I'm home.

Chapter 1

"Go go go go go!" Everyone runs for the building. Bullets fly left from right. The air is humid and ground is dry, it smells like sweat. George is on my left running as fast as he can to get to cover so he can take a shot. He is the best sniper we have in our unit. A man throws a grenade toward us and we all dive for cover.

"Billy!" Someone screams. I look to my left and Billy has been hit. I sprint over to the both of them and grab Billy's arm. We both carry Billy to safety. He's been shot in the left leg and the right shoulder. I grab a towel from my pack and rip it in half. I put half of it on the wound on his shoulder and the other half on his left leg. I grab my radio and turn it on.

"Man down we have a man down, we need back up quick and a bus, over."

"Copy."

"Billy? Billy look at me your gonna be fine! Hold on!"

A guy throws a grenade at a group of our men. I point and shoot. He's down.

"Ahhhhh!" I look over and Billy has been shot in the other shoulder. I run over and pull him behind a brick wall.

I run up by George who is set up with his gun on a box. I duck behind a box. I position myself to shoot. One wrong move, one second guess and I could be hit. I see a couple of our men down and I see the enemy. It looks like 35 men are running toward the building. Half of us shoot while a couple of the others position themselves, some grabbing the men that are down.

"Where the hell are those men?" George yells.

We keep firing. Billy is gonna bleed out if they don't come soon! We already lost half our men and I don't plan on losing the rest of them! George hits three guys. I point and shoot. Im out. I grab another set of bullets and reload.

"Smith I got to get on higher ground! I'm not making most of these shots and It could be an advantage point! Cover me when I say!" I get in position. I wait for his signal. "Now!" I fire at them while he runs for the stairs.

John runs toward me and gets behind a box. He positions his gun on the box. Billy isn't looking so good!

"Where the hell is the back up?"

We keep firing. A grenade is thrown into the building. It blows up ten feet from me. My ears ring. I can't hear anything. I turn toward John who must be yelling my name. I read his lips.

"Smith can you hear me?" I blink a couple times. It takes a little bit but my hearing comes back. "Smith you alright?"

"Yah." I get back to shooting position. More and more grenades are thrown. I check Billy's pulse, he's still alive but not for long. "This would be a great time for back up!"

A man carrying a rocket launcher points it straight at us. I try to shoot but I wasn't quick enough. The rocket shoots toward the building and it blows into flames. I cover my face with my shirt. I grab Billy who is against the wall. "John we got to go to safety! Another building somewhere to get higher ground!" Then I remember George telling me that he was going to get higher ground. "George! Here take Billy find higher ground and make sure to get him out of the fire, go!" John runs with Billy on his shoulders. I run up the stairs to where George was heading. The smoke is even worse up here! I run to the highest level and search for George by an open window! Nothing. I run to the next floor and find George knocked out by the smoke. I grab him and carry him out. When we get to the closest exit I see our US medical tank and John carrying Billy to it. I sprint with George on my back. I hand him off to the medical team. The back up has come, John and I run to higher ground to get a better shot. There's nothing to shoot, everything is under control now. We run to help out with the wounded. A lot of them have really bad burns from the rocket launcher, that I could have stopped from being fired if I would have shot a second before.

"Smith!" I look over and see even more bodies, I rush over to carry them to the medical tanks that showed up moments before. There's so many of them. All the men that can walk are carrying someone to the tanks.
Once everyone is in the tanks we head back to the base. I couldn't sleep that night. What if I was Billy, what if I got shot? What if my wounds were to serious to treat? I would never see my little girl or my husband again. My little girl is six, seven now. I sent her a letter on her birthday saying that I love her and I will see her soon. That was 8 months ago. I dream about seeing her and my husband, at home eating dinner and me walking through the front door.

That's my motivation. I will get home to my husband and my little girl someday! I will see them again!