Prologue

It was hot, the sun beaming down onto my face as my squad, and I continued our patrol through the town we were assigned to. Apparently there had been reports of IEDs around and they had sent us to confirm if the reports were true or not. When we entered the village, we were met with mixed reception as some of the locals were giving us weird looks as to why we were in their town while others were giving us smiles and greeting us in a friendly manner. It was weird to see them act this way, considering reports have told us how unwelcoming these locals were. It really threw me and the squad I was assigned to off guard. We continued our way through town with a bit more hesitation but not enough that would give the locals any reason to suspect us. The squad was quiet, and the silence was starting to make me uncomfortable, so I decided to break the ice. "The locals are acting pretty weird, considering what reports from other patrols told us." I said to the machine gunner next to me, LCpl Buck.

He was a big guy, probably because he had to carry that heavy ass M249 SAW everywhere he went. He was the gentle giant of the squad, he cared about us more than he did himself. "It is but people can change, no matter how short the time. You just have to be able to see the change in those people." He finished, adding some wise words at the end. Just as I was about to respond, I was cut off by an explosion that occurred in front of us, followed by the sounds of gunfire and screaming. As soon as it happened, I dove behind the first piece of cover I could find and started to fire my M16A3 at a building 50 meters to my left. I could not see them in the windows, I was just firing where I saw the flashes from the muzzle of their rifles. In the corner of my eye, I saw Buck laying down suppressive fire with his SAW, ripping through the windows and, hopefully, through the enemy. After a few minutes, though, it all started to go downhill from there. We were doing good holding them off, with only 2 casualties, but that all crumbled when we heard the tell sound of an RPG rocket coming right towards us. I did not even have enough time to shout a warning to Buck and the 4 squamates around him before it impacted, sending bits of them all over the place. The only thing left of them was Buck's SAW. I was so horrified at what I had just witnessed that I didn't realize that my squad leader was calling my name until he pulled me back down behind cover and started to yell at me, "What the fuck are you doing Wilkins? You could have ended up just like them if I were not there to save you! Get your head back in the game and start shooting at those motherfuckers!" Just as I was about to peek over again another rocket was ejected and slammed right next to us, blowing the three of us into the air and out from behind cover. With my ears ringing and my vision blurry I reclaimed my rifle and started to make my way for some more cover, staggering almost the whole way. As soon as I was turning the corner a rifle round went right through my assault pack, most likely destroying the AN/PRC-160 that I had in there. That was our only way of contacting headquarters, and now it was destroyed. I quickly discarded my pack and started to look around for any more survivors of the rocket when my body collapsed, I guess that rocket did more damage than I thought. I did a quick assessment of my body and concluded that I most likely had an arterial wound, considering all the blood that was spurting from my leg. I reached up for the IFAK that was on my flak and quickly opened it, taking out the tourniquet and, sliding my injured leg through it, started to tighten it to cut off the blood flow. I continued my scan of my surroundings and saw every one of my squad getting mowed down. Seeing this, I felt something I have rarely felt in my life, raw rage. I was going to take as many of these bastards with me as I could, no matter if I die, I did not care at this point. I waited for them to come out from their hiding spots while making sure I have a full mag in my rifle before taking aim. I started to see them come out and look at the bodies of my brothers, it took all my strength to not just shoot every one of them right then and there. I fiddled around with my flak trying to get my hand into my breast pocket and then pulling out a photo. It was of my family and I, with me standing in the middle of them all, standing there with a smile on my face, my short brown hair in between my mother and father with my siblings on their respective sides. I kissed the photo as tears started to fall from my eyes. I put the photo back where I found it and raised my rifle up so the sights met up with my eyes and I lined up the arrow with the head of the first enemy, after a few seconds I pulled the trigger letting off a loud bang and dropping the one I wanted dead, I quickly transitioned to the others and started taking them down one by one, but I could feel my legs weakening, that was when I took a shot to the shoulder, and then another, until my body met the earth, I managed to take out more than half of them, and I was proud of that. As the last breath of air left my body I felt at peace and was happy, and then darkness.