Coming Home

Percy POV:

The blades of the helicopter cut through the air in Afghanistan. I looked out at the land and couldn't help but notice how beautiful the county was. If only there wasn't a war going on I thought to myself.

"Yo Perce, how come you don't have a girl yet?" Brandon asked me.

I laughed at that and said "Not everyone is as lucky as you dude. You met the love of your life in high school". Brandon was like a brother to me.

They all were. Matt, Jack, Chris, and Alex have been with me since the start. I guess I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Perseus Jackson, but I go by Percy.

I'm a Sergeant in the Army. I joined right out of high school, and it's been my life ever since. For four years I've given my life to my country. It's really the only thing I've come to know. I was never the best at school so when I saw the soldiers standing behind the desk during lunch I just had to talk to them. I was sold in a minute.

Now back to Brandon, he's always making fun of me since I don't have a girlfriend yet, but it's hard when you're in the Army. Not many girls want a relationship with a man that's barely home.

"Hey Perce when are you going home again?" Alex asked. "I got a week left brother" I said. "How's Katie doing?" asked Matt. Katie is my half-sister. She is the most adorable girl you will ever meet and she's got me wrapped around her finger.

My mother Sally Blofis met a man named Poseidon Jackson and had me, but when I was born he left and I never saw him since. Later my mother met a man named Paul Blofis and they eventually got married and had my sister Katie. I know that you're probably asking why my last name is Jackson, and to be honest I kept it so I could have some connection to my actual father.

I hate him for leaving me, but for some reason I wish he was here.

Sometimes I wonder if he would be proud of me, but that's a story for another time. I answered back Matt by saying "She's doing alright, but she misses me a lot. She's excited that I'll be home soon."

Matt smiled and said "She loves you a lot Percy, you're lucky". "I know I am man, I know" I said. That's when everything went wrong.

I looked out at the land when I saw something getting closer and closer to our helicopter. "RPG!" I screamed.

The helicopter pilot tried to move out of the way, but it was too late. The RPG hit the tail of the helicopter and we started spinning. The pilot fought with the helicopter to keep it up, but it was useless, we were going down. "This is Blackhawk 3 we are going down! I repeat we are going down!" He said to central command.

I watched the ground as it came closer and closer and braced myself. "Everyone get ready!" I shouted, and then we hit the ground with a crushing sound. It felt like an elephant just landed on top of me then everything went black.

Line Break

I woke up with the worst headache ever.

I took off my helmet and realized my head was bleeding. Just great. I looked around and froze. Nobody was moving.

I saw Brandon and tried to move to get to him, but fell back down holding my leg. It was bleeding badly and hurt like a bitch. I got a closer look to it and saw a pretty nasty cut. That's gonna need some stitches I thought to myself.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard a grumble. Looking around I saw it was Brandon. "Hang in there Brandon, I'm coming". I ripped part of my shirt and wrapped it around the cut on my leg. I crawled over to Brandon and got a good look at him.

"I guess I'm not too lucky now am I?" he laughed. That's when I noticed a part of the helicopter blade sticking through his chest. "Don't say that brother you're going to be fine" I said to him even though we both knew he wasn't. He grabbed my shoulder and looked me in the eye. "Perce, if you get out of this just promise me one thing. Promise me that you'll live your life.

Get out of this war. You've done your part, now it's time for someone else". I just stared at him not sure what to say. "Can you do that for me Perce?" He asked again. "Yeah, yeah I can do that, we can do that together just hang in there." I said as I tried to help him and called for immediate med evac.

"I'm not making it out of this, we both know that. Everyone dies eventually. At least I died for my country." He smiled one last time before the life left his eyes.

I stared at his lifeless body as a single tear left my eye. He was my brother in all but blood. They all were and I had to be strong for them. I would have time to mourn later. I looked around and found Matt. I crawled over to him to see if he was still alive, but he wasn't.

It was the same for the rest. I wanted to scream how this wasn't fair. They all had wives, girlfriends, all I had was my mother, step dad, and sister. Why am I still alive!

I sat there in shock as my vision went in and out.

That's when I heard talking. It was the Taliban. They all had Ak-47s except for one who had an RPG but no rocket in it.

He must have been the one who shot us I thought to myself anger coursing through my body. I grabbed my M4A1 and took aim.

Those bastards will pay for what they did. I fired my gun and took out the one who had the rocket.

They all stopped and panicked yelling at each other. They took cover and started firing at the helicopter like there was no tomorrow. I returned fire and managed to get another one. There were five in total but now only three were left.

Two shot at me at the same time. I managed to get one but the other was quick and shot me right in the chest. I fell down as the bullet burned through my chest.

I wasn't giving up that easily though.

I sat back up and returned fire shocking the man who shot me who obviously thought I was dead. I was close to it, but not yet.

I took him down and then started firing at the last man. I was almost out of ammo, but then I heard the sound of a helicopter and then the minigun being fired. The last man didn't stand a chance and went down. I looked up and saw the Blackhawk helicopter landing close to the one I was in. That's when the adrenaline of the firefight left me and I started going unconscious.

The last thing I remembered were medics carrying me out of the helicopter on a stretcher. "Stay with me sergeant, were gonna get you home, just hold on". One of the medics said to me. He couldn't have been more right. That's where I'm finally going, home, I thought to myself. Then everything went black as I fell unconscious for the second time that day.