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My stomach plunges. Our friend, a guy I’ve known as long as I can remember, who I grew up sharing my dreams and fears with when nobody else cared, is tied to a chair with ropes cutting through his skin.

Throwing the rifle on my back, I lunge forward, whipping out my knife and cutting him free. I rip the heavy bag off his head just as Sawyer enters the small space.

“We’ve got him.” His familiar accent sounds over the receivers in each of our ears.

Patton joins us, and he catches Marley as his knees hit the floor. “We’ve got you. You’re safe now.”

Blood drips from his mouth, and he’s incoherent. He’s been beaten unconscious, and I pray we get him to help in time to prevent lasting damage. I’m lifting him to his feet, ready to haul him over my shoulder when the air changes.

A woman screams at my left shoulder. Her eyes are blazing green like a cat, her dark hair fanning around her as she races toward us, machete raised.

“Jesus!” I don’t have time to think. Reaching for my left ankle, I jerk out the pistol hidden in my boot and fire.

She drops with a dull thud, a spray of blood fanning behind her, the large knife still gripped in her hand. She’s slim and young, full lips and long, wavy hair, green eyes staring vacant at the ceiling.

I killed her.

“God, no…” My breath freezes in my chest. What have I done?

I can’t stop staring at her lifeless body.

“GO!” Patton’s order snaps me out of my shock.

Throwing Marley’s arm over my shoulder, I help Sawyer walk him out of the shack, but my chest is tight. My heart beats too hard, and I think I’m going to be sick.

I killed that girl.

Two steps outside, and I go down hard.

“Fuck!” I scream as the stabbing of a knife hits me right in the lower back.

My eyes close, and I can’t breathe while I feel warm wetness covering my skin. I’m bleeding. Patton is in front of me, and I hear Sawyer yell for him to stop. It’s a trip wire he somehow missed on the way inside.

I found it and fell with Marley on top of me on the broken trunk of a sapling. Sawyer throws Marley over his back. Patton jerks me over his shoulder, and we race down the hill. Mission accomplished.

I’m

bleeding all over myself and all over my friend. We reach the trucks as the blackness sets in. The pain in my back is so intense, I lose consciousness. I hear Patton telling me to stay with him, but I’m not with him. I’m back in that hut looking at her dead body.

19

Noel

I don’t care if you’re hurt. I just want to see you. It’s the same text I’ve sent every day since my brother returned.

Still, no reply.

My brother came back, and after holding us all close for several minutes, during which all three of us broke down and cried, he went to his room and stayed there for several days.

They were all given medals and sent home, and even though my brother doesn’t have any visible injuries, he won’t tell me what happened on their rescue mission. He handed me a letter from Taron and said no more about it, which I’ve come to expect from Sawyer.

Can’t see you anymore…

Everything has changed…

Can’t ask you to wait…

Don’t deserve you…