Death's Embrace

He was aware of three things. The pain from the injuries he'd suffered, meaning the gunshot wounds to his body inflicted by Sheppard and the injuries that were being dealt by the fire set to them. He was aware that young Roach was very much alive and was alternating between coughs from the smoke and sobbed wails from the agony he was in. And he was most definitely aware that they wouldn't be making it out of this situation.

Roach cried out for a short while longer then went silent. It had begun raining ten minutes after Sheppard had left and the flames were being extinguished. Ghost opened his eyes to look at his young friend. The hazel eyes were closed but he was still breathing if you could call it that. His breath came in in high pitched wheezes, attesting to how much smoke had gotten into his lungs. The last thing he'd said to Roach stuck in his head as ironic.

"For fucks sake put the flames out!" He heard Toad tell Archer as Toad snatched up a fallen soldiers automatic and stood guard.

Gary wasn't going to make it, not at the rate he was deteriorating. The poor lad had already passed out from a combination of his injuries and the pain, but not Ghost. He remained on the hazey edge of consciousness.

"Oh god, what have they done?" Archer asked, the flames had been doused but the pain remained. "Help me with them. Check on Roach."

Ghost moaned when Archer put two fingers on the pulse point of his neck. "Ghost? Can you hear me?" Where did his strength go? He was rolled to his back and Roach could no longer be seen.

"Archer, Roach isn't too good. He needs a doctor right away otherwise, he's not gonna make it to nightfall. Even if we do get him help, I don't think he'll make it." Toad said, his voice cracking. He was friends with Roach before Ghost was. Ghost still remembered the day they met, and not under the best circumstances either. It was Roach's first day with the one-four-one and they had come back from a mission that hadn't gone as well as they had hoped, one of their best men had been killed as a result a man by the nickname of Ace. It was before he'd been given the name Roach.

Sheppard had pulled Gary Sanderson from assignment. The young man had vehemently but respectfully protested, citing that he should be with his comrades. Sheppard was amused by his attitude, not everyone had the balls to tell Sheppard no to his face. The young man was brave and loyal to his team.

"There are others more qualified than I am sir." Gary was saying as they stepped off the chopper.

"I picked you because we need a hacker, and you're the best Sanderson. End of dicussion. Now follow me to meet the rest of the team."

Ghost was surprised that Sheppard hadn't even waited ten hours after Ace died to bring in a new recruit and more than a little angry, the nerve of the presuming little bugger. The funeral was finishing up and the young man looked downright embarrassed. A quick glance at MacTavish told Ghost he was thinking along the same lines. Sheppard waited until the rest of the team left to talk to MacTavish, leaving Gary alone with Ghost.

The young man shifted under the intense scrutiny. He felt awkward enough, crashing a funeral. The others had sent him death glares as they left. Gary wasn't scrawny but neither was he large like the other men on the team. MacTavish returned with Sheppard, whatever words they'd exchanged, he didn't look all to happy. Gary was nervous, the brown haired man's gaze had been intimidating enough. But the captain of this team was a giant of a man, literally. Gary had always been rather proud of his five feet and ten inches as that made him taller than most guys in his area and while he was slender he was by no means scrawny.

Sheppard nodded at Gary.

"I'll leave you gents to it then. Sanderson make sure you get settled in before it gets too late."

"Yes sir!" Sheppard was gone. Ghost circled Gary.

"Sanderon, is it?" MacTavish said. Gary was aware of what they were doing, looking for a weakness in him.

"Yes sir."

"What makes you think you're worthy enough to join the one-four-one?" Ghost asked from behind. Gary knew sooner or later someone would ask this.

"I'm not sir." Gary said.

Ghost scoffed.

"So they send us someone who's completely useless." He commented to MacTavish. "Well, I guess Sheppard can find uses for him, after all."

"Sheppard says you're a hacker."

"Yes sir, I am."

Ghost tsked behind.

"He's too talkative. It wasn't a question barmpot! Keep your mouth shut!" Gary fell silent instantly. In his whole military career, he had never been subjected to this not even in basic training. MacTavish shook his head.

"He is incredibly cheeky." MacTavish added.

Gary had to fight himself to keep his face neutral. He tried to concentrate on the patterns of things. The dynamics of the conversation. It seemed like Captain MacTavish wasn't much of a talker but Liuetnant Riley was. Gary flinched when Ghost's voice sounded close to his ear.

"You'll regret coming here soon enough."

He had drifted. The next thing he was aware of was that they were in one of the cars. Roach was lying next to him but it didn't look like he was breathing. Biting down on his lip, Ghost gripped the lax hand. He could hear Archer telling Toad to floor it.

"Hold on Roach, we're almost there." Archer said. Ghost felt incredibily sad, Roach wasn't going to make it to the hospital if his unnatural stillness was any wanted to apologize, tell the young man beside him that he was sorry for all the shit he'd put him through. He knew that he hadn't been the most welcoming person in the world and had often picked on Roach more than the others.

Gary had been with the team a grand total of a week and in that week he tried to acquaint himself with the others, only to find that the lack of invitation extended beyond their two field officers. Gary was tougher than he appeared but it still stung the comments he overheard. At the moment they were running drills on the obstacle course.

"Sanderson, you're up."

Gary plotted the obstacle course in his head as he stepped up to the line. He was going to do his best, they could either accept it or not. He was done trying to make them like him.

"Don't trip over your own to feet again FNG." Meat snickered. Gary glanced down quickly to make sure his shoes weren't untied or worse, tied together. When Ghost said go he took off. Sometime later he reached the finish line and Ghost stopped the time.

"Not good enough Sanderson! When the rest of the team runs the course, you're going to run it until I tell you to stop." Ghost said.

Gary's instincts told him to protest but he ignored them. After the rest of the team ran the course, they left to eat, leaving Gary alone with Ghost. After about an hour, MacTavish took over so that Ghost could go about eating. He had run the course over a hundred times by this point and he was getting very tired. Not to mention that the sun was making it harder. He suspected that he was suffering from dehydration but didn't dare to ask for water. He was running the course yet again when the combination of the heat and dehydration became too much. He was brought back to awareness by a very irate Ghost, who slapped him.

He was dragged upright by the arm and he wobbled like crazy when he was dragged to his feet.

"Don't even think about passing out again, nancy." He growled. "I'm not carrying you." Gary was shaking from exertion and progress was very slow. His legs gave out four times before the reached the medical building.

"What happened?" The doctor asked.

"Passed out while running the course."

"Help me get him on a gurney."

Ghost felt throughly ashamed of himself for how he'd reacted to Gary. The young man only had sought to please his superiors and Ghost had to admit that they did nothing but put him down. Roach hadn't been a nickname given to him out of love, rather it had begun as a condesending way of speaking about Gary, however one mission had solidified it as something more.

Gary, Ghost and Soap were croutched under cover. Ghost and Soap were behind a different barrier than Gary was and Gary's vantage point was proving useful. Ghost didn't see the sniper before he fired at Soap. What he did see was a blur of green tackle the both of them to the ground and the distinct sound of a sniper round meeting flesh. Then another as the tumbled to the ground.

"Shit! Snipers!" Ghost said. They dragged Gary away from the line of fire and took shelter in an old abandoned house.

"Ghost, help me with him!" Soap said urgently.

Gary was wheezing and clawing at his chest.

"Bloody hell! He can't breathe!" Ghost exclaimed. He was at Soap's side immediately. He quickly removed his vest and pressed a ear over Gary's chest. He could hear the two bullets rattle in the young man's lungs. "The rounds are in his lung. He needs evac immediately."

"We can't get to the Lzed pinned down as we are. We need another route."

It was how he'd actually changed the meaning of his nickname, he'd survived. He squeezed his hand, letting Roach know that he wasn't alone, that he wouldn't have to feel death's embrace without having someone there for him during his last moments. Roach took a ragged breath and then didn't breathe in again after he'd exhaled. Archer screamed at Roach to keep fighting and began to do CPR. Ghost squeezed Roach's hand again, a message. 'I'm right behind you.'

It took Archer a moment to realize that Ghost had stopped breathing. With an anguished cry he left Roach's limp form and went to try to revive Ghost, it was no good, neither of the two men was going to come back.