Free Another One Bites the Dust by Lani Lynn Vale

technically not even with them anymore.  Apparently, she’s hard to work with; nobody wants her, including us.”
    I couldn’t argue with that point.  The bitch was nuts.  Good riddance.  “Alright, when can I leave?”
    “If you can stand it, you can ride out with Lita.  Otherwise, the next ride out won’t be for another two days.”  Layne said with an evil glint in his eyes.
    Fucker.  He knew I would want to leave as soon as I could.  Looks like I was trading one shit place for another.  At least for another fourteen hours, that is.
    A packed duffle, a cleaned gun, a goodbye said, and two hours later found me sitting in the huey from Speicher to Baghdad, and from there I would jump a military flight to the states.  I still had three more stops once I reached the states.  If it all played out well, I would make it back in time to see Payton tomorrow morning before she got off work.
    I’d been in the seat on the huey for over ten minutes before O’Hare finally showed.  She was practically snarling with rage, and I couldn’t help but think I was one lucky SOB.  She threw her stuff in with little regards to who was on the receiving end of her anger.  Her rifle was tossed in with a recklessness that wasn’t smart when dealing with firearms.  My foot went up as her rifle sailed across the metal floor, and I stepped down to stop its progress before it sailed out the open door on the other side.  She snarled at me as she got in the door, and grabbed the rifle.  Without saying thank you, might I add.
    O’Hare refused to strap in, and I didn’t care enough to convince her.  Little did I know that she had a reason for doing the things she did.
    We were about twenty feet in the air when the helicopter exploded. 
    I was disoriented.  My mind wasn’t working.  Lights were bright.  The heat of something was so intense that my skin sizzled.  Everything hurt.  I couldn’t see.  I heard screaming, but I couldn’t tell if it was me, or someone else.  It went on like that for minutes, or maybe hours, hell I don’t know.  Finally, finally , darkness overcame me, and I found peace.
    ɸ
    I woke on a military flight to the states.
    From what was explained to me, I wasn’t in critical condition.  I had burns on parts of my body, but it wasn’t significant.  I had a broken arm, lacerations on my chest and neck, and a severe concussion.  The concussion must have been why my head felt like a party I wasn’t invited to was happening in my skull.  It throbbed in time to my heartbeat, and I might have thrown up on the cute little nurse that was changing out my fluids at the time. 
    I was checked over by medical personnel at Speicher before they decided to take me back to the states on a direct military flight, instead of to Germany. 
      I was lucky.  The same couldn’t be said for O’Hare, whose body was unable to be recovered from the wreckage due to the flames that overtook the huey not long after they pulled the pilot out.  The pilot had third degree burns on nearly seventy percent of his body, as well as many broken bones.  He’d be lucky to even make it through the night.
    I smiled widely at the nurse who was in the process of lowering my blanket and checking out my left hip, where apparently I had another large gash.  “We haven’t even had dinner yet.”
    She laughed, but continued with her work.  She was cute.  Short, with about shoulder length brown hair.  She reminded me of someone, but right now, my brain was high on the good shit, and I was close to not caring about anything.
    “Careful there, Cowboy.  What would Payton think if she found out you were checking out another nurse?”  Layne said from beside me.
    “Who’s Payton?”  I asked, confused as hell.
     

Chapter 5
    Lesson one:  Only trust people with big butts.  They cannot lie.
    -E-card
     
    Payton
     
    My palms were sweating.  I was nauseous, and I wasn’t sure I should even be here.  When Ember called, she