Prototype≫GoldenBlackHawk

.21

The next two hours of my life were spent with plenty of yelling, screaming, and stuggling. At first Jenna and Seamus couldn't figure out why I didn't want to go, or why I kept trying to wander off they finally understood when they heard a loud explosion and the flames grew higher in the distance.

After they realized what was happening we all collapsed on the ground leaning against each other for support as the tears rolled down our faces. Promptly after I'd gathered every ounce of strength I had left I tried to bolt. I tried to run toward the ruins of the village only to have Seamus and Jenna both grasp my arms with iron grip and hold me back. All I remember is yelling,screaming, kicking the sand, and pleading for them to let me go try and salvage what was left, but they wouldn't let me.

Instead I struggled in their grip for a long period of time before I was finally spent, and collapsed onto my knees in the sand with two miniature waterfalls flowing down my face, neither of their comforting words sinking in. All hope had left my mind, and I had an awful feeling about it.

When all the remaining troops finally gathered back together we found a demolished camp I was grateful we left; a small part of me wish we hadn't though. The abandoned camps tan tents were limp on the ground and torn to shreds or still smoking. The tables were piles of scrap wood and splinters on top of twisted pieces of metal, and tan containers of supplies were blown in half covered in black burn spots. It brought tears to my eyes again to see our temporary home destroyed.

No casualties were found in camp, but in the village they weren't sure yet. No one had been able to go there yet to count casualties or see if there were any as they weren't sure if the camp was empty. They were setting up a team to go recover any survivors or any bodies that could be found.

I was immediately turned down, and sent back to Seamus and Jenna for comfort as if that'd solve all my problems. They said I didn't have enough strength and could be a wild card which was all very true.

It didn't feel fair though, and regardless of what I thought, I was left to sit in the wreckage that once was our camp to wait.

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Everyone was wearing black. All black.

Except for me, Jenna, Dan, and Seamus. We were wearing stiff uniforms that were for a military officer of much higher rank. They claimed I earned it, but I didn't feel like I earned everything if anything the men laying with their arms (or what was left of their arms) crossed over their chest deserved it. They were the true heroes having saved over fifty people in the camp, and giving their own lives to do it.

Seamus, Dan, and Jenna sit on either side of me with their arms resting in their lap except for one of Jenna's that was intertwined with mine. The funeral service was long, and full of verses that the guys would most likely have slept through. I can't even stay focused on them as my mind kept wondering.

All of the guys who had went into the village perished in the explosion. Dan had made it out with minimal injuries from his spot shooting down enemy aircraft. It hurt though that I'd made it out unscathed while the others lay in caskets, some in several pieces.

No one could give account of what happened in the village so the only information we had was what we saw or could gather.

It was a closed casket funeral. When it was time you could go up and take a flower, but the caskets stayed closed. I couldn't blame anyone for wanting it to be closed casket when the bodies were brought back to camp they were bloody, and in several pieces so it only made sense to do a closed casket funeral instead of a gory open casket funeral. I still longed to see them once more, gory or not.

We all took our time plucking a flower-or if you were Jenna three-and saying good byes and I love you's. By the time we made it back to our spots in the pews I'd begun crying and Jenna was too yet she still tried to comfort me. Even with small circles being rubbed across my back I still couldn't keep it together. My sobs accompanied by other people's who were much louder so I didn't feel as bad.