He Won't Be Coming Home

I watched on in horror, my heart stopping, as the gunshots rang out and Zacky took every blow.

"ZACKY!" I shouted, and he fell to his knees and then to his side on the ground. I sprinted over to him, shooting the shit out of the enemy that just shot Zacky down, and then kneeled next to him . He was looking around, dazed, like he didn't know what was happening.

"Zacky, are you okay? Can you get up?" I asked, trying to reach under him to get him upright He coughed and then hissed in pain, his eyes clamping shut. "Come on, talk to me," I pleaded.

He took a couple deep breaths and then opened his eyes again. "I can't move... God, it hurts," he winced, and the panicked look in his eyes scared me half to death.

"Come on, we gotta get you up," I persisted, trying to get Zacky upright again.

"I can't," he whispered, and then coughed again. I gave up and placed him back down, noticing a bright red smear of blood on the corner of his mouth that wasn't there a minute ago. He coughed again and more blood came up, and the feeling in my gut that I had from the moment this mission started grew even bigger with my fear.

"I can't leave you here, Zacky. You need to get up. Please," I begged, tears beginning to come to my eyes. All the while, there were gunshots and explosions going on all around us, ringing in my ears, but they were the furthest things from my mind. All that mattered was Zacky.

I looked down at my hands that had been under him and noticed they were stained dark red. With Zacky's blood. His blood, that was slowly beginning to pool underneath him as it drained from his body. So much for bullet proof vests.

"You gotta hold on for me Zacky, I can't lose you," I said in a hushed tone. Zacky's green eyes gazed up at me , their brightness slowly fading. He took a deep breath; it was becoming a hard task for him to do.

"It's too late..." he whispered, and his head fell back into the dirt, his chest deflating of the last breath he took.

"Zacky?..." I whispered, and the tears started to leak down from my eyes. "Zacky no... We gotta get up," I said shakily, trying to keep myself together.

I looked up at everything around me as I just broke down and cried. I couldn't see much and everything was slowly blurring together as the noises of the fighting around me deafened my ears until I couldn't hear a thing.

I brought my hands up to my face, rubbing my eyes. I could feel the blood smearing all along my skin, and it made my stomach churn. Zacky's blood.

And then it all faded. Everything turned black and I was surrounded by darkness and everything was quiet. I stood up and I couldn't feel the floor beneath my feet. I reached out, and nothing but emptiness swept through my fingers. I was in a dead void.

And then I felt something drop onto the top of my head. Something liquid. I looked up into the vast blackness, my eyes trying to adjust though there was nothing there to see, and I felt another wet drip, this time right above my eye. It trailed down from my eyebrow, touched the bridge of my nose, and crept down into the inner corner of my eye. And it burned. I tried to blink it away, but it only spread further. I reached up to rub my eye to rid it of the stinging as best as I could, but it was hopeless. Whatever it was kept dripping, and then I heard a voice, echoing through empty space.

"It's too late... It's too late," slipped past my ears, quiet as a whisper.

"Zacky," I cried out, and I felt the new familiar sting of fresh tears. "Zacky, don't leave me."

"Matt...." the voice whispered to my ear.

"Zacky?"

"Matt.... Matt...." the voice came again, growing louder every time it called for me.

And then, as the voice got louder and louder, I felt all of the air in my lungs getting sucked out, the dripping continuing on my face. I tried to gasp for air but there was nothing there to breathe.

I jerked my eyes open as I took a deep breath, breathing in and out quickly in a blind panic.

"Matt..." came the voice that was calling to me in my sleep, and it was Zack. He was standing at the head of my bunk, his face hovering over mine as he shook me awake. "You're having a nightmare," came his voice, smooth as silk, and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the barracks, I noticed the blood coming from Zack's head, trailing down his face and coming out his mouth. It covered his hands and dripped down from his chin onto my face.

I felt my blood run cold, and I was so scared I didn't think I could move.

"D-Don't... Don't touch me!" I nearly screamed, finding the energy to get out of my bunk and step away from Zack.

"What's wrong, Matt?" Zacky's smooth voice asked, and I quickly tried to rub the blood off my face as I desperately tried to keep the bile in my stomach from rising.

The longer I stared at Zack, the more I saw how inhuman he looked. He was like a rotting, blood-drenched corpse. And as much as I loved the guy to death, I didn't want him near me like that.

"St-Stay away from me," I choked out, placing a hand in front of me as if to keep him at bay.

Zack took a step toward me, making his way to me around the bunk. "I thought that we were friends..."

I backed away, tripping on the boots peeking out from under the bunk next to me. I had to grab the bar that ran along the bottom of the top bunk to keep myself upright. I was amazed none of my fellow soldiers had woken up, with all the noise I was making. "You're dead... You're not real," I spluttered, trying to believe the words coming out of my mouth. I kept a good eye on Zack as he kept moving closer to me; the trail of blood he was leaving on the floor was glowing bright in the dark room.

"No I'm not... You can see me, can't you?" Zack asked, a smirk playing on his lips. I kept backing up, getting as far from this... This imposter as I could.

"But.... You... You died in my arms. They sent you back over to America. Jay -- Jay told me they buried you," I whimpered, and I could feel the tears stinging my eyes. My back hit the wall, and I had nowhere else to go.

"Yeah," he said, nodding his head slowly causing a few drops of blood to land on the floor. He stopped when he was standing directly in front of me, and my heart started bating a little faster. "God... You should see them, Matt," he sighed, and I looked in his eyes to see them glowing. "My baby... My little baby. She's so beautiful. I think I'd give just about anything to get to hold her... Just once. And Sarah... Just as beautiful as she was the day... the day I knew I loved her. I... I can see them whenever I want, you know. I go visit them all the time. I mean, they don't see me like you do..." Zack spoke, and for a minute, I forgot all about Zack's blood on himself and me and the floor, and forgot all about the bullet holes that were in his chest. All I saw was the look in his eyes. The look he got when he was alive and we talked about the letters we'd get from our wives and our parents and of how much we missed home and what we wanted to do first when we got home. He looked happy.

"And Jayvee.... Man," he sighed again, a smile gracing his lips, and I cried out, tears running down my cheeks. "Jay looks great. She's already showing and everything. I think, if I heard right, you're gonna have another little boy. Little Alex is getting bigger too. He's gonna grow up to be just like you, Matt, I can tell. He misses you. They both do."

Sobs racked my chest as I thought about home and how much I missed it and just wanted to be there for Jay and my son. I let my head fall back against the wall as I slid down, sitting on the floor and putting my face in my hands as I cried.

"Listen to me, Matt," I heard Zacky's voice once more. I pulled my hands away to see him sitting level with me, crouched down, knees bent. "You need to get out of here. This isn't the place for you, just like it wasn't the place for me. You need to be home with your family, before anything gets worse than it already is. Your family needs you..." He said, his voice beginning to fade.

"I miss them so much Zack." My face was back in my hands as I coughed through my tears.

"I know you do..." his voice said as it began to drift away. "Take care of yourself, Matt."

I don't know how long I sat there for against the wall as I cried the hardest I had in a long time. I felt a hand placed on my shoulder as a male voice softly called for me, and I jerked my head up to see the private that slept in the bunk to the left of mine. It was still dark, so it couldn't have been too long that I'd been there.

"Matt..." Private Owens said, a little louder. But instead of responding, I looked down at my hands. The blood that was once there was gone. I rubbed my face: no blood. The floor: no blood. It was all gone, and I took a deep breath, sighing in relief.

"Let's get you back to your bunk," Private Owens said, and I nodded lethargically as he helped me to my feet.