I see myself as a bit awkward, here I am an 18-year-old girl and I started to write about a war long ago fought before I was ever born. But after the movie Platoon that war fascinates me and I duck deep into some books and documents. (And some other movies of course.) I'm at page 70 with this story and chapter one is a try out if I should put more of it online.

So, I'm very nervous about putting some of it online and please don't be too judgemental about it. I tried real hard to make something realistic.

Disclaim: Lerner belongs in Platoon, not in my story.

Warning: It's a story about war, so blood, violence and angst ahead. O, and English is my second language, I'm dyslectic and I don't have a beta. So there might be some wrong spelling.

Chapter one, He died in hell.

He'd known the stories but never in his whole life had he believed it was this bad. He'd survived till day hundred. And now he'd been shot into one bloody crying mess. Day hundred-and-one and he was going to die. He was not going to make it. He was not going to see his family again. His blood ran everywhere except in his body. He cried out and tried to push himself to a quiet place where he could die.

"Lerner! Lerner!" Someone called to him. In a flash he opened his eyes and tried to speak. 'Don't come for me, don't try to save me, I'm wasted.' He wanted to scream. But no words came out of his mouth, just blood and spit.

But before he knew it a soldier came running to him. A body duck next to him and he could feel the man tremble from adrenaline.

"I'm getting you out of here!" The man ensured him and fired a few shots. Lerner tried to shake his head. 'Get yourself out of this mess, run while you still have a chance.'

The man could not hear his pitiful pleads and didn't seem to get out of ammo. He watched as the other shot and killed the gook that shot him before. The battlefield around him was a mess, one bloody mess from dead men, fighting men and dying men.

'This is hell.' Lerner thought when his saviour pulled him over his shoulders. He tried to hold his hurting upper arm that got tossed from side to side. The pain only made it feel like his arm belonged to him. He couldn't move it and tried to stop slipping in the dark.

He got placed on the ground, in grassy mud next to a few other wounded men, some of them already dead. Fear rushed through his body when his saviour let him go and turned to go back to war, back to hell.

At once he found his voice back. "Don't leave me man. Don't go." He wasn't sure anyone could hear him. The rain seeped in his mouth making him shake in a mixture of blood and water. "Don't go, please." He squeezed the hand he held so tight. If he would leave him now he would die, he knew for sure. Alone he would die.

His saviour didn't react to his pleads, just gave him a long look. In his eyes lay so much emotion, so much hurt and so much pain. 'Why am I here.' He could see the worlds lay in the gaze. Then the man stood up in a flash and ran away.

He was all alone, a good thing it was raining, nobody would see the tears running down his face. He felt his body become cold and numb, expect for the places the bullets had pierced throw his flesh. There was so much blood, everywhere. His army clothes were soaked and he shivered insanely.

"Help!" He managed to say. His eyes shot from side to side, looking for a person that could help him. Or at least be beside him when he was going to die. "Please someone! Help me!" His fear was so big, it surprised him he hadn't wiped his paints. 'Please anyone…' His eyes slowly turned back and he was too weak to spit out the blood and rain. He would die choking in his own blood.

But someone sat down by his side, pulled his upper body up and smacked him on his back. Coughing and spitting he came back to earth, when the biggest part of the fluid in his mouth was gone, his head snapped back and he stared with large eyes at the boy that prevented him from dying. It was a rockie no doubt, still very young with a shaved head and not the tiniest hair to spot on his chin. The boy screamed something to another, a part of his front teeth was missing.

"'S ok, you're going to make it, man. You'll survive this mess." The boy assured him. He grabbed both of his shoulders and dragged him to the nearest tree. He was put in a sitting position and he vaguely spotted a helicopter landing close by.

"You're going with the next one." The boy told him and tore a piece off his jacket. He took a look at the bullet hole in his upper arm and pulled the torn fabric around it, making a tourniquet. With a knife the boy cut his pants off above the wounds in his legs. It hurt and he started to feel sick seeing the bleeding holes in his body. His head snapped back.

The boy slapped him in the face, hard and when he didn't react immediately he slapped him again. He moaned when the pain came back in a rush and stared at the boy that tied the last piece of fabric around his leg.

"Your name's Lerner right?" He asked and waved his hand in front of his eyes. Lerner nodded slowly and felt a new trail of blood run down his mouth. The boy wiped it off with his sleeve. "'Kay, I need you to do one thing, Lerner. Stay awake. You need to stay awake. Got that?" He grabbed his hand and held it tight.

He nodded again while he felt his head starting to thumb and pound. The boy took his chin and shook his head. "Don't dare quitting now man, don't you dare dying. You're not going to, not today!" The boy looked around for help but nobody came. So instead he slapped Lerner in the face a couple more times. "Tell me something about your home."

'Home?' Lerner looked at the boy a bit surprised, not sure if he heard him correct. 'Home, that was some long time ago.' He remembered his mom waving him away with fresh new tears in her eyes. His dad didn't have the desire to show up at the airport. The man was too bitter to say goodbye to his only son and had chosen to stay home and drink his beer sitting in his old chair like always. But his grandpa had been there, as he always had been. Giving him a last hug and telling him how proud he was his grandson was going to fight for their country. And his sis had been there, but she was too young to understand where her brother was going. She was just five and only cried, holding on to her mother's skirts.

A hand slapped him back to the cold, the mud and the pain.

"Stay awake, Lerner!" The boy said. "C'mon tell me your reason to stay alive. What do you want to do when you're going home." The boy's eyes pierced into his and he saw the boy was scared too, dead frightened. It was like looking into the mirror, all the same emotions.

"I wanna buy a boat." He spoke out bluntly. He'd always wanted that, having his own ship and sailing away. Being free and not been bound. "Like my grandpa had, long ago." He remembered his grandpa taking him to the beach one time. He'd been standing in the wet sand, mouth dropped and his eyes gazed on a gigantic ship ready to sail away. "I wanna be free and sail away." He confessed.

"That's good, that's good. Hold that thought." The boy said and checked his pulse. The boy's eyes looked up, quickly he started to wave. "Wounded man down! I need some help!" Then he looked back at Lerner. "You're going to be alright. I heard the nurses in the hospital are particularly nice to wounded soldiers. Just hold on man, stay alive." The boy took his rosary that was fumbled around the binding of his helmet. "Keep up your faith, Lerner." He pushed the tiny silver cross in his hand and let two other stronger men lift him up a stretcher.

As soon as he lay down the two men grabbed the grips and pulled him up. His body jolted, the sudden movements made him realise in what bad shape he was. He coughed and grabbed the necklace tighter. Suddenly it got to him, he hadn't thanked the boy that saved him. With his last power he dragged his head up and stared in a haze to the tree the boy had been sitting. His eyes tried to spot him out of the mess existing of fighting men, but he couldn't see the kid.

He gasped and let his body ease. For one last moment he looked up at the sky. 'Why?' Lerner thought. 'Why?!'

Short first chapter, I am aware of that. But as I said, it's a tryout. So give your opinion and if it's any good I'll update more.

Nuky