A voice said

coldly.

Another explosion sounded, this one seemed

louder.

“Louder means closer, closer means danger I

said in a brief panic.”

The tree vibrated beneath me, “sh*t,” I muttered.

“am I gonna die here?”

I turned the radio off, and switched off the

flashlight, while remaining as still as possible.

I silently began to pray for forgiveness, for life,

for help, for any and everything that might make

a difference and allow me to survive.

The sound of assault rifles firing below echoed

in my head, while I pressed myself tightly

against the inner part of the tree. If only I hadn't

been given orders to remain hidden. I thought

to myself.

“God, I don't know what your plan for me is, or if

you're even real, but please don't let me die

here.”

There's so much I haven't done yet.

I'm only 18, how will provide for my family if I'm

dead.

“I can't marry the mother of my twins or be a

world famous guitarist.” I scream over the gun

fire.

“If you save me I'll give my life to you and serve

you forever.” I began bargaining.

“I know you haven't listened to any of my

prayers in the last 6 months.”

I rambled, “Every person I asked you to save,

you took them anyway."

"Every child I tried to help I had to kill.”

“God, I'm begging!”

I screamed in my head as the shots and

explosives got louder.

My heart was beating so loud I was sure they

could hear it from down below.

I started getting angry and yelling at God In my

heart.

“If you let me die then you're not a real God!”

“I've prayed to you every day since being

drafted!”

“And you haven't answered one prayer!”

“What kind of God ignores his peoples prayer”?

Silent tears flowed freely from my face as I

allowed the events of the past few months

of fighting to resurface.

****

My mind took me to the first week of

deployment.

5000 men and women were strategically

dispersed throughout the battling grounds.

The Artalian government went through great

lengths to set up several large safe houses

within the borders of Slavereenia and

a few smaller settlements inside and near the

neighboring countries.

War was supposed to start on time, the

enemies 24-hour clock must have been

running a couple of days faster than ours.

Like in all things there are rules to warfare,

being at odds with one another doesn't mean

we can just do as we like. The world has

regulations that every human is responsible for

upholding. When at war each side must declare

intent of lethal force and select a day and time

that the hostilities will begin.

Each side is then given three months to

prepare for the impending battle.

Each country has designated fighting grounds

known as the dead zone. Most areas span for

thousands of miles and typically border the out

skirts of neighboring countries. The land is

uninhabitable for long term use due to the

dangerous animal population but perfect for

battle and bombings.

I had been assigned to a unit of 50 or so men

and women including cooks, medical personnel

mechanics and one Chaplain.

They were marked as non aggressors and even

still many of them were killed.

We had just finished our drill for the day and I

was starving. I got in line to grab some grub

but we were ambushed before I had even gotten

my ration of food. Needless to say I was

devastated at the loss of a meal.

To make things worse it was made by the head

Chef Galoria who had 25 years of culinary

experience under her belt.

Galoria was going to go back home to Ruhada

and retire after the war.

Instead, you called her home and forced her to

retire early.

I remember seeing her lifeless mahogany body

with ladle in hand and an eerie smile on her

face. Now that I think about it there was also a

lifeless enemy with a hatched buried in the side

of their head. Chef was a beefy babe to say the

least. She kept her hair locked in a ponytail to

the back and changed the color to match the

terrain whenever she went on new missions.

Galoria had a pleasant demeanor but you didn’t

want to piss her off. She was one hell of a knife

combatant and she could butcher a human just

as quickly as she could butcher a pig.

Her knife skills weren't the only things that were

on point. I know it's wrong but seeing her on the

ground like that took me back. I think it was

within my first week of training that I met her.

She had prepared a special seafood cuisine for

the troops when we were near the coast of

walder falls. Once dinner was over I just wanted

to compliment her on the delectable meal, but

somehow my compliment ended up with me

being up under her for a good hour or so.

Well there are worse ways to waste sleeping

time I thought.

She felt so good, and the riskiness of what we

were doing made it all that more exciting for

me.

Sure I had a fiancé and 2 kids waiting for me to

come home, and I very much planned on going

home alive, but it would have been dangerous to

turn down her advances. Galoria could have

given me the worst portions of food, or

poisoned me or anything. Excuses that I'd given

my self to make it ok. We met after dark a lot

after that first time, Galoria was an older lady

maybe in her late 40s, she’d been with the

Artalian military since she was 16. A culinary

prodigy and academic genius; the military saw

to her schooling and took great pride in her

when she graduated from a prestigious culinary

school. She’s survived 4 deployments, Guess it

was just time for her to rest in peace or

something.

I started ranting freely to God feeling a little

better. The ambushers either didn't know or

didn't care that we had non aggression

members among us. My anger slowly quelled

and turned to intense despair and sorrow I

could feel myself shaking. Sobbing as the shots

and explosions continued even louder below;

feeling helpless without any perceived back up

or escape route. And then there's the order to

not engage in deadly combat. Artalian, is my life

going to end here? I looked up to the sky and

kept thinking about the day of the ambush.

I remember I also lost three of my best friends

that day.

~We all had just graduated from the Artalian

Special Expense Academy.

Leonard, was a scrawny light skin man with

jacked lower body strength and amazing sniper

abilities.

He wore a buzz cut and had a tattoo of a scar on

one side of his face that protruded to the

middle of his neck.

He wanted to make it look like he'd gone to war

and survived with a nasty battle scar. Truth is

he was as green as the grass; but I must admit

it did fool and pull a lot of women.

I screamed in my head. I can still see his lifeless

body and dismembered legs.

Aaron, was my red haired army geek childhood

best friend. Both his parents were military

police so he’d been trained on how to use

weaponry since he was 4. Aaron was a mix

between native Artalian and Schnieing. His

eyes always shot daggers when he didn't like

someone. He spoke 7 different languages and

his best trait was stealth.

His stealth skills couldn’t save him from being

blown up that day. I thought to myself.

Then there was Bryan, buck tooth Bryan we

called him, the comedian of our group.

True to his trade he left this world with one final

joke, but it was in such poor taste I dare not

repeat it not even in my thoughts.

He was a foreigner from Amarica, a country

whose political power was astonishing and

second only to Artalia.

Those men were all my childhood friends.

“And one after another YOU took them from me”!

“I didn’t even have time to mourn them”!

~Or watch them fight over who was gonna be

my best man.

Even though it's gonna be my cousin Keith

hands down. But still I never got to enjoy

watching my best friends humiliate themselves

for the pretend chance of being my best man

one day.