Chapter 16

Hesh knew it wasn't a good idea to wander too far from the group but he didn't want anyone to see him. He didn't want any help though he took that one back mentally. He wanted his brother Logan but he was still operating on his adrenaline and the flight instinct was taking hold and with good reason.

He collapsed into a brush and steadied himself on his hands and knees gritting his teeth. The pain was agonizing and he mentally blamed himself for this. He shouldn't have snapped at Harris like he did. He should have just kept to scouting and looking for signs of the stupid village they were looking for; basically ignore the fact that Harris was pissed at him and goading him. Instead he caved into Harris' goading and ended up arguing in which he shoved Harris roughly and the man returned fire by tackling him.

He knew Harris harbored a grudge against him and probably Logan for what they did that day to him and to Hawk. Hesh tried to keep the focus on him and off of his little brother since Logan was the one that put Harris in the chokehold. It was better that detail was ignored and besides, he was the one that was in charge at the time. It was only logical. Hesh had told himself that nothing could punish him as much as he was doing to himself.

It started out more like wrestling but it graduated to fists. Hesh couldn't remember who threw the first punch but he was sure that he threw a few. It had been a long time since he got into an all-out fight that was more of a brawl. There were no rules since Harris used everything in his arsenal by punching and kicking and he kept up. Hesh fought hard feeling the need to let everything out and Harris had the same idea.

Harris ended coming out on top by placing a very hard and well-placed kick to his side just under the ribs. Hesh had turned to avoid the brunt of the blow but it caught him good and it triggered a spasm. The dull throb from the initial impact grew to excruciating pain but Hesh couldn't back down since Harris had sensed he gained an advantage and began wailing on him with his fists, trying to aim for the same spot. A couple times he succeeded and Hesh felt like he was going to be sick.

Self-defense was a major thing both he and Logan had learned growing up. In fact he taught his little brother to stand up for himself since Logan was a perfect target for bullies. Hesh always had the role of defender but as they got older they both realized that they had to be able to do enough to protect themselves since it was a possibility that neither could be around to help. When he was clipped by a Federation round was such a time since he and Logan had split up and he had been caught in an ambush… one that was more opportunistic than planned. Getting his ass kicked by Harris was more of a statement of what he was.

Hesh heaved as he looked at the ground. The pain grew too much and he couldn't help but vomit. Immediately he felt embarrassed and was glad no one was around though he could hear Logan calling out to him. He heaved again and leaned forward on his forearms to try and gain some measure of support. At least that was the last of the heaving and he took gulping breaths but his abdomen still ached. He felt he could face his brother and slowly began to get to his feet.

It was a surprise and more of a cursing at his own stupidity to find himself facing the business end of a gun and a Federation soldier, he thought, glaring at him. Since he was at a slight disadvantage, Hesh stood up slowly but painfully aware that his body was quaking and he looked like he was in shock or something but he managed to stand up and assume a strong stance. He held his hands up to indicate that he wasn't going to attack but he did manage a glare.

The guy who looked like a Fed eyed Hesh with suspicion and kept his rifle leveled at him. Hesh merely stared back though he would have liked to have sit or lie down and hidden from people while he rode this one out. He heard Logan shouting for him and he noticed the guy glance in the direction it was coming from and took a chance. He grabbed the barrel of the rifle to sling it aside and delivered a punch to the guy's face.

It worked but it was a scuffle to get free. Hesh got a hard one to the back of his shoulder with the butt of the rifle and it was a wonder it didn't dislocate. He countered with a kick to the knees and the bastard was down but the rifle was still in his hands and it was pointed at Hesh. He would have been shot had it not been for the sudden explosions that occurred. Hesh took the opportunity to kick at the bastard and steal his rifle and picked up his and took off in the direction of the noise… where Logan was.

Call it big brother instincts or foolishness but for Hesh it was unacceptable to not try and help his little brother. He ran towards the noise in the general direction he had come in and came across a few Fed soldiers that were part of a larger group. Without hesitation, Hesh took them out and pushed forward, ignoring the throb that was being a persistent bastard. He didn't realize that he had gotten turned around and actually passed within twenty feet of his brother but he couldn't see him. Instead he met up with more Fed soldiers that were shouting in Spanish… something about capturing them alive or something.

Hesh had no idea where he was and was pretty much lost. There was still heavy gunfire but it had grown faint. It was mingled in with the sounds of the jungle and brought to mind those action movies where one person gets lost in the jungle. Hesh murmured to himself as he looked around, "I know this part. The dumbass that gets lost ends up buying the farm first."

Hesh tried to find the way back to the road. That would at least put him in the right direction. He moved slowly and carefully, still hearing gunfire and explosions and he hoped that Logan was okay. It felt like he screwed up this as well… and they weren't going to have much in the way of support. He passed by a clearing and heard the shot before it hit the back of his left shoulder.

He spun around and looked for the culprit, narrowly missing another hit. The telltale signs of debris flying where the round hit indicated as such. Even with a now bad shoulder, Hesh took up a defensive position and looked around for the target while taking cover. As he turned, he was tackled by a heavy body and Spanish filled his ear. He twisted to try and throw the guy off but he was pinned and he didn't have his rifle.

The familiar scrapping sound of a knife urged Hesh into defensive mode and he used his upper body strength to hold the knife at bay. He gritted his teeth since his shoulder was throbbing. His abdomen was throbbing and the extra weight wasn't helping but he wasn't going to get a knife into his gut to add to it and he pushed but the knife kept getting closer. Hesh could almost feel the tip touch his chest.

Suddenly the weight was gone as the Fed was tackled by something. Hesh rolled over to see none other than Riley snapping the neck of the Fed. "Riley," he choked out as he coughed.

Being on the ground it was like his body was giving out. His adrenaline rush was quitting on him but he tried to get up. Instead Hesh ended up on his back and breathing heavily. He heard Riley's whines and caught the whiff of dog breath in his face. He reached up and scratched the dog's ears. "Good boy," he murmured.

Riley watched as his handler dropped his hand to the ground. He whined some more, trying to get a response out of Hesh. He nosed him in the places that would elicit a response but Hesh had blacked out. Riley made a moaning sound as he paced around. He knew Hesh was alive but he didn't like that he wasn't moving. He wouldn't leave him though and paced around the body, stopping only when Hesh moved and cracked his eyes and ended up earning a scratch and a 'good boy'. It worried the dog as the day passed into late afternoon and there was no sign of his other owner Logan. He whined as he continued to pace.

Hesh heard Riley and felt bad that he was making the dog anxious. He did manage to crack open his eyes and pet Riley. He took a deep breath even though his shoulder and abdomen were throbbing and tried to move but he just couldn't. He didn't bat an eye when Riley gave a low growl to indicate someone was coming and they weren't a friendly.

Reaching up and grabbing Riley's collar out of habit, Hesh murmured, "Easy Riley." He slowly pulled out his pistol and held it ready.

There was some rustling of the brush and Hesh blinked blearily. He tried to control his breathing as what looked like another patrol passed. He held his breath as they passed by, apparently not seeing him. He didn't notice that one did and was aiming at him until Riley jerked free and tried to tackle the guy but was kicked away. Hesh rolled to fire but saw the Fed go down by someone landing on his shoulders and hard.

He blinked as their hands wrapped around the Fed's head and gave a deft twist. He could hear the bones break and watched as the head was dropped. Hesh didn't know if this one was a friendly or a foe and held his pistol ready but his exhaustion was overwhelming and his arm drooped. Then the gun slipped and fell to the ground.

The stranger turned at the sound to look at Hesh. He blinked at the sight of the painted face. It was all black with white and red streaks. It was… Was it? Hesh frowned trying to make sense of it and groped for his gun but agitated his shoulder injury. He did manage to scramble to a seated position but he was so off balance that he slipped and hit his head on the ground and laid where he had fallen after coughing for a bit.

The stranger took a step forward and kneeled. They didn't flinch when Riley got back up and trotted up to them with a slight whine. There was a moan of recognition and the dog put his paw on their shoulder before trotting over to Hesh and whining as if to ask for help. The stranger obliged by following but walking while crouched. It was an odd walk but it was what it was. They looked at Hesh with a look before grabbing the straps of Hesh's vest and hauling him up.

Hesh lost track of time and it felt like a long stretch when he opened his eyes and looked up to find that he was staring at was what unmistakably the ceiling of a tent. He started to panic, thinking that he had been captured and tried to sit up but winced from the soreness and when he put weight on his bad shoulder, he buckled. His body felt hot and he could feel the sweat dripping down and erroneously thought it was the humidity. He ended up flopping back down and blowing puffs of air.

A noise distracted him and he turned his head to see the one who took out that Fed. He knew it was them because of the stance. They were doing something but he couldn't tell since their back was to him. He just watched and noticed the long braid trailing down their back. He was confused suddenly.

The stranger turned to the side and muttered something soothing. Hesh felt his eyes widened slightly since he knew the sound of Sioux better than anyone outside of the Ghosts. He started making a sound but was instantly hushed when he heard her voice. How could that be? She was captured by Rorke and she was seen with him…

His mind tried to make sense of it. He didn't notice his companion get closer holding a small bowl. He then heard, "Drink this."

Looking up… Hesh didn't know if it was real or not. He couldn't help but let out, "Hawk."

Logan was sure he was going in the right direction since he had Riley in his sights. He knew that Hesh had taken off mainly to hide from revealing that he still got bad spasms. He understood how it could be perceived as weakness and prayed that his older brother wouldn't have gone too far but given the fact that Harris had hit him pretty hard and right there…

He was the first to come upon his brother and Harris going at it like a pair of bulls. If there was one thing that Logan wished to have changed, it would have been putting Skye or himself with Harris rather than have it be Hesh and Harris on this scout run. He knew that something passed between them and it had to do with what he and Hesh had done that day. Why Harris wasn't equally pissed at him was beyond him but he suspected that Hesh, being the big brother that he was, took the heat for everything.

It was logical in that respect since Hesh was the field commander for the Ghosts. But Logan wanted his licks too since he went all in with it. Plus he felt guilty that his best friend took his place. At the moment though that was moot since he had his brother and a guy that knew Hawk fighting and Hesh was getting a beating and from the looks of it Harris had found an opening and was going to use everything he had to take advantage.

Logan had managed to get in between them and tried to shove them away but got an elbow to the face and he ended up falling on his ass. His nose was bleeding from the impact but it wasn't broken. It had to take Skye to separate them and by then Hesh started stumbling away and surprisingly at a super-fast pace. Riley was behind and in his sight but it was clear that they had gone further into the jungle than they should have. His brother must be hurting bad… and he had the painkillers.

"Hesh? Where are you?" Logan looked around and then down at Riley. "Riley, find."

The dog barked and took off into the jungle and Logan followed. They didn't get very far when a shot rang out. Logan immediately dropped into a defensive position and shouted, "Riley, find Hesh! Stay with him!"

Logan heard the bark but concentrated on the gunfire that started. He heard voices. Mostly it was a mixture of Spanish and some other language… maybe Portuguese. He looked around for Skye and Harris and nearly jumped when an explosion rang out. Dammit and Hesh was out there alone.

Logan started moving and ended up running into Skye and Harris who asked, "Who the hell are these guys?'

The shouts were not Spanish but Logan heard 'El Libertad' being shouted. There were also shouts in Spanish. He murmured, "Looks like we've got another fight going on."

"Great," Harris muttered. "And we're not on the road."

"And whose fault is that," Skye said with a glare at Harris.

Harris returned it with one of his own, "Think you can do better with a bastard?"

"Hey!" Logan glared at the pair of them. Now was not the time for this even though he wanted to punch Harris a good one. "Shut up both of you. Right now we gotta find Hesh and get out of the way. We've got a village to find."

"And how to do you propose we find him?" Harris was pushing it being sarcastic. "And your dog is gone."

"Riley will find Hesh and he'll have Riley sniff us out."

"Brilliant."

Logan shot a hard look at Harris and said, "Hey, I get it that you're pissed since we didn't have a chance to talk but you shouldn't have goaded my brother." He turned away and looked in the direction that Riley had gone. That would be their best bet. He muttered softly, "Besides Hesh needs Riley more."

Skye watched as Logan took point and moved in the direction that Riley had gone. She had heard the last part and figured that it was bad for Hesh. She didn't like that the elder Walker was in a bad position and alone and while it was a comfort the dog would find him… She glanced back and narrowed her eyes at Harris while holding up her rifle. She didn't know the whole story but if Harris goaded Hesh…

Logan looked ahead and kept his eyes peeled for any signs of an enemy. With the shots, gunfire and explosions, it was hard to tell where both sides were. It certainly didn't help when he heard more voices but with a different language. He tried not to panic but instead fell back on his training.

You'll always be my little brother, Logan. But… you do have to be able to look after yourself when I can't.

Finally you admit that I'm not a kid. You really are a bonehead, Hesh.

Pain in my ass.

Logan knew he could take care of himself should he and Hesh ever be separated. Granted the whole mission with Keegan wasn't exactly a great example of that, Logan knew that if push came to shove… he could do what he had to and make it. While Dad had taught him and Hesh a lot, Hesh taught him how to get along without him since they were almost always seen together.

The first instance was a new kid that was a general bully and he hated Logan for some reason. Logan never pestered Hesh about it or mentioned it but took care of it by himself. Hesh only got to see the end product and in the end… Logan blinked as he pushed the memory aside. He could do this and he had been since they had been found.

With three sets of languages being shouted, they were isolated. They did run into a large patrol of Feds and it was a mad scramble to get to cover once the bullets started firing. They had a couple of close calls and flying bits of bark stung their faces but the trees were fairly good cover against the enemy fire. It delayed them seriously and by the time they were able to push forward, they lost sight of the direction in which Riley had taken and they had seen no sign of Hesh.

It was a worry that Hesh might have been shot or killed and was out there but Logan had faith that his brother would stay out of trouble. Hesh may be a stubborn ass about things but he knew when to fallback and regroup when he was in over his head. He only hoped that Riley was there and evening the odds against them.

The Feds were everywhere it seemed and they were going to run out of ammo if they didn't get out of there. Logan pulled out his pistol and shot at a Fed that was coming up behind Skye before being jumped himself. He twisted and struggled since the bastard was trying to strangle him or bring him to the ground so he did the best thing possible and that was to run backwards into a tree.

Logan heard the guy grunt and felt eth grip loosen. It was enough and instant reaction to grab his hand axe. It was a sense of feeling disjointed but what Logan practiced he put to use and with accuracy and his guy was dead. It allowed him to pick up his pistol and with his left used it to block and shoot while using the hand axe to slice the Feds they were surrounded with.

A pile of seven to ten bodies later, Logan was able to take a breath and shake the blood from his hand axe with a twist of his wrist before putting it back on his belt. He looked around as he put his pistol back in its holster and picked up his dropped rifle. "Come on," he said after pausing to listen.

They trekked through, Skye and Harris following Logan, and it looked like they were heading in the direction of the road. More likely they took the direct route and didn't know it. They were almost there when they came across a group that was definitely not Federation but they had guns and some looked military grade indicating that they were probably stolen.

Logan knew that they didn't have enough ammo to fight back since he noticed more had come. They were outnumbered and if they fired, they would be dead within a matter of seconds. He looked at the group pointing the guns at them and then at Skye and Harris and lowered his weapon slowly and held up his hands. Skye and Harris followed suit while the leader barked at them in a language they didn't understand.

Logan knew he had to say something. He hoped that this guy knew a bit of Spanish. So he said, "Soy un americano."

That seemed to spark a response as they were immediately disarmed and held at gunpoint. Harris couldn't help but mutter, "Nice. They don't like Spanish. Probably think we are Fed." He shifted his gaze over the group.

Logan made a slight head movement like he was getting a kink out of his neck but he was still keeping an eye on the leader. He replied, "Gotta start somewhere unless you have an idea of what the hell they are talking about."

"Americano," voices started murmuring.

"Desarmá-los. Vamos," the leader said.

Logan felt his hand axe being taken from him and the murmurs about it. He couldn't resist and protested, "Hey."

The gun pointed in his face didn't speak as much as when Skye gripped his elbow to indicate he should drop it. Skye understood the reaction. She knew where he learned how to handle the weapon. There was more sentimental value to it. Still it wouldn't do them good if he got himself killed. She whispered, "Sungmanitu."

Logan stopped his protests even though he was annoyed that it was gone. He hoped he would get it back and said in English to the offender, "I want it back. Don't lose it."

The order to march was given again and Logan, Skye and Harris found themselves being marched through the jungle as prisoners. They weren't roughly treated but they weren't babied either as they stumbled through the jungle while their captors moved with ease. Logan looked around to see if he could find any sign of Hesh, hoping that maybe his brother discovered their predicament. It wasn't to be the case this time.

They didn't have to go far but with all the debris of the forest floor it felt like it. Logan found himself being separated from the others and pushed forward by the guy who pointed the rifle in his face. He looked at the group around him wondering what the hell was going on. He then noticed that the group straightened up slightly and he turned to find the source of it.

The man was Hesh's height but more powerfully built. To Logan he looked like he might have been a wrestler once upon a time. The guy certainly was buff and it seemed odd since they were in the middle of the jungle and he looked like he lived there… maybe… given how comfortable he was with his surroundings. He raised his brow and looked at him but didn't say anything.

The leader looked at Logan like he was a pipsqueak; the expression was one of amusement. He looked at Skye and Harris who were being held back by his men. The girl he rather liked since she was good looking and not doubt she knew how to fight; he could tell. The other was like any other but there seemed to be other things buried there. Looking back at Logan he said in perfect English, "So you are an American?"

Logan blinked and glanced around. He was suspicious of everything but he wasn't going to make things worse. He nodded, "Yes."

The leader looked at Logan. He liked what he saw in the young one and it was clear that he was the leader. Perhaps this could be a sign. "What is your business here?"

Logan blinked as he stared back at the man. It was clear that this man wanted information and was studying them. There was something else at work here. At least that was what his instincts were telling him. He looked over and saw that the guy who took his axe was playing with it. He pointed and said, "Hey. That's mine."

The leader blinked and looked over. He barked an order and the soldier reluctantly handed it over. There was still blood on the blade but his interest was in how Logan took it back and put it where it belonged. He narrowed his eyes questioningly and asked, "Are you with the rebels of the jungle?"

"No."

"Then why do you have one of their own's weapon?"

Logan looked at the guy with a narrowed look, "Because it is mine. It was given to me. What do you want?"

"I want to know if you know who fantasma muerta is," the leader replied.

"Why? So you can hunt them down?"

"Don't you realize we are on the same side?"

Logan said nothing to that. That remained to be seen. His expression though conveyed his thoughts. It turned out that he didn't have to say anything for the leader said, "You are looking for the Dead Ghost. We are too because we wish to join them."

"Do it the old fashioned way. Look."

"We are and you will be our guests. Welcome to El Libertad."

A/N: Looks like Hesh and Logan are separated and in the middle of a firefight. It think it is obvious who found Hesh don't you think? Keep watching for more of The Hunt...