To Live Her Life

Youri sat at his post, way up high in the mountains. The Jabal Qarnayţ Mountains to be specific.

He was crouched down as he sat hidden just barely by a huge rock directly in front of him, leaving his back (which was faced towards the incline and eventual peak of the mountain) openly exposed. Cautiously glancing around the corner of the bolder, he watched the small group of Arabic men, women and children walk up the rough terrain. They were innocent bystanders, just trying to get away from the fighting by fleeing into the mountains. But that wouldn't last long.

He was only following his direct orders.

It was only a small amount of time, a sliver really, that they had to continue on in wait. Waiting until the signal was given.

Youri yawned, the sun had just risen and was continuing to before his eyes. He was running low on energy from lack of sleep, food and water. He had had enough of this, the heat, the fighting...all of it. He never agreed to “fight” when coming along for the ride, he was supposed to only serve as mechanic... 'so much for that' he thought to himself. Not even a day in, and he was right back out there on the battle grounds, navigating through the extreme terrain of Saudi Arabia.

-

To his right was a man, same with to the left. He knew where each were, as they were told to.'Знай, де ваша команда на всі часи.' (Know where your team is at all times.) After all, you don't want to shoot or be shot at by your own side.

Suddenly a single gunshot rang out into the sky, which served as the signal. Youri bolt upright, gun raised and aimed as he followed the others lead... Slowly closing in on the group of only about 10, at the most, people. He wasn't going to shoot, he still hasn't used his gun to shot at a living human being, and he planned to keep it that way. Therefore the reason he stayed towards the back of the group whenever possible.

Others, Ukrainians, meanwhile started barking out orders to the frozen bunch of Arabic people.

Youri was pretty sure none understood a word uttered but there they were, frozen like statues in their spots. Hand were raised innocently in front of their bodies, women stuck close behind their husbands, the children were wailing out of fright hidden behind their mothers, and the other supposed single men stood a few feet's distance away from the families. All looked to be staring at the soldiers before them and praying to God. The women even had their hands raised into the air, towards the heavens as they mumbled underneath their breath.

Youri recognized some of the words from what Oceané had said many times before. Pleading mumbles and cries. Words that told of just how confused and scared they truly were.

Youri know understood the extent of Oceané's own fright those days when he first met her... In fact, just the thought of her made his heart ache in disappointment, of himself. He had been gone from the base for over a week now and still hadn't figured out a way to get back. He couldn't even plan someway of getting a message of how sorry he was, to her.

He shook himself of the thoughts trapping him, realizing he stopped moving and needed to now catch up with the others. Sighing, he speedily stalked his way to his position in the ever enclosing circle. There were 13 of them, all slowly closing in on the smaller, unarmed group. Much like a group of lions would its prey. It was quite sad when you really stop to think about it. The group of Arabian's had no way to fight back and were out numbered by the Ukrainians whom were heavily armed.

Youri wondered what it would be like if he were in fact, in their position. If it were the other way around... What would happen? What would he do?

-

After collecting the now, clearly, “hostages,” Youri and the group scaled further down the rough terrain of the large mountain's side. They were heading back to the rendezvous point, many groups of them. Not just the single one Youri had been assigned to. All the groups were meeting up.

Youri and his group had indeed spent a majority of the previous days, all hours, searching for ones hidden within the mountain.

They hadn't found any but that small little group.

But Youri was more than ready to leave the mountain and go home, even if it is only back to base.

Youri begrudgingly drug his feet as they marched in a group back to their destination. He couldn't wait to be riding in a vehicle again, to have food...and water. His head pounded from the dehydration he was suffering from, he just felt...sick.

His clothes, long sleeves, jacket and long pants stuck to his sweaty skin in the intense desert heat. Add to that combat boots, an enormous amount of “baggage” and other various items; and you have an extra minimum of 50 pounds. And that is with the very smallest amount of items possible. The minimum all were required to handle. They each also had their assigned “special items ” that only they would carry, a one-of-a-kind item in a way. Youri's just so happened to be a bunch of common tools that could be used in case of a break down vehicle-wise. It was his job, that was one of the main reasons for his being on the battleground. Sorta.

Even when he saw the armored car ahead and his emotions soared through the clouds, he still couldn't seem to muster any pent up energy or likewise, any form of adrenaline. He was dead to the world, in almost more than one way.

As soon as he got to the entrance, he smiled. The first time in a whole week. That said a lot since he always appeared as a go-happy-kind-of-guy. Always smiling, at least some. He hardly ever frowned, until this week where a permanent scowl-like frown was a 24/7 occurrence, permanent on his dirtied face.

A fellow soldier proceeded in offering him a hand and he was (surprisingly) easily pulled into a covered truck.

Now in the shade he collapsed, slowly ripping off the un-needed items and material from his over heated and exhausted body.

“тут” (Here...). A bottle of water was thrust in front of his face. He glanced up at the young guy in front of him. The kid was really young, probably only 16 at the most; he wasn't in army clothes but rather in civilian, regular cloths as well. The kid also had this sort of glint in his eyes. One of fascination and pride.

Youri could tell just by glancing that the kid dreamed of being in any of their shoes, out in the battle field... Too bad the kid didn't have a clue of reality. He had a bunch of growing up to do; going out there with that sort of naivety would get him killed instantly.

Ukraine was for obvious reasons, heavily pushing the “men have to go to war thing” now, or so was the spreading rumor. They were after all in a war. Even younger ones were convinced they also could have a part. Which is probably why the kid is here, on site if you will. It was all about the glory, honor and power. The government makes it seem like nothing could possibly happen out in battle, that Ukraine was invincible... as if it were only that simple.

“спасибі” (Thanks...) Youri mumbled; he reached up lazily, his hand not particularly wanting to reach up for it. The boy dropped it into his hand before moving on to the next uniformed soldier, to the right of Youri.

His arms felt like jello, he had to use both hands just to unscrew the top and bring it up to his mouth. He also needed to bend over a good bit as well. Putting his teeth to the rim he drank, guzzling the water greedy of want and need.

By now the truck and the other vehicles around, in front and behind, where barreling through the sand and dirt.

The bumpy roads had never felt so good to him in his entire life,

Just knowing he was getting somewhere without walking make Youri happy.

If it were his plan; he would be back at home, in his bed, sleeping and never moving for over a week. He would just lay there in the soft covers forever.

-

After driving for a good deal of time, shouting was heard along with the squealing of brakes. The truck jerked to a sudden stop while men outside spoke words that Youri couldn't comprehend, they weren't clear enough. The only thing that told him that they were safe was a few Ukrainian words he was able to make out, it was just hard to hear the others over the engine roaring and various other shouts.

“що відбувається?” (What's going on?) One man asked as he jumped down from the gate to the dusty ground again. He was a commander. The commander disappeared for a few minutes, leaving all the others around Youri to talk. Each one had their own opinion and reason for the sudden stop; each were varying in thoughts and in some cases the complete opposite of another.

That same commander came rushing back after those few minutes causing the whole car-load of soldiers to speak loudly at once, asking in various forms “what is happening?” He was out of breath and looked pale almost like he'd seen a ghost.

“Писок!” (Shut UP!) The man literally screamed, making them all go so quiet you would be able to hear a pin drop (if there wasn't noise from exhausts an such of course.)

Youri however had just been sitting there silently all the while waiting for some information to be leaked. He knew better than to use energy when something would be said eventually, he hadn't had any energy left to use in doing that anyways.

“База була взята за ...” (The base has been taken over...) That's all he had to say in order to send everyone into shock. “ми не можемо повернутися назад, так що брали в об'їзд. Для надзвичайних бази.” (We can't go back, so we're taking a detour. To the emergency base.) That's when it really sunk in; it was bad.

Really bad if they needed to resort to the emergency base.

“Oceané” Youri whispered in awe underneath his breath, tears of disbelief and anger flooded his eyes.

But none fell...

He ignored a majority of what was said after that. He just couldn't comprehend it, even if he had wanted to.

He left her there, all alone, unprotected... and now...