Chapter 14

Despair

Jason looked over to check on the others. Marcus was firing off his revolver while Natalie was crawling away on her belly. He started to move away too but started out with his back on the ground with his whole body facing the enemy so he could still fire accurately. "Get out of here I'll buy you time!" Marcus yelled over the sounds of gun fire at Jason. With the dirt and debris flying everywhere around him it was hard to see but he quickly planned an escape route out of there from where he sat. "I'm only going to leave if you leave too!" He replied. Even through his hard line of sight toward the direction of where his friend sat he could see him sigh. "Okay... Okay lets just get out of here." and as soon as he said Jason stopped firing and crawled toward the opposite direction of the enemy not to far ahead he could see Natalie crouched behind a tree taking shots at the Germans to provide them with as much cover as she could.

The enemy's guns were much more powerful and overwhelming than their arsenal of concealed fire arms which meant they had to get out fast. As soon as he got up from a good distance away he could see from his peripheral vision that Marcus had done the same. When looked back ahead Natalie was now backing up as she fired off her pistol then turned around and darted off like the rest.

At times while Jason ran he would blind fire his pistol which he knew didn't do much so he quickly refrained from that idea and just ran. The sounds of bullets whizzing past him and hitting the trees with a thud could be heard all around him. They had so much fire power packed into their general direction that some of the smaller tree fell over from being shredded up by the bullets. The small sharp shards of timber and bark flying in the air whacked his body from all directions but ignored it all while the adrenaline pumped through his body.

While running his foot got onto a root sticking out of the ground which made him trip over onto the ground. He rolled down a small slope covered with good sized rocks sending sharp pains down his body then ended up face first into a puddle of mud. After wiping the mud from his face when he got up on his knees his line of vision was blurred but he got right back up on his feet and began to run again.

While running he could see Natalie up ahead still running and jumping over the roots then looked back with Marcus a little far off behind but still running. "Come on lets move!" Jason yelled at the top of his burning lungs. He picked right back up on running when Marcus got a little closer.

Over the loud crackle of bullets he could hear a rhythmic thudding sound above them. When he looked up there was a German chopper with a gunner getting ready to fire on them. "We got a bird on our tail!" Warning his group. As soon as he heard the gunner inaccurately fire off the weapon he dove behind a tree and let it rain. The tree that marked the only point between him and the gunners bursts of fire took every shot with loud crackled thuds.

Then before he knew it he felt the whole tree shake and then following a loud crack. This damn things going down! The mid section of the tree where the gunner had constantly been firing at had been so widely torn apart by the gunners high caliber rounds that the tree couldn't support its own weight any longer.

The gunner stopped firing probably having to reload which was the perfect time to get up and run which was exactly what he did, he got right up and started running while the tree fell toward the ground. He knew that their wasn't much time he had left before the gunner had finished reloading so he to the time he had and ran to another tree as the gunner rained the bullets down on him again.

This was starting to get old he thought to himself but then their came... another heart stopping sound of another set of a helicopters thudding rotors. Then above him in the sky in front of him there was another chopper with a gunner looking right at him. Everything in the world froze in place...

He didn't think about the chip... he didn't think about the others... he didn't think about his captured brother and friends.. he thought of one thing and one thing only... his darling Marla... Pictures went through his head of the past memories they had together, all of which were the best he ever had when he went off to fight this damned war. At this very moment and time he would do anything to see her beautiful brown eyes, her golden blonde hair, her luscious smile, to smell her scent, and to hear her lovely voice say I Love You. Thinking about her warmed his heart even as he watched the chopper gunner loading up his machine gun and moving it to aim at him. So this how it was going to end he thought to himself as he closed his eyes.

CRACK! At first Jason thought it was the gun firing to shoot him but then he opened his eyes and saw that something went through the window of the chopper and killed the pilot. It began to spiral out of control with the gunner getting flung out of the chopper. It fell to the ground and exploded leaving the remains to burn. Then from behind the tree he could here a German yelling almost as if he were begging. Jason took a look from behind a tree and saw that Catherine was now inside of the helicopter grabbing the gunner by the throat but mercilessly tossed him out from the chopper and hit the ground with a thud then he could see through the window of the chopper now looking at the pilot about to take out a side arm and shoot her but she had already reached him and cracked his neck.

She jumped out of the helicopter just as it started to spiral out of control and landed onto the ground with a light landing as the helicopter fell to the ground behind her and blew up into a blistering ash maker. She got right back up from her landing took out two pistol and aimed it towards him. At first he wonder why but as she fired away she hit two soldiers coming up from his back side. Then another three came from his right. He fired off some of his rounds managing to take down one of them but the other two began to fire at him. HE got right behind the tree but shortly after he heard the German's death screams.

Damn Catherine's fast... he thought but as he turned back to look he was more shocked than surprised to see who it really was. Jake and Ron who were in SH mode were just beating them and tossing them around like rag dolls. Ron and Jake... shouldn't they be in.. in prison... then out from behind the two of them was Tom holding an assault rifle. Was he dead? Jason wondered as he touched his body for bullet wounds but nothing was there on his body... he was confused then became enraged.. he couldn't really control his emotions.

Then as the battlefield became silent Jake walked over to him with a happy smile he was about to say something to him but Jason was angry beyond relief. Instead of giving Jake a big hug he clutched his fist and punched him right in the face. He didn't even stop and say sorry instead he kept walking. "Why the hell did you do that for?" Ron asked. Jason didn't stop to listen at all he just kept walking. HE didn't know where he was going but for some reason deep down in his heart he didn't want to be there but then a familiar voice stopped him in his tracks. "Where you going honey?" it was Marla. As he stood there and stared at her his anger began to tone down. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

Before Jason knew it tears were running down his face. "Darling..." he walked over to her and hugged her like she was his life line. He was so happy to see her and didn't even care what was going on around him. Still crying she began to hug him back as well "Its okay Jason I'm here with you now..." She told him with her calm voice. "I thought... I thought" He stuttered trying to get the words out but she hushed him. "Just relax I'm here now."

As he cried the others looked at him carelessly but was soon joined by another crying yell "No it can't be hes not dead!" Catherine must have gotten the news... the real daughter of Francis... but without having to ask he knew that Marla must had known cause her hug around him tightened trying not to cry too. He knew it was time to stop crying at this point so his mood changed quickly it was time for them to talk. He kissed Marla then walked up to his brother who was still on the ground still rubbing his face from the punch. Man he must had hit him hard... he felt really bad now. He lowered his hand down to help him up but he already knew what was coming to him when Jake glared up at him in SH mode and he knew he deserved so he didn't dodge it.

The punch came swift and hard knocking him right in the face and fell to the ground. A nice good bloody SH punch did the trick... totally knocked the wind out of him. He gasped for air then said "Holy hell Jake..." but all his brother did was give a slight chuckle "You should be very happy at this moment that I'm not fully trained" he was still a little pissed off but acted maturely and lent him his hand "Lets talk it over..." Jason grabbed hold of his brothers hand letting him help hoist him back up onto his feet then looked over at the others. Catherine was sitting down by a tree now with Marla trying to calm her.

"I got a lot of things to tell you and you got a lot of things to tell me..." Jason said while glancing over at them. "Yeah we do but wheres Natalie?" the question instantly sent a chill up his spine. "Isn't she here?" He nervously asked. The look on Jake's face went from a little pissed off to his eyes looking like the size of saucers. "Your kidding me?" not believing him at first. Jason took a look around and realized she wasn't anywhere then saw the bushes ruffle a bit.

Everyone aimed their weapons toward the direction but instead of the enemy it was Natalie helping his friend Marcus walk who had a bullet wound in the leg. When she took one look toward his direction she had a look of disbelief then a wide smile across her face with tears running down her face. "Jake!" She was so happy to see him that she didn't even ask how he got here. Him, Jake, and a few others ran over to help her with Marcus who also didn't seem to believe what he saw at first either.

Ron and Tom helped bandage up the confused Marcus while Jake and Natalie hugged then kissed but Jake knew that this wasn't the time to be in a love trance so he made it short. Jason and Jake stood around with all the fuss going around while they both exchanged the stories of events... in the end both of them were not amused one bit. "So you really think that evil bastards our father..." Jason grunted. "Yes but he still is Jason... the thing that made him the way he is..." Jason refused to listen "Just shut up Jake I've had enough today..."