Author's note: Here is the much anticipated Danger Close part II! Sorry it took about a week to come out where I said it was going to come out the next day! As you know the usual excuse, school/Marine Corps/friends excuse comes to play. Gomen! ., the most important thing is that is here. I am skipping another day of mandatory PT to do this, so be grateful! Lmao, I'm kidding but yeah! After this chapter, the next couple of ones will be pretty relaxed. That is, until shit hits the fan. You'll know why eventually! So Danger Close both Part I and II will have action to make up for the future relaxed chapters to come! It'll give the characters time to recouparate as you will see…they'll need it. Plus it also gives some time for our pairings to get well…paired up! So you lose something to gain something! But don't worry, our characters will be thrown right back into the shit once things start to stir up…especially with the evac at the Elementary School in four days. ^_^, enjoy! P.S.: Two things the polls are up for all those new readers! Don't forget to vote for your favorite character! There will be more added later on as the story progresses! Also, I changed my profile a bit it'll contain a spoiler for you guys since well...I love to tease you guys! Enjoy reading the profile if you guys get the chance. It's modeled after a wikipedia page how they describe information about a war. Why is that you ask? Read the profile after you guys review this story and find out. :p

P.S.: POOR JAMES! That's all I gotta say. If you wanna know how James looks like in the end with the cigarette and the thousand yard stare, just look up James Blake Miller who is iconicly known as the Marlboro Marine. I just realized...his name is James too and he's a Marine. That's ironic as fuck. lmao

Mission XIV: Danger Close (Part II)
Cpl. James Sullivan
1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, Bravo Co.
April 3rd, 2010 – 0845 hrs
Tokonosu, Japan

James Sullivan was on the move yet again, three jerry cans of diesel fuel in each hand and his M4 swung around his chest he made his way past the hordes of 'them'. Sometimes if one had gotten the best of him, he'd perhaps swing the jerry can at them to keep them at by but that wasn't really needed. He had the back up of his fellow MARSOC Bravo Company companions like Mayweather, Archer, and the Jamaican Staff Sergeant Thomas King from Alpha Company. But he couldn't forget about the liaison Recon Marine that the Gunny borrowed, Sgt. Rudy Reyes but everybody knows him as Fruity Rudy. With their watchful eye, any Charlie that didn't get bashed by James's gas can fury was knocked back three feet by the Jamaican's Barrett .50 cal and knocked down to the ground by Archer's M40A3's 7.62 rounds.

Turning corners, jumping craters caused by mortars, sliding against ruined car hoods, nothing would get in the way of saving his group from getting mortared.

"Almost there! Just wait for me…" He whispered to himself as he kept his sprint, but what changed his falter was hearing the whistle of the distant mortars. The loud booms and explosions were getting unnervingly closer. "Shit they started again!" James grunted as he felt himself lose wind and his speed decreasing.

Just as he said that, a mortar came crashing down a couple of meters away from James's position. Unfortunately, he was unlucky and it was pretty close. The force of the Danger Close explosion and jagged rocks was able to make the Marine fly back to the pavement with the jerry cans crashing all around him. James screamed in pure agony of being knocked down by such a massive force, but his screams were muted by not only the noise of the explosion but also by his ringing ears. He was sprawled all about on the cold bloody pavement, his helmet slipping off of his head and his mouth agape screaming breathless shrieks.

His chest hurt every time he tried to heave in a breath of the heavy, fetid air. The smell of blood was so thick in the smoky air; he could taste it in the back of his tongue. Combined with the attempt of opening his eyes to see his vision blurred and try to sit up, only to lose control of gravity, this all wanted to make the Marine puke up blood and what he ate earlier. But James held it in but he felt so weak. He couldn't get up, he could barely move, he felt like his dying. 'Oh god…is my legs still there! I'd kill myself if I got my legs blown up…' James wondered. He opened his eyes to see a blurred vision of his legs still there. Ashes and dust particles would fall on his face gently as he laid there so long. Weakly smiling he tried to sit up, only for another mortar to strike a couple of feet away from him. The force pushed him back from his spot a little, causing him to roll around.

"Fu-fuckin' hell…" James muttered as he stood up and tried to pick up the jerry cans and continue his suicidal run. His ears was ringing a piercing sound, only for that noise to spark up yet again when a distant mortar went off yet again nearby. Coughing and stumbling he'd pick up the cans and sluggishly walk towards the destination, until he tripped over a blown up piece of leg that must have belonged to a fallen soldier. Falling on his face and dropping the cans again, three more mortars went off around him within a distance. The noise was just too much for his ringing ears and his blurred vision, his weakened body, it was just too much to take

"Ahh…th-the pain! OH MY GOD!" He breathlessly screamed out as he rolled onto his back and hold his head. He felt as if he was going to explode from within; what he did notice when he looked up is that he was blown back to where he left his helmet. Grabbing onto it he held it for comfort and looked up at the sky and thought to himself since it hurt to talk.

'Is this how it feels to die?...I can't believe it…I'm going to die here. It's really the end…' James thought as he laid there. As James continued to lay there motionless, he'd nearly slip into unconsciousness with his lullabies being not a hum of a beautiful woman with a motherly touch but mortars.

With the explosions getting unnervingly closer to their humvee, everybody prepared for the worst. Takashi and Rei stayed quiet holding each other, Saya trying to sooth the fearful Alice even though she was deathly scared herself, Shizuka's head buried in the steering wheel. The only noise to break their silence was Zeke's barking. Kohta and Saeko were the only ones not willing to back down just because the odds were against them. Takashi were backing them too, but his only duties were with Rei, even if that meant dying in her arms in a Marine humvee from not a zombie's bite, but a stray mortar round.

"We need to prepare for the worst case scenario! What if he doesn't come back? What if he's already…" Saya muttered as she held Alice, even she's starting to believe with these explosions that the unstoppable super Marine was really dead.

"No, Sullivan-senpai can't be dead! He'll be here, I know it! We just gotta keep ourselves sharp that's all!" Kohta said shaking his head and clutching his fists. He knows that his hero can't die like this. Saeko stayed silent trying to think things through, they can't die here.

"Whether he's dead or alive, that doesn't matter right now. These mortars might kill us if we don't get that fuel. But we'll also be killed if we try to ditch the humvee. So we need to come up with something!" The femme fatale said finally, her too not wanting to believe that James would die like this. Someone else, possibly she'd rule out already dead on arrival. But not him, even though he is human like the rest of them but she just couldn't rule that as a possibility.

"So we're damned if we do and we're damned if we don't..." Kohta said as he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes before putting them back on.

The mortars would stop again but as soon as they stopped, so would the arrival of 'them'. Crawling on their bellies without legs and or hopping on just one limb, nothing would stop their need to feed. Their hungry moans almost inaudible from the sounds of mortars hitting a distant far out location, but the group can still hear it.

"Of all times…" Rei whispered as she picked her head up from Takashi's shoulder.

"Damn it…and we still got those mortars to worry about too?" Takashi reasoned with himself sucking his teeth trying to see all the possibilities that can happen with each action that can be taken into account. That strategizing went out of the window when Kohta without warning opened the top hatch and climbed up to the surface.

"Hirano-kun!" Saeko called out. But Kohta didn't listen, turning the M2 Browning .50 cal to the right side of the humvee where Charlie was gathering in numbers he aligned his sights on 'them'.

"For Sullivan-senpai…" Kohta said under his breath as he cocked the .50 cal's bolt back and tightened his grip on its handles, his thumb rested on its triggers, rubbing against its smooth metal surface. 'If Sullivan-senpai could risk his life for us, I could do the same for them too! Death before dishonor!' he thought as he pressed the triggers and let that .50 cal roar. It's large rounds flying towards the enemy, taking off 'their' arms, what's left of their legs, and decapitating their heads. Exit wounds were prominent as the rounds ripped through their bodies to the next unfortunate zombie behind it.

The rest of 'them' were all squashed by the Weapons Company's version of God's hand of judgment, as a mortar smashed down from the sky killing them all. As the rain of mortars continued once more, so did another wave of 'them' came with it approaching them from behind. Kohta with the only thing on his mind was the safety of his friends turned that .50 cal around to the rear of the humvee and pulled that bolt back and opened fire once more.

Kohta mowed 'them' down with extreme prejudice as the mortars assisted, but stray rocks flew towards him. Kohta instinctively took cover behind the metal plates that stood in front of the Browning that gave the gunner cover from incoming fire, once the rocks passed by he opened fire yet again.

"Kohta! The mortars are back, get in here!" Takashi yelled, but Kohta ignored him and continued firing. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

Kohta heard him plead to come back inside, but he silently refused as he pulled that bolt back and continued firing. Saeko was crawling towards Takashi till she looked out the window where three mortars hit and left a blanket of smoke, there emerged an individual carrying six jerry cans. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung agape, Saeko witnessed James with a cut up and bloodied stumbling about and trying his best to run towards them as stray mortar rounds explode nearby him, but that didn't stop his stride as he kept on running.

"It's him! James is alive and he has fuel!" Saeko yelled, everybody's attention was now drawn towards the window as they watched them approach the humvee. He was only 100 meters away, and was getting closer. One of the explosions that just went off caused him to lose his footing and made him slip and fall on his chest. Everybody in the humvee screamed and cheered him on to get up.

"C'mon! You're almost there, get up!" Saya yelled as she slapped the window.

James grunted and coughed as he used the jerry cans as support to stand back up and continue his run. As he stumbled about, two zombies came from his right and his left shuffled towards him. Takashi muttered the word fuck as he smacked Kohta's leg for attention.

"Hirano! Kill the two near James!" He ordered.

He nodded and swung the big gun towards James's direction but before he could pull the trigger, two distant simultaneous shots rang out; one was louder than the other one. One zombie went flying backwards five feet without a head while the other one just fell. The Scout Snipers were watching out for their boy.

Archer from his distant position with Mayweather scouting for him cocked his M40A3 back with another 7.62 round waiting for another shot. Mayweather smiled at the thought knowing James was still alive while Archer vocally proclaimed this.

"Heh, asshole down. C'mon, Sullivan…you're almost there. It's just us three left man…don't let Bravo Company die out. For Beckett…" Archer said as his finger rested on the trigger, remembering all of their fellow companions from Bravo Company die. Including the late Cpl. Johnny Beckett, it was now only Sullivan, Mayweather, and himself let of 1st MSOB Bravo co. Mayweather could feel that too, just a little bit more deeper than his younger shooter, but this wasn't the time for feeling. It was the time to not let James die here.

Rudy grinned and high fived King, he knew James wouldn't let himself just lie there and die. "I knew it! C'mon buddy, almost there man, you're almost there!"

"BULLET, CONNECT, KA-BOOM! Let's go, badman Sullivan! Ya almost there brethren! Ya got it!" King yelled out as he peered through the scope of his .50 cal.

James despite all of this kept on going, diving to the imaginary finish line towards the side of the humvee. Picking himself up, he'd bang on the door. Alice with her tears finally stopping clutched Zeke and tearfully smiles.

"Nii-san is here!"

"Takashi! Get out here and help refuel the humvee!" James tiredly yelled out, Takashi without saying a single thing jumped out of the humvee and ran around it. He looked down at James who sat against the back wheel, he watched him take his helmet off for a second to get all of the dirt and dust out of his hair. Not caring that his face got what he thought as 'tiny flesh wounds' from the jagged flying rocks, but obviously not tiny enough since his face from his cheek and forehead were pouring with blood. James's entire face was covered in dirt and his own blood as he caught his breath.

"Shit man, you're gonna be alright?" Takashi asked before picking up one of the cans and opening it. James nodded as he spat out some mucus and blood mixed saliva and wiped his mouth.

"Don't worry about me; just get this bitch movin' ASAP." James weakly grinned as he put a thumbs up, Takashi smirked and started unloading the fuel of the first can into the humvee.

"You selfless bastard."

James knowing he meant that in the most caring way replied back. "I love you too, you no balls gook."

As Takashi was now starting on the second can, Saeko and Shizuka ran out of the humvee to check up on James. Shizuka gasped at all the little open wounds that he had on his face.

"Oh my god, look at you! Are you alright?" The blond said as she knelt down to him and reached into her pocket pulling out a hankerchief, next she snatched the canteen that rested on his waist. Wetting the hankerchief she tried to clean his face from all the dirt and the blood, James squirmed around too much for her to do any sort of good job though.

"Gah…I'm fine…just let Takashi take care of the humvee. I gotta cover him!" He said trying to refuse her help, Shizuka being stubborn for the best of reasons not backing down when it comes to health would not take no for an answer.

"No you're not fine! Takashi can take care of himself, and Kohta-kun got us covered keeping 'them' at bay. Your face is going to get infected if I don't clean you up!" She said smacking his hands away from her and continues to rub her moist handkerchief on his wounds. Turning around to Saeko who stood there keeping an eye on them she remembered she needed her supplies so she can properly disinfected his wounds. "Busujima-san! Can you please get my medical bag? It's right next to my purse on the driver's seat!"

She nodded and ran back to the driver seat to retrieve it. But while she was gone, James was in his own thoughts. He sat there with his eyes as distant; those olive eyes of his were soulless. She's seen that look on his eyes before; it was the same look he had gotten when he killed those men in the Toys R Us with Kohta and Saeko. She saw his hands tremble and his face just placid. He wasn't the James Sullivan she knew sitting here.

"James?" Shizuka chirped

In the Marine's thoughts, were the sounds of AK-47 rounds zipping through the air, those mortars launching all over the place, bombs going off, men screaming, the numerous yells for a Corpsman, and the radio sparking to life. In his head, he was back in Afghanistan. The mountainous Taliban owned region of sin and death, the 'Stan is as real to him just as these mortars are. These mortars bring back memories when he was clearing rooms in a hut in Kandahar, there was a mortar team on the roof of that hut hitting his men of 1st Force Recon Company. His team went and looked for them, they found them. The constant screaming of the extremist, selfless, ultra-crazed zealots screaming the words 'Allahu Akbar' or just plain screaming the name of Allah as they took their lives or even tried to do a suicidal attack to the Force Recon Marines would always haunt him. They'd always be in his memories, it was almost no escape.

"James? Hey James!"

He suddenly answered snapping out of his trance and looked all around him and at her. Gulping his saliva he looked away from her blue eyes worrying about him and slowly breathes out.

"I said I'm fine…just go back into the humvee."

"Stop pushing me away! I'm not going to let you get hurt, whether it's the littlest wound or the most fatal. No one is getting hurt on my watch!"

Just when those words were uttered is when he heard that deadly whistle. Pushing Shizuka away, he'd scream out. "GET OUT OF HERE!"

Right when a stray mortar lands a couple of meters away from Takashi who was about to start the 4th can of fuel, James sprung up to action and leaped on the spiky haired leader protecting him from the barrage of shrapnel and jagged rocks because of his ballistic vest and his helmet that would cover the teenager. Thankfully the shrapnel flew by the two but James wasn't so lucky, he rolled off Takashi and gripped his leg tightly yelling in pain as he looked at a jagged rock as big as his hand was lodged in his upper thigh.

"AHH FUCK! CORPSMAN! CORPSMAN!" James instinctively yelled as he felt the warmth of his blood creep up on his hands, that desert MARPAT was becoming stained red as he laid there biting his lip back. "FUCK! MY LEG! MY FUCKIN' LEG!"

Takashi slowly stirred himself up, his ears were ringing and his vision a little blurry but he came too fast thanks to James cover but he saw the large wound on his leg. "Holy shit…"

Saeko and Shizuka responding to the call came to him and knelt down to the fallen Marine. "Busujima-san! Help me carry him to the other side of the humvee."

"Got it." She said as she picked up his legs while Shizuka swung her arms under his armpits. The two proceeded to carry him away from Takashi who slowly stood up trying to get his footing and his posture back that the mortar stole from him. James didn't take this well as he weakly squirmed in their grip.

"I'm fine, let me go! LET ME THE FUCK GO! I can still fight, sir! I can still fight! Don't take me out of the fight!" James yelled as he sprawled around in their arms, his eyes were closed and his shivers were more prominent.

"James what are you talking about? You're hurt and we need you away from Takashi so we can get out of here." Saeko said as he continued to mutter out more ridiculous things, Shizuka kept a close eye on him as he continued to talk.

"Lieutenant Miller! I'm fine, my boys need me! Let me go back! I'm no use over here, I don't give a shit if my arm and leg gets blown up! I'm gonna go help my boys whether you like it or not! Semper Fuckin' Fi, sir! Don't you know what that means? Now let me go back!"

Saeko was just amazed at this as the two put him down; he instantly gripped his leg and went into a fetal position. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"So I was right…" Shizuka said as she went into her bag and dug out the appropriate medical supplies for the job. "He's like Kohta."

Saeko looked up at the blond not getting it. "What do you mean?" She asked as she removed his helmet and laid him down on her lap, the purple haired warrior looked down as he was sweating up a storm and whimpering in her arms.

"Remember when Kohta had to kill that young officer back at the mall? Don't you remember how it affected him?" That's when all the pieces came together as she looked back at James's eyes opening slowly, he had the stare. Saeko had realized what she was talking about. Those eyes that James now wielded were the coveted Thousand-yard stare. That jade limp, unfocused gaze in the darkened skies spoke to her. James's battle-weary, dirt smeared, bloodied face didn't mean anything since those soulless eyes that were despondent from what's going on around them. She remembered those eyes because her father had them too.

"The thousand-yard stare…" Saeko muttered.

Shizuka nodded as she looked at him. "Yep, I think he has a minor PTSD condition…"

Saeko frowned as James shivered in her arms; she held him tighter and brushed his brunette locks back. "Is there anything we can do for him?"

"Besides take care of the problem at hand, that being the rock in his leg? Yes, but that is for later. For now this is more important!" She said as she slid gloves on and gripped the rock after prepping the wound for extraction. "Alright, James…I need you to be strong for me okay?"

James weakly nodded and grabbed Saeko's hand, the violet haired woman looked down at her Devil Dog and bit down on her lip. James's closed his eyes and bit his lip too, prepping himself for the inevitable pain.

"FUCKING SHIT! GAHHH, SON OF A BITCH! FUCK!" James screamed loudly as she struggled to pull the rock out of him. But that hurt came as soon as it left as Shizuka pulled that long piece of rock out of his leg and instantly began dressing his wound.

"DONE! Alright let's go, get James in the front seat! We're out of here!"Takashi suddenly yelled as he closed the fuel hatch and got in the car. The two women nodded and picked up their Marine putting him in the front seat, now that he was in everybody got in the humvee.

"Is he going to be okay?" Rei asked.

"Yeah, he'll be okay! Marikawa-sensei, step on it!" Takashi ordered.

With that said, they started the engine and drove off. Right behind them a mortar struck their previous location; any longer there they would have been dead. Escaping the clutches of death made them all not only appreciate life but also laugh at themselves.

"I can't believe we got out of that cluster fuck alive." Saya said as she wiped her brow.

"Hey Saya? What happened to the language barrier eh?" Takashi teasing, Saya just realized this and covered her mouth. Punching the spiky haired leader she'd turn around.

"Shut the heck up, you idiot!"

As they all conversed, Saeko noticed that James was still in his own little world. The Marine rested against that seat, his helmet not even slung on tightly with its straps hanging loosely by his face and gently holding onto his M4 while smoking a cigarette or rather letting the cigarette just hang on his lips. His dirt-smeared and dried blood still prominent, and that thousand-yard stare looking at the now cloudy skies as they rode on the highway leaving Tokonosu and on the route to Okinawa. Cpl. James Sullivan represented a paper copy of the 'Marlboro Marine' picture that everybody knows about so closely it wasn't even funny.

Saeko placed her hand on his lap which shook him out of his world and brought him back to reality. He turned around to face her with that cigarette still hanging in his lips. "Hey…"

"Hey."

That was the only exchange that the two warriors had with each other as they stared into each other's eyes, one still having a soul while the other one ripped out from his being. They stared in silence till Saeko mouthed out the words are you okay. He nodded along with a tiny smile, which gave Saeko enough hope to think he'll make it. She smiled back and leaned back to relax herself and watch the road.

Takashi stretched and yawned; he stopped when Rei laid herself on his lap and took a nap. Smiling he looked at everyone in the humvee before turning his attention to the road.

'It's over…it's finally over. We're done fighting, for how long? Who knows? All I know is that we're going to a safe haven where we can be among other people like us. Other humans who survived this outbreak, both military and normal Average Joes like us.' Takashi thought as he played with Rei's stray bangs and looked back at the road. 'Who knows? We actually might have ourselves a normal four days where we can actually recuperate, rest up, and relax as normal people for these four days. Then it's back to the shit…but hey, at least after that it can all finally end. We'll be reunited with our parents and evacuated out of this hell. I wonder where though? As long as it's far away from Tokonosu, I'll be fine. Because Tokonosu, is no longer a place where I can call home. Perhaps till we get evacuated…Camp Hansen will be our home? It'll have to be if we're going to be surrounded by thousands of Marines and soldiers. You know what? I take that back…we're going to be far from normal if we're going to be surrounded by people who are just like James.'

Thinking about things like that gave Takashi the need to chuckle, Rei snuggled close to his lap and yawned. 'But hey…normal is overrated. It's going to be a crazy ass four days…that I know for sure. The only thing left to do is just watch the world burn…'

x—Devil May Cry