A true soldier fights not because he hates what's in front of him, but because he loves what's behind him.
~G.K. Chesterton

Halfway to our destination; Alex had to rely on me to move. Her bullet wound was leaking blood like crazy and soaking the pants she was wearing as well as her undershirt. It barely bled through the uniform jacket, but a small black spot slowly grew. We stopped in another house, this time we made sure there wasn't a dead body in this one, so I could patch her up.

"F-fuck. Did you have to make it so tight?" She complained, but it would do a lot more than that loose piece of shit gauze she used.

"Yes, it will help prevent bleeding, but it would have to be checked out quickly before your home free," I responded as I taped it down with some duck tape I found. What can't duck tape fix? "Come on, we're almost there." I picked her up, but she didn't move her legs. Probably going into shock.

I swore to myself as I hefted her onto my back until she was in a piggyback position. She wrapped her arms around my neck to not fall off. I wasn't strong enough to hold anyone else in any other position so I didn't have a choice. She helped me and I have a promise to keep; I'm a man of my word. We would move slowly but it was better than nothing.

"Shit!" I whispered as griffins began to patrol the ground and others were patrolling the sky. We're there only griffins here or where Changelings attacking the other parts of the nation. Could they be attacking other nations while the griffins were attacking us?

Damn it, now wasn't a good time to think about it. The first priority was getting to that Humvee so we could get the fuck out of here. The patrols were inconsistent as they passed by minutes or seconds after coming into view. The closest cover that would keep us out of sight was a car parked on the side of the road. Blood painted the driver's window while the back door was open, but the tires were blown out; much like all the other cars. They really didn't want anyone leaving if they were pulling shit like this.

I swore again as a jet flew at speeds exceeding speeds past the sound barrier, various expensive objects in the house rattled from the force, and a Griffin fell from the sky with multiple bleeding holes from hid body. When they hit the ground, all heads turned to it and making me move to my first hiding spot. I checked around for anyone who was walking this way by using the camera on my phone. Seeing nothing, I moved to a nearby alleyway and put her down for a second and searched for the red gems. Finding them, I threw one as far as possible and hoped that they didn't have anything to do with magic. If they did, and it was like imagining pulling a pin; I would be severely fucked and they'd have more aware patrols.

I picked Alex up before it hit the ground and hoped that it will explode. Much to my enjoyment, it did explode and I ran as fast as I could towards a house that was across the road and had a small forest behind it. I didn't bother being quiet as I slammed into the door and broke it down before we both fell to the ground. Scrambling to my feet, I ran to the back door, opened it for easier use, and dragged her outside.

I finally sat to rest while making sure Alex was okay with a once-over. I checked her bandages again and they were a little loose, but unless I pull another stunt like that again; it shouldn't get any looser. Another jet flew overhead swiftly followed by a few griffins. The jet was fired upon by the Griffin flyers until it eventually lost its right-wing and crashed into the ground. Despite the trees preventing me from seeing the explosion, I could see the light from it lighting up the forest. I cringed knowing that that poor soldier wasn't going to live if he ejected from the cockpit.

I didn't want to fritter any more time in this spot while there was still some sunlight glaring upon us. I checked my phone for the time and froze; we only had a few hours left before nightfall and reaching that Humvee would be critical to our escape. I picked her up as ran as fast as I could through the forest while avoiding trees to get as far away as I could in case they decided to search the area for who threw that explosive.

"H-hey kid... I never got your name." She whispered, but it wasn't the time. I will tell her, but not now; especially when we're practically surrounded all the time.

"Not now. Let's get you help first." I began to slow down as the sound of gunfire echoed through the air. The sound of it must've been from the M134 that was mounted on the Humvee.

I saw a griffin hiding in a bush with a radio as around twenty Human was trying to defend the Humvee behind a makeshift barricade. He listened to one radio and relayed orders through the other, but what caught my eyes was the dead U.S. soldier next to him. I waited for him to finish his orders before firing from the hip at him. I wasn't going to drop Alex because of that wound; I may be a dick from time to time, but I have a line I won't cross.

He dropped with a yelp as the sudden gunfire from friendly lines surprised him, but he didn't have to worry long as one went through his neck and tore up his Kevlar strapped to his chest. He didn't even have enough time to close his eyes, so I did it for him; however, with much difficulty because of the Griffin on my back.

I lied the griffin down and made sure she couldn't be seen while I went to the radio. The gunfire from both sides was almost defining, but I had to do this to not get shot.

"Hello, hello! Anyone there?!" I yelled as a soldier ducked behind cover for a long while before I got a response.

"Who the fuck is this?!" He yelled as his gruff voice easily pierced through the loud bangs echoing around the battlefield.

"I'm Hunter, civilian, and currently behind enemy lines. I see your team fighting them." I saw the M134 make its sweep around Griffin's line and almost hitting me. "I'm in the forest, with a griffin weapon, and Griffin armor! I'm going to stand, Don't shoot." I waited a few seconds before I jumped up and waved my arms to get their attention.

"Get the hell over here kid!" He ordered before I disappeared behind the bushes and clipped the radio to my belt and picking Alex up again.

"This is stupid, this is stupid, this is stupid!" I yelled as I ran through the battlefield as my shield flared from time to time as bullets made contact with my chest and a few grazed my arms and legs. I jumped over the human cover and lied Alex down before getting control of my breathing.

"Why the hell did you bring one here!" A soldier asked as I was still trying to regain my control over my breathing.

"I made a deal. She gave me information and I'll give her protection. She's saved my life and didn't give me away when the rest of her squadron made it into the house we were in." A griffin made it over the makeshift barricade and gave off a war cry before I shut him up with a few bullets. "Take their weapons! Only those can get through!" I took his helmet and the same thing happened with the vest except I bet it was over my head. I peeked over and began to fire at the enemy while a soldier took that griffin's gun and used it against them.

I took the M249 from Alex and dragged her to the safest place possible before handing the gun to a random guy who was struggling to unjam his rifle. I finally joined them in holding them back with suppressing fire while the others took as many weapons and ammo from those we killed before getting back over the barricade.

"Medic!" I yelled as a guy in digital urban camouflage came to me without getting out of cover. "Please help her!" I said while going to Alex. She was beginning to look pale before he gave me a skeptical look. "I gave her my word and she defected to our side, so please just keep her stable until we can get out." Reluctant, he complied as I went back to the front line to help in the defense after taking the red crystals from her.

I threw a few at some houses where I knew Griffins were and waited for them to explode. Much to my shock, all the buildings began to explode with larger explosions than I, or anyone else if the expression on their faces show, expected.

We continued to fire as they slowly began to retreat, but that wouldn't last for long since I knew they'd come back with more. Once the coast was clear, I jumped over and began to scavenge as much ammo as I could possibly need. Instead of just putting it between my belt and pants, I actually had the bright idea of taking a tactical vest and putting as much ammo as I could in it. Ten out of ten original idea! Bravo, I'm a fucking idiot for not doing so sooner. Welcome to my thought process.

Self mental abuse aside, I actually begin to take some of the Holographic optics from on and a magnifier with an adjustable zoom from one to three. I actually found a vertical grip that I just wanted to hold it a little more comfortably. Me being me I left the weapons because they weren't what was what got through the shield.

"Damn, I guess you got their equivalent of the Vortex VMX-3T. Lucky find." A soldier said with a little excitement. All I did was nod, I put it at times two magnification, and walked back to the Humvee. I went to check on Alex as the medic finished his treatment and looked rather proud.

He patted me on the shoulder and left, I guess he saw I was worried about this Griffin. She could have sold me out when we were in that house, but she didn't. I owe her for that or I wouldn't have been here. I won't deny that she did acknowledge my existence when she was approached by her late squad, but all she said was that she was captured and left it at that. I guess what contributed to their narrow mindedness was the dead body that crashed through the window.

"You okay Alex?" I asked causing her to slowly turn to me with a tired look. She didn't lose enough to die, but enough to not stand for a while. I looked to her side and saw a bloodied bullet on the ground; I guess it was stuck inside of her considering I didn't see an exit wound.

"I'm fine. It's gonna take a while for me to heal." She said while I watched over her like a hawk. "What about you? You ran into a battlefield under heavy fire." I chuckled as I took my helmet off to show where the bullet grazed.

"I'm fine. I just got grazed." She gave me a puzzled look before motioning me down to her.

I was confused when she grabbed my head before laying a hand over where the wound should be, but it was gone. I pulled up my right sleeve And saw the wounds close rapidly.

Chuckling, she let go of me and began to explain what was happening. "Level 6 Kevlar. It's experimental armor that has both shielding and healing enchantments. It'll take a while for it to get used to the biology for whoever where's it. It works for the entire body so you just need one piece. Unfortunately, you'll still need elbow and knee pads for the armor to cover your arms. It's why you got grazed despite having armor. The helmet, elbow, and knee pads can only be shot twice before they break due to the less amount of magic it can hold in their runes."

I thanked her and got any armor I could get my hands on until I found an untouched level 5 Kevlar vest to replace the one I have. Why so she could heal quicker and get on her feet and I won't have to carry her around all the time. I put that on after taking the level 6 off before going back to Alex to give her the better armor.

As I took off her armor, a soldier made a smart comment, "Didn't know you were bringing her for that." A few chuckles went around as we blushed, her more so than me as I smiled and chuckled.

"More than your boyfriend will ever give you." Laughing echoed out, but I heard the guy on the minigun begin to struggle from air as he kept laughing. I couldn't help but laugh as I put the new armor on her and waited.

That moment was ruined by a soldier holding up a radio and coming out of the Humvee. Was I really that focused that I never noticed him in there?

"Message to the carrier has been sent!" He ran out and threw a green flare at the ground before speaking into the radio. "LZ at the green flare! Plus two, a teen and an enemy willing to trade info! Take as many of the enemies weapons and ammo as possible, use fifty Cal ammo if possible, and don't come alone! Humvee is unusable, I repeat Humvee is unusable!" I look at the final gem in my hand and pocket it before readying my rifle and moving the magnifier to the side.

"Copy, prepare for extraction." I heard over the radio before an RPG hit the Humvee causing it to explode and launching me and Alex away from it.

Everyone but the guy in it was okay due to the shields, but now we had a bigger threat. I dragged Alex to cover and pulled the magnifier back in front of the holographic sight to look for that bastard. I couldn't see him, but another explosion killed off six more. I cursed to myself as I searched the buildings for any sign of the guy; unfortunately, I saw nothing around me as another RPG killed off a five more.

Damn it, Hunter, think! He's not in any of the buildings and the backyards are cut off from everything else. Then it hit me like a brick to the face. I can't believe I forgot about it. I completely forgot they can stand on clouds and walk on them like the ground.

"In the clouds! They can stand on clouds!" I yelled as I fired into the clouds around us, but it didn't help that most of the sky was almost completely covered in ashes and smoke. The others followed my example and shot into the clouds.

I kept firing into the clouds with everyone else until I saw the silhouette of a griffin fly away to different cover. I kept the pressure on him and kept him insight while doing so. I eventually began to realize that I'd have to lead my shots and began doing so. It didn't take long after that to shoot him down. The green flare was the only contrast to the seemingly red sky now as it pushed through. The night was about to come and not having anything good to see in the dark with didn't sit well with me.

"Clear!" Someone yelled followed by the rest after seeing me hit the griffin while he was moving in the air.

"Black Hawk is heading to your position. ETA: ten minutes." That didn't seem like long, but the giant cloud of smoke would give our position away, but if it isn't alone, we shouldn't have a problem.

We watched the perimeter and sky for any surprises while the Black Hawk was on route. I stayed next to Alex while she healed, it was mostly internet at this point, but with a 5.56 bullet hitting you at point-blank range; that would normally be a kill shot. Not one Griffin made an appearance as the helicopter landed and I grabbed Alex to help get her on.

"You two, get on!" The pilot yelled as I made it as quick as I could to the Black Hawk. I got on and went directly in the middle as the two on the M134s looked at me questioningly.

"I hate heights!" With that said and done, the rest got on and we left towards the carrier as the sound of gunfire echoed underneath us. "Drop this on any enemies!" We were about a mile off when the explosion went off and I was surprised that we weren't caught in it.

The flight back was uneventful as all hell broke loose underneath use. I couldn't see it, but I definitely heard flares being deployed as rockets flew by us. Those on the guns mowed down any that got to close. We stopped a few times to help the others pick up soldiers who requested extraction. It was the first time I shot an M134 and I couldn't stop smiling like an idiot. I was having way to much fun.

Eventually, we landed on the carrier with hundreds of people who were watching the carnage unfold from a distance. The entire island looked to be up in flames in the span of nine or ten hours. Most of it couldn't be seen through the heavy smoke as more and more helicopters came from it while AA, Anti Air, guns shot Griffins out of the sky with deadly accuracy.

The civilians were trying to get below deck as fast as possible. If it weren't for some of the soldiers on board, many would-be killing each other to get below as fast as possible.

"One got through!" Someone yelled as I looked around for that one lucky griffin until I saw him heading in my general direction.

His smile showed he was enjoying this way too much as he raised his knife to strike. He saw me and began to head my way as I leveled my gun, a smile also on my face as his twisted smile gave way to a rocky one. He thought he was going to kill me, how cute. I fired and shot him out the sky as he slammed into the ground, blood spattering the ground as his skull was smashed in from the impact. If the bullets didn't kill him, the fall certainly did; holy shit, I wasn't expecting that.

"Get them under before any more come out the sky!" I had my gun trained in the sky along with the rest as a random Marine took the gun from the Griffin and aimed at the sky. "Get Alex!" I yelled as a soldier helped her out. She was healed, but there was still the phantom pains of getting shot to deal with. It was paralyzing for her so when she was helped out I slowly made me away to her.

"The captain would like to meet with you two! An escort will be here soon!" The soldier said as I picked her up, guess in what position, and waited for my escort.

It didn't take our liaison long as I tried my best to not drop her because of my physical fatigue, or going up those steep steps to get to the Command Deck. A man in a nice white class A dress uniform, nicest fucking class A in the entire military if I may add, and set Alex down. I stood at attention and saluted to the superior officer like I was taught by my JROTC teacher.

He chuckled before returning the salute before dropping it closely followed by me. "You know your stuff, kid. I'm Captain John F. Meier and this ship is the USS Gerald R. Ford, a pleasure to meet you..." He trailed off so I could give my name.

"Junior Private First Class Hunter Herrero, Army JROTC." Yup, just as hard as I remember. Why is it easy to talk to people when my life is in danger, but not when I'm safe.

"At ease cadet, I've heard what you accomplished with my soldiers. I'm here to reunite you with your parents." I visibly flinched at that my hand on the grip of the gun tightened.

"They were some of the first to go, sir. I dragged them into safety, but my stepmom bled to death and my dad was executed. My little brother was gunned down alongside the SWAT." A few of them took there covers to show respect to the dead. "My dad gave his life so I could live. He was my hero, and I owe him everything I could give and do." I meant it. If he was still alive, I'd do anything to pay him back, but he's gone.

"I'm sorry. If I knew, I won't have said anything. How do you feel after getting out of that hell hole?" I looked down for a moment as thoughts ran through my mind.

How did I feel? I haven't thought about it after I broke down. I was too preoccupied keeping my promise and trying to stay alive. I actually could feel something after all that; despite the fact that I subconsciously suppress my emotions. I released those emotions without knowing what those emotions were.

I felt... Angry. I didn't feel sad, or relieved; I just felt extremely angry. I could feel my expression twist into rage as the emotion hit me all at once. That was when I gave him my answer.

"Honestly, I'm not sad, happy, or relieved; I'm just extremely pissed. Pissed that the day I was born was the day we were attacked, that I lost my dad, Stepmom, and younger brother, and most certainly that they took some of the most important people in my life!" I looked at him dead in the eyes before he recoiled in surprise from the rage and determination he could most definitely see. "I just want to kill all them fucks for what they did here."

"That's a serious claim, but you held your own for hours." He thought for a minute before looking at me with an almost unreadable expression. "What if I offered you a job?" That caught my attention as that anger and rage gave way to a confused expression.

"What kind of job?" Depending on what the job entails, I might not take it.

"I want to offer you a job in the front lines. I'm pretty sure you'd find your self their if I offered you a desk job." Damn right. "Also, with the reports we've been getting, a mass draft is about to be ordered for everyone eight or older to be called to arms. I'll just say you were the first to be pulled." I nodded as they looked at Alex with almost hatred. "Now, what about her?" I stepped in front of her as she struggled to stand.

"I'll watch over her and she gave me all the info I needed to survive. I made a deal with her, intelligence for protection; I will not be made a lier captain." She fell on me and I stabilized her so she could stand. "I would like to see my mom, my birth mother and inform her of my new occupation." He nodded and went to one of the people around me. I have no idea what he was and I'm not even going to pretend I know what's happening so fuck it.

"What state?" He asked as I smiled while holding up the recovering griffin.

"Georgia."

Author's Note

Should I continue with the war quotes or should I stop. If not should I reuse some if they fit the theme, let me know