Cameron was happy to hear that he would be promoted to lieutenant junior after seven years in the Navy SEALs. Getting this promotion will immensely help his younger brother Jeremy's tuition. He was told this on the day he was deployed for the mission.

Money has always been a problem for the two brothers since their parents have died. Their grandmother, who took them in when he was only sixteen, should have already retired. Still, alas, she overworked herself to the bone until her very last breath a year ago. 

Her passing was hard for both brothers. She had been their sole guardian for such a long time they often forgot that they once had parents. But when you are born into a life full of destitution, one must prevail by moving forward, and that is precisely what they did, move forward. After Cameron finalised the funeral and their granny's ashes were scattered in the mountain she once loved, he enrolled his brother Jeremy on a private school that had boarding all year round. The school was expensive, but he couldn't physically be there for Jeremy as he was in the military almost always. Still, he could continue to financially support him. 

Although Cameron himself couldn't have such an education, he wants the best for his little brother, who he had helped parent for almost ten years. However, his income which was once enough to cover both Jeremy and his grandmother's living now seems measly with how much the school fees were. So even though it hurt, he stuck his hand into his saving and withdrew all of it out, leaving nothing just like it was back when he started earning money.

But now, with a promotion entailed very soon, he can finally relax a little bit and not worry about the future. Instead, focus on the new mission that he will be sent on. 

Like with every mission, he felt nervous and exhilarated, but now that his commander has told him of his upcoming promotion. He wanted everything to go smoothly and prove that he deserved the promotion. This made him even more jittery and more cautious for the mission he had been tasked with and deployed.

Among two other teams, he has been ordered to lead a small team and carry out the task of gathering information on a possible terrorist group that has recently emerged and eliminating them if necessary. Cameron hoped that it wouldn't come to that, but he was prepared for any outcome.

Cameron has spent three weeks in the Amazon forest, where intel suspected the group to be hiding. It has been a living hell from the start, with the humid levels continuing to rise as summer approached closer and closer; this made it extremely hard to breathe. That wasn't all; every day, they fought off millions of tiny mosquitos ready to drain their blood dry. The team has also been very cautious of causing alarm and exposing their location to others who have avoided lighting fires for the most part. This meant that their rations mainly were eaten hard and cold. The group of men whined and complained at night about the arduous conditions of the mission. But unlike them, Cameron would lie quietly in his sleeping bag in a relaxed manner. The future seemed much brighter, he thought. 

"You seem quite happy these days," his longtime colleague and friend Jake remarked while he examined Cameron's reclined posture. 

Cameron gave a slight smile before simply replying, "it's just your imagination."

"Hmm I don't know what it is yet but you've been acting different these past couple weeks, did you get a girlfriend?!" Jake exclaimed loud enough that made the rest of the team look up.

Cameron scoffed at Jake's speculations with a snort. "Ha, do you really think I have the time to date? Let alone manage to get a girlfriend," he finally said after shaking his head at him and his incredulous theory.

"That's true, that reminds me though," he paused for a moment and looked at all the faces of his comrade eating their cold ration before finishing "all of us are single, how sad."

"Speak for yourself Jake I've got a missus waiting for me, well she'll be my missus once I propose to her after we come back." Rogan said with a big smile on his face. The rest of the team hollered and hoorayed, giving him words of congratulations as if his proposal was already a success.

"Wow congrats man, how long have you guys dated?" A curious Jake asked, intrigued by his comrade's personal life. 

"Well counting all the times that we were together physically 4 months but overall counting me being away and all, almost a year and half. But I know she's the one. I hope you boys also find the same thing one day," Rogan shared with a satisfied tone. 

He was usually seen by others as big and intimidating man, ripped with muscles all over his colossal height of a body. His facial structure was sharp and usually sporting a mean frown and piercing eyes. But as he sat in the forest with the sun setting, revealing intimate aspects of his life, his face seemed to carry a soft expression. 

Among the others who noticed this slight shift of the atmosphere, Jake fake coughed, joked, and changed the subject. The cozy sentiments of his comrade made him blush and uncomfortable. Just like that, they were all back to roasting and teasing each other. This helped them pass the time as they were isolated and made vulnerable by the vast forest that surrounded them.

Cameron finished the last morsel of the ration; it was bland and dry, but it was food, and he needed food to sustain the heavy workload that this mission required of him and his team. Facing dangers such as weather and environment, wild animals, and not to forget about the people he has to sometimes deal with, shitty cold food seems like nothing. So just like with any inconveniences, he experienced he didn't mind it as long as he could overcome it, and this is but a small sacrifice on his part for his brother's future. 

"I'm so tired, if you don't mind me asking Mr Carter, why'd you make us climb up so high our last site was well hidden and had easier access to water supply" Thomas, the youngest out of the crew, asked Cameron.

"It'll be easier to spot something from up high and besides, we can't stay too long in one spot" His reply was simple. He didn't tell them that he found a foot trail near their previous site. It could be civilians from the villages nearby, but it could also be the group they have been gathering information on. Either way, it can compromise their mission. So after finding it, he immediately reported it to his commander and the other lieutenant in charge of the other group. From there, he informed them of his plan of relocation and where his group's perimeter will be set up. 

"I'll take tonights lookout post and everyone else rest early. We will scout out near the river tomorrow morning", Cameron informed the group. He knew that everyone was tired and needed to rest; they had to hike up for 9 hours straight with over 20 kgs of load per person. The walk was about 18km, and all of it inclined, which made it even harder to climb up. Their boots stuck to the mud, and it didn't help that; it started to pour down on them towards the last leg.

"Thanks boss man, then I'll head for the sack!" Jake was the first to stand and leave for his tent. He did a little salute towards Cameron, making everyone laugh and shake their heads at him and his silly action. It has been the group's running joke since Cameron had been tasked with leading them on this mission to call him Boss Man, although they would never do so in front of their commander and other people. They all knew Cameron and his easy demeanour; some of them have worked with him for at least a few years they know that he doesn't take these light-hearted jokes to heart. So with that, each saluted and called out their goodnight to him while referring to him as Boss Man.

When the group had finally found themselves inside their warm sleeping bag in their tents, a quiet and peaceful ambience fell into the surrounding. All that could be heard was the sounds from nature and small animals and insects preparing for the gloomy night. The lights inside the 4 tents turned off one by one. Each tent housed three people except for the fourth one, which only had two, Rogan, who was the biggest out of the group in stature at 201cm tall, and Thomas, who wasn't relatively small at 186cm tall but compared to the others, was the smallest and the leanest. Altogether, there were 12 of them in this team, including Cameron.  

Cameron set up his post, ready for the long night to come. He was grateful that the rain had stopped when they reached the peak of the hill and allowed them to set up their site without any more hassles. Although it was no longer raining, the ground was still quite wet and mushy. So he set up a tarpaulin mat on the ground that overlooked the site and the side of the hill that exposed them.  

He looked at his watch; the clock read 21:35; they arrived at their site an hour later than he anticipated. But he hopes that the team will acclimatise to the terrain soon as it will only get more challenging now that the weather is turning on them. He will let them rest tonight, but he won't go easy on them tomorrow. He understood that this was a foreign environment, but it was also what they all signed up for when they joined the Navy; there was no easy way around it.

Cameron logged the day's occurrences and lastly marked his night shift on his journal; it was a way for him to recall the events as his brother liked hearing these stories. Although he often leaves out confidential information, he writes about the terrain and exciting encounters with nature. It was their only form of bonding. Otherwise, Cameron didn't really know what to say to Jeremy half of the time. He didn't know what 14-year-olds were into these days, but his brother seemed intrigued about his time in the Navy, and he always expressed how he thought how incredible his brother's job was. He would never tell Jeremy this but knowing this made him proud of himself and his job. 

The thought of his brother always reminded him to write in his journal about all his experiences. He did so when he was working the night shift and had nothing much to do after he's done the perimeter check. Most of the men in his team felt that the night shift was too dull, but it was a blessing to him, who was introverted. It gave him time and peace, so he cherished these shifts the most.

Each shift lasted about four hours, but tonight, he decided to extend his shift for two more hours to allow Rogan, who was next on, to rest a little bit longer. But this meant that he would only have about two hours of rest before they scout again in the morning. 

—————

Five hours passed quickly, and nothing happened. Cameron had done 7 perimeter checks as he was on the cautious side. It did start raining again, so he ended up setting another tarpaulin on the tree's branch to shelter him a little. The rain also made it hard to hear the surroundings, which added another element for Cameron to worry about.

He saw one of the tent flaps open, and Rogan quickly put his boots on and ran towards Cameron, using his hand to cover his head. Nevertheless, his hand did little to cover him from the heavy downpour. 

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Rogan asked once he was close enough to Cameron.

"I intended to wake you up at 03:30", was the simple reply Cameron gave. 

"Since you are up then I will do another perimeter check and pass the post to you," He explained to Rogan.

Rogan, feeling touched and grateful to his comrade, shook his head and said, "no let me do the perimeter check you can organise your pack instead and wait for me to come back."

Cameron didn't have any objection, so he nodded and let Rogan do the check. Like Rogan suggested, he started to pack up and organise his bag. It only took him a couple of minutes, and from there, he only needed to wait for Rogan to come back.
 
The check should have only taken a maximum of ten minutes, but it had been fifteen minutes since Rogan had been gone. This made Cameron anxious, so he woke up Thomas and Andre to take his position. Both men were alarmed by Cameron's sudden stir; they didn't ask for any questions but simply got dressed quickly, ready for anything. 

He informed them of the situation, he ordered Andre to wake everyone else and get ready. After that, he pulled Thomas to the side and told him, "it may be just be nothing and Rogan might have just been taking more time to get back because of the rain, but if it is something I will sound a specific alarm to inform you guys of the situation, be ready, understood?"

"Yes sir!" Thomas said with conviction and clarity.

With that, he set off the same track that he had told Rogan to take. He had his pack and gun with him; he didn't have any good feelings about this. And with each minute that passed, the more fretful he became. He hoped that it was nothing, and he soon came across Rogan on his way back to the site. But alas, like the other times, his intuition was right there in the track was a pool of blood. Blood that wasn't there during his previous checks. As he crouched down, he saw a piece of fabric similar to the one he wore. He walked a little more forward and found Rogan's pack on the ground. The ground also revealed that at least three to four people were in the area. There was definitely a struggle. 

 He sounded an alarm informing the group that he needed backup and another to inform them that their location had been breached. 

From where he stood, he saw what seemed to be the lifeless body of Rogan laying on the ground by some bushes; before Cameron could go, he saw a movement behind the thick trunks of the trees. He quickly hid behind a tree as a rain of bullets started coming towards him.