Adrian Mercer closed her eyes and willed the fear to go away. Bombs were going off around her and in that paralyzing moment she had no idea if she was going to live or die. She had many of these moments now, being a marine was nothing like she had once expected it to be. Straight out of high school she enlisted because she was a young kid who thought she could make a difference. She realized now that she knew nothing about what she was getting into. Hell she was just a kid, there was no way she could have ever known what to expect. This place was hell, there was no other way to describe it. People were dying around her and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Things hadn't always been like this though, Adrian had a very loving family and a great life. She was intelligent enough to get into any collage she wanted but instead she chose to be a marine. She never once thought she would regret that decision but that is all she seemed to be doing as of late.

Adrian brought her knees higher so now she could easily rest her head. She closed her eyes again and wished everything around her would just stop. She didn't want to die in this stupid pointless war. She wanted to live, to get married and have children. Most of all she wanted to see her family again and tell them how much she loved them.

"God please if I make it home I swear I'll make it up to you" she whispered fingering the cross necklace she wore around her neck at all times.

She had never been a very religious person when she was younger but like they say you find your faith in a foxhole. All she wanted to do was make it home, and if she got there she would never leave ever again.

She steeled her nerves and picked up her M16. She carefully stood up and looked around. People of all different shapes and sizes were lying on the ground before her. Bile rose in her throat as she fought back the urge to vomit. A small child was a few feet away from her, she went over to him. His cloudy eyes looked at her and he almost smiled a little.

"I'm going to try and help you" she said to him but she knew he didn't understand her.

He whispered something to her that she didn't understand and reached out to touch her hand. She took his hand for a moment and then she began rummaging through her pack to find the first aid kit she carried around with her everywhere. She was a medic, which had to be the most dangerous jobs out there. The boy had suffered from a ricocheted bullet in his pelvic area.

"Don't die on me little guy" she was working as fast as she could.

"Thank you" the boy said.

She looked at him surprised that he knew a little English. The bleeding was really bad and she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to stop it. She continued to work at a furious pace, she only stopped when she heard the sound of multiple guns being cocked. She turned around to see a group of her own unit all training their guns on her.

"Guys come on you need to help me save this kid" she said.

"Move out of the way solider he's the enemy" someone said.

"No you are not killing me" she tried to shield the boy.

Before she knew it someone had restrained her. She was struggling to get free, she was kicking and screaming.

"HE'S JUST A BOY" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

She continued to scream until she felt someone shaking her. Her eyes snapped open and she was met with her very concerned eyes of her mother but she still continues to scream.

"HE'S JUST A BOY"

"... HE'S JUST A BOY"

Her mother was afraid. This wasn't the first subconscious flashback that had sent Adrian teetering over the edge. She had been having night terrors ever since she had returned home from Iraq, 3 months earlier. Adrian needed some serious help but she couldn't be the one to help her. Adrian had all but violently pummeled every mental professional she had seen and after a while Brooke, her mother, had stopped trying to get her help because before Adrian was able to open up and talk about her experience in the war she needed to feel safe, and it was obvious she felt anything but. Brooke was at her wits end she didn't know what to do anymore. She was the only parent Adrian had after her husband had passed away when Adrian was just a child. She knew it was a bad idea for her baby to join the military but as her daughter had so often pointed out before she was shipped out it was her life.

Brooke racked her brains and tried to think of something that she could do to help her daughter feel safe enough to come out of her shell. That's when she got an idea. Adrian had this one cousin who she was extremely close with ... if any one could help her through this he would be able to. Although it hurt her to have to call her nephew because she couldn't handle her own daughter if it worked she would be so extremely happy.

Adrian had finally calmed down by now. She realized that she was back in her room and not in some dessert in the middle east. Brooke had given her a tranquilizer and she relaxed almost instantly. She would remain in an almost comatose state for a few hours. Brooke left her daughter's bedside and grabbed the cordless phone from the hall before going back to her own bedroom. She looked at her alarm clock on her night stand and prayed that Paul would still be awake. If anyone in the world could make her daughter feel safe it would definitely be the 10 time World Heavyweight champion Triple H.