The Soldier Next Door

Walking out of the tent, I feel like a completely different man. I have just made love to the most beautiful woman I have ever set my eyes on, but I have also not wavered in my decision. Ana is known to have the ability to bring me to my knees. I can, for certain, say that I shall do anything for her. Even though her decision to have come is clear, what does trouble her is if she should remain where there is nothing but fear surrounding her. I can almost say that she has what happened to Mark still very present in her memory.

I do not blame her for feeling this way, we have not been here two days yet, and she has been attacked twice. And then I get myself stabbed in the process as well. So you can say that terror lies in every corner of her body.

Now, what can I do to make her feel differently? Nothing. Ana is very strong-willed, and do I even dare to say stubborn. It is that hard-ass attitude that made me fall in love with her in the first place. Do I wish that she shall decide to stay? Absolutely.

I find myself walking with a stupid grin on my face as I go in search of Lewis. I best hide it before it becomes quite clear from where I just came. If wound cleaning were indeed so hot and steamy, I would cut myself more often. It is one of the very rare opportunities that we shall be able to be so intimate unless we start getting creative.

The first I find is Gibbs and Williams that are sitting outside the nurse’s tent.

“Hey, Sergeant?”

“Yes, Gibbs?”

“Some nice ‘wound cleaning.’

“Oh god, Ethan, yes,” a comment comes flying in from Williams.

“You two better wipe that crap off your faces, or I do it.”

“But Sergeant, oh my god, Ethan, go faster,” a very satisfied Gibbs comes back with his very own sharp comment.

“Carry on, and I will give me three sets of push-ups.”

“Just like you gave James three sets of push-ins.” They both burst out laughing.

This conversation is absolutely going nowhere; their mission obviously went well, for they won’t be sitting here all smiles and giving me shit about the wild sex I thought they heard nothing of. I guess what Ana says is true; she has no ability to keep quiet.

So before I really slap one of the stupid grins off their faces, I look around and try to find the man that I came out to find here in the first place.

“Where is Lewis?”

“He is inside,” Gibbs informs me.

“What is he doing inside? I hope he is not flirting with that dreadful woman?”

“Oh no, he got shot,” Gibbs continues to explain.

“What the fuck! Why did he not tell me?”

I do not even give them the time to respond, for I immediately find myself inside the tent. There he is casually sitting on the bed while Ana is inspecting his wound. I stop for two seconds and think which one he deserves best. A smack or damn hard punch to break that pretty-boy face. But let us first hear what his excuse is for not telling me in the first place.

“So Lewis, do you think there is something that you perhaps failed to mention? Like, Sergeant, I have been shot?”

“Sergeant, you did not ask if anybody was injured, so I thought it was best for me to keep quiet since you were so busy cleaning that wound between your legs, shit! I mean on your leg. Your leg that Jenkins was looking at.”

“I think it is best if you do not refer to my wound. Now what the fuck happened to you?”

“I just got on the wrong side of the barrel.”

“No, shit.”

I then turn to Ana, that is standing aside, barely able to contain her laughter. If there was ever anything so attractive about her, then it is that rosy color her cheeks are turning.

“Ana, is this idiot going to be okay?”

“Ya, it seems he won’t be walking into a bright light today; it is only a flesh wound.”

I watch as a kind of horror creep on Lewis’ face; I see what Ana did there; she has just scared the bejesus out of him. I cannot help but chuckle at myself.

I stand back in awe as I watch this woman take her soft and gentle hands and start to clean his wound; then, with perfect precision, she removes the bullet. Before I can stop the words from coming out of my mouth, it is most embarrassingly heard by both of them that are just staring at me.

“My god Ana that is so damn hot.”

Lewis looks at me with a stupid grin on his face, and I know that he is about to say something completely dumb. “Sergeant, it is my turn to have my wound looked at.”

“Watch that mouth, Lewis.”

Very much to my relief, before I make a complete idiot of myself, I see Ray sticking his head through the entrance of the tent.

“Hunter, if you don’t need any wounds clean, can I have a word.”

“Fuck does the entire camp know?”

His silence just confirms it all; I am probably going to get his full wrath coming down on me. Though he never made any rules clear when it came to Ana and me.

But just before I exit to go with Ray, there is one thought that immediately comes to mind.

“Ana, where is Emily?”

“I saw her and MacKey disappear off into the far end of the camp.”

“Ya, I sort of figured. I will see you later.”

I soon find myself trail behind Ray as we make our way to the battle ops tent; secretly, I thank my stars for he will not confront me in here in front of everyone. But there seems to be another urgency written in his eyes, and I am made to think that what he wants to discuss cannot be good.

So I wait for him to speak, for I do know that he hates being interrupted.

“Ethan, when we were sweeping the tents of the militant camp, we came across evidence that there is another camp. There was a map pointing to the location.”

“Where?”Exclusive © content by N(ô)ve/l/Drama.Org.

“It showed south from here.”

“Which means that we were in the middle of them.”

“Correct. What we don’t know is if they are aware that we are here. What troubles me is that I have heard of their leader before, and I can with all honesty say that this man is ruthless; he sends the fear of seven horrors in me.”

Just hearing Ray say this sends a chill down my spine. He is not one known that scares easily; for him to say this, then this man shall be more than a terrifying opponent.

“Ethan, as my best squad, I need to send you guys out there just to observe for the time being. Once we have solid intel, then we will move in. Can you and your men be ready to leave in the next hour?”

“Immediately. How long do you need us out there?”

“Two to three days, it is pointless, moving back and forth to camp every day. We need to stay lowkey and not make ourselves noticed. Now go get that stupid Lewis, and I will be there to see you off in an hour.”

It is with a strange sort of excitement that I leave the battle ops tent. This will be our first mission, not indeed the one that we came for here in the first place. But whichever way, I can, in a strange way, say that I am beyond excited. If I ever thought that this has not set in yet, then right at this moment, I am pulled into reality. Now is the time to be a Marine.

Now I doubt that Ana will hold the same sentiment, so it is with somewhat of a fear that I make my way back to the nurse’s tent where I find here alone standing and cleaning the area where she cleaned up Lewis.

As she turns around and sees my face, her very own seems to light up. I can, with certainty, say that we are back in our relationship where we left off. But she is not going to like the news about to come.

“Boo, come sit here with me. I need to talk to you about something.”

“Sure, soldier, what is wrong?”

“We are deploying on our first mission in an hour.”

“Sorry, what?”

“There is another militant camp, and we need to find it. Ray is sending us out for surveillance.”

“Fuck, soldier. I-I did not think it would happen so soon.”

“Everything is going to be all right, please, I don’t want you to worry.”

“Of course, I am going to worry. Those men are animals; I hate to think…”

“Don’t think about that. Please will you come to sit by me while I get ready?”

Not even having to ask once more, she takes my hand, not caring what the rest of the camp will think. I can feel there is a slight tremble as she holds firm onto my hand. I squeeze her hand just a fraction harder, just to assure her that there is nothing to be afraid of.

As we get inside of my tent, I see as she watches me intently while packing only the bare necessities in my backpack. She is beyond terrified as she is not even able to say a single word.

And as we step outside only a half an hour later, I find my squad waiting, ready to go get these bastards. They will not get the chance to even set their foot near us again, and that is what Ana needs to understand, we are doing this so everybody else can be safe. Before Ray makes his appearance, I kiss Ana gently on her lips, and I cannot help to see the tears flowing down her cheeks. I wipe them away with my fingers and softly whisper to her.

“Boo, I love you, everything will be okay.”

Then finally, Ray comes up to us with a few short and sweet words; there is a lot more confidence in his voice as he speaks now.

“Boys, go kick some but.”

And in complete unison, only one word echoes through the camp.

“Oorah!”