Chapter 25

Marcus knew something was wrong. Officers were rushing around camp at the early hours of the morning more panicked than usual. He didn't know what was going on so he woke up his brother wondering if he had any idea what was going on.

"Marcus go back to sleep." His brother groaned loudly which stirred the other men in their bunker.

"Wake up now." He demanded which resulted in his brother to roll over and the other soldiers telling him to fuck off at this hour of the morning. Throwing his hands up in the air he left the tent and went to go see for himself what all this morning racket was about.

When he stepped outside the bunker very few people were awake, but those that were, were rushing around which alarmed Marcus thinking they were under attack. However, Marcus knew if they were under attack they would have sounded the alarm.

The sun was just starting to rise when the gates at the front opened.  

"Get the medic." An officer yelled rushing over towards the truck that came to a blazing halt. Marcus rushed to the truck to see women getting out along with bloody men. Obviously, they had gone on a mission that went wrong and Marcus didn't register what team it was until he got closer.

"Get Smith to the hospital. 37-year-old man shot in the shoulder excessive bleeding." The officer relayed into the radio.

"Where is Sergeant Jennings?" The officer yelled over all the noise and at that moment Marcus felt his entire world slow down. It was like everything was moving in slow motion. People were rushing around to tend to the injured, but those 4 simple words struck Marcus to the core. He could see someone talking, but he was hearing nothing as everything around him seemed to freeze for just a split second as he felt a sickness in his stomach as if someone had dropped him from the skies.

It was only one split second before everything returned to the normal pace and Marcus felt his heart shatter at the next few words.

"She didn't make it out." Corporal Tucker looked to Marcus who seemed to be in a state of shock for a second.

"What do you mean didn't make it out?" Marcus yelled storming up to Tucker and getting in his face.

"Sergeant back down." The officer commanded and for the first time since joining Marcus almost didn't listen to his commanding officer.

"You won't be able to help her if you don't back down," Tucker whispered quietly so only Marcus could hear and in those few words, Marcus heard the hope that she was still alive. Taking a deep breath Marcus took a step back and let Tucker and the Officer walk towards the office leaving Marcus in a panic state of shock and something else he hadn't ever felt before.

Pacing, Marcus was anxiously waiting outside the officer bunk with his brother as they waited for news about what happened and what was going on with Jade. As the Bravo team, he knew they would sanction his team to rescue her, but personally, he would go to the ends of the earth to save her and have her back safe in his arms.

"Marcus stop the goddamn pacing please." His brother said, but Marcus couldn't, he couldn't when the women he loved was out there surrounded by enemies, fighting for her life and most likely hurt.

Marcus stopped pacing for a second and Marco sighed as it was giving him a headache.

"I love her." He whispered to himself and for a second his brother thought he was hearing things.

"Marco I fucked up terribly." He finally admitted wishing he could go back in time and just tell Jade he was leaving instead of being a coward and not having the balls to tell her that he had to go back on a tour. He was afraid that she wouldn't wait for him so it was easier to cut her off then be halfway through the tour for Jade to realise that she didn't want him anymore.

"You finally realise the obvious." His brother rolled his eyes, and they both stopped as the door opened and Tucker walked back out.

"What happened, is Jade fine?" He questioned the moment Tucker walked out and the look on his face said it all.

"No.," he mumbled not believing it.

"Marcus it was a trap, to begin with. They knew we wouldn't leave the women there. We got separated when the bomb went off inside the house. We didn't think Jade made it until we saw her running with a small child on her hip. She let the child go, but they were coming in hot behind with automatic weapons. She almost made it to the truck, but we all saw her go down, we tried to help her, but the truck wouldn't let us out or turn around. That was the last we saw her injured, but alive."

Marcus nodded his head as if he was understanding what was going, but his mind and heart were so confused. He knew he needed to think straight if he had any chance of helping Jade so as much as he didn't want to he pushed aside his feelings for Jade and saw her as just another solider that needed help.

"Right, so how are we going to help her?"

*****

Jade woke up suddenly clutching her gun to her chest as she scanned her surroundings confused and dazed to what was going on around her. She looked at her broken watch that was still working and saw she has been asleep for less than a minute. Her hearing was coming back to her slowly, but all she now could here was a muffle as if she was underwater. She tried to move her leg and let out a silent scream at the fire that burned through her body.

Grinding her teeth together she knew the bullet had to come out before it did any more damage than it already had. She had managed to get away, only just, but she still wasn't safe as they were hunting her down like an animal and she refused to be taken. It had just been under 3 hours since her team got to safety and if she died out here, then so be it, because her team was safe. She was willing to sacrifice herself to make sure no one died under her watch again.

Jade froze as a truck went past and she prayed that they didn't see her huddled in the corner of a ruined building. After getting hit Jade ran for as long as she could until she found a ruined building. It wasn't the perfect hiding spot, but as Jade reached it she went down like a sack of potatoes. 

She was too far in the open and needed to find better cover, but with her leg slowing her down she couldn't move far. The bullet had to come out. She opened one of her pouches attached to her webbing and found a lighter and a knife. Jade felt her head spin, and she knew she was losing too much blood and had to get this bullet out and burn the wound, for now, to seal it from leaking any more blood and to stop the bullet embedding further into her skin causing more damage. 

She took off the cloth that was stopping the blood flow she had put on earlier and put it into her mouth ignoring the blood and dirt that was covering it. She knew it could be days for a rescue party was organised and she didn't want to risk getting an infection out here so she did what she had to do.

Tears were running down her eyes and all she wanted to do was scream out in pain but after 10 minutes of digging around the bullet was out and Jade was ready to pass out. Sweat dripped from her forehead and she was drooling from the pain that was indescribable as she heated the knife and pressed it against her flesh. Burning flesh filled her nose and tears ran freely from her eyes. She bit onto the cloth trying to muffle her screams the best she could. Once she was finished she took the dirty cloth out of her mouth panting as she wrapped it around her leg to try to avoid any infection. 

Leaning back, her helmet hit the wall with a muffled sound and Jade panicked at how loud she was being as she could hardly hear anything. She saw another flash of headlights and knew she needed to move, but she was so exhausted and tired and felt dizzy knowing she had lost too much blood. She waited until the truck passed, knowing soon that daylight would rise and hiding would be more difficult, so she needed to get somewhere safe.

She tried to visualise the map in her head for the safe spots they had mapped out and points to meet if anything went wrong and she groaned when she realised she was on the wrong side.

She wanted to swear and hit something, but that would create too much noise. Ahead she could see the sun rising and she knew she only had a few minutes to find a safe place. She knew it was risky, but she had no other choice. She had to cross the road to the other side to get on the right side.

She glanced at the road which was a good 4 to 5 meters wide that she would have to run across in an open field with no cover. She knew it would be painful, but she also knew minutes were ticking by before time finally ran out.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to stand and cried out in pain but quickly covered her own mouth to stop any sound from coming out. She then heard what she thought was yelling and knew she had to move.

She tried to get up again and almost fainted at the amount of pain that was radiating up her leg. It felt like pins and needles tingling up her leg to the back of her thigh where it was burning like someone had poured acid onto it. She heard more muffling and if she had time, she would plan this better but she got up and limped out the house and quickly looked right and left knowing this was her only chance.

Her heart was pounding in her chest as she held up her gun and for the first time in her whole life, she was downright terrified and scared of what would happen. She looked behind her and saw something move so she raised her gun trusting her instinct and fired. She saw someone go down and also knew that it blew her cover.

So with no other choice, she tried to sprint across the road. She made it halfway when her leg gave out and she fell to the floor. With her hearing still out, she saw a bullet hit the ground not too far from her so she started to crawl the rest of the way crying at not only pain but because she was scared. What felt like hours was only minutes as Jade hurled herself across the road somehow unscathed. However, she had to quickly find a place to hide as she could feel herself drifting in and out of unconsciousness. She knew she had no choice but to bite through the pain and quickly get to her feet.

Sunlight started peeking through creating streams of light. She could distantly hear gunshots, but without her hearing, she couldn't determine how close they were. She hobbled along the wall using it for support as sweat, blood and tears all mixed ran down her face. She went through twists and turns before she could no longer stand and made her way into an empty house and sat down in the far corner facing the door and window before everything became dizzy and everything became black.

She was shivering when she woke a few hours later despite the heat from the sun that was heating the war-torn place. She touched the back of her leg and found that it was bleeding again. She couldn't put herself through the pain again, so she just sat there. She took off her helmet and looked inside to see if she could get the radio working, but she had no luck.

Crying she felt useless and stuck for the situation she was in. She was quickly running out of water and had only packed a few protein bars. She wanted to scream and yell out, but that would give away where she was. She tried to move her leg and whimpered in pain and knew she was not moving and most likely not getting out alive. Slamming her fist on the floor she knew she was nowhere near where she had to be and knew no one would ever find her.

She would rather die than be caught and if it came down to it, she would take her own life knowing that it was better than being caught as a woman prisoner. She dug into one of her pockets to see what ammo and weapons she had left because she would fight to stay alive until her very last breath.

Reloading her gun, she could still only hear muffled sounds which increased her paranoia as she did not understand what was coming her way. She slowly sipped on her water knowing it could be days before they sent a rescue party and knew she needed to ration what little food she had on her.

There wasn't much Jade could do aside from sit and wait with dread and fear as every muffled sound caused her to tense up and panic that someone had found her. As night started to descend, she drifted again, even though she knew she had to stay awake. Her leg was still on fire and Jade knew it was most likely blood poisoning. She was sweating profoundly, her body wouldn't stop shaking despite the heat and she felt cold. 

When she went to re-bandage the wound she silently cried as she had to tightly pull on the torn cloth to stop it from bleeding.

Checking her watch sometime later it had been just over 24 hours since the mission and she was still stuck out here surrounded by enemies unable to move. She tried to get up again by herself, but the sharp pain kept her mobile. She was still too close to the road and to close to where the enemies were looking for her.

As the hours ticked by Jade started giving up hope that anyone would come to save her. Her body was drained, emotionally she had given up and soon her body would follow in suit. She had officially run out of water and she was on her last protein bar.

It was then when she had just given up that she reached into her jacket and pulled out a small crumpled photo and wept silently as she starred at faces she would never get to see again and wished that she had more time with the family that she had reconnected with wishing she didn't have to end like this.

Jade was dozing when she thought she heard something. Alert and ready she thought she heard what she thought sounded like footsteps and talking, but it was hard to tell with this muffled hearing that had yet to go away. The sound came closer and panicking she put on her helmet again and grabbed her gun ready for whatever was coming her way.

Her finger was on the trigger as the sound became closer and closer and as the person came round she shot.

"Fuck," Roger said from outside the house as he heard gunfire go off. He glanced around and knew in no time at all his cover would be blown. He did not understand what was going on inside, but when another shot went off, he knew he needed to get in there.

"Mass, keep watch I need to work out what the fuck is going on." He quickly ran into the room where he saw Corporal Trucker, and the Blackwood's standing just around the corner.

"What the fuck is going on?" He whispered as they all could hear trucks coming in the distance.

"She keeps shooting whenever we try to enter," Tucker replied and Roger wanted to throw his hand up in the air.

"Marcus, just walk in you pussy and get Jennings before we all end up dead." Marcus gave him a look and sent up a silent prayer that Jade wouldn't shoot him. They tried to call her name, but they got no response so he assumed her hearing must still be out from the bomb explosion.

He was ready to duck cover as he rounded the corner and held up his hands straight away as she was about to fire.

Looking at her hurt his heart to see her so scared, but he had to put his feelings aside and carry on with the mission that was at hand. It took a whole second for Jade to recognise who it was and she started crying that someone had come to get her. She could see his lips moving so she lowered her gun, but all she was hearing was muffled noise and maybe her name.

"I can hardly hear." She thought she whispered, but obviously, she didn't as Marcus quickly put his to his lip telling her to be quiet. Other people then quickly filed into the room and she knew they were trying to talk to her, but again she could hardly understand what they were trying to say.

"Jade we need to move," Marcus said and hand gestured as well and she just shook her head.

"I can't move." She whispered this time and next thing she knew she screamed out in pain as Marcus picked her up. That short silent scream was clammed down by a warm giant hand which she bit into as they started to move jolting to wound at the back of her leg.

Eventually, Marcus put her down, and she put all her weight onto him as she stood on one leg. She knew the look Marcus was giving her and it was the look of you are going to have to walk. She nodded her head, and she saw most of her team and the Bravo team. A few seconds later they all met up at what was meant to be the original safe house. When they entered Jade all but sighed in relief when someone passed her a bottle of water.

"We need to treat her wound ASAP before we can move on," Tucker said knowing they only had a few minutes because the gunshots in the silent night had defiantly alerted the enemy.

"Jade can you hear me?" Tucker asked her and she nodded slightly as her hearing though still muffled was clearing up a little.

"We need to treat your wound." She nodded her head knowing this would be the case.

"Just do it, please." She knew it would hurt like a bitch so when she laid onto the table she grabbed hold of Marcus's hand and didn't let go until Tucker was finished. Her lip was bleeding from not only her dry cracked lips but from biting them to stop herself from screaming.

"We are done." Despite it being stitched up properly she still could hardly walk on it.

"We will not get out of here with your injury so I may have smuggled out some adrenaline." Jade nodded, and she felt the stab of the needle and a few seconds later she was ready to bounce off the walls.

They all watched her as she carefully stood and though she still had a slight limp, it was better than before.

"Right let's get moving." Jade followed behind in the middle and though she was walking okay, it wasn't at the normal pace she could walk. She didn't feel the pain in her leg and felt like she was high and on top of the world.

However, that feeling didn't last long when the gunfire started going off.

"Everybody get out of sight." Someone yelled, and they all pushed towards the side, away and out of sight.

"Fuck." Someone yelled and she could see them all talking on the radio and she felt so out of the loop.

"Marcus let me know what the hell is going on." She yelled as what sounded like a bomb exploding.

"Pick up is just over that ridge, but they boxed us in, there is no way we are all going to make it." Jade flinched, and when the ground shook, she knew it was hopeless.

"What happens if someone was to draw them out, then the others could make it to safety." She said to Marcus, and he just shook his head.

"It would be suicide." She knew that, but there was no other way. It was almost like Marcus could see the gears turning inside her head.

"Jade, no, don't you even think about it." She said nothing as she looked away from him. To the clearing that was only a few meters away.

"I have to Marcus." She whispered quietly as she knew they were closing in on them as the gunfire became closer and closer.

"I can't lose you again." He grabbed her face looking into her eyes and she just closed her savouring in the feeling on his hands on her face. She stood up on her toes and gently placed her lips against his, one final kiss before she accepted death with open arms. 

"I'm sorry." She whispered in his ear before kneeing him in the balls and making a run for it towards the enemy.

She knew they saw her, and she dropped her gun knowing it would be no use at all. She knew they were close, and she knew what had to be done and she felt at peace with