Home For Fall // Emison and PLL

Deployment : Day 01

Emily sat up against the wall of the helicopter with the pit in her stomach only growing deeper. A couple of the other soldiers in her squadron grimly faced away from each other. They stared out the open sides of the Helicopter's metal body so that they could see the dunes of Afghanistan.

She couldn't imagine what they must've been thinking. They were probably as scared as she was.

She fixed her helmet so that it didn't fall over her eyes. The picture of her dad in his handsome dress blues was attached to the inside of it. Emily often looked at it from time to time when she was feeling anxious or lonely. She had a couple other pictures back at the base in California of her friends.

She had secretly snuck a couple of them in her pockets, as well as a few letters from her friend Hanna.

Hanna loved to discuss how things were going for her at FIT, the prestigious fashion school in New York. Spencer often bragged how amazing Georgetown was. Even Aria was in love wth NYU and probably a couple of the teachers who worked there.

Emily was happy for her friends because they were happy, but she was also jealous. They had all found a place where they felt they belonged. She had dropped out of college to join the army.

Although Charlotte had been unmasked, Emily couldn't help but be startled in her sleep every now and then as she feared A's notorious return.

Emily figured since she already had PTSD from the many years of torture and the murder she had committed, joining the military was her best bet. There were no questions as to what branch, either. She chose the Army just like her dad.

"STAY ALERT. WE LAND IN FOUR MINUTES," one of the gunmen yelled over the deafening roar of the propellers.

All of the soldiers in the helicopter tensed up. They had prepared for this mission for months. Emily had prepared for this moment for months.

She gripped the M-14 that was strapped to her chest and fingered the trigger. I'm going to have to pull this today. She thought to herself.

Immediately as the helicopter's ski bottoms hit the sand, the loud sounds of screaming and gunshots erupted from the desert. Aggressors had been waiting for them to arrive.

Emily could hear the sound of bullets whizzing by her ear as she jumped to the side and ducked behind a large metal container. It clanged and groaned as bullets ricocheted off of its sides.

One of the terrified soldiers next to her who positioned his rifle to shoot fell back against the ground, a small hole leaking bright red blood in the center of his helmet.

For the first time in a while Emily missed Alison Dilaurentis and didn't push her feelings aside. She imagined Ali's long curly blonde hair, her two deep, adorable dimples, and her bright blue eyes. Her eyes reminded Emily of the pool she used to adore swimming in. They were so clear and cool.

More bullets flew by. One of the soldiers turned to Emily. "GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE AND HELP FUCKING FIGHT, FIELDS! WE'RE BEING SWAMPED!" he shouted.

Emily's nervous and shaking hands clicked the safety latch forward and aimed for one of the aggressors laying in the grass. He was shouting something in Arabic towards the others with him. Emily couldn't tell how many there were. She didn't care. All she knew was that they had to die. She didn't want to kill them, but she had to.

She pulled the trigger and felt as her rifle gave way and the man in the grass fell face first into the sand and remained still. The shock wasn't nearly as bad as when she killed Nate. As weird as it was, she felt almost used to it.

Eventually the fighting stopped. The desert became still. Out of ten of the Army's soldiers, four of them were killed in active combat. The bodies of the aggressors lay nearby. Emily shot three of them and there were sixteen.

The gunmen from earlier turned towards what remained of the soldiers, including Emily and shouted, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the battlefront."