Chapter 16:
"RUN CHARLIE, RUN!" yelled Tommy.
Charlie stumbled over a stump, falling onto the hard ground below her. She dragged her shin over jagged rock and felt warm blood ooze from her leg.
"AHHGH!" She cried out in pain. Charlie attempted to lift herself up off of the ground however a sharp pain ran up the woman's leg and she immediately dropped back down. Looking ahead into the forest she saw figures approaching. God, she thought. Why did this have to happen? Why did we have to volunteer for this op? Charlie closed her eyes, knowing death was inevitable and that there was no escape from her fate. They were getting closer and she could hear the pounding of their feet was becoming louder and louder.
Hopefully, they'd kill her quickly, as she didn't want the full death experience of laying on the ground in a puddle of her own blood, moaning in pain. Suddenly she was pulled away from her thoughts as someone pulled her up to her feet again.
"Come on, I'm getting you out of this alive!" yelled Tommy. Charlie opened her eyes to see him firing at the enemy, which was pretty hopeless at this point. Although he was pretty damn persistent on getting both of them out alive.
After finishing off as many enemies as possible, he jogged over to her and wrapped one of her arms around his neck. After narrowly dodging a bullet he picked his sister up and began to sprint in the opposite direction.
"Put me down!" Charlie shouted, "Save yourself and leave me. If one of us is going to survive it should be you!" The blood was now rapidly pouring down her leg, making the SEAL feel dizzy and lightheaded. It was safe to say she wasn't enjoying the situation one bit.
"Don't be do noble and shut up!" Tommy ordered, panting. "What kind of brother would leave his sister to die in a forest filled with Russians?" He unholstered a Glock 18 from a pouch on his chest, "Here, take this!" He said, shoving it into Charlies' hand. "Don't miss." He joked.
"No promises!" She yelled back over the gunfire.
An explosion nearby threw Tommy off of his feet, which brought Charlie down with him. Her body hit the ground with a thump and they rolled down a rocky hill. She felt her leg snap when it hit a bush on the way down.
"HOLY SHIT!" Charlie screamed. The pain was unbearable now. She must have broken it, which made their chances of escape even slimmer.
Wait. Where was Tommy?
Panic began to set in as she looked around for her brother. Finally, Charlie spotted him laying next to a rock, but her heartbeat only picked up when she saw the blood streaming down the side of his head.
"Tommy! TOMMY!" Oh God please don't let him be dead! Charlie thought. She began to crawl over to him, using every bit of strength left in the SEALs' body. After lightly slapping his face a few times, he began to stir as his head moved.
"Charlie? Where are you?" She finally reached him and grabbed his shoulder. Quickly he turned over revealing a large bloody cut on his forehead.
"You okay?" He asked, placing a hand on his sisters' arm.
"Well I probably broke my leg…but yeah, I am. You?"
"Fine, I guess." Charlie gave him a weak smile, which fell into a frown when she heard Russian voices approaching them.
"Sir, I think I saw them go this way." The voice sounded like it belonged to a younger soldier.
"Remember comrades, we want them dead. Russia doesn't need any more POWs." An older man yelled. Sounds of agreement rang out from the group.
"We should probably get going." Tommy sprang up, grabbing Charlie by the waist to support her injured leg. Damn did it hurt. They continued running –limping- away from the Russians who were getting closer by the minute.
"Charlotte…" Tommy started. This was serious, she realised. He never used her full name.
"Yeah?" She answered through clenched teeth.
"If I don't…If we don't make it, I just want you to know I love you." You're the best sister I could have asked for." Charlie could hear them getting closer.
"Tommy we don't have time to be sentimental-''
"No, seriously. I mean it." Tommy replied. "You're like a mother to me. You were always there for me and cared for me when Mom couldn't." His eyes met hers. "I never thanked you for that."
"Well you can do that later." She replied, cutting him off. "I think we're a little too busy to be worrying about stuff like that." Charlie felt like she was fading.
"Sir, I see them!"
"Ptelvoisky; shoot the man. He's stronger. He must die first."
Fuck! Why did I have to get hurt? Charlie thought, Tommy could have gotten out of here if she hadn't broken her leg. This is all my fault…
"On my mark!" The voice yelled out.
"ONE!
"TWO!"
"MARK!"
Charlie felt Tommy fall to the ground and soon she was crumpled up next to him.
"TOMMY!" She screamed, tears beginning to stream down her face as she frantically climbed over him.
"Fuck! Tommy, its' okay…I've got you!" She panted between sobs while applying pressure to his bleeding stomach.
"Charlotte… It's no use…" The Lieutenant gasped, "I…Love you…" he said quietly. Charlie laughed weakly as she held his hand. Tears began to fall down her face despite her attempts to hold them back.
"You just told me that…" She knew this wasn't the time for joking. However she needed to distract him from the blood pouring from his own stomach. She needed to distract herself from the dark reality setting in.
Tommy smiled a bit, but went limp shortly after.
Charlie whimpered uncontrollably, shaking as she slowly got to her feet as the figures closed in behind her.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARDS KILLED HIM!" She roared with all her strength and anger at them. "WHY DON'T YOU JUST FUCKIGN SHOOT ME TOO? JUST LIKE HIM!" She looked around at them, arms outstretched as she awaited the end.
They began to laugh. The older ne raised his gun at her and Charlie closed her eyes, preparing herself for the pain of the gunshot.
BLAM
Charlie didn't feel the bullet hit her. Confused, she opened her eyes to a sight she didn't believe. More gunshots cracked out as camouflaged silhouettes emerged from the forest around her, firing at the Russians who dropped left and right. She looked on in awe as an older, bearded man in a Bowie hat gunned down the older Russian soldier, Konstantinov. The younger Russian, Ptelvoisky, lay flat on the ground, drawing a pistol before several bursts of blood erupted from his chest and he cried out before rolling over dead. In less than ten seconds, the entire Russian platoon had been wiped out.
As the figures began to sweep the area, Charlie managed brief glimpses of them as the older man gave out orders. "Ghost, take left! Schoolboy I want you on comms!" Charlie noticed their insignias. Daggers with wings. British SAS.
One of them approached her and Charlie backed away with the last of her energy, eyes wide in fear. He was a large man, not much older than her. His head was shaved clean save for a jet black Mohawk running across the top of his scalp.
"It's okay, Lass. I won't hurt you." He said with a heavy Scottish accent. "I'm Soap."
Charlie stopped and stared at him, barely able to make out the figure through the tears welling in her eyes. Her head never hurt as badly as it did now.
"Who's the lad that was killed?" He asked, gesturing to the body lay nearby.
"His name's Tommy. And he's my brother…" Charlie could barely keep her eyes open any longer and slipped into unconsciousness, Soap rushing over to catch her as she fell…
…
Bravo Six sat aboard the helicopter as it flew out of the valley. The team checked their weapons and looked on at the sight. Wrapped up in a body bag, Tommy lay at their feet.
Schoolboy sat up from Charlie, who now lay on a stretcher, still unconscious as Captain price paced up and down on the comms.
"One survivor, sir." He explained. "We're taking her back to FOB Thunder now. ETA One hour."
Soap looked over at Schoolboy.
"Will she live?" He asked.
"She's seriously fucked up, but she'll live." He said reassuringly. "She's been through a hell of a lot from the looks of it."
Soap looked over to the body of Charlie's brother and the mountains beyond outside the helicopter. "We probably don't know the half of it."
That Was Then; This Is Now
And that's the end of Here In The Now. I can't thank you enough for reading and sticking through all the way to the end despite so many delays and setbacks. Special thanks to WheresDaBeef and KING112 for the go-ahead to write a prequel to their story.
You can check it out here:
s/9987209/1/That-Was-Then-This-Is-Now
Once again, thanks for reading and have a great day J