Pvt. Gill wasn't sure if it was by his own instincts that he decided to jump off the bridge, or if it was the sweeping shockwave from the blast near by that sent him tumbling off the right side and crashing into the once clam, tropical river. But the cause was irrelevant now, he was more concerned with the strange sensation that now covered half of his body, the right half actually, was completely numb.

My mother always told me water was just like concrete when your moving fast enough.

Seconds after Gill's right side of his body took the impact, the weight of his equipment began dragging him down to the murky bottom, he landed on his backside, face up when he made contact with the riverbed. He didn't need to open his eyes to realize there was something happening on the surface. Through the shallow water, he could just make out muffled gun burst and shouting.

Did we walk into another ambush? He thought to himself.

Still holding his breath, he took a moment to open his eyes. He couldn't feel the current but he could just make out lose straps and threads from his combat webbing pointing in the same direction. The gun burst became longer and more frequent now.

I have to regroup with my squad!

Gill began to lift himself up with just his left arm, he was slowly making progress but the weight of his equipment ultimately pushed him back down. With only one functioning arm, it is was next to impossible. He continued to look around, this time noticing more shallow water a few yards ahead.

Only if the current was strong enough to carry me, but my damn equipment is too heavy, most of it at least, this current most likely can carry somebody's weap-

Then it hit him, still on his backside he vigorously moved his head to his crippled right side. He couldn't feel it, but his eyes could just make out the outline of his Round Drum attached Thompson slowly slipping away from his numb grip.

O ****

Bubbles began trailing out of the barrel, as if it was a cry of help from his only weapon.

Multiple explosions were now going off to close to comfort. The earth began to shake violently, and the debris, mainly destroyed sandbags and concert slabs from the bridge began smashing into the river, landing almost on top of him.

Somebody must have called in an artillery strike right on the bridge.

With the every new addition to the river, the underwater current suddenly began to increase. The Thompson was slipping away slightly faster. Gill was running out of breath. He attempts to tighten his grip.

Come on…

No luck, he was still numb. Gill tried again, this time harder. Still, no luck, his brain couldn't make the connection to his paralysed right arm. The Thompson continued to slip away. His lungs were running on empty. Another explosion and more debris followed.

For **** sakes!

With one final desperate attempt, he tried again, this time swinging his left arm over to see if he could grab his weapon. But at the same moment a huge concrete slab landed right at his feet.

Yeah, it's definitely artillery and it's hitting right on the bridge.

That concrete slab was all that it took; he could just see the Thompson being taken away from his grip by the current, to its watery grave.

Good bye old friend.

And as if the Thompson could understand what Gill was thinking, one lone bubble came out of its barrel, as if it was its way of giving on final salute good bye to its old owner.

Unfortunately Gill never had time to pay his final respects, because he found himself struggling in need of air and even though, he was a Sub-Gunner enthusiast, he now wished he took those Iron Lung classes with his buddy. The explosions were now over, but the gun fire was vicious.

I need to get up now!

Using the embarrassing thought of drowning in this shallow water as motivation, Gill threw all of his weight to his left side of his body and with his elbow and knee forced himself up out of the water. It was difficult at first to stand, after all his entire body was resting on his left leg while his right leg was still asleep, but after almost falling in the water a couple of times, he was able to keep relative balance. He drew a long awaited breath and while still glancing down he noticed something; the water was about knee deep.

It was a weird sight, a U.S marine slowly rising from the river in a middle of the firefight, covered in mud. It was especially weird for the young Japanese sniper who was birched on the tree near the shore. He could have sworn he saw that American slam into the water, and he assumed he was dead since he didn't come up immediately. At first he wasn't sure what he was seeing, the clumsy, almost drunk like movement and his weird body position to one side convinced him it was the same swamp creature his grandfather used to tell stories about while he was a young boy growing up in his village. That thought quickly disappeared though when the mud began to slide off and he could clearly see the Marine Raider insignia. A white skull, in the middle of a blue diamond, which was surrounded by 5 stars. A smile stretched across the young Japanese face. Not wanting to give away his position from the fire of his Arisaka, he unstrapped his belt from the tree and, every so carefully, silently landed in the river, shouldered his weapon and locked onto the Marines center mass with his iron sights.

Field promotion, here I come!

Gill's vision was still abstracted from his time with them open in the river, but as the water began leaking out of his ears, he confirmed what he thought he originally heard. Another ambush, prematurely set off in his opinion, since the only gunfire he heard was coming from opposite's sides of the river and not behind him, or to the sides of him, or not even on top of him.

Not exactly professional... if been through better ones.

He was about to take his left hand and clear his vision, but he heard something that caught his attention, a light splash. He turned into the direction of the noise and as his vision became clearer his heart sank.

The young Japense yelled something at him, but he couldn't understand what, he didn't care really, he was more concerned with the Arisaka that was pointing at him. The young Japense quicken his paced, probably trying to get a better distance but nearly tripped as he hit something on the riverbed. He glanced down to see what the obstruction was, and without realizing it, lowered his weapon at the same time.

Thank you debris!

Gill took the young man's mistake as his opportunity, without even looking or thinking he decided to go for his Colt… but with his right arm.

What he thought would be a fluid motion and an epic shot with his side arm turned out to be an absolute embarrassment. His right hand and arm, both still crippled, didn't even touched his pistol holder and did nothing more then sway back and forward to his side.

At that time, the young Japanese, realizing his mistake, immediately brought his weapon up to his target, and satisfied with his distance aimed the Marines centre mass.

My only chance and I blew it, I just hope no one is around to see this.

Gill closed his eyes tight, and prepared himself for death

The young Japanese, excited that this was going to be his first kill, pulled the trigger.