1 Prologue
Daniel was once an otaku. He grew up watching anime and playing video games. He especially loved animes like Naruto and My Hero Academia.
He was always fascinated by the idea of having powers.
He would always imagine what it would be like to live in worlds like those. Where anything was possible, where one could obtain enough strength, that even concepts like death were meaningless.
He never wanted to admit it to himself, but one of his deep-seated fears was dying.
Fear of death was a relatively complicated phobia. Many, if not most people are afraid of dying.
Some people fear being dead, while others are afraid of the actual act of dying.
He never told anyone about his fears and instead tried to think of ways he could one day overcome them.
He once read that the best way to get over a fear was to face it. So he decided to join the army.
He figured that's about as close to death one could get without actually dying.
Many would call his thought process strange or even insane. But, he was young at the time, and it seemed as good an idea as any.
His grandfather and father were military men, so he figured he'd follow the family tradition.
Years passed ever since, he decided to join the army.
His life now was all about serving his country and making sure his boys survived. He's been everywhere Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Syria.
This was supposed to be his last tour and he'd be finally home with his family. He had a little sister, who he adored, and a younger brother who had just started college.
He was frequently asked why he loved the army, and he would always answer saying the same thing.
"The Army is where I learned about motivation, determination, leadership, mental toughness, resilience, brotherhood, and pride. I was weak before I joined—mentally, physically, and emotionally. The Army took a whiny little bitch-ass mouse who had panic attacks when asked to speak in class and turned me into a confident adult with skills and accomplishments I can take pride in. Before I joined the Army, I whined about waking up at 7:30 for an 8:00 class. Some days I just chose not to go out of pure laziness. I complained that my class was on the third floor of a class building. My goddamn Pilates class was too much work. One day, I woke up before 0400 to go jump out of a plane. And I fucking liked it." He would say.
..
Daniel and his team were currently going through a checkpoint.
Their mission was to secure civilian districts. They were securing their last civilian district for the day and ran into a little mishap.
There was a building they were trying to check, but the owners wouldn't let them in and were being difficult.
" Erikson, what's the holdup. We're moving in 15. Stop screwing around." James said.
" They won't let us in. I tried explaining to them we mean them no harm, but I don't think they understand anything I am saying." Erikson said.
" Fuck! We don't have time for this crap. Stop being a pussy, Erikson. " James said.
" Hey now, don't call him a pussy James that's not nice. Besides, if he's the pussy. You'd be the dick in this relationship. " Daniel said.
Wilson and Pamela, who were standing beside the door started chuckling.
" That's right James, stop being so rough you know Erikson bruises easily." Wilson jeered.
As they were laughing they heard yelling from inside the house. They all stopped laughing and instantly became alert.
James signed to Erikson to keep his eyes peeled and guard his flank. He turned to the rest of the squad and conveyed his orders quickly and efficiently.
They forced the door open and went in. The yelling got louder, as they got closer.
James slammed on the door and shouted.
" Open up! You have 5 seconds to comply or the door will be kicked open."
He counted to 5 and when there weren't any signs of the door opening; he kicked the door open.
They found a woman in tears and shaking like a leaf and a man with a nervous look on his face was standing beside her.
" Ma'am we heard yelling outside and decided to investigate, is everything alright?" Erikson asked.
The woman had a red mark on her face and looked like she was just crying.
" Did you do this? Did you hit her ?" Daniel said pointing at the woman.
The man didn't answer, and his eyes shifted to the left. The woman started to talk, but the man suddenly shouted trying to shut her up.
They all suddenly raised their weapons and pointed it at him.
"Easy there buddy, don't do any sudden movements, answer my question did you do this ?" Daniel said.
The man answered in a heavy accent." Please leave, don't do this."
"We're not going to leave until you calm down. Wilson check the rest of the house." Daniel said.
" No! Don't!" the man yelled panicked.
Suddenly, a man who was holding an assault rifle burst out of the closet. The woman's husband threw himself at his wife, trying to protect her.
It all happened in slow motion. The man pointed his gun at Pamela their medic and was moments away from firing.
Luckily, Wilson who was beside the closet managed to tackle him to the ground. A few shots were fired, and it all ended in seconds.
Wilson and Erikson restrained the man quickly and disarmed him.
They turned around to check on the rest of their team and found them although shocked, nobody was hurt.
" Damn, that was close. " James said.
" Tell me about it, it looks like that guy threatened the couple to hide them. It looks like you were wrong Dan." Pamela said.
She turned to look at him and found him, just standing there silently with his hand on the side of his neck. She got closer to him.
" Dan are you alright, what's wrong ? " she asked.
He looked at her and said. " Tell my family I love them."
He then collapsed to the floor, his neck bleeding.
He heard his team's panicked voices as Pamela tried to save him and stop the bleeding.
She kept telling him to stay awake, but his eyelids felt like lead.
Unfortunately, the bullet seemed to have nicked a major artery. He bled out in seconds.
The voices got further and further; it felt like he was going into a tunnel, his vision gradually darkening, until he was swallowed by darkness.
( Chapter End)
