Chapter 4

            I have no idea how people can live out here, let alone without air conditioning. When we first got here in January, it was pretty cold, but now it's so hot that you can't even look outside without sweating. Even worse, we have to wear these uniforms and all this gear every time we leave the base. I wipe the sweat from my forehead underneath my helmet, but it just continues to drip down into my eyes. I understand the reason behind it, it's been pretty dangerous lately, but thinking about that doesn't make me feel any cooler whenever we go out on patrol. Actually, it makes me want to complain even more. I don't, but I really want to.

            As our convoy rolls out of the gate of our small base, our eyes are only looking out at the horizon. We have to be especially careful lately, since we've been taking a lot of casualties. I've heard that 2007 has been one of the worst years in Iraq so far. Complacency kills, as our superiors always tell us, so it pays to just shut up and keep watching for anything bad that might be coming our way.

            I'm not really smart enough to wonder about all the politics that are going on with this war, or conflict, or whatever you wanna call it. Nor do I care, really. I didn't join to worry about that. Nor did I really join because I wanted to. Honestly, now that I think about it, why did I even join? I was never that  bright in school, so I suppose I didn't have much else going for me when I graduated. I guess it was either this or the mill, and this seemed a lot better than the mill, or at least it did at the time. I'm not sure if I'm starting to regret it now, though, even with all the bonus money they gave me. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud to serve my country and everything, but it's not exactly the greatest lifestyle.

            It seems like hours go by that I'm just sitting in this Humvee, listening to the constant rumble of the engine while staring out the window at an endless expanse of desert and highway, looking for anything that might be able to kill us. I've been told that Iraq actually has a lot of trees, but seen since they moved us down towards the Iraq-Kuwait border, I haven't seen very much besides sand.

            Finally, I start to see a few buildings appear, so I guess we're getting close to town. It's not much of a city, nor is it a small village. The place we're heading is on the other side of this town, and this is the only good highway, so we end up going through the center of the town. Everyone stares. Some people are happy we're here, and some people hate us, but no matter what we always attract attention.

            As we near the edge of the town, I see a man watching us from a balcony. He doesn't have a weapon or anything, but for some reason I can't take my eyes off of him. There's nothing about him that seems particularly threatening, but the way he's watching us is different from the others. I'm not sure if I should be worried or not. Should I say something? Even if I do, there's really nothing he's doing that shows hostile intent. We can't just shoot someone because we don't like the way they're looking at us.

            I try to look toward the front of the convoy, but I can't see much since we're one of the last of the 7 vehicles in line. I look back, and the man is holding something in his hand. It's not a weapon. It's not a phone or radio. It looks like...

            Before I can say anything, I feel the ground shake and an incredibly loud blast shakes the vehicle. I look back to the front, and I see one of the Humvees being thrown into the air along with a mass of debris. There's shouting over the radio, and we move in closer to surround the Humvee that was hit. My team leader yells at me to pull security while he goes to check and see if anyone survived, so I open the door and take cover behind the armor of the truck.

            There is some gunfire coming from a different direction, but I stay focused on the area I was told to watch, just in case more people come to attack us. I would have expected more people to be shooting at us, but I can only hear a few gunshots from a short distance away. I've been in a few firefights before this, so it's kind of unexpected to see such little resistance.

            As soon as that thought crosses my mind, I hear it: a whistling coming from somewhere above us. I hear someone yelling, "Incoming!!" and I instinctually jump to the ground behind the vehicle. It lands about 20 meters on the other side of my truck, and I feel clumps of dirt and sand falling on top of me. That was way too close. This must have been their plan all along: stop us with the explosion and then hit this exact spot with mortar fire. They must have already had everything laid out before we arrived. If I weren't wearing hearing protection, an explosion that close would destroy my eardrums.

            I look toward the damaged Humvee where my team leader had run to, and I see him on the ground bleeding. He must have been struck by fragmentation from that explosion as he was searching the other vehicle for survivors. I run over to grab him, trying to pull him to cover, but before I can reach the truck I hear another mortar coming in from above. I try to dive for cover, but it lands just 10 meters away from my truck this time.

            ... I can't hear anything. It's hard to focus. My body just hurts. Dazed from the shock of the explosion, I can't even think of what I should be doing right now, let alone would I even have the ability to do it. I can feel the color draining from my face. I must be bleeding, because I'm getting dizzier. It's hard to feel anything but pain below my waist, so I can't tell how the rest of my body is. A face appears above me, but I can't hear anything he's saying. Slowly, my vision goes dark, and my mind fades...

...

...

...

            "So that's the last thing you remember?" asks the nurse, scribbling on his clipboard.

            "If anything did happen after that, I have no idea. I just hope everyone else got out alright."

            "I see..." The nurse hasn't once lifted his pen from that paper since I started telling my story. "So, Specialist... Linebaugh, was it?"

            "Tyler is fine," I add. I feel like I could use a break from the formalities.

            "Right. Do you remember anything else aside from that? Anything that might stand out or seem out of place to you?"

            "Well, I am rather surprised that my body is in such good shape. I was honestly afraid I might be missing my legs or something, but I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought." I move my legs a little just to make sure I wasn't wrong.

            His pen suddenly stops moving. He lets out a small sigh and looks at me directly. "Are you aware of how long you've been unconscious?" he asks.

            I think for a moment. If I'm back in the states, it must have been a while. They would've probably kept me in Germany or something for a while before they finally brought me back here. "If I were to guess, I would probably have to say at least a month, although I honestly have no idea."

            "Well, you're not too far off, however I think the situation might be considerably different from what you're expecting." He hesitates for a moment. "I'm not sure if you're going to be okay with hearing this, but... I think what you thought experienced in Iraq may have been part of a dream."

            I let out a deep breath, rolling my eyes. "I'm telling you, I'm pretty sure you have me mixed up with someone else. I think I'm capable of telling the difference between my own life and a dream."

            The nurse puts his hand on his forehead, as if he's getting tired of me arguing with him. "I understand you may think that but..." suddenly he pauses, as if remembering something important. "Can you tell me what the date is today?"

            The date? Well, he said I wasn't too far off with my guess, so I reply, "Probably something like August or September, 2007."

            As soon as he hears that, he stands up and walks out of the room. He walks back in a few seconds and tosses something on my bed. It's a calendar, for...

            "What is this, some kind of joke?" I ask. "This calendar says it's for the year 2023."

            "I'm afraid it's not. The date today is the 2nd of September, 2023. In the last 6 weeks, you've only woken up once, and that was 12 days ago. We've been monitoring your mental activity since then, and we believe that your mind has been in a constant dream state while you've been asleep. I know this may be difficult for you to accept, but I don't believe that anything you remember about your previous life..."

            "Bull s**t! You're lying to me! What kind of hospital is this anyway?" I throw the covers off and try to get out of the bed, but I almost fall to the floor. I can barely move my arms or legs, they feel so weak compared to what I'm used to. The nurse manages to catch me before I fall, and tries to help me stand up. I almost want to struggle, but I can barely put up much of a fight. Not to mention, as I'm just realizing now, this nurse is pretty well built for someone working in a hospital. He kind of reminds me of some of the guys in my unit, the kind who hardly ever leave the gym.

            "I'm sorry, but there really isn't any easy way for me to tell you this," he says calmly. I suppose he realizes I can't resist much. Hell, even if I was at full strength, this guy would probably be able to take me down if he wanted to. "I'll help you over to the sink if you want to clean up a little."

            I hobble over to the sink with the nurse's assistance, and that's when I finally see it. This face isn't mine. The body may be similar, but this is definitely not the face I've seen in the mirror for the past 21 years. My breathing becomes shallow and I start to shake a little as everything the nurse said starts to sink in. Even with the nurse helping me, I start to fall back to the ground as I feel the strength leave my legs, leaving him to support my weight almost entirely.

            "How... what the hell is going on here? If I'm not me, then who am I?" I look at him, unable to hide the panic from my voice.

            "Do you recognize the name Alex Henderson?"

Reviews

[Kuro]

I like the possibilities opened up here "this nurse is pretty well built for someone working in a hospital. He kind of reminds me of some of the guys in my unit, the kind who hardly ever leave the gym."

Regarding edits I have two suggestions:

"I try to dive for cover, but it lands just 10 meters away from my truck this time.
... I can't hear anything. It's hard to focus. My body just hurts. Dazed from the shock of the explosion, I can't even think of what I should be doing right now, let alone would I even have the ability to do it."

I may be wrong but the first line could be better with "I try to dive for cover, but this time it lands just 10 meters away from my truck."

The last line "Dazed from the shock of the explosion, I can't even think of what I should be doing right now, let alone would I even have the ability to do it" may sound better if it reads: "Dazed from the shock of the explosion, I can't even think of what I should be doing right now, let alone do it" or "Dazed from the shock of the explosion, I can't even think of what I should be doing right now, let alone actually doing it."

I hope that helps.