chaos (jake morgan)

Present Day


The desert of Afghanistan was hot and rife with the dead. I was stationed here after the country fell apart. Our C.O. ( commanding officer) was in an uproar of joy when we were deployed out of fort Drum. Maybe because he wanted to die or maybe because we were the first mountain division out of NY to be sent. Either way, Only two things were bombarding my senses when we stepped off the plane: Sand..and blood.

We'd had strict orders to stay clear of the border. A reporter had been abducted after crossing a checkpoint into the Pakistani mountains and word from the brass was to let NATO and the UN take care of the delicate stuff. Our C.O.' s ambition reared its ugly head and his orders were to hurtle ourselves into a search and rescue mission so we could bring honor and glory to American troops everywhere. The Irony was cruel.

We crossed through the checkpoint, the C.O. handing the border troops some bull about having to do recon that had been authorized by Petreus himself.
The mountain towns weren't anything like what you'd think from the rumors of Osama around them. The people tried to be friendly or at least they seemed as much but none of us spoke Urdu or Farsi and all I had to go on was the smiles and clasped hands. It was sad really. People like this don't deserve to be casualties of war.
The trip would have been long but the army had posted the GPS coordinates of the reporters last known whereabouts and we just happened to be in posses ion of Lockheed martin's best. We crept around a jagged cliff and onto flatland. It was a small nook between the cliff we traversed and an parallel cliff. We stopped for a second to rest and I pulled off my boot to check my blisters. It was gone. What I hadn't told my C.O. was that after we got off the plane for days before this, strange things had been happening. Wounds healing too quickly, Feeling cool in hundred degree whether, and one of the nights I could swear I woke up back in a real bed before I blinked and saw myself in my cot. Things I'd...wanted to an extent were happening.

We closed into a narrow pass and on the other side we met trouble. The C.O. rounded a corner and his body fell back with a round in his head. The unit rushed around, guns a blazing, blasting wildly at a group of insurgency. There were hits on both sides. Most of our men went down, but my shots were good and any bullets that managed to hit me didn't hurt. One of them ran from a cave and with only seconds to spare, fired a barrage of bullets at me. I felt each one penetrate me but whatever this power was, it saved my life. I winced, drew my desert eagle and fired at him point blank. I entered the cave and slowly edged to the back, gun held ready. On the ground towards the back of the small cave lay a man wearing tattered clothes and a press pass. I crouched down, placing my arm under his ,lifting him and straddling him slowly. I heard the roars of gunfire and the sounds of F-15's flying overhead. We inched to the cave entrance and the reporter couched, " what's happening?" One of the insurgents ran towards us pressing the button of a plastic explosive. "Chaos" I said. The split second I had wasn't enough. The explosion engulfed us both . It was quick.