Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Putting his feelings on the back burner, Twitch focused on getting them out of here alive. They could talk, or not talk, about everything else later. As the low, stuttering rumble of the plane reached his ears he shuffled himself closer to the boulder so that he could peer around, his eyes wide as he searched the dark sky.

"This is it," Samantha shouted eagerly behind him.

"No, wait," Twitch held out his arm behind him, his palm facing the ground as he told her to wait. He still could not see the plane and if they went now there were still enough extremists pointing their weapons in their direction to hit them.

"But the plane is here!" Samantha shouted as the indiscernible sound of an aircraft grew louder. Twitch and Carlos could hear the panic in her voice, "They're not shooting now. If we don't go then we'll be stuck here-"

"Hey," Carlos reached out a hand and touched her shoulder as he saw her eyes grow wide, darting back and forth like a wild animal, "We'll be okay. We just need to wait until-"

"No," Samantha started to shake her head, fear of death gripping her entire body, she did not want to die in some godforsaken desert, "No, I can't."

"Yes, you can," Carlos tightened his grip on her shoulder, hoping to hold her down as he felt her fight or flight instinct kick in. And he was fairly certain he knew which one she would choose. "We'll get there, trust me. We just need to wait for the gunmen to be occupied with the plane rather than us, until then we stay put." Looking up at Twitch, Carlos arched an eyebrow to ask about the plane but Twitch gave a tiny shake of his head. He still couldn't see it.

Carlos's hand on her shoulder felt like a vice, pushing her into the ground, keeping her there when all she wanted to do was run to safety. She could see the larger cluster of boulders from where she was sat. It wouldn't take more than a few seconds to run between the two. They could make it. The likelihood of the gunmen shooting a moving target was far less than them hitting a still one, which is what they were now. They were sitting ducks, waiting here.

Samantha shuffled her feet underneath her as she mentally prepared herself and her muscles for the sudden sprint. Her fitness levels were good and she was small making her harder to hit. They wouldn't be expecting someone to suddenly run so by the time they realised what was happening it would already be too late, she would be behind the boulders and safe.

She looked at Carlos and Twitch as she thought about it. She knew they wouldn't like what she was planning but she wasn't asking them to come with her, and once she reached the other side she could provide cover for them. Yes, Sam concluded, this was better for all of them.

Looking up at the sky she could still hear the plane's engines and knew that it was close. She couldn't see its lights so she concluded that it had to be coming from the direction behind the boulder which meant she wouldn't be able to see it unless she stood up and peered over. Yes, that's it. The plane was there. This was their chance. Looking from his hand on her shoulder, knowing that he could hinder her progress, to Carlos's face she saw that he was staring at Twitch and it was more than waiting for a response. Carlos's eyes were filled with regret with how he responded earlier and before Samantha even had to ask Carlos slipped his hand from her shoulder and turned to her.

"I'm going to help Twitch," He said to her as he got to his feet, keeping his back low, and moved up behind Twitch.

Samantha knew that this would be her only chance and if she was going to do this then it would have to be now. Carlos and Twitch were distracted providing her with a small head start. Getting to feet slowly, her fingers still gripping her handgun, she kept herself as low as possible and walked up behind them as quietly as possible. As she got closer she could hear Twitch and Carlos speaking amongst themselves but she couldn't focus on what they were saying when she saw both of their attentions were not on her.

Drawing level with Carlos at the edge of the boulder she looked across towards the larger cluster of boulders and it suddenly felt a hundred miles away as her vision seemed to blur and her heartbeat increased. Wiping the sweat from her forehead on her shoulder, she shook the blurriness from her eyes and set herself up, pretending she was at the start line of a track. Closing her eyes briefly she imagined that she could hear the umpire telling them to get ready and when she heard the gunshot, louder than anything she had imagined before, her eyes snapped open and she exploded forward from behind the boulder and began to run for her life.

"McAndrew! Stop!" Twitch shouted as the insurgents began firing once more, the plane lights only starting to grow visible in the distance, and he saw her run into the open. Reacting in a split second Twitch ran after her, swinging his arm out to try and grab her as bullets whizzed past them and hit the mountainside behind them. Fear and adrenaline coursed through his veins as he sprinted after her.

Carlos watched helplessly from behind the boulder, his breath caught in his throat, as he begged them to hurry up and get behind cover as a bullet hit the side of the boulder he was stood behind and blew fragments of rock into his face. Instinctively turning away from the shower of rock and dust, Carlos froze when he heard someone shout out in shock and pain. Turning to look back over his shoulder he saw Twitch hobbling the last few feet towards safety, his left leg dragging behind him.

"No!" Carlos breathed and, without thinking, he ran out from behind the boulder towards his friend.

"Twitch-" Carlos shouted. He was nearly halfway across when he felt multiple stabs of pain rip through his upper shoulder and across his arm, knocking him back a little. Fighting to stay on his feet, Carlos watched Twitch as he dropped to the ground and tried to drag himself the last few feet. Running over to him, no longer caring about the bullets around them as he couldn't stop them, Carlos reached down and grabbed Twitch under the arms, grunting at the pain that tore through his shoulder, and pulled him the last few feet behind the boulder.

As he laid Twitch down on his back behind the large boulder, Carlos crashed to his knees next to him when he looked over and saw McAndrew sat with her back against the mountainside, hugging her knees to her chest and her eyes downcast as she breathed heavy, taking in large gulps of air.

Turning away from her, Carlos reached into his pocket and removed a small torch which shone onto Twitch's leg and froze when he saw the blood there.

"Carlos," Twitch's eyes grew wide as he reached out and put a hand against the rock to help himself onto his side, "You've been shot."

Carlos looked at his shoulder where Twitch was looking and saw blood seeping into his top, before he turned back to Twitch, "So have you."

* * *

Her blood covered fingers slipped around the handle of the gun as she squeezed the trigger, returning fire in the direction of the jeeps as she saw shadows of men drifting in front of her. Sat deflated on the dirt ground, leant against Marc's side, she kept squeezing the trigger even after she had emptied the clip.

"Aarh," Jules exclaimed as something warm and thick slipped into her eye, blurring her vision. Reaching up she wiped her eyes on the back of her arm which, when she pulled them back, had more blood on them than before and that's when she noticed the fierce pounding at the front of her head. Jules realised she must have cut her head when Abbas knocked her to the ground, but there was nothing she could do about it then when bullets blew up the sand around her. Instinctively she dived across Marc's chest and covered his head with her body. As she heard the firing continue around them she looked down at Marc's face and saw his eyelids fluttering lightly as his eyes looked around them. Hang in there Marc, Jules begged him mentally as she checked on the makeshift bandage she had wrapped around his neck. A rolled up length of fabric from the bottom of her shirt was all she had to pack the wound with, secured in place with another strip of her shirt, and it was already soaking with blood.

As she was reminded of it her hatred for Abbas and his men grew so that when the firing stopped she ripped an extra magazine out of Marc's waistband, slid it into place and, still stretched out on top of Marc, she turned and fired another clip at the figures hiding behind the jeeps that were keeping them stranded there and preventing her from getting Marc any help.

As the last bullet left the chamber she took a few deep breaths and as she did so she felt Marc's chest beneath her own and his irregular breathing. Sliding off of him immediately, she laid herself flat beside him and looked around them for a way out. She had been looking for one since he'd had his throat slashed but their only option was the compound but it was too far away and they would be exposed.

"Go," Marc's rasped, thinking the same as her, as Julia turned her head to look at him, their faces less than a few inches apart, "Go," He told her, closing his eyes a little as fatigue began to make his eyelids grow heavy. When he opened them again he found her staring at him and he didn't know if it was because he was dying or because he had just forgotten, though he wasn't quite sure that was possible, but she was beautiful. Her hair was sticking out in all directions, there was blood staining her forehead and she was covered in dust but she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Jules narrowed her eyes at him, "Shut up," she told him before she turned away and began to look for something.

And then she opened her mouth, he thought chuckling to himself before his body was overcome with coughs, his lips parting wide as he gasped for air.

"Marc," Jules reached out and rested her hand on his chest in worry as she watched him fight to get his breathing under control, "We're getting out of this Marc. Twitch will be here any minute and he'll patch you up far better than I can." She looked towards the compound, her eyes scanning the building for any sign of Carlos and Twitch. Where were they?

"You- You-" Marc clasped her hand in his own, "You need to get out of here."

Jules squeezed his hand tightly as she shook her head, "Not without you." But she was interrupted from saying anything else as bullets erupted around them and Marc reached up and pulled her head down, resting it against his chest. Lying with her ear flat against his chest she could hear his heartbeat, fast and frantic, beneath her. It was working hard to keep him alive and she willed it to keep going.

Ridgeway's team on the roof of the compound building returned fire and they heard someone shout out in pain as they were hit, their body giving a soft thud as they fell to the ground.

As the firing stopped momentarily Marc loosened his grip on her head and she slowly turned to look up at him. His eyes were pleading with her to leave but how could she ever leave him?

"Please," Marc whispered as tears escaped from the corner of his eyes and ran down the side of his face before pooling in the blood, "Go. Get Safia home. You- You are meant-" He swallowed with difficultly.

"-No," Jules told him.

"-Julia-"

"-No," Jules snapped, "You are not saying goodbye. You are not dying here." Letting go of his hand she dragged herself forward until she was knelt behind his head.

"I think-" Marc gasped, "you can't beat this one."

"Watch me," Jules snapped, looking over her shoulder once more to double check that the cavalry weren't coming before she carried on but there was nothing but the black, bottomless pit that was the void between where they were and where everyone else was inside the compound. And she was about to cross it, to hell with it.

"Julia-"

"-Don't," Jules snapped as she looked around her for her discarded jacket. Finding it a few feet away she laid it out, arm to arm, over Marc's chest and slid the arms of the jacket underneath Marc's. Grunting as she heaved Marc's body up a little bit she grabbed the sleeves of the jacket and fastened them as tightly as she could behind his back.

"What- What are you doing?"

"I told you," Jules exerted as she reloaded the handgun and slid it into the waistband of her trousers, "I'm getting us out of here." Looking across at the jeeps she could see the boots of the men that were hiding behind the open doors of the jeeps and the barrels of the guns that were aimed in their direction. But they couldn't sit there any longer.

"Jules, no," Marc's voice grew a little stronger as he reached up and tried to push the jacket off of him, "You'll be exposed- You'll be shot."

Knowing that he was too weak to pull the jacket off by himself Jules simply left him to it whilst she grabbed the ends of the sleeves and got to her feet, preparing to drag him towards the compound and to safety. Wiping a fresh dribble of blood away that had pooled by the corner of her eye she gripped the jacket sleeves tightly, gritted her teeth and began to pull. But she did not realised how heavy Marc was and she had only taken a few steps when she was breathing heavy and her boot slipped in the sand, sending her to the ground on her ass.

Looking over her shoulder she half expected to be at the compound but it seemed further away than ever before.

"Come on," Jules told herself as she got back to her feet, gripped the jacket sleeves and started to drag him once again. The muscles across her back and down her arms were screaming and the cut to her head felt like someone was knocking on her skull with a hammer but she had to keep going. Marc's life depended upon it.

The cool air did nothing to calm the sweat that now covered every inch of her body. She could feel it making her hair wet, as she kept dragging Marc across the ground. She could see that he had stopped trying to work the jacket off of him when the insurgents opened fire once again and self-preservation had her dropping to the ground instinctively. Lying on her front with her face next to Marc's she saw that his eyes were shut. "Marc?" She shook his shoulder, "Marc!"

But he didn't respond and as she lay there, staring at his lifeless face, she felt sheer panic and fear inside of her. Marc couldn't be gone.

Her body didn't know what to do as her mind went into a loop of shouting his name and not believing that this was happening when she looked to his chest and saw that it was still rising and falling but it was almost non-existent.

"Fuck this," Jules growled, her hands turning to fists beneath her as she got to her feet once more. And with both sides still firing, with them in the crosshairs, she grabbed Marc by the collar and started to drag him back towards the compound.

"When we get back you're losing a few pounds," Jules grunted down at him as she lugged him across the desert, "I mean it," She added when he didn't respond, hoping he would wake up and tell her what she could do with her diet, but he didn't.

Glancing over her shoulder to see how far away they were from the building she was relieved to find that it was less than twenty feet and thought she had just found her first stroke of luck for the evening, but as she turned back to face Marc she realised that something wasn't right. What had been that dark shape just off to the right of the-

Before she got to finish her question thought her mind had already conjured up the answer and she was turning back to face them, her hands dropping Marc to reach for the gun at her waistband. But as she spun around she realised that she didn't have any luck whatsoever as she found the gun was missing from her trousers. Looking up towards the figure, she couldn't see their face but she could see the barrel of the gun, shining in the moonlight, as it was pointed directly at her.

Her entire body was frozen to the spot as a single gunshot, louder than all the others, rang out and she could have sworn that she saw the bullet spiralling through the air towards her.

Her upper body jerked back violently as she was knocked back a step, the bullet ripping through her shoulder, tearing muscle and shattering bones before it came out the other side. Warm liquid poured down either side of her body like someone had just spilt a jug of lukewarm water over her.

The pain was delayed for a few seconds as she focused her brain power on the shooter, trying to see who it was, but once again the barrel of the gun became her main focus as a second shot was fired but this one she didn't see.

She had spent her mental power on the first bullet leaving nothing for the second so as it tore through her body she fell to the ground on her back beside Marc, her eyes full of the starry night sky above her.