Author's Note: Thank you! I feel like I don't say that enough. Thank you to everyone following. Thank you to everyone reading. Thank you to everyone who writes comments. I do actually read them all and I enjoy reading what your thoughts are on my story. If there's something you like, dislike, want more of, or less of let me know! Now enjoy the chapter you bastards. Oh yeah, trigger warning.

Chapter Ten

It’s been over four weeks. Over four weeks since I began walking. I lost count after the first two, I didn’t have the energy to continue. I haven’t run into a single sign of life. I only see the same dull scenery day to day. I ran out of food the second day. It’s not like I had a lot of it to begin with. Thanks to that I have now learned I cannot die from dehydration or starvation. I have no idea why, but I don’t have the energy to even begin figuring it out. The only issue I am facing is that the hunger and thirst still remain.

I believe I am slowly losing my grasp on the world. The delusions from lack of nutrients have become grander day by day. I keep seeing animals running by, but they are always just a little too far away to reach. I also see puddles of water with every step I take, but every time I stoop down to quench my thirst, my hands hit the ground beneath them. I don’t even have the ability to kill myself. I am stuck within this torture until I reach some form of civilization.

I keep walking step by step. My shirt was soaked with sweat the first few days I began walking, but now it is as dry as when I began just a lot dirtier. I don’t have any water left in my body to sweat out. There isn’t even any vegetation around or at least none my brain will allow me to see in my delusional state.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a small lamb run by my right side. I don’t have the energy to chase after it, but I imagine its neck snapping. With that its head twists one hundred eighty degrees staring behind it directly at me. The lamb’s body then slumps over, dead. I rush over and begin eating the first meal I have had in weeks. I don’t stop to think about the fact that it hasn’t been cooked. I don’t think about the fact that I am tearing into the small body of the lamb like a wild animal. Blood is running down the sides of my mouth as I continue to eat the raw meat. I don’t seem to be able to get rid of this relentless hunger. I am now eating any piece of the lamb I can get my hands on. The heart, the eyes, the brain, I eat everything. After finishing my meal I sit down to digest what has just happened. A lamb would mean there are other animals around. A lamb could never survive out on its own. I begin to walk from my recent kill heading in the direction the lamb was running. I don’t look back. If I had I would have been horrified. On the side of the road lay the bloody remains of a young child. Nothing about it was identifiable. The only thing that gave it away was the piece of child sized cloth that lay next to the remains.

The first thing I run into when nearing civilization is a stream. I now have regained a bit of my sanity and know I need to wash off the blood that now covers most of my body. While I am enjoying the refreshing water and drinking as much as I can possibly swallow. I see a man running yelling in Pashto. I took some time on the flight over to learn a variety of important words and phrases in case a situation where I became stuck in Afghanistan came up and look at me now.

“Daughter……..Daughter……” The man is yelling entire sentences in a very frantic manner, but the only word I understand is daughter. Approaching him now would not be a great idea. Foreigners in Afghanistan are already looked down upon. I need to find a military outfit of a foreign soldier. That would at least make my appearance in Afghanistan cities explainable.

I sneak in through the nearby towns gates. I finally have a stroke of luck and see American soldiers throughout the city from my vantage points within alleyways. I follow them from the shadows until we reach their temporary military base.

“Hey Jim, I heard we are getting shipped back soon. I can't wait to finally leave this shitty town.” A short man standing guard at the base begins speaking to the man next to him.

“Yeah I heard. Let’s just wait and see. The last time we were told that was in Iraq and we were just sent here instead.” Jim doesn’t seem to be the optimistic type. For some reason I can hear a second conversation as well. It sounds disjointed and uncertain.

“I hate this asshole. I want to leave. I want to see my kids.” These snippets of thought came rushing into my head. These words didn’t match up with the words being said. Either someone is whispering weird ass phrases directly into my ear, or I can now read minds. The latter is the more probable option. If I can receive thoughts can I send them?

I attempt to reach out to Jim the one whose mind I listened in on earlier. I begin repeating the same phrase over and over and over.

“Kill him.”

After a few minutes of doing this Jim slowly stands up, pulls out his pistol, and shoots the other soldier in the head. Brain matter flies everywhere and soon other soldiers will be making their way over here, alerted by the gunshot. I decide to make my move. I run up behind Jim, who is now staring at shock at the dead body that lies in front of him and snap his neck with a loud crunch.

I pick up his body and quickly rush back into my hiding spot, change, and rush back out in Jim’s ill-fitting uniform. Now will come the difficult part. I look nothing like Jim. I will have to transmit a message to every soldier here mentally, convincing them that I either look like Jim or that I have always been Jim. I choose the second option. It may be more difficult to pull off, but it will make future interactions with the soldiers a lot easier. I pull out the pistol Jim used previously and fire some rounds randomly into the darkness that is surrounding the base. I have already begun my mental takeover of the soldiers and they should all believe that I am one of them by now.

Three soldiers run up with guns out.

“Jim what is going on here? What happened to Patrick?” The soldiers immediately start asking questions, but I am ready for it.

“Terrorists shot at us from the shadows. They got Patrick, I returned fire, but I was too surprised to actually get a good grasp of where the shot came from.” Okay, this description is obviously full of gaping holes, but with a little mental gymnastics I had all of them believing every word that left my mouth. This power is much more useful than my regeneration.

With any luck, I will end up back in the United States if I remain with this group of soldiers. For now I will continue to wait and practice using my power. Who knows how powerful I can become and what I will be able to accomplish once I gain full control of this power. I could take what I want, rule what I want, and destroy anything that tries to stop me. I could even overtake my parents if they are still alive.

The soldiers were exactly what I expected a group of American soldiers to be like in Afghanistan. Loud, brash, and brazenly ignorant. These were obviously men that chose the army, because paying attention in school was just a little too difficult for them. This point was really driven home once I began talking with them. Everything they said either related to the things they had waiting for them back in the United States or how terrible the terrorists are that we were sent here to fight. The actual reason for fighting is idiotic. The United States has little reason to continue with this war on terror when so few Americans have actually dies from terrorist attacks. Their time and money could be spent on much more productive things. I do have to respect the American government at the same time though. They played upon the U.S. population’s fears to help further their own ideas and plans. It really is a fantastic way to gain loyalty and spread influence at the same time.

I am not in a rush. I am still young and war is an interesting way to spend my time. I will lay low here until I am given a chance to head home naturally. The experience of fighting in a war will be worth gaining.