This will be my first story on here so, please, bear with me. I'll try my best to keep all the characters as true to themselves as possible as well as keeping the story as realistic as possible. Since this is a story about marines, I'll try to keep as many military procedures true to how they are performed in real life (my mom is in the Air Force so she's basically acting as my advisor on military culture). Other than that, I hope you enjoy and please review, it helps me know what I'm doing well or bad and any mistakes I may have made.

Chapter 1

The Price of Freedom

My hands were tied together, my mouth taped. I was dragged by my hair outside. God, it felt like the sun burned my skin as it touched me. I couldn't even manage to open my eyes. I was thrown into a truck, I know that much. Men piled in afterwards. The van lurched as it started off; the same musty smell was all of a sudden in the air. The tape was ripped from my lips, my hair pulled, forcing me in an upright position. My eyes, half faded, opened up to the dim light from outside illuminating the inside of the van. There stood a man before me. I could just barely make out his features: bright green eyes with gray flecks, coarse black hair, and a beard that wasn't too long. His most distinguishing feature, however, was a deep scar that ran down his right cheek, half hidden by his beard. He began speaking, but I was fading in and out and was unable to hold on to the words he was saying. This was going to be a long ride.

I could hear the bombs in the background. I should be happy. Yeah, kill those motherfuckers! But what does it matter? I don't know which side it is, nor did I care. Both sides are the same; none will win.

I groaned as I was thrown into someone's legs, my hip digging into the side of the van. It was dark out now leaving no light in the van to see. Slowly my eyes adjusted and I vaguely made out the outlines of the men sitting there. They were all fast asleep even through the bumpy road.

I turned my head as a glimmer caught my attention. It was a knife, sticking out of the pocket of one of the men. My eyes narrowed, slowly I inched over. I don't know what came over me but I didn't care. I was going for it. Quietly, I lifted my upper half, my eyes glued to the man's face. I forced myself to sit up slowly. My hands reached out, my fingers touching the cold wooden handle that held the blade. I wrapped my fingers around it, gripping it tight as I slowly pulled it from him. Suddenly, shots outside made me gasp as I felt it slip from my hand and land on the floor with an echoing thump. I quickly dropped down to the floor of the van and squeezed my eyes shut as it came to a screeching halt. There was shouting amongst the people again as everyone began to wake. One man stepped out and walked around the other side. He didn't close the door all the way, leaving a sliver of it open. Another gunshot was heard, more shouting, this time more frantic. The van was put into reverse and it screeched backwards, turning around to go back the way it came.

I took this one chance. I don't know what suddenly came over me, but I needed to get out. I needed to get the fuck away. I needed to fight back. I kicked my leg out, the one part they didn't tie down, hitting the guy closest to the door. The force pushed him back as the car swerved, pushing out the back door. I slid down the floor and, with nothing to hold on to, followed after. I hit the ground hard, rolling across the dirt road. As quick as I regained my composure, there was a man standing above me, maybe two. One of them grabbed my arm and I felt the hard jab of a gun being pushed into my back. He began yelling at me but my head was spinning and I couldn't make any of it out. I jerked, trying to get away, but his grip held fast. I kicked and screamed against the tape that was reapplied to my mouth but they just hit back. Blows covered my body as they began to drag me back to the van. Then, without warning they stopped.

I heard a gunshot and the man standing on my left fell to the ground with a resounding thud. Another gunshot, and the man next to me fell. His grip tightened on my arm when the bullet ripped through his chest, causing me to be yanked down with him. With my arms still tied behind my back I had nothing to brace my impact with the ground. A loud cry escaped my lips as my shoulder took the full force of my fall. I wasn't sure of the full extent of the damage, but I had a feeling that I didn't want to know.

I could hear the men yelling, scrambling back into the truck. There was more gunfire. I heard both doors of the van close as its tires kicked up a blanketing cloud of dust into the night air. The moon was full that night, illuminating the fine particles into a sort of mist. As the sound of the van grew distant, the gunfire stopped. I didn't know how much time had passed. For a moment, all I could hear was my breathing.

In the distance I faintly heard voices. These voices were different, somehow, than the voices I had become accustom to hearing. This ignited a spark of hope within my chest.

I managed to pull myself away from the man's grip on my arm, finding it in myself to sit upright. For a moment I was dizzy, and the pain in my shoulder was radiating through every inch of my being. The voices came louder now and pulled me back into reality. I leaned forward to my knees before managing to stand up. My legs were shaky, but they worked. I looked ahead and saw a single pair of headlights, though I was too far away for the light to reach me. It was then that I realized figures had been moving towards me, though they stopped when I stood. The silhouette was familiar: a soldier. I could distinctly make out the curve of their helmets and the vague outline of their guns.

I heard someone yell something that must have been directed at me. I tried to yell back, but there was no way I could yell through the thick tape still covering my mouth. Instead, I began walking forward, hoping one of them would see my predicament. As I got closer the shouting increased and all their words jumbled up into one until all I heard was the echo of a gunshot in the distance. Flat on my back, all I could see were the millions of stars that lay above me, and the moon, disappearing behind a single cloud that drifted effortlessly across the sky.