by Jaxson Love
I Survived
Written By
Jaxson Love
Copyright ©2019 Jaxson Love all rights reserved Published by Jaxson Love at Smashwords.
I Survived
Laying in the Hospital Daniel never thought this is how things would turn out, but never the less he laid there with a missing leg below the knee and a missing hand. As he closed his eye’s all he could see was the face’s of his men, Franks, Handy, Shooter, and Hunter.
Daniel Snapped awake and began to choke out the nurse who was checking his IV line. She struggled as he kept his grip; she managed to push her emergency button, and three orderlies ran in and had to force Daniel to let go, and he kept thrashing around due to his condition. The nurse grabbed a syringe and injected him in the arm which caused him to settle down. The nurse noticed that Daniel kept repeating. I’m sorry as he fell asleep from the drugs he was injected with. While in a dream induced flashback Daniel remembered the day it happened.
(Flashback)
“Captain Sanders” Handy called out; Daniel turned to salute his fellow officer as he answered, “yes lieutenant, do you have the Intel I requested on the mission." The lieutenant hand over the file and Daniel excused him from the tent. Daniel went over everything from the smallest detail and to unconfirmed details about an attack on the base he was stationed at. As he poured over the documents in preparation, a sudden loud bang rang out, and Sargent Franks came running into the tent “We are under attack” he yelled out. Daniel sprang to his feet with his rifle in hand, and as they exited the tent, Franks opened fire on a truck shooting its way in through the gate. Franks continued to fire as Daniel called to his men through the radio to get to the hummer and get on the 50. Calibers; Franks ducked behind the storage containers as one of the ISIS vehicles punched through the gate, and several terrorists fired RPG’s at multiple guards towers killing the men. As ISIS continued to their assault on the base in the middle of the night, Daniel and Franks ducked behind several destroyed vehicles and were making the way to his teams' hummer. Franks lead followed by Daniel and as they rounded the corner and were headed behind another vehicle Franks was shot twice in the shoulder and gut by two ISIS members. Daniel called off they were pinned down and one wounded. Shooter ran from the hummer and opened fire on three terrorist killing them before they could react as he made his way slowly made his way to his Sargent and Captain. Just as he was close to reaching them Shooter was hit by a round in the leg dropping him to the ground; one of the terrorists walked up to him and was about to put a bullet into his head when Hunter fired a round from his sniper rifle that blew the head off the terrorist. Still pinned down and another soldier wounded Franks grabbed his gun and stood up opening fire killing both the two terrorists that continued to fire till their deaths. Franks threw his arm of his Captain’s shoulders and Daniel helped him over to the hummer and placed him in the back seat. Hunter and Daniel fought their way to Shooter taking out several more hostiles and grabbed him by his vest. Both men dragged him to the hummer as he continued to open fire on hostiles as they came pouring into the gate. “Everyone gets in now and let's get the hell out of here” he yelled out as they climbed in; Handy gunned the gas pedal and the hummer tore out of the base smashing through the back gate. After the exited the gate, Daniel was on the radio calling off the attack when suddenly about five-hundred feet out an explosion hit the hummer as it ran over an I.E.D in the road.
(Present Day)
Daniel awoke four days later after his episode, and the nurse was again in his room checking IV’s and monitors, she noticed him, and Daniel said to her “ I’m so sorry for what I did” he told her as he saw the bruising. She gave a slight smile and responded, “It’s ok captain you have been through hell out there, and I’m fine so let’s get you better." She left the room without another word and went to get the doctor, and as the doctor came in, he noticed that captain Sanders was more alert, so the doctor spent more than ten minutes explaining that he was in an accident and that his leg and hand had been severed as a result of the incident. Daniel started to get over the trauma that befell him over the last few months, and the doctors had him discharged from the hospital and transferred to a rehabilitation facility run by a private organization known as Cyber-Limbs Inc.
Five months have passed, and every day Daniel is going to counseling, he was given a prosthetic hand and leg and started his walking and grabbing therapy as well. Daniel had his off days and would make zero progress and then on his good days he would push himself to do better and try to get his discharge papers. Finally, the day has come, and during Daniels counseling session he was shown that he didn’t have nightmares much anymore about what happened and now he could talk about his men who gave their lives to protect each other.
That night after he was picked up the family decided to have a party and celebrate he was home, and during the party, everything seemed to be going well until one of his father's friends popped a bottle of champagne. Daniel was hit with a sudden flash of the night his base was attacked and started to freak out in front of everyone as he began to scream out for his men. Scared by sight, several guests backed away, and his mother had to smack him in the face to snap him out of it. His mother hugged him as he apologized and she helped him get upstairs to his room so he could rest. The next day he got up and took his time getting downstairs with his new limbs and as he entered the kitchen his mother turned around with breakfast. “Good morning sweetheart," she told him as she lay the plate on the table, “Morning mom and dad” Daniel replied. The day seemed like a good one, and as he was finishing up, his mom told him he would be home alone for the day as they both had to work. Daniel went and watched TV as his parents left for the day; he waited for the chance of quiet from all the excitement from his return. The day went by quick, and that night his dad’s business partner and daughter came over for dinner and as we ate she kept staring at my fake hand. Daniel’s mom noticed his mood shifting as she stared and the dad’s friend talked about the attack on the base, so she quickly changed the subject before another episode occurred. Later that night she went into his room to check on her son and found him passed out on his bed with a picture of his unit on his chest. She placed it on the night table and covered him up, later that night she heard him thrashing around in his sleep and went into the room to wake him without realizing the dangers about the situation. As she entered he was tossing and turning then he suddenly yelled “ Everyone get to the hummer now”, he continued to yell in his sleep, and his mom touched his shoulder and as she shook him he grabbed her arm and hit her in the gut with his forearm causing her to stumble backward into the wall. The loud bang against the wall awoke Daniel who saw his mom hurt and then he realized it was his doing that injured her. He called for his father who came running in and saw her on the ground hurt; he grabbed her check her out, and she wasn’t seriously injured, and Daniel’ s father took her to their bedroom to tend to her injuries from the wall. Daniel sat there and realized that his parents weren’t safe around him while he was battling PTSD, so he called a buddy who helped him out, and Daniel left the next day after his parents went to work. Later that night when his parents arrived home, they walked into an empty house and a message on the table.
Dear mom and Dad,
I am sorry for what happened and left so that it won't happen again; I am currently seeking help to fix what’s wrong with me and promise I will return home one day when I am better.
Love you both
Daniel.
After his mom read the note, she broke down crying knowing her son was not going to be back for a long time. Moreover, as time went on, they started to have a normal life again, but deeply missed their son.
A year has passed since Daniel left home that day and life has improved a little
for the captain but not as much as he would love to have. Daniel woke up to a fellow ex-soldier screaming and attacking others who approached him. Daniel hoped into his wheelchair and wheeled on out into the hallway of the rehab and found the young man “Hey soldier that’s enough” Daniel yelled out at him. “Captain Sanders, I am sorry sir," the young man said back, Daniel looked at him and realized he was one of only a hand full of soldiers to make it out alive from the attack on the base. The nurses help the man back to his room, and Daniel returned to his and went back to sleep. Every day is a struggle for Daniel and his fellow soldiers who came back from war with PTSD, but with the right help, they are getting it.
A week later Daniel was in the social room watching the news when a report came on.
Breaking News: A military base has been attacked, and several hundred have been killed by a radical ISIS terrorist group who also took more than three dozen hostages. More as this story develops.
After the report ended, Daniel grew increasingly angry and picked up a chair and threw it through the TV screen. He was confined to his room for his outburst by the staff, and Daniel knew he shouldn’t have done it, but it hit him that this radical group is the same ones that murdered his men and the others on his base. Daniel was also angry; he could do anything about it and had to watch a report about plenty of others getting killed because of it. That night he didn’t sleep much and kept having flashes of his men; the soldiers he called his brothers and friends.
The next morning a man in a suit walked in “Hello Daniel I’m Harry, and I think it’s time for an upgrade from your basic prosthetics” the man told him. Before Daniel could react a nurse was taking him to another level in the building and as they approached the door it read “Project Cyber Soldier." Daniel looked at the nurse who shushed him as he tried to ask about the door, and she continued into a room where a team of doctors waited to examine him. The doctors went over the procedure about how long it would take, then he fell unconscious, and they placed him in a machine that scanned his entire body and began to construct and attach his new cybernetic limbs.
Daniel awoke in his room three days later, and as he rolled over to get out of bed, he noticed he had a new hand and leg that made him look part machine. Daniel raised his hand and examined its work then he put his true test to work by slowly standing up and trying to walk. Everything seemed to start fine but not having walked for almost two years because the former prosthetic leg caused to much pain in his leg, so he never really used it. Daniel took a step and lost his balance falling to the floor where he caught himself with his new hand cracking the ground. A nurse he started to have feelings for came in as she heard the commotion saw him picking himself up as she entered the room, she helped him up and placed him back on the bed. Daniel kissed her on the cheek and smiled at her. “Thank you so much for your help," Daniel told her. Later that day he tried again to walk on his new leg, and this time he was successful at making it to the door and out into the hall, so he kept going until he reached the social room. Daniel made great strives for walking so much that the project heads decided to start his training to normal functionally so they could proceed to phase 2.
Time has been kind to Daniel, and he has learned about Phase 2 and little did Daniel know that he would be leading the team of soldiers the department heads picked as his team. One by one these soldiers show excellent skills and became masters of the training as the weeks went by. Cyber-Limbs Inc is a company that specializes in help soldiers Daniel told his new men but little did he know that the company was weaponizing these men with more modern fighting styles, weapons, and limbs if needed. Daniel so far is the only one who had cybernetic limb replacement and has shown double the improvement over the others due to this fact. However, something started to feel off towards the end of the training when they told Daniel that the rehab on the first floor is one way to help soldiers and this project is a way to put soldiers back into the fight. Daniel realized that the training helped with a lot of his PTSD and that his fellow soldiers were also doing better since these training simulators to get over their post-traumatic stress disorder.
Two months have passed since the training began and as Daniel stood on the ramp of the plane he looked out and said “ let’s get these sons of bitches," and all his men yelled out “hell yeah sir." Daniel took his seat and headed back to the one place where his life changed forever.
Fourteen hours later they had landed and were walking off the plane when they were met by a sergeant who leads his men to where they would bunk, and Captain Sanders and his team were reinstated into the Marines and were the new prototypes for this project. The captain headed to the command building to get the Intel of his mission and to stop by the armory to look over their new body armor. During the inspection, the captain noticed his uniform and body armor was different from his men; the armor itself was a hybrid-composite armor of steel, carbon fiber, titanium, and nano-infused liquid metal exo-suit that hardens when activated. His men’s armor comprised of the same tech only theirs were designed to cover the chest thighs and head. “Hi I’m Grant, and I will be your tech support on this mission and the ones before it so that we can field test these prototypes," he told Daniel. Daniel just nodded and walked out of the building and head to the bunks to brief his men about the mission. “ are you kidding me” the guys all yelled out after he briefed them that they had to destroy the base rescue all survivors and kill all enemies and to leave none alive.
Later that night Daniel walked out of the armory geared up, and his men followed, now they were supposed to test the gear, Brad, his corporal thought before they took on the mission. Brad, Dalton, Mike, and Daniel looked around and without question smiled and loaded up and headed out towards what might be their final destination. After passing the point of safe return, Mike killed the engine and the team humped through two miles of desert until they came across a gate blocking the pass-through some mountains. Daniel and team activated their armor turning it solid and hoped it worked as they quietly snuck through the fence and began to head upward towards the terrorist HQ and their hostages. A quarter of the way in and everything started to run smoothly until suddenly a clicking sound happened as Mike was leading the group, and an explosion from both sides caught Mike and blew him back into the ground. As the others were picking themselves up shots rang out as the terrorist was now alerted to there presence; Daniel rolled over and pulled himself up against a boulder Brad opened fire striking two terrorists and wounding a third. Dalton was injured in his leg but managed to crawl over to Daniel and the rock for protection. Brad continued to fire as he retreated behind the same boulder. Pinned down the team couldn’t get to there a fellow member who was bleeding out badly due to the claymores. Mike grabbed his wound and his pistol off his thigh and began to sit up against a part of the ruble that fell next to him in the explosion. Daniel popped out from behind the boulder and as he saw Mike wounded and continuing to fight suddenly froze as his PTSD and all he saw hit him was Franks who was shot twice that night when the base attack took place. Daniel started to scream and jumped out from behind the boulder and ran towards the enemies opening fire, “Franks I’m coming” he yelled as he one by one shot the enemies making his way to his team member. However, just before he could make it his armor started to glitch causing parts of it to liquefy again. The enemy was relentless in their assault on his team determined to make sure they died for trying to save their people, Daniel managed to make it to Mike who was shooting the last of his ammo and managed to help him up, and as they stood, Mike took off his helmet which was damaged. As they started to retreat towards Brad, A sniper caught Mike in the back of the head causing them to fall, so Dalton laid down suppressing fire as Brad ran to help. He managed to make it over to the guys and started dragging Mike’s body as Daniel recovered and assisted in rescuing Mike’s body at this point. Still pinned down the guys scurried to conserve ammo and keep them at bay, but they also remembered that they violated orders and took the prototype’s before proper test
ing could be done as well, so they couldn't call for reinforcements. Enough was enough, and at this point, they knew as soon as they ran out of ammo the enemy would take them hostage; and that’s what happened as Brad fired the final round hitting one of them.
As Daniel, Brad, and Dalton were stripped of their armor and weapons, the enemy beat them and was confused by Daniels’ hand and leg, but continued to beat them until they couldn’t fight back anymore. As the terrorist dragged them inside the cave HQ, Dalton noticed several women and children and soldiers in cages in one room and as they passed another, the guys noticed several women bound and forced to be sex slaves as a group the men were raping them over and over. The guys were taken to another section inside the cave where the U.S. soldiers were being held, but they noticed only about six of them were there. “Hey, I’m Greg captain, and before you ask no there isn’t a way out, and several of us died trying” Greg a lieutenant told them.
For more than a week Daniel, Brad, Dalton, and the others all were tortured and forced to watch as they raped women and children over and over, then they would kill the smaller ones and unknowingly feed them to the survivors’. Finally, the time has come after they were forced to watch and to witness the brutal nature of those radical’s as they forced the guys to watch as they held down one of their own; then they placed a knife to the back of his head and sawed it off as he screamed for his life. Daniel grew angry and started to cuss the enemy out, so two of the guys picked him up and dragged him off suddenly several gunshots could be heard as the others knew he was dead. Fearing it was only a matter of time, the guys prepared for the worst until they heard more shots fired and saw the guy guarding them went down, and Daniel staggered back into the room with a stab wound in his side. The others ran up to him, and Greg began to examine his injury while Brad and Dalton both guarded the entrance of the room they were held. Greg used his second shirt and tore it in half and placed it on his wound, Daniel winced in pain but firmly held it in place as Greg took a roll of electrical wire for making bombs and wrapped it around the shirt and wound. After about four passes Greg finally finished patching him up and helped him stand; Daniel grabbed his gun, and with the help of Greg they began their mission to free the hostages and escape with their lives. As they proceeded Brad and Dalton took the point, and as quickly they came across the enemy, they shot them dead. Brad came up to the first door and kicked it open shooting one guy who was forcing himself onto a woman; Dalton opened fire from the door striking three more guys as they came around the corner. Daniel, Greg, and the other six guys finally came up, and two of the guys helped the woman cover herself and proceeded to help release the other nine women and fifteen children from the cages. Brad threw Daniels arm around his neck and Greg grabbed the guns from the dead as they geared up. Brad and Daniel covered the hostages and Dalton, Greg, and two of the other soldiers took point; as they proceeded to make their way to the entrance, they went by several other rooms only to find that the other hostages were executed. The group continued to the last door, and Greg, Dalton, And Brad kicked in the door and saw two of the terrorist holding two children at gunpoint screaming for them to drop their weapons or they would shoot. Greg lowered his rifle and immediately pulled his sidearm and shot them both in the head, Dalton and Brad helped the little girls up, and they join the rest of the survivors as they proceeded to make their way to the entrance. The rest of the route seemed empty as they didn’t see any more of the terrorist as they continued through the tunnels. Daniel began to grow weary from his wound and lack of sleep that he started to see his dead unit, Brad became worried as he fell to the ground and began talking to his fallen men.
