Text (Take It Off #4)(35)
Author: Cambria Hebert

Please, God, tell me he made it home.

“We were on the far side of the base, near the weaponry tent. We didn’t keep too much else around the weapons. It was just a safety precaution. There were a few tents here and there, as was the tent I spent a lot of my time in, readying weapons. It was night, so there weren’t many men around. Most were at chow or already bunked down for the night.

“Everything seemed fine and we were about to head back toward the other side of base when I caught a slight sound. The sound of a weapon being cocked. I knew that sound. I knew it better than most. I heard it hundreds of times a day. It was my job to know that sound.

“I pivoted toward the sound, only it wasn’t coming from within the base—it was coming from outside our boundaries.”

A look of sheer despair crossed his face, and I reached out, wrapping my hand around his. He looked down to where my hand touched his. Without saying anything, he threaded our fingers together and gave mine a gentle squeeze.

Then his brows knit together when he took in the bruise and rash across the top of my hand. He lifted my arm and pressed a soft kiss to the irritated area. “IV?” he asked once his lips left my skin.

I nodded. “I have sensitive skin. That tape was brutal.”

“I should have watched the nurse.”

“You did more than enough for me,” I told him.

His thumb began to make slow circles across the back of my hand, and his eyes began to slip away once more. “I called a warning as enemy fire started peppering the sand around our feet. We all dropped to the ground and returned fire, but it was so dark out there it was hard to know where to aim. I listened for the popping of gunfire and aimed in the direction of the sound.”

“If this is too hard,” I told him gently, not wanting to hurt him further by making him speak.

He shook his head. I think he wanted to get it out there.

“There were more of them than there were of us. It became evident that they wanted to raid the weapons tent. They wanted to take all of our supplies and use them against us.”

I said a dirty cuss word. He smiled.

“Gidding radioed for backup, and I knew the men close by were able to hear the gunfire. It wouldn’t be long until we had numbers and weapons on our side. Unfortunately, the enemy seemed to know that too. They launched some sort of grenade right as, blowing up a couple tents and taking out one of the guys. It was Gidding. He was my friend.”

He looked at me. “Sometimes at night, I can still hear him screaming.”

I scooted a little bit closer. He pulled up his left knee and dropped his right foot onto the floor. I settled myself in the small opening between his legs.

“One of the hostile’s made a run for the main weapon tent. Me and Prior went after him. Prior was the one with the new baby. As we ran, a couple of them appeared out of nowhere, aiming their weapons and letting go a couple rounds. Prior took a hit in the shoulder and the thigh. One of the bullets bounced off the ground and hit me in the calf.”

He lifted up the sweats around his left leg and showed me a knotted white scar.

“I let loose with all the ammo in my gun and took the fuckers out. Prior tried to keep going, but one of the bullets hit an artery in his leg. The blood… it was like a freaking fountain the way it spurted from his leg. I picked him up and carried him toward the tent, where I figured we would at least be shielded from more gunfire.”

The image in my head of Nathan bleeding and limping while gunfire and screaming erupted around him made my heart hurt. I pictured the way he must have looked dressed in boots and cammies, carrying an empty gun and his friend who was clinging to life.

“We made it to the weapons tent. I laid him out on the ground and tied my blouse around his leg as tight as I could. I screamed my head off for a medic and sent one of the guys who was running into the fray back out of it to hunt down the Corpsman.”

Nathan looked up at me.

“He didn’t want to die. He had everything to live for.”

“Of course not,” I said sympathetically. I knew then that Nathan’s friend Prior didn’t make it. I knew that out there somewhere was a little girl without a father and a woman with a broken life.

“I told him I’d get him out of there,” Nathan said, his voice breaking on his words.

“What happened?”

“I grabbed a new gun and started fighting, holding them back from the tent. Our guys got a leg up, the hostile’s were waning, and I knew they would be out of ammo soon. When the medic came into site, I grabbed another gun and ran out into the open. The fire started coming my way and I hoped it would create enough of a distraction for them to get to Prior.”

He glanced up at me. “He died, Honor.”

“That’s not your fault,” I promised him.

“They were pissed they weren’t going to be getting our weapons… so they launched a grenade at the tent. I saw it falling through the sky. I knew what was going to happen. I yelled. I ran toward them all. I wanted to get Prior and the medics out of there. But I was too late. The entire tent blew in a massive blast. All that ammo…” he said, his voice trailing away.

“You ran toward the tent?” I asked incredulously. “Even after you saw the grenade?”

He looked at me. “Yes. I was the reason they were in there. Prior was lying in there because I told him he’d be safe.”

“You couldn’t have known they would blow the place up.”

“I should have thought that far ahead. I should have been in there to get him out.”

I reached up and touched the jagged scar across his cheek. The scar he got while trying to save other men’s lives. He could’ve ran away. He could have ducked and covered.

He didn’t.

He almost died trying to save them.

“I’m so glad you didn’t die,” I whispered.

He stilled and looked me in the eyes. “I should have died with them. They died for my mistake. The blast was so strong it threw me backward. That’s what saved my life.”

I sat up just a little bit straighter and took his face in the palms of my hands. He watched me through somber blue eyes as I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the reminder of the night he almost died. The scar was puckered and raised a bit, so I kissed it again. When I pulled away, I ran my thumb over the scar just below his bottom lip.

Before I could stop myself, I leaned forward and gently kissed the underside of that lip, aiming directly for the scar.

He made a soft sound and brought his hands up to cup my face.