After serving his country overseas for a decade, being in Iraq and Afghanistan during active war, 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐬. Staff Sergeant Nathan Grimes finds himself on the front lines yet again. This time however, was diff...
Acoustic shock. That's the first thing I focused on after my body jolted awake from being knocked unconscious. The high-pitched ringing noise threatened my sanity as it sent my eyes rolling into the back of my head. It was torturing my soul and caused me to forcibly push my head backwards into the cement slab I laid against. As sad as it is, the thought of beating my head into it repeatedly sounded like heaven in comparison. Anything to make it stop.
My body fought like hell, trying to come back down to reality. The more alert I became, the more I realized just how much pain I was truly in. My eyes squeezed shut as my body internally belted out at the sensation. On the other hand, verbally, my lips remained barely parted as I groaned deeply.
The crippling ring finally started to decrease in volume when an elephant-sized amount of weight felt like it was crushing against my chest. "Just let me go." I mumbled.
Misery. That's all I could think of to describe it. The excruciating part of it all was that I didn't have a clue what was happening to my family. Did they make it out, or would they suffer before death like I am now?
My fingers wiggled down at my side as I tried to power through the urge to take my own life. My warrior death was taken away, but now all I wanted was to leave the world by my own hand. The world didn't deserve my last breath. My head leaned up to check my surroundings as a fit of coughing high jacked my body. The metallic taste danced around on my taste buds, and at the same time, my eyes lids started to feel like cinder blocks.
"Nate!" Who was that?
"Squeeze my hand if you can hear me." Have you grabbed my hand yet?
"They've almost got us out!" Please leave me. I just want it to end.
A ray of light breaks through the thick clouds of debris. I'm being lifted from the cold cement floor while looking for an explanation, just as I answered my own confusion.
"Jesus Christ," I muttered. The feeling of regaining control over my limbs is like being struck by lightning.
Pain was subsiding as my survival instincts were rushing through my body, making it now tolerable to function again.
