I can feel the sun blazing down on me. I’m where no one else wants to be alone, On a battlefield. I’m wearing a headdress to protect my face, only my light blue eyes can show through. I have a long sleeved army s*** on, army pants, and army boots.

My name is Jared. I work for the U.S army. I’m a sergeant first class. My platoon has all but been destroyed. Completely eradicated except for me.I’m all alone in this barren wasteland. We are escorting an Iran Embassador to a city -12 hours away, 24 hours there and back- near by. Our heading was south by southwest. We passed many towns on the road. I memorized the map and all the surrounding towns, directions, and distance from the road.

All I see is black smoke, I can feel the rumble of the ground, and the fear that sets in my chest. We’ve are being hit by a IED. All I can think is if there are anymore IED’s. Where are they, who will hit them, and how many of us will die today. All the sudden I can sense the explosion, brace myself for impact, and realize we are being hit. I can recall the events that leading up to my current situation. What I do know is that I woke up with a bloody face. I felt dizzy. I couldn’t stand for a few mins. The attackers didn’t come down or approach us. They didn’t take any supplies. I gathered up supplies for the trip. That included food, water, a little bit of ammo, and a whole lot of hope. Everything I need to survive. I estimated that it will last me 2 days. I pick up my rifle, the supplies I’ve gathered, a compass, and a map. Then I set out to the nearest town.

I’ve been traveling for 5 hours. Around 7 hours of driving and a few landmarks I was able to make out our current location.  The nearest town would be a day's trip by foot, day and a half at most, I had enough supplies for this. The sun burned down, torturing any uncovered skin. The sand doesn’t help that fact, the sun seems to have befriended it, and teamed up to make my trip miserable. It’s so bright and the barren land in front of me doesn’t help at all. I take breaks at intervals trying to keep my strength up. I thought that the more strength I had for night time the more I could cover then. I still rationed my supplies, trying to extend them.

All I can see is barren hills, and rough hot sand. After 20 hours of walking, I expect to see the town soon. My mouth is dry, lips are cracked, and it's hard for me to breath through my dry, cracked throat. I want to taste the cold soothing water, but as I drink I can’t taste anything, my mouth is so dry. I can only hear the breeze nothing else. I can’t smell anything. There is nothing to smell.

I walk hill over hill. Almost like climbing a never ending mountain. Making every footstep count. I give myself breaks and get as comfortable as possible, and make sure to keep hope that I’m going the right way. That I didn’t miss read a landmark. It’s been 7 hours since night time dropped, I’ve been walking for about 27 hours. I continue to walk, with every step I stagger more, I won’t be able to keep this up much longer. I’m trying to save my water, using just enough to keep my throat from getting too dry. I cross the peak of this abnormally large hill. I see my salvation, I’ve survived this tragedy, now I must get home, and report back to my commanders.