Shot Throught the Heart

twenty-four

After we cleared out of the building all of our teams compressed into one for us to make the mile long trek back to the exfil point. Once I was outside of the building I started up my video fed and coms again. On our way out of the village, any body we passed was checked for cell phones. They were all going to be needed for intel on any remaining ISIS leaders in the area. Cut off one head, another will take it's place.

            There weren't many hostiles left alive on our way out. The ones we past were mainly taking stock of those that were lost in the battle.

            "Remember rules of engagement. You are not to fire, unless fired upon." I said in my walkie to the rest of my team. It's been a long enough night and I didn't want any more blood on my hands then needed at this point.

            My team stuck to my words for as long as we could until one of the hostiles in mourning picked up a weapon. He was struck down immediately by a member of Alpha Team. As we regrouped at the exfil point, Alpha One relayed the information to command and our ride dropped down in the middle of the field for us.

            I made sure every member of my team was on board before I hopped inside and closed the door behind me. Just as I sat down on the floor, Emmett was by my side ready to look at my arm.

            "Attend to everyone else first Emmett." I said and turned off my video feed and tipped my helmet back.

            "Everyone has already been addressed ma'am." Emmett said and started to open his kit.

            "How about we save the actual stitches for when we are a more stable aircraft." I asked as Emmett cut my my sleeve away.

            "We'll see." He said and started to clean out the gash on my arm. This was the first time I got the chance to look at it. It looked like the bullet took a chunk of my skin when it whizzed past me.

            "Your favorite, QuikClot. I'll wrap it up for now but you need to go to medical once we land at base." Emmett said as he ripped a package opened with his teeth. The gauze was wrapped tightly to my arm followed by another one then came some more gauze wrapped around my whole arm to keep it together.

            "Since you were such a good patient, I'll even give you a lollipop." Emmett said as he pulled out a red sugar lollipop from somewhere. I took a few long sips of my water before I took the lollipop from him and stuck it in my mouth. The cherry flavor shocked my system and the sugar helped clear my head a bit.

            "There she is." Emmett said as he shined his light in both of my eyes. "We'll land in Turkey in about a half hour. How about you watch the sunrise for now." He said as he packed up some of the supplies he used.

            I did what he asked, my brain could only handle simple tasks right now. Watching the fiery red sun come over the horizon was beautiful. It took my breath away as red seeped into orange and yellow. As we touched down on the tarmac in Turkey the sun was barely up enough to turn the sky blue. All of us were bone tired as we got onto the plane that is taking us back to Germany. Once we all got settled onto the plane and the flight took off, we all crashed as the adrenaline finally wore off.

            When I woke up, the plane was already on the ground and it looks like it's only been on the ground for a few minutes as everyone was still getting there things together. As I started to move around, the pain in my arm was a lot more noticeable. Just as I went to stand up, a hand was placed on my shoulder. When I looked up Emmett was standing there holding my helmet and rifle in his hand.

            "Get your vest off, you're going straight to medical, they are here now to take you." He said. I just nodded, not even bothering putting up a fight and got myself out of my vest just letting it fall to the floor behind me.