Intrepid Hearts

12: The Captain

THIRD PERSON'S POV
SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN, ACROSS THE BORDER TO PAKISTAN,
10TH JANUARY, 2022.

A gash of radiant light broke through the cauldron black sky. As the American female soldiers rolled back into their hiding spots, more explosive sounds and gunshots were produced by the Afghanistan soldiers.  Some were able to roll back in without blood being spilled from their bodies where as Balefire-red blood splattered from others' gaping wounds.

"Where is she at?" The first Lieutenant General in charge of the mission, thundered loudly casually dodging a bullet before ducking her head down.

They were clobbering and clubbing against their shield wall under a moonless sky. A windstorm of riffled bullets was skirling and sizzling through the bitumen-black sky. "We're not sure, ma'am. She's been gone for almost thirty minutes now." One of the younger soldiers managed to croak out despite her difficult efforts of breathing properly.

The Lieutenant General hissed for the umpteenth time, gritting her teeth. They had been anxiously waiting for her for so long now and it seems to appear that her arrival wasn't coming anytime soon. "Okay. I need you all to lower your weapons and remain in the same position as you already her! We can't afford to lose more soldiers," she kept her riffle on her chest, laying back on the sacks of cements they were hiding behind. "..I'll handle her later." She murmured the last part to herself.

The Captain instructed the other male soldiers to set up explosives on the other region where there Afghanistan soldiers were taking cover. While she herself held onto the little button which would cause the explosion. That alone took her almost an hour. Knowing fully well that she would receive an earful or worst, a punishment she decided to grab a snack before she returned their initial station.

On her way back, she was met with a soldier which she instantly recognised as one of their newest soldiers. She doesn't even know why new inexperience soldiers are deployed to war zones as dangerous as this. It will only lead to more number of deaths.

Heaving out a sigh of frustration, she ran over to the new soldier whom was sobbing behind a large tree. She squatted to her level before shooting her eyes up to meet hers. "What are you doing here? Betraying our nation before you even began serving it!?" Her voice came out stern and stoic but it was only because she had to not because she wanted to.

She knew what and how she felt because she too had gone through all these. But as a newly assigned captain, she had to own up to her uniform. "It has been my dream to become a soldier ever since I was in 9th grade. Why didn't anyone warn me that it was this scary?" The new soldier sobbed when harder. Her helmet was barely on her head revealing her dirty blonde hair.

Don't.

Don't.

Don't.

Shaking off all the voices in her head that warned her against it, she sat next to her. She knew this was wasting more time but if it means restoring the girl's courage and reassuring her that she didn't hold onto the wrong dream for years, then yes, she's more than willing to waste some time.

"For years, I have always wondered what it would be like to live in the Stone Age -- and now I know. I see it every day all around me. People walking around in clothes that haven't been washed, ones they have worn for years. Children with hair white from days of dust build-up. Six-year-old girls carrying around their baby brothers. Eyes that tell a story of years of hardship. Houses made of mud and wooden poles, squares cut out for windows. We are Americans and no matter how much we claim to struggle, it's not compared to what these people are going through...."