dear abigail

brush passes through his fingers, ruff and jaggedly.  sand and rocks muffled under his boots.  the night air scented with a perfume of oil and rot.  uncertainty hangs just above his head, which he refuses to look up at to see.  his eyes are fixed upon the pending doom at his front, flanks and rear.  his heart is racing, not new to him.  his palms, clutching hard plastic and metal perspire, again not new to him.  he is scared, not frightened.  his been here before.  this place, this moment where seconds are the difference between breathing or a long box home.

  

this is not what sanchez expected out of an well educated life.  his parents loved him he was part of a great community, he had the perfect life.  wanted to be a physician assistant.  but now, thousands of miles away his hopes are fleeting, but he does get to practice medicine.  his daily routine is in the infirmary, treating the snake bite, or some GI infection, and mostly, home sickness.  but every now and again the trama found on a battle field. 

iraq is not a destination for anybody with out a rifle and kevlar.  he shakes his head to rid the thoughs of a beautiful girl from his home town, seattle washington.  Abigail.  she is a nursing student.  they met and spent a life time together in about four months, then his time came.  made the choice to go before he meet her.  

again shakes his head to get Abigail out of his head.  just in time.

*crack**crack**crack**crack*

"GET DOWN, GET THE FUCK DOWN!!!"

"CONTACT FRONT CONTACT FRONT!!!"

"GET THE S.A.W UP!!!"

bullets and tracer rounds clapped by, dangerously close.  dirt kicked up into the faces of members of the platoon that automatically returned the fire. 

sanchez buries into the earth but cant stay long.  his is completely exposed.  cover is close but death rained down on his position.

he was always a fast kid, played football and soccer.  played rugby for 4 years for the university.  but this is different.  clutching his m4 he scrambles to nearby cover.  the first sergent on his heals.  

"LIGHT EM UP!!!"  first sergent barks.  

flares pop and the night sky turns into day as the illuminations float back to earth.

laying on his back, sanchez starts to count the tracers as they blow just inches above his position.  

one, two, three four five, six seven...

"SUPPRESSIVE FIRE!"

eight, nine, ten eleven twelve...

sanches turns and pops up to empty his clip. 

*crack**crack**crack**crack**crack**crack*

bullet casings fall at his feet, with muted clinks. 

back into coverage.

"BRADLYS BEEN HIT, HES DOWN!!!"

"MEDIC FORWARD!!!"

the sergent looks at sanchez.

"your up pal...COVER FIRE!  COVER FIRE!"

sanchez forgetting all that his known in life, forgetting all the friends and Abigail.  dropping them like a heavy pack after a long march.  his mind, fuzzy, incoherent and muffled, but his body, like a machine picks up speed and crashes next to bradly.  

blood pools and clots on the earth.  his guts splayed open.  hes dying and with little chance of survival.  

sanchez and a couple others grab him by his harness and pulls him away from danger.

quickly, pressure dressings applied and IV fluid started.  vitals taken, they are not good.  feathered and weak pules, and BP an alarming 50/30.  hes not gonna make it.

"BLUE NINER ONE, EXPEDITE, CRITICALS DOWN IN THE FIELD."

sanchez watches the chest of bradly rise and fall.  his respirations are quick and labored.  body trying to survive.  inhale and exhale.  blood starts to run from his mouth and sanchez tries to reposition so it pours out and not back into his lungs.  inhale and exhale.  his respirations slow, inhale and exhale...

inhale exhale...inhale....exhale.............

pulse taken, non, no breaths.  

sanchez starts to give chest compressions and rescue breaths...over and over and over...and over...waiting.  nothing...empty...

Abigail flashes into his mind.  She smiles and kisses him on the cheek.  

"hurry home to me."

"i will."