August
The heat was extraordinary that day. The sun beat down on us as if it had a particular vengeance just for my squad. We were five clicks away from where we were supposed to be. Only five clicks between us and the relative safety of camp.
Pacman, Link, Cloud, Sonic, and I—my nickname was Crash—had been sent out on a scouting mission. We were returning with some photographic evidence that would be the catalyst to start another battle.
Walking in one line, placing our feet in the previous man’s footprints, we hid our number from the enemy. Being Marines meant we had gone through extensive, stringent training, making our bodies a bit tougher than others in the military.
Although the heat was stifling, we had gotten as used to it as human beings could. Sure, it was bothersome, but we had been trained to ignore bothersome. So, the drudgery of walking back to camp was put out of our minds.
These were the times when fantasies filled my head. From what the others in my group told me, it was a time for them to live in their minds for a while too.
My fantasies never failed to go back to my hometown of Sebastopol, California. Back to the night before I left to go to basic training. The night I saw my eighteen-year-old, next-door neighbor sitting outside at midnight under the silver light of a full moon. Tawny Matthews and her hot little body filled my mind, taking me far away from that godforsaken desert.
She’d given me such a special gift that night. The four-year age gap between us had finally come to a close, and she and I had had one magical night that I could keep with me forever.
It had been two years since I had left. Two long years away from what had been my reality. Her long, shiny red hair swung around her bare shoulders, covering her breasts only a bit. She sat on top of me, her plump breasts tempting me. I pulled her to me, pulling one of those pebbled nipples into my mouth, licking and sucking as she whimpered and moaned with pleasure.
Cloud was right in front of me, and when he stopped, it took me out of my daydream. “Shh.”
Link led the way, Pacman came next, then Cloud, then me, then Sonic. I turned to look back at Sonic and found him moving his head to the left as if he could hear something that I couldn’t.
When I looked back to the front of me, I noticed the rest of the men were all looking to the back of us, so I turned back around and tried harder to hear whatever the hell it was they had heard.
Link had the SD card with the photos on it. Pacman had the digital camera, and the photos were also saved on that device. We had two sets of them just in case something happened to one set.
That’s precisely why Link and Pacman were at the front of the line. Our primary mission was to get those two back to camp with the evidence in hand. If one was lost, we were to focus on getting the other back. If he was lost, then we were to get the camera and get that back into the hands of our commander.
No one ever liked to think about losing one of their own. But it was an unfortunate thing that had to be put in the plans to keep things going, no matter what horrific thing happened. Our mission could not be derailed by the loss of any member of our party.
On top of all of that, it was up to Sonic and me to gather up any wounded, mortally or otherwise, and get them back to camp. And now that we were stopped, and everyone was listening to some sound I hadn’t heard, the plan was rushing through my mind at lightning speed.
The sound of sand blowing through the air came to me. And that only meant one thing. There was a sandstorm coming our way. Sandstorms were bad news. It made it impossible to see if you didn’t have the appropriate protective eyewear. Thankfully, we did have that and bandanas to cover our mouths too. Pulling them up, we all covered our mouths, noses, and ears then put on the goggles before forging ahead.
Link remarked, “At least we don’t have to worry about anyone following our trail now. The sand will cover our tracks.”
The wind began to whip up around us, and Sonic said, “But now we’ve got to battle the wind and the damn sand.”
Cloud was never one to listen to complaints. “No whining, soldier.”
I looked over my shoulder at Sonic and smiled. “Never mind the grouch. This sucks but you’ve got this, Sonic.”
He nodded. “I do.”
Pacman pointed at the hill that was in front of us. “And that sandstorm will hide us from view when we have to go up that hill. My biggest concern was being spotted up there.”
“Everything happens for a reason,” Cloud added.
So there we were, making our way back to camp with a sandstorm hot on our heels, but we’d found the good in it. That was the kind of team I was a part of, and I was damn proud to serve with those men.
Another gust of wind came out of nowhere, and it was filled with loose sand. Even through the flak jackets, I could still feel the small grains pelting me as if they were miniscule bullets.
“Shit, I can’t see past you, Crash,” Sonic shouted behind me.
“I can see Cloud. Cloud can see Pacman, and Pacman can see Link. We’ll be okay, Sonic,” I let him know.
“I hope you’re right, Crash,” came his nervous reply.
Sonic had told me once, after we’d been drinking a bit too much, that I was his best friend. Everyone else he knew in the Marines was so bent on being a badass that they didn’t take even a moment to make sure anyone else was okay. I always made sure he knew he was okay.
Sonic, better known by some as John Black, was a man with a sense of spirit most men in our outfit lacked. Along with that spirit came a little bit of nervous energy from time to time. All he ever needed was some reassuring that the wheels were still turning as planned, no matter what got in our way.
I saw Cloud grabbing something, then he handed a rope back to me. “Hold onto this, Crash. We’ve got to stay linked together if we lose all visibility.”
Taking the rope, I handed it back to Sonic. Only he wasn’t there. “Stop! Sonic’s not behind me!”
We all stopped, then Link and Pacman came around so we could form a line, heading back to retrieve Sonic. Holding tightly to the rope so we stayed together, we walked back from where we’d come from.
Link shouted, “Sonic, can you hear me?”
Nothing was heard.
I had just been talking to the man a few seconds earlier. I had no idea where he could’ve gone in the small span of time. “This doesn’t make any sense. I was just talking to him.”
Along with the sand, something else zipped through the air. We all fell to our bellies and looked at each other. “Shh,” Link hushed us.
We had hand signals to help us communicate. Unfortunately, the sand made that almost impossible. Still holding onto the rope, we crawled on our bellies in the same direction.
Now we all knew someone was hiding in the sandstorm. That someone or someones had one of our men. There would be no leaving without Sonic. One way or the other.
The only good thing I found by being down low was that the sand wasn’t as dense as it was when we were standing up. I could make out several sets of feet. And one pair had on boots just like we had on.
I pointed ahead, and the others looked. We could make a surprise attack on them and get our guy back. But what would happen after that was anyone’s guess.
We all pulled our knives out to keep things as quiet as we possibly could. I whispered to Cloud, who was next to me, “I’ll secure Sonic and take out whoever has him. You guys take out the rest. Leave no one alive to report anything back to their commanders.”
He nodded. “Got ya, Crash.” He whispered the plan to Pacman, then Pacman relayed it to Link, who gave me the thumbs-up.
We had a plan. Now all we had to do was enact it.
It was apparent the enemy had no idea we were in their midst as they yelled in such broken English that it was still impossible to understand what they were saying. All we could understand was Sonic as he told them, “I don’t have anything. I swear.”
We had made it to them, and I eased my hand up Sonic’s leg to let him know we were there. I could hear him sigh with relief and that made me feel a hell of a lot better about things.
I held up three fingers to my teammates, then only two, then one, and we sprang into action.
In a flash, I got up and ran my knife along the throat of the man who held Sonic. Then I took Sonic and pulled him to the ground with me. We stayed perfectly still as the others took out the other four men. They fell on the ground around us, their throats cut, their dark eyes open, staring at us with expressions of disbelief.
Link and the others got back on the ground. “Let’s stay low like this. It’s easier.” He made sure we all had hold of the rope, and then we belly-crawled away from the men who had obviously followed us.
Sonic was by my side, and he looked at me. “Thanks, Crash. You always have my back, don’t you, man?”
“Seems so, Sonic.” I smiled at him and clapped him on the back. “Let’s get the hell out of here and get back to camp; I need a beer. And I know you do.”
He laughed. “I sure as hell do. I thought I was a goner back there.”
“Not with me around,” I told him.
As we continued to crawl, I thought about Tawny and how she’d told me that I was a hero. I hadn’t given it much thought at the time. But something about how she’d said it made me want to prove she was right about me.
I had no idea if I would ever see her pretty face again. But if I did, then I wanted to be able to tell her that her words had affected me greatly. I wanted to be the man she saw me as. I wanted to do the best I could to live up to her words.
There had been a handful of women after her. None had ever taken me to the place that girl had. That night, I had gotten lost in Tawny. And somewhere deep inside of me, I knew I had left a part of myself with her.
I wondered if she knew that.
I wondered if she ever thought about me.
I wondered if she had any regrets about what we did that night.
I didn’t. I didn’t have one regret about me and her that night.
She had given me her virginity, and in turn I had given her a piece of my soul to keep forever. If my life were taken, she alone would carry a part of me that would die only with her.
I wondered if she knew that. I wondered if she even cared.
A little part of me wanted to check up on her. It had been two years though. My parents had moved away. She wasn’t as close as next door anymore.
Shaking my head, I cleared it of that selfish thought. I was a Marine. My life was on the line more than it was off it. She didn’t deserve to have to worry about me.
I would leave her alone. She deserved to live her life without worry.
I wonder if she’s okay…