The Army Girl (lesbian) completed

15. Sophie's Point Of View

"Sarge, hostiles have opened fire! Harper and Newcombe heading to rendezvous. Smith and I are providing covering fire! Over." Carmen said quickly over the radio.

"Carmen! Get out of there now! Both of you!" I replied, distraught, "That's an order Rodriguez!"

"Gotcha Sarge, we're on our way." Carmen replied calmly. 'How the hell is she keeping so calm?' I thought as Carmen's voice came back over the radio.

"See you soon Soph- ARGH!" My heart skipped a beat as I heard her scream. I looked over at Lucas and Sonja and the looks on their faces mirrored mine. Panic.

"Carmen? Come in! Carmen? Do you read me?" I asked urgently through the radio only to be greeted with static.

"Shit!" I shouted punching a broken wall beside me.

"Sarge..." Lucas spoke quietly. "Sophie. What's going on?" He asked more urgently.

"I can't get through to Carmen on the radio, she must have scrambled the frequency. Harper and Newcombe are on their way here, Smith is with your sister." I replied. Sonja gasped.

"They have her, don't they?" Lucas asked looking broken.

"I don't know mate, let's just wait till everyone gets here." I said moving and sitting down anxiously tapping my foot and praying that everything would be okay.

We sat in silence waiting for David, Jordon, Megan and Carmen to get back, each of us were so lost in our own thoughts that we jumped when we heard footsteps approaching. All three of us jumped to our feet pointing our rifles in the direction of the noise, waiting. We relaxed slightly as David and Jordon appeared, dropping down on the ground trying to catch their breath. A few minutes later we were alert again, rifles poised at the sound of more footsteps coming closer to us. Smith came stumbling out of the bushes with a tear stained face.

I noticed that Smith didn't have any rank slides on and wandered if she forgot to place them on her uniform, but the thought quickly left as Smith stumbled and Lucas caught her from falling down. I kept looking around for any sign of Carmen while I let the three soldiers recuperate before questioning them.

"She's not coming." Megan spoke out into the silence in a whisper.

"W-what?" I stuttered, my heart skipping several beats.

Megan responded by putting her hand in her pocket and pulling out some rank slides, sobbing as she placed them down onto the ground. On closer inspection of them I noticed that they were in fact Lance Corporal rank slides and my heart dropped. I stomped over to David and Jordon knowing that this whole problem had something to do with them.

"Stand up, soldiers!" I growled menacingly at them and they obeyed quickly, sensing that I was in a bad mood. "What. Happened?"

Neither of them seemed willing to talk and they avoided my gaze as I got angrier.

"They went charging in, they disobeyed orders. Rodriguez managed to warn them in enough time for them to escape from the hostiles ambush with us providing them covering fire. When you ordered us to get out of there we ran and Carmen was shot in the leg, I think." Megan took a deep breath to calm her shaky voice.

"I dropped down beside Carmen wanting to help her up but, instead, she took my rank slides. She swapped them with hers whilst hiding hers in my pocket, she said something like it being my ticket out of there. The hostiles grabbed us both and told me to leave, when I didn't budge Carmen ordered me to go. The last thing I saw was Carmen's head being covered and her being lead away. I'm sorry I didn't do more." Megan finished, bowing her head in shame, tears now falling freely from her eyes as she sat, shaking in Lucas' supportive embrace.

David and Jordon's faces paled dramatically as we all turned to look angrily at them. If Megan hadn't been in Lucas' arms being comforted, I have no doubt he would have killed the pair with his bare hands. I stripped David and Jordon of their weapons and pulled out some wire ties, tying their hands behind their backs before forcing them to sit back on the ground.

"You disobeyed orders and because of your recklessness one of our own is not only injured but is now a prisoner of the hostiles. I don't want to hear a single sound from either of you." I spoke, my voice laced with venom and disgust.

I radioed through to base and informed them of the situation, our new orders were to come back to base. I informed the group and we headed back, arriving in camp with solemn expressions and a squad member short.

On arrival to camp we were hustled into an awaiting car and driven back to the airstrip. We were loaded on a jet and flown back to our Army base in England. Once we had arrived, military police surrounded us, taking Jordon and David away for holding and questioning while the rest of us were taken to a debrief.

Sonja and I decided to accompany Lucas back home to tell his family the news. We had put in a request to Colonel Sanderson about being involved in the rescue mission once they had found Carmen....if they managed to find her.

As we pulled up to Lucas' families pub we saw Sammantha outside, polishing Carmen's car as the sun started setting overhead. We climbed out of the chauffeur driven military car we were in and Lucas approached Sammantha slowly, looking broken, as we followed behind equally as broken.

Sammantha looked up in confusion before her face dropped and said nothing as she entered the pub with us behind her. The rest of their families looked up upon our entry and approached us cautiously, all with questioning gazes. We had all stopped in the middle of the pub, no one making the first move, Lucas couldn't look anyone in the eyes and the pubs regulars sat in silence.

Sammantha stepped up to Lucas and looked him in the eyes silently, when Lucas' gaze met hers his knees gave out on him and he landed on them hard on the floor.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Nothing I could do. Couldn't keep her safe." Lucas rambled while sobbing, everyone's faces dropped quickly and I stepped forward to clear things up.

"There was an incident on our mission. Two soldiers disobeyed Carmen's orders and would have been killed had it not been for Carmen's quick thinking. Carmen and Sergeant Smith, another soldier who was on their first tour, provided a distraction allowing the two soldiers to escape. While Carmen and Smith tried to escape, Carmen was hit in the leg. From what we know, Carmen switched ranks with Smith and made her look like a regular private which in turn was her escape ticket. Smith got away because the hostiles seem to have wanted someone of rank, not an unimportant private. Carmen saved three soldiers lives and the Army are currently using all of their available resources to try and find where they are keeping her. When they find her, we will be on the rescue mission." I explained as professionally as I could although my voice was shaken as I spoke.

Sad expressions graced the faces of everyone around and the only sound that could be heard was Lucas' sobbing. Sammantha knelt down in front of Lucas and pulled him into a tight hug, whispering in his ear. We were all at a loss for words, no one knowing what to say, the bars patrons just kept buying us drinks all night and we kept drinking. The atmosphere of the pub a solemn and quiet one.