Soldier's Story : Chapter 1

This story is 100% fiction and is not meant to offend anyone who has gone through hell and back. And one more thing I don’t support any war but I do support the men and women fighting. I can’t imagine what you guys go through but I just want to tell you that you guys are fucking badass and don’t let anyone tell you different.

Chapter 1

I am at home sitting with my parents just watching television, my mother’s favorite show is Grey’s Anatomy. I then feel something shaking me but it’s not enough to wake me. I am then in the park playing in the playground while my parents watch over me. Another shake and it’s a little stronger but still not enough to wake me. I then find myself standing in the middle of the park while the rain is coming down all around us. My mother, father and I are huddled together under a big umbrella laughing and joking. Another shake and this time its strong enough to wake me, I look around and the huge cargo military plane is full of soldiers, the plane shakes one more time. I on the other hand am in regular civilian clothes, I must have dosed off. My parents have been dead for over four years now and everything seems the same. My step brother Alan was the one who talked me into going and visit him in Iraq.

 

Alan didn’t want me to be alone this time of year and seen that we are half-brothers he cares for my wellbeing. Who am I? My name is Adrian Davis and at the tender age of 21 years old I am writer/photographer/and something else that I won’t tell you for now. I know I am everywhere but for the last year or so I manage to get a book deal with photos I took that resembled the American culture. It’s a popular book and I got praised for my artistic skills and I got a big paycheck for it. Like I said before I am 21 years old, 5 7, light brown eyes, short black hair and yes I am gay. I always knew I was gay but never really felt the need to go to a gay bar or to express myself like a girl. I am a guy and I like guy stuff…(smirk) one of my friends back home called me a ghetto gay because I don’t act like one. Well anyways back to the subject in hand my step brother called me one day and told me that he got a four week pass for me to come and take some shots of the front lines of the war. I being the normal civilian told my step brother that I wasn’t interested but eventually he won the argument and so here I am. I am on a cargo military plane full of soldiers who got called for the war; I then decide to make the best of it.

If I don’t it will be the longest four weeks of my life and I’ll just make everyone miserable so what the hell I am already here there’s nothing I can do about it. I then take out my camera and start shooting the soldiers around me; most of them see me and pose for the camera. Others that are too busy to notice me they do their job and I take their picture anyway. I look outside the plane window and its night but I can see the military base lights in the distance. The pilot then announces that we are going to land soon and everyone including me takes their seat and buckles up. The landing was a bit rough but not too bad, as the soldiers get out of the large plane I am the last one out. A soldier is standing outside of the plane, shakes my hand, and tells me to head for hanger 3.

As I am getting closer to hanger 3 I see a light brown Humvee with three soldiers standing next to it having a conversation. For some reason I was nervous, one of the soldiers turns and smiles at me “You must be little Davis” the soldier says to me while the other two turn and look at me. “Yeah I guess I am” I say kind of nervous and wondering where my step brother is. “I am Jake Evans” the soldier says while extending his arm. I shake his hand “This is Mark Turner and Jose Rodriguez” Jake says to me. I shake both of their hands “Your brother couldn’t make it he had a last minute medical emergency to do” Jake tells me as we are getting into the Humvee. Jake and Jose are in the front while Mark and I are at the back. I really couldn’t tell if these guys were hot or not because for one it was dark and two all three of them had their gear on. It was a good hour drive to where my step brother was stationed and all of us were silent. I am looking out the window playing with my fingers expecting gunfire to erupt any second. “Nervous” Mark’s manly voice snaps me back to reality. I just turn and look at him all I could do is smile, I was nervous but I didn’t want to admit it out loud. “Don’t worry little Davis you are well protected” Jake tells me and smiles at me from the rear view mirror. We finally arrive at a small village that is located on a hillside. The village residents and the soldiers have formed an alliance and so all share their things. It’s a hill valley that’s full of rock, trees, and sheds.

I get out with my huge green bag and look around, there’s really nothing to look at its pitch dark out there beyond the village. Jake gets out and tells me to follow him, as we are going up the hill I couldn’t help but look around still expecting a gun fire to erupt. Jake takes me into a shed that seems to be in the middle of the village, it’s the biggest shed in the entire village. I walk in and see my step brother; he looks the same as when the last time I saw him. Only this time my step brother looks more like a marine than anything else. My step brother looks a lot like my father big brown eyes, short black hair, and an intimidating face. But in reality my step brother was a teddy bear he just looks like he’s about to kick your ass. As my step brother puts an IV into another soldier he turns and looks at me. I smile and he smiles back, I then drop my bag and give him a bear hug. Only he is bigger than me and so he squeezes me more than I do him. “How was your flight?” Alan asks me. “Long” I say while pulling away from our hug and looking at him. “You got fat” Alan says “No I didn’t” I say back. “You’re going bald” Alan continues. “No I am not” I say while grabbing my hair. “And you look like shit” Alan finishes. “AWW I missed you to Alan” I say while grabbing his shoulder. My step brother just laughs and picks up my large green bag; “Come on” Alan says leading me out of the shed. My step brother is a medic and the best one; well he’s a nurse but a pretty good one too.

Alan leads me through the nightly town there are more soldiers than there are villagers. Alan than leads me to a shed that’s about at the top, “Hope you don’t mind sharing a room with other soldiers” Alan says to me while going into the shed. The shed is big with ten single bed aligned, some have soldiers sleeping. Alan takes me to his bed which is at the very back of the shed. There is a bed/stretcher next to Alan’s bed; “Nice” I say to him while smiling. “The best of the Marines” Alan says smiling back. “Do you want a tour of the village” Alan says. I shake my head “I should get some sleep…didn’t really sleep that much on the plane” I say grabbing my bag from Alan. “Okay…I need to head back…ill see you in the morning?” Alan says making sure I am okay. “Ill see you in the morning” I say half smiling and jumping into my bed. “Good night I am so glad you’re here” Alan says while walking away. Even though I was nervous as hell I closed my eyes and drifted off into sleep.

I wake up and look around the shed. Some light is coming in through but not enough light to wake someone up. I then turn and see that Alan is asleep in his bed next to me. I quickly get dressed and walk outside as quietly as possible. As I am standing outside of the shed my skin begins to burn, the day is hot and it’s barely the morning. “So you want a tour of this paradise” Jake says while walking up to me shirtless and with his gun. My mouth drops Jake is tall around six feet, dark short blonde hair, brown eyes, big muscular arms, six pack, and a nice tan. “Yeah” I manage to say without making it sound like I was checking him out. Jake took me around the village, although it was hard to concentrate because all of the soldiers here where hot and muscular. Not all of the soldiers where big muscular all where muscular but not as big as others. As the tour continued I start to notice that Jake is a lot like Alan; same lovable vibe about Jake reminded me of Alan.

My fantasy was destroyed I couldn’t look at Jake without thinking of my step brother. The tour lasted about an hour and the temperature kept on rising, as Jake ended the tour we ended in a small section that was a gym. It was a small section of the village with no shed just weights and several benches. I then see Mark and my mouth drops; Mark is around six feet, dark black hair, dark blue eyes, muscles everywhere, and a smile that makes my knees weak. Mark is smiling at me and I am smiling back, but we stay looking at each other a bit longer than we should. Our stares are interrupted when I hear Alan calling my name. I turn around and smile at my step brother, “Did Jake already give you the tour” Alan says while punching Jake. “Yeah” I say while I watch the two horse around, if I didn’t know any better I say that Jake and Alan could have been brothers.

The rest of the day I walked around with Jake taking pictures of the soldiers and the villagers. Jake and Alan are so alike it’s kind of scary to think about. We both went down further to the village where the villagers are. I started taking pictures and Jake introduced me to all the men and only men. All of the Iraqi men kissed me on the cheek and held my hand. But I only had two hands and so the men started arguing amongst themselves. I guess they were fighting for who gets to hold my hand; my best guess is that I am the new shinning toy that everyone wants a piece of. I turn and look at Jake but he is laughing to himself and gives me a look that says ‘I’ll tell you later’. Just then a bomb goes off in the distance, a cloud forms at the top of a hill that isn’t far from the village. All of the Iraqi men scatter to their homes some try to take me with them. Jake is the one who steps in and grabs my arm; Jake then starts to lead me up hill. Jake almost has me running up the hill but before we can even get half way bullets start to hit all around us. Jake throws me to the ground and he starts shooting at the direction the bullets are coming from. I then get behind him while still close to the floor, “Run” Jake tells me. I just look up at him as if he’s crazy. “RUN” Jake yells at me this time grabbing my arm and pushing me away from him. I look at him one more time and I turn and start running up the hill. Bullets land to my left, right, above my head and some barely miss my feet.

I manage to reach a shed that looks to have decent walls that can stop bullets but some manage to get trough. I then turn to my right and see an enemy passing by, I then quickly grab a rock from the ground and throw it at him. The rock manages to hit him in the chest, he then screams in pain and says something. But then he looks my way and points his gun at me, I froze with fear. My eyes were wide open and I tried to move but the harder I tried the less I could move. This is it I am going to die out here, and then gunfire comes from behind me. I quickly drop to the ground and cover my ears; I then see that the guy who had his gun pointing at me was dead on the floor. I look up and see Mark, his dark blue eyes looking down at me with a worried look. “Get up” Mark says in his manly but calm voice. Mark pulls me up with ease, “Stay behind me” Mark says while guiding my hands to the back of his bulletproof vest. I grab the back of his bulletproof vest and Mark start moving away from the gunfire. We were nearly at the top when bullets land at our feet, Mark pushes me into a shed and I fall to the ground. But before I can get up some men in robes come and drag me away.

These men aren’t the villagers but the ones who are ambushing the village, I try to scream to Mark but they kept hitting me. Mark on the other hand is to busy to notice what’s happening because his attention is on some men that are firing at him. I kick and try to scream but the two men in robes are strong. Tears start to come down my face as images of what is to come; only one word came to my mind…Torture. I take a deep breath and I kick as hard as I can to the man that’s holding my feet. I mange to kick him off of his feet and try to knock down the other man that has my hands. .but before I can do anything the man that I kicked quickly gets up and hits me on the face, I can feel blood coming down my cheek. I struggle but the men in robes are too strong for me, I struggle one more time when the man that has my feet falls to the ground. Then the man that has my arms also falls to the ground and then I fall to the ground. I look around and see that both men have a bullet hole in their foreheads. I then see Mark with his gun pointing at my direction; I quickly get up and run into his arms. I have my face buried in his neck while Mark has his left hand wrap around my back, with his right hand Mark holds his gun. “Get behind me” Mark says not taking his eyes off of the hill. I quickly do and both of us start to head back to the village. As we reach the village the gun fire has died down but it’s still continuing. I then start to feel better knowing that Mark is here with me, I then turn my head and see that two small round thing are rolling next to us. My eyes widen and I take a deep breath in, I then jerk Mark away from the grenades. We manage to get a few steps away until the first grenade goes off and knocks us to the ground.

Mark then quickly gets on top of me and the second grenade goes off. My ears hurt, I feel light headed and my ears are ringing, Mark gets me on my feet and we start to head for the nearest shed. Mark then throws me against the wall and puts his whole body in front of me. Before I can react another grenade goes off a few feet away from us. Mark has his arms wrap around me and my face is buried on his bulletproof vest. Just as quickly the gun fire started it ended, both of us take a deep breath and look at each other. “You okay” Mark says to me almost in a whisper. I then hear footsteps to our right and it’s my step brother with some soldiers behind him. I quickly push Mark away and run into the arms of my step brother. Alan takes a deep breath of relief and at the corner of my eye I see Alan give Mark a nod of ‘thank you’. “Are you hurt?” Alan asks me looking down on me. I only have some bruises and cuts but nothing to serious. I then turn to look back at Mark and his right hand is dripping of his blood. Mark looks down at his arm and then at me, I quickly run to him and manage to catch him before he hits the ground.

Alan and I mange to get Mark into the medical shed and treat him, his bulletproof vest did its job for the first two grenades but the third managed to penetrate his vest. Alan and I got the bleeding under control and I gave Mark some morphine for the pain; although Mark was unconscious. Mark spends the next three days unconscious and sleeping on his stomach. I was there by his side day and night for those three days; Alan comes into the shed and gives me a look that says ‘your still here?’ I then look at Alan “He saved my life Alan…..it’s the least I can do” I say almost in a whisper. Alan then half smiles and nods, he then gives me some food on a package.

As I am eating my crappy food I look at Mark and notice every detail about him. he has short black hair on the side of his head, the top of his head his hair is longer but not to long, he has a masculine jaw line, he has facial hair coming from his sideburns and meeting at his chin and the arch going around his mouth but its barely visible, and all along his muscular back are bruises and bandages from the third grenade. When I woke up on the fourth day Mark wasn’t on his bed, I look around and see that Alan is changing Mark’s bandages. “Morning” I say to both of the guys, “Morning” Alan says not taking his eyes off of Mark’s back. Mark on the other hand looks at me and smiles, we stay looking at each other for a while. “Your injuries are healing nicely but you should still take it easy” Alan says interrupting our eye contact. “Come on Davis I can’t stay in this shed anymore” Mark says while half turning to my step brother. “Well…if you want to leave this shed someone will have to watch over you…and I cant” Alan says while putting the last clean bandage on. “Ill do it” I say without thinking. Both guys turn and look at me, “Adrian you don’t….” Alan says but can’t finish the sentence. “I can I am a much better medic than you” I say sarcastically. Alan looks at me, laughs, and shakes his head. “Fine but if something happens to him it’s your ass Adrian” Alan says to me seriously. “Yes sir” I say again sarcastically. I then look down at Mark, he’s smiling at me and I wink at him. I then help Mark put on his vest, Mark grunts softly in pain. For the next three days Mark and I walk around the village talking about anything and everything. Sometimes Jake would join us but mostly it was just Mark and I, I would always have butterflies in my stomach when I am around Mark. On the third day Mark and I got up early to see the sunrise. We were near the top of the hill, “You’re kind of quite” I say breaking our silence while Mark looks out into the horizon. “Lost in thought…I guess” Mark says while half smiling. “Everything all right” I say with a concern tone. “Yeah it’s just that…” Mark begins to say but doesn’t finish the sentence. “Just that what?” I say turning my whole body towards him. Mark takes a deep breath “It’s just that I am scared” Mark says while looking at me. “Look if you’re worried about infection on your back don’t worry it wont happen” I say thinking to myself that was what he meant.