Shot Throught the Heart

thirty-five

Being in a warzone warps your sense of time. Since we got to Mariupol things have been a go nonstop. And with me being the captain of the ship, I don't really get down time. Since we started to make ourselves at home in this warehouse, I barely sleep anymore. We are coming up on day 42 of living here and unfortunately, this warehouse has become our home away from home.

We are southwest of the main part of the city and have been able to blend into the neighborhood pretty well at first. Our first few days here it was hard to think about going out onto the street in the few pairs of regular clothes I have but it was necessary. We all needed to get a lay of the land and the neighborhood we were now calling home. Daily patrols have become a way for us to scope out the area, stretch our legs and get some essentials like more warm clothing and some fresh food. But the longer we have been here, both have become hard to find.

Since we established our base, we have only gotten one supply shipment. Because of where we are, getting supplies to us has been almost impossible. When we got into our second week here, I had to make a list of everything we could need for at least the next thirty days. Apparently, all my complaining to Major Collins about how hard the floor was made an impression because when we eventually got the supply shipment I found 13 cots with pillows and blankets. The sight of them brought tears to my eyes at the thought of not having to sleep on the hard cold floor anymore. Also included in the shipment was more ammo and explosives, plenty of boxes of MREs, additional medical supplies, cold weather gear, cash and prepaid burner phones.

When I saw the phones I made sure nobody touched them until I spoke with Major Collins about them. She told me that since this mission is going to stretch out longer then any of us thought and since there was no way for us to send or receive mail, she had the phones sent to us so we could call home. The news brought tears to almost everyone's eyes when I delivered the news to the team.

Everyone had there own phone to use and I wrote everyone's name on the back of them. Once they were done with there call, I took the phones back and powered them down right away. I couldn't run the risk of anyone on the team making additional calls right now that could put our location in jeopardy. Though when I finally had the chance to call home I almost ended up sobbing once Peyton picked up the phone. I was able to time the call right so both mom and Peyton were home and awake and getting the chance to speak to both of them helped me move forward with our mission here. Towards the end of the call when I spoke to Peyton alone, I asked about Kuzma. Peyton told me she has a team working to get over to Petro's farm to see if they could help get him settled somewhere. The relief I felt when she gave me the news also took some stress off of me.

Since leaving him behind with Petro, there hasn't been a day that's gone by that I haven't thought about him. Whenever airstrikes would come from above, I would always hope and pray that they would miss the farm and hit far away from them so that he will be safe. Just the thought that he is in good hands was enough for me to power through patrols.

Once we got all of the new supplies things were looking up for the team. Moral was better now that everyone had some warm jackets and pants to wear. Then they started to dive when the unexpected missile strikes started happening, including night raids from Russian troops. There have been a lot of nights where the missiles have hit to close for comfort. The longer we have been here, the more airstrikes have come down. Pretty soon, I don't know if there will be any more buildings still standing for the Russian military to hit. Those are the worst nights, just when you think you can finally have some solid sleep, it feels and sounds like the world is ending.

Whenever we are close enough to feel the missiles dropping I do send out a small team to help anybody affected. But as of lately, the damage has been done. We have been finding more dead bodies in the streets then alive ones. Most civilians have either fled for there lives, stayed and are hiding in the few bunkers attached to their homes or have picked up arms to try and fight off the Russian troops who moved into the city so quickly it was hard for anybody to get a handle on it. From what we have seen so far, there have been little Ukrainian troop presence here.