Their Scars (COMPLETE)

Chapter 13

Collin woke up with a strangled scream. His whole body was shaking and cold sweat covered his head. He couldn't stop shivering. As much as he hated nightmares, he had gotten used to waking up in the middle of them. He felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Kayla," He said, adjusting his eyes, but seeing nothing.
"Collin, it's me." She said softly, stroking his shoulder. He took a deep breath and relaxed. He started breathing again, feeling the panic recede from the lump in his throat.
"What happened?" She asked.
He shook his head, "Just a bad dream." He said, pulling her closer and nuzzling his face into her neck. The nightmare was still fresh in his mind and he knew that she would want to know what had caused it.
"I woke up for a drink; I heard you screaming." She said, looking into his eyes.
"Yeah, sorry, I just had a nightmare," Collin said, putting his head on his pillow.
"Was it something that happened to you?" Kayla asked.
"Something about the desert. It happened not long before I came here." He took a deep breath.
"I used to work in the desert. There was a group of people who were coming to live here, at this outpost. It was some guys from my unit escorting them. Men, women, kids. We hit a roadblock that a group of raiders had made. They were going to raid the convoy. They were on us like a pack of wolves. We fought them off as best we could. One of my friends was driving a supply truck at the front of the line. He broke through the block, but someone threw a grenade at it. The truck exploded in fire and smoke. We saw bodies. They were all burned up and unrecognizable. The driver of the truck I was in was shot. My friends were in the cab; I was in the back with the cargo. The truck crashed. Some stuff landed on me and I couldn't get out. I saw when they started killing everyone. The little kids, the women. They kidnapped a few but were mostly there for weapons and food. They killed the guys in my squad execution style. Then they burned the bodies. The only reason I survived was they didn't find me. I crawled out of the wreckage and tried to run. I fell into a ditch. I was coughing on air and I couldn't get up. A backup unit came in, but by then it was too late. The attackers had fled. What I saw was horrible, Kayla. I couldn't even tell who someone else's body was because all their skin had burned off." Collin was silent for a minute. Kayla was silent on the other side of the bed. "Just the worst possible thing you could see."Collin broke down sobbing.
Kayla hugged him. He buried his face in her neck and cried uncontrollably. She held him close. After a while, he calmed down a little bit. He wiped his nose and sniffed loudly, trying hard to collect himself.
"I'll never be able to get those images out of my mind! I won't ever forget them!" He sobbed, burying his face in her shoulder.
"Oh Collin, I'm so sorry," Kayla said sympathetically. She rubbed his back gently and waited until he stopped crying.
"You don't need to apologize." He mumbled, wiping his tears off his cheeks.
"You're safe now."She said, fixing his blankets around him.

Collin was crying harder."I can't get that fucking image out of my head. I haven't slept since." He sobbed.
"Shh. Shh. You'll be ok." Kayla cooed.
She held him close.
God, I can't believe I told her so much. He thought, shuddering.
"If only I hadn't gotten trapped. We might have had a chance. "
"Collin," Kayla said, cupping his face with her hands. "It wasn't your fault." She looked at him, giving him the biggest smile she could muster.
What Collin had survived was a mere blip in time compared to the years of torture Kayla had gone through. She had been raped on a regular basis from the time she was a little girl. What Collin had lived through was one night.

"It was me!" He yelled, starting to cry again." I was supposed to be the one behind the wheel. I was in the back because there wasn't any room in the cab. It was me, not them."

"Collin," Kayla whispered.
"I should be dead! Not them. Not them!" Collin said, covering his head with his hands.
"Collin. You are alive." She said, hugging him tighter. "And you are not alone anymore." Kayla put her arms around him as he buried his face in her shoulder. "No, it wasn't you," She said. "You couldn't have stopped it. Bad things happened, Collin. It wasn't your fault."
He continued to sob for hours. Kayla just held him, not saying anything. She understood his pain. He knew it, she knew it, and she was there for him. She knew what he was thinking. It must have been terrifying. It must have been awful. It must have been horrible. No wonder he wanted her so badly. He needed her.
Collin was grateful for Kayla and her strength. He cried for an hour, and then a couple more. He cried for everything. For every bad thing, every bad person, every terrible situation that had happened since he arrived here. He cried because he hated the desert. He cried because there weren't many people he could trust. He cried because he wasn't the fearless fighter Kayla needed. She needed the bravery he possessed, not the fear of death. She didn't need the cowardice; she needed the heart. She needed to know it wasn't hopeless. She needed to know that there was good in everything. He needed to tell her how important she was to him. But he couldn't tell her, not yet. It was hard to believe her words, though. Harder than anything else he had faced.
When he finally calmed down, he and Kayla dozed off side by side, knowing they were safe with each other.