Hypothermia

Part 2

A/N: This chapter is kind of violent, nothing really important promise you won't miss much just the backstory of Matias and Chad's friendship and how they met. Just read until the ~

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Matias and Valeria sat on leather sofas as they watched their daughter walk out of the suite. Puzzled, they looked at each other shrugging thinking Jazmyne was just going to look around, they continued their conversation.

"Well there's that glacier right next to us, it's pretty big and it seems to be what draws everyone's attention here. We could go explore for a couple hours then maybe take a ferry back into town to get something to eat." 

Valeria stated, trying to figure out what Matias wants to do.

"I don't know if i can get on another damn boat today, i was getting seasick."

Matias frowned while holding his stomach and looking down at his feet, obviously exaggerating. Valeria chuckled with a smile in her eyes.

"We could eat here, I'm sure the hotel food is good. I think they even have a coffee shop." Valeria mentioned, nodding.

"Don't tell Jaz, can't support her already present caffeine addiction." Matias rolled his eyes while sighing.

Matias heard his ringtone from his phone going off, buzzing in his pocket making his conversation with Valeria come to a halt. He pulled his phone out of the pocket of his denim jeans to reveal who it was.

Chad Smith

~

Chad Smith, Matias best friend. They call each other best friends, but some people might just call them trauma buddies. The pair met in 2007, while being deployed in dead fuck Baghdad. They had only been deployed for a couple weeks before metting eachother, they were in separate units but both had worked together quite frequently.

  The day their long life destined friendship was fated was on a normal, shitty day. Just as normally shitty as all the other shitty days, mostly doing rounds patrolling every corner of the perimeter of the base with the occasional mission to be called out to the field. Both Matias and Chad's unit were called out. A bombing just 10 clicks outside the perimeter of the army base.

  The pairs units geared up, ready to risk their lives that day for the safety of their soldiers, and for their country. Multiple humvees drove through the base, with the soldiers from each unit jumping on them.

  Matias sat next to a private in the back seat, presumably his first mission outside post. Matias glanced over his shoulder, the young man was profusely sweating, hands trembly while holding his M16. He was no older than 21, having looked like he just graduated high school. His lips were pierced shut as he looked straight forward, obviously trying to put on a strong front. He glanced over at Matias out of the corner of his eye, aware that he was staring at him. Matias leaned forward in his seat resting his elbows on his knees with his gun in his lap, now face to face with the young man.

"Hey." Matias called out in a stern manner.

The boy quickly looked over at Matias, pupils dialed, scared for his life. Shit, Matias was scared as hell too.

"You're gonna be fine." Matias said roughly trying not to show too much compassion.

The boy quickly looked away, seeming like he was holding in tears. He gripped his M16, exhaling while briefly closing his eyes, Matias words seemed to reside in him calming him some. Suddenly Matias heard loud clanks against the metal of the rough humvee. Loud bangs came from behind him, making Matias realize what was happening. He ducked down, the driver of the humvee was starting to swerve around, trying to gain control of the large vehicle. Failing to do so the humvee crashed into the one ahead of them, making Matias head jolt forward. He winced in pain and held the back of his neck, he saw stars for a second but quickly pulled himself together. The direction of the gunfire was coming from the right of him. Ducking down, he yelled at the boy.

"LETS GO!"  He jammed his finger the opposite direction toward the boys side of the vehicle.

The boy froze for a second, staring blankly at Matias, scared out of his mind. He quickly pulled himself together, beginning to exit the vehicle. With that, Matias felt splatters on his face. He watched as the young man's body fell limp watching his lifeless body fall over, out of the humvee onto the ground. Without having time to think about what he just saw, He scooted over to where the private was sitting and jumped out the vehicle, ducking behind a tire trying to avoid getting shot at. Matias looked to his left, viewing the lifeless body of who was once this scared timid soldier, with so much life left to live. His ears started ringing and his vision became blurred, everything went silent as he tried to take everything in, the sounds of gunshots and bombs being fired deafening him. Matias felt his eyes become heavy, and for a split second he let them close, trying to escape the hell the man was in.

Almost immediately, Matias felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him back to life. He quickly opened his eyes and backed up scared of who it might've been. A man from another unit stood next to him, crouched down behind the tire, trying to avoid the gunfire. He slowly looked down at his name tag, vision still fuzzy.

Smith, it read.

Smith was speaking words to him, but he wasn't registering anything. Matias moved his head slightly to see behind the man, his whole unit that came with him on the mission, was dead. They all laid on the gravel, many bullet wounds in them. Past the bodies were men in a humvee that didn't come with them on the mission. They must've just shown up. How come Matias didn't see them? Did he really just pass out just now ? Or was he simply just losing his shit.

"We need to go Valasquez."

Smith read out Matias name, suddenly being able to hear his voice now. Smith yanked on Matias arm, pulling him up. Still ducking behind the crashed humvees, the pair waited for an opportunity to run over to the rescue vehicle waiting to whisk them away, all passengers ducking for their life. Valasquez and Smith ran across the gravel, impossibly dodging bullets as best as they could. the metal clanked loud, bullets in the air, nearly missing their faces, the gunfire seemed to amp up 10x more when they seen the movement of the men, making it almost impossible to get to the rescue humvee. Finally, with another window, they darted towards the car, jumping in, feeling like Matias just jumped 4 feet in the air. Valasquez and Smith sat in the back seat, out of breath from the multiple meter run along with the stress.The vehicle sped through the gravel driving away from the gunfire back to their post. Matias sat with his thoughts, thoughts of the young boy whom died right in front of him.

I could've saved him.

Smith was obviously aware of what has happened, seeing the boy next to Matias, dead. Distraught and thinking.

"There's nothing you could've done. It's not your fault"

Smith's words interrupted Matias thoughts, looking over at him, both with blank expressions. They sat in silence together the rest of the way back to the post, unaware of the lifelong friendship that was sealed that day.