Adjusting to a New Life – Chapter 1

Chapter 1


John awoke to blinding light, and incredible pain everywhere. His eyes burned horrible from the light, so he shut them and groaned. He tried to open them, but it hurt too badly so he compromised, and opened them to slits, just barely keeping his vision. This didn’t hurt too badly, so he slowly opened his eyes until he could stand to see. Once he had his eyes open, he realized that it wasn’t really blinding light, but a white ceiling. He tried to speak words, but his throat was incredibly dry and he could barely speak.
He looked to his left and saw a cup of water with a straw. He tried to reach for it, but his arm felt as if it was being pinned down by a thousand pound weight. As he struggled to lift his arm, he heard a new voice.

“Careful there, you might hurt yourself” a voice he didn’t recognize said.

John looked to the sound and saw a man wearing the telltale coat of a doctor. Immediately he had hundreds of questions.

“Where am I? Who are you? What happened? Why can’t I move?”

He rattled of questions as quick as he could.

The doctor smiled grimly.

“You are at the Duke Raleigh hospital in North Carolina. I am the doctor who has been looking over you for the past week, and I have some bad news.” He replied.

“North Carolina? How did I get here? And what happened?” John asked.

“You were airlifted from Camp Bastion, where you were stationed after your last assignment. They didn’t have the medical equipment to deal with your injuries there, so they airlifted you here as soon as they could.