The Soldier Next Door

It is early morning, just before sunrise. We are all lining up, waiting for Ray to brief us on the mission that lies ahead. I will be honest; my head is not in the game. I am still very much upset at Ray and Ana. I cannot shake the feeling of rage that I feel towards them both for betraying me. Somehow I can still accept Ray, I guess he was just trying to protect me, but Ana, that is a low blow. I keep on convincing myself that she is only feeling lost and scared, and yes, I understand that, but to leave and not say goodbye. If she had this in mind, why did she not tell me?

I try to push this to the back of my head and listen to the plan of attack. Ray is going over each detail twice and then wait for the third time. The plan is clear; we will attack them after sunset; we need to catch them completely off guard. MacKey will take them from the south; we will move in at the northside. The attack will be swift; there will be no one left alive; our interest is not in taking prisoners.

I am going to make one thing clear; no man shall touch that asshole; I am taking him out myself. I want to see the horror on his face when he looks me into the eyes. I shall be the one that laughs last; yes, I wish that I can take my time and torture every bone in his body. I shall get my revenge, and I shall smile every minute that he is slowly bleeding to death at my feet.

So just as we are about to disperse, I call Ray to the side to apologize.

“Hey, Ray, I must apologize for acting like a jerk. I was so blinded by rage that I failed to think that you are only protecting me.”

“Ethan, I know you are very capable of dealing with your demons on your own. I foolishly thought that you needed to be shielded. I believe you shall get the justice that you are seeking tonight. I beg of you; please be careful.”

“Well,” I say as the very words run through my mind. “I know that you will be there if I mess up.”

With that, I make my leave; it is time to get this game rolling. But just as I walk out of the battle ops tent.

“What the fuck.”

I think that my mind must be deceiving me, “Hey, soldier.”

“Ana? I, I thought that you left?”

“Left?” She looks at me as she cocks her head. “Where on earth would I have left?”

“You were not here when we came back?”

“Sorry about that. After walking up and down from the supply plane, I was just exhausted.”

“But you were not in your tent?”

“Oh, I ask Ray if he could move me; I do not feel safe on the outskirts of the camp.”

I feel as relief sets over my body; I cannot believe that I was so mad at her, who I should be mad at is Emily. And it is that rage that finds me walking up to the nurse’s tent. There in all her glory, she stands with a stupid dumb ass smirk on her face. I do not even care for what I am about to say.

“You know what, Emily, I cannot believe you can be so cruel. Oh, wait, you did leave me hanging dry when I was in the hospital. You are nothing but a little bitch. I am sorry that I ever laid my eyes on you.”

“But Ethan…”

“The name is Ethan. Do you want me to spell it out for you?”

“I, I did not mean…”

“Bullshit! You meant every word. You have tried from day one to get between Ana and me. Well, guess what?”

“No?”

“Your immature ass is not going to get it right. Now I want you to listen to me very carefully. If I catch you looking at Ana in the wrong way, I will kick your ass right back home. Do you understand me?”

“But Ethan…”

“Have you gone deaf? The name is Ethan; in fact, it is Sergeant. Now go find something useful to do.”

As I turn around, I look at Ana that can hardly contain her laughter.

“Soldier, you should have let me punch her.”

My laughter vibrates through the camp, “Boo, she is not worth the trouble.” I then take her hand and lead her to my tent. And as I pass Gibbs, he looks at me amused.

“Oh god, please, try to keep it quiet.”

I only but wave him off as we walk inside, “Boo, please, can you just lay by me? There is something that I need to tell you.”

“Sure, what is the matter?”

I proceed to tell her about that guy that tortured me and that he is very much alive. She knows the pain it brought to me, but more importantly, she knows that I need to do this to resolve and put this nightmare behind me.

There is nothing but concern in her eyes as she takes my hand in hers. “Soldier, there is something I need to tell you.”

“Boo?”

She starts to unbutton her shirt; I nearly fall off my bed at her boldness. She softly chuckles, “Oh, I am not that easy. You know that you need to work for it.”

“Seriously? Since when?”

Then she slowly starts to pull her shirt open; what is see shocks me into horror, “Boo, what happened?”

“That man, the one that you killed, he cut me while he held me in that tent.”

I pull her dead into my embrace and place her head tightly against my chest. “Boo, I am so sorry. I failed you.”

“Don’t say that. It was my own stupidity.”

In an instant, I pull her away from my chest and seek her deep brown eyes.

“It is not your fault. Do not ever say that. You cannot help that the man is a monster.”

With that, I lay her gently next to me on the bed; in no time at all, I fall asleep, but I am awoken by her screams. It breaks my heart the she has to have such an evil man torment her dreams.

A few hours later, I wake her; it is time for us to head out. I give her a soft kiss against her forehead, “I love you. I will see you later.”

“I love you too, soldier, please be careful.”

I meet up with my squad outside, and of course, Williams feels the need to crack a stupid joke. “Mmm, how did you get her to shut up?”

Then Gibbs adds, “I think he gave her something to put in her mouth.”

“My god!” I exclaim. “Have you two gone mad? And in any case, why are you listening to us?”

We all burst out in laughter as we make our way out deeper into the forest.

The mood goes from nervous to somewhat terrified. And it is a very worried Lewis that comes to walk next to me. The poor boy is shocked pale, his voice is somewhat stuttering, “Sergeant, have you ever killed a man?”

“Yes, I have.”

“Is it easy? Is it easy to take someone’s life?”

“Lewis, it is never easy to take the power into your hands, but what you need to remember, and please by no way think it should justify the act. What you should keep in mind is that they will not hesitate to take yours. It is survival; it is a question of coming out alive. And these men are evil; they torture and kill people for pleasure.”

“Sergeant, if I can be so forward. I heard the men talking about him, the man that hurt you. Will it be easy to kill him?

“No, of course not. And yes, I am filled with the purpose of taking revenge on him. But does it truly make you feel better? Does it take the nightmares away? No, not at all. An eye for an eye? Definitely. I shall never forget what I did to him, and killing him will not be near enough to what he did to me.”

And as we get closer to our destination, it is that thought that consumes my mind. If I do not end his trail of destruction, what shall he do next? Who will become his next victim?

Then finally, we see the lights of their camp come into sight. There is a cheerful chatter coming from it; they have no idea of the danger that awaits them. It seems that this is going to be far easier than we thought.

While we wait for the perfect moment to attack, the rain comes pouring down again. The perfect somber mood, the perfect type of dreaded atmosphere. Let the last moments of their lives be spent in misery.

We watch as most of them take shelter from the rain in their tents. This plays exactly into our hands; they shall not see us until we are on top of them.

As I watch the final one of them make his way to his tent, for a brief moment, he stares unknowingly into my direction. My body goes numb, and it becomes hard to breathe. But there is no doubt; it is him.

Softly under my breath, I whisper to myself, “I am coming for you.”