Page 40 of The Darkness Within

It kept me sane. From the loneliness, and the hunger, and the pain, and the fear. Pretending like he was still alive kept me sane.

“I can’t wait to taste your mama’s paella, but only if you try my crab Rangoon. I’ve taken you there before, but you didn’t want any. You wanted egg rolls instead. You never had any sense. How can I even trust that your mama’s paella is any good?”

I’d seen the movie Castaway. I watched Tom Hanks befriend a volleyball out of loneliness and sheer desperation. I laughed, along with the rest of the world, at the absurdity of it, and now, I was laughing at myself because I was no better. Gutierrez had become my Wilson. I didn’t give a fuck how insane it made me, or what others might think when they discovered us. All I knew was that I’d die before I let them separate us.

Maybe he could hear me? Maybe his soul hovered, haunting our dark cell, haunting me for letting him slip away?

I’d gladly let him haunt me for the rest of my life if it meant I could hear his voice or see his face again.

The guard and dog that stood watch outside our barbwire cell took off in a hurry.

Something was happening.

Shouting. So much shouting. And barking.

I cowered with my head between my knees, trying to block the sound.

The hall filled with dust and smoke. It crept past the barbwire, burning my eyes and filling my mouth, choking the breath from my lungs. My body shook with deep wracking coughs as I spit the dirt from my mouth and lungs.

“I’ve got you, G. No matter what’s happening, I’ve got you.”

The shouting got farther away, the sound replaced with a whirring. A sound I recognized clearly. Helicopter blades. The buzzing was unmistakable, although I had to be hallucinating. I was sure I was hallucinating. And then the dogs were back, the barking I’d heard nonstop for three weeks, the barking that rang inside my head, even when it wasn’t real.

“Sergeant! Sergeant Nashville Sommers!”

A cold, wet nose rubbed across my cheek, and then the barking in my face, the hot breath of the animal, so real and lifelike that I couldn’t be dreaming. My heart rate spiked, adrenaline coursing through my veins so quickly it made my empty stomach feel nauseous. I grabbed onto Gutierrez even tighter. Whoever they were, if they were taking me away, they would be taking him as well.

I suffered excruciating pain as they dragged me, carried me, ripped me away from the only thing that was giving me life. Gutierrez.

“No! Take me back! Bring me back! G!”

They ignored my desperate pleas for mercy, moving quickly through the dark halls, the smoke choking me until they covered my face with a mask.

“G!” My breath fogged up the face shield, obscuring my vision.

Gunshots and barking dogs, soldiers yelling in English and in Pashto, the buzzing of the helicopter blades. I became dizzy from the sounds crowding in on my consciousness until I squeezed my eyes closed and tried to block it all out.

One thought was stuck in my head, repeating on a constant loop.

The dog hadn’t eaten me, and the soldiers hadn’t hurt me. They were American, speaking English.

American soldiers.

They were here to rescue us.

“G!” We’re going home. They’re taking us home.

We emerged from the dark tunnels into blinding daylight. Blinding in a way only the desert can blind, the relentless heat of the sun bleaching everything beige and white. The bright light burned my eyes, searing my fucking retinas until my eyes watered and my vision went dark again.

My leg throbbed almost unbearably as they jostled me onto the bird. Someone, maybe a medic, slipped a needle in my arm, IV fluids to hydrate me. Although it was scary as fuck not to be able to see, to hear so much chaos happening around me, I knew that whatever happened now was better than being below ground.

I also didn’t care what they were doing to my leg, only one thing mattered. “G!”

Someone lifted the mask from my face. “He’s coming now, Sergeant!” he shouted above the roar of the blades.

I could barely see, but I could hear as they slid a stretcher beside me onto the bird. The longer I stared, the more he came into focus.

A lump covered in a white sheet.

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