The Soldier

Logan stared at the radio and listened.

“Calling blackbird, calling blackbird, this is Eagle’s Nest, come in, blackbird.”

The next thing Logan saw was a blinding flash of light as a mortar shell struck the temporary antenna outside the abandoned house Logan and his team had been using as a temporary base. He ducked and rolled, hoping he was heading for the door, figuring the next one would nail the building. He hit the door and began to run for the cover of the forest, not hearing Mandy who was calling his name with more than a trace of panic in her voice.

Logan crouched underneath a slash pine and looked around. Although his eyes saw the rows of pine and saw palmetto, his mind saw the rocks, buildings and palms of the Iraq and Afghanistan. The distinctive whistle of an incoming mortar round reached his ears and he tried to roll himself into a small ball, with his arms over his head.

The explosion lit up the night sky and Logan was showered in bits of concrete and sand. After the blast, Logan looked up and tried to find shelter, but saw nothing promising. Most of the buildings in the immediate vicinity already had huge holes blown in the walls and would offer very little cover. The problem with the others is that they were the source of the gunfire that was pinning him down in the first place.

Logan thought his best bet would be to get out of the village. At least in the surrounding desert, the rolling sand dunes would provide some form of protection – at least he would be able to wrap himself in the light material in his backpack and be able to somewhat blend in with his surroundings. Here, he stuck out like a Kaki sore thumb.

For the moment, the skies were quiet, no sound of incoming mortars, so Logan began to move slowly, in a semi-crouched position keeping his eyes open and straining his ears to hear any sound that would indicate the presence of an enemy patrol. Finally, luck seemed to be breaking his way as he was able to make his way to the wall that surrounded the village – a wall he didn’t remember being there when he led his team into the village two days earlier.

Logan felt his way along the wall, not daring to even use his red-filtered flashlight. He slowly inched forward, feeling with his left hand for an opening that would get him outside. As he searched, voices in his head were whispering doubts, doubts that Logan desperately tried to ignore.

“Where is the rest of your team? Why are you abandoning them? You know this wall wasn’t here before.”

Logan fought to ignore the voices as he saw an approaching enemy patrol.