California

Chapter 4

*TW:shooting, PTSD flashbacks, war zone, violence*

The light shown through the window the next morning, causing me to wake up. I looked around the room to find everyone, including Steve, still sound asleep. Moving slowly as to not disturb Syd whose legs were in my lap, I stood up and walked to the computer to check the security cameras. Once I checked all the camera's current feeds and ran through the video from after we went to sleep, I saw the coast was clear and decided to walk around to stretch my legs. This couldn't be real. The fact the whole country has been affected by this. It's really something out of a movie. It's only a matter of time before cell towers go down. I pulled out my phone to send a text.

Are you okay?-Charlie

I made it to the kitchen area when i received a response.

Yeah. I'm outside of the Cordon. I got back to LA from a trip right after they put it up around my apartment area. Are you okay?-Scott

My fingers hovered over the screen as I debated what to say. I don't talk to Scott much anymore. Ever since the last mission we were on, the one me and Steve were arguing about the day I got shot.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Flashback*

"Come on, Valentino, it'll be fun!"

"Lang, this isn't a game. We're hunting down terrorists. Can you please be serious for once?"

Scott stuck his tongue out at me. "I am being serious. The market is the big thing to do in this godforsaken town. I'm bored. There's nothing going on right now. Come on, please? I know a shortcut!"

I rolled my eyes. We had been stuck in a small town outside of Iraq for three weeks now. There was word of a cell planning another attack on American troops, and our mission was to find them and stop them. So far, there had not been enough activity for us to find what we needed. We were simply told to stay put and lay low until we got something.

"Fine. But try not to draw too much attention to us okay?"

"Are you kidding? We're like the only Americans here. We draw enough attention to ourselves. It doesn't matter what I do."

"I know that, Lang. Just try not to get us killed."

He stood and saluted, not lasting long with a straight face before helping me up and leading the journey to the middle of town. We made it to the market in just a few minutes, browsing each table and taking in the weirdness of some of the items, as well as the beauty of some.

"That scarf would look awesome on you. You should get it." He wriggled his eyebrows at me, wrapping it around my head and neck and grinning.

I asked the woman how much it costs. When she told me the price, I shook my head, it wasn't really worth it. An Iraqi man walked up behind her, whispering in her ear, causing her to get a panicked look on her face, before walking back to the wall where he had just been standing. She waved her hands at me and told me she would give it to me at a discount. I looked at her skeptically. What did the man say to her? I was about to politely decline again when Scott held out some money and gave it to the woman, thanking her and leading me away.

"Why did you do that?" I wondered if he noticed the man.

"Her husband seemed pissed. Must not be making enough money today. Figured I'd help the lady out."

As we walked away, I glanced back at the lady. She wasn't looking at me but I noticed the man was behind her, his eyes focused on me. I couldn't help but feel like Scott was wrong and that's not why the man was angry. But I tried to shake it off and kept walking, gratefully wrapping my present around my head to ward off the sun.

As we made our way back to the house we were staying in, we passed a group of Iraqi children playing soccer. We had become friendly with these kids, mostly to see if we could gather any intel from them, partially because we wanted to show Americans could be nice, and they didn't need to be afraid of us. They waved at us to come over so we did. A little girl named Isa ran over and hugged me. She was my favorite. She was about 3 years old and the sweetest little thing. The innocence in her eyes gave me hope for these people. I know, one little girl can't change the world, but if she stayed this way, hopefully she could lead a good life for herself.

Scott was playing soccer with the other kids while I stood and waited for Isa to go get me her favorite doll. She always brought it out to me, asking me to braid the doll's hair. While I was waiting, I noticed a couple of men lurking in the distance. One of them was the man from the market. My hair stood up on the back of my neck, and i immediately had a bad feeling. Something wasn't right. He was looking over at the children and the house Isa had just gone into.

"Scott." I yelled to grab his attention. When he looked, I waved him over to me. He followed me to the corner of the street. I watched the kids go sit outside the house Isa was in, waiting for Scott to return.

"What's up? I was totally kicking their asses!"

"Something is wrong. The guy from the market is over there. He's watching that house."

"That's weird. I've never seen him out here before. I wonder why he's here."

I looked down at my scarf, the brightly colored cloth that would be hard to miss. I froze. I knew there was something off about the man but I couldn't put my finger on it. I suddenly remembered I saw a file where he was a suspect of terrorism, supposedly part of the cell we were searching for.

"Shit. He followed us here. That must be what he told the woman. He wanted an easy way to keep track of me. He's part of the cell. We have to do som-"

I was interrupted by a blast that threw me and Scott back into the road. Black smoke surrounded us and my ears were ringing.

"Lang!" I coughed out, smoke filling my lungs. I finally spotted him a few feet away rolling over to his knees.

"Valentino! Where are you?"

"Lang! I'm here."

His eyes landed on me and he scrambled to his feet, hurrying over to me.

"Are you hurt?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so. You?"

"I'm fine."

My head cleared enough for me to realize what happened. I spun around to look at the house, only to find it in burning shambles.

"NO!" I took off running. I heard Scott behind me yelling for me to stop, but I didn't listen. Three of the five boys who had been outside were on the ground, dead. The other two were standing over them, yelling, covered in blood. I ran inside the house, careful to avoid any fire. After searching and screaming, I finally saw something in the corner of a room in the back. I ran over, moving debris. Isa. I picked up her lifeless body and carried it outside.

"Charlie! Are you crazy?! What the hell were you thinking, running in there like that!"

He suddenly realized what I was holding and stopped talking. He just stepped back, unable to do or say anything else. More people were starting to flood in, some frantically asking what happened, some crying over the the boys lying on the ground. I walked over to them, gently laying Isa's body next to them. The tears started flowing down my cheeks and I screamed loudly, unable to control my anger. Scott held me as I cried, before finally pulling me away, telling me it was dangerous to still be there.

We got back to our house and called our command to tell them what happened. We found out it was an attack against us. It was to send a message, get out of their town.