Chapter 12:

Lee skidded down a rock face, tucking his rifle under his arm. Expecting to land on his feet, he cursed when the rock slope suddenly ended and he tripped over down to the ground face first. The fall hurt like hell, but he had been through much worse earlier that day. Getting up again, Lee levelled his sniper rifle and took off running again, kicking clouds of gravel behind him as he ran.

Charlie was somewhere behind him and Tommy was somewhere up front. They just needed to keep moving, they were so close to the clearing, only about five minutes away on foot. Picking up speed, Lee sped between the jagged rocks and mounds of dirt, throwing himself through the smaller gaps in the ridge. The formation had been laid down by a stream running down the mountain, cutting the jagged line down the side of the slope over thousands of years, the stream itself now long gone, though in its' wake was ideal cover for the SEALs' escape. The stone near Lee's head sparked, kicking dust as a round struck it.

"Contact!" He shouted, dropping into cover. "Where's the fire from?" He called out. "I don't see anything!" Charlie replied. "Wait, there! Left! Left! Near the fallen tree!" She was right as Lee spotted an AK-wielding man running through some trees about five hundred metres behind them up the slope. Scoping in, Lee watched him melt away into the trees as other targets appeared. "Engage!" He shouted, squeezing off a round. The shot went wide and disappeared into the forest as the intended target shouted to his allies as he levelled another Kalash.

The distinct rattle cracked from several places behind the team as they returned fire. Lee dropped a hostile who then stumbled down over a log. More enemies were appearing out of the forest now as the force caught up with the SEALs. Gripping his MK.12, Lee inhaled as he prepped himself to fire off another shot when a blurred object appeared from the side and obscured the view of the scope. Looking up, he stumbled as a Russian soldier leapt down into the canyon, landing on top of him. Casting his rifle aside, Lee grabbed the barrel of the man's G3which was pointed at his face. Fighting against him, Lee forced the barrel to the right as it went off and punched rounds into the dirt next to his head. His eardrum throbbed with pain as a sharp ringing filled his head.

Keeping the G3 away from his face, Lee reached for his knife, unsheathing the blade and ramming it into the man's chest just under the ribs. Squealing, the Russian soldier collapsed beside him as Lee rocketed back to his feet, snatching up his gun again. "We're going to be overrun!" He shouted to Tommy.

"I know!" He replied, thought eh Lieutenant was facing problems of his own as another enemy soldier hopped down to fight him close quarters. Striking him in the face with the butt of his rifle, he knocked him down and pointed the carbine at him. As he finished off the man, the handguard of Tommy's M4 flashed in sparks as a round struck the side of it. The weapon wasn't damaged as it didn't hit directly, though Tommy pulled his hand away from the gun clenching with shock as the round ricocheted off of the gun right where he was holding it. "ARGH! FUCK!" Collapsing to his knees, Tommy looked down at his left hand as he outstretched it to see the damage. Between his middle and pinkie fingers was a tattered stump where the jagged material of his glove ended in a bloody ragged nub. The bullet had struck his knuckle and tore his ring finger off. "Motherfucker!" He spat as he frantically tore at his sleeve for material to dress the wound with.

Charlie ran to her brother's aid, dropping behind another rock before firing back at the approaching enemies. "Tommy! Are you alright!?" She shrieked across to him. Clenching his jaw, Tommy looked over to her. "Yeah…I'll live!" Grabbing his M4 again, Tommy began firing again, holding the weapon by the magwell to reduce the stress on his injured hand.

Lee came bounding over to the two, firing to the side as he ran when suddenly, the air seemed to scream and a tiny object streaked past them and collided with a nearby rock. The rock erupted in a fireball, casting a shower of dust and chunks of stone over the three as Lee was thrown to the floor. Shaking his head to clear the shellshock, his head darted up to Charlie and Tommy. "Was that a goddamned RPG?" He spat.
"Yeah!"
"Fuck!"

Hurling himself into cover, Lee brushed off dirt from his uniform and checked his rifle wasn't damaged. "They're gonna overrun us, Tommy!" He said. The Lieutenant was going pale, "I know! You said!" Looking up out of the crevice as the gunfire suddenly stopped, he could see more Russians reloading their weapons as they cautiously advanced. "This is it!" He said, "Open fire on three!"
"One…"
"Two…"

Seemingly out of nowhere, the line of approaching Russians exploded as a gigantic plume of smoke rose into the air. "What the hell!?" Lee roared in shock. The low, pulsating fwoop of helicopter blades echoed above the SEALs heads as a pair of dark shapes could be seen above the treetops. The QRF had arrived.

Two UH-60 Black Hawks hovered above the forest, positioning themselves to open fire on the attacking Russians. One of the two helicopters was a gunship, which faced the mountainside head on and began to unload its' arsenal on the upward end of the slope, the other hovered sideways with a soldier on a minigun on the door, ripping down entire trees under a hail of gunfire.

"Lightning-Zero-One, come in!" A voice crackled on the local comms. "Lightning-Zero-One, come in. This is Nightstalker-Two-One. Anyone alive down there?" Tommy picked up his helmet, "Yeah, this is Lightning-Zero-One! Good to hear form ya! You couldn't have had better timing, I swear to god!" He laughed, relieved as he looked to Tommy and Charlie. "What's your situation?" The voice asked.

….

Captain Morton sat looking out of the Black Hawk door down to the three figures below him as their CO explained the sitrep to him. "Solid copy. Head to the clearing south of here where we can get to you. Hang in there." He said. Switching comms, he got in contact with the other helicopter, which was still firing at the mountainside. "Alright, Team Two: stay aboard the chopper and give em everything you got. We'll set down in that clearing over there to evac the SEALs."

As the helicopter veered left towards the clearing, Morton patted Frag on the shoulder. "Stay on the gun!" He ordered, "Give them Russian fucks some punishment." Frag nodded, firing short, violent bursts into the trees with the M134. Looking to Yates and Joe, Morton unslung his M4. "Alright, Yates I want you to drop the rope. Joe then rappels down, followed by me and finally you. We lay down suppressing fire for the SEALs to be picked up."

Frag cackled like a madman as he fired the minigun. Next to him, Cody let his M4 hang on its' sling as he went to grab the rappelling gear on the floor of the Black Hawk. Bullets clanged against the helicopters' side and he stumbled sideways, reaching for his gun when Morton grabbed his shoulder. "Ignore them, just get the rope down!"

….

Hurling himself up the rock face out of the crevice, Lee took off sprinting towards the clearing, his rifle jolting about on its' sling at his side. His chest ached as his heart pounded, muscles filling with lactic acid as he panted madly. Tommy was up ahead, waving to the approaching helicopter as it hovered over the clearing. The Lieutenant took out a smoke flare, popping its' cap before igniting it. The flare burned white as a thick orange smoke poured out of it, filling the area around it. Pelting the flare into the clearing, Tommy watched it land before turning back to Lee and Charlie. Looking to his right, Lee saw Charlie was in an equally bad state as he was. He opened his mouth to say something when there was a metallic pop behind them, followed by a loud whistle which quickly grew louder.

The RPG impacted a few feet behind them, launching the two SEALs into the air before they struck back down. Landing face first, Lee got a face full of gravel and rolled over onto his side. Spitting out a mixture of dirt, blood and phlegm, he blinked rapidly to get the dust out of his eyes. Charlie lay nearby, also injured by the blast. Forcing himself up, Lee staggered over to her, pulling the Comms Officer up. Slinging her arm around his neck, he began to drag Charlie along to the clearing. Her weapon sling snapped and the M4 dropped to the ground behind them. Charlie quickly snapped to her senses, reaching for the discarded rifle. "Leave it!" Lee coughed. "We can make it! Come on!" Moving her legs, Charlie began to limp along, easing the weight on Lee's shoulder. Tommy came to their aid, slinging his weapon as he rushed to help his sister. The three reached the treeline as the Black Hawk hovered overhead. "We're almost there!" He called, "We're almost home."
Then the unthinkable happened.