The Love Within The War

Revealing Stories in the Night.

I stop my conversation with Chole as we look in Ross's direction and hear him yell clear. He rushes over to us, I see Leo look around tensely as he takes in all the surroundings. Ross informs us that they found a room to fit all of us for the night, and we sigh with relief. It's been now 12 hours since we left the compound, and I know we are all tired and just want to rest.

We all gather around the room, and Leo starts letting us know the plan of action for tonight. Ross and Amelia will take the first shift of fire watch, and Lee and Xander will be second, he names the rest of the list off then I hear him say my name and he pairs me with Chloe and himself with Peter making us closer to the morning shift.

I stare at him, trying to see why he separated us. He knows we are better as a team. He's been acting weird since he started speeding up and taking charge in the front as we were walking here. He never once looked in my direction after I had stopped Xander from talking to me. What happened these past 5 months? He was so excited to see me, and now it's almost like I don't exist.

This was confirmed when we set up our sleeping areas. The room had some blankets and pillows in a corner on the floor, which I gave to Peter, knowing he probably didn't pack any, seeing as his backpack is small. I brought one of my tactical backpacks, and I made sure my sleeping bag was small enough to fit in. I saw Leo setting up his area by the left entrance of our room, with Ross next to him, and on the other side of the door is Henry with Rob and in the back, there is Rodriguez with Gonzalez. If anyone were to walk in, they'd see a group of men in the form of a triangle one pair and each viewpoint, while the CIA agents take their spot in the middle and Gunny takes a wall area on the left side of them and above Leo and Ross. While Chloe, Lee, Peter, and I are set up on the right side, he is close to Henry and Rob.

As we all get settled in, the chatter starts up again. I look at Leo as he's talking with Ross, Chloe notices my staring as she nudges me. "Hey, it's okay he's just doing his job. He's not intentionally ignoring you." I look at her, wondering how she can sense what I'm thinking. "I'm not worried about that. My life doesn't revolve around him, " I say, trying my best to sound convincing. I see her roll her eyes, and I change the subject. "Can I ask you a question?" She nods."How'd you get paired up with them, anyways?" She looks at me with concern in her eyes. "You don't have to tell me everything if you don't want to." I put my hand over hers, squeezing it, hoping it'll give her some comfort. "No, it's okay, I think I need to tell my story to give myself some comfort." I smile at her and get out my journal so I can notes and add to my piece.

Chloe begins with her family history on how her grandparents were active members in WWII as French resistance fighters, and since then, everyone in her family has been trained in marksmanship and guerilla warfare. She explained how when she turned 18, that's when she started taking her training more seriously and found her calling with the snipper. She also says that she lost her family in the escalating conflict with Russia, leaving her with a profound sense of loss and loneliness. Yet, she found solace and purpose in her mission to defend her homeland and fight for freedom.

I take in everything Chloe has explained to me, happy that she was comfortable opening up to me as we've only just met two days ago.

I check in with her, asking if she wants to continue going or if she's okay stopping for now. She nods her yes and starts explaining how she joined the battalion. "It was a month after my family died, I was getting over my grieving process and was with my family friends who also are a part of the French resistance. We were scouting the area for another safe house after our first one was all filled up with families and orphan children trying to find refuge and not knowing if they could trust the military presence that had now been surrounding them." I nod and take some notes down she continues.

"It was becoming dark, and we saw two vehicles with USMC printed on the side of them, we heard an explosion, and next thing we know, we saw a 7-ton on its side." My eyes widen, knowing very well that this could have been worse, way worse. Chloe pauses and looks at me with concern, "Don't worry, he was fine." I didn't even notice that I had looked over at Leo until she pointed it out. I nod my head and let her continue.

She explains how after that she and her group moved back but still followed the Marines, knowing if the Marines were moving out that there wasn't a safe house around the area. She leads on how she had seen an enemy while they had all taken a short break, she was on the rooftop of a building they were checking out for a safe house and she had shot from a distance of a 100 meters.

"After the Marines heard the shots, they were on high alert," Chloe explained, her eyes distant as she relived the memory. "I knew I had to make my presence known to show them I wasn't a threat. As I descended from the rooftop, I approached cautiously, with my hands up in surrender." She looks at Leo and Ross, probably remembering their resistance to her and the tension both sides had. "They didn't trust me at first," Chloe continued, a wistful smile playing on her lips. "But they were in a tight spot. They needed a sniper, and I was the only one around."

Chole looks around the room, and I catch her looking at Leo and Ross again. I'm sure they gave her a hard time, especially Leo, with how untrustworthy he can be when first meeting new people. He's a protector, and if she met them right after the incident, then he probably was the hardest one on her, making her prove herself.

"It wasn't an easy decision," Chloe admitted, her gaze flickering with a mix of determination and vulnerability. "But I knew I couldn't turn my back on the opportunity to make a difference, to fight for something greater than myself."

I thank Chloe for letting me in on her story and giving me some information on what happened before I got here. With that, we both head to our sleeping bags, still hearing some chattering going on, and I drift into sleep.