As I drove, I noticed blooms of smoke rising from the city. The dark black skyline of Baltimore painted an orange Hue from the fires emitting from inside the city. As I crossed the ramps of ninety-five towards the tunnel I could see massive groups of people rushing towards the city. Confused by all the commotion, I turned on my radio.

“I just can’t believe this is happening in our own city! I mean, okay yeah! Alright, I get it, gas prices are through the roof and higher than they’ve ever been in history. The housing Market has crashed again, we are in a recession. Most can’t get basic appliances or food items in stores because of the Military rationing, and that’s just the start. That doesn’t include the one hundred and fifty thousand people who died in the Chinese cyber-attack that wiped out the west coast's electrical grid for three weeks. But everyone, we are at war! Do you not understand how bad this is that we are not United! We were attacked, yet we are acting like it isn’t our problem! Ladies and Gentleman, Hawaii and Guam, one a US state and the other a territory with thirty-five hundred servicemen were h-“ I turn the radio to another station.

“Oh my lord, are you all seeing this?”

“Yeah mark! It seems like the police in Baltimore have entered a melee with rioters! According to some reports, certain rioters are using firearms against police!”

“Holy cow terry! I can’t even believe this all started because- wait how did this all start?”

“According to the video that is spreading like wildfire, it showed this kid, well teenager, standing in front of police with a sign, now what was on the sign I cannot say on the air. But it was along the lines of “I will not fight for…” well you can guess the rest. I’m not here to make a political statement so I will refrain from that. Well he was standing there, and the police ordered them to move, the crowd behind him started chanting, after like twenty minutes or so, the police were “ordered” to use teargas. On the video, it’s awful, just awful. You see this large, like can sized thing hit the ground and bounce up- and it just decks this kid. It hits him so hard you can see a piece of his head fly off of him.”

“Jesus you mean in the video?” The one commentator says in disgust.

“Yeah, you just see this poor kid's forehead fly back into the crowd. And they just go nuts.”

“Man the worst part is, you can tell it wasn’t on purpose! But it didn’t matter. The crowd was already riled up. That was just the spark.”

“That is just- terrible.”

“I know terry.”

“Please if you or a loved one are out tonight, be safe!” I turn off the radio and drive in silence.

“Jesus Christ, the city isn’t going to last the night at this rate.” I say to myself as I finally get off the Highway and get to the final stretch of my journey. As soon as I got past the city limits the entire mood changed. It was almost instantaneous. My stomach churned, “How could all of this have happened, the country’s a mess, most people are in desperation, my family thought I was dead. And what about that cop I can’t understand what was going through-.” A strange taste in my mouth pulls me out of my thoughts. I quickly moved my index and middle finger to my lips to find the origin of the taste. As I rub my fingers across my lips, I feel a sharp sting. I pulled my fingers back, I realized I couldn’t see, so I pulled off the road for a moment. As soon as I put the car in park I rushed to turn the light on. As the cars interior illuminated, I saw the crimson red of my fingers. I grabbed my phone and opened my camera. A massive gash sat upon the upper right side of my lip, the immediate area around the gash was bruised a dark purple. All of a sudden my breathing became erratic, I began to blink, realizing what exactly just went down. “What the fuck was that cops problem? He had no reason to act like that.” I couldn’t wrap my head around those actions.

Bzzzt! Bzzzt! I was startled by my phone ringing and dropped it. “God damn it Jason! Why am I so fucking jumpy.” I say as I go down and grab my phone. I realized it’s Jasper, so I immediately answered the call.

“This is Thane, send it.” I answered.

“Lieutenant, I asked around and.” He took a deep breath and continued “Nothing, no one else had gotten false messages, half the boys freaked out as soon as I said something and called their families immediately.

“Wait what?”

“Y-yeah, in fact, have you gotten in touch with strand?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.”

“Well? What did he say?”

“He will be calling me within the next two days with this straightened out.” I said, my voice had a cold, unnerved tone.

“T-That’s, Great?” he paused for a moment. “Uh, Lieutenant, you don’t sound very thrilled?”

“Yeah, I- I- I don’t know.”

“Sir.” His voice became stern, “Are you alright?”.

“I’m fine.”

“Lieut-“

“I said I’m fine Jasper! Are you tracking?” My voice was emitting anger in every word.

“Yeah, I’m tracking.”

“Good, I’m like five minutes from home. Call me with any important updates. Thane out.” I ended the call and sat there for a moment. My head fell from exhaustion. I laid my head against the steering wheel, Attempting to calm my racing mind. As I sat there, I felt myself begin to slip away.

“Lieutenant! !” A hand hit my shoulder. My eyes shot up. I was sitting in a humvee, staring at the BluForce tracker in front of me.

“Oh, what’s up Kelly?”

Kelly was sitting behind me, his attitude bright and outgoing as always. “Do you think we could stop and get some food? I’m starving!”

“Come on Kelly! I know you have plenty of MRE’s and I saw you grab like ten packs of candy in Rasht!” Doc piped up.

“Well I’m sorry! I need the extra energy to carry this big ole radio wherever we go!”

“Well, Kelly! That is your fault!” Jackson said in the driver's seat.

“Hey! That’s not fair! How is it my fault? They just picked me and said “yep! You’re gonna carry the radio!” Not like I had any say in the matter!” His voice’s pitch changed as he talked.

“Jackson stop fucking with him! He already has it bad enough! We all know he’s a momma's boy!” Doc said as he snickered. Jackson quickly agreed!

“Hey!” Kelly’s face turned a bright red. “I am not a momma’s boy!”

“Kelly, when we were shipping out, she tried to bull pass like ten mp’s just to get to us. And when she fucking got there, it was just to make sure you had sunblock!” Doc said laughing.

“Now just hang on Doc. Hey Kelly, didn’t she make the entire platoon cookies? Like I mean a metric fuckton of cookies?” I chimed in.

“Heck yeah! Momma owns the best bakery in the state of Utah! She even has an award to prove it!” Kelly said with pride in his voice.

“Damnit Kelly! Now I’m hungry!” Jackson yelled.

“What? It’s not my fault! I am ju-“ the humvee hits a large bump in the road causing Kelly to slam into the roof of the humvee.

“Ouch! Son of a- “

Almost in unison the three of us said “ahhhh” in anticipation!

“Oh! Shut up! I’m not going to curse! So quit it.”

“Kelly, you do realize it’s okay! We are in the desert! It doesn’t matter if your little Mormon ass curses out here!” Jackson said.

I just sat there and chuckled, I leaned back, closing my eyes so I could listen to them bicker. It was almost therapeutic to me. I slowly began to zone out and fell asleep. I was quickly jarred awake by Kelly’s yelling.

“Well! That’s not okay Sergeant Jackson! You need to figure out what exactly you want in-“

“What the fuck are you screaming about? Fuck me!” I said as I stretched.

“Oh, lieutenant! Sorry if I woke you, I was just explaining to Staff Sergeant Jackson why it’s important to believe in an afterlife!”

“Kelly, I swear, why in the hell do you care what Jackson believes in?” I asked.

“Because, Sir, we are in a war! If there was ever a time to be religious sir, it’s now!”

“Kelly, some people just don’t want to believe in it. You have to learn to accept that.” Doc said.

“Well! How about you Lieutenant? Do you believe in an afterlife?”

I reached into my shirt pocket and pulled out a chain that sits around my neck. Upon the chain sat a Crucifix, a Saint Michaels pendant, and a Saint George medal. “I’m a Catholic. But I don’t throw it in other people’s faces. With that said, Jackson over there is a vile human being! He smokes, drinks, gambles, and absolutely has a keen interest of the fairer sex! There is no saving a sinner like him! Ain’t that right jackson?” I stated as I hit his shoulder. Doc laughing in the background

“Well shit Lieutenant, why you gotta put it like that?” Jackson asked.

“Well that's just not right, anyone can be saved by the light of-“ he was quickly cut off as the entire humvee was rocked by an explosion. The humvee ahead of us shot fifteen feet into the air with a Plume of smoke and metal falling all around us.

My eyes quickly lit up. My breathing was erratic as my eyes darted around to view my surroundings. All I saw was the dark road, I was in my car. My breathing was fast and shallow, I laid my head against the headrest and took a deep breath. “Fuck!” I exclaimed. I looked down at the clock, and an hour had passed. “Shit” I quickly put my car back in drive and rushed the last leg of my trip home.

I turned a corner and saw my house, the beautiful two story, red brick house I grew up in. Halloween decorations adorned every bit of the house as I slowly pulled into the drive. I put my car in park and started towards the front door, I was stopped in my tracks when I saw what was in the window sill. It was the standard blue star banner, but the elegant blue star was covered by a smaller gold star. That proved to me that this wasn’t some dream, “Fuck.” I said as I rushed up the steps towards the front door. I ripped my keys out of my pocket and tried to open the door, sadly I fumbled them to the ground, I grabbed them and tried again. I could hear my heart pounding, my chest was full of tension as I opened that door. As I crossed the threshold, I saw my mother and father sitting on the couch, watching television. Neither one of them made a move, their eyes just pierced through me. The tension was quickly cut by the sounds of Jingles and claws rushing across a wooden floor. In an instant a large fluff ball engulfed me, tackling me to the floor and licking me senseless.

“Jesus! Stop! Come on! Stop it Jäger! Down!” My hands attempted to push him away, but I eventually accepted and started petting the old German Shepard. “Awww! Who's a good boy! Did you miss me? I missed you so much!” I said in a baby voice as I snuggled him.

It was then I realized, my mom and dad were standing not three feet from me. They must’ve been in shock, I quickly stumbled to my feet. Now that I was eye height to them, “Dad, mom?” My eyes began to tear up as I slowly walked to them. I reached out my arms, and pulled them both in for a hug. There was no holding back, I began to sob as I saw them, my mother began crying into my shoulder. I could feel my dad clench me tight as he held on.

“My baby! Oh my baby! It’s really you!” My mother said through her tears.

My dad was just in shock, the mountain man, stoic in everything he did, broke down, he began to tear up. “Son, no! Jason! I’m so happy you’re home!”

I released them both as we went into the kitchen together. I sat down at the huge dining table, as my mom sat next to me and dad sat at the home built bar across the room.

“Jason! Are you thirsty? Can I get you something? Jack? A Martini? Maybe a beer?” Dad said as he motioned towards the bar.

“No- no thanks I’m good.”

“Jason! What happened? What’s going on? W-why did they?” Mom's voice became rushed and strained.

“I don’t know mom, I am having my guys look Into it, but apparently I’m the only one who had been classified as KIA.”

“What is KIA? Mom asked

“Killed in action.” My dad said as he poured himself a glass of jack.

“Oh.” Her voice staggered as she spoke.

“I talked to Colonel Strand an hour ago. He had no idea about the Death report.”

“What?” Dad piped up.

“Yeah, The colonel had no idea, he even went so far as to want me to take over as Captain of Saber Company.” I said.

“What? That doesn’t make any sense? How could he put in a promotion if you’re certified to be dead?” Dad shot out of his seat. “There would’ve been kick back, there are lines he has to go through to even get that okayed, he should’ve been stopped!” Dad was furious at this realization.

“Oh my god! Jason! Your lip? And your eye! What happened?” Mom said, pulling dad out of his rant.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I messed up and fell as I was leaving base, smashed my face on a railing.” I said, I couldn’t bear to tell them the truth. I didn’t want to worry them any further.

“Damn, you sure you’re alright Jason?” Dad said as he sat down his whiskey.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I also called Mr. Roberts on my way back, apparently Julia is away with some friends. Did they go to the lake house?”

“Oh, Julia, when we had gotten the news, she was heartbroken. That poor girl, she didn’t leave her room for days. And at the funeral she-.” My mother said.

“Wait! Funeral?” I shouted, cutting my mother off.

“Oh! Oh my god, the funeral. Your father was so angry when the army wouldn’t come to deliver a proper burial, he must’ve called the pentagon upwards of thirty times. But after a while they wouldn’t answer his calls.” Mom explained.

“Fucking bastards, the lot of them!”

“Wait! Hold on, you’re telling me, that the army sent you a formal Death verification, but refused to give a proper burial, didn’t give you access to my personal belongings. Which I know they didn’t because my car was still on base, my clothes, and my other shit was all still in my room. What in the hell is going on?”

“Well Jason, there is a lot happening right now, maybe they just forgot and had gotten swept up in the sheer amount of deaths.”

“Mom, what are you talking about? I mean yeah, there were casualties in Tehran, but it wasn’t that much, was it?” I exclaimed.

“Wait! You were in Tehran?” Mom gasped.

“What? Didn’t they tell you when you got back?” My dad said.

“Tell me What? Okay what the hell is going on? Enough with this Nancy drew, find the mystery bullshit! Someone just say it!” I exclaimed.

“Jason, The Iranian invasion had upwards of sixty percent casualties. Tehran alone had eighty three percent casualties.”

My jaw dropped, I had known the casualty numbers weren’t good, but that high? Against just Iran? “In a year?” I asked.

“Yeah, somewhere between two to three million injured, another million dead. And that’s not including the Chinese invasion, Korean Defense initiative, or the British, Indian, Japanese, Korean, and Anzac casualties.” He said as he stared at me.

“If that’s true, then this is the bloodiest conflict the United States has ever fought!” I slumped back into my chair.

“Yeah, you remember Billy and His brother Alex down the street?” Dad asked

“Uh, yeah? Why?”

“Well, their father passed away of a heart attack just after you left, a month later, they both were deployed. Four months later, their mother had gotten information that they both died overseas. She hung herself shortly after.”

“Jesus Christ dad! What the fuck?”

“Come on Peter! Why do you have to be such a downer!” Mom shouted at dad.

“The man asked what was happening here! You can’t sugar coat it!” Dad said as he put his arms in the air.

“I just can’t with you right now!” Mom shouted.

“What?”

“Jason, did you bring luggage?” Mom turns to me and asked

“Uh, yeah, here let me-“

“Peter! Do me a favor and go bring in his luggage!” Mom shouted, cutting me off.

“Come on honey let’s get you upstairs!” Mom grabbed my arm and rushed me upstairs.

She moved through the house with elegance. As she rushed me into my room. Her eyes widened as she walked into my room first. Shockingly, my room looked untouched. As I walked in, I saw my desk, bed, clothes, and basic furniture were all still there. “Jason! It’s exactly the way you left it!”

“Thanks mom, hey do you mind if I get changed?”

“Oh! Uh! Of course, sorry honey!” She said as she walked out of the room, closing the door.

I was alone, the darkness of my room only Interrupted by the moonlight coming in from the window on the opposite side of the room. I took a deep breath and looked around. All over my room were pictures of me with friends and family, trophies from baseball and football. Adorning my walls were flags of nations my family originated from, there were the American, Irish, German, and Swedish flags. All hanging above my bed while across from them on the other wall was my tv. I twirled around and fell on my bed.

Just then my door opened, I shot up to find my dad entering. “Hey, Jason. I have your stuff here and I’m just so happy you’re home!” He said as he closed the door. As soon as the door was closed, his face turned to anger. “Who gave you the shiner?” He said as he tossed my bag onto me.

“What?”

“Who gave you the shiner, you can lie to your mother, but not me. We talked about this, there are no lies between us, right?”

“Dad nobody-“

“Jason, I am so happy you're home, but I swear to Christ! If you don’t tell me the truth right now, I’m gonna break my foot off in your ass.”

“Fine! Fuck! I was driving here, and when I was on my way, I was making tons of phone calls, and I didn’t pay attention to my speed. I got stopped by a cop on ninety-five. Everything was fine until he saw my license and I told him why I was speeding!”

“What the fuck did you tell him”

“I told him how I was rushing home because you thought I was dead. Then all of a sudden his face was in such a scowl. He asked me to get outta the car. Next thing I know he is trying to shove me to the ground and ordering me to stop resisting, I wasn’t even resisting! And then as I was on the ground, he fucking kicked me in the face! The fucker kneeled on my back, and I asked a question, next think I know I have a gun in my back and he’s about to fucking end me. Then something happened and he rushed off. Saying it “was my lucky day.” That’s what gave me this fucked up face.”

His eyes locked with mine, “See, how hard was that.” He moved and sat next to me. “Ease up Jason.” He put his hands on my face and looked at the damage. “Alright, hang on, I'll get you some ice. Now, did you get the cops name?”

“No, I didn’t think to.”

“Damn, alright, listen, I need to catch you up on some things.” He took a deep breath and slowly began to speak. “Your mom has been a mess since you’ve been gone. Be patient with her. Next no, to answer your question, Julia is not down at the lake house. I have no idea what she has been up to in about a year. Your mom would know more about that than I would. To be honest Herold and I haven’t spoken since I had gotten the news about you. Now, if what your saying about the cop is true, then you need to watch your ass out there. They may be targeting soldiers.”

“What? Why would they do that?”

“I don’t know, but in the last few months, your mother and I have been barraged with vandalism and verbal assault from the neighbors and passers by because of our open support for the troops. Hell, we just had a brick thrown at the house a few weeks ago. The bathroom window was shattered.”

“What the fuck! Are you for real?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Yeah, this is just the start. The people don’t trust the government anymore. To be honest, I think your mother and I are going to move to the cabin.” His voice sounded defeated as he spoke. “It's not safe anymore.”

“Jesus Christ dad, I had no idea.”

“Are you going back?” He said

I was completely taken back by the question. “What do you mean dad?”

“Your contract is up this year, right? Are you going to reup?” He looked at me, I knew the answer he wanted from me.

“Dad, I-I don’t know yet. They need me!”

“Are you serious? What do you mean you don’t know?” Dad’s voice echoed in my room.

“Well what do you want from me? I have men that rely on me! And you heard me downstairs, They want to promote me to captain!”

“Jason! Are you insane?”

“What about this makes me insane? Dad, I’m not doing this right now.”

“Jason.” His voice went quiet. “I don’t think your mother can handle you leaving again, especially if we ever get another one of those letters. Please understand, I know you have a duty to those men. But please, I-we are worried about you.”

“Dad you don’t have to worry abo-“

“Something’s coming, I don’t know what, but the government is losing control, these riots and supply shortages... they’re only going to get worse. And that is going to scare people, and when people are scared, drastic actions seem necessary. And we need to be together, not separated, halfway across the world.” He said as he cut me off, Dad was always the “doomsday” prepper, but something was off about the way he spoke.

“Dad, you always say this shit! Ever since I was a kid! “Oh the world is gonna end in 2012” or “oh! The swine flu is going to end the country!”. I’m not going to live in fear because of your crackpot theories.”

“Jason, I need you to understand! I-“

“No! I’m not going to listen to this! The years you spent training me for survival, shooting, hunting, tracking, evasion! You and uncle Greg always believed in this crazy shit! And I paid for it! I’m not going to let you do this again!” My words echoed in the room. I realized what I said after I said it.

“Jason, I’m serious this time! Please.” Dad’s voice, I had never heard this emotion from him in the 23 years I had lived, it was fear. I was taken back by this plea, as he stood before me, desperately waiting for an answer, I looked back on everything that’s happened the last week.

“Dad, look, I won’t promise anything. But I will think about it, I have six weeks before I go back anyways.”

Dad gave me a half-smile, I could tell he was genuine. Just then, my door flew open with my mother falling into my room. Both my dad and I jumped back. He shouted,

“Abby! Why am I not surprised?”

“What? I didn't listen in or anything! I swear?” Her eyes rolled towards him as she attempted to get out of this.

Dad let out a large sigh, grasping the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb, “how much did you hear?”

“Only after you said you needed stuff to clean him up! I swear! That’s why I have these.” She moved her hand to reveal peroxide, bandages, and a rag or two.

“Alright, fine.”

“Look, Jason, I'm going to call Rich, I want you to grab your old clothes and go work with him tomorrow morning.”

“What? Why?”

“Yeah! He just got back Peter! Why would he want to do that?”

“Trust me, it’s your first day back, I think it will do you some good. And it will help you adjust your mindset back to being a civilian again.”

I thought about everything my dad said, I figured this might actually get my mind off everything that happened. I let out a sigh and agreed. We all agreed, with some protest from my mother, but she relented. Eventually we all finished talking and I set my alarm for 4:30am. I finally got out of my clothes and laid in my bed. I sat there for hours. No matter what I did I couldn’t get comfy in my bed. So eventually I just gave up and stared at my ceiling. I thought about everything that had happened, everything that was going to happen. I had so many questions. “Why does everyone think I’m dead? They had a funeral for me? What the fuck was with that cop? Oh fuck! I never called Jackson back! Shit it’s too late now, I’m not going to fuck up his family time.” Then I found myself asking a question, “Im Home, why do I still feel like this? What’s going on with me?” Before I could get an answer, I felt my eyes close and I entered back into the void.

“Jesus Christ! Go go go!” I shouted

“Warchief; this is Saber one six! We have been ambushed on MSR Kilo! Multiple Tangos, Cannot verify identity of enemy forces. Break.” Kelly gets up from the humvee and looks towards the disabled vehicle ahead of us. “Times one Friendly vehicle disabled! Multiple casualties! Over.” Kelly shouts into the mic of his Long range, attempting to be audible over the massive amounts of gunfire.

As I looked around to get an idea of my surroundings, I saw a few buildings upon a large hill towards our right. Muzzle flashes filled every window in the tiny village. On the right was a lightly wooded area with multiple rocks and boulders for cover. On the left was a steep incline that led down the ridge we were on. I grabbed my radio, “Third! Set down a base of fire! Now!”

“Shit! RPG” shouted Patterson, as the rocket shot past from a small one story building. Luckily it overshot and landed behind us, yet a piece of shrapnel still hit the window above my head. “Son of a bitch!” I shouted.

Our ma Duce gunner, Soulinski, attempted to engage, but the fifty jammed. He sat there attempting to fix it. Just as he shouted “I got it!” A round pierced his jaw, blood sprayed the back of the canopy. His body dropped, I returned fire. Doc rushed Into the humvee and ripped him out from the back door. Two rounds hit the hood of my humvee, one Richicoheting off and almost hitting me. I ducked as fast as I could to find Doc attempting to save Soulinski. His face was mangled, his jaw was ripped in two as his artery sprayed blood out of his body. “Fuck! Kelly! I need help now!” Doc screamed.

“Shit! Do you guys need me over there?” My radio popped on, it was first squad’s medic, Wellers.

“No, stay there!” Doc shouted over the mic.

“Fuck, fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” Doc kept saying as he attempted to stem the bleeding. “Damnit! He needs a medevac now!”

“Son of a bitch!” Jackson shouts as he returns fire.

“Oh no! Lieutenant! Warchief Is calling!” His hands deep into Soulinski’s neck. I rushed to his back and picked up the radio.

“Warchief this is Saber Six Actual! We are pinned. I have multiple men down. Requesting immediate support!” My voice was cracking as I shouted into the mic.

“Hey Stop!” I heard someone shout. I turned around to find Wellers rushing towards us. He made it about half way before two dskm rounds slammed into his side, ripping through him. He rolled off his feet and slammed into the defallade behind us.

“God damn it!” I heard Doc shout.

I looked across the open gap between vehicles, my eyes met Patterson’s. The look of anguish in his eyes was almost too much to bear.

“You stupid motherfucka’s ain’t got shit on me! My daily commute to school was more dangerous than this shitty sandball! Fuck off!” Shouted Jackson as he rushed onto the fifty. As he fired, a line of tracers lit up an old building, after fifteen rounds slammed into the side, the building exploded in a plume of smoke and cook off.

“Shit! I think you hit an ammo depot!” I shouted.

“First move and third, give suppressing fire! Second! Pop smoke then Move on the right side and flank!”

My radio lit up, “you got it!” “Affirm!”

“Incoming!” Jackson shouted.

In an instant, I was flying back from the humvee. As I flew, I saw Jackson look at me with sheer horror. I hit the ground. My head slammed into the dirt below. I looked to my right and saw Wellers, his lifeless eyes looking right at mine. I couldn’t look away.

I shot awake! I was hyperventilating, my eyes wide as dinner plates. I was in my room. My alarm clock read “4:00 am”. I got up and walked to my closet to get ready for the day.