HOMELAND: Falling Down (Part 1 of the HOMELAND Series) by R.A. Mathis

to go!”
    “Who?”
    Hicks called to Cole, “Sarge! The L.T. says to get back in your effing Humvee and get moving!”
    “I got a situation here!” Cole looked up to see what the woman was running from. A gang of young men armed to the teeth was yards away.
    He ushered the woman to his vehicle and aimed his M4 carbine at the mob. “Back off!”
    They kept coming. Cole’s gunner swung the fifty caliber machine gun onto the would-be assailants. They froze.
    Cole said again, “Back off!” This time the thugs did as they were told.
    Cole helped the woman into his Humvee and the platoon moved out. Rocks pelted the convoy as soldiers watched scene after scene of carnage and depravity through thick Plexiglas windows. After what seemed like a hundred miles, they finally reached the hospital. The ground outside was littered with patients. Doctors and nurses rushed from one victim to the other, trying to conduct triage as best they could. Walking wounded crowded the emergency entrance, blocking the door. Cole had seen this before in Syrian refugee camps. Whether the staff knew it or not, that’s what this place was turning into. He couldn’t believe this was the same city he visited two nights before.
    Lieutenant Young ordered the vehicles to form a perimeter around the entrance to clear the way for medical personnel. The crowd wasn’t happy about it, but relented. Young went in to find the administrator. Cole helped his passenger from the Humvee “You’re safe now.”
    The woman sobbed. “They just pulled me from my car. I don’t know why. They tried to rape me. I was trying to get to my son’s school. He’s in the first grade. I never should have let him go this morning.”
    “Some of our guys are going to schools. Tell Private Hicks which one your son goes to and we’ll try to get you to him.” He gave her an MRE and a bottle of water, wishing he could do more.
    Cole noticed a nurse kneeling over an old man who was lying in the grass. Her blonde hair was pulled into a neat pony tail that fell gracefully over her shoulder as she treated a gash on the man’s forehead.
    Cole grabbed a first aid pack from the back of his Humvee and walked over to her. He squatted next to the pretty nurse and handed her the sterile bandage. “This will help.”
    “Thanks.” She examined the man’s head and asked Cole, “You have any water?”
    “One sec.” Cole ran to his vehicle and brought back some bottled waters.
    “Thanks again.” The nurse opened a bottle and washed out her patient’s wound, applied a spray-on antiseptic, and bound it with the dressing Cole gave her.
    The old man took her hand. “Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome.” She gave him another water. “Drink this. You’ll be fine. Just rest a while and call if you need me.”
    “You’re an angel,” the old man said.
    The man took the words right out of Cole’s mouth as he watched her brush a lock of hair from her deep blue eyes.
    She held a hand out to Cole. “I’m Amber.”
    He took it, hypnotized by the young nurse’s striking gaze. “I’m…Cole.” He regained his senses and looked at the multitude waiting for care. “You’ve got your hands full.”
    “It’s getting worse every hour. We’re already low on bandages and antibiotics. I don’t know how long we can keep this up.”
    “I’m here to help.”
    “Be careful what you offer. I’ll put you to work.”
    “Sounds good to me.”
    Someone yelled, “Help! Somebody help! Please! My little girl!”
    Cole saw a man carrying his daughter. She was pale and limp, her limbs dangling as he staggered through the crowd. Both were covered in blood.
    Cole ran to them and took the child into his arms as Amber asked, “What happened to her?”
    The father responded, “Car accident. Truck came out of nowhere.”
    Cole sprinted to the ER, holding the girl tightly. A doctor blocked him and said, “You can’t take her in there. We don’t have any more room.”
    Sergeant Crowe walked up and