It was a dark evening in the Ueitawa region. The clock ticked to a very late night time as Jin finally swallowed the sleeping medication his doctor had assigned to him. The effects would kick in soon with its effects as a relaxant. As things started to get foggy, he finally closed his eyes to the blackness that overtook his consciousness.
And so he will dream.
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The smell of dust entered his nostrils. The sweat started to drip down the back of his neck as his pupils darted to the side over the sandbags that have stacked together to protect his body. The concussive noise of artillery fire nearly numbed his hearing as he could barely hear the orders given to him by the Sergeant. The earth trembled at inconsistent times to make his movement sluggish as he huddled over to the side with another soldier.
"COVERING FIRE!"Upon those words, Jin hefted the rifle over the sandbags to allow a salvo of lead to shoot into the enemy. The recoil drummed against his shoulder as the trigger pulled to let loose the angry projectiles through the empty space of No-Man's Land. Each casing shot out of the firing mechanism before falling to the dust indiscriminately like loose cut hairs at a salon. A fiery shot whizzed past him, causing him to jerk back down through the safety of his baggy cover.
To the side he watched his fellow mates pumping lead. But for the most unluckiest few, some ended up being pumped with it. A splatter of scarlet easily neutralized what life they possessed before death. A puddle of red started to stain the brown dust of the Middle Eastern desert as it oozed out of the bullet wounds.
"MEDIC!"Another concussive explosion jerked the ground. Jin almost lost his footing as he surveyed the rising death count of people. The screams were blunted from his eardrums taking too much noise.
"CORPORAL!" To his right he saw his commanding officer screaming at him.
"Flank them to the right! Take Nichols and Jayce. MOVE!" Doggedly, he brought his feet to action to hustle behind the wall of sandbags with two others following behind him. With the creaky wooden door wrenched open, the trio sprinted through to enter a seemingly endless path of streets and hallways. As they leaned against walls and cars, the screech of Arabic was audible to the ears as they saw familiar figures of the insurgents in the area.
Needless to say, even a volley of lead began with the first shot. Despite trained precision and accuracy, none of them could hit the enemy from above as they kept ducking just in time. Jin hid behind a pillar and watched as bits of its marbled structure were slowly being chipped away at a random stray bullet. A scream jolted him. Was it one of the two? He cautiously peered out to see they weren't shot. Instead, up ahead the corpse of a Middle Eastern man had fallen to the dust as his trickles of red started to spill out.
"Cover me, you two." Lunging out of the pillar, Jin sprinted through the space into the open. Of course bullets were shot in his direction, but he slid down like a baseball player to a base against the dusty marbled floor. As he slid, he let loose another shot. The soldier could've sworn he saw a spray of red, but he bumped into another pillar which caused him to hurriedly spasm up onto his feet to shield himself from incoming enemy fire.
With barely accurate aim, he threw a cooked grenade that arced in the air. As it made its way to hit the roof, shrapnel shredded its olive green exterior to cut and dice into flesh. The resounding sounds of screams prompted his two comrades to come out of hiding to quickly sprint towards their next destination with a grim faced Jin.
As they traveled through the courtyard, each men eyed the empty expanse of the space with suspicion. Normally with them below, an ambush was just asking to be called in. But how were they not in position just yet? It was a great opportunity to get a few shots in. Something was out of place.
Carefully scanning the area with scrutiny, nothing seemed to be out of place. Perhaps they were too busy trying to fire off rounds at the American marines instead. But how could they not hear of the shooting from before? It didn't make sense.
"Keep moving," he murmured with the rifle in his hand as the finger relaxed across the side of the trigger.
This lulling silent absence was foreboding. And this usually never meant good news. As if banking on to fulfill that promise, a gagged croak from behind. Whirling around to face behind him with the barrel aiming, it was only the figure of Jayce holding his neck as his blood leaked out while a thick piece of metal stuck inside. With what length that stuck out, Jin could tell it had a serrated edge.
"Shit! Hold on!" Nichols hissed as he worriedly held his fellow soldier that had stumbled.
Calmly still scanning with the area with the iron sight, he ordered with hushed tones,
"Go back. I'll handle this one." There seemed no one to be here. Whoever was attacking, it was clear he can conceal himself very well. As expected for a guerrilla fighter. Jin's ears tried to tune in for any footsteps... and breathing that may tick him off exactly how many people were here. As the blonde-headed soldier tried to drag the wounded away--
Fwshit!--a flash of steel appeared from the shadows in the pillars!
Quickly Jin pushed Nichols down out of the trajectory as it whizzed by into the sand a few feet ahead.
"A knife?!""Go!" the corporal roughly nudged him to keep going,
"I'll take care of this." The duo straggled away for safety as they left the Chinese all on his own with his rifle. Silence returned to reign the courtyard.
"A game of cat and mouse, eh? I suppose I can oblige you for a while," Jin remarked as he pulled back the mechanism for an agreeable chink,
"Well then... LET'S PLAY!"_______________
Beep! Beep! Beep!His eyes flicked open at the sound. Craning his pupils to the source, he found the alarm clock screeching for dear life. The teacher finally dismissed it with a dull click and let his hand slump over the night table as he stared the white stucco on the blank ceiling.
"Another dream," he spoke dully at it.
Jin laid there for a few pregnant moments out of mere monotony. With a sigh to permit himself to move, he finally got back onto his feet for the new day.
1178 Words.
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