[The Death of Me Will Be This Empty Gun]

Red blurs my vision and pain weighs my legs down. I slump against the cliff side. Breathing is nearly impossible for a few moments before the adrenaline from getting shot wears down. I reach for my radio, hands closing around broken plastic and split wires. "Oh god…" I can hear the battle still. Gunshots and explosions and yells echo up to me. It all seems so far away. My breathing slows to a natural pace as I lean against the rocky earth. "Oh god…" My radio is out so I would be on a KIA list right now. I search for the energy to stand, but find movement impossible without incredible pain.

Ghost and Roach need me. They're down there with only Grizzly as help and no sniper support. How can I tell them I'm okay? "Toad's radio," I mutter to myself. Lifting my head away from the dirt and looking to the horrific scene of Toad's body. The blood on him still runs thickly, staining the unforgiving sand a darker shade. His backup radio is strapped to his side and is still buzzing with chatter. I can use it to tell them I'm still up here and fighting.

Hands scrabbling at the loose rocks and mud of the hide, I manage to slowly drag myself to the corpse of one of my best friends. "Sorry Toad…Don't haunt me for this one." I rip the Velcro off and click the radio on.

"Ghost? Roach? Can anyone hear me?"

"Gadget!" Ghost's voice is full of relief. "Where are you? You're radio shut off."

"I'm using Toad's backup. He and Archer are…KIA." I groan in pain as I move my right arm a little. "I'm bleeding out..." I glance down at my arm and add, "fast."

"Grizzly, you cover Roach. Gadget I'm on my way to pick you up—"

"NO." I say sternly. "You keep your promise Ghost and I'll see what I can do about mine, but if you die I'll kill you."

"But—"

"Do not come back for me. Repeat, do not come back."

"Gadget," Roach joins. "The DSM has only a few minutes left. Hold out 'til then."

"I'll try, bug. I'll get some sniper support laid out for you guys, you focus on getting out. I'm probably already on the KIA's."

I drop the radio and lift my 50 cal. to my shoulder. My arm screeches in pain and blood flows out of the wound. The burning feeling threatens to pry away the last of my resolve. I line up the cross-hairs and fire. Another man dies at my hands. And another. And another. And another.

My eyes go blurry and I take a moment to catch my breath. Then, again, my sniper sings death to any tango who dares to move in the direction of the house. Another shot, another death.

"Roach, the transfer's complete! I'll cover the main approach while you get the DSM!"

A smile of victory has just made its way onto my mouth when a shout in Russian sounds from behind me. I whip around just in time for the tango to launch at me, knocking my sniper down the rocky edge.

I'm pinned beneath the man, my guns out of my reach and already losing blood far too quickly. I'm about to die at the hands of the enemy. He pistol-whips me roughly. A bruise forms on my cheek and the force of the blow sends stars through reality.

In a last ditch effort I punch him as hard as I can, kicking and yelling obscenities. He loses grip of the gun but brings a fist against my already bruised cheek.

This is what I'd always seceretly feared but I'd assured Alex it never would happen.

It is what I'd always told Ghost I would be too strong for.

It is what I've always known deep inside myself that it would happen eventually.

I want to squeeze my eyes shut and let it happen without thinking about it.

I want to cry and beg for mercy.

I want to just take it and go, just to be done with all the fighting and the hate.

I want to be strong enough to feel no fear.

I want to be un-afraid like I'd always been so careful to pretend.

But I'm not going to… Not this time…

I hear the knife slide out of its sheath. I can smell the dark red blood as it pulses out of me, I can taste it in my mouth. I can see the emotionlessness in my killer's eyes. I can practically feel the man's victorious pride as he readies for another kill. Another death. This time, it's different. This time, that death is mine.

There's hesitation as he raised the razor sharp knife and stared into my eyes. I can only imagine how scared I must look. Death is knocking one last time and here I am, just accepting it.

"GADGET! WE NEED THAT SNIPER SUPPORT!"

Ghost. Tears sting my eyes. He is the only person who ever accepted me straight-up. He is all that I'd been completely sure of. Getting accepted into his group was the best thing that ever happened to me.

"EMILY! PLEASE ANSWER! WE NEED HELP!"

"Ghost we have to go!" Roach added.

My 'little brother'. The tears spill over for the first time in years and I feel all the barriers I'd ever created start to shake. I have let everyone down.

"This is Shepherd. We're almost at the LZ. What's your status, over?"

I squeeze my eyes shut, the tears escaping at a steadier rate. They're going to make it. Thank god.

BANG!

My eyes snap open and the tango above me falls flat against me, covering me in his blood. I gasp and struggle to shove his body off of myself. Who shot him?

I examine the body; a bullet between the eyes…but… only a sniper could…

I look at Archer's body, but his gun is still clutched across his lap like he'd always have it. His binoculars and hand-gun rest next to him. Who took that shot? I don't have time to think about that though. My hands close around the binoculars and I search for Ghost among the fighting.

He's still running. Still on his feet.

"GADGET? Gadget are you still there?"

I don't respond. Blood is all over my skin and clothes. My hair sticks to my face with the disgusting fluid. Tears continue to stain my face. My team is down there, I remind myself, they still need me. The trio continues to run, shooting, and dodging the rain of death that is beating down on them from the enemy. I can see that each one of them is injured. Roach is limping as he runs, Ghost is bleeding from his left side, and Grizzly is clinging to his wrist while he shoots with an M9.

They don't have time to talk, let alone get me to that LZ. I accept fate, apologizing in silent shouts the whole way.

"Hurry! We gotta get to the LZ! They're bracketing our position with mortars!" Grizzly's mind was elsewhere, and for that I was glad. We'd clashed so many times…but he was going to get my best friend and my 'boy-friend' out.

"HURRY! THE LZ IS UP AHEAD!" Ghost slowed up and covered Roach as he tried to make it the last stretch.

"But what about—"

"Keep moving she wouldn't want us to stop... not for a body…"

I've never heard so much pain come out in Ghost's voice. It's all I can do not to grab up that radio and tell him it's all okay. He thinks I'm gone. If he thought any different he wouldn't move one more inch unless it was my direction. That's how stubborn he is.

"ROACH! LOOK OUT!"

A mortar blocks my view of them; the explosion scattering debris in every direction. By the time it settles, I can only see Ghost and Roach. "HURRY YOU TWO!" Grizzly yells, apparently not about to stop and wait for his two superiors.

Ghost is dragging a much disoriented Roach by the back of his Kevlar. He can't stand any more. When the bug comes to his senses he snatches a loose gun and starts firing.

C'mon Ghost…you can do it.

He stops for a moment, throwing a smoke grenade and then grabbing the FNG's vest again. "Thunder-Two-One, I've popped red smoke in the treeline! Standby to engage on my mark!"

They're here. I feel dizzy and light-headed from blood loss and exhaustion. My legs start to give up and my hands shake.

"Roger that. I have a visual on the red smoke. Standing by." A friendly helo lowers down a bit and fires on the enemy, turning the tides.

Relief starts to ensue, until Roach goes limp again.

"ROACH, HANG IN THERE!"

I let go, satisfied. The binos fall to my feet and I follow, curling up in a prone position. Pain shakes my body and wrecks havoc in my bones. I'm so tired…so very tired…

"C'mon, get up! Get up! Get up! We're almost there!" Ghost pleads. For a moment I pretend he's next to me again, waking me up back on the sub, dragging me out of bed for our next mission.

The grounds embrace is so inviting as the sounds of gunshots melt away and there's just me and the walkie talkie. My vision dances. Blood continues to pour from my arm. Blind-spots pop up and colors swirl.

"Do you have the DSM?"

Shepherd…he is here to pick them up. If Shepherd has them, they'll be safe. They'll make it home. I won't die for nothing.

"We got it, sir!" Roach pants weakly.

"Right…we tied that one up." Grizzly is suddenly cool and calm, no longer screaming at the top of his lungs and wetting his cameos.

There's a pause and my eyes flutter closed. "Good. That's one less loose end." Shepherd's voice is…happy? Not extatic, but pleased…

I feel like I'm floating as the sound of my heart begins to fade. I count the beats and breathe slow, enjoying my last moments.

"NOO! ROACH!" Ghost's shout jolts me out of giving up life and I gasp as the surprise hits me. My heart races faster pumping the blood out faster, but insiting on keeping me alive.

I grab the binos with fumbling hands and lift them to see what is happening.

Shepherd is holding his pride-and-joy handgun, Roach is slipping out of Ghost's grip the carnage of a bullet tearing through him spewing all over the ground, and Grizzly is lifting his own gun to take out Ghost.

My heart begins to battle with my throat as Ghost pulls his own trigger and kills Grizzly, switching his target to the traitor general.

BANG!

I muffle a scream of pain and terror into my sleeve as Ghost falls.

Shepherd and Grizzly just tried to kill Roach and Ghost.

They switched sides on us…

No…

I shake my head, feeling dizzy again. Looks like I need to stick around a while longer.

"You can't do this you S.O.B.!" Ghost bellows through the mic, apparently he'd forgotten to turn it off.

I drop the binoculars and pick up my sniper…no ammo. I run over to Toad's dropped weapon…empty. I snarl, dropping it again. Then I spot Archer's weapon. "Put them in the ditch. No more loose ends." I slowly stumble over to where Archer rests against the rocky cliff, kneeling down next to him.

His custom made sniper is covered in the last of his blood, his hands closed tightly around his favorite gun. I try not to remember the way he'd cleaned it on our way over. I'd teased him because he'd already done it two times before that. He'd just laughed and snapped it back together in that way he always did. Now it was dirtied by his own blood. He wouldn't have wanted it that way. I pry his dead fingers away from the weapon as quickly as I can, desperate to get this done with. I won't die like this. Finally the gun comes free and I look apologetically at the dead Archer. "I'm…I'm so sorry." I whisper, my voice hoarse from shouting. Sparing a moment to adjust his hood, I brush the sticky hair out of his face.

I kneel at the very edge of the hide then lift the sniper to my shoulder and take careful aim.

Don't rush…You only have one shot at this. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

Shepherd's face appears in the scope, directly in the cross-hairs. I make the adjustments according to distance as precisely as I can without a spotter. Ghost is still cussing Shepherd out and I can hear Roach join in every now and then, his voice weak and desperate. I ignore them. Everything melts away. It's just me and Shepherd now. The men who are dragging Roach and Ghost to a ditch don't exist. Archer, Toad, and the Russian's bodies don't exist. 'Tavish and Price's shouts aren't there either. Just me, the trigger, and Shepherd.

"Goodbye, sir. Sorry I was never that perfect soldier." I murmur, pulling the trigger decisively.

Click.

…

Click.

Click.

Click. . Click. .

If it had been any gun but Archer's favorite I would've thrown it and cursed its creator. I hadn't checked for ammo in his. It was cussing empty. EMPTY.

Woahhhhhssss.

I'm really pumping the chapters out ain't I? Haha

Well, you guys better review this time, you're slacking off. JUST KIDDING!

But seriously, reviews make me happy. 804 of you have read this story just this week… If I am not happy this story will suck.

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