Chapter 6

Liz had taken all five steps away from the tree line when she felt something hard come barrelling into her side, knocking the wind out of her, throwing her down onto the ground, and her already cut temple crashed into the dirt. Just as Liz was regaining her bearings and rolling onto her back, her rifle was grabbed from her hands and swung down onto her throat as the monster of a man climbed onto her hips and started to choke her with her gun. This can not be the way I go, not even shot but taken out by my own weapon, Liz thought to herself as she bucked her hips to try and get the man off her; her hands went straight to each side of the gun as she tried to hold off the weight against her throat. She thrashed out against him with her entire body's force, but as much as she could try and move under him, she had little success. After her body was exhausted and her vision was starting to close in with black, she managed to throw him off his mission; he leaned back just for a second, and that was enough time for her to register this was the same man; she shot before they escaped at the cliff. Liz swung her arm up, latched onto his wounded arm, and pushed as hard as she could against his wound as she tried to get him to release some pressure against her burning windpipe. As he backed off slightly and cried out in pain, she heard the other soldier come out of the woods, calling for his friend and mentioning the other man was already knocking on death's door, so there was no point in wasting his time when they had a live one here to bring back with them. Liz screamed out a war cry hearing about Clay, and she gained some extra strength from deep down and bucked her hips one more time towards the man on top of her, and he tumbled off her as she rolled on top of him and managed to get her rifle up and got off two quick shots right into his chest.

The other man was now emerging from the trees and saw the altercation and stopped as he was in a state of uncertainty, watching her take out his partner. Liz managed to get up and stumbled off the other man, and she took a few steps back and readied herself with her rifle towards the man now staring at her. As he lunged towards her with his massive hunting knife as he was given orders to take one of them back alive, she aimed directly at his head to take him down in one swift movement but came up empty. She threw her gun aside and braced for impact with her knife. Of course, right then, it registered in her head that her mag was already running low before the RPG hit, and she did not have time to switch it out as the explosion knocked them into this mess they had been trying to climb out of the past few hours. Her rifle was winchester, and she left her handgun with Clay as he managed to drop his on the hike over to the mountain without her noticing.

Liz and the tango collided and fell to the ground as they rolled and fought for dominance, and both came up empty-handed but with both blades dripping with blood as they separated and hurried to their feet and took a few steps back. Liz then went on the offence and charged the man she knew had the upper hand on her as he doubled her size and weight and could quickly gain control over her. Her sudden offensive move throws him off guard, allowing her a moment to have the upper hand. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned for Liz as her enemy managed to grab her knife still in her left hand and twist her arm up over her head from behind, making her bend forward; he then landed a few solid punches directly to her ribs. She cried out in pain as she felt the sharp sting and the crack of her ribs. As she hunched over more to help the pressure, the man wrenched her arm even higher and pushed down with a thump on her shoulder, and caused her to drop her knife, causing her to cry out and crumble to the floor. She crawled away as best as possible and ended up towards the other man she defeated, trying to get away as she held her ribs and dislocated shoulder to her side.

"You are a too weak little girl; this is why your team left you behind." The man taunted her as he slowly followed her towards the other man lying on the ground.

Liz lay there for a moment on her belly, trying to regain her breath as she sensed the man coming close. Just as he reached above her, bent down, and grabbed her hair that fell out from under her helmet again, she hid her right arm further down to the ground under her body. As he leaned further to taunt her more before he grabbed her, she swung herself over onto her back, propelled by her right arm, and lunged into the man. He grunted and gurgled as he stumbled back, grabbing his neck and crumbling to the ground. Little did he know she managed to get to his partner, grab his knife from his belt, and conceal it long enough to wait for the upper hand to attack. She tried to get up and head back to Clay but was held back on the ground by her aching body and the fire on both sides of her chest. She lay there for a moment but could not fully catch her breath.

Liz ended up mustering up enough energy from the adrenaline still surging through her body from her fight and flight instincts and her panic about finding out if Clay was still breathing, and she lifted herself off the ground, cradled her arm and ribs as best she could, and stumbled back into the trees.

….

"Gunshots, everybody down!" yelled Brock as he kept an eye on the clearing at the mountain's base, hoping he could see something through the dull dusk sky and poor angles.

"That was not directed at us," Sonny replied as he slowly got up off his belly back to his knees to peer down the edge after a moment waiting for more than the two quick shots that rang out. "Jase, please let two of us go and get them; it must be Bam Bam and Pebbles, no one else down there to be shooting at people! And that was without a doubt the sound of a rifle they both use." Sonny begged as he looked directly into Jason's eyes as he approached him.

Jason knew how much these two meant to Sonny, and he was not good at the waiting game. He always grumbled about having rookies to watch over as they joined the team, but they both managed to crawl under his walls and set up camp. And Sonny would do anything and everything for his family. "Bravo 1 to HAVOC?"

"Good Copy 1." Davis directed back through coms.

"Still no ISR?" Jason asked, knowing all too well the answer was a no as he would have heard from anyone in TOC about his missing men if they had eyes on them.

"Negative," Blackburn replied to him this time. "Bravo 1, I know what you're thinking, and it is my job to say no."

Jason huffed, knowing precisely what Blackburn was saying. "Bravo 6, 8 sitrep? We heard your gunfire just below us; please confirm both of you are alive?" he questioned and was met with nothing but silence. "Is that enough support of hearing them firing just below our feet to change orders and have two men go after them?"

Blackburn huffed and sighed so big Davis thought he would pass out from losing all his oxygen. She stared at him with wishful eyes, hoping he would call up the brass for the green light.

"No, Bravo 1, your orders have not changed." Blackburn sternly replied. "But Jason..." He started in a soft tone.

Jason smiled as he had heard that tone before. "Yes?"

"Go bring our family home," Blackburn replied.

"Lima Charlie, 3 and I will head down," Jason called back as he and Sonny were already starting to the edge with their small flashlights out, looking for the fastest route down.

….

Liz managed to get back to Clay with no further incident. As she approached him, his eyes started to flutter but could not stay consistent as he was not fully awake. She got him up hardly to his feet, and he messily looped his arm around her again to start towards the others. She cried out in pain and tried to muffle another cry when his hand connected with her left shoulder. Liz was still running on her adrenaline high as she wasted no time yanking Clay forward with all her might and bringing him to her right side to support his weight as best as she could. As she dragged him along, he attempted to help her and muster up some movement that tried to mimic walking.

Just as Liz made it halfway through the clearing, she heard rustling and rocks rolling down over each other and the hard dirt and sand. She tensed up and came to an abrupt halt as she dreaded what they would meet up with as she was over this day and needed a shower and a long nap and had no more fight in her.

Sonny saw them first, and his breath hitched in his throat. He was not one for emotions but seeing them covered in red and stumbling was a heart-breaking sight no one should witness. Jason came up behind him and cursed as he called out eagle eagle to let them know they were friendly and were not very visible as they finished their descent.

"Thank God, Boss, is that you?" Liz called out once she heard the best two words possible today. As she faltered, her step getting a smidgen of excitement that they were ok, Clay grunted and grabbed onto her tighter, causing her to wince in pain and let out a small cry.

Jason didn't reply to her as his body only knew how to spring into action at this moment. He ran up towards them, assessing their situation with Sonny close on his heels. As he got closer, he saw Clay's left side covered in blood down to his knees, and Liz had blood all over the right side of her shirt. Sonny surpassed Jason's pace as he slowed down, seeing the sight of the crimson stains, and fear rushed through his senses.

Sonny went straight to Clay to help relieve Liz and Clay of his dead weight as he could not hold on any longer. He slowly lowered him to the ground to get a better hold on him and hoisted him onto his shoulders to get them out of there and back up to the exfil point to Trent so he could check him out and do any patchwork needed. Ray called in for the helo after they checked in that they found their missing family. At that point, Jason made it to Liz's side, saw her arm hanging by her side at a painful angle, dropping out of its socket, and decided to help put it back in place to ease some pain before he picked her up.

"Son?" Clay mumbled

"Yeah, PeterPan, it's me; looks like you and Tinkerbell need a ride to Never Never Land," Sonny quipped as he glanced down at the two tangos motionless on the ground in the distance.

"Hey, Jellybean, this will hurt, but I need to set that shoulder before we get out of here. We don't want you to lose circulation now, do we?" Jason cooed as he half hugged her to get her into position and hold her steady.

Liz nodded and smiled at the nickname he used just for her in terms of endearment from his fatherly love. She rested her head on his shoulders and braced herself. Before anything else was done, he grabbed her NODs, attached them to his helmet, and did the same for Sonny from Clay's helmet with one hand as he could not force himself to let go of Liz from his side just yet. As Jason set the shoulder, she cried out as the movement jostled her ribs and clung to them as she fell into darkness. Jason noted her curling into herself and holding her side as her body tried to crumple to the ground. Still, he caught her and picked her up bridal style for the climb, assuming there was significant damage to her ribs and there was no way he could carry her on his shoulders. He heard her breath hitch and wheeze out as they started their climb slowly.