A/N: Woah, been a while! Ah, here's my second work, based after the campaign of ghosts. Just a little fluff. If you read this, I love you.
53. 53 days and nights we've been searching for Logan. With each passing day my guilt increases and my hope's dwindling rather quickly.
I rarely get sleep now and when I manage to get a little, I wake up terrified; the scene of that bastard Rorke dragging Logan away from me as my consciousness fades black keeps replaying when I close my eyes.
I roll over, and look at my clock. 2:30. Shit. Still another 3 hours until we get back out there.
After the first 24 hours of someone going missing, your chances of finding them alive drops dramatically. After almost three months? Nothing but a prayer. The only others still helping me with the search are Merrick and Keegan. Everyone else has told me the search is hopeless, give up, he's gone, that I need to move on with my life. But I won't. I can't. Logan's my baby brother and all I have left. He's strong. He's still out there, and we're going to find him.
~
"Hey kid, it's time to go." Keegan says, knowing I'm already awake. I drag myself out of bed, get my gear together and meet the other two outside with Riley.
"Today's our last chance. We have one last sector of the jungle to search. If Logan's not there, he could be anywhere with no of us finding him," Merrick lays out the plans. Hearing him say that hurts, but Merrick's the kind of guy to give you the straight facts, no sugar-coating, and I respect him for that.
Within the hour, I get Riley and we load into the jeep and we're onto our last hope of finding Logan.
The drive isn't very long, which I'm thankful for; less time to over think everything. What will happen if we don't find him? Just pack up and leave? What else can we do though? Hesh, get your shit together for everyone's sake I scold myself. Stay focused.
Once we arrive, Keegan scopes the area for heat signatures. Nothing. It's a mix of good and bad; not hostiles for us to take out, thus no one knows we're here, but so far it means no Logan. Riley picks up a few scents but they don't lead us very far.
After a few hours, we stop for a short lunch break. I don't eat much, just like every other day since Logan went missing. Keegan and Merrick were concerned at first, but now they let it go. It's not effecting my focus or shooting so they leave me be. Within ten minutes we're up and going again. We don't find much of anything, Riley picks up a few more scents and we have to dodge a few more hostiles but nothing leading us to Logan.
I notice it's starting to get dark. Shit. That mean's we're going to have to call it quits soon. The thought brings me into a panic but I manage to calm down before it becomes visible to the others. Just then, Riley finds something. A ripped up piece of cloth. Pants maybe? A shirt? I take the material in hand and almost instantly recognize it. It's really tattered up, but I can tell it's part of Logan's shirt. Just a regular dark shirt but I recognize it. The thought of it brings back memories of Rorke dragging him down the beach which makes me woozy but I push the thought back. We don't know how long ago it was left, but it means Logan was here.
I give Riley the cloth to sniff out in hopes there's some scent left, and he's off and running shortly after. I feel my face light up with hope. I've avoided the mirror as much as I can recently, knowing I look like hell; tired and battered, my green eyes empty. I don't know how Merrick and Keegan can look at me, I can't stand it myself. I know better than to get excited just yet but I can't help it, we might actually find Logan. After all this time, our hard work could finally pay off.
Riley and I keep running, following the trial while I leave Merrick and Keegan to keep the rear. "Shit, kid! Hesh! Slow down! We don't know what else is out here!" Keegan calls out behind me but I pay him no attention. We keep running for a while, I in a daze, blindly chasing Riley, he then stops abruptly while I stumble to keep my balance. Damn hostiles. We almost get away without being seen but one manages to see us. Keegan gets a hold of him and takes him down before he can notify the others of our arrival. We continue to follow Riley in the bushes, hidden from the tangos.
I was looking up, scanning around for anything when I feel myself fall forward and a tug on my back. Merrick grabbed me right before I fell into a 10 foot ditch. "C'mon Hesh you gotta watch where you're going or you'd end up like…" He trails off, looking closer at the body down there. "Wait a minute..Keegan! Help me get him up, this might be our guy!" I stand back, letting Merrick and Keegan manage to get the body out, anxiously standing there, so many emotions running through my mind. Hope, excitement, but most of all fear. What if it wasn't him? What if he didn't last long enough?
They get him out and I rush over to the body. I do a look over. It's him. I didn't realize I was holding my breath the whole time until I let out a huge sigh. "He's alive but not by much. We gotta get this kid out of here if he's going to live," Merrick says, checking for a pulse before scooping Logan up so we can head out. Logan looks like hell. His broken arm is still mangled and crooked at the wrong angle, he's bruised and bloodied, but he's breathing. I'm ecstatic. I know we're not out of this yet, but just being able to see my brother again, alive takes a big weight off of my shoulders.. I trail behind so I can just look at him. We did it.
Logan's still in the hospital when I go to see him, not able to hold back the smile plastered on my face. It's been a few weeks, Logan's arm is set in a cast, he's got stitches in multiple places, bruises everywhere else, and some major psych evals he'll have to pass to get out, but he's awake. I get to the door and pause. I take a deep breath and walk in the door.
Logan looks up and his face instantly lights up, a sparkle in his brown eyes despite his face looking like hell. I know he's still majorly shaken up from everything, and next time I see that son of a bitch Rorke I'm putting a bullet in his brain, but I'm glad Logan's okay. I go up to the bed and give him a hug, being gentle to not hurt him as I feel my vision blur with tears. I haven't cried since mom passed. Not even for dad; too much has been going on. I don't even care. I let myself cry as I hear the same from Logan. We just stay like that for a while, crying like fools, hugging each other not saying a thing. In such a quite voice I almost didn't catch Logan says "There were so many times I wanted to give up on you, just give in and let Rorke win, but I knew you'd save me."
"There's not a day I didn't think about finding you and getting you out of there, Logan. We still have a long way to go to get anywhere back to the way it used to be, but as long as we're together, nothing's going to stop us; I won't let it."