Nick and the rest of his company, captained by Alyssa Ortiz, had been holed up in a village in Pakistan, waiting for replacements, as they’d been there a while – long enough to get to know some locals. Nick was one of the few that spoke Urdu, having picked it up quickly once he had arrived in the country, and thus was stuck translating for people. Often it was Alyssa, who tried to deal with the locals most frequently – she had learned to understand it, but had difficulty speaking it.
Then came the day when everything seemed hot; still. The villagers were on edge, and the soldiers were grumpy, tired of waiting for replacements that seemed like they might never arrive. A group of soldiers, including Nick, were playing cards at a small table o outside one of the buildings, when shots began to ring out. Tyler had been mid-laughter when a bullet caught him in the throat first, spraying the others a little with his blood. As he clutched at it, and stumbled around, he was gunned down.
Nick shouted orders to his unit, while Alyssa was shouting orders to whomever was nearby where she was. Soldiers scrambled for the guns and for cover, fighting back against the insurgents. It was a bloody fight, with soldiers, insurgents, and innocents alike getting injured or killed. The soldiers kept getting pushed back, with Nick and his unit managing to find refuge in a building. His soldiers provided him cover while he snagged Alyssa and the troops she was with, then pulled some injured but still alive soldiers and citizens to safety, managing only grazes and a couple shallow bullet wounds as he did so.
Alyssa was busy calling reinforcements in when Nick picked his gun back up, ducking his head out every so often to take a shot. He wasn’t sure how long it had taken. There was a loud noise, and his ears began ringing. There had been an explosion, and some of his people were injured. He pulled them back to safety as he heard a chopper overhead, before another explosion hit – this time closer to where he was as he was running back to engage.
Debris began to fall from the ceiling, and as he backed up to get away from it, more of the ceiling began to crumble, burying him beneath it. Somehow, thanks in part to a heavy broken beam, he wasn’t crushed. He coughed as the dust kicked up and re-settled. He could hear muffled sound through the debris. It sounded like a scream? He couldn’t be sure through his coughing fit. When he managed to get it to die down, he started yelling for help, hoping someone would hear him.
Time passed, and hyperventilation began to set in as he panicked that he might die. Flashes of his family came to mind; of never seeing them or his friends; Alyssa. Panicking even more, he began to yell more loudly, trying to let people know he was still alive. Gunfire in the distance began to die down, and he started to hear movement on the rocks that surrounded him.
“Help me already!” he shouted, panicking that the beam would give way, swearing he could hear it creak. Gradually, the noise of the rocks increased, and he realized they were being moved. Eventually, there was a small opening, and a face peered in. A beautiful brown eye, on a face he recognized well.
“Hold on, soldier. We’ll get you out.” she said.
“We’ll get you, Sarge!” came a shout from one of his unit.
With Alyssa and what was left of his unit working together, they managed to dig him out before things gave way, allowing to escape with minima l injury. They helped him hobble to the waiting helicopter, and airlifted out, field medics checking him over to make sure he was alright. They made it back to base before he was taken to a hospital to have the bullets removed.
A few days of recovery later, and he was back to work. When they had the chance to be alone, Alyssa fussed over him, worried about his injuries. Nick played it off like it were nothing, remarking “Chicks dig scars, right?” with a grin, and she lightly punched him in the uninjured shoulder. When it came time for him to call home, this call was no different from others. He never game details about what he had been going through, and this was no exception.
Nick never let on to anyone, not even Alyssa, about the nightmares he had of being trapped and unable to escape. On the few occasions they got to actually sleep together, she was aware he had nightmares, but then, a lot of soldiers did, so she never thought anything more of it.
A year later, and he was mostly alright, he felt. Then came the day that ended his military career. Some Humvees were out travelling a road, soldiers in front scanning for mines. Unfortunately, one of these mines got missed, and a vehicle triggered it. Nick was one of the men in the vehicle. The explosion rocked a couple of the guys on the outside clear of the blast, but the brunt of the explosion was on the vehicle he was in.
He jerked at the handle to the vehicle, trying to make his way out. As he got the door open, he jumped out into a roll, not feeling the searing pain in his leg until he had been fully pulled clear. As he stood staring at the remnants of the vehicle he’d been in, he was being looked over. At another stab of pain, he looked down, seeing blood mixed with sand on his leg. A soldier was rapidly tying a tourniquet just above the hamburger that had been his knee.
Nick was unsure of what happened next, figuring later that he had either passed out from pain, or had been given a sedative to knock him out. When he awoke, he was in the hospital. A doctor explained to him that his knee had been pinned back together as best as they could, however he would need a proper surgery in the future. For now, however, he was being medically discharged – he could no longer serve.
Alyssa came to see him as soon as she could. They talked about his injury and what it might mean for their future. During this talk, she held his hand tightly, not letting go. They agreed to try long distance, and unbeknownst to them at the time, someone caught them kissing.
When it could be arranged, Nick was flown back to a base in the states that would also provide physical therapy, located in Tennessee. He was in a great deal of pain most of the time, but he looked forward to calls from Alyssa. In her first call to him, she explained that she had gotten busted for their relationship, and had been stripped of her rank and knocked down a few. He was as supportive as he could be, though much like he never let on to her about his trauma, she didn’t let on to him what she was going through.
Eventually, she made a difficult call to break up with him. When Nick got that call, she had apologized, telling him that the long-distance wasn’t working, and she wanted to focus on her career. Nick managed to hold back his emotions, telling her still loved her and that he understood. When the call ended, however, he popped a pill, something he’d already been abusing a bit due to the amount of pain he was in. Now? Now he just wanted to be numb. He headed out and to the nearest liquor store, buying some whiskey and heading back so he could get drunk.
To him, it helped dull the pain, and he found he could still function fine while drunk. He stayed until his physical therapy course was finished, and moved back home to Las Vegas, staying with his parents for a short time until he could get his own apartment.