text: At first, I thought it was just a regular storm. The sides of our troop tent started slapping against the large metal frame. The wind howled through the encampment. Being stuck near the Persian Gulf, we had gotten used to the regular dust storms. I looked down the length of the tent and noted that the other soldiers were mostly in their bunks, sleeping, or watching movies. There was nothing else to do when the dust started blowing, especially at night. I stretched out on my bunk and attempted to fall asleep. Just as I was reaching the blissful edge of deep sleep the tent door slammed open and the wind screamed in as a soldier stumbled in, spitting out sand. He quickly closed the door and let out a long breath of relief. "God fucking damn dude, nighttime sand storms are a bitch! it is a legit ass sandstorm, about couldn't find my way back" he exclaimed. He took a deep breath and continued "Rogers was with me but we got separated, we were not ready for a real ass sand storm." He then proceeded to shake the sand out of his hair to drive his point home. I sat up and immediately pulled on my trousers and boots. "Rogers is probably smoking a whole pack in a bunker somewhere" came a reply from further down the bay. "We have to go find his dumbass though." I pointed out, "imagine First Sergeant's reaction when he finds out that we never went to look for that tard". "Shit, you right Sarge." "Ok," I said, "six of us will go looking for him, we will split into three groups. Make sure you stay together. Washington and Otwell take the north side of the camp. Martin and Smith, you'll take the east and southeast of the base. Myself and Sergo will take the west and southwest. Make sure you cover up and spend no more than thirty minutes looking for him. He's either riding out the storm in a porta- shitter or he's in another unit's tent just chilling...good luck." I wrapped my shemagh around my head, grabbed my headlamp, and opened the door. I was greeted with hot dusty wind and complete darkness. I pressed out past the shelter of the tent and looked back to make sure everyone was doing as they were told. The sand instantly tore at my exposed arms. I could feel the sand batter my chest and back through my shirt. I regretted not grabbing my uniform top but didn't want to waste any more time. Holding my headlamp in my hand as a flashlight I continued forward into the wind. My light barely penetrated the wall of flying sand I was forcing my way through. The wind made breathing difficult even with my face wrapped. The sand made its way into my eyes despite my best efforts to shield them. Behind me, I could hear Sergo yell fuck as the sand punished his flesh. Above us, the purple hue of lightning flashed and thunder tore through the sky with enough force to vibrate the ground. with the sand came the wet splats of rain being driven sideways. It was starting to rain mud. Just as my shirt started to cling to my torso, Sergo's light illuminated the edge of a bunker. We hurried into the limited shelter that the concrete structure provided. Sergo cussed and carefully clawed the goggles he was fortunate to have from his face. I could feel the sand scratching my eyes as I blinked. An involuntary tear ran down my sandblasted face. "Fucking shit" sighed Sergo, "it's only been like three hundred meters, feels like three miles though." Rain slapped the outside of the bunker and the air smelled of wet dust and cheap cigs. I coughed and nodded my agreement and made a suggestion about punching Rogers in the dick if we found him. Lightning flashed and illuminated the piles of sand, spray-painted dicks, and cigarette butts littered all around the inside of the bunker. Sergo put his goggles back in place we headed back out into the storm. Once again we found ourselves oppressed by complete darkness. The wind started blowing even harder. An angry howling assaulted our ears as the wind tore across the land and over our perimeter. Lightning flashed again and in the brief glow, I could see a large troop tent rip open. The interior lights started fashing as sand blew in and filled everything. Soldiers rushed out into the darkness to find new shelter. Sergo and I ran forward and attempted to ask about Rogers. One soldier stopped and yelled that he didn't know Rogers. The troops scattered into the surrounding tents and we pressed back out to the bunkers to finish checking them. We needed to make sure he wasn't hiding in a bunker before we checked the safety of the tents. As soon as we found the next bunker we ran inside to catch our breaths. Our lights had instantly found Rogers, his legs missing, and a wide trail of red sand leading out the opposite side. "WHAT THE FUCK!" screamed Sergo. I let out a scream of my own and felt weak in the knees. We had found rogers brutally dead. We ran back out into the gale and our vision was assaulted by a massive explosion. The concussion slammed into me and knocked the wind out of me. Gasping for air I fell to my knees, a terrible grinding roar drowned out the wind. lightning flashed again and I was thrown sideways as a nearby generator was struck with the blinding energy. Before the rain and sand extinguished the flames I could see a massive shadow move. The orange flickering glow chased the shadow away from itself. I saw its massive shoulder towering above the camp. I felt the ground shake as it moved. I thought about Sergo and started to frantically shine my light around. I saw him lying on the ground not far from me. His throat opened to the world by a large piece of shrapnel. Suppressing my cries I forced myself to get up and drag his body back into the bunker. I blinked the sand out of my eyes and removed my shemagh. I tried to use it as a bandage before I realized that Sergo was dead. I left the wet sandy cloth draped over his face and stepped back out into the Hellscape. I could see more exposed lights flickers in torn tents. I ran forward toward where I thought my tent was located. The sand filled my unprotected ears and mouth. More lightning illuminated the sky, in the flash I could see a massive creature trudging along slowly. It appeared to be walking away from the base. Another flash of lightning made the gigantic thing seem much, much closer. The ground shook with an earthquake-like force and then the fuel tanks burst into flame. The shockwave sent me flying, I felt myself slam into something hard and darkness enveloped me. Hands, I was being shaken by hands. Voices, I could hear voices but I couldn't comprehend. Finally, I woke up to a crystal clear night sky. The moon was bright enough to light up the entire base. My entire body throbbed in pain and I tried to blink the sand from my eyes. Each movement of my eyelids brought fresh pain and the sand grated against my eyeballs. "Careful now" came the voice. "you're probably feeling like pure shit man, you're definitely injured." "What happened?" I asked. The medic took a look around before answering. "Fucking tornado and a freak electrical storm. It took out most of the towers, a lot of tents, and cost us some generators and our fuel point. A few soldiers didn't survive the night. Looks like you were caught in the fuel point explosion. We have MEDEVAC and QRF on the way though. You'll be at a proper medical facility before morning." "Where are my men? Where is Hotel company at?" I inquired. The medic put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a reassuring squeeze. "Everyone has been accounted for, everyone. Now hang on, I need to check on the rest of the wounded. The helicopters and trucks arrived, all of the wounded soldiers were evacuated. I spent a week in the hospital with several broken bones. My leadership checked in on me every day. We talked about Rogers and Sergo. I learned that only Otwell and myself survived looking for Rogers. I also learned that thirty-three additional soldiers had died from either the tornado or the explosions. They tried to assure me that I wasn't to be blamed for the loss of Washington, Martin, Smith, and Sergo. I still had survivors guilt. I never mentioned the shadow in the storm, I don't know if I even saw it. Two months later I was boarding a plane for the USA, our mission had ended the night the storm destroyed our base. The plane passed over the Gulf. I looked out the window and marveled at how the clouds seemed to dance with their own shadows on the glass-smooth ocean. One of the larger cloud shadows moved then. Its mass rippled beneath the waves and it disappeared from view. I gasped, I knew then that I had actually seen a creature in the storm. I thought of my friends, the soldiers who had died that night. The plane flew from the day and into the night.