But there’s only one thing I want and I can’t get it from him.
I want a wife.
A woman to call my own – and after crawling through this damn jungle for weeks on end, I’m more determined than ever to get home and do just that.
Hell, I’ll even try out online dating if I need to. Find some matchmaker. Whatever it takes. I’ve been alone long enough. I want a woman to come home to at night. Sure, I might be a gruff-around-the-edges soldier – but with a little tender loving care I figure the beast within can be tamed.
But I’ve got to get home first.
Now, the five men on my team are deep in a maze of caves, tunnels winding for miles under the Yucatan jungle. And losing my way isn’t an option.
Carnage shouts, “They’re up ahead!”
Stone yells, telling us to stay low. I can’t see Storm or Flint for the life of me.
I know what to do. I run to the left, knowing a blast is coming our way – the terrorists we are after know we are edging in close.
I hear it before I see it – the grenade going off, the walls of the cave rumbling. From the corner of my eye I see a patch of green and I dive for an exit that shouldn’t have been there – not according to the mapping I’d done in prep for this mission.
But it’s the green ass jungle and I’m flying toward it as the cave begins to shake, rattle, and roll.
My head smacks hard on a rock, and for a split second I blink, seeing a clear blue sky – before blacking out.
When I come to, I try to roll over, to stand, to get a sense of my bearings – but I’m dizzy, dehydrated – and not at all alone.
Right in front of me there is a big ass tiger. This isn’t some stripey ass cat from the zoo.
This is a prehistoric saber tooth, and it’s coming for me.
I have no idea where the hell I am, but this isn’t where I want to be.