Soldiers Heart

The sweat from her forehead slid down her face onto the Army uniform she’d been wearing now for three months. The gun in her hand is vibrating from the AK40 going off. People all around her, the Iraqi’s, are being killed. “Man your grounds people,” her voice said weakened by the exhaustion of the past months. “Come on’ let’s move!”  She demanded, her soldiers follow her to a better hideout.  She pointed them in the direction they needed to go, and they went. On their blistered hands and knees, they all crawled on the scorching hot desert ground of Afghanistan.

Eight people were left by the time they got to safety. It started with 14 soldiers and 1 officer, which was her. Janine was her name. From afar there was an explosion. The train tracks that circled the area the soldiers were in was filled with smoke. Janine looked out to the train tracks and found there was a little girl looking upon them too. The girl’s hand was over her eyes blocking out the sun. What could be told from afar was that she had dirty blonde hair. The clothes she wore were probably of an Iraqi villager. “She’s lost, isn’t she?” Janine thought to herself. “I need to go see if the child is alright, she may be one of us.” She looked at her men (along with one other girl) and they all nodded, saying if they needed to they’d cover for her.

Janine made her way unseen until she came to an un-altered area in the village, which meant a full scene to be seen by the enemy. She tried getting the little girls attention by saying what came natural, “Little girl! Hey, little girl!” She said that twice, until the kid turned around. Her face soiled in blood and dirt. She smiled at Janine and started walking towards her with her arms held open as if she wanted to be picked up. Janine looked around, “Shit!” She thought, staring at a man who had a huge gun in his arms, poking through a clay window. She tried to persuade the girl to come faster, but she wouldn’t. “Please, come quicker!” She demanded as softly as she could. Janine’s voice was pretty much hoarse by this time. Janine looked at the man again and then once more around her surroundings. Enemy Iraqi people were all lined up ready to shoot if she moved closer to the child.

The child stopped about a foot from her, she wanted to reach out to her. So she did. Risking saving the child and the child’s safety for her own. As soon as she moved her arm to the child’s hand the enemies started shooting. Explosions, rifles, and extremely fast bullets came their way. Janine quickly picked the child up in her arms and made her way back to her soldiers.

“Jay. You’re nuts.” Laurence had noted to her as she brought the child inside the hideout. “I know. Would you rather have had a child’s death on your mind? Didn’t think so.” She didn’t give him time to think about the question. “Clean her face Lour.” Laurence looked at her as if it’s a chore to. “Oh come on’ mom.” He laughed at that, along with Janine. “Okay, Laurence is going to keep the child safe while we kill those bastards out there.” Janine stated to her soldiers. She lined them up across the floor of the desert. The station was secured around them.

The scenery was like an average Afghanistan war. The ground went from scorching hot sand to scorching hot solid desert land. Heavy cement bags were the safest “fort” that they had. It was circled around them. A secret underground area was specifically made for them because the Iraqi’s don’t have underground sites. To the left were the average trees growing at least 60 feet tall. This made a good air-hideout. To the right was another set of trees in which blocked any people from trying to get through to them. The area was also surrounded with booby traps so if anybody entered just 100 feet from the site, they’d be blown to bits.

The men (and one girl) all got in their places around the area and began shooting. Janine had to get an automatic dynamite set up 200 feet from the site. She was in for a surprise. For three months she’d been the one to surround the area they were in securely with the booby traps. Though, with so many it was hard to tell where they were. She tried to carefully pace herself back up the hill (which is where they were stationed). Climbing up through the bushes that hid them, she cut her arm on a very thin- extremely dangerous- wire. Hoping it was just a minor cut, she kept going. Not realizing the pain that was about to enter her exhausted body- would be more excruciating than anything she had ever experienced before.

Finally she made her way back up and as she turned to her right to steady her body, she noticed her arm didn’t get just a cut. It was gushing out blood. Two of the soldiers who could help, rushed her inside the secret area they had made. Her face was pale and her expression was almost numb if not blank. Janine joked, “I’m fine. It’s only minor.” Everybody looked at her puzzled. Even the child she had saved an hour earlier looked at her in confusion. She tried painfully hard to smile though she had taught herself earlier in the month that if she laughed, anything would hurt even more. “I was just kidding… But hey, I hope they make good mechanical arms back home?” She softly joked trying to clear the room of tensions. “Jay. You are really crazy. The sun must have alienated your brain or something because you- seriously have issues.” Laurence joked. The child came up to her and with gentle hands held Janine’s. “Thank you.” The little girl said, and she smiled up at Janine.