Page 1 of Rescuing Josiah
Chapter
One
May 11th
6:29 P.M.
The sound seemed to echo through his body.
For some reason, it hurt the most.
Which was ridiculous given that actual bullets pierced his body.
Tearing through flesh like it was nothing.
But worse even than the thunderous sound of gunfire were the screams.
Barely human howls coming from men he considered family. Men he served with, men he fought alongside, men with whom he’d forged a bond that was supposed to last a lifetime.
Men who now fell around him.
Dying.
Dead.
Gone.
Beneath him, the ground was hard. The sand clung to his damp skin, a rock dug into his back, but he didn't bother to move, though.
He wanted to, damn, did he want to shove to his feet and start firing back at those who had killed his team, but he didn't seem to have the energy to move.
Everything hurt, and he could feel the life spilling out of him.
Dying like the others, only more slowly.
One tiny detail altered their fates.
He was still wearing his body armor. The others had removed theirs because they were supposed to be safe here. Safe on a base even though they were in hostile territory.
Now he didn't even remember the reason he’d left his on when the others didn't.
Shouts sounded around him.
More bullets flew through the air.
Then people were all around him. Well-meaning people, performing first aid, putting pressure on his wounds, and offering words they thought might comfort.
They didn't.
Nothing could comfort him right now.
As his body was jostled, he saw them. Bullet-ridden bodies that had once been living, breathing men. Gone now. Taken out in an ambush that had to have been led by a traitor. That was the only way to explain how they'd been attacked on what was supposed to be a secure military base.
It didn’t matter now. They were gone. All of them. Except him.
He alone had survived.
And he wished he hadn't.
