Reaper Sigma
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"Sarah," Anna called. "Time for bed."
The little girl laughed as she ran to her mother. Anna picked her up, smiling.
"But mommy," Sarah protested. "Today is when daddy comes back!"
She chuckled. "Daddy won't like it if you stay up late."
"Please mommy?" the little girl pleaded.
"No Sarah," her mother answered, though even she had been anticipating Daniel's return.
The little girl pouted as she was carried to her room. Anna laid her under the covers and tucked her in.
"Mommy?"
"Yes honey?"
"Do you think Daddy really is coming back this time?"
Anna hesitated. Daniel's tour in Afghanistan had been extended three times. She didn't know if he really was coming back.
"We'll have to wait and see," she answered finally.
***
“Hey Smith,” Daniel said, holding a M16 Assault Rifle in his hands. “You check the field?”
Smith, a blonde haired man of Italian descent in his early twenties, nodded. “We’re all clear. Let’s move out.”
Daniel shouted an “All clear!” The captain in charge of the company gave an order to advance. An abandoned Afghan town was ahead. They were to set up camp there for the night before continuing onwards.
Besides, they had an M1 Abrams on their side. The tank had composite armor and a gas turbine engine, along with a 105 mm gun. Even if there were any Taliban nearby, there was no way they were going to be able to beat that.
After half an hour of marching, the company reached the town. About one hundred Marines broke ranks to search the town. The other half set up a camp in the center of the small village. The soldiers sat and chatted casual, tired from marching so far. The Abrams stopped and idled near a short clay house. However, Daniel kept his M16 ready. It was better to be on guard and not need to be than be off guard when attacked. He had seen many a good man taken down like that.
The sun sank towards the horizon as the hours passed. The scouts returned, all with nothing to report. When the last few soldiers arrived, the captain shouted an order to set up camp for the night.
Daniel counted the heads that came back. Ninety-nine Marines. He remembered the one face that hadn‘t returned. A man, a curly haired young man named Mark.
Suddenly, a grenade flew past his head. Daniel reacted immediately, diving away just as the small capsule exploded, sending shrapnel into the air. Two unlucky Marines weren’t as quick, and screamed right before the metal pierced their hearts.
The company hurriedly formed up as Taliban soldiers leapt from the buildings, guns and knives in hand. Many were on the rooftops, firing at the company’s flanks. The Abrams, powerful but slow, was their first target. One Taliban leapt from a rooftop, grenade in hand. He pulled the pin before shoving it into the 105 mm gun. The tank exploded in a fiery flare of shrapnel and fire, killing several Marines nearby.
Daniel fired his rifle at a Taliban, shouting out in a harsh, foreign tongue as he rushed towards him. The bullets silenced him, and he crumpled to the ground.
“Retreat!” the captain barked. “Cover the rear! Kee-”
His orders were cut short as a bullet ripped through his chest.
“Keep moving!“ Daniel shouted. “Get the ones on the rooftops!”
The Marines complied, redirecting fire at the rooftop gunners. Daniel kept the Taliban on the ground at bay, emptying his magazine as they advanced.
“Cover me while I reload!” he shouted.
“We’re being flanked!” Smith yelled back. The Marines tightened formation as more Taliban appeared from behind them. They were being surrounded. Daniel threw the M16 aside and pulled a Desert Eagle from its holster. It held eight bullets per round. And he wouldn’t have time to reload.
Make each shot count, he told himself.
He pulled the trigger in the direction of another assailant. The bullet embedded itself in the man’s chest, and he fell to the dirt. Blood blossomed from beneath his clothes.
He counted each bullet he fired. Two more Taliban came into view.
Two, three, Daniel counted as he fired twice more. He dived into an alley as four more hostiles rounded a corner. He aimed and fired four more times.
Four, five six, seven.
Suddenly, he was brought to the ground as a Taliban soldier leapt from the rooftops and landed on top of him. A surging wave of agony struck the Marine as a cold steel blade was driven into his chest. Daniel dropped the pistol.
The world began to dim, the gunfire and shouting becoming subtle and quieter. Everything became a blur, and every sound melding together. His life flashed before his eyes. Memories of his family were the ones he picked out. For a split second, the image of his wife appeared in his mind.
Anna.
Another image replaced it. His daughter’s face.
Sarah.
The world went black.
***
Anna sobbed. Tears streamed down her face, spilling out of the palms of her hands. She couldn't believe what the letter had said. Its many pieces lay on the table and floor around
her. She had torn the paper to pieces in her anguish.
Daniel was dead. Her husband was dead. He had been killed in a Taliban ambush several months ago. The body hadn’t even been recovered.
"Mommy?"
Anna looked up to see Sarah standing at the doorway.
"Mommy, what's wrong?" the little girl asked.
Her mother wiped her tears from her face.
"Nothing honey." She glanced at the clock. 8:00. "Come on, it's bedtime."
Anna received the usual groan and protest. She responded with the usual grin, though a sad one. Picking her daughter up, she carried her to bed. She fought with herself, trying to decide if Sarah should know what happened.
She needs to know, one half of her said.
She’s too young, the other half argued.
As she laid Sarah under the covers, Anna heard her daughter's voice again.
"Mommy?" the little girl said inquisitively.
"Yes honey?"
"Why hasn't daddy come home yet?"
Anna forced her tears back. She couldn't bear to tell Sarah the truth.
"We won't see daddy for a while," she lanswered.
"I wish daddy could come home soon."
Anna turn away to hide the tears that fell from her face. She almost broke down and sobbed, lying to such a sweet, innocent child.
"I do too," she managed to get out as she hurried out of the room.
***
"Sarah," a voice said, calling the child from her sleep. "It's me."
Sarah sat up, rubbing her eyes. It was still dark outside the window, but the lamp had
been turned on.
"Mommy?"
"No honey, it's me."
She looked to the speaker. A man, with cropped copper hair and dressed in the uniform of the U.S. Marines, kneeled by her bedside. His broad smile and the familiar twinkle in his eye sparked recognition almost instantly.
"Daddy!" she exclaimed, leaping from the covers and embracing her father.
Daniel laughed, holding his daughter for the first time in years.
"I knew you'd be back. I knew it. My wish came true."
"Mine did too.” He stopped hugging her, and faced his daughter. “I finally get to see you.”
His smile disappeared. “One last time."
Sarah stopped smiling and looked at her father, her happiness replaced by puzzlement. "Daddy, you aren't staying?"
Her father gave her a melancholy smile. He pulled back his uniform, showing a deep wound over his heart.
"No!" Sarah cried, burying her face in his uniform. "You can't be dead! You promised you'd come back. You promised!"
"I have come back," Daniel said soothingly. But I can't stay. I wish I could with all my heart, but I have to go."
Sarah sobbed, still begging her father to stay.
"Sarah, please don't cry," he asked her, lifting her onto the bed. "I
have to go. God says I have to leave."
"You don't have to listen to God," she suggested hopefully.
Daniel chuckled. His daughter was a problem solver. Always trying to fix things. She got that from her mother's side.
"Sarah, I have to listen to God. I can't stay. I'm sorry. But always remember, I'll always be with you. Even if you can't see me, I'll always be watching."
He kissed his daughter on the cheek before getting to his feet. He turned and began to leave. Sarah leaped off the bed and ran after him.
"Daddy! Come back!"
He turned and went into the hall. His daughter hurried out the door. But as she came out of the room, she saw nothing. Just the dark, empty corridor.
***
"Sarah," a voice said. "Sarah, wake up."
"Daddy?" she asked, still half asleep.
"No honey, it's me."
Sarah sat upright, rubbing her eyes. She looked to her mother, who looked back with tears in her eyes. Anna composed herself, trying to gather the strength to tell her daughter the truth.
"Sarah, listen. Daddy won't be coming home. He's with God now, looking down at us from heaven."
To her surprise, the little girl looked at her sadly, though she seemed to know what had been told to her.
Sarah gazed out the window. Sunlight streamed into the room. But the light bended and twisted, vaguely resembling a figure. A man. And he was smiling.
"Mommy, daddy is with us right now. He'll always be with us."
Anna couldn't help grin. Her daughter was always so hopeful, so optimistic. Always looking to the brighter side of things. She got that from her father.
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