Chapter 1
I find myself stumbling across the brush that fills the valley. My memory of how I got here was a complete blank. The last thing I remember was loading up to go on a convoy to Kandahar. I no longer have my weapon with me. I still have my body armor and assault pack with me. Soot and blood cover my uniform.
I touch my head and feel it wet and sticky. Blood is covering my face. Grabbing my first aid kit from my body armor, I proceed to wrap my head wound. My head is still pounding in pain.
Sitting down, I take inventory of what I have on me. There are two fragmentation grenades in their pouches, six thirty-round magazines of 556, and my kbar. In my assault pack, I find nothing missing. It contains my change of socks, underwear, and undershirt. There are two MREs, and my camelback is still mostly filled with water.
"Finding good cover needs to be my priority," I mumble.
Looking around, I find one side of the valley is nothing but a cliff. The other side has a rocky slope that I should be able to climb. I slowly worked my way up the mountainside. At the halfway point, I find a small cave I can fit in. It is lucky because I can see the sun getting closer to the horizon.
I grabbed the MREs from my pack. "Oh, great choice, vegetarian lasagna, and breakfast omelet. Why didn't I pay better attention when I picked them up at the DFAC?"
"Lasagna, it is at least it is something."
Usually, I would not bother to warm up the meal. I know that it will get cold tonight, and I need to do all I can to stay warm. After I finish my meal, I forage for brush and wood that I can burn tonight. Using the matches from the MRE I get a small fire going.
Laying on my pack, I quickly fell asleep. I have no idea how long I have been asleep, but I am awoken by a loud noise. It is still dark outside, but now there is a light shining in my face. I see a figure standing over me with a flashlight.
"Found you," a feminine voice says to me.
I raise my hands in front of my face to shield my eyes from the light. I see that it is a woman with long brown hair. Her body is covered in a tactical uniform. I see that she has a gun pointed at me.
"Don't move," she says. "I have a few questions for you." Her voice is calm and authoritative. I can see that she is not going to hesitate to shoot me if I make a move.
I am shocked when she holsters her gun and kneels on the other side of the smoldering embers that was my fire. After a brief conversation inaudible to me due to my head wound, she tells me to put my hands up. I do as she says, not knowing what else to do.
The woman moves over to me, and zip ties my hands together. I can see that she is not taking any chances with me. I try to think of anything that could help me get out of this situation. She moves back to the other side of the fire and looks at me.
"You are Sargent Rodgers, from North Carolina, correct?" The woman's voice is cold and emotionless. I can see the fire reflecting in her eyes. I nod, not trusting myself to say anything.
"Good!" the woman's voice replies in excitement. "I have been looking for you for a long time." She leans back against the cave wall and looks at me.
I stared at her in confusion. "Who are you? What do you want from me?"
The woman looks at me with a hint of sadness in her eyes. "I want nothing from you. You are a vessel for something that I have been looking for." she says. "I am going to use this pendant to release the soul that has been bound to yours." She looks at me with hope in her eyes. "If I can release the soul, then she will return."
The woman gets up and starts to walk towards me. I raise my arms to protect my face. "Don't worry you will not feel a thing," she says softly into my ear. I can see the pendant in her hand, and I know it is not an ordinary pendant.
She grabs my wrists and forces my hands down to my lap. I have never felt so helpless in my life. With her other hand she presses the pendant against my forehead. In a low voice she says, "Expedire."
Heat radiates from the pendant into my head. I can feel the energy start to flow through my body. A blinding white light fills my vision and I feel my body start to shake. I finally understand what is happening as new memories are filling my mind. The rush of the memories is so strong that I can't keep control of myself. The woman pulls the pendant from my head, and I lose consciousness.
