Jay woke in a daze on the hard, dusty ground. He put a hand to his aching head and drew it away again to see a bit of blood on his fingertips. He vaguely remembered someone shouting about an RPG. Jay rolled over to his stomach and pushed himself up on shaking arms, looking over to where he'd been standing moments before. A few feet away from the spot he saw a teammate laying deathly still.

He forced himself up and moved towards them, stumbling in his daze but managing to keep his feet long enough to make it and assess the damage. It was no one he recognized, but he wore the same uniform and the Task Force's patch on his shoulder. The man was unconscious and Jay could hear the militia closing in. Jay's head was clearing by this point and his muscles were screaming at him, he pushed past it, though, and pulled his downed teammate up and over his shoulders. He struggled to stand up, the other man was much larger than him, and looked in the direction he could hear the enemy soldiers coming from as he got his feet under him. He could see them approaching now, weapons lowered but ready, they weren't expecting a fight. Granted Jay was probably in no condition to give them one, he pulled his pistol from its holster and fired a few shots into their ranks before turning tail and running.

"We've been compromised, I have a man down!" Jay shouted into his comm as he ran, coming into an open field, "Repeat, I have a man down! Heading toward the secondary LZ!"

"Copy that, Bravo Two, choppers inbound, ETA five minutes."

Jay grit his teeth and kept running. He winced as a mortar landed several feet away, even that far away he could still feel the shock wave. Mortars were falling all over the field now, getting closer and closer to him with each shot. One landed only a few feet away and the shockwave caused Jay to stumble and nearly fall, but he regained his feet, shifted the weight on his shoulders and kept running, only for a mortar to hit the ground right in front of him and throw him into the hard packed earth. He blacked out on the impact.

The militia approached the dust cloud that had been kicked up cautiously. The dust began to clear as they entered the cloud, allowing them to see the still forms of the enemy contact and his cohort.

"Bravo Two, your evac has arrived. Where the hell are you?!" An irritated voice cut over the comms, rousing Jay to consciousness.

His hand twitched in his attempt to bring his hand to his comm piece to activate it. He tried again, this time slowly managing to lift his arm and bring it to his ear.

"I'm hit," Jay's voice was strained and rough with pain.

Then there was a pistol to the back of his head and an accented voice demanding he turn over and show his hands.

Jay groaned in pain and activated his comm again, this time leaving it open so that Command could hear everything that was happening. He was commanded to turn over again and this time he obeyed, struggling to move at all; he could feel a piece of shrapnel stuck between his ribs, and he could only hope that it hadn't punctured his lung. The pistol was still in his face, but he couldn't bring himself to react as he felt his consciousness slipping again.

"CASEVAC inbound to your position, Bravo Two, just hang on," Command informed.

The militia soldier yanked Jay to his feet, causing him to scream out in pain as the shrapnel shifted deeper into his chest. He was held upright and would have been on the ground if not for the support as his hands were secured behind him and he was stripped of his gear.

"Bravo Two, please confirm," Command spoke again as Jay was put down again.

He could hear the choppers at this point but couldn't bring himself to speak in his daze.

"Bravo Two, confirm or CASEVAC will have no choice but to leave you behind," again Jay couldn't answer, there was a long pause, "Bravo Two, do you copy?"

Jay finally gained control of his body and forced out pained words, "The-They're t-taking me… hostage… Do not risk the c-crew… T-tell C-CASEVAC t-to wave off…"

There was another long pause, "Negative, Bravo Two, this is no time for caution, the CASEVAC crew has been informed of your situation and is ready to assist. You're coming home. Command out."

Jay simply let out another pained groan as he was kicked in the gut and told to shut up as the whirring of the chopper's rotors became louder. He passed out before he could see anything.

…

…

…

When Jay woke again there were medics and people he didn't recognize buzzing around him. He had a lapse of judgement and fought the non-existent restraints, thinking the CASEVAC crew had been bested and he was a prisoner.

The doctor closest to him was quick to pin him down while another hurried to inject a waiting sedative into the IV line. The drug immediately took over Jay's system and calmed him and put him on the edge of sleep.

"Easy," The doctor that had pinned him urged, slowly letting off of him, "You don't want your wounds reopened…"

Jay groaned, "W-where…"

"US Army base in Afghanistan," the doctor answered the unfinished question, shining a small light in the soldier's eyes to test his reflexes, "Can you tell me your name and rank?"

Jay paused slightly, "S-sergeant Jason "Jay" Miller…" he answered easily.

The doctor nodded and held his hand up in front of Jay's face, "How many fingers am I holding up, Sergeant?"

Jay squinted and grimaced, pushing the hand away, "More than are on the human body…" he commented gruffly, "Twelve…"

The doctor shared a look with the other that was standing by, "What unit are you from, Sergeant?"

"T-…" Jay stopped himself, realizing almost too late that these men weren't 141, "Classified information," he answered, "and stop calling me that."

The doctor nodded slightly and made a few notes on his clipboard, "Well, you have a pretty serious concussion, and were suffering from shock and blood loss when they brought you in… Coded once…"

Jay held up his hand to stop him, "Why are you telling me all this?" he questioned, he was hardly ever told whether or not he had coded, or what his condition was, or anything of the sort.

"You're a medic aren't you?" the doctor questioned, jabbing a thumb at Jay's cleaned combat uniform, folded up and waiting for his recovery, "You'd figure it out one way or another," the doctor passed him a small cup of water, "Hydrate," he ordered, "then rest."

Jay rolled his eyes slightly at the orders, but obeyed and drank the water. The cup was passed back to the doctor and disposed of and Jay shifted slightly, folding his arms over his middle as he let his head fall back. Sleep came quickly with the assistance of the sedative he'd been given earlier. Jay would be fine, he'd recover in a few days' time and he'd be back on his feet and back to work.