Two Man's War

Inhale confidence, exhale doubt

Austin's POV
I woke up shivering on the cold ground. The fire has mostly died down leaving behind a small flame. Everyone else seemed to be asleep by the fire.

I probably should have slept by it but I was too exhausted. I laid back down, trying hard to get myself to go back asleep despite the cold temperatures. No matter how hard I tried, I never could find myself comfortable again. However, after a while I found myself drifting off into sleep. 

***************

I awoke, again, to the sun blinding me temporarily, until my eyes adjusted to the light. Although it was bright outside, somehow the ground still had frost on it and it still felt like forty degrees or less. My coughing had died down but that wasn't the last symptom. I had begun to feel a hard migraine rushing to my head. By now, almost everyone was awake. I looked into the medical station we set up and noticed Gally was also still sleeping. His leg was wrapped with a stained blood red cloth that used to be white.

Otherwise, he looked to be okay. The commander began walking towards me. When he got to me, I looked up at him from where I was sitting.

"Hello." I say awkwardly. He sat down next to me.

"Before everyone fell asleep, I went back to the field. I wanted to find answers to who set off the traps. I saw someone and hid behind a tree. Wanna know what they said?" The commander asked.

4 hours earlier- Commander's POV
Walking through the tattered field, I suddenly heard voices. Foreign voices. I ducked behind a tree and tried to listen at their conversation.

Voice 1- "Do you think we got them?"

Voice 2-"Yeah. That trap covered most of the field. I'm sure no one survived. It'd be a miracle if they did."

1-"True. Even though that trap was only for emergencies, we needed revenge for them killing two of our guys."

2-"Let's go back to base. We can mark this on the map."

Back to present day
"So, I think they saw Zane and Tom. Those two probably killed the other terrorist men they were speaking of. In my opinion, we should have come more prepared." I told Austin who leaned his head back against a small backpack.

"In what way?" He asked lazily.

"Like, maybe we should have brought MWDs and thought this through more." MWDs were dogs that smelled bombs and such sorts.

"MWDs would have helped but we can't mourn on what we should have done. This isn't the past and we can't do anything to change it. Let's think about now." Austin made a good point.

"Thanks." I got up and walked away to leave Austin alone. He looked like he needed rest.

"Okay, everyone listen up." I yelled so the whole camp could hear me. "Tomorrow I'm gonna take a group out and look for things. Today will just be a day of restoration." I said. Everyone agreed.

Zane's POV
We walked and walked for hours away from the small lake. We had been walking only on our memories. We had tried hard to remember what we saw while being chased although we couldn't remember much; just certain shaped rocks and trees. One method we used to tell the time was where the sun was in the sky, not that the time of day mattered.

Suddenly, we came to an abrupt stop.

"Woah." I murmured as I stood peering over the edge of a canyon we were on the top of.

"Guess we have to turn around, unless we go down." Tom said. I looked at him like he was crazy.

"You what to go down a canyon? How? We can't get down this!" I said to him.

"I think the sides are very steep but just steep enough that we can walk down it." He said.

"But they might not be down there."

"Then what's that?" Tom pointed to smoke off in the distance.

"Okay, well then the is only one way to find out whether it is terrorists or not."

"And how's that?" Tom asked.

"We go and find out." At that, we began carefully climbing down the rugged canyon.

Chief's POV
"It's been dead silence over the radio for over a day. All tracking has been destroyed from that bomb the commander told me about. Is there any way we can track them?" I asked everyone in the room.

"Sir, there is one way. We can divert the broadcast in the Walkie to an American satellite and position the satellite over the broadcast. We can modify the position and project images with a three second time span apart from each other." One of the men at the computers replied.

"Well what are you waiting for? Do it!" I yelled at everyone. They turned around to face their computers and began to type code into their screens.

"One warning, sir." One man began. "This could be forbidden by the General. If it is and the general finds out, it won't end well."

I paused to think about what he said.

"Well, we have to save our men somehow. Continue through with it." I said.

I wasn't going to tell the general about it unless he asked. I would wait until every person is back safe at this base to tell him. I know he would be absolutely furious if he found out. However, I couldn't let every second go by without trying to help the men. They could be dead for all I know, but I still had to try.

Which brings me to the next thought: who was I trying for? After thought, I had decided to go through with this risk for the men out there risking their lives to save their brothers. It's for America to represent how strong we are and not to ever lose hope. It's to teach those terrorists a lesson on who they are fighting. They will not win, nor will they ever. We are America, land of the free and home of the brave. We are united as one.

Suddenly, a crackle came on one of the few Walkie's still working.