Night comes quickly in the mountains, and as the sun goes down, so does the temperature. Sgt Porter felt a chill run through his body as a cool breeze moved over his sweat soaked uniform. He was 3 days into a week long, solo Escape and Evasion exercise, part of his final exam in Pararescue training. He carried with him a 50 lb pack with his standard load of equipment and supplies, mostly medical equipment and 2 days of food, water and ammunition for his M4 carbine, blanks of course. He knew that he need to find shelter, a place he could hide out for the night because there were instructors hunting him and they knew these mountains a lot better than he did.
Despite his situation, he couldn't forget what happened the day before. It seems almost like a dream, a memory that just couldn't be true. He just couldn't seem to get the image of that girl, out of his head, and he continued to relive their encounter. This was a distraction he could not afford, not here, and not now. If he got captured, he would fail and then either be recycled back to the beginning , or worse yet, be kicked out of the course entirely. That would mean six months of training down the tubes. He needed to try to force her image out of his head, and focus!!
The sound of branches breaking caused him to freeze in place. He quickly dropped down and moved, as quietly as he could, behind a large tree trunk. His senses alert, eyes scanning as he listened for noises, trying to determine in which direction the threat was, only to be surprised by the next thing he heard, a female voice. He was caught off guard, there weren't supposed to be any female instructors out here, hunting for him, and there was no way the girl from the lake could get ahead of him. He laid there, silently listening, trying to figure out who was out there and why.
After several minutes, which seemed like hours, the sound of breaking limbs, and rustling of leaves resumed, along with the sound of a woman's voice, closer, louder and seemingly madder than before. A long stream of expletives echoed through the woods , followed by what sounded like sobbing. There was no way this could be one of his instructors, yet he was still weary of revealing himself just yet.
He slowly raised his head, trying to see if he further identify this mystery voice. But the ground cover was just too thick for him to see through, his was gonna have raise himself a bit higher, further risking exposure, but by now curiosity was killing him. So moving as slowly and quietly as he could, he raised up into a kneeling position, and inch, by painful inch he began to move around the tree, that he had been hiding behind, until he saw movement. Once again, freezing in place, his eyes locked on the area of movement, he scrutinized every branch, every leaf, listening to every sound, until unknown intruder was located.
There she stood, about 20 feet from where his position behind the tree. She was wearing a green t-shirt, her pack straps stretching the thin fabric, tight over a pair of full, and seemingly firm breasts. Yep, most definitely a woman, there was no doubt about that now...Her dark hair was covered by an old baseball cap, a long ponytail sticking out the back. Her face was covered with smudges of dirt and sweat, and also showed the angry red streaks of several scratches, but still her beauty showed through. Her eyes appeared red and somewhat puffy, like she had been crying, and the vertical streaks through the dirt on her face only confirmed this suspicion...No this was no SERE instructor, though it still might be a trap!!
He silently slipped off his ruck, hiding it and his weapon in the underbrush before setting out. Moving with stealth, he circled around, so that he could approach her from behind, hoping to get as close as possible before she could sound an alarm. If she was part of a trap set by his instructors, he wanted to be prepared silence her before it could be sprung.
Slipping up behind her, he couldn't help but notice, how firm and round her ass was, her shorts barely covering it. It was obvious that she was either wearing a thong, or better yet, nothing underneath. Her legs were log, shapely, even muscular, and like her beautiful face, they too were covered in sweat, dirt, and crisscrossed with scratches. He suddenly realized that he had stopped moving, standing there, almost as if he were in a trance, captivated by her. Damn!!...he thought I must either be very tired, very horny, or both.
Regaining his senses, he resumed his stalk, crouching down, moving as quickly and quietly as he could, until he was with in a arms length. Then in one smooth, lightning quick movement, he lunged forward. Taking hold of the woman, his right hand quickly cover her mouth, stifling a frighten scream, his left arm holding tight around her waist as she began to flail around, trying to escape. Her pack making it hard to hold on to her as she fought him, it's rough fabric feeling like sandpaper against his face. She's a lot stronger that she looked!!.
Getting as close to her ear as he could, he tells her..."Relax, I'm not gonna hurt you...Just RELAX...and stop moving!!...
Her struggling abates some, as he continues to reassure her that he means her no harm. Imploring her to just calm down and not to cry out...She continues to calm down, but remains on guard.
OK...now just remain calm...My name is Robert Porter, I'm with the Air Force, and I mean you no harm...I'm participating in a survival exercise, and just didn't want you to scream when you saw me...OK????
She stared at him, dirty, sweaty, face covered in green and black make-up...Her heart racing, every instinct telling her to run away screaming, but something about him made her want to trust him, to hear him out..
Several long silent minutes passed as they just stood there, staring at each other. He was starting to relax some, feeling that he had gotten through to her...and hoping she wasn't part of some trap.
"I'm sorry...I had to make sure that you weren't part of a trap set by my instructors, I didn't mean to scare you, just keep you from yelling out and alerting anyone who's looking for me...Are you ok?
Her heart still racing, she had to catch her breath before she could reply..."You scare the shit outta me, what the fuck were you thinking, sneaking up on someone like that!!...Your lucky I don't scream my head of right now, letting the whole world know where you are...fucking asshole!!
Feeling ashamed of what he just put her through, he exhaled deeply, hanging his head..." Your right, and if you want to scream out, go right ahead, I deserve to be caught for what I just did...But please hear me out first.
Suddenly, she felt sorry for yelling at him...though she didn't know why..." Go ahead, though I doubt you can say anything that could justify what you just did to me"...