Coming Home (#Wattys 2017)

10; Setbacks

"Harrison we have a problem."

He immediately spun around to see her packing all her things. After waiting a week for a possible rescue, they gave up on it. The army didn't know where they were. They were going to have to find help themselves.

With the map Carrie had, and Harrison being able to tell the directions via the sun, they were able to figure out their current position. Surrounding them was mountains to the north and desert plains to the south. There was an American embassy in the capital city of Islamabad. It wasn't very far away from their current position. The other option was to try and cross into India then to China. But without the proper gear, that wasn't going to be possible. So trying to find the American embassy would be the best bet.

"Harrison?"

He looked up from packing his belt to see her not even wearing her vest yet. "What are you doing?"

She turned around to face him with her hand on her belly. His first thought was that she might have cramps or something, since she sometimes acted weird. "What?"

"Feel this."

"Feel what?"

Carrie made her way over to him, her hand still on her belly. "Feel my stomach."

Harrison did. "It's certainly not me getting fat," she told him. Her stomach felt odd. Towards the bottom of her stomach, he felt a lump.

"No you're not..." he began. "You're not serious?"

She sat next to him with tears now building up. "Not now Harry. I can't do this now."

He took a deep breath, laying back on the sand. "Did you know?"

"Do you think I would've put our child at risk if I knew!?" Carrie snapped back.

"Okay Carrie."

Then in a calmer tone he asked, "how far do you think you are?"

"Far enough that I carried this baby into a war zone."

Harrison rolled over onto his stomach. He didn't have her to protect anymore. He had their baby too.

"What's Billie going to say about this?" She wondered.

"We don't need to think about that right now. We have to figure out a way to get the f**k out of here first."

"You guys ready?" Matt asked.

Carrie nodded and went to finish putting on the rest of her gear for the long hike towards Islamabad. Once she was ready, they began their walk under the cover of darkness.

Harrison wasn't the biggest fan of this hike. Most of the walk was downhill so they lost their advantage of the high ground which gave them cover. They also looked very much like United States soldiers. It was alerting the half of Pakistan that wanted to kill them to their presence. But moving into civilization would be their real only chance at surviving now. No one was coming to rescue them.

Within three hours of walking, they came across another stream of fresh water, in which they refilled their canteens. Carrie was able to shoot a rabbit which they took with them until they found a good spot to set up camp.

Setting up camp would have to wait due to the fact they were coming up on a small village. "Get down."

Carrie dropped to the ground next to her husband, while slowly sliding her sniper rifle off her shoulder and setting it up. "What do you see?"

"Two men with rifles towards the back of the house," he announced. "And two children with a goat."

As Harrison announced everyone's position, Carrie checked them out through her scope. "Anyone a sniper?"

"Not that I can see," she answered.

"I would say we can make some new friends, but I don't like the looks of those guys with the guns. They look like-"

"Al-Qaeda sympathizers," Carrie finished for him. "And why else would they be walking around with automatic rifles?"

"What do you guys see?"

Harrison looked over his shoulder to see Matt standing behind the cover of a tree. "Get down."

"What do you see?"

"Get your ass on the ground," Harrison demanded. "Do you want them to see us?"

Matt moved out from behind the tree. And that's when they heard the gunshot. He fell to the ground in a heap. Harrison slowly crawled over to his side before hearing a second gunshot and Carrie yelp.

She was on her side holding her shoulder. "It's not bad."

"Are you sure?"

Carrie nodded. "Help him. I'll take care of these guys."

"Carrie."

She looked over her shoulder. "Get that son of a bitch."

First she took out the two men with assault rifles then settled for looking for the sniper. There was no way that shot on Matt could've been that precise with an assault rifle from that far away.

Carrie scanned the entire yard for the sniper. When she didn't find him, she started scanning the house. Still nothing. She had to tell herself to focus. With her shoulder, she shakily held the gun.

There was another gunshot. This time, Carrie felt the bullet enter just below the other one, into her left bicep. She grabbed her gun and rolled a few feet away from her old position. With a new vanishing point, she found the other sniper in a few seconds. Taking a deep breath, she took her shot and took him down.

With the successful shot, she rolled onto her back and started to close her eyes as Harrison crawled over to his side.

"You're not dying on me sweetheart."

"Wouldn't think of it," she answered with a smile.

He helped her slide her arm out of her shirt. Then he undid his belt and pulled out what medical supplies he had. "How's Matt?"

The grim expression returned on her husband's face. "He's gone Carrie. It's just us now."

She didn't answer, but instead watched Harrison clean up her wounds. First he started by cleaning both wounds with water. Luckily for her, both bullets only grazed her arm. Then he applied some cream that would help protect the wound from infections. After that, he wrapped her arm with a bandage.

"That's all I can do for it now."

"I know. Thanks Harry."