Lost But Not Forgotten [On Hold]

Chapter 2

Daniel Robertson's P.O.V

November 6, 2026

Alexander is dead.

I had sat through it all but that didn't mean I listened. At least not like how I should have. If the scratch of the chalk on the blackboard had become intolerable then the calm Sergeant's voice of arrogance was intoxicating. He strategized on the board pure mockery.

Still, It was laid all out, each detail of how they wanted it to go. Breaking the battalion into companies and all the way to our squad. For heaven sakes, they even made a visual representation of the opportune outcome for every action! But they left out the one detail, the lie underneath it all, we were going to die.

It was common knowledge in our line of military work that those in command would give you a bare minimum amount of information at least at first of your missions. That is only up until they believed it to be your last because they want each man to know how he died. Maybe then he could answer the why of it.

Operation Doom's Day was the name adopted by any mission of impending death as went the boy's ritual, but if anything this was the real deal and nicknames suddenly didn't fit in the picture. This was probably because there was more against us than merely the Sergeant's long run down and we all knew it.

And Alexander is dead.

"Ah! Stop remembering!" I thought "it will just make me angry."

I took short even breaths as I tried to suppress the tiniest of recollections.

Again, I almost snapped. I wanted to jump in his face and shout, "Just tell us how we should die already!" but I just stood staring, seeing nothing.

Gorilla warfare was how we fought. No honest glory, no true honor, just gruesome means of getting the upper hand on the enemy. Still the terrorist won. They always won no matter what we did.

I hated that. Hell, most of what we did was necessary but it was how that now was killing me. Every action of the military had done was without care, as if there was nothing to lose.

I had convinced myself I could be the pawn, run for it knowing I'd only be smacked down. I could if it wasn't to satisfy the narcissism of those ultimately to blame. Even If it was for a lost cause, but not a forgotten purpose.

And my best friend's death was the proof that would never be the case. A pawn would always make the tiny steps of no significance in the game of chess we'd been set up to play.

"Private Robertson!"

"Yes, Sir!" I answered the Platoon Sergeant while thinking to myself "oh god, I've been caught!"

P.S. This is a lot shorter than the first chapter but still is important to the story line.  Hope you like the book so far! Comment and vote of course if you do. thanks for reading!