Chapter Thirteen

She lay on her knees utterly drenched, Sides rising and failing at inhumane speed. Drool bubbled and leaked. Slick mane concealed her eyes. The mare's tongue hung from frothy lips as her lungs gasped for life itself.

"What are you doing?" I yelled. 

"You can't stop here, Not here, Not now!"

Steam lifted off her trembling coat into my red, hot face.

"Do you hear me? You must get up and run like hell, run like the wind."

Hands held mane as the mare shook. Her labored neck lifted her draft sized head toward the glowing alley. Muscles spasmed beneath her slick coat. Her neck quivered. Muzzle covered in tiny white bubbles. Between my legs, the draft mare began shivering.

"Why are you still laying down? Get Up Now"

She stared intently at the strange glow that poured from within the alley. Her ears transfixed. For a brief moment her lips moved before a pitiful cry escaped her throat. Elly's head slumped to the ground.

"Oh god" The words slipped from my lips.

Behind, came the shouts of the men.

The m4 carbine clattered to the ground. I jumped onto her withers, straddling her broad shoulders with my legs. Leaning over, I swept mane aside over her face revealing a blue eye open yet dull.

"Listen to me," My voice cracked.

"You have to get up on your feet, right now, this very instant. Do you hear me? I can't do this alone without you."

My palm pressed her labored neck, instantly soaked in burning sweat.

"I would carry you myself if I could, but you're too heavy and I'm too weak"

Drool dripped from opened lips. Her nostrils inflamed. Both her ears hardily twitched while her neck quivered. Several gasps came and went. Her eye moved, focusing on me.

"That is why you must do it."

 I patted her.

"I'm sorry. I can't get off your back. In my current condition, if you get up without me on I won't be able to mount you from the ground. It has to be this way, you'll have to lift us both"

She moaned. My hand rubbed the side of her neck.

"I need you-" 

Distant rumbling, The sound of tires running over loose rocks and soil.

"-More than ever-" 

Brazen Voices shouted. Curses spoken in Persian dialect. 

-To lift yourself up and carry us away from here, to safety. Together.

I leaned my face next to her's. Her gasping breaths inches away.

"You can do this, Elly. I know you can."

Her ear slowly rotated.

"I believe in you. Because…" I paused and sucked in breath.

"You are the horse for me." 

She blinked.

More shouts closer than before, their different tones were picked up by my numb ears. The hairs on my neck rose. I stiffened.

"Please, Please, you've carried me this far. How much more is another click?"

She shifted, groaning. A hoof pawed the asphalt in front of us. The mare's neck moved like a snake scraping over the pavement. She stopped. A low moan came from within her heaving chest. Her eyelid closed over her pretty blue eye.

"Oh no no No!"

Both hands lashed out grabbing mane behind lifeless ears. Muscles tensed. Arms fully stretched. They responded immediately by pulling as I leaned back. Her draft sized head lifted off the ground. Dust and filth crested her dripping muzzle. 

"Get Up" I growled

Arms strained. Frustration built. Muscles ached as I snarled and hissed. 

"On your feet" 

I pulled and pulled. Her head held inches off the ground. Her neck wouldn't move.

"I'm not asking you, I'm ordering-begging you to get the hell up"

Even more shouts came, younger, fresh voices joined in from the top of the rubble's summit. I grimaced. I threw my shoulders back, head to the sky. Now or never. 

"Git the hell up" I bellowed.

I pulled back with all my strength, every fiber of my being. Fingernails dug into callus skin. Muscles bulged as the bones ached and screamed. 

"...before…they…kill...us" I spoke through clenched teeth.

I threw my back into it. Bones creaked. Limbs shook. I snarled like a wild beast. Her head rose a few inches more but her neck barely budged.

Her head flopped to the ground, again. Both arms held up in front of me and shook with palms visible. This can't be happening. She won't budge. What the hell can I do? Has she given up? Still Conscious? Nothing is working. This can't be happening. This can't- I don't want to die. I don't want to die.

I took a deep breath. Calm yourself down. You must keep it under control. Don't panic. Think. Remember your training. You can survive this. Think! You must think! Plan B! Find another way. And execute it. 

I slid off her withers and retrieved my M4 rifle laying in the street nearby. Its familiar carbon frame felt good on my rough skin. As long as I have this, it will be alright. I'll have a chance at least. 

Sitting upright, came a splat. Startled, I glanced down. A red smear coated the heel of my boot.

"...shit, Shit, SHHIIIT!"

The words rang out into the shadow infested street. It ran down the block smeared of devastation. In the starry night sky, the half moon looked on.

Above, the towering summit exploded in balls of fire. I dove. The air screamed and snapped. Dust exploded. Fragments flew, pelting my cowering body. I huddled over her instead of the beckoning, hard ground. Lead ricocheting off brick and solid earth. Wood and metal pierced through. Trees ripped to shreds as branches fell. Glass shattered, my ears gone numb. 

Swift as it came, the lead storm ceased giving way to dead silence. A shy breeze rolled in and with a whiff of toxic fumes.

Ears rang, buzzing in my head. I stared, blankly. My pounding heart attempted to leap into my throat. My arms unfolded themselves from over my grim face.

Roaming gray dust clouds hovered over the street. Blackened charred rubble scattered in chunks. Dust tinted the air, gradually, slowly, drifting back to earth. Plaster piled on the sidewalk like refuse. My eyes focused. Hundreds of bullet holes sprayed everywhere around us.

The buzzing faded. Silence waned then evaporated. From below, Elly's gasping breaths returned. My legs trembled. 

Somewhere, a mortar thumped in the distant city.

…Is this it?

Is this how far we'll come?

I sniffled, tasting the snot running down my lip. 

I came all this way, halfway around the world to die here on this god forsaken street on this ho-. my eyes downcasted to Elly-. This talking alien horse I barely know. 

My dusty sleeve swiped over my face.

She has taken me this far but…not far enough. I sat back, resting my knees on her laboring sides.

Is this…fate? 

I pulled out my canteen, unscrewed the lid and took a long sip. I wished it was alcohol, tequila, whiskey or even a warm shitty beer, hell even if it tastes like piss I'll drink it. I put the canteen away and fiddled with the only grenade on my vest.

I'll never be good like those real cowboys. Never believed I had the talent or skills. How they rode their horses superb while risking life and limb. They left me in the literal dust. I don't understand it. Real horsemanship. I left that entire lifestyle and world…behind to fight a war to make my family and Pa proud. To serve my country with honor and to find purpose in my short young life. 

Has my clock run out? Am I destined to die? Right here and now? Is this the end? My very last moments?

NO!

I didn't abandon them. I did not flee in the face of the enemy and desert my platoon when they needed me the most. I saw the ambush coming before my NCO did. They were ready for us. I only ran when someone, in my squad, yelled my name and told me too. It was hopeless. I knew it and then Iranians knew it too. So I ran for my life.

This can't be…this can't be my fate. I refuse to accept it. I'm only nineteen and I haven't even lived. There is so much more to explore and experience. I want to settle down and have a family. I want to make my Pa proud. No, I won't accept it. Not now, not tonight, not ever! I am not a failure nor deserter! I refuse to ever believe it. I will make it to friendly lines. I will reach my platoon. And, I'll never be taken alive again. Fuck it, fuck it all to hell!

My boot slammed into Elly, knocking the wind out of her.

"Git up" I roared, brandishing my rifle as I sat on top of her. 

I kicked harder directly at her exposed ribs catching her mid-gasp. The startled mare choked. Her head and neck flung up off the ground while convulsing, suffocating on her own spit. 

"Git On your feet"

Spit flung to ground. Her lungs finally reached air. Her chest heaved. 

"Do you want to die here on this street!?!?!"

I slapped her neck hard and seized her loose strands. She shuddered all over.

"By Golly I'll do it. You better hope the Iranians get here to take me before I do. I swear. I will kick you to death right here."

Mane fell away revealing her wild eye. Elly shrieked with every fiber of her being.

"I hope they don't save a bullet for you. You can lay here and die a slow agonizing death for all I care. I know because I won't."

I yanked her ears, mercilessly

A small cry came between gasps from her quivering, frothy lips. 

"They won't even try to bury you. They'll leave your carcass here so the buzzards come and feast on it!"

I reached for her ears again. She whimpered, pulling them away. I raised my boot.

"Git Up"

A cough erupted from the mist. A crunch of boots on loose rock close and loud. I could feel the enemy's presence encroaching. I trembled. Fear struck.

"Elly, YOU DAMN MARE, GET THE HELL UP"

My army issued size 11 boot rammed into the draft mare's side cutting off her cry. She reeled from the blow, turning away on her side, almost tipping over. I braced. Her lungs made hideous gasps. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the alien horse moved.

The mare straightened herself. Her drenched neck raised that enormous head off the filthy street. Bits of crusted sand and dirt fell back to earth. The mare's long legs stretched unseen underneath her belly. Her head and neck sat low. Her front shifted upright as her forelegs moved underneath. A moan slipped out.

A pause as the exhausted mare took deep breaths. Her eyes still opened, dull but alive. Her ears lay listless. A noticeable tremor swept through her. Elly's head popped up.

Her limbs sprang into action, pushing her body upward. Grunting, struggling the mare fought to raise our combined weight off the street. Legs stumbling underneath her, hooves pressing onto the sand laden road. Elly rose by the inch. Her back rocked from front to back then side to side. She paused again then continued. Her front legs seemingly weaker than the rear ones. She struggled till three legs were up and faltered.

I held firm as she moved sideways, scraping knees and hooves until she came to a stop on two shaky legs. The mare cried. I said nothing. 

She resumed. Her body racked with grunts and moans. Up and up we went, reaching familiar heights. Grunting, struggling between hideous gasps, the Belgian draft mare rose to her feet on blood stained legs.

"Go" I struck her neck with the butt of my rifle.

Elly walked. She veered toward the glowing, beckoning alley.

Behind came numerous footsteps marching in sync.

I spun around, rifle poised, glaring, trigger ready.

Here be the wolves.

I went prone. My rifle positioned on her swaying rump, barrel aimed at the smoldering haze that hung over the blackened rubble. My jittery legs wrapped themselves over her trembling shoulders.

She stepped onto the sidewalk and entered the mouth of the glowing alley with a trail of blood following behind. The humming grew. She swayed as the vibrant glow fell across her dripping coat. Her heart hammered my legs through her chest. 

In the void, voices came high and low. Hushed whispers came and went with unexpected hacking coughs. Footsteps approached side by side. Shadowy outlines moved in the haze. Debris crackled and shifted under numerous boots.

Anxiety building from within. Frayed nerves on edge. My arms trembled. Teeth chattered. Forms shifted before the dim moonlight. Tricks played on eyes. Shadows twisting, revealing nothing. Unwanted ghosts boldly folic in the haze drawing little notice.

The strange colored glow strobed over Elly and I. She walked rather staggered, one painfully slow clop at a time. My eyes glued to the sights, trigger finger itchy. My trusted M4 rested on Elly's rump, barrel hanging over her filthy, ruined tail.

There! The rifle's sights snapped to a shadow creeping along a shattered wall in between a ruined building and rubble. A figure emerged, rifle in hand, crawling out from the narrow gap in his desert uniform. Moonlight revealed his youthful face and black hair. He stopped, positioning his rifle on the pile in front of him before looking dead ahead. Our eyes met.

My m4 kicked my right shoulder. The wall exploded in his face. The youth fell back screaming, clutching his eyes and mouth and disappeared within the mist.

Voices raised in alarm. The screaming ceased in seconds. Footsteps stopped. A hush fell over the smoke filled mound.

The M4 pivoted over Elly's rump. Breaths grew short. The gun's sights began to shake. When? When will they come? Teeth chattered. My eyes dared not to blink. Finger glued to the already warm trigger.

A commanding voice called out from beyond the smoke and rubble. My cheek itched on the rifle's carbon frame. That's a NCO leading them. Shit! I gulped.

Do not hesitate. Do not give them a chance. They will drop you in an instant. Remember your training. You are an American soldier of the Big Red One. The fighting first. Hooah!

A tall outline darted through the smokey haze. My M4 swung around and leveled on its center mass. I fired. It dropped out of sight.

"Tīrandāzi konid!"

All Hell Broke Loose.

The air screamed with the flying lead as incoming rounds pummeled the alley walls above and beside us. They pierced and shredded the boxes and pallets and metal bins shredding holes in them with their wake knocking them over and aside.

I cursed the lack of full auto as the end of the M4's barrel flashed as fast as the trigger was squeezed. In the mist, The encroaching enemy replied with their Ak's spraying without a prayer.

The alley's opening filled with lead peppering the walls, boxes, barrels and pallets looking like swiss cheese. Super sonic rounds ricocheted. I flitched as shrapnel pelted us. Snarling, I released the trigger and squeezed again and again

The bolt flung open revealing an empty chamber. The old magazine was tossed aside and a new one slipped in from my pouch. One left…one left. My mind cried.

Elly bumped into a bullet, shredded barrel pushing it over against the wall. She hesitated, with loud shuddering gasps.

"Keep moving!" I yelled out. 

 She staggered onward.

Spent shells flung from the m4's breech as rounds one after another shot the smoky hazy. As long as we stay ahead of their line of fire, they can't hit us or see us. 

Elly ventured deeper into the alley as the shadows steadily creeped toward the edge of the mist. 

An uniformed soldier stumbled out of the smoky mist, over the rubble edge. Arm over his mouth, eyes red with tears, coughing, he hesitated in clear view. I drew my m4 over and fired. Hot lead slammed into him. His face filled with shock. He ducked and rolled to the sidewalk out of my sight.

"Dammit" I hissed. Armor or some shit.

Shadows began to lurk at the rubble's edge. Bullets snapped by, tearing into the alley's street corners. I returned fire with controlled bursts, just like in training.

Two bright white beams pierced through the hazy mist, burning through the smoke revealing crouched figures creeping over the smoldering rubble. The roar of the it's engine met my deafening ears. They managed to get a truck here by coming from the opposite way.

My rifle kicked to life. 5.57mm casings ejected one after another as the enemy fled from the beams and hot lead. The bolt flung open again. I immediately slapped in the last magazine. This is it, make it count. Peering through my sights, I zeroed in on an unlucky SOB who tripped over his own legs.

A sudden jolt, my rifle pitched up and I began sliding backwards. What the fuck? My head snapped a look over my shoulder.

Elly's front legs buckled and sank till they reached the alley's floor.

Something flew past the corner of my eye. It bounced off the wall to the ground and darted towards Elly's feet. I popped up from her back. Shit, Grenade! I stared down as it rolled to a stop by her downed legs. It was a plain old rock.

"Bastards" I snarled. 

I gripped her shoulders with both legs and snatched the lone grenade off my vest. It's too risky but I didn't give a shit. I pushed myself up against her inlined back.

…One….two!

I chucked it high in the air and ducked. It lobbied up in the air and bounced off the sidewalk and rolled into the street. Feet shuffled, Shouts erupted. It exploded. Metal fragments pelted the alley's contents, walls and flew out into the open street. 

Turning from the firefight, I bore my fury down upon her. Blows fell like rain onto her quivering form. They came relentless, one after one or two at once. Each one struck true with ferocity and sheer determination.

Her knees rested on the concrete while stray rounds whizzed by our exposed bodies. A savage kick nailed her ribs. Elly shuddered. Her lips nearly kissed the ground as a wayward blow glanced off her filthy neck. 

Any cowboy would know when they pushed too far. They know when to quit and not cross that line. But I was no such thing.

Another kick. Then another and another one. I've lost count. Her neck lifted her sorrowful head upward to receive a kick in the face, stunning her. Sharp pain screamed up my left leg. I snarled. Despite the pain, I continued, unrelenting. It was like kicking dead meat.

Beneath the raining blows, sides ready to pop, the draft mare began to rise off her knees to my utter amazement. Her quivering neck lifted. Her front rose with clopping of hooves and shifting legs. Ears cowarded flat on her head. Nose pointed downward. Mane ruined. An inhuman groan arose deep within her. A final agonizing push. The mare stood back on all four hooves in the shifting glow. 

I threw myself down on her back. The m4 slapped her rump and fired. The rounds strike the battered street alley corner. The peeking Iranian with his long barrel RPK jumped into cover.

"Go Go Go" I hollered, repeatedly striking Elly with my rifle. 

Her muscles shifted. I felt her legs stir beneath me. We began to move. Sweat and blood ran down her neck plain as day. No longer a horse, just a wretched creature waiting to die.

She staggered, toward the corner deep in the alley, where the glow was the brightest. Hooves dragged between gasps. Her ragged coat dulled as the glow brightened and faded with vivid colors. She huffed and wheezed. Her unwilling legs trembled with each step.

More shadows emerged, figures slipping out of the mist and sliding down the rubble slope. Shapes of men running out into the street and reaching the sidewalks just out of view.

Tires screeched with squealing brakes. A front of the gray pickup rolled up to the alley's entrance. Head lights shined down the passageway as armed men jumped out of the moving vehicle and took cover by the street.

Elly rounded the corner in the alley straight into an overwhelming glow. Reflex, my arm shielded my eyes as I glanced over my shoulder. It took a second for them to adjust. A strange orb of glowing violet…now gray light suspended feet above the ground. My jaw dropped in disbelief.

"You got to be fucking kidding me."

I swung around to face the front. My rifle pointed above her drooping head.

"It's a dead end!"

Unseen commotion heard around the corner. Boxes, steel, things being tossed aside. I grit my teeth. 

"You fucked us"

She staggered past stacked pallets. Toward the changing light that hovered in front of a solid barricade made of sand and brick. She moved one leg then the other, wheezing like I never heard a creature do before. Towards the light, towards certain safety like she was drawn to it, like her very life depended on it. What was it? Was it our salvation? It was as bright as the sun in here. A way out? Was it a…portal? I could only watch as she dragged her miserable self one hoof at a time.

The weird glowing, pulsing light changed its color from red to blue then gray then unexpected green. The eerie glow saturated my vision with all its ever changing wonder. I averted my gaze as we drew near . The glowing intensified 

From red to yellow to greenish hue back to white then orange the memorizing spectacle changed. Elly dragged herself toward the pulsing light as it shifted to a light purple then flashed to tropical green. My legs relaxed and shoulders slacked. 

The humming was, in my ear drums, shaking teeth, vibrating my retinas.

An endless trance, my shut eyes squinted while I trembled. What the-. I could see it in my mind, so bright. The orb of reflective light pulsated and hummed. It was…alive?

It flashed and glowed ever stronger. The humming rose in volume, assaulting my hearing. My eardrums throbbed. Vertigo vertigo, sense of balance gone. The ever present hum drove out all reason, thinking, being. taken, consumed. I hardly noticed my rifle sliding to my lap as both arms went limp. Fascinated, I could not peel away. Must not let go…

She approached, stretching out her sorrowful neck before the spinning light. The orb ceased humming and began buzzing. Her legs faltered before she reached out with the tip of her nose and touched. 

Elly fell into the light, taking me with her.