The Changeling Wars

Chapter 1: Introduction

"Hey, John, wake up." "What? Ah man, I was having a good dream too." "Sorry to interrupt your dream of milkshakes and hamburgers." "Shut up, Michael." It was about 1500 hours when I woke up. We were in a Humvee escort riding across the Afghanistan desert. The heat made the horizon jump up and down. The sand looked especially hot. Thank god we were in vehicles. Otherwise I'd melt. "How much *yawn* further until we reach base?" "About another three hours." "Then why the hell did you wake me up?" Michael was my friend every since kindergarten. Occasionally, we would open the rabbit cages there and let them loose. We were always caught though. It was good times. But he has been really annoying recently. "Can't you just let a guy sleep?" "Sorry, princess." "Fu*k off, man."

Suddenly, there was an explosion and a ball of fire in front of our line of Humvees. Then someone yelled "IED! GET OFF NOW!" I grabbed my helmet and rifle and got off as fast as possible. I wish I got off a little quicker. Because right after I got off, a RPG rocket hit the Humvee and it exploded right behind me. I flew off the dirt road and into a ditch nearby. It hurt so much. I blacked out. But I could hear everything. I heard gunshots, rockets, grenades, explosions, yelling, all that crap. Soon, I could see again. I got up and saw my hands were all bloody and the back of my uniform was shredded. I saw bodies everywhere, but the fight was still going on.

A second later, someone dove behind me and yelled "Behind you!" He knocked me behind a wrecked Humvee. It was Michael, he saved me from a bullet. Then a few other soldiers came out and returned fire on the ambushers. My legs began to feel like jelly and I plopped onto the ground. Then, I saw a picture. It was a picture of my wife and kid. I took off my helmet and checked for my photo. It must have fallen out. I placed it back inside my helmet. A helicopter appeared and opened fire on the mountain where the ambushers where taking cover. "Base sent a support chopper!" Everyone began to cheer. But our victory was to be short lived. At least for me. One of the enemy fired a RPG that was supposed to hit the helicopter, but one of it's guns shot off the booster on the RPG and it fell right on me. It exploded in the ground in front of me. I black out again in extreme pain.