Bullets ricocheted on the walls behind Roach as he crouched beside the doorframe of the house.
The files were still transferring to the DSM, and it seemed to last forever. Makarov's men were almost surrounding the whole house. If it weren't for his team's high shot precision, they wouldn't have had lasted longer than five minutes inside the house.
"Damn it. Can't it be any faster?" Roach growled to himself as he reloaded his gun.
He could still see Ozone standing beside the computer in the main room, holding his gun up and pointing it towards the main entrance, making him vulnerable to the area behind him. Another soldier appeared at the east doorway, and Roach aimed and fired. The soldier quickly fell and crumpled to the ground.
Just then, series of shots rang out, and it made Roach snap to the direction of the noise. It was indeed a soldier who came up behind Ozone and shot him multiple times, killing him on the spot. Roach gritted his teeth as he wasted no time killing the soldier and watching him fall to the ground.
He stared at Ozone's dead body from his position, and couldn't help but think that they had lost a good soldier, and that he deserved a proper burial if they ever make it out here alive.
Shots fired were the ones that snapped Roach from his trance and he crouched back to the doorframe. He pulled out a grenade from his belt, removed its pin and threw it to the east doorway. He waited for a few seconds, and the grenade exploded. He then leaned to the right and shot the two soldiers that followed suit to the other that got killed by the explosive.
"Roach, the transfer's complete!" Ghost's voice rang in his earpiece. "I'll cover the main approach while you get the DSM. Move!"
Finally, Roach thought. We're getting outta here. He quickly scrambled to computer and removed the DSM from it.
"This is Shepherd," the blurry but firm voice of their General boomed in their earpiece. "We're almost at the LZ. What's your status, over?"
Ghost, suddenly appearing beside him, released a series of shots to the main door. "We're on our way to the LZ," he replied, almost shouting. Then he turned to Roach. "Roach, let's go!"
They quickly got out of the main entrance, and they were joined by Scarecrow, which surprised Roach a little that the man was still alive. He couldn't help but look back to see if Archer and Toad were to appear and come back with them to the LZ. But he saw no one, so he continued to head down the slope at the east of the house. The soldiers who were still left in the house started to gain on them, and they had to fight their way to the LZ with enemies on their front and back.
They finally reached the downward path, and Roach could see the LZ from his position. It's just down the damn hill. Scarecrow and Ghost were a little far behind him, but he could still hear them firing their guns to the enemies behind.
Then an explosion near him shook the whole ground, and dust flew everywhere, momentarily distracting Roach. He shook his head to fight back the blurry vision that threatened to black him out. What the hell was that?
As if he said it out loud, Ghost shouted, "They're bracketing our position with mortars!" He continued to fire to the men who were still hot on their trail. "Keep moving. But watch your back!"
Roach barreled his way to the downward slope, but it was hard because of the swarm of soldiers coming towards his way.
"Roach, I got you covered! Go, go!" Ghost shouted as he fired to the men coming towards Roach's position. "Get to the LZ! Roach, come on!"
Roach fired a few more shots to the men he saw in his vision before running to the side when he saw that there were only a few more soldiers running towards him, and they were still far from reaching him. He didn't think that they were going to be overwhelmed this much. Something was off from their Intel. He couldn't figure out what, but his gut knew something was off. And it wasn't a good sign. As he was running, he barely dodged a few explosions that came from the mortars of the enemies.
But he didn't foresee the incoming bomb from the mortar that was coming his way. The next thing he knew, the bomb landed on the spot before him and he was thrown away to hell knows where. His vision blacked out as his ears continued to ring.
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Ghost aimed to the soldiers behind them, frowning as he fired. He didn't know that there were still enemies on their trail.
"Fuck all of you," he muttered as he fired to the soldiers. They were near the downward path of the hill, and the LZ was almost in sight. Almost there.
"I didn't think that we'd be outnumbered like this!" Scarecrow shouted beside him. He crouched down on one knee to make his aim more precise and steady, and he fired. "This is not what I fucking imagined!"
Ghost saw that there were still more on the way to them that came from the direction of the house. "We have to move! Let's go!" he said as he grabbed the back of the vest of Scarecrow and hauled him to his feet. They broke into a run. "Let's go!"
"Almost there!" Scarecrow said as he ran. "Almost—" he suddenly dropped to the ground, making Ghost stop abruptly on his tracks.
Ghost stared wide-eyed at Scarecrow's dead body on the grassland. A bullet found its way home to the back of his head, killing him on the spot. Ghost gritted his teeth as he let his fury overcome him. He aimed towards the remaining men behind them—the men that killed Scarecrow and probably their other teammates—and let out a flurry of bullets to their direction. He felt a little triumphant when he saw most of the men go down. But there were still few standing, making it impossible for him to reach Scarecrow's body and drag it with him to the LZ.
He gritted his teeth once more as he forced himself to turn around and leave the body of another fallen comrade. Their bodies didn't even make it home, he thought bitterly. As much as he wanted to get all of his comrades' bodies home, he knew it'd be impossible in this situation. He balled his fist as he fought the tears that threaten to come up to his tear ducts, and shoved all of them down. He ran to the direction of the LZ, and he spotted Roach on the downward path of the hill.
An explosion shook the ground, making Ghost lose his balance. His eyes went wildly around to see where the explosion came from. In the distance, he could see a puff of smoke on top of the cliff, and a round like object was flying in the air towards their position. "Mortars," he muttered through gritted teeth. "Fucking mortars."
He quickly recovered from his fall and broke to a run, and he saw Roach halfway down the hill, shaking his head. At least ten meters in front of him was a small crater of black, and Ghost could only guess that an explosion occurred near him.
"They're bracketing our position with mortars!" Ghost shouted when he saw the look of confusion on Roach's face. "Keep moving. But watch your back!"
He saw Roach barrel his way downward, shooting down every near soldiers in his vicinity. Ghost switched to his primary scoped weapon and aimed down to the incoming soldiers that were running their way up to them. He released a flurry of bullets to them.
"Roach, I got you covered! Go, go!" he shouted as he continued providing supporting fire from his position. The LZ was just at least a hundred meters from their position. Almost there. "Get to the LZ! Roach, come on!"
He saw Roach running down and barely dodging a few explosions from the mortar. He finally got up from his position and proceeded to follow his comrade. But as he neared Roach, Ghost saw that a bomb shell landed directly in front of Roach, throwing him a few feet away.
"Roach!"
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Roach could still hear heavy gunshots in the background. He blinked his eyes open and saw Ghost hovering over him.
"I've got you, Roach," Ghost told him. "Hang on!" He felt two hands slip from under his arm and dragged him across the grassland.
Roach managed to shake off the blurriness of his vision and grabbed a weapon. Even though his aim was sloppy and shaky, he still tried to fire at the men he could see through his blurry sight as Ghost continued to drag him.
"Thunder Two-One, I've popped red smoke in the tree line!" he heard Ghost shout through his ringing ears. "Standby to engage on my mark!"
The men still kept coming at them, and Roach was having a hard time keeping up. He could feel Ghost slow down a little from exhaustion, but his friend still continued to drag him instead of leaving him there.
Just then, a chopper flew past their heads and stopped in front of the swarm of soldiers coming at them. With a loud whirring sound, the chopper let out a rain of bullets from its mini gun and brought down all the remaining soldiers that were coming. The continuous bombing and gunfire made Roach's vision black out a little again, before snapping awake and feel Ghost hauling him up to his feet.
"Come on, get up!" Ghost said. "We're almost there!"
Ghost slipped Roach's arm to his shoulders and guided him to the airship that just landed in front of them. The ramp at the back of the airship slowly went down, and General Shepherd came out to meet them. The reinforcements from other choppers came scattering out on the land.
"Do you have the DSM?" General Shepherd asked as he went down the ramp and went to them.
"We got it, sir!" Ghost shouted a reply.
Even through his blurred sight, Roach couldn't deny that he saw a hint of a smirk flashed on their General's face. "Good," General Shepherd said, "that's one less loose end."
A shot rang out, and Roach suddenly felt a burst of pain on his chest before he dropped down to the ground. Then he realized that their General just shot him. Their General.
Roach saw Ghost reach for his own weapon and was about to point to General, but he was beat to it as he was shot point blank on the chest.
Roach didn't have the strength to shout something, anything, to the General. To punch him, shoot him, or kill him for betraying them. They went to this side of the world for nothing but their own demise. Fucking traitor, he growled in his mind.
Then the General crouched down on him and checked his vest for the hidden DSM. When he found it, he just stood up and walked away, leaving the rest of the work to the full suited soldiers near them.
It was a miracle that his body was able to last long until he felt his body hit a rocky ground. It took all the remaining strength in his body to turn his head to the soldiers, and he was just in time to see them throw Ghost's body beside him. There was a huge spot of red on his comrade's chest where General Shepherd had shot him.
He didn't notice that his comm was still on in his ear until he heard Captain Price's voice shouting hysterically from the other line. He was able to make some of the words, "Do not trust Shepherd! I say again, DO NOT TRUST SHEPHERD!"
He bit back a tired grunt. Too late, Captain, he thought bitterly as a soldier poured something at them. Gas. They were going to be burned. You were late by a hair.
His sight followed the General as he smoked a cigarette by his mouth. You may be triumphant now, but you will never succeed. You will burn in hell for doing this. Then something flashed before his eyes: his life. Everything he went through, all his missions, all his hardships, everything. Everything flashed before his eyes. It was true, then. He never believed the saying that your life will flash before your eyes as you lay dying.
At least, he never believed that until now.
General Shepherd puffed out smoke from his cigarette before tossing it to their bodies, lighting it up instantly.
In that moment, Roach was relieved that he finally gave out his last breath; that his body finally gave up. At least he didn't have to feel his body burning up. He didn't have to shout because of the pain. But he knew his body would be shouting for justice. Justice will be fucking served.
The war would continue on, as long as Shepherd and Makarov were alive. Roach always knew that there was always an end to every war.
But the world after the war ends, Gary Sanderson and Simon Riley are not there to witness it anymore.