American Soldier

Chapter 1

"Come on, Cabello, there's gotta be someone back home waiting for you." a young green eyed soldier jokes shoving the girl in the shoulder.

A soft smile rises on the Lieutenant's lips. "There is one person, she's the highlight of my life."

"What's her name?" Another voice joins in causing Camila to look up at her brothers and sisters.

Reaching into the top pocket of her uniform she pulls out a picture of a brown haired- green eyed two year old little girl. "Her name is Valerie Elizabeth Cabello." the little girl was hugging a blue eyed husky. "And that's Ace," she says before looking at the green eyed soldier. "What about you Jauregui? Anyone special at home?"

Grinning the young soldier pulls out his own picture, "This is my older sister Lauren, she's also my best friend. That girl is afraid of no one and she takes care of animals for a living."

Camila takes the picture and smiles at the resemblance of him and his sister, they were standing side-by-side, Chris being just a few inches taller than her. "Who's the little boy?"

"That's my nephew Avery, he's around four in this picture," he says before looking at his Lieutenant. "My sister has been going through a lot since her divorce, but she has not once put anything over Avery."

"Chris, I talked to Mani yesterday before we left base, she said your sister had to force Keaton to leave again." A blonde soldier says from beside him.

"That happens a lot from what I've heard," Chris responds before placing a hand on the blonde's leg. "We've got this Dinah, we'll be home in no time."

Camila smiles at their interaction before looking back down at the picture in her hands, her daughter was with her grandmother, for now, Camila thinks back to the sadness she felt the day that Ariana passed while giving birth to their beautiful little girl. Now, Camila is at war and she will be damned if she loses any of her friends to the horrible world.

"We'll all be home before we know it." she assures them smiling at the two soldiers who have become her best friends.

****

"I want everyone to be careful out there, we can't afford to lose anyone else." Lieutenant Cabello commands as she looks over her team.

They were once many, but now few, the war was taking them left and right, nothing looked good in Camila's mind, but she would make sure the rest of her unit got home to their families.

"Lieutenant, we need to move!" A voice calls from the back.

Camila turns to look where the voice came from only for an explosion to send her and the rest of her men and women flying, her head hit the ground roughly, knocking her out.

When she woke up the first time she felt an intense pain in her side, looking to the side, she saw Dinah being helped behind some rocks by Chris, smoke was filling her lungs from the blast.

When Chris came back to move her followed by another of their men, screams of pain left her throat before she passed out.

The next time she woke up, she was hidden behind a barrier being protected by the remaining four members of her unit, she noticed they had lost five as she looked around.

"What happened?" she breathes out sitting up, only to fall backward once again as pain shoots through her side.

Chris looks over at her, reloading his gun in the process. "Grenade, we lost Maverick, Lenny, Ross, Foster, and Denver. Thought we were going to lose you, Lieutenant," he says before popping back up and firing at some of their enemies.