Where two fronts meet

Chapter five. First Deployment.

'Remember the first deployment we went on?'

- 16 months ago -

'We stay here for the night.' I head into the building and take my bag off. It's one open room but if everyone lines out there's enough space. 'You okay?' I turn to look at Carter, wiping sweat off of my forehead. 'I suggest making little spaces between your bags to sleep in. That's all the privacy you'll have.' I set my weapon down, taking a seat on my bag. 'I'm fine. You?' I ask. 'Yeah.' He lays his bag down, lined out with the rest of em. 'One hell of a day, huh?' I breathe out, smiling and shaking my head.

Helmet and vest off I lay between mine and Carter's bag. It's quiet besides snoring from some of the guys, but no gunfire.

'Up! Everyone get your shit and get up!' The yelling wakes me, and the sound of gunfire reaches me. It's the break of dawn as an explosion sounds to close to us. I get up, grabbing my vest. 'Get down! RPG!' before I can respond Carter pulls me down to him and covers me as dust and debris comes flying in. 'You alright?' I nod as he pulls me back up. I put my vest on and fasten my helmet before swinging the strap of my weapon over my head. Carter is done by the time I have my bag in my hand.

'Let's go! Everyone out!'I head out and land in immediate chaos. 'Move move move.' I follow the others as smoke and dust surrounds us. 'Take cover!' Right when someone yells it a deafening bang rings through my ears. The blast can be felt. It's hard to see anything in the smoke so I keep going as another bang rumbles in my chest. 'It's getting closer! Move.' I hurry past the rocks and craters to find something to get behind but the best thing is a wall a few yards down.

I look behind me to check if Carter's still there. 'I'm here just go.' I sprint to the wall. 'Hey! Stop! Watch out!' An RPG lands in front of me and the guy ahead of me gets blown. I see pieces of him fly around as I get blow back. The impact taking the air out of my lungs. My ears are ringing as I struggle to breathe in. Carter's in front of me in an instant, 'ya there?' I nod, still struggling to breathe. Finally I get some air, hand breathe in with struggle. 'You hurt?' I shake my head, so he grabs me and picks me up 'keep going.' He says as he pushes me ahead. I continue on my way, struggling on the first few steps but getting my footing back soon enough. I run over. 'Again! Watch it!' I sprint with all I have to get out of there before it lands, but the blast pushes me forward. I land on my arm, feeling something cut deep into the skin. I crawl up, looking behind me. Carter's down. 'Carter!' I move over but he holds up his hand 'keep going.' He says as he gestures forward.

He pushes himself off the ground and starts on his way again, so I go too. We finally reach the wall and I slump down against it. 'Shit.' I hear next to me. I turn to look at Carter as he grabs hold of my leg, pulling open my lower leg pocket, taking out a pressure bandage. And grabbing my hand. Only then do I notice the trail of blood and how soaked my sleeve is. He rips open the buttons on the bottom of my sleeve and pulls it up. 'How's it look?' I ask as he puts the bandage on. 'Nasty.' He wraps me up before meeting my eyes 'hurt anywhere else?' I shake my head, but with the adrenaline pumping through me I don't even feel my arm. 'You?' I ask. He looks down, lifting his gear a bit to show a blood stain on his uniform. 'We gotta move.'

We get to our feet and move again.

At the end of that day when we get back to a safe location, the pain and exhaustion sets in. I sit on my bunk, taking off my boots after the medic patched my arm up. Carter comes in and drops his stuff down on the bed before sitting down and taking his vest off. The stain in his shirt got worse. 'You should get that checked out.' I say. 'It's fine, nothing I can't patch up.' He slips his shirt off to show a cut on his side. He has the right stuff to work with, but holding the cut closed and taping it down doesn't work with two hands, so I go over. I kneel down in front of him and take this little things from him. He holds the cut together as I put them on. Four done and I take the big bandaid off the bed and undo the paper on the back before laying it over the cut and gently rubbing down the sticky side. His flinches at my touch every now and then, but I'm done soon enough. 'Thank you.' I get up 'You're welcome.'

That night there's a bonfire, and I head over. I take my seat after getting a glass of soda and watch the fire as guys mess around. I'm at a table with a card game going on. 'Mind if I join?' It's Carter. 'Sure, we're about to start a new round.' Morrison says. They hand out the cards and play a round before Carter tries to shuffle the cards. He keeps dropping them and having to stop shuffling, making us all laugh at how clumsy it looks. 'Good thing shuffling cards ain't your specialty sargeant.' I tease. The guys laugh 'we finally found something he's not good at someone else joins in. He looks up from the card and meets my eyes from across the table, laughing a little and shaking his head while I grin back at him.

- now -

I nod 'yeah.' He hums, taking the orange slice I hold out for him. 'Getting paired up with you wasn't a coincidence. Not after that first mission we went on.' He tells me. The first mission we had He was paired with Morrison, but he kept falling back to check on me or help me out. 'You asked for that?' He nods, swallowing before grabbing his coffee and swirling it around in his cup. 'There's so much.' He says.

'Carter! Sarge. Good to see you up and running again.'

I look up to notice Graves. Aiden gives him and smile and a nod as he sits down in front of us. 'Missed you in debrief after I heard ya'll were back.' They chat as I keep eating my orange before drinking my tea, noticing I have to start walking back soon. I finish up and get up 'I have to get back, you to keep chatting.' I say Carter looks up at me, clearly sorry for me walking back by my self but I give him a smile. 'See you around corporal!' Graves says. I give a wave as I walk back.