Author: MattH

  • Hide and Seek

    As a child playing hide and seek, Rhine never could have known. That one day the prize at stake would be a life, his very own. You need a spot, a hidden spot, quickly it must be found. It must be perfect, it must be right, the hunters will be around. They have arrived; they…

  • Highway to Hell

    Rhine was sitting on another rooftop just outside a town called Rawlins, Wyoming. While taking a deep yawn, he adjusted the cheap plastic beach chair beneath him. Everywhere they went it was the same story over and over. Direct refugees and then fall back once Zack showed up. Every single time, just as he thought…

  • Breaking Point

    The butterfly walked across the bridge of Rhine’s nose as he fought the urge to shoo it away. The slightest movement or sound would give his position away, but the itching on his face made it hard to concentrate on his surroundings.  He allowed himself the slightest nose twitch to scare the insect away but…

  • Znakes in the Grass

    The heat was incredible, burning Rhine’s face as if he had stuck his head inside an oven. The normal heat of the Afghan desert was complimented by the flames licking up from the burning Humvee. Through the flames, Rhine could see the corpse of one of his men burning in the passenger seat. The head…

  • Thinning the Herd

    The front cab of the M939A2 cargo truck smelled like the Army. It was a mixed smell of metal and  some type of oil or grease. It was comforting and took Lieutenant Rhine’s mind back to more pleasant times in his life; times when the term “Zombie” had only been  a stupid movie gimmick. The…

  • Anarachy at the Gates

    Rhine watched the wind carry away the cigarette smoke as he stood atop the M1128 Stryker armored vehicle. Below the cliff top they occupied, the highway was clogged with cars and people slowly making their way forward. The only change of pace from the monotonous flow was when every couple minutes a vehicle that had…

  • The Arkansas City Bridge Toll

    The Marine Corp CH-53K Super Stallion banked low over the Arkansas River, dodging trees and telephone poles as the thirty members of Lt. Rhine’s platoon sat in the back holding on for dear life. Rhine pulled himself to his feet and made his way up to where the pilot and copilot were weaving the massive…

  • Welcome to the War

    Lieutenant Rhine hated Syracuse. He hated everything about it; from the arrogant people he was sent here to protect to the winter cold that made bones ache down to the marrow. In hind sight he knew that he should never have agreed to lead this operation, but the deal they had offered was too good…