New chapter, holla! I think you'll be surprised at how this chapter ends. Gah, let me hush. Cue reading!
A special thanks to MrsSaraLeugers for favoriting and for the review! You rock! :)
Chapter 47
The next nine months were both the hardest and the easiest months he's ever been away. It was hard being away from Allison, especially after spending five whole months with her. It was the easiest because he got her letters twice and even three times a week. He knew she would be there waiting for him when he got back and that helped him get through the months without her.
When he arrived on the base, he was told that the United States had gone to war with Iraq and that the entire base had been practicing getting ready for the war. He was also told that Ethan had survived the attack on the base in California, but was seriously injured and wouldn't be returning back to the Air Force. He was sad when he heard his; Ethan had become his best friend and he now had a room to himself, with no roommates.
Though a bunch of his other friends were still on the base, he secluded himself from everyone. He would occasionally go down and have a beer with Dylan and his friends, but he had not enjoyed it as much as he had in the past. He often stayed in his room, reading either letters from Allison and his father, or books that he had found on sale in the town nearby.
He had also found a MP3 player that he had gotten for pretty cheap at a local market. He sent it to Allison, who put all kinds of music on it for him. When he got it a couple of days later it had every one of Paramore's and Led Zeppelin's songs, along with other bands she knew he liked. He listen to it every night before he went to bed and remembered all of the times he spent playing the guitar and jamming out in Allison's car with her.
Though he spent a lot of time in his room and thinking about life back in Wilmington he still had a job, now more than ever. They now practiced every day, practicing how to target enemy planes and how to shake them if they ever got one on their tails. They had also set up an obstacle course, which Ben thought was completely pointless. If they were going to be sent on a mission, they would be in a plane, in the air, not on the ground shooting at people.
He was also picked for guard duty, which he hated. It was the most boring job but they had allowed him to listen to his MP3 player, but not too loudly. He did it maybe two or three times a month and he sat outside the base, watching for anything that seemed suspicious.
He was sent on a mission within two months of being back and was sent on three more in the months that followed. They were mostly pretty easy but six months after he had gotten back, he was sent on one of the most dangerous missions he had ever been on. The mission was to fly in, with seven other pilots, and land three miles away from a deserted town that, they believed, was harboring a dangerous fugitive. There was an underground place where they had tracked the man down to and it was their job to find him and kill him.
Ben was surprised when he heard the details of his mission. It didn't sound like a job that someone in the air force would have, but he didn't say anything to anyone about it. He wrote to Allison and his dad both and explained the mission he was going on. They both wrote back and told him to be careful, Allison asking him to please not do anything that would put him in more danger than he already was. They told him they loved him and on, May 6th, six months after he had gotten back they headed out towards the deserted town.
He flew with seven other pilots, each carrying two people. The spot they were to land at was about thirty minutes away and, from there, the town was about three miles away. They left the base at 2:00 in the afternoon and carefully landed in a huge field at about 2:35. After everyone had landed safely and gotten out of their planes, all fourteen of them headed towards the town three miles away.
It took about an hour to reach the abandoned town. There were only a couple of guys ahead of him, meaning he was at the front of the group. As they neared the town they stopped and went through their plan again, making sure everyone knew what to do. When they finished going over the plan they advanced into the deserted town. Some of the buildings were falling apart and it looked just like what you would see in the movies.
They progressed through the open buildings of the town. There was a huge path in the middle of the town with torn-up buildings on both sides of the part. They moved cautiously through the buildings on the right, watching out for possible snipers or anyone that could be hiding. They made it through most of the town unnoticed before they heard someone scream in a foreign language and heard a gunshot. Someone from their group dropped to the ground and, before Ben could turn around, shots were firing all around.
They immediately ducked down behind one of the broken walls and used it as protection from the gunshots. There were guys from his squad yelling and screaming and there was chaos as three guys went back to recover the guy's body, but got hit as well and dropped to the ground, dead. Ben looked at his squad and there was panic and confusion written all over their faces. Their squad leader finally took charge and yelled,
"Alright, we have to fire back! If one of us gets killed, do not stop firing! We have to get out of here!" Everyone nodded,
"Okay, on 3. 1- 2- 3, fire!" They put their guns on the broken wall and used it for support and pulled the trigger, opening fire.
The sound of gunshots, both from Ben's squad and the attackers, were deafening. The shooting continued to go on for at least ten minutes before it slowly died down. All of the smoke slowly dissipated and Ben saw his squad for the first time since the shooting started. 13 members were fighting with him when they first began shooting and now there were only five men still standing, including Ben. All five of them stood up and one of them asked,
"What happened?"
"They're all dead."
"We've got to keep going." His squad leader finally said.
"How do we know there aren't more of them? They probably alerted everyone underground; it's no use."
"Yes, there is." Ben finally said,
"If we don't get this guy, these men will have died for nothing. Turning back now would defeat the whole purpose and I'm not letting these guys die for nothing." They stopped for a minute and the squad leader said,
"Carter is right, we've got to keep going guys, we're almost through the town."
They picked up their weapons and despite what the fourth guy had wanted to do, made their way through the rest of the town, keeping their eyes open for any more snipers. They made it through safely and the squad leader used his binoculars to see the entrance to the underground bunker. How he spotted it was beyond Ben but, as they progressed through the dirt and sand, they slowly came up on it.
The entrance was a rectangular metal door in the ground. They were surprised that the bunker wasn't more heavily guarded and they figured that it had been abandoned. One of his squad members made the mistake of grabbing the handle and pulling open the door of the bunker. As soon as he pulled it open, they all heard shots and he dropped to the ground, dead. Two Iraqi's came out of the bunker, guns in their hands, but, before they could turn around, Ben and the rest of his squad yelled and opened fire on both of them. They both dropped dead and they heard yelling come from deep inside the bunker.
"Quick men, get back to the town!"
They all turned around and ran quickly back through the town and halfway back to their planes before they stopped, out of breath, and looked behind them. They saw and heard no one and they put their hands on their knees and caught their breath. They started walking back to their planes and they finally reached the. They had brought seven planes with fourteen squad members; there were now four people left, Ben included. They would have to leave three planes here and bring back people to fly them back to the base.
They got in the planes and began to make the trip back to the base. When they saw the runway, Ben said a small prayer, thanking God for keeping him safe. They landed the planes and taxied them into the hangar, one after the other. When they all landed, they got out and were forced to go tell the head officer that only four men returned.
Two days after they had returned from their mission, the base sent men to go and bring back the planes that were still in the field; they chose men that didn't go on the original mission. After the mission had taken place, he had begun to have nightmares. He had nightmares for almost a month before he finally told another guy that had been on the mission. When he told him the guy laughed. Ben raised his eyebrow,
"What's so funny?" he shook his head,
"Nothing's funny, it's just all the guys that wen on that mission have had nightmares. We were starting to think you were the only one who came out unscarred. We've all had to talk to a therapist about it; I'm surprised they haven't forced you to see one, too."
"What? Why didn't you guys tell me? I've been having them ever since we went on the mission a month ago."
"Well why didn't you tell anyone, Ben? We didn't want anyone looking at us differently and treating us like we were freaks. We eventually told one of the generals and he got us to meet with a therapist three times a week. It's really been helping; you should think about getting one, too." Ben nodded and Josh asked,
"Have you told anyone at all? Your dad or your girlfriend? Anyone?"
"No, no one; I didn't want to worry anyone."
"You need to tell someone; go talk to the general and he'll get you a therapist. You should tell someone close to you, too; your dad or your girlfriend."
"Okay, thanks, Josh."
After talking to Josh, he went and told the general about his reoccurring nightmares. It took him a couple of days to get everything situated and set up but, by the end of the week, Ben met with his therapist. It was a little uncomfortable at first but, after the second session, he began to get used to it and was able to talk about the nightmares and his feelings about them.
He had also taken Josh's advice and told Allison about his nightmares. She was concerned and upset that he had not told anyone about it sooner. He told her everything was fine and, though she was still concerned, she believed him.
Like he had promised the day he left, he had written her more letters than he did when they were together before. He forgot how much he loved reading and waiting for her letters. Since he had left seven months ago, her friend had helped her find an apartment in Wilmington as well as a job nursing at the same hospital she had worked at before. She had moved back to Wilmington three months after he had left. Her apartment was off of Seventeenth Street, less than two miles away from the hospital. Since she had lived in L.A., she was used to the city and quickly adapted back into the Wilmington lifestyle. Her apartment was about fifteen minutes away from his dad's house. As soon as she had gotten back to Wilmington, she went and visited his dad for an entire day. She told his father about seeing Ben again in the hospital in California and being his nurse for five months.
I opened up to him and told him things that I've been holding back for a long time. You were the first person I really talked to since my mom died and I can't tell you how much that meant to me to have you there with me. We talked every single day for five months; it was the longest amount of time that we've ever spent together and I know that it was just a sample of what's to come when your term is up. Those five months were so special and it allowed me to finally open up to someone and tell them how I'm truly feeling. I'm so glad that person was you, Ben, but, since you've had to go back, I've opened up to more people and I think that by you pushing me to be open with more people, I finally let myself do just that.
Life has been so much more enjoyable and…happy since I saw you lying there in that hospital bed. I wasn't glad to see you hurt; I don't want anything bad to happen to you, you know that. But I knew that you being hurt in that accident and being placed in that particular hospital and, even in that particular bed, that it wasn't a coincidence. We were meant to be together, Ben, I believe that more now than I ever did. I'm sitting here writing this letter, with Paramore playing in the background. Every time I hear them, I think of you.
Do you remember when I went to go audition at the church with you and they turned us away because they had found everyone that they were looking for? I was ready to walk out and just give up, but you wouldn't let me. You went up on that stage and begged them to hear me sing and wouldn't take no for an answer. All I could do was stare at you and I honestly thought that you were going crazy. I didn't understand why you were doing that, just for me. I didn't understand until I got home and told my mom what happened. When I told her everything and told her I didn't understand, her only response was, 'It's because he loves you, honey.' It was the simplest answer, but that's what made me understand. And I think I knew that in the back of my mind. I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.
I didn't care if I had to wait nine or eighteen months to see you. I would wait forever for you, Ben. That song that I sung at the church that day still reminds me of you. I can't hear or sing it without your face coming into my head. You mean so much to me and you always will. We have two more months to go until your term is up. I don't want you to focus solely on that, though. You still have a job to do and I completely understand that. Focus on your job and keep safe. But when that day finally does come, it'll be the best day of my life. Nothing can tear us apart now, Ben, I love you so much. Keep safe and be careful.
Love,
Allison
He went on more missions in the last two months of his term than he had in his last two terms combined. They had continued to track down the man they had lost in the bunker, but kept getting false alarms. They tracked him for two months and while they were tracking him, they sent Ben and his squad, as well as other squads, on other missions; most of them following leads on their guy. All of them had been false alarms until they had finally tracked him to the mountains. Ben was outside at the mailbox, mailing off a letter to Allison, when he heard Dylan calling his name. He turned around and saw Dylan running up to him.
"Ben! They found him! The squad found him, come on!"
He ran with Dylan to the office where the general and a big group of other airforcemen were. They went inside where they could hear the walkie-talkies. One of the men that were in there informed them that the squad that had been sent to follow a lead had zeroed in on their guy and finally found him. There were four F- 16's, each carrying three men and they stood in the office, listening to them over the walkie-talkies.
They were panicking because the Taliban had found out they were coming and got in planes and were right on their heels. The squad was trying to shake them off, and had been for the last thirty minutes. The men were yelling and cursing and there was total silence in the room as they listened to the walkie-talkies.
All of a sudden, the men started yelling that their engines had caught on fire and that their planes were all descending rapidly. Everyone in the room looked to the general and he had a blank face as the men on the walkie-talkies yelled that they were headed straight for the ground. In less than five seconds, the men yelled one last time and then they heard explosions and heard the men no longer. Everyone was speechless and didn't know what to say. All eyes were on the general and everyone was quiet until the general cleared his throat and said,
"Aright, everyone back to your barracks. Now! Go!" Everyone looked at each other and began to file out before the general added,
"Everyone except for Nicholson and Carter."
They all looked at Ben and Dylan and they both looked at each other. Everyone, again, began filing out of the building and, soon, Dylan and Ben were left alone with the general. He brought his hands together and addressed them both,
"Okay, we have a serious situation here, boys. Those men are dead; they were killed in action and everyone in this room heard them die. We need to make sure they don't die for nothing, all right? I'm sending you both to take over the mission and find our guy." Ben and Dylan both looked at each other and Dylan said,
"But sir-"
"I don't want to hear it. They're going to expect me to send multiple squads down there, but I'm not going to do that. They won't expect one plane with two men to come. I chose you two because y'all work well together and y'all are two of my best men. Now, go get suited up and meet me in the hangar in five minutes."
They ran to their rooms, changed into their uniforms and met the general in the hangar as quick as they could. When they all got there, the General said,
"Alright, boys, here is the latitude and longitude we have for him. For all we know, he could've moved but we'll keep you updated on everything, okay? Good luck boys, let's get him."
Ben and Dylan were still shocked about everything that had happened and that the two of them alone were being sent to finish the mission. The place they were going was in the mountains, about forty- five minutes away but, since time was of the essence, Ben flew as fast as the F-16 could go. Ben was flying and controlling the plane while Dylan was his co-pilot. They figured, as fast as they were going, they could be there in thirty minutes. While they were flying, they were radioing back and forth to each other talking about what might happen and how dangerous it could become in an instant.
"You only have one more month left, don't you, Ben?"
"Not even; I only have two more weeks."
"What? That's it?" He nodded,
"Yep, just two weeks."
"That's crazy; you're not coming back are you? This is your last term, right?"
"Yeah, this is it."
"Man, I know you're excited." He laughed,
"Yeah, I can't wait, but now I'm just praying we stay safe on this mission; we're halfway there."
They continued to fly for about five more minutes and they began to see the mountains appear in the distance. They flew for a couple of more minutes until, out of nowhere, four planes came out from behind the mountains, headed straight towards them. Ben's heart sank to his stomach, as did Dylan's. They were both in shock and it wasn't until Dylan yelled at him that he swerved the plane to the left, trying to shake them. Dylan looked at him and yelled,
"What are you doing?"
"We have to try and shake them! We can't be near the mountains or we'll crash!"
"But that's where our guy is!"
"I don't care where our guy is! I'm trying to keep us alive!" As soon as he yelled, he heard shots begin to fire. Dylan looked behind them, and then yelled,
"Ben, they're right on top of us! You've got to do something!"
Ben began to panic and he suddenly couldn't recall of the training he had been through for cases like this. The four Iraqi planes were right behind them and they began firing again. Ben tried to dodge them and successfully shook off one of the planes, now leaving three. He continued to dodge them and they finally came out over a huge vacant field. The field stretched for hundreds of miles and he tried to shake the planes. Dylan was panicking and radioing the base, telling them that they were being followed and shot at by three Taliban planes.
After they had dodged the Taliban's bullets for almost twenty minutes a round of them finally connected with the plane's engine. They heard a loud explosion behind them and they both yelled as the plane shook violently.
"Oh, God, this is it! This is it!"
"Dylan, shut up, we're going to get out of this!"
They then heard another loud explosion behind them as more shots from the Taliban were fired. This time, the plane started to rapidly descend and hurtle towards the ground. Ben's heart was in his stomach as he realized that they were going to crash with the plane hurtling towards the ground at 120 miles an hour. He closed his eyes as Dylan was radioing the base. The last things he thought of before they crashed were his father and Allison.
He woke up having no idea where he was. For the first few minutes, he had forgotten about everything that had happened. As he slowly started to come to, he remembered and looked around to see where he was.
He was in a huge field and, scattered all around him, were burning pieces of the plane. The biggest piece of the plane that was still together was ablaze and, only then, did he remember that Dylan had been with him. He looked around and didn't see him anywhere.
"Oh, Jesus."
He tried to get up quickly but a surge of pain shot through his arm. He looked down at it and his sleeve was wet with blood and he saw a piece of shrapnel in his forearm. He hadn't even felt it because of the adrenaline running through him. He could feel it now and he prepared himself and held his breath as he grabbed the shrapnel by the edge and quickly pulled it out. He felt a surge of pain shoot through his whole arm and he screamed in pain as blood began to pour out. He tore off a piece of his other sleeve and wrapped it around the wound.
He then stood up and began looking for Dylan. There were pieces of the plane scattered everywhere and he yelled Dylan's name multiple times but he didn't hear any response. He went over to the largest piece of the plane that had part of the cockpit still intact, but didn't see anything. He called Dylan's name again and this time, faintly, he heard his voice. It was off to his right and he started yelling his name again.
"Dylan, keep screaming so I can find you!"
He stopped for a minute to listen and he heard him yell again. He knew he was close and walked around a piece of the plane and finally saw him. He was lying near the piece of the plane and, as Ben neared him, he saw something that made him stop.
As he looked at Dylan; a huge piece of shrapnel was in his stomach. He lent down beside him and saw that there was blood everywhere. Dylan was drifting in and out of consciousness and Ben focused on his face instead of the shrapnel. Ben squeezed his hand and he turned towards him. His face was bloody also and Ben asked,
"Hey, man, how are you doing?" Dylan just stared at him and then, faintly, said,
"I don't want to look at it." Ben looked away and Dylan asked, now crying,
"How bad is it, Ben?"
"Dylan-"
"How bad is it?" He asked again, grabbing Ben's arm. Ben looked at his stomach and saw all of the blood. Tears found their way to his eyes as he realized that Dylan wasn't going to make it. He looked back at Dylan,
"It's pretty bad, man." Dylan looked away and continued to cry as Ben took his hand,
"Look at me; you're going to be fine, all right? I'm going to go get help and we're going to come back and get you, okay? You're going to be fine." Dylan shook his head and then, for the first time, looked down at his stomach. He saw the shrapnel and immediately looked away and began crying harder. Ben looked away and Dylan grabbed his arm,
"Just go." Ben looked back at him and raised his eyebrow,
"Dylan I'm not going to leave you, okay?" As soon as he said this, they heard foreign voices in the woods, less than a mile away.
"Shit." He heard Dylan whisper. Ben knew they were in trouble now. Dylan grabbed his arm again,
"Ben, go; I can't get up and I'm not going to let you get killed. Please, just go!" Ben looked away and Dylan yelled,
"Go!" Ben grabbed his arm,
"I'm going to go get help, okay? You're going to be fine."
Dylan nodded and Ben gave him a quick hug, tears now in his eyes, as foreign voices got louder and tons of Taliban soldiers came out of the woods. They all saw the pieces of their plane and began screaming in Arabic. As much as he didn't want to, he let go of Dylan's hand and got up and started running towards the woods on the opposite side of where the Taliban were coming out of. They saw him stand up and run and they began to run after him while yelling to the other soldiers in Arabic. He then heard gunshots behind him and he ducked, continuing to run as fast as he could.
He finally reached the woods and he ran behind a tree to try and hide. He turned around for the first times since he had started running and he saw about ten soldiers huddling around where he knew Dylan's body was and he knew he was dead. There were about five or six other soldiers scattered around, looking, and he stood behind the tree until he saw them immediately begin to run in his direction. He didn't know why they had all suddenly started to run to him but he didn't stick around to find out.
He ran for about twenty minutes through the woods. He didn't know where he was going, but he continued to hear the Taliban's screaming behind him and that was enough to keep him running. He ran until he was out of breath and he found cover behind a huge boulder near a stream and tried to catch this breath. He could still hear the soldiers behind him, but their voices were far off. He put his hands on his knees and finally caught his breath. He was about to begin running again but he figured he'd try and peak around the side of the boulder to see if he could see any of them.
He tried to gather himself. He couldn't believe that this had happened and things had spiraled out of control so quickly. He didn't know what to think and he didn't know what he was going to do. He took a deep breath and thought of Allison and his father. He said a quick prayer, asking God to help him get through this, and peered around the side of the boulder.
It was starting to get darker now, though he couldn't say what time it was. When he peaked around the boulder, he could see beams from the soldiers' flashlights and saw that they were still a ways away from him. He took another deep breath and closed his eyes and turned back around, leaning his back up against the boulder. When he finally opened his eyes, he was staring down the barrel of a gun.
He didn't know what was happening but, as he looked around, he saw Taliban soldiers standing around him- their guns pointed straight at him. He looked back at the man that had his gun pointed at his face, thinking that he was going to shoot him any minute and that his life was going to be over.
He never believed it when people said that your whole life flashes before your eyes the moment before you die, but he was proven wrong at that second. His whole life did flash before eyes and he saw his mother and all of the wonderful things they ever did together. He also saw Jeff, Tyler, Ethan, Dylan and all of his fellow airforcemen that he thought he would never see again. He saw his father and all of the memories he had with him; their fishing trips and the time they spent together at the beach house. Finally, he saw Allison.
Their entire seven year relationship flashed before him and he saw the first time they met, the first time they kissed, their first major argument and the first time they shared themselves. He saw her walking towards him in the nursing station and he saw them standing in the airport before he had left to come here.
All of these things flashed before him and he felt a surge of peacefulness and happiness as he heard a man say something in Arabic. He heard a gun go off and he felt pain radiate through his leg and felt a rock slam over his head before he saw black.
Oh no! Was I right? Were you surprised? I think you'll be even more surprised at the direction it takes beginning next chapter. Don't want to spoil anything, so i'll just leave it at that! Hope you guys liked it! Please review!
