35 Nightmare

Rustle-!

Rustle-!

Rustle-!

The sounds of soldiers gearing up woke me from my reverie as I also began to get ready.

Draping my body armor over myself, I began strapping myself in as I felt the swaying of the transport plane beneath my feet.

"3rd Airborne! we will be arriving at the target landing zone in 2 minutes, prepare to disembark!" shouted our captain. "We are going to hit them hard and fast so keep your heads down."

Standing up and hooking my parachute line, I got into the front of the row with the rest of the soldiers.

"Lieutenant, how are you feeling?" asked the captain approaching me.

Gulping down my nervousness, I answered what was expected.

"Never better, sir."

"Good because it seems an unexpected storm has entered the area and we will likely be separated in the air so prepare for search and rescue," he said grimly, a scowl marring his face.

With that, he walked off toward the back of the plane where the other officers were waiting. I stood there watching him go until I heard someone behind me say 'what's wrong?'

Turning around, I saw Private First Class Jameson looking at me curiously.

"Nothing," I replied, trying to sound confident.

He looked like he wanted to ask more but thought better of it before speaking again. He then turned away and started talking with the others.

I didn't know what to do now that I had been left alone with my thoughts. I could have tried to talk to some of the other soldiers or maybe prayed to a god if there was one out there, but I knew neither would happen. My mind kept racing about the mission ahead of us.

How long would it take for the enemy to realize something was amiss? How much damage would they cause if they did? What if we got separated? Would anyone survive?

As I continued to think, I realized I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and my stomach growled loudly.

"Shit," I muttered under my breath.

I decided to ignore it for now and continue thinking. I wondered why we weren't being dropped closer to the city. Was this some sort of trap? it would have made more sense for the enemy to entrench closer to the city rather than all the way out in the mountains. Did the enemy want us out here?

My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden jerk that threw me forward. The plane jerked again and I lost my balance and fell onto the floor of the plane.

"What the hell is going on!?" yelled one of the men next to me as he too fell over.

"Enemy Contact!" came a shout as the plane groaned and shuddered.

"Looks like we're taking evasive action!" yelled the pilot over the intercom. "Everyone strap yourselves in tight!"

The plane shook violently causing me to fall over once again. As soon as I regained my footing, I pulled myself onto the seat in an attempt to stabilize myself.

"We've lost contact with the ground team!" shouted the pilot. "They must have been caught in the storm!"

"Prepare to disembark!" shouted the captain as he stood up and the door opened.

I looked out the door and saw that the rain was getting heavier. It was almost blinding and i couldn't see more than ten feet in front of me.

Bang-!!

BOOM-!!

Flashes of bright light accompanied the sound of gunfire from the enemy planes.

"This isn't good," I muttered to myself.

"Let's move out!" called the captain. "Move out!"

We all hastened down the aisle and exited the plane through the rear hatch.

I held my breath in nervousness as the storm raged around us, the wind beating at us.

Letting go of my nervous breath, I jumped.

Feeling the line disconnect as my chute opened up I sighed in relief.

However, my relief was short-lived as the wind and rain began beating at me.

I looked above me only to wince as a spray of blood splatted my face.

Someone above me had been completely riddled by enemy gunfire and was plummeting rapidly to the ground.

I heard the crackle of thunder nearby as I lost control of my chute.

The wind was tangling up my cords and sending me spinning toward the trees below us.

"Oh shit," I whispered to myself.

I reached for the reserve lines hoping to pull myself out of danger when suddenly the line snapped.

I gasped in shock as I felt my chute plummet to the earth.

Looking up, I saw the clouds above me and knew there was no way I'd end up coming out of this unscathed

"Fuck," I said aloud as I watched the ground get closer and closer.

Snap-!

Crack-!

Thump-!

"Ugh..." I groaned in pain as my chute caught in the branches and yanked up on me.

Luckily it seemed I was only bruised up except for a nasty slash down my side from a branch..

I heard the thumps of two parachutes opening and closing as they landed not far from me.

"Hey!" I shouted. "Are you guys okay?"

No response came back to me.

"Hello?!" I yelled. "Anyone there?"

Silence.

Unbuckling myself I dropped to the ground.

"Ohhhh..." I groaned in pain as my side throbbed from the landing.

"Come on!" I said angrily. "If you can hear me, answer me dammit!"

More silence.

"Dammit!" I said louder this time. "You motherfuckers better be alive!"

I waited another moment before giving up and standing up.

"Well fuck this," I muttered to myself as I took off at a limping run towards the forest.

***

I ran through the woods as fast as I could, the rain pelting my body as I went.

I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of the others but found nothing.

I was starting to panic when suddenly I saw a flash of red in the distance.

Slowing my breathing, I clutched my rifle in my hands as I snuck up on the red light.

It turned out to be an emergency beacon.

I walked slowly towards the flashing light until I finally made it close enough to read what it said.

"Emergency distress call coming from coordinates X-5."

I stared at the numbers for a few seconds then realized it meant the location where we were supposed to meet our team.

"FUCK!" I screamed out loud, realizing that the mission was practically suicide by now.

I started walking as quickly as possible toward the coordinates when I noticed someone walking in my direction.

I stopped in surprise as the figure got closer and I realized it wasn't one person. There were three people.

Raising my rifle, I trained it at them as they got closer.

One was wearing a helmet, another had a large pack on his back, and the third...was carrying

the other two.

"Holy shit," I whispered as I recognized them. "You guys made it!"

As they got closer, I saw that both of them appeared injured. The man in the lead had blood dripping down his face, and the woman was limping.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Storm hit us hard," replied the woman. She pointed at her leg which was wrapped in bandages. "Parachute got struck by lightning. We had to cut our way out of the entanglement in the trees."

"And the rest of the team?" I asked.

Both of them nodded their heads sadly.

"Gone," answered the woman. "Pete was turned into paste by those machine guns and we heard Liv on the comms when she hit the ground ."

"Damn," I said softly.

"So how did you survive?" she asked.

"My chute caught on the branches of some of the trees," I replied quickly as I began assessing the situation.

"What are our orders, sir?" asked the voice of Sargent Tanaka, the man carrying the other two.

"First let's treat Joy and Franz, then we move according to the plan," I answered as I began pulling out the medical kit from the pack on Tanakas back.

"Sir, are you sure about going forward with this mission?" asked Franz nervously. He was still limping badly, and he had several cuts and scrapes on his arms and legs.

"We have no choice. If we don't follow the mission then we will most likely lose the war," I told him firmly. "That's why we're here. Now let me work on you so we can move forward."

Franz didn't say anything more and just closed his mouth as I treated him.

Once he was done, I turned to the woman who looked like she had been thrown around quite a bit during the fall.

"Joy, go ahead and get your gear together. Franz, you'll be heading to the fallback point to attempt communications."

"Why do I need to stay behind?" he demanded angrily. "This is a suicide mission and I'm not gonna die without a fight."

"Look," I said calmly trying to defuse the tension. "You're injured too badly to risk any more damage. And besides, you're the only one trained in using the transmitter so we need you to attempt to get in contact with HQ and let them know the mission is fucked."

He glared at me for a second before nodding his head reluctantly.

"Fine," he spat. "But make sure you don't die. I'm counting on you, Lieutenant."

"Thanks," I smiled as I turned back to the wounded woman.

The woman had her hands over her stomach, obviously feeling sick.

I opened the bag and pulled out the first aid kit.

"Let me see what I can do."

*Thank you*

I realized we have just finished the honeymoon phase and I just want to salute all of you who are still here, thanks love you guys, Hugz <3