"Ishi! Get over here! I need cover-fire!" Sergeant First Class Rodriguez yelled from his side of the barrier.

Shit. Fuck. For the love of spirits! I mentally screamed at myself as I maneuvered to his position. Quickly, I set up in an unsupported prone position and began firing my M-4 rifle towards the enemy. I couldn't do a damn thing in regards to complaining, seeing as we had been in this fire fight for about two hours now, or what felt like two hours. Hell, it could've been four, and I wouldn't have known the difference. After the first thirty minutes, complaining was just wasting mental stamina.

"Covering, Sergeant!" I yelled at Rodriguez.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him shift to his left while still in a prone position. I could see another person, but I couldn't tell who it was or if they were dead or alive. Glimpses of shaking, then a loud yell of shit rang through the air, and I knew what the answer was before it even came out of Rodriguez's mouth.

"Marcos is gone. Keep firing!" Rodriguez yelled towards my direction.

Marcos, poor guy. Always a happy guy to have around you. Always getting people to laugh, sometimes at his own expense. I shook my head. Not now. I can't think about it right now. I couldn't afford to think about it right now. I had to survive. I had others counting on me.

Suddenly, the enemy firing stopped. A few rounds later, and we had stopped firing as well. I held my position, sights aimed on the location of the most recent fire, vaguely hearing Rodriguez yelling over the radio for reinforcements. No telling if we would get any seeing as this ambush had us pinned on three different sides of the base. Marcos was the sixth of twenty in our platoon of soldiers to die, and we were already running low on ammunition from a previous encounter with these insurgents.

Fuck these idiots. Why couldn't they have just followed suit before their government went to shit and done an election too? I mentally yelled to imaginary soldiers. It was just starting to become a habit as this war went on. As I scanned the horizon, searching for the tiniest of movements, I heard two distinctive clinks.

SHIT!

"Grenade!" I yelled as I jumped to my feet and ran to the two closest soldiers on my right. I pushed them both out of the grenade's radius and covered them as the familiar explosion erupted from my previous firing position. I slowly lifted my head, my ears ringing, and looked down at the two soldiers. Privates Shorts and Balmers, two of the youngest soldiers in the platoon. The two rookies, always together. Lucky bastards should be glad I'm one of the faster soldiers in the battalion. I couldn't hear them, but, as I began to slowly sit up, their faces read off as grateful as they mouthed their thanks.

Then horror came over Shorts's face as she and Balmers looked at my chest. Confused, I looked down. A piece of shrapnel had pierced my back and through my chest. How am I even still moving? I mentally asked myself. Adrenaline pumping through my body must have slowed my reaction to the pain, but as I stared at the shrapnel, my body decided it was time for me to feel it. Pain shot through me, overloading my senses. My fears raced quickly to my brain as my body slowly began to fall to my left. It felt as if I was in a dream; time was moving so slowly yet so fast. As my hearing began to return, I was starting to hear the last words I thought would be the last I heard for the rest of my life.

"Ishikawa! Medics are on the way. Stay with us! Ishikawa!"

-\-

Jerking awake, I sat up straight, letting out a scream. No! Not now! I mentally screamed. I sat that way for a good five minutes before my senses started to return. Panting hard, I slowly started to look around the dark, yet familiar environment. My apartment bedroom. Groaning, I rubbed my face and laid back onto my bed. Sweat ran down my face as my body slowly started to calm down from the nightmare. I looked at my alarm clock, dread rolling over me as I hesitated to see what time I was up this time. 3:27 am.

Well, at least I'm starting to get some sleep back. Five hours before the first nightmare. New record. I thought to myself.

New places always brought back the nightmares from the second deployment, but hopefully this would be the last move for a while. For the first time in three years, I was not going to move after two months. I was not going to fear for my life. I could do normal people stuff, lead a normal life for a little while. But, then again, when was anything normal for me. After three years duty in the Fire Nation Army, I had seen interesting things thanks to Kuvira and her upstart Earth Kingdom.

That was until the Battle of Republic City ended the war. After my contract was up, I thought best to try a new course for my life. So college it was. So much new was coming my way; it had a good, queasy feeling to it.

If only I had seen what was really coming my way.