Coming Home (#Wattys 2017)

9; Lost

They made camp up in the mountains, far, far away from the compound. Once they finally found a spot under a tree a comfortable distance from the compound, Carrie let it out.

Matt took his duty on watch as Harrison tried to comfort Carrie. "We're going to die here."

She sat on his lap with her head rested against his chest. Harrison could feel her wet tears against his neck. "We're not going to die here."

"Harrison, we're f**king stuck here. In the middle of a f**king desert thousands of f**king miles away from Billie."

He put his arms around her. "It's going to be okay. We're going to make it home."

Carrie simply looked at him with tears staining her cheeks. "How can you say that? We're in the middle of Al-Qaeda territory. They're going to figure out we're here and they're going to kill us."

Harrison undid her helmet and set it gently next to his. He then kissed her passionately. "Carrie, I'm here. Matt's here. Neither of us is going to give up anytime soon. We're going to hold off these thugs until they send a team for us, or we find help."

She didn't look very convinced. "We're going to see Billie again."

At the mention of her daughters name, Carrie lost it again. She slid her glove off her weary hand and let her fingers play with the bracelet Billie gave to her and Harrison. It was made of small rubber bands. Blue was her favorite color so she made two blue ones for her parents.

The bracelet became one of the things Carrie wore the most, after her wedding ring. She absolutely loved the bracelet because Billie made it.

"Let me see your wallet."

Harrison gave her his wallet. "I just need to see her face."

Carrie flipped to the picture of her, Harrison and Billie all at the beach. Carrie stood next to them while he held Billie on his shoulders. Her smile was enough to brighten her mommy's day, but today it was enough to make her cry.

"They didn't make me come," she whispered to herself.

"What?"

"They weren't going to deploy me again. They were going to deploy you," she told her husband. "Because we had Billie they weren't going to make me come."

"Then why did you come? You could've stayed home with B," Harrison asked, raising his voice a bit.

"I came because you were going. I wasn't going to let you go alone after all we've been through."

He relaxed. She was right. There was no one he'd rather have watching his back than her. "Okay. I'm sorry."

Carrie turned her attention back to the photo she was holding. She then cried herself to sleep with the picture in her hand, and Harrison holding her against his chest.

✎✎✎

Billie hopped out of bed and ran into the living room of her grandparents house where they were watching the morning news. To little Billie, they looked sad.

As she wandered around the living room, her attention focused on the tv where her parents were pictured. She looked at her grandparents who were now crying.

"The Navy SEAL's are returning home from a successful mission to kill Osama bin Laden," the tv announced.

Billie began to jump around. "Mommy and daddy are coming home! I'm going to see mommy and daddy real soon!"

"B."

She looked at her grandma. "What grandma? Why are you crying?"

"Come here B."

Billie walked over to her grandma who picked her up and set her on her lap. "Billie, your mommy and daddy aren't coming home right now. They've gone missing."

"Mommy and daddy are missing?"

Her grandma nodded. "I'm sorry B."

"Are mommy and daddy okay?"

"I don't know B."

Billie started to cry. "Are mommy and daddy dead?" She wondered.

"I don't know Billie."

"We gotta go find mommy and daddy!"

"Billie, our military will find them. Or they will find a way to get help themselves. Okay? Your mommy and daddy are some of the most elite soldiers out there. If anyone's going to survive, it's going to be them."

"Okay grandma."

As she slid off her grandmas lap, Billie wasn't sure she'd ever see her mommy and daddy again.

✎✎✎

Carrie woke a few hours later totally on top of a sleeping Harrison. He must've let her lay like this to make it more comfortable for her.

With the guys sleeping, Carrie decided to attempt to find some food and water without straying too far from them. She unclipped her small canteen from her belt and took Harrison's and Matt's as well.

She then moved her suppressor from her assault rifle to her sniper rifle to greatly reduce the noise of the gunshot if she were to find food.

Carrie began walking. A few minutes later she was blessed to come across a small steam of what looked like fresh water. But she wasn't absolutely sure. On her belt was a small pouch that served as a survival kit. It came loaded with water purifiers. To save resources, she only used one package of purifier on three canteens.

After finding water, she searched for food. Wether it was some animal that happened to run out, or even a bird, she was going to shoot it for foot.

After laying next to the stream for about 20 minutes, she found a red fox. A fox wasn't the most ideal thing to eat, but it was certainly going to do right now. Lining up her scope and taking a deep breath, Carrie took down the fox that wasn't more than a 100 yards away.

Once she crossed the stream and found the fox, she realized it was very small. It certainly didn't look that small through the scope. But a fox was a fox and today it was going to serve as food.

Carrie slung the fox over her shoulder and walked back to their camp where Harrison and Matt were looking for her.

"Carrie where were you?" Harrison asked. "I was worried."

"I found food and water," she answered. "There's a stream just over that ridge. And here's lunch." Carrie then dumped the fox off her shoulder. "Get to work."