OO-RAH!

Chapter 18

**TWO MONTHS LATER**

I was walking around in what looked like a desert. I was in my shorts and a t-shirt, and barefoot. The sand was hot and burned my feet with each step. I felt exhausted, thirsty, and confused. I've clearly been walking around for a long time, but I don't remember how I got here. Suddenly, something sharp in the sand pricks my foot when I take another step. I flinch in pain and look down to see what seems to shrapnel metal. I look ahead to see that there's even more.I gasp as I walk forward and see a helicopter propeller sticking out of the sand, and the rest of the helicopter destroyed and debris all over the sand. 

I look around in horror as I begin to see dead bodies scattered around in the sand, but there's too many for them to all have fit in the helicopter. I notice that some are dressed in active combat uniforms and some are dressed in tattered looking clothes and their heads were helmetless. I can feel my chest getting tight like I'm about to cry but I can't. Instead I start coughing profusely, unable to catch my breath. A gust of wind sweep a blast of hot sand in my face and stings my eyes. I want to scream out for help, but my voice doesn't work. I try desperately, but not a sound escapes. Suddenly, I hear a voice screaming in the distance. It sounds like my name, but I'm not sure. 

"Hayden!" the voice shouts. I turn my head and start running in the direction, ignoring the burning and stinging pain of my feet. I make my way up a small hill of sound and lose my balance, sending my tumbling down to the base. When my body finally stops, I feel too weak to even raise my head. "Hayden! Help me! Please!" the voice shouts again. I bring my head up to see that two men are right in front of me. One of them is Chase. 

Chase is being held by his hair and he's sitting on his knees with hands bound behind him. He has a pained and tortured look on his face, and he's covered in blood and burns. The man above him has Chase's hair gripped in his fist while he points a evil looking rifle at his head. His face is covered by what looks like a ski mask to me, and his eyes stare my down dangerously. "You were wrong, Hayden." the man says, his voice low and gravely.

"What?" I soundlessly ask, confused and dazed. 

"He's not coming home after all. Stupid girl." he says again. Then out of nowhere, he throws Chase forward toward me and Chase starts scrambling for me, but it's too late. The masked man pulls the trigger of his rifle and shoots Chase in the head, killing him instantly. I scream and shout Chase's name, but my voice is still gone. I want to move to him body, but I suddenly can't. I just stare and try to scream for Chase's lifeless body in the now crimson sand. But there's still someone calling my name. This time the voice is different, and it sounds like an echo in the distance. I look around me, the sky now a bright orange from the sunless sky. I see a figure running towards us in the distance. I squint as hard as I can to make out Daisy. She's running, crying, and hold large pregnant belly. I blink the sand from my burning eyes and she's suddenly close, and I notice there's blood on her hands, and it's comping from her belly. 

"Help me, Hayden. Please, save the baby." She pleads, falling to her knees right next to Chase's body. Her face is dirty and tear stained, her skin raw and blistered. The masked man comes up behind her and holds her hair the same way he held Chase's and points the rifle at my sisters head. I try screaming for him to stop and beg him not to shoot, but throat is dry and my voice nowhere to be found. 

"She left you when you needed her the most. She deserves this." the masked man says. He pulls the trigger and shoots my sister in the head, letting her now limp body fall beside Chase's. The amount of pain I feel in my body is unbearable. My chest feels like it's going to implode, my heart feels like it's about to burst from the adrenaline, and my skin and eyes burn like someone is stabbing me with a white-hot iron. I try again to move to my lifeless lover and sister so I can hold them and tells them I'm sorry for what I've done, but my body is stuck in invisible concrete. The masked man approaches me and lifts up my face aggressively. I'm forced to look into the eyes of my familys' killer, and I'm confused when I see how feminine and familiar they seem. Then they pull the mask off, and I see it's not a man at all, but Billie-Mae. She looks down at me in disgust, with hatred in her eyes. I want to scream out, "WHY!?" but I can't. She just looks at me and shouts my name, as she holds the rifle up and points at not me, but herself .