3. Loss

Today was another day we’d go out. Because we cleared land mines yesterday, we could walk clearly now through the valley without as much hesitance. Our mission: observe enemies from a distance and take pictures. We weren’t too far away from the enemy, about an hour away.
While thinking about it, I looked over. Twitch had a gas mask on. We had no idea why.
“Twitch” Abe said with a sigh.
“Yeah?” He answered.
“Why the gas mask?”
His head dropped, you could tell the embarrassment mask or not.
“I’ve always wanted to wear one.”
We all laughed. It was at least 120 degrees or more.

In the middle of talking, Will interrupted. “Abe” he called. “What?” Will pointed up. There we saw another goldish sphere with smoke following it. But this time, it was real.
I dropped to the floor and loaded my gun as the rocket got closer. “Come on man, you gotta get this, Ihavealifeathomewithfriendsandfamily.” Will’s words slurred in fear. “Shut up!” Ty told him that that was just making me nervous. Will continued rambling and panicking, words going a mile a minute. “Shut up! SHUT UP!” Ty tackled him, covering his mouth. I looked through the scope. There’s a moment for me when time freezes for me. Everything slow, my heart stopped. I fired.
It went through the rocket.
I got up and we started to scatter. We saw the rocket curve. “It’s a heat seeker!” Will yelled. Everybody ran for the selfishness of keeping their own life- but we’re only human. The rocket swerved and it hit somebody, making the ground shake. I turned around.
Abe was screaming. He was seven feet away, but we couldn’t find his legs. He continued screaming. “Oh my god!” I ran over and pulled out a med-kit. “Alright, this is gonna hurt a bit” I pulled out the alcohol. I poured a bit on each severed part of his legs. He howled, followed by some cursing. I pulled out a can of spray that freezes wounds. I sprayed his legs. “This is gonna stop the blood flowing, okay?” “Okay” he whimpered. I took the bandages out and started wrapping his legs. I looked up and noticed Abe was crying. The Mil rung in my head. Will looked at me. “Enemies!” A looked. He was right; there was a pack of them.
“Alright everybody, take you positions!” I yelled. They all started firing. I lay down and took my rifle out. “Keep talking Abe, keep talking.” I phoned into the army headquarters. “Need medical assistance at these coordinates.” Abe was trying to wipe his eyes, but it was no use, he continued tearing up. “Abe.” I called. “You still hanging in there?” Bang! I dropped somebody. “I’m okay.” He said sniffling. A helicopter hovered over our heads. “We’re gonna get you some help. The chopper slowly lowered.
The pack of enemies still fired, so I took out my pistol firing back. “Frag them Ty!” I hollered. He threw a grenade. Boom! The rest were dead. Two men approached us from the helicopter. They brought out a stretcher and put Abe into it (I helped) He looked at me. “Andrew.” I leaned forward to listen to him. “I joined the army… to support my family. If I die, tell my family I love them… info’s in my room” I nodded.
When I watched them fly away, I noticed two things. One: He was the closest to a father I’ve ever had, and two: This was no simulation, no robots, I killed somebody today. This is all real. Real sweat, real blood, and real tears.