In the roaring of the flame Carlton in his mind could what sounded like the sound of a horses hooves approaching being a sound he was familiar with since his childhood of riding horses with his mother. The sound and the heat made him doubt his senses but he felt as though something was approaching. He couldn't look out from the survival shelter as any gap between it and the ground would mean a rush of lethal hot air. His apprehension mounted as the image of a pale horse entering the clearing appeared in his mind and the stamp of hooves grew in his mind as it approached. The stamping of hooves was now next to his survival shelter and the image of a dark rider looking down on him entered his mind. Carlton froze despite the sheer amount of heat surrounding him from the fire and he prayed again to God for deliverance.<br/><br/>As if it was an answer to his prayers the mirage of the rider's attention shifted to the rapid approach of something bright. Carlton heard the pale horse turn and begin to gallop away. The clearing in his mind became bright and he heard the quiet steps of a sandalled pair of feet approach and give him comfort. He could almost hear a whispering voice in his mind speaking a language he couldn't identify as the bright figure approached in his mind.<span style="color: #00BF00">"Is this now an angel or Jesus coming to take me to heaven? I wouldn't say no to being taken from this heat."</span>Carlton told himself as he felt his consciousness fade and all he saw was white.<br/><br/><span style="color: #00BF00">"Wet, cold, fucking miserable."</span>Carlton said quietly to himself sitting in a foxhole next to his battle buddy desperately trying to sleep despite the drizzle. His camouflage poncho doing nothing to keep him comfortable besides barely containing the minor warmth from an MRE heater he was using for mild comfort while he was on watch. This training exercise went from what felt like a fun military camping trip to a pneumonia ridden hellscape with the sudden turn of the weather. Visibility was poor and it was rumored that an "opposing force" would sneak out of the dark quagmire to nab him. Carlton imagined the opposing force would be like some gas mask wearing marine corporal Shepard or something. Carlton wanted to be anywhere but here and once more he said under his breath,<span style="color: #00BF00">"Cold, wet and fucking miserable."</span><br/><br/>Rain spattered on Carlton's face and he felt, cold, wet and miserable. The ground around him a mix of ash, dirt and water making the single dirtiest form of mud he had been immersed in. He opened his eyes and tried to sit upright as he found himself laying on his back. His body didn't have the strength to raise him of the ground. His eyes open he saw himself surrounded by firefighters, EMTs and Paramedics working around his staging point near Tender 15. He tried to say<span style="color: #00BF00">"I'm alive, don't leave me here with the dead."</span>but it really came out as a long quiet groan sounding like,<span style="color: #00BF00">"Uhh uuuh ahuh."</span>A second later an EMT turned and looked down at him exclaiming,<span style="color: #FFFF00">"Huh, oh. This one is alive! Hey, Lieutenant! Hughes is alive!"</span>The EMT turned his attention to Carlton as he continued treating him appropriately for the massive heatstroke he had suffered. Carlton tried to say,<span style="color: #00BF00">"The girl, is she alright?"</span>but it continued to come out in croaks and groans. The EMT grew a concerned look as paramedics came over to assist in treating Carlton. Before long it was decided that he was stable enough to be moved to a local hospital where he could be more appropriately treated.<br/><br/>At the hospital Carlton admitted to the ICU with most of his emergency care already seen too. Over a couple hours he found his voice slowly returning but he found it much easier to simply write what he wanted to say. Using a pencil and paper he was able to communicate with the doctors and nurses. In the hospital over the next couple days Carlton made leaps and bounds of headway towards his recovery. He felt completely different and couldn't put his mind on it but he seemed to have an increased perception of items and people around him but he wasn't sure why. After a few days he was able to talk almost normally and walk around on crutches. After his lieutenant's daily visit he became aware of the girl he had saved in the fire staying also in the ICU of the hospital and he decided to pay her and her parents a visit. Hobbling over to her room on his crutches saw the grief stricken parents of the girl who wasn't doing as well as he was. They turned to ask him who he was and he simply replied that he was with her in the fire and wished he had been able to do more for her. The parents hugged him and thanked him for what he did before he took their leave.<br/><br/>On the Eighth day in Oregon Carlton was finally able to check out of the hospital finding that he was often pacing the halls getting restless in his room. Wearing his uniform he visited the girl the last time that day who thanked him as she was finally starting to truly recover from their near death experience. Walking without the assistance of the crutches that his care team had been insistent on him using he was able to walk out to where his lieutenant in Tender 15 waited for him so they could drive back home to Washington. Climbing into passenger side of the cab he buckled himself into his seat and sighed readying himself for the many long hours of driving to come. As the tender roared out into the sunny Oregon morning Carlton found himself oddly aware of the sloshing of the water in the tender as they drove down the road away from the hospital towards the northbound interstate.