A/N: This isn't the rest of this chapter. My little sister was rushing me because she just HAD to play farm town. So if it seems rushed, it's because it was. I'm sorry, but I'm working on fixing it right now. God Bless, Frankie Belle<3
Chapter Five
I have realized that no matter how far you run from the past by day, it manages to catch up with you by night.
It had all happened so fast. One second ago, it seemed they were piling out of the humvee just down the street. Now, here they were lying in their own blood awaiting the rest of their unit, and most likely death.
“Oh God!” screamed Tommy Fuller, “Oh my God! Ian... Ian! Come on man... Are you alive or not?”
He sensed movement on his left side and saw the face of his leader, his best friend. Sergeant Sebastian Darnelli.
With great effort, Ian pushed himself upright and crawled to his friend’s side whispering, “It’s gonna be okay, bud... Where’d they hit you?”
Fuller groaned when Ian’s trembling hands found the gaping hole in his side.
“Damn...” breathed Ian, fighting his own pain and waves of nausea.
“Oh, God...” whimpered Tommy.
“Hold on,” Ian told him, and he reached into his pocket.
He opened a flask with his teeth, his right hand being wounded, and he propped Tommy’s head up on his thigh. He rasped, “Drink this...”
Tommy drank enough whiskey just to take the edge off his hurt. He refused anymore than that.
“I’m dyin’, man...” he sobbed, “I can feel it...”
“Tommy, you don’t know what death feels like...” Ian pointed out.
“I do now...” Tommy whispered, his voice quavering, “...Oh God... I don’t want to die...”
Ian began to speak, when he realized that Tommy was not speaking to him. He lowered his eyes to the cross that hung around Tommy’s neck. It gleamed in the dim light, flickering it seemed.
Ian was not religious, he never had been. The more he thought about it the more he wondered why it was that Tommy Fuller put so much faith into something he could not see. To Ian, it seemed as though whoever it was that Tommy was crying out to was completely ignoring him. He was going to allow Tommy to die in Ian’s arms rather than let him live and go back home to his family. Ian blinked away tears, a burning anger rising up in his chest when he realized this.
Tommy suddenly became limp and a last faltering breath escaped his lungs before he ceased to breathe. Stunned, Ian could only stare at Tommy’s frozen features. He had little time to consider what had just happened.
Out of nowhere, one of the insurgents that they had dealt with threw himself upon Ian’s back. A sharp stab of pain shot up Ian’s side, but he did not care. He heaved the man off his back and reached for his handgun, but the man tackled him to the floor. They struggled against each other for a seemingly long while. The insurgent raised his fist, which held Ian’s caliber.
There was a bang, and all went black...
Ian shot upright, drenched in a cold sweat. His chest heaved as he tried to find his breath and return it to his lungs. Wild-eyed, he scanned his room. Slowly, the nightmare edged out of his reality, and he sat back against his headboard, trembling all over.
The lamp flicked on and the strange woman at his side sat up saying, “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing...” he muttered, pushing back his hair, “What time is it?”
“Four-thirty,” she replied, pressing her lips to his shoulder, “You’re shivering.”
He nodded and threw the covers off. She watched him climb out of bed and dress in his jeans and a tank top.
“Where are you going?” she asked, cocking her head.
“For a walk,” he replied, tying on his bandana, “You can go back to sleep if you want.”
She frowned, “If I wanted to sleep, baby, I would have just stayed home.”
He sighed and sat beside her on the bed, “I’ll make it up to you when I get back.”
She smiled and nodded, and she accepted a kiss. It held no warmth, no affection toward her. It felt almost rehearsed, as though he was reacting some old routine.
With a sigh, Ian stood up, slipped on his flip-flops, and walked out the door without another word to her.
so unfortunately it's not hard to write about this kind of situation...