Authors Note, Ok I know little about repelling, other then your going down and up a mountain attached to a rope. (Had to be invented by a man) But I live across from this mountain and watch the Army Rangers train on the mountain and stuff, so that parts true. I just know nothing about the repelling, so I'm winging it, forgive me for whatever I get wrong.

It was a great night for training.

A wonderful night actually.

There was no wind. It wasn't hot or cold but somewhere in between. Which made the gear more comfortable. It didn't make it less heavy though. I still hadn't eaten, or drank anything, and I had thrown up twice more since we got back from the doctors office.

I would have given anything to stay the night on base, at home, with Diana. But I was training. Night training. It was supposed to be next week but some genius decided to change the dates, to keep us on our feet the clipboard-carrying bastard told us. The little monkey was lucky Sanderson was there to stop me before I could shove his clipboard up his ass.

Of all the nights in our leave.

It could have been any.

But the one night I needed to be home. Now I knew how Sanderson felt with a pregnant wife at home. I closed my eyes and let my head smack back against the metal wall of the chopper, my helmet made a thunk noise.

I didn't care.

A nauseous feeling still filled me. One I hadn't had since boot camp. I didn't bother to look out over the North Georgia forest, not really caring. I didn't look at the Mountain we came closer and closer to.

Enjoying the silence.

Until Sanderson reached over and turned my headset on from my vest, he then belted me upside my helmeted head.

Lambross's voice blasted into my earpiece, thank you Sanderson! My glare at him expressed my thoughts, to which Sanderson just flipped me off.

"Jackass! You never told us how Diana's Doctor appointment went," Lambross spat at me from across the chopper.

I looked at him, he was pretty pissed. "She's gotta get a biopsy t'morrow."

Beside me Sanderson asked, his voice clear as a bell, "Where?"

"Atlanta."

The chopper full of Delta's listened carefully, either genuinely concerned for Diana or listening for gossip for their wives.

"Who's the doc?" I couldn't be sure who it was….Jose or Rob, the accent was the same.

"Dr. Mead."

The pilot came in our ears, "All right boys, we're almost there, make sure your all ready to jump out."

Woohoo, I got to jump out of a perfectly good chopper, at ten at night. The perfect end to a perfect day. Finally I peered out, down at the tops of very green trees, over the occasional cabin, and farmland.

Sanderson poked my arm.

I glanced over my shoulder at him, in no mood to be social, while all the guys did a quick check over their gear. He mouthed, "You Ok?"

I gave him a nod.

Sanderson narrowed his eyes.

He knew me too well, so to make him happy I began to look over my gear. Making sure all the hooks were hooked, the clamps were ready, my harness was on, and all my extra gear in place. Gun on my hip, incase we ran into a stray cow on the mountain.

Though unlike the Rangers I wasn't about to start shooting at an animal that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My night vision goggles on my head.

Ready.

Sanderson still was not happy but he looked over his gear.

Sam's voice came in my ear, "When is the appointment?"

"Noon," I told him, not looking up from my self-inspection. The co-pilots voice came in our ears, "Two minutes."

"How long did it take the Rangers to do this shit," someone asked.

"Half an hour man," Jose answered.

Sam added, "And they shot a cow."

"No shit! Why?"

"Who the fuck knows. They're Rangers." Jose told whoever it was, Leon I think, I didn't know and I didn't care. I wanted to get this exercise done and get home.

Sanderson reached over to my radio and switched my frequency and then his, until we were on the same frequency, just the two of us I guessed. His voice came over into my ear, "Hoot, I know you got shit going on, but you have to get your head into this before you hurt yourself. Your no good to Diana if you fall outta the chopper cause you weren't paying attention."

I looked at my friend and nodded, "I know. But I can't help it man."

He nodded, "I know. There's no where else I wanna be then at home with my crazy wife. But I have to jump out of a perfectly good chopper, slide down a rope, then make my way through and down a fucking mountain in less than half an hour. And make sure no one shoots a cow."

A small smile came, "I promise not to shoot a cow."

"Please don't, don't shame me Hoot. We have to beat the Rangers time man, just worry about that till you get to the bottom of the mountain. Diana is fine at home, she has her father, your brother, and the possessed form that was my wife."

"I know," I told him.

"Besides we're two of the four sergeants, why the lieutenant couldn't climb his happy ass outta bed is another story, but we have to make sure we don't loose Leon again, remember what happened last time we did night training?"

Unfortunately, "Come on. The Coast Guard found him…he was fine. Just keep Fowler away from me."

Sanderson pointed at me with a gloved hand, "I swear to God Hoot, keep your hands off him. One accidental shooting by the Army on this mountain is enough."

I rolled my eyes, "Forget about the damn cow. The Army paid for it, aight?"

To which Sanderson pointed again, "Yes! But if you shoot Fowler he may cost more to replace!"

I thought about flipping him off, but then we quickly changed our frequencies back as the chopper began to descend toward the top of the mountain.