I woke up to the dim lights of a bulb hanging off a crudely patched together concrete roof. I flickered in between reality as I tried to adjust my eyes to the lights that hung above me. Realizing where I am, I tried to lift my head, to no avail. I tried to move my arms and legs. Nothing. "They must have given me a local anesthetic." I thought. I flipped my head around to see a couple of my squad members sitting beside me. It seems that that have not yet realized that I was awake.
I felt the anesthetic starting to wear off as I regained basic motor functions. I sat up as Three turned over. "Morning, sunshine." "Screw you" I smirked. I stretched my neck and felt the deep bruising pain. "Woah, calm down. Doctor said no sudden movements." Two said. The rest of my squad came up and said their greetings in a very colourful manner. "Fucking bastards, I hate you all.." I muttered. They just stood there and laughed, jokingly threatening about how my house would look like covered in eggs.
Eventually, a Canadian auxiliary doctor came up and told them all to piss off. After that, he turned to me. "How you feelin'?"
"Like I need a really bloody steak and a large pint to drown my sorrows." I replied groggily.
He smiled sympathetically. "Don't we all, man, don't we fucking all. Anyways. minor injuries, you have a bad bruise on your trapezius muscle and you stretched your Achillies' tendon a bit, but nothing that'll stay for more then a month. You're to be discharged today at 1300 with seven days recuperation break."
"Thank god for that" I smiled. I briefly considered my options. I could go back to the US to see my folks, or I could just drown my sorrows daily in that dodgy bar in town. "The future is looking bright." I said to myself.
"SEVEN DAYS PAID LEAVE?" shouted Liam. "What the actual fuck? Seven days of fucking paid leave for a torn muscle?" I flicked him off in an attempt to piss him off for our own enjoyment. We were in our squad barracks next to the canteen. I was looking at the compulsory squad picture. A grey hazed caption read "108th Rangers — Liam McGregor - Bravo One. Thomas Stormholt -Bravo Two. Joseph Kenway - Bravo Three. Jason "Hatter" Patterson - Bravo Four. Ryan Summer - Bravo Five. Percy Jackson - Bravo Six. And finally, Danny "Ghost" Ridge - Bravo Seven. I started at the photo of the people whom I've spent the last eight months with. Memories of tours and pranks alike floated back to me
"You listening?" I saw Ryan snapping at my face. "H..Huh?" Joseph planted his palm on his face. "This is the shithead we have for a captain. I sense promotion on the way!" There was a quick round of laughter around the room. "As I was saying, we have a month before our next tour, so I took the liberty of informing command that we'll all be leaving this hellhole for the US, flights are tomorrow at 1600, so we should arrive in the morning.
I tried to cover my shock. There's another tour coming up? I shook my head. No way. This was not happening. This can not. I promised my family… Oh shit.
I'm kinda starting to run out of ideas, if anyone has any bright ideas PLEASE bounce them off my PM or else I'll be screwed. I'll be uploading maybe one more chapter this week then resuming to the weekly schedule. Thanks for all your support!