You Are Never Out Of The Fight

“Isaac, move!”

I heard Woodson yell over to me as he fired off rounds at the enemy.

As soon as I registered what he had said an RPG went off to the left of me, sending me flying to the right and making me roll a few yards downhill.

As I tried to get my mind back into the fight, I attempted to stand up but fell to one knee as pain shot down my left leg.

Confused by this, I looked at my leg and saw a jagged piece of shrapnel sticking out of my left thigh,

“You good, brother?”

I heard Woodson call over to me as he briefly glanced over his shoulder at me.

“I’m fine,”

I said through gritted teeth as I hobbled my way over to a tree to get some cover,

“Just got tagged by some shrapnel.”

As I crouched by the tree, I leaned into the trunk in order to take some weight off of my now injured leg.

I raised my rifle and began to pick my targets once more; looking through my scope I saw a Taliban fighter with two RPG’s slung over his shoulders.

“You son of a bitch.”

I said to myself as I shot him square in the neck, this caused him to clutch at his throat in a vain attempt to stop the blood that was spraying out of the open wound that I inflicted upon him. I then heard shouting coming from the left of me and I turned to look at who was screaming, to my horror a Taliban soldier was on top of Jacob attempting to stab him with a knife.

I quickly turned around and shot the man in the shoulder, causing him to drop his knife and scream out in pain. Upon seeing the opportunity I gave him, Jacob picked up the man’s knife and stabbed him three times in the neck; making him let out a sickly gurgling noise as he tried in vain to get some air into his lungs.

I nodded toward Jacob and he picked up his rifle and proceeded to return fire towards the enemy.

“We just need to get to high ground and we can take these fuckers!”

I shouted to Andy, who was rotating to our right flank to help Woodson,

“Let’s push the bastards back!”

I heard Andy say to me over the deafening gunfire that was all around us.

“There’s too many of them, move down the mountain and consolidate on me!”

I heard Woodson say,

“Fuck!”

I cursed to myself as I started to hobble my way down the mountain; Jacob followed close behind. As we got to our new position, Jacob and I posted up behind two boulders. I was on the right side and he was on the left.

To my right I saw Andy and Woodson behind two dead trees returning fire towards the enemy, “Fuck me, man.” I said as I tried to catch my breath.

“Picked a hell of a day to show up to work.”

Jacob then took cover behind a rock as he ejected his magazine and slammed a new one into his gun,

“No fuckin’ shit.”

He said as he returned to firing at our enemy.

“Andy, call for the fuckin’ QRF!”

I shouted towards him, he then picked up his radio and began speaking into it, while Woodson was trying to cover him.

“Spartan Base, this is Spartan 0-1! Troops in contact, requesting immediate QR-”

Andy dropped the radio as he shouted in pain,

“Fuck!”

He said as he looked at his hand in shock.

“My thumb is gone! You motherfuckers!”

He said as he picked up his rifle and bagan firing into the trees.

“Woodson, tell Andy to wrap his hand in some cloth!”

I yelled over to him. Woodson nodded and threw Andy a bandana that he had in his pocket.

“Ahh!”

I heard Jacob cry out in pain as I saw him get hit in his left arm.

“We can’t stay here for long, Woodson!”

I yelled out as I shot another Taliban soldier.

“Move back!”

Woodson said, I then looked behind me and saw that there was a drop off about twenty yards behind us.

“You mean fall off?!”

I shouted; Woodson nodded at me and we all gathered at the drop off. Below us I saw that there was a fifty foot drop off that led into boulders and trees.

“Fuck me.”

I said and then an RPG round exploded behind us, forcing us off of the ledge. What happened next was mostly a blur of pain and confusion as I loosely tumbled down the drop off; slamming into rocks and trees.

It felt like some unknown force was using me as a punching bag and I had no control over it. I’m pretty sure I could hear the breaking of my bones as I continued to slam into debris that was down below.

That’s when I came to a stop as my back crashed into a tree stump. I layed there for a minute, before sitting up and wheezing. I then heard Woodson say,

“We’re not out of the fight yet, brother.”

I turned my head in the direction of his voice as blood was coming out of my nose and mouth. What greeted me was a very beaten and mangled mess of my friend, he had deep cuts along his face, blood was coming out of his nose, mouth and eyes and his nose was crooked.

I picked up my rifle that was laying next to me and crawled my way towards Woodson,

“Let me see you, man.”

I said as I wheezed.

“I’ve certainly seen better days, Isaac.”

He said through a blood filled smile. As I inspected his wounds I saw that he shattered some of his teeth, but not enough to where it would impair his speech.

I saw that his left eye was badly swollen and that his breathing was almost as bad as mine; which probably meant that he punctured a lung.

“We’re in bad shape, Woody.”

I said as I slouched behind a boulder next to him. He then began to check his ammo and said,

“We gotta find Jacob and Andy, they’re around here somewhere.”

I looked up at him and stood up on my feet slowly,

“I lost my pack in the fall, so we have no medical supplies on hand.”

I gave him a once over again and said,

“Any wounds that are profusely bleeding, I want you to pack that shit tight with dirt.”

Woodson nodded his head and said,

“Yes, doc.”

And with that being said, we both slowly but surely made our way down the mountain in order to search for our comrades.

Luna and the others couldn’t believe what they were witnessing in front of their eyes. To think that these beings were this resilient and that they were going through such pain and torment was unbelievable.

In comparison this made all of Equestria’s conflicts look like child’s play. Celestia on the other hand was sickened by what she had seen. How could someone take another’s life so carelessly?

Even if they were in battle, it still felt wrong.

Where Isaac came from was a place of loss and destruction and Celestia couldn’t help but feel threatened by what she had seen unfold before her eyes.

Twilight on the other hand looked distraught by the situation and had stopped taking notes when the fighting had begun.

“I don’t understand how these men could be so calm in this situation.”

She said out loud to no one in particular.

“This is their profession afterall young Twilight. If they were to lose their focus it could cost them their lives.”

Now that Twilight thought about it, she guessed it made sense but what she saw here would haunt her for the rest of her life.

As Twilight thought about this, she glanced back towards her friends and saw that they all had different looks upon their muzzles.

Rarity looked sad, Pinkie’s mane was deflated, Rainbow Dash looked like she was inspired by the events, Applejack looked neutral and Fluttershy….Well you can probably assume what she was like in that moment in time.

Twilight shook her head to clear her thoughts and returned her gaze towards the events that were playing out in front of her.

After about thirty or so minutes of us searching the surrounding area, we heard gunshots coming from our left flank.

“That’s gotta be them.”

I said to Woodson, he nodded and said,

“We’ll make our way over there and assist them, I want you to cover me while I push to their position. Once I’ve made it there, we’ll cover you and then we can come up with a strategy to beat these fucks.”

I nodded in agreement and we set off to execute his plan of action. When we got to the area of the fighting, I saw Andy and Jacob firing up the incline towards the Taliban but Andy looked much worse than Jacob.

He looked like he could barely move,

“Alright, cover me while I make my way over there.”

Woodson said as I posted up behind a tree and began picking my targets one by one. As I selected my targets carefully, I noticed that a Taliban soldier was trying to set up an MG, so I placed two rounds into his chest making him slump over his gun.

“Seems like there’s no end to these fuckers.”

I said to myself as my breathing became more shallow. As Woodson got into position, he signalled me to make my way over to him with a wave of his hand. Just as I was about to make it into cover, I got hit in my right leg; making me fall face first into the ground.

Jacob broke from cover and dragged me behind the boulder that he was positioned at and sat me up against it.

“Thanks brother.”

I said through labored breathing,

“You’re gonna be alright, Isaac but we need you in the fight.”

I clenched my teeth in pain as I picked up my rifle and stood up to fire at the enemy. Andy did the same motion as me, only when he stood up to fire at the enemy…..He got hit in the forehead, making his body crumple to the ground. I stopped what I was doing and stared at the corpse of my friend. I felt sick to my stomach but at that moment all I saw was red.