Enlisted

Normallly after an ambush tensions would be high, but for some reason you no longer feel the need hug the wall while you stroll up the street. The farther you get from your combat sight the more you see kids out playing games together and the occasional fried "mystery product" stands appear more frequently. Your whole walk is spent chatting about some of the best times you've had in country and your memories in highschool. The smell of kebabs and rice pilaus fills the air while you reminisce with her. Judging from the fact that you haven't eaten since noon yesterday, plus the audible grumbling of your stomachs, you figure (after some consideration) it's time you held up a food cart.

"So who do you think needs robbing, Dash?" you say looking back and forth for a suitable candidate.

"I'm not sure...wasn't there some pissy old man who spat in our rice one time?"

"Yea, but I still ate it..." you say not caring about the possible horrible disease you had ingested.

"You're disgusting babe." she says plainly.

"All day, every day." you joke with a toothy grin.

"Hey! There he is." she says excitedly "Let's go get lunch!"

She trots off, without waiting for you, towards the cart that sat jumbled in with the rest of the merchant stands in the bazaar. You catch up to her and find her, surprisingly, waiting in line behind 4 or 5 people.

"Uhh, what are we waiting for?" you question.

"Well, since you asked, we're here to ruin his day. Not everybody else's."

"You do realize we're going to rob him for meat on a stick, right?"

"So? Wouldn't you be traumatized if some stranger with a gun robbed your favorite crappy street vendor?"

"Nah... I'm pretty sure I'd laugh while I finished my lunch."

By the time you're finished with your banter everyone in line had left with their food and you realize it's your time to order.

"We'll take five kebabs to go." you say while nonchalantly stabbing your knife into his wooden tabletop.

Just as you finish your sentence a group six men, in a circle formation with five on the outside and one in the center, stroll into the bazaar with a fearless look in the eyes of all of them. The man in the front of the formation begins to announce to the crowd in his native language with a tone that reminded you of a preacher trying to spead "the good word." After about a good five minutes of preaching, as soon as it started you had taken your knife back, the circle of men (and two ponies) broke. After the man in the center was fully exposed you noticed that, from the way his face was built, he should be a lot skinnier than he was.

His cloth shawl had noticably large bulge that wrapped all the around his torso and it was block shaped. "Oh crap... this is happening isn't it..." is the thought that runs through your head when the bulky man spreads his arms out in opposite directions and calls out to everybody in the bazaar. People crowd around him cautiously and exchange worried glances along with hushed chatter. His voice gets louder as he speaks faster with more emotion in his tone.

"Dash we need to move, NOW!!!

You grab her by her collar while she was nabbing the kebabs (and completely ignoring what was obviously a bombing) and jerk her towards the direction you were running. You turn the nearest corner you find and crouch behind it for cover. The man armed with the vest raised both of his arms to the sky and said a few final words..he detonates. The blast destroys the entire bazaar, which you were on the edge of, and fills whats left with a massive cloud of dirt, blood, and clothing fragments. Stepping out from your shelter you can see the miniature mushroom cloud looming about 30 ft. over what used to be a crowd of people. What remains of the crowd is now just a pile of singed and bloodied clothes, scattered limbs, and strewn intestines. Walking through ground zero the cloud, of what used to be people, leaves the taste of rotting meat in your mouth and the smell of sulfur in your nostrils.

"This must be what hell is like... what do you think?" you ask with a mild amount of anger.

"I'm not sure, but it's shit like this that makes me punch old women in public..." she says slightly gritting her teeth.

"We need hurry the hell up and leave this hole... hand me one those kebabs."

You both make your way through the wreckage and out the other side to crowd of people staring at you as you walked away from all of the death and destruction behind you. A few of them point and gasp at you and you can only assume that they're all blaming you for what just went on.

"They're probably going to get more mulisha.... and we're probably going to get shot at again..." she says it like killing is a chore.

"And guess what Dash."

"What?"

"I'm going to draw all of their attention away from you, again. And I'm going to get shot at to keep you safe, again." you say teasingly.

"Didn't I tell you not to do that ever again?" she says with a worried look.

"Nooooo..... maybe...."

She glares at you.

"Yes..." you say with a defeated tone.

"Well? What makes you think I'm going to let you do that?"

"Cuz you looove me." you say trying to cheer her up.

Her look softens a little, but it saddens as well.

"Look, Dash, if you care for me that much then imagine how I feel about you..."

She's surprised at that statement and her jaw drops, it's obvious, that thought had never dawned on her. I guess she thought that you pictured taking all of the aggro in a fight as a game.... or something similar. All of your onlookers had gone back to their homes so now it was just the two of you in the street.

"Dash, I love you... I can't put it anyway else because theres no other to put it."

She rushes in to hug you and nearly knocks you off your feet. You hold her in your arms and wrap them around her waist then nuzzle her cheek. She giggles at the gesture and bites your ear.

"How long have you felt that way?" she whispers.

"I don't know, but I'm sure it's been longer than when I came to realize it."

"I love you too." she finishes her sentence with a gentle kiss to your lips then she softly bites your lower lip.

"I'm still going to get shot at for you." you say smiling at her.

"I know..." she says with a sigh. "But..."

"Ugh.." you chuckle. "And a third time I say it. I'm not going anywhere."

"You promise?"

"I haven't lied to you yet... except for that time I farted in the hummer and said I couldn't roll down the window." you say pretending to be in deep thought.

She licks your face and laughs.

"I knew it!.... that was disgusting by the way."

Just at that moment you notice her cringe and drop down on her hind leg. It's obvious why once you see her leg, there are five small bleeding holes in a scattered formation.

"Those look like grenade shrapnel wounds Dash."

"Oh, those were from the grenade I tossed into the last group we ran into. I'll be fine." she says a little embarrassed.

"Yeeeaaa...no." smiling, you hoist her up so that you're cradling her. "I'm going to carry you back to base. It's only about an hour from here... Oh, and if anyone shoots at us you're our only defense, so don't screw up!" you say laughing obnoxiously.

"Well, aren't you a gentleman?" she says sarcasticly laughing then pecks your cheek.

You begin, what you hope is the final stretch, your walk down the street and see the torched hummer you drove in before the ambush.

"Well at least we know where we're going."

"Oh did the H1 give it away? Or did the legless body with the massive hole in his chest?"

"This is going to be a fun walk." you think to yourself as you two constantly throw light hearted insults back and forth. The position of the sun is telling you it's about 3 p.m. Maybe the afternoon sun will be a little warmer than the early morning sun. It should be autum this time of year, but then again nothing has really gone 'according to plan' recently. However you're walking to a camp, with the one you love in your arms, with an airport which will send you two home after a good night's rest and 'other physical pursuits.' All in all, this wasn't your worst mission. Not by far.