Coming Home

OCTOBER

I had missed the sounds of bullets whizzing by my head. It was a weird thing to miss, and yet, it was one of the things I did. The sand, the heat, the bullets, and the company. I felt like myself again. That was kind of fucked up that I needed bullets and a gun in my hand to feel like a man again.

"Charlie, watch your six!" Another bullet whizzed by my head as I turned to shoot an enemy combatant.

I nodded my thanks and moved forward. We had a lot of ground to cover tonight and not a lot of time to do it in. This was our big mission for this half of the tour. We were gathering some information vital to the SEALs. They needed to know where a certain package was located, and we were supposed to be a lot quieter than we had wound up being.

I took the next hall, sweeping my scope from side to side. It was another empty room. All the shots that came for us came from behind. I had a strange feeling that they were in another building and that this one was booby trapped. But it wasn't my place to voice my concerns. That was for the team leader to decide.

Just as I took another step in, I felt something hit my foot. Oh fuck. I didn't have time to think much else as the wire I had tripped exploded everything in the room. A huge blast plastered me through the door and out the window. I hit step after step as I went down the stairs. Everything hurt and then everything was white.
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It was the beeping that woke me up. It was this incessant, annoying sound. I just wanted it to shut up, to stop. The only way I could think of to make the beeping stop was to wake up.

It was like my eyes were glued shut though. It took everything inside of me to open them. And it hurt like a mothefucker when I did get them open. A bright, hot light hit my eyes. But the beeping noise continued and I needed it to stop.

"Oh my god, Charlie." A voice said. "Don't move. Let me get the nurse."

I turned to the sound but couldn't see anything. Everything was still this bright, hot, and painful light. What the hell was happening? The beeping quickened and I tried to find the source.

"Whoa, Charlie. You've got to relax." That was a voice I recognized. "The beeping is your heart monitor. You can't make that one stop."

"Matt, what's going on?"

I think he sighed. It was hard to tell with the white light still in my eyes. "I think I should let the doctor explain what happened, Charlie. This isn't something I should just drop on you, and I think you'll want Rae to be there too."

Nodding my head, I heard footsteps enter the room. One was slightly lopsided, definitely my Rae. The other footsteps were even, sure. It sounded like they had sneakers on. Why couldn't I see? What was happening?

A soft, slightly calloused hand grabbed mine. She squeezed my hand as Matt grabbed the other. It was rare that we made a united front. I was fairly sure that Rae and Matt weren't out about our relationship status yet. But who was I to argue?

"Captain Anderson," the doctor said, "I hate to be the one to tell you this. I imagine you're having a little difficulty seeing right now? We've had to bandaged your eyes, and we're certain you've lost most of your vision."

My mouth dropped. "I'm blind?"

"No! I should have finished. You've lost most of the vision in one eye. Your other eye is perfectly intact."

"And my team?"

Rae grabbed my hand tighter and Matt brushed a hand down my shoulder. "Your team... didn't make it out of the building. Captain, you're incredibly lucky you're alive. If you hadn't been blasted out of the window, you'd be dead with them."

"So am I just partially blind now? Or are there other injuries?" I didn't even want to think about having lost another team. This was just my luck.

"You broke your back. You're going to make a full recovery, minus the one eye."

Notes

Short, sweet, to the point?

LOOK WHO DIDN'T DIE, GHOST!!!