Down the Rabbit Hole

"Overlord, jackpot," Sandman said, putting a finger to his earpiece. "The president is secure."

The mission had been great so far, finding President Vorshevsky in the mines, and almost missing him by a hair. He saw Captain Price help the president to his feet before he went back to the way they'd gone to. A flurry of bullets came to them from the ground floor and they were forced to hide behind solid things.

"Solid copy. Gather your team and proceed to the RV," Overlord replied.

Behind him, he heard the President mumble, "My daughter. . . "

Captain Price answered him in a firm tone. "She's alright. She's alive."

Sandman aimed to the white-suited soldiers on the floor below. He was able to shoot at them, but they just kept on coming. There was just no end to them.

"What the hell!" Truck shouted beside him.

"Overlord, this place is gonna collapse any minute!" he said, almost hysterically. He looked up to the ceiling of the underground mine, and was able to see thick specks of dust coming down from the roof above them. "The birds need to come to us!"

A short moment of static. "Copy that. Hammer 1 is now en-route," Overlord said. "ETA thirty seconds. Standby."

Sandman exhaled roughly. "Hold this position!" he shouted to his teammates. "Evac will be here in thirty seconds!" He tried to be enthusiastic as possible, but he knew his teammates were also having doubts. Would they make it out here alive?

Shots suddenly came at them from the left side, and the Ultranationalists were already on the same floor as them.

"Watch the left flank!" Grinch shouted.

Sandman gritted his teeth and put a finger to his ear. "Hammer 1, you gonna bail us out of this or what?" He sounded frustrated and angry at the same time.

"Almost there. Just hold on."

He fought the urge to shout that they couldn't hold on with this much Ultranationalists flooding at them. He was able to swallow all the wanted curses down his throat, knowing that their air support was also trying their best to help them.

The crossfire continued for a few more moments, and that was until he heard a loud whirr of a machine gun being rained down on the floor below.

"Looks like our ride's here!" Grinch exclaimed.

"Metal 0-1, this is Vulture 6. Let's get the hell outta here."

Sandman almost laughed, half-relieved, half-frustrated. "Sounds good, 6-1!" he said. Then he turned to his teammates. "Alright, let's move. Go!"

Then all ran down the set of stairs towards the ground floor, where they would meet their evac at the other end of the place.

"RPG!" Hammer 1 shouted. "Move, move!"

Sandman looked up and then as if it's in slow motion, he saw what happened. The RPG had hit Vulture 6 on its middle, causing it to lose altitude and plummet down.

"I'm hit, I'm hit!" Vulture 6 exclaimed. "Going down!"

The explosion of the Vulture 6 shook the ground, causing more dust come down from the roof. And top of it all, it seemed like their teammate, Yuri, had gotten blown off by the explosion. Sandman took a step back to help Yuri, but remembered that there were still Ultranationalists coming at them, so he turned to Truck.

"Help him!" He motioned to Yuri.

Sandman fired at the men coming at them, and he risked a glance back for a second. He saw Grinch safely put the President to the helicopter. Captain Price was still keeping up and firing to the soldiers, and in that moment, Sandman knew that some had to stay back and hold off the men for the chopper to escape. He smirked bitterly at the situation. Well, at least they'd saved the President and the Europe from being eradicated from the world map.

"President's secure!" Grinch shouted, snapping Sandman out of his thoughts.

"Price, you gotta go!" Sandman shouted at Price, who was still standing firm beside him and firing at the Ultranationalists. "Make sure the president gets out!"

"Don't even think about it, mate!" Captain Price shouted back, his voice firm. "We're in this together!"

Sandman smiled behind his mask. Always the good guy, he thought. But I already made up my mind, Cap.

"RPG!" Grinch screamed.

The explosion landed almost directly at them, but they were able to hold their position. Sandman turned to Truck, who was behind him and was helping Yuri get to the helicopter with the president.

"Truck, cover the right side!" he said.

That was when Price turned to him with gritted teeth. "You better be right behind me!" he said before exchanging places with Truck and pulling Yuri by his arms.

Sandman clamped his mouth shut and didn't answer. Then he raised his firing arm up and shot at the Ultranationalists. He glanced at Grinch, who was at his left side, who was just in time to roll over to dodge an explosion.

"Shit, I'm out!" Truck said, his gun just giving out clicks.

"Here, take this!" Sandman pulls out another magazine from his vest's front pocket and tosses it to Truck. "Make that count!"

Beside him, Grinch also ran out of ammunition in his MK14. Sandman was about to give him another, but his hand only reached for an empty space in his pocket. Fuck, he thought. Then he saw Grinch throw away his primary weapon and pulled out his dual Desert Eagle pistols.

Sandman let out a frustrated growl as he continued to fire at the soldiers, and a sudden explosion occurred next to him, causing thick dust to come at him, blocking his view for a moment. Just as the smoke almost cleared, an Ultranationalist ran towards him. His reflexes kicked in, whipping his gun towards the soldier's face, pulling out his knife and stabbing the man in his neck, then he threw the knife towards the upcoming hostile at Grinch, who was oblivious of the soldier's approach.

Just as the knife struck home to the man's chest, a bullet found its way to his right shoulder, causing him to stumble back a few steps and drop his weapon. He quickly regained his balance and whipped out his Desert Eagle, and used his uninjured arm to continue to fire at the soldiers.

"Sandman, it's time to go!" Captain Price's voice boomed from behind him. "C'mon!"

"Just go! Get out of here!" Sandman said without looking at Price.

Just then, Truck suddenly shouted, "RPG!"

Sandman saw the direction where the huge load of the explosive weapon was directed to, so he risked a glance behind him. The RPG had missed the chopper by a hair, and he was relieved. "Just go!" He waved his hand wildly. "Go!" Then he whirled around to face the soldiers and continued to fire at them, with only the three of them remaining on the ground.

He turned to Grinch, who was also in time to look back at him, and he nodded at his teammate. Grinch, knowing what it meant, gave him a quick two-fingered salute, which had always been his trademark move.

"It's nice knowing you guys," Truck said before pulling out a grenade from his belt, taking off its pin, and charging at the men in front of them.

There was a short explosion and a thick smoke, before shots came through the smoke and hit Sandman on the neck, causing him to drop to the ground almost instantly. The underground mine they were in was starting to collapse wholly, and large blocks of stone come falling at them.

Through his ringing ears, he was still able to hear Captain Price shouting, "Sandman, do you read me? Sandman, come in!"

He wanted to answer, but he didn't have any more strength left in his body, and his world started to blink. He turned his head to his left, where he expected Grinch to be lying at, but all he saw was what's left of Grinch, which was his outstretched arm, and the rest of his body was already crushed by a block of stone.

"Thanks, buddy," he whispered as blood came out of his mouth. Then he looked up, up to the light that he could see through the hole where the chopper had escaped from. "Thanks to all of you."

Then Sandman gave out his final breath before everything turned white.