Chapter one:
Kevin turns to look over the side of the boat he is sitting on as he along with the others in uniform are being taken somewhere. He sighs even as he sees land ahead and once they arrive they are taken to camp where they can rest for now. He settles himself down outside of the tent that is going to be where he'll be sleeping and pulls out a single picture out of his pocket. He stares at it seeing his love's beautiful blue eyes and bright smiling face. He raises his other hand gently trailing his fingers along the face in the photograph. "I am nothing without you." He whispers to himself. "And yet….. Now I just have hope that I will see you again….." He continues as his fingers gently rest just below the face in the photograph. "I'm thousands of miles away from reaching your hand." He sighs again then brings the picture up to place a gentle kiss on the face as the hand that had been resting on the photo fall to the ground. "I miss you my dearest."
"You gonna talk to a photograph or are you going to unpack!?" A voice says making Kevin turn to the owner of the voice who is peeking through the curtain like door to the tent. He has messy reddish brown hair and demanding flame like eye color making his iris look almost like coal surrounded by flames that seem to just reflect how hot headed this guy can be.
"You obviously don't understand missing people." Kevin retorts. "Do you even have anyone to miss?"
"Pfft. Missing is only for children. Now get in here and unpack before the next boat arrives with the last people that will be going in this tent!" The man says. "Beds are first come first serve." He then disappears back into the tent.
Kevin sighs placing the photo in his pocket and heads inside taking off the bag of stuff he has on his back. He looks around at the beds currently open. He takes a middle one throwing his bag onto it.
The beds don't look that comfortable but it'll be better than sleeping on the floor.
He opens his bag to begin unpacking what he can unpack right now since there is only limited space to place his stuff.
This is going to be a very long time away from the owner of the hand he loves to hold in his own.
He hopes that his lover will be alright while he's gone. He closes his eyes for a moment and almost swears he can hear the song that had been played for the two of them on the last dance of the high school year.
Nazz had chosen the song for them and the two of them were encouraged to dance together even though they had only come out as dating to their friends.
When they accepted it and danced together everyone was extremely happy about it.
The memory makes Kevin smile and open his eyes again.
He goes back to unpacking now with a smile on his face.
That night…..
Kevin is outside of the tent and looks up to the stars. "When we look at the stars we will be reminded that no matter how far apart we are the stars will always guide us back to each other." He whispers to himself then closes his eyes for a few moments as a slight breeze goes by.
…..
This place is unforgiving…..
Kevin hides behind some sacks of sand placed like a wall and he makes sure his gun is all set to fire. He glances to the male next to him who is also cowering behind the bags of sand.
"Why do you wear that hat?" The other male asks when their eyes meet. He has dark brown hair that reaches to the bottom of jaw but he has it tied back in a ponytail, tan skin and he has curious silver eyes.
"Because it is my favorite hat and not to mention a reminder of why I need to stay alive." Kevin responds smiling then blinks to let his face change to determination. He peers carefully over the sand bags looking around for any sign of anyone.
"Any enemies?" The male asks as he is giving Kevin a look asking how a hat could remind him why he had to stay alive.
"Nope." Kevin says ducking back down behind the sand bags. "Not yet."
"So what's this special hat thing?" The male raises an eyebrow.
"It reminds me of being with my lover. I've always worn it since I can remember it's always been my favorite hat. So while I have to wear this war clothing the hat remains to remind me that my lover is waiting for me to come home." Kevin explains.
The other male blinks. "Wow. Alright then. Good on you."
The two fall silent as they hear some slightly faint crunching footsteps on the dusty ground.
This time the other male peers over the sand bags flickering his eyes side to side before ducking back down.
"Enemies approaching!" The male hisses quietly.
"Then we will do show them that we are strong." Kevin says with a smile and slightly raising the weapon within his hands.
"Alright." The male says in nervous agreement.
Kevin moves the weapon to rest on the sand bags as he looks through the scope scanning the area ahead of them to check how many enemies are coming. "Ha!" He laughs. "One single line? This is going to be a piece of cake!" He begins firing with that and the other male quickly joins him to try to kill all enemies before they kill the two of them.
…
It doesn't take long for Kevin to be crawling through the mud with a rifle in one hand as he heads to use the nature around the enemies camp to take out as many as he possibly can.
Once that is done he knows he'll need to be quick when he sneaks back out to avoid death.
He stops and raises the hand not holding the rifle to signal the troops following him to stop.
This is his first mission being in charge but the group wanted to send the drafted rookies in instead of the professional's just in case they are caught.
He just happens to be the best out of the group of drafted rookies. He lowers his hand as they silently wait watching a few enemies walking around just outside of the camp. He scans them being quick so as to try to not draw attention to him or the others.
Once the enemies head back into the camp is when Kevin gives the signal to keep going.
He takes the lead again and they move around to the side of the camp where there is a thick forest instead of the rather dense one everywhere else around it.
Once there he ducks behind a bush waving his hand to signal to let the others know to get into position.
The group find good spots that are hidden and they wait to start shooting.
Kevin peers over the bush he is behind then aims his rifle over the bush as he prepares to strike. He knows that the others are also doing the same as they follow his silent signals. He aims at the first person that looks possibly important then pulls the trigger.
Bang!
A gun shot rings through the air and hits the target right in the head. More gun shots ring out as the rest of the group begin their firing to get every single person that they can.
The enemies camp is in panic as Kevin joins in on the shooting quickly.
When an enemy points in their direction only for guns to be aimed their way.
"Shit!" Kevin curses pulling back. "Go!" He orders scrambling to his feet and running away from the enemies camp heading into the thick forest.
There's sounds of gunshots making Kevin's heart race hoping that he won't be hit and he also hears footsteps of the others following though some suddenly stop.
Once a safe distance away with no more gun fire is when Kevin slows to a halt only to turn finding that they lost about half or more of the group.
"We return to camp." He says and they head off on their way walking now.
The drying mud that got on his skin including some on his neck and face is starting to get a little itchy.
But there is no time to stop to wash off the mud until they get back to camp which will take them until nightfall since it is late afternoon now.
"That'll teach the enemies to not go into a town that was just being nice to us and open firing." The only female of the group that made it out alive says behind Kevin as she glances back for a moment. She has dirty blonde hair, sharp ice like blue eyes and suntanned skin that used to be pale when she first arrived to the camp. She is walking beside a man with dark skin almost completely shaved head leaving his head with rather short black hair and brown eyes.
Kevin glances up slightly to look to the sky as best as he can through the leaves.
Just another day out here…
