Andrew sat looking at the frozen tundra he was stationed in through the plastic window in the side of the barracks tent. He knew he shouldn't think about home, but he often found his mind drifting back to his time on his family's farm.

"Thompson!" A voice shouted from across the tent.

Andrew turned and rolled his eyes at the white uniformed boy before him. "What do you want Reyes? I don't have time for your games."

"Sergeant Lin said we're moving south in a few hours, so get your stuff together," Rees said, walking over to his cot. "He wants us to take a small village a few clicks away."

Andrew watched Reyes pack his gear into a white rucksack before speaking, "When exactly do we move out?"

Reyes looked over, then continued to stuff things into his bag. "At 1430."

Andrew grabbed his ruck, and started putting his gear in. "Are we marching or taking the JAASV?"

"We're going to March bare ass naked over to the village, lay down our arms, and have the villagers execute us," Reyes said with an extremely sarcastic tone "Of course we're taking the JAASV!"

Andrew didnt say anything more and continued to pack his things.

"Alright listen up squad!" A voice shouted to the handful of soldiers standing around.

"Lieutenant Caprice has ordered us to take the village of Deskoyem, which is about seven klicks south of here. There has been some reports of Russian army, and guerrilla activity in the vicinity, and we've been ordered to search the village for weapons. Any questions before we board the JAASV's?"

"Sargeant Lin Sir, how many people are expected to be in the village?" Pannette, a tall and lanky ginger asked.

"The population of the village is about 15-30 people," he said, putting his helmet on, "but there might be some of the enemy with them, so be on the lookout."

Andrew stepped forward, and spoke "Sir, what do we do if we find weapons among the people?"

Sergeant Lin stood there for a moment before responding, "You will confiscate them, and arrest the person responsible. But, if it's an old hunting rifle or something similar, don't take it, it might start a fight or cause the village to turn on us."

The men stood there, unmoving until Sergeant Lin spoke up, "Alright let's head out!"

The group of soldiers marched over to the JAASV and boarded the transport vehicle, ready to get moving. Andrew was last in line, and had to sit closest to the door.

A few minutes after the team left base, the rest of the soldiers began a to talk amongst eachother. "I'd give anything to get out of this frozen hell, and go back to my home in Arizona," one said.

"Go back to a scorching hellhole? No thanks," Reyes said to the man sitting across from him, "I'd rather go back to warm and humid Louisiana, at least there I can get some good food, and not be baked to death in some rocky canyon."

The soldier, Nornam, rolled his eyes "You have no idea what good food tastes like Reyes, you scarf down MRE's like there's no tomorrow."

"If you eat 'em fast enough, you won't get the nasty taste stuck in your mouth. Why do you think I'm always eating them so fast?" He said, smirking.

Nornam couldn't think of a retort, and sat back in his seat. Andrew watched the conversation along with the rest of the soldiers in the back, holding back a laugh. A tap on his shoulder brought him out of his amused state. He turned his head and looked at Bejamin, who looked back with a serious face.

"Do you think we are going to find any weapons?" He asked.

"We might find some. I'm not sure if it'll be like in the movies where the new guys stumble upon a massive weapons cache, but we might find a handgun or two. Maybe you should go ask Corporal Taylor, he's been stationed here for the last two months." Andrew told the boy.

"Thanks for the reassurance Thompson."

"Just make sure you're watching your back. We might find a pistol, but that doesn't make it any safer. A pistol can still kill somebod-" Andrew tried to explain, but was cut off.

"Alright men, we should be arriving in about a minute so get ready for a potential fight." Sargeant Lin's voice announced throught the speaker mounted above the door.

It's now or never. Andrew thought to himself. He put his helmet on his head, and chambered a round.

The JAASV lurched forward as it slammed on the brakes. The door opened, and the squad of soldiers spilled out into the icy wind. "Get moving to the closest two houses!" Sergeant Lin shouted.

The soldiers broke into two teams of five, and rushed to the nearest houses. Sergeant Lin, with Benjamin, Harris, Makal, and Vertalli rushed over to one of the buildings. Meanwhile Corporal Taylor, along with Hayden, Reyes, Pannette, and Andrew. Corporal Taylor slammed his closed fist onto the door.

"*Open the door!*" He shouted.

Two hours after the village wide search was over, the group had confiscated a bagful of weapons and two boxes of ammunition. The two people responsible, a man and a woman, were taken into custody on the grounds of supplying the local guerrillas with weapons.

"Do you think that these two are guerrillas, or just the people they trust to keep the contraband safe?" Nornam asked, leading the woman to the JAASV.

"They might be guerrillas, the only way to know for sure if they are is to bring them back to base where they can be questioned." Andrew explained.

The man Andrew was holding started to squirm, and spoke to the woman; "когда мы доберемся до их лагеря, не говорите с ними, иначе Дуков сожжет деревню."

"Как вы думаете, он достаточно близко, он может добраться до деревни, если мы остановим их?" She replied back, stopping.

"Stop talking," Andrew said, pushing the man along, "You can talk when we get to base, and only then."

"Помогите! Помогите! Солдаты пытаются изнасиловать меня!" She shouting twisting, and trying to get free.

"Hey! What's your problem?!" Nornam shouted, trying to keep his hold on the woman.

"We should just get them into the JAASV, tie them down, and go back to Sergeant Lin to explain what's going on." Andrew told him.

The man began to squirm even more than the woman, and threw his head back, hitting Andrew square in the nose. He let go of the man to try and comfort his nose, and the man bolted in the direction of a forest.

"SONOFABITCH!" He shouted, running after the escaped prisoner.

They ran for several minutes, Andrew falling far behind the unweighted man until the runaway disappeared into the forest. When the escapee disappeared into the forest, Andrew picked up his speed and continued to run straight into it. He ran for almost 45 minutes before almost collapsing out of exhaustion.

Running through the snow with a 40 pound bag and a rifle is fucking exhausting! He thought, leaning on a tree.

He looked up at the sky, and was surprised to see it was getting dark, and even worse... it was starting to snow.

"Fuck."

He looked at his digital watch and it read: 17:21.

Goddammit. Not only do I have to get back before its pitch black, but I also have to tell Lin about the prisoner. Andrew told himself.

He then sat down on a fallen tree, to take a breath.
He couldn't believe how fast his day had taken a turn for the worst. About five minutes of sitting down had given him the strength to walk back. By now, the snow had started to fall even faster, and the sky had gone from a light blue, to a dark blue-grey, almost dark black-blue. "Never invade Russia during the winter they said, did we lis-"

"Он здесь!" A voice called out.

A few gunshots rang out, and bullets impacted the snow around him. Andrew turned in the opposite direction the gunshots came from, and ran as fast as he could.

"Пристрели его!" A voice shouted far behind him.

Bullets continued to whizz past him while he ran in a slight zigzagging pattern. Andrew knew he couldn't run forever, so he decided to run as far as his legs could carry him, then he would turn and fight.

Andrew ran, and ran until the gunshots and bullet impacts couldn't be heard, then collapsed where he stood. His legs were on fire, and his arm felt wet.

He tried to inspect his arm, but found he was sitting in almost pitch black darkness. He couldn't check the wound with a flashlight in fear of giving away where he was, but he had a suspicion of what already happened to his arm. Feeling around with his gloved hands, he barely felt a rip in one side of his Anorak parka, but not the other.

Andrew contemplated removing the bullet now, but decided against it, he didnt need to agitate a wound he couldn't see any farther, so the bullet would stay in. To stop the bleeding, he packed snow into the wound(which stung like a motherfucker).

Andrew had two choices: try and find his way back to the village where he would probably be captured and killed, or try and find his way back to base. Going back to the village was a death sentence because of the guerrillas, so he would have to head north in search of the base.

What brought Andrew out of his thoughts was the fact it was snowing harder, based on how wet his face had become in the darkness. 'I'm going to die if I dont find shelter' He thought, trying to bury himself deeper in the snow.

Completely buried in the snow except for a hole he could breathe through, Andrew laid there silently. He was exhausted from trying to catch his prisoner, then trying to evade capture in knee deep snow while being shot at. 'I should have shot that bastard while he was running away if I knew how much trouble he would give me.' He told himself.

Exhaustion finally overcoming him, Andrew drifted off into sleep.

Gasping for air as he woke, Andrew sat up and found himself shoulder deep in snow. He was freezing cold, and slightly wet thanks to his Anorak. Looking around himself, Andrew found the area that surrounded him completely white, the only exception being the sky, which was a mix of orange, pink, red, and yellow. "What the hell?" He said to himself.

Unburying himself and standing to his full height, Andrew couldn't believe his luck. Not only had he evaded capture/possible death, but he hadn't died in his sleep from the cold. But, his luck had also reached his limit, he was still stuck in a frozen wasteland with only 3 MRE's.

Speaking of MRE...he thought, No. I don't have time to sit down and eat, I have to get back to base.

He picked himself up and opened his rucksack. Rummaging through the bag, Andrew pulled out his compass. He opened the cover, looked at the needle, and began to walk in the direction of north. He wouldn't stop until he reached base or died of hypothermia.

A/N: This is the first FF I've ever written, so give me some room when it comes to mistakes.