I lay on my back, gazing up at the stars. I didn’t even hear the first gunshot. It wasn’t until I heard all the shouting that I sat up and took notice. Everyone was rushing around, shouting and grabbing weapons from their tents.

Panic shot through me. I leapt to my feet and sprinted through the camp, only one thought on my mind. Find Kenny. Find my little brother. I’d promised mum I’d watch out for him. She’d never forgive me if he got himself killed. I’d never forgive myself.

“Kenny!” I screamed, my voice snatched away by the rushing winds.

Then… pain. I could feel nothing but the pain – it was blinding me and deafening me, filling every part of my body and pushing every other feeling or thought out. I could hear my heart pummelling in my ears, and I prayed that I was only imagining it speeding up.

I struggled to open my eyes, but saw nothing but blackness. I could no longer see the chaos around me, just cold darkness creeping in on me.

Suddenly, strong arms were pulling me from my prison of rubble. I blinked in the sudden light, and looked up into Kenny’s pale face. His face was streaked with dirt, and he looked terrified.

“It’s going to be okay,” I heard him whisper, but his voice sounded a hundred miles away.

I glanced down to my stomach, and shock gripped at me as I saw the blood blossoming from my abdomen, staining my shirt and soaking my brother’s hands.

“There’s nothing you can do, is there?” I whispered. Kenny shook his head vigorously.

“I’m not going to let you die,” he insisted, “It’s barely a scratch. You’ll be okay, I promise.”

But his words were all too rushed. I had been in the forces for years, and knew when a wound was fatal. I laughed at Kenny’s desperate words, but all that came out was a splutter, my mouth filling with blood.

Kenny pulled me to his chest, his choking sobs shaking my whole body. I tried to speak to him, to comfort him, but all I could do was cough, my blood splattering over his shirt. The pain was beginning to ebb now, coming and going in almost hypnotic waves. Looking down, I could see my blood beginning to soak the ground, and fear gripped at my heart. I was going to die. I couldn’t believe it. Three years in service without a single wound, and now I was going to die in my own camp.

Then the pain was gone, and I could feel nothing but numbness. I tried to lift my hand to touch Kenny’s tear-soaked face, but it was like a weight apart from me. So instead I just lay there, too weak to move. My brother’s terrified sobs were all that I could hear now, the shooting and shouting behind us nothing more than white noise.

Oh God, please don’t let me cry. Don’t let me die. Please don’t let me die.

My heartbeat was pounding in my ears, and my brother was clutching at me. But I felt nothing. The pain was gone, and, suddenly, so was the fear. Instead, I was strangely happy and peaceful. I felt… warm.

“Kenny,” I whispered through dry lips, “I… I’m sorry.”

His face crumpled with grief, and faded into blackness. I was pulled from him. I tried to call to him, to reach out to him, but I couldn’t.

But, somehow, I wasn’t upset. I wasn’t even afraid. I was safe now. Nothing could hurt me. Even bullets couldn’t get me, not where I was now.