The three
Humvees spit up chunks of gravel and sand as they navigated the winding streets
of Kabul, Afghanistan. The city was a combination of a modern metropolis mixed
with post apocalyptic ruins straight out of a futuristic movie. The heat could
only be described as pure unadulterated hell. It permeated the metal innards of
the three military vehicles that made up the convoy. The elite US Marine unit
had just provided assistance to the US Army in pushing back guerillas
terrorizing civilians in the nearby area. The mission had been a success,
resulting in multiple casualties for the insurgents. Nearly unscathed, the
squad of Marines was headed back to base.
Sergeant Aiden
Stone sat alongside the driver in the lead Humvee with sweat pouring down his
face in streams. He ought to be used to the merciless rays of the sun by now.
His roots were native Hawaiian. An alpha male to the core, during his senior
year of college he decided to be one of the few, proud, Marines. Excelling at
everything he put his mind and body to, Aiden quickly made sergeant in his
company. Trying to keep the peace in Afghanistan, he was now in his third tour
of duty. As usual, his squad mates were talking major trash, and he was stuck
playing referee. He had been with this squad for the past six months, and they
were definitely his band of brothers. Good or bad he could count on them, and
they could depend on him.
"I'm
telling you, that chick was all up on me." Private Owens said. He was also
known as Huck. The squad had nicknamed the Kentucky native Huckleberry Finn or
Huck because of his country bumpkin ways. He had spent the entire ride
obsessing about a particularly curvy female Army mechanic back at base.
"You
think every chick is after you." Private 1st class Mason Jones, or Jonesy,
drawled sarcastically.
"What
does she want with you anyway?" Sergeant James Carpenter the driver asked,
adding his two cents to the conversation. "I heard she's hot for her old
man back home."
"That's
right: At home. She's probably got months before she gets to leave. Ain't
nothing wrong with a little lovin' til then."
"Somebody
is gonna kick your 90-pound ass, I swear," Jonesy who was married and had
a thing against cheaters said. His wife back home was his heart and soul and
the very thought of cheating deeply offended his sensibilities.
"Hey,
Do I have to come back there and separate you two?" Aiden finally said,
keeping his ocean blue eyes on the road and the unfriendly faces in the
landscape around them. Even though the US military was there for the greater
good, there were still some Afghanis that didn't appreciate their presence.
"Sorry
Sergeant Spam." Huck apologized.
"I
asked you not to call me that!" Stone looked at Huck with one raised
eyebrow.
Aiden's
subordinates had found out about his love for Spam, which was a favorite dish
in Hawaii. He'd grown up loving the meat in the can, which his mother had used
in alot of her soul food dishes. Since they they wouldn't leave him alone about
it.
"Yeah
sure Boss Spam!" Huck was elbowing Jonesy in the ribs while chuckling
loudly.
"Shut
it guys! Hold up! I don't like the looks of these civvies!" Aiden noticed
that several civilians who had been milling about had quickly vacated the
streets and gone into their homes. You could sometimes tell the mercurial moods
of the Afghanistan atmosphere by the way the locals behaved. "I need you
two to stay frosty. I've got a bad feeling and there's no telling when I might
need one of you to man the .50-cal."
The
.50-cal was the mean looking roof mounted machine gun positioned on top of the
Humvee.
"Sir,
yes sir." The two repeated in unison. Now they too were alert to
everything that was going on around them.
"Carpenter,
what is that?" Aiden squinted out the driver's side window, the glare from
the windshield obscuring his vision.
Carpenter
saw the hooded figure also, his eyes widening in horror. "What the
f--"
His words
were cut off as the Humvee was rocked by an explosion from a rocket propelled
grenade. The explosive missile hit the vehicle dead center, sending deadly
projectiles of shrapnel flying. Like miniature diamonds, shards of glass pelted
the marines as the Humvee was knocked off its wheels. The Humvee was flipped on
its right side, as it's highly vulnerable underside was peppered with heavy
weapons fire. Ready to ignite a spark, highly combustible fuel dripped from the
tank and flames danced along the side like demons.
Even
though he was wearing his helmet, Aiden felt like he had been struck in the
head with a boulder. His entire body was jolted by the impact. A vice grip of
pain held Sergeant Stone's ribs as he coughed up blood. Momentarily deaf and
disoriented, he didn't hear the other vehicles in the convoy open fire on the
ambushing insurgents. Though his other senses were deadened, his nose worked
just fine and he could smell diesel fuel. The cabin started to fill with
tendrils of gray smoke. Things just went from bad to horribly worse. Clumsy,
bloody fingers fumbled for his safety belt as he called to his squad mates.
"Carpenter,
Jones, Owens, sound off!" He coughed, his tongue feeling like it weighed
fifty pounds. He had to help them get out and fast! Otherwise this fuel leaking
truck would become their coffin.
Finally
freeing himself from the harness, he scrambled around the interior of the
vehicle, desperate to save his fellow Marines. "Carpenter!" He shook
the driver hoping to shake him into consciousness. The Sergeant's neck was
moving loosely on his shoulders. The private's mangled face came into his view,
and he could tell that the man was already dead. He cursed aloud. The outer
skin incinerated, the entire left side of Carpenter's face was a bloody, gory,
mangled mess!
"Get
out." Carpenter's corpse uttered, his remaining eye open and focusing on
Stone. "You gotta get out. It's not your time."
Even
though his ears were ringing and he could hear nothing else, the clarity of
Carpenter's words was crystal clear. Stone wondered what kind of hell he'd
stumbled into. Shaking off the terrifying hallucination, Stone checked the
other passengers. One look and he could tell they were also deceased. A ragged
sliver of metal had buried itself in Huck's neck. Thick black blood oozed
through the wound like oil. Jonesy's eyes were wide open and unseeing, a single
bullet wound on the side of his head.
"Ya
gotta get out, Boss." Huck gargled, ichor bubbling from his mouth.
"Go, go. Get out.
Please
tell my wife I love her. Please." Jonesy uttered, his dead eyes focused on
Aiden.
Deeply disturbed, he
climbed over Carpenter's body, urgently pushing the driver's side door open.
After several tries, the door opened on its own filling the interior with harsh
sunlight. Strong, friendly arms lifted him out of the death trap and to safety.
Hurriedly they hustled him onto a nearby sidewalk. As a field medic checked his
vitals and tended to his wounds, his saviors started to go back for the others.
The exploding Humvee knocked them all off their feet. The marines had killed
the ambushers, but the price had been the lives of three marines
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