Majors fired.

     His grenade soared towards the oncoming Assault Bot and exploded. The blast bore into the Bot and sent metal fragments everywhere. Simultaneously, I squeezed the trigger on my sniper. The bullet zipped towards the driver and struck him in the head. His brains flew against the rear of the Bot. The Bot swerved uncontrollably and careened into the ditch. Johnson started laying down heavy fire on the third Bot. The bullets glanced off the outer plating. The Bot picked up speed until Johnson shot the front tire. The tire flew off the rim and sparks flew everywhere. The Rebels started the transformation. The sides slid down to become the legs and two huge gattling guns started to home in on us. Their guns started turning and bullets flew everywhere. They were pinning us down into the ditch. Powers threw his grenade high into the air and it landed next to one of the Bots. The explosion ripped off one of its guns. The Bot turned our direction and started spraying right by us. I looked up to see hundreds of tracers streak overhead. I clinged to the side of the ditch and waited for any opening for a shot. I could hear Majors firing his M65, but I didn't think it was doing anything. I started to crawl backwards to where we killed the Rebels. Maybe they had something useful on them. I searched their bodies and found what I was looking for. The sight of it made my eyes water. I picked up the RPG and started to crawl back to our position.

     Powers saw me with the weapon and thought of a way to distract them so I could fire. He pulled out a flash grenade and lobbed it towards the Bots. The grenade exploded and disoriented them for enough time. I aimed the sights at the weak Bot and fired. The grenade zoomed in a spiral and connected. The grenade had pierced the armor plating and exploded the Bot. The blast shook the ground and sent scraps everywhere. Unfortunately, I only had one grenade and the last Bot started to advance. It was firing straight at our position. The Bot was within fifty yards and closing. I knew we were gonners. I could picture in my head, the Bot right on top of us, just decimating our bodies.

SHHHHOOOOO............BOOM!

     The explosion threw all of us onto the bottom of the ditch. I looked up over the edge of the ditch and quickly fell back down. I got down on my knees, closed my hands, and thanked God. Our Apaches had blown the Bot up. Their CAD missiles hit their mark with deadly accuracy. We got up and started to cheer until I noticed Rutter. He was hit very badly in the shoulder. There were several bullet holes from his chest to his shoulder. His vest had protected his chest from the bullets, but his shoulder was bloody. I yelled for Nathans and he came running over. Nathans started to bandage Rutter's shoulder and we lifted Johnson onto the chopper.

     When we returned to base, Rutter was sent immediately to the medical tent. Nathans was in there with several other doctors to inspect the damage. When Nathans came out I asked him on the status. He said that Rutter was injured very badly, but would survive. He was going to be shipped back to the States. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he was fine. Yet, I was overwhelmingly sad with the knowledge that Rutter was going to leave. He was always a good kid to depend on throughout any fight. I told the rest of the squad the news and we went to see Rutter. We exchanged words about how lucky he was to go home and we joked. Although, everyone was sad and putting on a false smile.

     The next day, we watched Rutter get sent back to the States. We each shook his hand and vowed to meet up someday. I gave him my number and told him to call me anytime. After his plane took off we went back to our bunks. We all just wanted to sleep and so we did. We knew that tomorrow we were getting a replacement.