Chapter 7! Sorry for such a late update

Chloe had been following the patrol for three kilometers now and was getting rather bored carrying her rifle on her back over all these rooftops. She was ordered to follow the patrol as a back up sniper, just a routine operation for her really. The firefight that instantly began below her, shocking her into action, had ended as soon as it had began, and she hadn't found any targets to get a shot off, but continued to scan the area for anyone that could be a threat to the patrol below her. She saw the movement in the corner of her scope before she heard the shot and the yells and screams below her, faintly recognising one of the voices, but was too preoccupied getting the enemy sniper in her sights and squeezing off the shot to his head and watching with a mixed sense of disgust at herself and triumph. She climbed down from the rooftop to make her way back to base when she practically fell over a lieutenant who was cowering behind an oil drum, whimpering and shaking. He'obviously frozen in the face of fire, and Chloe felt a small sense of sympathy for him, but would have to write him up in her report.

"Hey, hey, come on now, it's over" she said, shaking his shoulder slightly. He lifted his head slowly, and Chloe noticed the sweaty fringe first, and then his damp forehead, and then the bright blue eyes that looked like they were stabbing into her very soul. She noticed the long slope of the nose and the slight upturn at the tip. She saw the thin lips and the long chin, and realised with a jolt that she looked just like him. It was like a punch in the gut, he looked like...like him. Him. Her brother. Her breathing quickened, her heart beat raced and she began to panic. No. Not here. She told herself. She had to calm down, right now. The man looked on, half curious, half zoned out from his own shock. Chloe shook her head and ran a hand through her hair before realising she still had aa helmet on.

"Come on then, let's find them" she said, attempting to sound reassuring but probably failed as the man recoiled in fear. "Come on" she said again, softer, and the man stood and wiped his face, before following her around the corner and was greeted to the same sight Chloe was.

She saw Beca covered in blood and a lifeless body by her feet. Beca looked tired. Not tired like she needed to sleep, tired like she was done with the army life, like she had seen enough death, hadn't they both?

"Lieutenant, escort the patrol back to base" she ordered.

"Yes Captain"

And then she heard the patrol march off away from her, and she turned her full attention onto Beca.

"I never believed in God, just a sniper on the roof" Chloe heard and was then enveloped in a hug from Beca.

"Beca, what, what's happened? You're covered in blood, are you hurt?" Chloe asked, worried more than she'd ever been.

"Yeah, I'm fine, we need to wait for the chopper, she got hit and well, she didn't make it" Beca replied, pointing to the body on the floor. Beca's lip was quivering and hands shaking, before beginning to cry and wail, "I couldn't save her Chlo, I couldn't save her!"

"It's okay Beca," began Chloe and then told Beca that she was an amazing medic, the best Chloe had ever seen, but couldn't help but feel like she wasn't doing enough. She was still shaken from the resemblance of Lieutenant Peacock to her brother, and couldn't help but still panic slightly. They heard the chopper begin to arrive, and soon they were back at camp, reports having been written and meals eaten.

The two slept in Chloe's dorm that night, and Beca slept soundly after what had been such a bad day, but Chloe's sleep was restless.

The armoured vehicles trundled along the dirt road, Chloe atop one of them in the gunner position, she had a keen eye for targets and saved the most ammo in her patrol, the others were far too trigger happy. Chloe was on high alert, she'd only just arrived in Afghanistan as a Lieutenant, and wanted to prove she wasn't just another aristocrat from officer school. Her vehicle was the rear in the convoy of three, and her eldest brother was driving the lead vehicle, it was a complete chance that they were on the same convoy, and would probably see little of each other whilst in the army, her younger brother, Jake, was at home, refusing to join the army.

Chloe scanned the area continuously, and it was a good thing she did, she spotted the pair of men with rocket launchers before anyone else did, and opened fire expertly, cutting them down before they had chance to fire. The two gunners on top of the two vehicles in front watched on and turned in astonishment at her quick reactions, but Chloe felt sick, her first blood in action, and in such a horrific way. However, her hesistation meant that she didn't see the three men with rocket launchers about 45 degrees left of her position in time, allowing two of them to open fire on the front two vehicles, whilst the third man's jammed, allowing ChloeChloe to swivel and fire, cutting him down, but narrowly missing the other two as they dived for cover. The first two vehicles were on fire, people were clambering out of the one closest to Chloe relatively unscathed and left the vehicle for dead, however, the lead vehicle had been knocked on its side, and no one was coming out, they must have been trapped somehow. The two men popped up again and fired off two more RPGs before being riddled with bullets from the escapees of the econd vehicle. Both rounds hit the lead vehicle in a huge burst of flame, and the vehicle exploded, just as the hatch was knocked off and Chloe saw her brother crawl out of it, only to be engulfed in flames. She jumped out of her gunner position and sprinted toward her brother, who was just a ball of flame, screaming for it to end, for someone to let him die. The flames died out as he rolled in the sand, and Chloe reached him, coming into his view. The last thing he said was her name, and the last thing she saw before he took his final breath, were those bright blue eyes that seemed to pierce your very soul. Chloe screamed, and dived toward him.

But never reached him as she woke from the same dream she had every night, sat bolt upright and breathed heavily, sweat trickling down her forehead. She looked over at Beca to see her still asleep, smiled sightly, and lay down again, feeling uneasy, and afraid to lose Beca as she had lost her brother.

I'm so sorry that was so late, I've just been really busy for months. I hope you enjoyed it, I'll update more often, or I'll try to at least :)