She couldn't pick out any of the action through her scope. It was infuriating her. She figured that the guys they were up against must have been good because they had figured them out so quickly and kept the fighting within the trees. For as much as it made her angry, it also scared her beyond anything she ever expected.
All of the people out there fighting them were people she cared about. If she lost a single one of them, she wasn't sure what she would do. If she lost a single one of them without even trying to help… That would be a million times worse.
"Toll, Luna," she said into her earpiece, cringing slightly at the static.
There were a few garbled sounds that she couldn't fathom into words. She groaned and pressed her hands to her forehead where she was laying on her stomach.
Despite all of her anger and sadness towards Lee, she was hit in the chest with a sudden panic and despair at the thought of him fighting somewhere she couldn't see him. He hadn't responded- none of them had- and she had the sudden sickening feeling that he wasn't okay. All of those gunshots she was hearing, what if they were just bullets tearing through him? What if the last moments they ever shared together had been in anger? What was the last thing she said to him?
The only person I could ever kill is myself, right?
She felt suddenly nauseous at returning to that first fight all over again. Was that really how it would end? It couldn't be. It wouldn't, not if she had anything to do with it. She straightened her rifle and squinted through the scope, steadying her breathing so that she was totally still. If she focused hard enough, she could pretend she was back at the shooting range at basic with Bee cheering her on from behind.
—-
"Damn, Sammy," she whooped, tossing her fist into the air. "That does it! That makes you the best in our class!"
Sammy chuckled and collected herself, dusted off her uniform pants. She smiled shyly at all the attention she was suddenly getting.
"Where the hell did you come from, girl?" One of the guys asked, crossing his arms over his chest while a wide smile spread across his cheeks.
"New Orleans," she shrugged, accepting the bottle of water Bee handed towards her. "New York before that."
"Oh shit, city?" He asked.
Sammy laughed.
"No, upstate," she said.
"Now if only you could get those scores in hand-to-hand," Bee sniped, wrapping an arm around Sammy's neck and looking up at her. "Then you'd be just about unstoppable."
"Who says my scores are bad?" Sammy asked, faking disbelief but not pulling away. She welcomed Bee's affection. It filled some kind of hole within her that was left from the aching, rotting hurt of Lee not showing up to say goodbye when all of his friends had- friends that he introduced her to.
"Ain't bad," Bee shrugged, punching Sammy's shoulder and pulling back. "But none of the greats ever got anywhere by being average."
"Not true!" Sammy laughed, shaking her head.
"Oh I forgot," Bee teased, "we got little Miss. College Educated here. Tell me, Sammy, who on earth was ever great and average?"
"Um," Sammy started, racking her brain, "Einstein didn't do well in school, but he was brilliant."
"Einstein does not count!" Bee howled, throwing her head back in laughter. "The man came up with relativity or whatever! That ain't average in anybody's book."
"Fine, I digress," Sammy said, flushing as she glanced around at her audience. "We should clean up."
"Yeah, alright," Bee said. "Mind your business, boys! Sammy here has got some work to do."
Sammy chuckled to herself and turned to collect her rifle. She glanced out at the target in the field. It had been a good shot. A really good shot. She hoped she'd be able to make it count if she ever needed to.
—-
"The only person I could ever kill is myself," Sammy whispered, tugging the earpiece from her ear and chucking it off to the side. She readjusted herself on the ground and began to scan the tree line. Gunfire was popping off in the distance, sharp little bombs exploding in the air. She hoped that they weren't exploding in her team's flesh. Or in the flesh of the Expendables. She knew they were good and didn't need her worry, but they had it anyway. They always would. She was one of them now. She was one of them from the second Lee came into her life.
She kept slowly scanning the tree line until she saw a flash of movement and paused. That same fear that she would end up alone washed over her and she faltered for a second, wondering what she would do if she couldn't find them. She tried not to let herself think about it.
Angel sprinted out from the trees and glanced over her shoulder. Sammy stiffened, setting her line of sight on the spot from where she just came. Who had she been with?
Bones, Angel, Lee.
Sammy felt her mouth go dry. Why was Angel alone? Why was she running?
She didn't have much time to panic over the options when a group of men came running out of the tree line after Angel. Sammy didn't hesitate to line up a shot, and with a sharp exhale, she fired.
And Sammy never missed.
This profession requires selling your soul.
She watched the body lurch and then fold over onto the ground, limp and heavy. She pushed it from her mind and reloaded, turning the scope onto the others. Another shot, another man down. Just like that.
It was too easy to have the power to take a life.
When Sammy looked again, two men were gaining ground on Angel. She was bracing herself for a fight. Sammy let the gun drop in front of her and squinted down at the scene, trying to make out what was happening- they were the only ones visible in the opening, and that had to be why Angel lead them there. They were near the cliffs edge, and Angel looked winded as she lunged forward to try and take both of the much bigger men down. Sammy held her breath.
It only took her a second to make her decision.
She stripped off her excess gear and scooted towards the edge of her peak. Her boots scraped against the pebbles and mud and she gave herself a push, and suddenly she was sliding down the side of the hill, gaining speed. She tried to control it with the heels of her boots and butts of her palms but gravity was winning.
She reached the bottom with a thump and collapsed forward, bracing her hands against the ground near her shoulders to take stock before she threw herself up to her feet. Nothing felt broken. Her heart was beating fast, pounding, and she looked up to see the men besting Angel. She heard her scream, a shrill deathly croak that made it clear she was in real danger. Sammy pushed herself to her feet and sprinted full force towards the fight. At least she'd have the element of surprise.
She pulled a throwing knife from her holster and threw it once she got close enough. It lodged into one of the guys backs and he stumbled, losing his grip on Angel just enough for her to wiggle her legs free and kick him in the chin. He fell backwards onto the knife with a shout, and Sammy could see the blood foaming at his mouth and dripping down his chin.
"Angel!" Sammy yelled, pulling another knife and running.
Angel glanced over and the man behind her lifted her up and slammed her into the ground. She let out a broken cry and Sammy hurried forward, the speed catching in her hair. She saw him pull his gun, but something in her mind told her to just keep going. He fired a shot and she felt it narrowly miss her. He fired another shot and she leapt forward, grabbing at his gun and urging it upwards. He was strong than her. Bigger than her. His face was twisted into a sickening, soulless snarl.
She slammed her knee up into his groin and he grunted, loosening his grip ever so slightly. He fired off another shot into the air and the noise sent a ringing through Sammy's ears. She flinched and gripped the gun, yanking it one way while she forced his wrist in the other. She heard the snap more than she felt it, and the gun fell from his hand as he bumbled backwards and away from her. She held the gun up and fired a shot, catching him in the shoulder. She pulled the trigger again but it just clicked. Empty. She huffed and tossed it aside.
"Angel," she said, scrambling towards her teammate. "Angel, are you alright?"
Angel wiped some blood from her nose with the back of her hand and looked up at Sammy. Her eyes looked sad. Hopeless. Sammy felt the panic rise in her chest and the vomit rise in her throat. She'd just killed four people.
Four.
Toll had been right about having to sell her soul. She'd sold it to the first bidder and set it free without even thinking about it. Now it was cold within her, like her body was just a shell. A husk. A casket. She was thrust back into the memory of waking up in the freezing shower in Gunner's arms before Lee pulled her out. That was how it had felt to narrowly escape death. To wake up and realize she had failed to die. It hadn't even felt so numb when Riley died; that was just pain set to ten.
"Angel, what-"
She was interrupted by the big man yanking her back by her hair. Angel's eyes widened and she threw herself forward while Sammy shrieked and flailed, trying desperately to get free. She could feel his sticky warm blood getting all over her, could feel the wheezes in his every breath as he moved. He was on his last leg and he knew it. He didn't plan on getting out alive, he just didn't intend on going out alone. And he had Sammy in his hands.
"Angel!" She yelled again, but this time there was terror, and she realized that she didn't want to die.
Sammy didn't want to die. Not anymore.
Angel pulled out a sharp blade and lunged forward, hanging onto Sammy's arm as she was pulled and forced backwards. In one swift move she slammed the blade down on the man's hand, eliciting a low wailing keen from him. Sammy heard her hair get chopped and she fell hard against the ground on her back, her scalp burning from the pain.
"Sorry," Angel said, looking back at her as she pushed the guy down onto his back on the ground.
Sammy got to her feet and turned slowly. A huge chunk of her hair was in a puddle of blood in the dirt, along with a few severed fingers. She felt the warm rush of nausea wash over her and she pressed a shaking hand to her mouth.
"It's alright," Angel said, limping over to her and grabbing her shoulder. "It's alright. It was you or him. Them or me. It's alright."
Sammy shook her head. Tears were welling in her eyes.
"Hey," Angel tried, searching her eyes, "I can fix your hair. I know it's choppy right now, but-"
Sammy pushed her away and turned from the bloody mess, but when she opened her eyes she saw the trail of bodies they had left behind them. More specifically, that Sammy had left behind her. She felt dizzy.
"Sammy, talk to me," Angel said, hurrying around her to look her in the eyes again. "What are you thinking? Let it out."
"I'm thinking that-" Sammy tried, swallowing back her urge to vomit. "I'm thinking that I just killed these people and I don't feel anything."
Angel blinked. That had not been what she expected.
"Well," she tried, wiping some blood from Sammy's brow. "They weren't good people, and they would've killed me."
Sammy closed her eyes and sniffed. She felt so numb. She was flying high on adrenaline and couldn't shake the emptiness it created. It made her chest feel cold and heavy and hollow.
"Where-" she said suddenly, snapping her eyes back open and searching Angel's face. "Where's-"
Angel looked her up and down and sighed, took a step back.
"Where's Lee?" She asked.
Sammy nodded. She needed to know. Angry or not, together or not, Sammy loved Lee. If he had died, or gotten hurt, or taken, or anything… she knew she would break. She would break harder than when she had lost Riley. At least she had a soul to fall back on then.
"And Bones," Sammy added. A flash of pain sailed across Angel's eyes and Sammy felt like it wasn't good. She glanced to Angel's ear and saw that her ear piece was missing, too. There must have been some kind of interference if it was bad on all ends.
"I don't know," Angel said. She tried to hold her sharp features together, but they drooped and sagged with the weight of unknowing. Sammy took a numb step forward and reached out, and Angel did the same. They fell into each other and Angel let a few tears slip from her eyes, carving paths into the dirt and blood of her cheeks.
"I don't know," she said again.
Sammy understood. Not knowing was worse than knowing. She remembered that feeling well.
And there it was again.
—-
The line went static and Captain cursed. Maggie and Barney watched her, cringing at the sound in their own ears until Cap tossed her ear piece and turned to them. Barney and Maggie did the same.
"We got trouble," Cap said. "I hope she holds her goddamn fire."
They looked back to the group in the opening. She watched one of the men place a gun at the back of another mans head. She'd have to act fast if she was gonna save any of the hostages. She'd have to make her move-
The sound of automatic gunfire drew her attention away from the hostage, so she missed the shot that earned him a shallow grave in the field. Barney tugged her down to the ground besides him and Maggie and shook his head, looking around.
"Yeah, I think you've been made," he said.
"Us?" Captain hissed, glancing over to Maggie. "You! You did this!"
"I've done my fair share of stealth missions," Barney grumbled.
"Yeah, and you couldn't even sneak into our makeshift fortress without getting caught. I have a feeling you like to rely on brute force," Cap said.
Barney rolled his eyes. So what if it was true? It hadn't failed him before.
Well, not usually.
"Shooting's getting louder," Maggie said, drawing their attention back to the issue at hand. "We need to regroup. We can't take them all in pods like this."
Cap thought for a second. She knew Maggie was right. They had lost the element of surprise, if they ever really even had it, so taking them out one at a time was a no-go. Barney seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"Alright," he said. "I know my guys. Lee is gonna be raising hell looking for Sammy, so if we find her, we'll find him."
"Yeah, and Bones is with him."
"She your second?" Barney asked.
"Yes," Cap said. They locked eyes for a long moment. They didn't need many words to understand what each other was thinking. Maggie looked between them both, one eyebrow raised.
"So we go for Sammy. They'll all figure to meet at her location because of Lee."
Maggie and Cap nodded. They all stood and readied their weapons, rushing off towards the hill where Sammy, Toll, and Luna would be waiting and watching from up high.
"This isn't right," Cap muttered.
"'Course it isn't," Barney said.
"No, I mean-" she tried, glancing back at him. "I mean that they were too prepared for this."
Barney frowned. "You think they had inside information?"
"I can't be sure."
"Doesn't matter right now," she said with a sigh. "Let's just get the hell out of here before someone gets hurt."
Barney grunted his assent. Maggie nodded. It really would not bode well for Major James if information on their very first mission had been leaked.
—-
When the shooting started, Yang stopped short and Gunner ran right into him, knocking him forward a few steps. Caesar grabbed him by his upper arm and kept him face-planting into the dirt.
They each shared a look and Yang tugged his arm away from Caesar with a frown.
"Watch where you are walking, giant," Yang said. Gunner rolled his eyes.
"That definitely does not sound good," Caesar said, tightening his grip on his shotgun.
"Hey, Barney," Gunner tried, holding onto his ear piece. "Captain. Bones. Toll."
Nobody answered. After a second, the fuzzy screech sounded off in their ears and they each pulled them out and dropped them. Caesar twisted his finger in his ear and grimaced.
"We should go back," Yang said, looking between the bigger men.
"I think he's right," Caesar started. "See if we can find any of them and find out what the hell is going on."
Gunner frowned, his brows resting heavily over his eyes. The shooting was distant, the noise ricocheting off the trees and bouncing around them.
"What is your problem?" Yang asked.
"I think he's forming a thought," Caesar chided, shaking his head. Gunner looked up at him through lidded eyes and grunted.
"They're all gonna go for Sammy," he said. "Lee won't leave without her. So they'll all try to meet up on the hill."
Caesar and Yang shared a look and shrugged.
"Alright, man," Caesar said. "We head towards Sammy. If we get shot, it's your ass, though."
"Yeah, yeah," Gunner grunted.
"Keep up, slow pokes," Yang said over his shoulder.
"How the hell does he move so fast with those tiny legs?" Caesar asked.
"No muscle," Gunner suggested. He made a fist and folded his arm, showing off his Expendables tattoo as he tensed his muscles. Caesar chuckled. Yang ignored them. They continued back down their path towards the hill where Sammy would be waiting with Toll, Luna, and her sniper rifle.
—-
Angel looked over at Bones and shook her head. She knew exactly what Bones was thinking, but before she could steer the conversation onto something unrelated, she had already spoken up.
"So, Lee," Bones said.
Lee grunted, glancing at her through his scowl. She widened her smile and skipped up beside him.
"You and Sammy. You really must-"
"I don't want to talk about it," Lee said, focusing his eyes on the path ahead of him. Since Sammy had walked out he had been panicking. This was what Barney had meant; if Lee had just supported her, maybe neither of them would be in this situation to begin with. Maybe she would've had her fun and moved on by now. Maybe she would've been paired up with him where he could protect her. He was kicking himself for being such a hard-headed jerk, but what could he do? It was all done. He had said what he said. Sammy had made her choice. She turned away from him. His heart felt broken. He wasn't much of a poet, but he also wasn't sure how else to explain the crippling feeling in his chest. It had to be heartbreak. It had to be what he was trying to avoid all along.
"Hmm," Bones hummed, ignoring Angel's burning glare. "I can see it."
Lee glanced sidelong at her and then shook his head. He really wasn't in the mood to talk about feelings anymore. He decided he'd just bite his tongue and let her go on about whatever she wanted to until she shut up.
"You know, she seemed pretty broken up when we first left-"
"Bones!" Angel said suddenly, eyes wide.
"Hey, I'm just being honest," Bones said defensively. "And I thought he'd like to know."
Angel was irritated because they had all heard the fight Sammy and Lee had not long before. She felt for both of them even though she couldn't imagine the situation they were in. She knew what it felt like to want to protect somebody so badly that it nearly broke her. She looked up at Bones again and sighed.
"And you look down right damaged," Bones added, cocking her head to try and catch Lee's attention. He was good at ignoring things he didn't want to see, though.
Bones clicked her tongue and turned her attention ahead of her again. She wasn't about to give up. Angel could sense this.
"I just feel bad for you is all," she continued with a shrug. "I don't think you're the bad guy."
This got Lee's attention. He raised a brow and spared her a glance.
"You don't?" He asked.
"Well, I don't think you did a great job either," Bones said. "But sometimes people get angry, or they get scared of saying how they really feel, and they do something stupid…"
Angel was watching her carefully with her jaw set firm and her eyes glazed over. After a few seconds with no protests from either of them, Bones went on.
"I wasn't there. I won't judge. Plus, you came all the way here, so that either means you really didn't wanna lose her and couldn't wait, or you just don't trust her to keep herself alive."
Lee scoffed. Bones waited patiently for his response.
"Maybe both," he said, his voice low.
"Hm," she hummed, nodding. "Maybe both."
"Or maybe you just don't know how to relinquish control," Angel said suddenly, waltzing ahead of them and flicking her hair over her shoulder. "Life and death are two things nobody has any say over. The sooner you accept that, the easier it is to just get on with things."
Lee looked down to the ground as they walked. Was it possible for it to be all of the above? The issue was so complicated, but the simple version was that he was so afraid of losing Sammy. Controlling her would just make her resentful, and he probably would end up hating it too. So maybe Angel was right. He was a bladesmen for a reason, after all: knives were reliable. Guns could misfire, the aim could be off just enough to spare a life that needed to be taken, and they could be bulky. Knives were better because he controlled their every movement. Every twitch of his muscles would tell the blade what to do. Every breath would be an order.
"Listen, Lee-" Bones tried, but the static in her ears made her flinch and yank the earpiece out before she could finish her sentence. Lee and Angel did the same, dropping the earpiece to the ground like it was hot.
"What the hell-"
Lee snapped his head up and felt that cold, tingling fear rise in his chest. He didn't know where Sammy was. Sure, Toll would do anything to keep her safe, he knew that. He figured Luna would do the same. They were all cut from the same cloth. But that didn't change the fact that Lee heard gunshots and knew that Sammy was out there where he couldn't see her.
Then a shot whizzed by his ear and he grabbed Angel, hurling her to the ground at his side. He covered her as the shots rained down on them. He heard a strangled grunt and Angel fought against his grasp, pushing his chest away from her as she scrambled to her knees.
Bones was pulling herself behind a fallen tree and clutching her shoulder. Blood had sprayed up towards her face and decorated her skin in a red gradient.
"Bones!" Angel yelled, getting up and sprinting towards her. She slid down to her knees and pressed her hands against the wound. "Bones, are you alright?"
"Don't-" Bones said, hissing against the pain. "Ah, don't worry about me. Get out of here."
"Are you crazy?" Angel asked. "No!"
Lee dropped himself beside them both and heaved a sigh. Bullets were hitting all around them and he knew they needed to move.
"Angel, find Sammy," he said, locking his eyes with hers.
"What-"
"I've got Bones. You get Sammy."
They shared a long look before Angel nodded. She turned back to bones and cupped her cheek, tears beading in her eyes as the blood transferred to her palms.
"Stay alive, understand?" She said.
"Yes ma'am," Bones grunted, but her face was growing more pale by the second. She watched Angel's every movement carefully and sighed as she pulled away and turned to run in the direction of Sammy. She disappeared into the jungle and it was just her and Lee.
"We're not gonna die here," Lee said. "This isn't it."
"Of course not," Bones said. "But it hurts like hell, so if you've got an idea-"
"I'll carry you," he said.
"I got shot in the shoulder, not in the leg," Bones argued. "And I've been shot before."
"You're bleeding out fast. Last thing we need is you passing out and leaving me with all your dead weight to drag around."
Bones rolled her eyes. "If I get woozy, I'll let you have me."
Lee shook his head but hummed his response regardless. He reached into his pack for his first aid kit and pulled out as much gauze as he could reach.
"Don't scream," he said, glancing up to meet her eyes briefly. She nodded, studying his face for a second before she looked to the sky. He jammed the gauze into the wound and she lifted up her arm to bite down on it. Her breathing became heavy and sporadic as Lee packed the wound. He pressed his lips together and tried to work fast, wrapping the gauze around her chest and upper arm. The blood was already seeping through, but there was nothing he could do about that.
"Fuck, are you done?" She cried, throwing her head back.
"Alright, done," he said, holding up his hands in surrender. "We need to watch that for infection. And there's no exit wound."
"Yeah, I know," Bones snapped, wrapping her good arm around herself. "Dammit."
"We have to move," Lee said, glancing over his shoulder. "They're gonna be on top of us soon."
"To Sammy?"
Lee nodded, helping her stand and gripping her hand tight. He pulled a knife from his holster and held it firm.
"To Sammy," he said.
The shooting was getting louder. They took off at a sprint. Bones' breathing was heavy and labored, but she stayed upright and did her best to match Lee's pace. He was pretty fast. Maybe that was because there were a bunch of guys with guns behind them, or maybe it was because Sammy was somewhere ahead of them. Maybe it was both. She hoped Angel was alright. She needed Angel to be alright.
If Angel made it out of this mess then getting shot wouldn't be for nothing. Hell, if she died and Angel lived, that'd be okay with her. She didn't know how to explain that to anybody, and she was afraid to. The last person she had loved this much had cost her her entire career.
And she hadn't even loved her back.
—-
"Angel, what happened to Bones and Lee?" Sammy asked, pulling back from her arms and looking her over. "Did they get hurt?"
Angel swallowed and shook her head. "Just Bones. She- she got shot."
Sammy nodded, slightly ashamed of the relief that she immediately felt.
"Alright, what do we do?" She asked, shaking loose her chopped hair and noting how light it felt. The breeze hit her neck and sent chills down her spine.
"Find them. We have to find them."
"Alright, but they could be anywhere right now," Sammy said.
"They're all gonna be looking for you," Angel said. "Because Lee is gonna move heaven and earth to keep you safe because he's so damn in love with you that it's disgusting."
Sammy blinked. She didn't realize that she was the beacon amidst whatever battle was happening.
"Well, they're not gonna find me on the hill," she said.
"They'll find each other," Angel said. "That's what matters. Come on-"
She turned to pull Sammy along towards the tree line when another group of the militia men came out, brandishing their big guns with cloths tied over their mouths and noses. They took aim and Angel only had one second to react. She yanked Sammy down and they rolled over each other as the bullets sprayed.
"Angel!" Sammy shrieked, pulling her hand back and seeing bright red blood.
"I'm fine!" Angel yelled, though in truth she didn't even know where she'd been shot. The adrenaline was pumping a bit too fast to feel any sort of pain.
"Where do we go?" Sammy yelled over the noise, holding onto Angel as though letting go would mean certain death.
Angel swallowed. They men were getting closer. The bullets were bouncing off the ground around them. She sighed.
"Can you swim?" She asked.
"What?"
"I said, can you swim?"
Sammy furrowed her brows. Then she was reminded of the rushing river below them, just off the cliffside. The sound of the water was suddenly louder, more menacing, and calling out their names.
"Yeah," she said. "I can swim."
Angel nodded. "Then let's go for a dive."
They both stood and held hands, sprinting towards the edge of the cliff as the bullets whizzed by their heads. Sammy didn't have any time to think about it. The drop was far and she knew it would hurt, but they leapt off with reckless abandon, dropping below the storm of bullets and exchanging one gruesome fate for another.
—-
It didn't take long for Toll and Luna to run into Lee and Bones.
"Christmas!" Toll yelled, holding up his gun and shooting a few of the guys coming up on their rear.
"Toll, it's good to see you," Lee said, wiping his forehead. "We've got a bullet to the shoulder. I'm good."
"Where's Angel?" Luna asked.
That's when the realization hit him. Toll and Luna were supposed to be with Sammy. His eyes went dark and cold and he scanned Toll's face.
"Where is she?" Lee asked, shaking his head. "Toll, where is she?"
The hurt and pain and anxiety were pushing through into his voice more than he had ever let it before. The tears were stinging at his eyes and he suddenly couldn't breathe. He felt like he had to run or fight or throw himself off a cliff. He wasn't sure which was best.
"Relax," Toll tried. "She's at her perch. She's safe. Come on, I'll take you."
Lee had to admit that he didn't feel much better. He glanced over at Bones and she nodded.
"We sent Angel ahead," Bones said.
Luna blinked, confused.
"We didn't see her."
Bones bit her lip. Angel would be fine. She always was. That's why she was so good at her job.
"Come on, let's move," Lee said gruffly, shouldering passed the rest of them, his eyes set towards the hill.
Toll shrugged and turned to follow, and Bones did her best to keep up. Luna took the rear, her gun drawn and ready to fire, and she had a strange feeling about all of this. The mission had gone sideways a bit too fast for her liking. She figured a word with the Major would be well deserved if they made it out of there alive.
If, she thought.
Lee paused as he saw the top of the hill and realized that Sammy wasn't there. Her gun was, but she was nowhere to be found. The only way down was the way they came up, unless she had gone and climbed down the edge. He felt that panic creep up on him again and he swallowed before taking off at a sprint to the top of Sammy's designated perch.
"Sammy!" He yelled, spinning around to try and find her. "Sammy!"
There was no response. He dropped his knife back into its holster and ran his hands over the top of his head, his chest rising and falling sporadically. It was too much. He felt like he was dying.
"She was right here-" Toll tried.
Lee looked up at him and bounded towards him, fist drawn and ready to fight. Luna leapt in between them and grabbed his fist, urging him back.
"Lee!" She yelled, pushing against him. "This isn't gonna get us anywhere! Stop!"
He stumbled backwards and tried to catch his breath. He had felt this dread before, when he saw Sammy's lifeless little frame in Gunner's arms in that shower. That dread had only lasted for a moment, but it was constant now, flowing through his veins.
"I can't- where is she?" He asked, struggling for his breath.
"Maybe Angel found her," Bones tried, grunting and dropping herself next to the gun.
"We can't panic," Toll said. "Lee, you need to breathe. It's gonna be alright, brother."
Lee shook his head and grunted. He didn't have the energy to argue. He just wanted to be warm in Sammy's bed with some steaming tea on the nightstand and Sammy in his arms. He wanted to watch old movies and eat mediocre Chinese food and watch her laugh when she didn't know he was looking. The thought of never being able to do that again made him nauseous.
Gunner, Yang, and Caesar stumbled over the lip of the hill then.
"Thank god!" Caesar bellowed, hurrying over and slapping Toll on the back. "Gunner, you were right, man."
"Of course I'm right. I went to MIT, remember?"
Caesar rolled his eyes and Gunner chuckled.
"Where's Sammy?" Gunner asked, scanning the small crowd. "Lee?"
"I don't know," Lee said, and he felt sick. He sunk to the ground next to Bones and held his head in his hands. What if them being found out really was his fault? What if trying to make things right had made them go so, so wrong?
What if he had cost Sammy her life?
Barney, Captain, and Maggie hurried up the hill and met them. They were sweating and grumpy, holding their guns tight in their hands. Barney's hair was sticking to his forehead and his face was set in a tight scowl.
"What the hell happened?" He asked.
"We don't know," Luna said.
"Who are we missing?" Captain asked, looking over the group before her.
"Angel," Bones said, glancing at Lee. "And Sammy."
Cap tightened her jaw and shared a fleeting glance with Barney. She opened her mouth to speak but more gunshots sounded off right on top of them and she flinched, looking around with her gun up and ready.
Bones pulled her handgun from its holster with her good arm and looked around.
"Down there," she called out.
"What are they-"
"Oh god," Bones said, struggling to stand. "Angel! Angel!"
Lee stood and gripped her arm, holding her back from the steep edge of the hill. He saw them too, rolling on the ground in a fog of dust and bullets.
"Sammy!" He screamed.
Bones put a hand on his shoulder. They were holding each other back, egging each other on. Lee felt like he watching his life play out in front of him in slow motion.
Sammy and Angel stood then, gripped each others hands, and sprinted full speed towards the drop-off. Lee felt his heart sink into his chest.
"No," he said, his mouth going dry. "No- no-"
They jumped. Bones collapsed dizzily beside him and pressed her hands to her face. The rest of the group made their way to the edge of the hill.
"Sammy!" Lee cried, lowering himself over the edge of the hill.
"Lee," Barney tried, but it was too late. Lee was sliding down the hill and towards the group of armed men that had been shooting after Sammy and Angel. He figured he didn't have much choice. He never let his friend go on a suicide mission alone before.
Barney slid down the hill after him. The rest of the team followed after, Luna helping Bones keep herself steady. She really hoped that drop-off wasn't too high. She could faintly hear the sound of the river rushing below them, and she grimaced.
She really hoped the river wasn't too fast, because then they'd never find them.