A/N: This chapter starts the Losers arc of the story! I had a lot of fun writing for this movie after doing the Expendables because it is so much lighter (in comparison at least) and it's more playful in nature! Anyway, I hope you guys like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Expendables or the Losers, just my OC, Sky.
Life of a Mercenary
Amazon Jungle, Bolivia
May 17th, 2013
"Look I'm sorry I can't give you that kind of information. I'll do anything else, I just can't do that. I can't betray my country, I won't. This country gave me everything. Oh God, just keep him away from me. Please, don't let him near me! Oh, no! Oh God!" Jensen narrated as he played with the dog and Godzilla 'toys' he'd made out of a clip from his gun, several pieces of sticks and pencils, tape, rubber bands, and miscellaneous pieces of plastic he managed to find. The Losers had been in the jungles of Bolivia for almost a week after moving from Colombia where there last mission was. They were ordered to stay in South America for another mission, issued by their CIA handler, whom they still had yet to meet. And they weren't given much information as to their mission yet, so they had just been spending the passing days waiting. Hence the reason for Jensen's immense boredom.
"C'mon baby, just relax into it and let Godzilla do his thang," Jensen continued narrating in a deeper voice, banging his two toys together as if they were having sex to create a shadow effect on the American flag just in front of him.
"Okay, c'mon this is wrong on so many levels," Pooch spoke up from his spot near the tree he'd been leaning against, near their set up table and supplies while he scratched his back with a long stick he'd found. "Are you in or not?"
"And get cheated again?"
"What? No, the Pooch may lie, the Pooch may steal, the Pooch may—"
"The Pooch may refer to himself in the third person?" Jensen interrupted, placing his two toys down so he could adjust his Army green muscle shirt and dog tags that were starting to stick to his body.
"Occasionally," Pooch retorted. "But the Pooch will not cheat."
"Well, the Pooch can relax," Jensen smiled, gesturing over towards Cougar who was sitting on a rock near the stream behind him, cleaning out his sniper rifle, wearing his own muscle shirt though he kept his hat on despite the heat. "I was worried about Cougar."
Pooch nodded, eyeing their sniper suspiciously. "Yeah, it's always the quiet ones."
Cougar just smirked.
"What? It's Blind Man's Bluff," Roque piped up, looking at Pooch and Jensen with a look on his face from his spot right by the stream. His grey muscle shirt had sweat stains around the neck and arms, just as most of the others had in the Bolivian heat. "High card wins. How in the hell can a man cheat you?" That logic seemed to strike a chord with the others and soon they were all seated around the table, while Roque shuffled the deck. Once it was shuffled they all grabbed cards, but didn't flip them over yet.
"I feel like I got something over here," Pooch smiled, looking around at his fellow teammates.
"Queen, King, Jack. Queen, King, Jack. Queen, King, Jack," Jensen chanted over and over again as he rubbed the back of his card. Roque and Cougar just remained silent, holding their cards before Jensen started the count. "Okay, one, two, three! Go!"
Immediately, they all flipped their cards over and held it to their foreheads, so everyone else could see their card, but no one could see theirs. Jensen stuck his card to his forehead, which wasn't hard since he was still sweating. He smiled as he looked around the group, not knowing that his own card was a low two of diamonds. Cougar slipped his card so it was in between his hat and his forehead, letting the eight of diamonds in the corner show. Pooch had his three of hearts stuck sideways on his forehead, while Roque had his six of spades tucked in the band of his hat. "I have a great feeling about this one," the demolitions expert smirked.
"Well your momma had a great feeling last night," Jensen said with a laugh.
Pooch laughed at the dig and high-fived their comms tech. "Oh, that was a momma joke."
Roque looked back and forth between the two before he pulled out a large, silver, serrated knife. "Alright, let's go," he said twirling it around in his hands before setting it down on the table as his wager.
"Oh now it's a game!" Jensen smiled, looking down at the knife on the table. It reminded him of his dad's bowie knife that he loved to use on missions. And Roque's love of knives in general reminded him of Lee and Sky, the two knife throwers of the Expendables. With a grin, Jensen reached down behind him to his stash of weapons and pulled a gun out and placed it on the table. "I will… raise you."
"You don't wanna do that," Roque retorted.
"Oh no?" Jensen challenged.
"Is that the piece you got off that Honduran General?" Pooch asked as he loaded a magazine into his own weapon.
"Yes it is."
"Guess what?" Pooch said, flipping his gun to catch the muzzle before placing it down on the table. "I'm definitely in."
The group started laughing and goading each other on before Roque pulled out another large knife and laid it on the table by his. Jensen started laughing like a little kid, seeing one of Roque's favorite knives, while Cougar whistled slightly and shook his head knowing that the game was getting serious. "How many knives do you have? What's going on here?" Jensen asked in amusement, looking around Roque's back to his stash. There was a pile of knives, ranging from large to small, and for a split second he wondered if he should set up Sky with Roque instead of Cougar because of their love of knives.
That thought died a very quick death.
"Cougs, your bet," Pooch reminded, pointing to their sniper. Cougar grinned and reached down for a weapon.
"Hey Losers!"
They all immediately turned to see Clay walking towards them, with a radio in his hands. "It's time! Pack up and get ready to move out!"
"Yes sir!" They all chorused, jumping up to start packing their gear away. Jensen took a peek at his card and whined slightly, while Pooch cursed at his card and Roque frowned at his. Cougar grinned at his card and looked at the group in a way that showed he would've cleaned them all out had Clay not stopped their game. The three men quickly reclaimed their weapons and got the trunks of weapons and ammunition packed into their Humvee. Once everything was packed away, they all hopped in with Pooch driving, Clay in the front seat, and Jensen, Cougar, and Roque in the back. As always, Pooch's little dog bobble head was on the dashboard.
"Alright, we've got a drug and arms dealer named Fadhil," Clay announced, looking at the tablet on his lap, scrolling through the information they'd gotten from their handler. "He's running a homegrown terrorist assembly line out by the Madre de Dios river basin. We find it, we paint it for the stealth bombers and we get the hell out. No muss, no fuss."
"For that they need us?" Roque asked with a skeptical look on his face.
"Would you rather take on fifty dudes with AK's?" Pooch asked with a shrug as he continued driving through the dense Bolivia jungle, trying to stick to the dirt roads. Everyone went silent and Pooch laughed, knowing he had made a valid point. They drove the rest of the way in relative silence, with Jensen occasionally spouting off random fun facts regarding jungles and all kinds of creatures that lived in jungles until Roque pulled out one of his knives and started sharpening it. Even with Cougar sitting in between him and Roque, Jensen shut his mouth for self-preservation.
Once they arrived at their vantage point near Fadhil's base they all quickly changed into their gear, putting on their camo and Kevlar, strapping their weapons onto their bodies. Jensen and Pooch opted out of a long-sleeve like the others chose, and stuck with short-sleeves due to the hot environment.
Roque was peering through a set of binoculars, looking at the large compound below them, before he spotted their target standing on a balcony and talking on a phone. "Alright, I've got eyes on Mr. Fadhil."
"Paint it," Clay ordered, looking to Pooch who was on the back of the Humvee with the laser targeting device. Jensen was perched on the top of the Humvee, his feet resting on a box of weapons while he held his walkie-talkie in his hands, waiting to call in the air-strike. Clay was standing just behind Cougar who was crouched down in the tall grass with his sniper rifle aimed down at the compound silently scanning the area to make sure everything was good.
"Showtime fellas," Pooch said, peering through the targeting device, making sure he was right on target, before pressing the button to light up the area with infrared lights their stealth bomber could see. "Go ahead and call me Michelangelo."
"Drop-Kick this is Pinball, requesting fire mission. The target is lazed and you are clear to make a run from North to South, over," Jensen said into the large radio in his hand.
"Roger Pinball, target's acquired and locked. Be advised ETA to fireworks 08 mikes."
"Roger, we'll break out the ear plugs," Jensen replied as the others all checked their watches to see that there was eight minutes until the air strike.
Cougar, who had been silently peering through his scope, noticed a truck pulling into the compound, filled with children on board. Immediately he tensed. "Boss," he called out, looking over his shoulder to Clay before signaling forward.
Clay walked over to his sniper and accepted the rifle he was handed so he could look through the scope. When he spotted the children he let out a curse. "They're using kids as mules," he announced, which prompted nearly everyone to look back at the compound with binoculars to see that he was right. "Call it in."
"Drop-Kick we have children at target site. Repeat, we have eyes on children at target site. Please advise," Jensen said immediately, still checking in his binoculars to see if the children were being harmed in anyway. Seeing those kids, he thought about Haley and Celia automatically and prayed that they weren't being hurt in anyway.
"Acknowledged, maintain position."
"Maintain position?" Roque asked in surprise before looking to their CO. "What is he talking about Colonel?"
Jensen tried radioing the stealth bomber again while Pooch and Cougar kept eyes on the compound. "Drop-Kick, we strongly recommend cancellation of the payload delivery."
"Your orders stand. Prep for extraction."
The men all remained silent, digesting what they were being told. They were to just sit back and let a compound full of innocent children be bombed? Jensen looked to Clay immediately, and saw that the others had similar expressions of disgust on their faces. He couldn't see Cougar's face, however, since he was still watching the compound through his scope, but he knew his best friend wouldn't be happy with their orders.
"Cougar," Clay said simply. Immediately, the sniper was on his feet, using the butt of his rifle to hit the targeting device, breaking it. With the target system down, Clay pressed the button of the receiver for the comms strapped to his neck and started talking, taking over for Jensen so the young tech wouldn't get in trouble for disobeying orders. "Drop-Kick this is Pinball. Targeting equipment has suffered catastrophic system failure. I am calling an on-site abort."
"Well that was just stupid."
Clay immediately tensed and looked around at his men at the foreign voice that just went out over the comms. It wasn't the stealth pilot coming in with the payload. "Is this mission controller?"
"This is Max, Colonel Clay."
"No one uses names on comms," Clay retorted immediately, as his men watched on, wondering what the hell was going on. "This is a secure military channel."
"Is it really—"
"God damn it, you listen to me," he interrupted, his annoyance bubbling over, looking towards Jensen and pointing to the comms, signaling for the youngest member of their unit to figure out what was up with their comms and how this Max person got on. "There are children on site."
"And you think I didn't know that? We locked coordinates the moment you painted. Delivery will occur on schedule."
"You can't just—"
"You have yourselves a super day."
"Shit," Clay cursed, turning back to walk towards his tech. "Jensen contact the plane directly. Tell them I want an abort."
"I'm trying," the blonde said, messing with the knobs on his radio, trying to get a signal. "He's jamming us. There's nothing I can do."
Clay turned back to look at Roque who nodded, knowing what his CO was thinking. "There's something we can do."
"So here it is, the five of us against a fortress and we've got…" Roque trailed off to look at his watch. "About eight minutes until an airstrike sets the world on fire."
"Plenty of time."
Pooch smirked and slipped his sunglasses onto his face. "I'll drive."
Some days, Jensen really missed his family of mercenaries. They were the people he loved most and grew up with. He was raised in the craziness and chaos that came with mercenaries and some days he missed that. And some days—like today—Jensen was worried by how similar the Losers were to the Expendables. They were currently in the Humvee, barreling towards the Fadhil compound, intent on rescuing the children with Clay barking out orders for Cougar to get ready. The sniper was currently standing up in the vehicle, his torso poking out of the hole in the top of the Humvee for shooters, with his sniper rifle in his hands, while Roque and Jensen sat in the area beside his legs. The plan was to barrel through the gates, kill the guards, rescue the children and get the hell out of dodge before the airstrike hit.
It sounded like one of Barney's suicidal plans.
"Everybody brace!" Pooch shouted as the gate came into view.
Jensen and Roque grabbed onto Cougar's legs, making the sniper wasn't going to be jostled around as they crashed through the gate and into the compound. Once they were through, they relinquished their hold on the sniper and allowed him to shift around freely while Pooch laughed maniacally as they drove through the compound. Cougar picked off Fadhil's men from the balconies of buildings and off of the back of trucks with expert precision and no hesitation. When the car stopped, Cougar immediately ducked back into the vehicle as they all piled out firing at the men swarming around them and using the Humvee as cover.
Pooch—who had made sure to grab his bobble-head 'Mojito'—ducked down behind the vehicle with Jensen and smiled at the tech. "Us against fifty dudes with AK's, huh!"
Jensen smirked in response before they all stood up and started shooting at the men trying to get around the vehicles, quickly taking them out while shouts filled the compound for others to assist in taking out the Losers. They quickly ducked back down in cover again before Clay started shouting orders. "Jensen and Pooch get a truck for the kids! The rest of us will be out in five!"
"Not to mention the airstrike in four!" Roque reminded.
"Alright, we'll be out in four!" Clay corrected, shouting after the two men who had run off to find a vehicle. "Rally point, on me!" He shouted before jumping to his feet and running across the compound with Cougar providing cover while Roque trailed behind them. The two men went towards the building they saw the kids enter before they got to a half open garage door. Roque signaled that he was going to go in first before he crawled in firing at the two men he spotted at a table full of weapons before Clay entered after him, taking out the last man. The CO rushed forward to where he saw the kids herded behind a gate and opened it up, ushering them out. "Alright, let's go!"
The kids ran out screaming as Roque directed them towards the door while a little girl stood behind to tug on Clay's uniform. "Señor, señor, mi hermanito esta alla arriba."
Clay didn't know much Spanish but he knew hermanito meant 'little brother' and arriba meant 'up'. He wasn't a fluent Spanish speaker like Cougar—or at least a decent Spanish speaker like Jensen or Pooch—but he knew that the little girl was trying to tell her that her little brother was somewhere upstairs. He nodded her way and placed a hand on her shoulder, nudging her towards Roque. "Okay, go with him." Roque shot him a look, and Clay quickly looked at his watch seeing that they had a little over three minutes. He tossed his gun over to Roque. "You got them."
"Alright, who's your papi?" Roque said loudly and full of jolly, trying to calm the kids down as he led them out of the building and towards the area cleared area that Cougar was waiting. The second he was near the Spaniard, Cougar started talking in Spanish to all the little kids, speaking faster than the demolitions expert could follow. It was the most he'd ever heard the sniper say at once, but he was calming them down, so Roque was more than happy to let him keep talking.
Jensen blinked slightly, looking at the yellow short school bus in front of him and Pooch. They had run further into the compound after Clay's orders, looking for a truck suitable to transport all the children and themselves out of the area in the short span of time they had. They had seen absolutely no vehicles up until that point, except for the old looking, dirty, yellow bus. "No," Jensen muttered.
"Yeah," Pooch retorted.
"Really?"
"Why not?"
"Can you?" Jensen asked, wondering if the man could even drive the school bus.
"Of course."
Jensen shrugged. It was a better plan than Clay's. "Okay." They climbed onto the small bus, Pooch heading towards the driver seat to start it up and make sure it was working while Jensen radioed into the others, telling them that they had found a vehicle.
"Work for the Pooch," the man muttered, as he put the bus in drive and grinned when it started to roll forward. He smirked and started driving it towards the last spot that they'd seen Roque, Clay, and Cougar, by the main building of the compound. Thankfully when they got there, all of Fadhil's men were either dead or scattered, and only Roque, Cougar, and the kids were there.
"What the hell is this?" Roque asked immediately as he opened the back door and climbed in. He reached down to grab the first child Cougar had held up to him and passed the little girl to Jensen who put her in one of the seats. They continued the mini assembly line while Roque tossed a look to their transpo man. "What, you couldn't find anything else?"
"Beggars can't be choosers!"
Clay went as quickly and carefully as he could, walking around the back of the building where there was a pool and large palm trees. Two men came out of the building, holding two women clad in bathing suits as hostages, but he quickly shot at the men, killing them and freeing the women. "Ladies," he said, smiling in their direction. They screamed and ran away. On normal occasions it would've been a blow to his ego, but he was too concerned with finding the small boy before the airstrike hit. He raced into the building and up a set of stairs, ending up in one of the balconies that he'd spotted when they were originally painting the area.
"Clay we've got the kids. Rally point, two minutes."
Just as he turned the corner, he spotted Fadhil standing in front of a couch with a knife in one hand and a small boy in the other, holding onto a stuffed bear. The little boy looked nervous and fearful as Fadhil held his shoulder and the knife to his throat. "Max sent you, didn't he?" Fadhil asked without a shred of surprise on his face. It was just resignation. Clay didn't respond, but kept his eyes on the small boy. "I won't commit to his crazy plans and he does this."
"Let me make this real easy for you," Clay said, cutting into his statement. "You let him go, I let you live." Fadhil removed the knife and lowered it down on the coffee table. "Come here son, c'mon walk to me," Clay spoke immediately, gesturing to the small boy. The child quickly moved over to his side, holding his leg while the soldier pushed him behind his leg. "Atta boy."
"Clay, get the hell out, we've got to go, now!" Pooch's voice crackled over the comms.
"He'll kill you too, you know?" Fadhil asked, looking at the man. Suddenly he reached forward for the knife, and Clay quickly shot him in the heart, killing him.
He felt the little boy wincing behind him and he quickly holstered his weapon before lifting the boy up into his arms and sprinting towards the stairs. He took the steps two at a time before dashing out of the building, heading to the rally point where his team was waiting. He saw the yellow bus ahead of him with Cougar standing outside the back door and internally questioned where his team had found the vehicle, before he brushed the thought off. At least they had some wheels. He quickly placed the child in the back door before climbing in himself, Cougar slamming the door shut behind them.
"What, you stop for coffee in there?" Pooch asked from the driver's seat as Cougar ran around to the front and hopped into the crouch down beside the driver, shutting the door and holding onto the metal bar on the side. Immediately, the bus took off, Pooch driving through a dirt path through the jungle that would take them farther away from the compound in the quickest amount of time.
"What kind of blast radius are we looking at?" Roque asked, looking towards Jensen.
The blonde tech gulped slightly, looking at his small military issue tablet with the map of the area and the approximate blast radius it would have. It encompassed about three miles of an area around the compound. Jensen whirled the screen around to show Roque the red circle around the compound which meant 'dead and gone' the orange circle just around it which meant 'slightly less dead' and the green circle spanning around the rest of the area that meant 'slight possibility of survival'.
Roque stared at the screen. "Okay Pooch, I'm gonna need you to make this bus move a little faster."
"Everybody hold onto something," Clay ordered, looking around at the kids surrounding him while he held onto the young boy he'd saved in his lap since there were no more seats. Without hesitation the kids started reaching out for one another, the seats, or the members of the Losers. A little girl and a boy grabbed fistfuls of Jensen's uniform, while a small girl grabbed onto Roque's hand.
"Like right now!" Roque shouted, spotting the stealth bomber flying overhead. Pooch quickly shifted gears and floored the gas pedal, shooting forward as an explosion rocked the area and a wave of fire started racing through the trees towards the bus. Pooch made the bus go faster before they soared over the top of the hill as the wave from the explosion hit the back of the bus, propelling it forward. Children and soldiers alike all started screaming and bracing themselves as the wheels touched the ground again and they hurtled down the hill. The screaming continued on as Pooch assured the group he had everything under control before they ended up in a large pile of mud, halting their decent.
Cougar was breathing heavily, before tossing a look towards Pooch, slowly releasing the death grip he'd had on the metal pole that was the only thing keeping him upright. He raised his eyebrows in a way that said 'it could be worse' while Pooch looked around to make sure the others were okay. Jensen looked like he was still trying to breathe properly while Clay and Roque looked relieved. Soon all the kids started laughing, happy that they were okay, and chattering about the 'fun ride'.
It took a few minutes of shuffling—and composing themselves—before the Losers got out of the bus and helped all the kids off, starting their trek through the jungle. Jensen had radioed in for an extraction during their walk, before moving towards the front of the group with Pooch so they could watch after the three little girls and four boys that had taken to leading them all, their hands intertwined. Clay was in front of the group of kids, the CO still holding the small boy with the bear. Cougar was carrying a little girl, quietly talking to her and the little ones around him in Spanish, saying something that made them laugh while Roque brought up the rear, holding the sister of the small boy Clay was holding, tugging at a piece of her hair before looking away innocently each time she glared playfully in his direction.
"Pinball, this is chopper three. Prepare for extraction."
"My favorite part was when we were completely on fire… but the shootout; that was good times," Jensen spoke up in amusement as they neared the location of extraction.
Clay rolled his eyes at his tech as they broke through the trees and into the clearing that was to serve as their extraction point. The helicopter was already on the ground, the blades still spinning so they could make a quick exit.
"There she blows!" Roque said enthusiastically to the kids, causing them all to laugh.
"Let's go, let's go!" Pooch said, as soon as they were all corralled together before he started running to the chopper.
"Alright, everyone together!" Jensen shouted, running beside the group of kids, making sure he didn't lose sight of any of them. He had strong instincts when it came to kids, courtesy of his two nieces, and any time he saw one that even hinted at falling behind he would move in to nudge them forward, making sure they were all at the helicopter.
The chopper door opened and crew chief on the chopper looked to Clay. "Sir, there isn't enough room on the chopper for your team and them."
"Then it's them," he replied instantly, lifting the small boy in his arms up and into the chopper while Jensen and Pooch helped the other kids climb in. Roque helped the boy's sister into the chopper and smiled when she immediately ran over to him, hugging onto him tight. The other kids were quickly loaded on, with Cougar helping the little girl he was holding into the chopper before he stepped back so he could see all the kids.
"Muy bien, chicos. Vamos a ir a dar una vuelta, eh?" Cougar started saying in Spanish, causing all the kids to smile. "Agarrante fuerte, eh? Venga," the sniper finished, waving to the kids. The other Losers were vaguely aware that the sniper told the kids to hold on tight and something about a trip. The kids all started saying goodbye, when the little boy Clay saved held out his bear to him.
"No, gracias," he smiled, gently pushing the small toy towards the small boy. "Keep your bear, okay? Keep him safe."
"Gracias," the small boy smiled.
"De nada. Adios," Clay said before looking to the soldier on the chopper. "Get them outta here."
The door slid closed and the Losers stepped back, waving to the chopper, and looking at the smiling faces of the kids through the small windows as the chopper started to take off into the air. "Those are some cute little buggars," Pooch smiled, looking up at the helicopter that was climbing slowly but surely into the air. "Hope they make it to the court martial."
"What is that?" Roque said suddenly, looking around towards the others. "Do you hear that?"
Suddenly, the other Losers were aware of the sound of a plane or jet off in the distance. Jensen felt a knot form in the pit of his stomach and he immediately tried working the radio in his hand. "Guys… this is bad," he said when he noticed their signal was being jammed again.
"Max, Cobra One. Bandit locked."
The men all stiffed, listening to the radio conversation that wasn't theirs.
"Understood. Cobra One, kill Bandit."
It became sickeningly clear what was going on and Clay looked up at the sky, his eyes locked on the helicopter as his body started running towards it unconsciously, his men following behind. A loud sound ripped through the air and Clay looked up to see a missile being shot out of a second stealth bomber and towards the helicopter. "NO!"
The missile hit the chopper, causing the metal bird to explode into a ball of fire and raining metal. Jensen felt absolutely sick to his stomach as he pumped his arms and legs faster, his eyes on the pieces of the helicopter that crashed to the ground around fifty yards in front of them. When all the pieces of the flaming metal were on the ground, the men screeched to a halt. In between the twisted and warped pieces of burning metal they could see the outlines of small charred bodies in the wreckage. The blonde couldn't pry his eyes away from the sight as a cold feeling started to envelop them. The kids they tried saving were dead. The innocent children that had done nothing wrong in the world were dead because it was supposed to be them on the chopper. He was vaguely aware of Cougar dropping to a knee and pulling his hat off, praying in Spanish, but he couldn't even focus on his other teammates. His hands were shaking and he was trying desperately not to throw up at the smell of burning flesh and metal.
"That's supposed to be us."
Jensen snapped his attention away from the wreckage and towards his CO, who was staring at the scene in front of them, a hard look on his face. "We were supposed to die. Max was trying to kill us."
"So what do we do?" Roque asked.
"We can't go to the embassy," Clay said immediately, his mind already starting to work, though his words sounded a bit hollow. "We'll be framed for this. We'll be framed for everything."
"What do we do, Clay?" Roque said again more forcefully as Cougar lifted up from his crouch and replaced his hat on his head, moving closer so they could all hear their CO.
"We figure out a way to clear our names. But for now… we're dead to the rest of the world," he muttered, pulling his dog tags off of his neck, gesturing for the rest of his team to do the same. Roque pulled his off immediately, followed closely by Cougar. Pooch pulled his dog tags over his neck in order to take his wedding band off of the chain, before pulling the tag off and tossing it to Clay so he could put the band back on the chain and over his head.
Jensen pulled his dog tags off and stared at them a second, rubbing at the familiar etching of his name on the small piece of metal. His mind went immediately to his dad and the other Expendables back home. They were going to receive a visit from soldiers, carrying his dog tags and a folded up flag whenever the salvage team came and recovered the tags. He had no idea how they would react, but he knew it wouldn't be good. Guilt mixed in with the cold feeling in his chest and his throat tightened the slightest bit, knowing that he was going to be causing his family pain. But it had to be done. He was the last to hand his tags over to his CO before Clay tossed them into the fire.
"Let's move, Losers. We've got a long walk ahead of us."
