He Won't Be Coming Home

"Incoming!" a fellow soldier shouted out from a few feet away from me. I looked up and ducked my head a little as a mortar flew toward the top corner of the building we were passing under. I held my arms over my head, my automatic held firmly in one hand, and shielded myself as the part of the old building was struck and exploded, showering us all with chunks of limestone bigger than my head.

To put it shortly, our mission had failed. The troop I belonged to was deployed to try and overtake the ever-dreaded Haifa Street in Baghdad; the most deadly and heavily civilian and renegade patrolled street in the city. I've heard other soldiers refer to it as "Grenade Alley" and "Purple Heart Boulevard". It is one of the only streets we couldn't get our hands on. And Haifa Street is the one place that, if we can get our hands on it, will bring the war much closer to its demise. So for now we were told to retreat back to the drop-off zone so the helicopters could come pick us up and take us back to base camp, which was proving harder and harder to do as we kept being shot at.

I turned my head back as I ran, keeping an eye out for Zacky as I trooped onward. I didn't see him until he rounded the corner the group had just taken, and he had his gun raised, finger on the trigger, as he shot at the people hiding up in the windows; they were the ones hindering us from getting to where we needed to be. I saw a shadowed figure through a window Zacky had already passed and must have missed. The man had a gun, aiming it at Zack's back.

I knew I'd never be able to make aim from where I was with my automatic and have it turn out successfully, and I had to think quick when I saw the end of the automatic of the window-shooter flaring with fire; he was shooting at my best friend.

Everything that followed seemed to move in slow motion. I saw Smith with a rocket launcher on his shoulder, running closer to where I had stopped in the dusty street. "Smith! Give me your rocket launcher!" I shouted to him over the blaring sounds of shellfire and explosions.

"What?" he yelled back as he came closer.

"Your rocket launcher!" I hollered and he nodded and handed it to me, trading off with my automatic. All of this took a whole of ten seconds and I wasted no time in setting up, getting on one knee. I aimed for the window-shooter and fired. The entire end of the second story went up in flames and exploded. Zacky jumped in fright, turning to see what I'd done.

"Thanks, man," he yelled, knowing I might have very well just saved his life.

"Come on, let's go," I said, loud enough for him to hear. Zacky was doubled over, hands on his knees, catching his breath. I grabbed the collar of his uniform and pulled him after me. He stumbled but regained his composure and ran alongside me. The rest of the troop was pretty far off; I just hoped they wouldn't leave without us.

"Shit..." Zacky said as we got closer. The rest of our men were already piling into the four helicopters that had been sent out for our retrieval.

"We're gonna make it," I huffed out, taking gasps of air, getting clouds of dirt and dust trapped in my lungs as the spinning propellers kicked the dirt up. I coughed and grabbed Zacky's shoulder, pushing him in front of me as we sprinted closer and closer to the helicopter. Three were already taking off, but I saw one soldier waving us toward him; they were waiting for us.

"Go!" I shouted over the engine of the chopper, pushing Zacky in first. He toppled over once inside and lay on his side, coughing and spluttering. I jumped in quickly after, and pilot was signaled to take off.

When we arrived back to our base camp, the first thing I did was hit the showers. All the layers of uniform and the brilliant white hot sun beating down on me made the sweat literally drip from my pores like a leaky faucet. I changed into the off service uniform of olive green khaki pants and a wife beater, and laid down on my bunk for a rest. Zacky was laid face down on his bunk wearing nothing but his boxers and a wife-beater. He turned his head from his pillow and looked at me.

"Matt.... why'd you do that today?"

"What do you mean?" I asked as I turned to lie on my side, facing him.

"When you came back... with the rocket launcher. Any one of the other guys would have kept on running," he shrugged.

"I did it because you're my best friend, and it's my duty to your family to bring you home safely. And you're wrong... those men would have done the same as I did, it just turned out I was the only one with eyes on you," I explained.

"Oh... well... thank you for pretty much saving my life, then."

"You're welcome."

"Sanders, mail call," one of the guys, Greg Peters, said, walking in with a stack of white envelopes. He pulled one out of the bunch and handed it to me and I looked it over before opening. "One for you too, Baker," Peters said, handing one down to Zacky. I unfolded the letter and began to read the neat hand writing that belonged to my wife.


To my love,

You don't need to apologize for not being able to write to me as often as you'd like to. I understand how busy you are, and just knowing I am in your heart is enough to get me by in between. It is great to hear from you when I do though - hearing that you are alive and well keeps me in the highest of spirits I could ever have while you are away from me.

Everyone is doing fine here. Sarah has moved into the spare room after my persistence that she do so, because I don't feel comfortable with her living all alone when she is so far into her pregnancy. I would feel terrible if something was to happen to her and she was all alone in that house. She was a bit stubborn at first, but I finally convinced her. She found out the sex of her and Zacky's baby. It's a girl. I'm sure Zacky knows by now... Sarah's letter was sent out about the same time as mine.
I looked over at Zacky, who had a broad smile on his face and glassy eyes. I was so happy for him, but I'd be happier if we both returned home safe to our families.


Alex has been doing good in school. I let him go over to Brian and Kate's house just so he can be around another guy like you suggested. He seems to like it, and Brian and Kate are more than happy to take care of him when I have too much work to do, because I don't want Alex to feel neglected. I think he understands. Brian does a good job with him, too.

And as for me, I'm doing fine as well. There's a bit of important news I need to share with you, but I'll get to that in a minute. I've been working a lot. And cleaning a lot. I swear, if you thought this house was clean before you left, it's utterly immaculate now. I just do whatever it is I can so as to keep myself from falling ill with worry. It seems to be helping a little. As for the good news, I can hardly believe it myself. I've been feeling a bit dizzy and sick in the stomach the past week or so. We're pregnant again. I'm just a bit sad that you might not be there for the birth. But don't feel bad about it, because I understand that the length of time you are there is not your fault at all. Maybe I'll be able to send some pictures if the time comes and you aren't home yet. It's gonna be harder there without you, but with all the other guys to help out, it'll be a little easier than if I was alone. I'll have to get help to redecorate the office into a nursery and move the office into the basement, and the guys can help with that. I'm just really excited about it all.

I miss you. I've never felt such a longing for someone in my entire life, and I can't say I like it. But, I suppose, it'll make our reunion that much better. I don't think I'll be able to keep my hands off you either. I mean, look at you - I wouldn't be surprised if the guys there couldn't keep their hands off you. Speaking of guys, tell Zacky I send him my love and that I miss him and hope he is well.

The best I can say for the two of you right now is just keep your chins up and be optimistic. I know that's probably a hard thing to do considering your current positions but, just think of me and my undying love for you, and hopefully it will be enough to get you through each day. Hopefully things there will turn out better soon and you'll be able to come home. You will come back to me, because I promised to spend the rest of my life with you, and I intend on keeping that promise until the day I die and then some.

. All of my love is with you, and I can't wait to hear from you again.

My love always,

Jayvee

I folded the letter up and placed it back in the envelope, setting it with the other letters I had received from both Jayvee and my parents. I turned to Zacky who was starting to write a letter back to Sarah. "So I hear you're having a girl," I said. Zacky looked up and smiled.

"Yeah," he beamed, and continued writing.

"I, uh... I just found out that Jay's pregnant again. I'm having another kid," I said solemnly, looking down at my hands.

"Really?" Zack asked. I nodded. "Well congrats, man. Looks like we'll both miss the births of our kids," he said, though I knew he wasn't trying to be mean.

"Yeah... maybe if we finally kick some ass on Haifa Street we can get the hell out of here."