War of Hearts

Prologue

Five Years Ago

The blistering heat of the San Antonio sun beat down on Sabrina. Her and her squad proceeded in their dismounted patrol. There was tension in the air, an unease and nervousness clinging to them the same way their sweat had their uniforms stuck against their skin. She kept her eyes peeled, taking point and watching for any signs of trouble. The tall grass was poking at her sides, something that might irritate most, but it kept her grounded, alert. She looked down at it for a moment. "Hold up," she said, raising her fist in the air signaling for her team to pause. What should have been a cluster of yellow and tan weeds was stained with red. Blood. "Stay sharp, got eyes on some blood. Let's see if we can find the source."

Her fellow combatants followed suit, some staying high while others crouched to the ground, advancing more slowly and trying to find any possible danger or soldiers needing help. Sabrina signaled for Anderson to take point in her place so she could start tracking. He jumped ahead in her place, not questioning the direction. Her team followed her instructions to the letter, regardless of their shared status. She had earned their high regards, fighting with and for them, sharing her knowledge and helping them whenever she could. She had a kind but firm way about her that commanded respect from all who knew her; a natural leader of her rag-tag team.

The trail started to become clearer, "whoever the cause of this is, they're losing a lot of blood," muttered Diaz. Sabrina spoke again, "we need to find them, fast."

A twig snapped several yards away, she whipped her head towards it and saw three enemy soldiers taking aim at her and her team. "Contact right!"

A barrage erupted, the sound of hollow popping rattling off all around them. Sabrina saw Carter freeze, breathing shakily. The enemy was outnumbered, they just needed to stand their ground long enough for her team to actually manage to hit them...

"Push up, push up!" She shouted, urging them to engage. Carter raised her firearm but dropped to a crouch in a hesitant attempt to start laying down fire.

"Hey, c'mon on your feet, move!" Anderson hit a soldier right in the chest and he dramatically fell to the ground, two now remaining. "Diaz, cover me!" Sabrina crouched next to Carter, "Look at me, we got this. You take the one on the right, I've got the one on the left." Confident she would snap out if it, Sabrina took aim and made the shot, hearing another a second later. Both enemies dropped to the ground as a deep exhale sounded next to her. She lay a hand on her shoulder, "nice work."

"Clear!" Anderson shouted. Sabrina offered a hand to help Carter rise. Sweaty palms collided, and she was pulled back up, her team ready to advance again.

"Well that wasn't so bad" said Diaz, "honestly I thought they were gonna hit us with- "

A distant boom sent a flock of birds to the sky from a tree line nearby. Everybody making the conscious choice to waste precious seconds to slowly turn to him and glare. "You just had to say something. Didn't you?" Teased Anderson. Then, in unison, they moved.

A few cries for help began to sound in the direction of the explosion, forcing their run into a sprint. They navigated into the trees on high alert, making their way towards the sound of the screaming. They arrived on the scene shortly followed by another squad from their unit. It was a massacre. Blood and body parts were everywhere, wounded soldiers were scattered throughout the forest crying out in pain, several more lay unresponsive. "...whoa" Anderson muttered, almost in awe. "yeah...whoa." Echoed Carter. Sabrina wouldn't allow herself to react outwardly, not risking any panic spreading amongst her squad. "We need to start triaging, spread out and let's see what we've got."

The opposite team got to work on a few soldiers, her own taking the rest. She walked up to a  man who was screaming his pain and holding his leg, or at least what used to be his leg, now a shredded mess. She began her blood sweep, identifying any and all possible injuries, not allowing herself to get tunnel vision on just his leg. "Hey, hey, I need you to stay calm okay? Tell me your name." She needed to keep him talking to know if he was still breathing and awake while she worked. "M- Matthews" the man choked out. "Alright, Matthews, I'm Murphey, I'm gonna get you out of here alright?" Seeing no other major injuries, she began working on the leg, a compound fracture jetting out of his calf. The bone, oddly enough, was plugging the muscle injury, which greatly reduced his chances of bleeding out. She couldn't set it, so she bandaged it loosely and looked at Matthews. "Hey look at me, do not look at that leg. I'm going to be right back, count down from 100 so I know you're still with me. If you get cold or tired, yell out. I'm not leaving you, but I gotta go check on the rest of your team, okay?" She didn't leave him any room to doubt, but he only gave a weak nod. "Nah, Matthews, let me hear you say it. Okay." He repeated the word back to her. "Good, remember, cold or sleepy, you yell. I'll be back."