Chapter Twenty-Four When Day Breaks

When day broke the next morning, Chris told me that he had to leave right away. Four days earlier than he was scheduled to leave. Suspicious, I asked him why he had to return so early. Four days is a lifetime when it comes to spending time with someone in the army. He has been here for just three days and then he breaks this news. He said that one of the guys in his corp was killed so they were two men short, and they almost wouldn't have let Chris come home if it wasn't an absolute emergency. He had to return. They couldn't be two men short, he said. He wanted to stay, but he had to go back. There was an attack at their base and he had to go and help his men out. We said goodbye and he was going to be gone for another five months. At least this was almost over.

The flashback of Chris leaving once again played through my mind as I held the phone to my ear. I was attempting to call him back at the base. He stopped answering my letters.

I was more than upset. Five months without any contact from him was way too long. Especially with him being in the army.

The line went dead. No answer.

I flopped down on the couch and threw the phone across the room and onto the other couch. Addison saw this and she came over to distract me from Chris. He wouldn't answer her calls either. We were extremely worried. She had asked if I wanted to go to the beach but that place can do one thing and one thing only. Remind me of the fun I'd had with Chris.

"C'mon honey" she said rubbing my back "We have to do something today, we can't just sit around like fat lards all day every day"

I laughed. She sounded just like him. Except her voice was, of course, female. Which made it softer. More soothing I guess. But not for me. I needed Chris's voice to soothe me now.

I flopped onto my cot back at the base. One question kept replaying itself in my head.

Why wasn't Nicole answering my letters? She completely criticized me for not answering and now she was the one not answering.

I wasn't angry with her. It was impossible for me to be angry with her. I was simply frustrated. Very frustrated.

I missed her. It's only been a month and I missed her like nobody's business.

Even though I knew that I most likely wouldn't receive an answer, I still wrote Nicole everyday. I told her everything. Every single detail about every single day in the army. This was my last tour afterall.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of my lock box being pulled from under my cot and dropped beside me.

"C'mon man. We have to go. You can write her later. But for now, we have lives to save" Ryan said posing like Superman towards the end.

I dropped my letter to Nicole into the lock box and shoved it back under the cot.

Ryan was like my brother. We had been best friends since before kindergarten. Pretty much the second we both learned to walk, we were running into each other constantly at the park and the rest is history I guess. I told him about all of my problems and he was always there for me. Even after my parents died.

"Alright, let's go then" I laughed and smacked him.

He gave me a hand up and we were off to get changed into our combat gear.

Ryan, Jaxon, Dustin, Corey and I were in a combat group. This was a bad pairing. We were all the best of friends and we always goof around. But when it comes to the real deal, we are always focused and there for one another.

We had split up a bit and were searching a building. Dustin, Ryan and I were together, and Jaxon and Corey were together. As we searched, there were gunshots.

"GET DOWN!!" I screamed, lunging to take cover taking Dustin down with me.

The gunshots continued and ended with Ryan getting hit.

Almost on instinct, I rushed over to help him. I lifted him from the ground and he was in a state of frenzy. This was a good thing. It meant he wasn't going to go unconscious.

The bullet just skinned his arm. Barely got him. But still got him.

I shot up in the air in the direction of whoever hit Ryan, hoping to shoot him down.

I took several shots and I heard someone fall to the ground.

Got him.

"Jaxon!!!!! Corey!!!!"I screamed.

They came running.

"What happened?" Corey asked, concerned.

He took one look at Ryan, clearly in pain and offered to take him back to the base.

"That would be awesome" I said "but be careful, there could be more than one shooter in here"

"A'right boss" he said giving me a sarcastic salute.

I laughed and after that, Dustin, Jaxon and I stayed together. We couldn't afford another one of us getting shot.

Just as we finished searching the building, I heard another gunshot and searing pain ripped through my lower left shoulder.

And I was back with Nicole. On the beach, the way we were when we had first met. We were sitting in silence. But every time that I tried to move closer to her, she moved away.

I saw my mother and father, happier than I had seen them in a long while, outstretching their hands to me.

And I was surrounded by white light. ----------------------------------------------------------------

Uh oh...... What on earth is going to happen??? Is he dead????

You'll have to wait and see >:)

Sorry my lovelies!! Keep commenting and voting you guys mean a lot to me!!

Happy reading!

Eagle_Eye_13 xx