A/N Delayed due to working on big bang fic and Ezio Auditore's hot ass. Damn you AC2.

The avalanche in Salang Pass actually did happen this year, resulting in over 170 deaths. I exaggerate the amount of time they took to make repairs. Oh, and if anyone actually wants references for any of my bs I have loads. Have been working on this for a while and the scene was getting ridiculously long, so I've decided to break it up a little.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Afghanistan summer was either more sun than you could handle or filled with dust storms that could damn near scour the skin from your face. An early start to the day didn't save anyone from either of those things. Sokka felt the sweat already trickling down the small of his back under forty pounds of gear. Of the two options he'd go with hot and sunny, thanks.

If he was honest with himself, it felt good to be on active duty even if the conditions were shitastic. Felt good to be useful again. From the smallest tug of a smile that Zuko gave him whenever they caught each other's eye, it looked like Sokka was not the only one who was glad he was back.

Ignore the heat. Don't lose focus. The whole squad was out here frying their balls off because of him. It was his theory that got them stuck out on a glorified goat trail heading straight towards the ass end of nowhere; his theory that something big and bad was hiding where no one had thought to look.

There was no fucking way he would let them down.

In a way he was lucky their CO was a sensible kind of guy. There were plenty of commanders who would have blown off the ramblings of some bullshit private. The old man listened patiently as the evidence was laid out: the increased rate of attacks, a weird distribution in an area of no strategic value but Sokka had no 'why here? Why now?'

Or how about just 'why'.

Unsurprisingly their CO had access to the bigger picture to fill in some of the gaps. There wouldn't have been any troop movements through the area if the winter hadn't come to an end with a punishing blizzard. More than a dozen avalanches shut down miles of Salang Pass, sweeping vehicles off the mountain side in a lethal wall of white. The pass held a tunnel that the Soviets had carved into the Hindu Kush in the sixties. A vital artery of travel between the north and south had been cut as the army helped locals dig out their dead with shovels, spades and –more often-bare hands. It would be months before the army's corps of engineers would deem it safe as they struggled to make repairs, by necessity diverting all traffic.

Well, traffic of the motorized variety anyway. The Kuchi didn't seem to have a problem with their carts and beasts of burden, finding their own way on rugged road just as they had for millennia, making sure to keep clear of certain sections along the border with Pakistan to dodge the worst of the fighting as more and more of them fled the drought in the south.

More investigation was needed. Pictures off the satellites showed a scattered number of nomad camps and a flyover reported more goats than people. No. If they wanted to really get an idea of what was going on, they needed eyes on the ground and that was what infantry did best.

The plan was simple. Get in. Look around. Head back home. An easy place to start when you weren't really sure what you were dealing with. The location they targeted had been the biggest source of the attacks. What was worth protecting out here? No one would risk taking potshots if there wasn't something that needed defending.

They just needed to find out what it was.

So here they were. Scouting. Searching. The steep terrain was intimidating, snow still visible on the top of some of their highest jagged peaks. Their path was ringed with boulders that could have crushed their vehicles in a heartbeat, tons of rock tethered to the mountainside by the barest of threads.

The wind was picking up; bringing dust clouds that brought some small decrease in visibility. They were close now, coming to a halt as they approached a section of path that was too narrow for their sergeant's liking. Rough road with a steep drop to one side. Too close to the edge would send the vehicles tumbling into a narrow ravine.

Great spot for an ambush.

Armed with binoculars, Sokka walked close to the precipitous drop and scanned the hillside inch by inch. His heart quickened at the overwhelming feel of exposure. No trees, no nothing but them crammed in a bunch of rolling tin cans on the side of a mountain. His doubts were refreshed, worry picking them open like an old scab. If he was wrong, then they were out here for nothing. If he was right, then they were about to get into a shit spot with a big target on their backs.

Please. Please let him be wrong.

"See anything?" Zuko was at his shoulder, rifle at the ready.

It was comforting just to hear the other man breathe. "Nothing but a whole lot of rock… Wait-" A flash of something big and white caught Sokka's eye. What the hell? Why would that be out here all by itself? "I'm not seeing things, am I?" The question was not completely in jest.

He could hear Zuko shift restlessly beside him. "What is it?"

"Here. " The binoculars changed hands. "200 meters. Straight ahead."

Sokka was profoundly relieved by Zuko's puff of laughter.

"It's that ox that acts like a dog." Unconsciously Zuko took a step forward, getting a little too close to the edge for comfort. "Belongs to that Kuchi boy. Aang."

"That scruffy little kid with the monkey?" This totally caught Sokka off guard. "You remember his cow?"

"Cows are female. Oxen are usually male," Zuko corrected automatically, too intent on the creature. He flinched slightly as a hint of color washed over his face. "It ate my ice cream."

Swirls of dust didn't seem to bother the placid beast a bit as it scrounged for whatever grass it could find.

"I didn't see the kid anywhere." Zuko handed back the binoculars. "Did you?"

Sokka didn't get to answer before an alarm went up.

"Hey!" Sneers had a hint of panic in his voice as he called out from the rear of their convoy. "We got company behind us!"

Pop-pop-pop. Distant gunfire sprayed the rear of their position and the squad delivered a spray of bullets in return.

"Motherfucking god damn!" Their sergeant sprinted back to their vehicle, red faced as he bellowed his stream of obscenities. "Take cover! Get to the-"

Boom.

The explosion was close –almost at Zuko's feet- the force enough to put Sokka on his ass. Fucking RPGs. Thank god the dude was a shitty shot or the only thing left of the two of them would have been a bloody smear. Orders were already flying over the radio at his ear as he tried to sit up.

His hands.

His hands were tingling. Almost vibrating. Had he taken a hit?

Zuko scrambled up onto unsteady legs as he spat out a mouthful of dirt. "Where are they firing from?" The lack of response made him turn to Sokka in alarm. "You okay?"

Pushing himself up into a crouch, Sokka tried to reassess. A little beat up but pretty normal. What the fuck? He looked up bewildered only to zone in on a hint of movement just past Zuko's shoulder- a trickle of loose soil spilling down the canyon wall and it was growing in volume.

It wasn't his hands that had been doing the vibrating.

Panic gripped him by the throat.

Some perverse part of Sokka's mind fixated on how the beginning of a rock avalanche sounded like a thunderstorm. Kind of pretty in a terrifying way. The part of his mind that preferred not dying launched himself bodily at Zuko, straight up tackling him, hoping it was enough to get them out of the way.

They tumbled into the ravine in a tangle of limbs as the biggest part of the wave of stone missed them by inches. It was oddly reassuring to hear them both choking on the soot and soil because choking meant still alive.

Their sergeant's tinny voice was already bellowing over his radio as Zuko helped Sokka to his feet.

"Canyon 3-2 Alpha, Canyon 3-2 Bravo! One of you pigfuckers better give me a goddamned SITREP right now!"

It took a minute for the burning in his chest to stop enough for Sokka to answer. "Canyon 3-2 Alpha here. Bravo too. Banged up but no injuries." Tears and grit smeared across his face as he tried to clear his vision to see if they could-oh.

Fuck.

A few thousand pounds of rubble had filled the narrow pass, an instant barrier between them and their convoy. Zuko was already tearing at dirt with his bare hands, digging out what fallen gear they could salvage. Maybe if the pile wasn't too unstable they could try to climb-

Boom.

Another poorly aimed RPG, closer to the squad by the sound of it. The earth quaked ominously around them, this time the rumble going right to the bone.

The radio hissed as the sergeant barked at them. "Canyon 3-2 Alpha, this whole fucking mountain's gonna come down. Air support's gonna take too long to get here and we gotta fall back! Can you boys get to the recovery site? We'll regroup there."

Shit. This was the reason the army made plans, plans and more plans. Everyone knew things went wrong and they trained hard for it. If you got separated, you needed to find the recovery site. It was like playing tag- you had to get to your base. Except here if you were going to get tagged as 'it' it was very likely going to be by a bullet.

Looking to Zuko, the other man appeared just as shaken but still nodded in determination. Sokka tried to wet his lips but all he could taste was dust. "We're gonna have to, sir."

It was bizarre to hear the real time crackle of gunfire with its delayed echo over the radio. "Good luck, boys." The gruff ghost of a voice emerged from the speaker awkwardly, turning gentle. "We'll see you soon."

Survive.

Evade.

Resist.

Escape.

The words echoed in the minds of both soldiers. There was little choice but to head deeper into the canyon. The heat, the sun was close to unbearable. Wind tore at their clothes, sucking any spare moisture from their skin. Eyes searched and searched as they moved, hoping to spot danger before danger spotted them.

They held off on drinking until they were in desperate need of it. Water was a precious thing when you had no idea when you would next have your fill. After a cautious sip, Zuko held out his canteen. Sokka took it gratefully and glanced into the mouth of it to check its contents. Between the two of them they had another two days worth, maybe three if they were lucky. They would need every bit of it if they were going to get where they needed to be when on foot in hostile territory.

Three days. In three days, they'd-

Shit.

Zuko stepped closer when he saw the pain sweep across the other man's face. ""You have to actually drink the water for it to do any good, not just stare at it."

The canteen hung limply in Sokka's hands. A soft touch on the back of his wrist reminded him that he could ill afford to get lost in his thoughts. "My sister. She graduates this weekend. I didn't get a chance to call her before we left." Sokka couldn't bring himself to look up. "I thought it wasn't a big deal." The breath he drew hurt worse than any punch he had ever taken. "The mission was supposed to be over and done with by then and now we're-"

The hand on his turned into a vice. "And now we're heading back to the recovery site." Zuko's tone made it clear that that anything else Sokka might have been about to say was unacceptable. "We are going to be fine."

"Sure." Sokka nodded, trying to push his fears deep down. "I'll call her when we get back." He finally managed to swallow a few drops before they continued on their way .

Oh, look another AN.

Hopefully this was not too discordant and people are still interested in the plotline. If all you're looking for is the smutty bits, it'll be a while. They won't exactly be looking to bang each other's brains out while on the run.