Big Luke

You could say that I was faintly aware of David and Brandon behind me as I stormed towards the front door. I was halfway across the street by the time they closed the car door. Was it a stupid ass decision to just kick open the door like that? Probably. I didn't know what kind of booby traps could have been on the other side waiting for me. I didn't blink as I shouldered my M16 and put three rounds into a merc's chest and head.

To tell you the truth, I don't really remember much of the layout of the building. All I remember is my sight and hearing being turned up to eleven as I swung my rifle from target to target.

Getting tackled from behind from Kyle? Now that I remember clearly.

I fell flat on my face with the pistol grip of my M16 still in my hand. I felt something try to cut through the back of my plate carrier and then my sling stopped pulling on me. A hand reached over my shoulder and my rifle was ripped from the grasp. It slid across the floor in front of me. I threw my left elbow back into Kyle's head. As he was sliding to the right, I slid out from under him to the left.

My blood boiled at the sight of Kyle's face as I reached down for my 1911. I didn't even get the chance to use it because he knocked it from my hands. Then I pulled my Ka-Bar even though I was supposed to know that it wouldn't work on Kyle. He kicked that from my hand as well.

"C'mon Jon Luke. None of that shit. Just you and me," Kyle said as he started pulling off his helmet and black plate carrier. "If we're going to do this, we are gonna do it right."

I'll admit that rationality wasn't my strongest ability at that moment. So, I started to strip myself of my plate carrier and helmet. Gloves and BDU top came next then I was just standing there in my CHB T-shirt and BDU trousers.

"Let's rock." Then I charged.

I swung first but Kyle blocked and landed the first punch. We punched and kicked through the stars and pain for what felt like an eternity. Gunshots pounded through the walls behind us but we didn't pay them any attention. Kyle had landed another punch across my jaw and while I was stunned, he put his shoulder into my chest. I fell back and Kyle tried to get over me to continue his bombardment, but I put my knees to my chest and rocked back on my shoulder blades. I kicked out and the heel of my right boot caught him under his chin. I repeated the process and hopped to my feet.

When my vision focused, Kyle was standing in front of me, his hand over his mouth. There was a window behind him. I only knew that we went through it when I tackled him. All of a sudden, the gunshots ended and we were in the middle of a hallway.

"You know, they call y'all angles of death," Kyle growled at me as he flipped me over. I saw a flash of shiny bronze and my KA-BAR was traveling point down towards my chest. I caught his wrist and tried to push back. "Entire squadrons wiped off the face of the earth."

"Careful, Kyle. Startin' to sound like you care," I replied as the blade nudged closer and closer towards me. The point was literally an inch over my heart and my arms and chest were being cooked by a torch.

Kyle put his weight up onto the toes of his boots. I shifted the blade's crawl away from my heart but was unable to keep it from slowly impaling into my shoulder. I thundered as I felt the blade nick my collarbone. My reflection in Kyle's dark eyes had fire in my eye sockets. I put my boot on his left hip and threw him over my head, Kyle pulled the knife from my shoulder as he flew.

We rolled over and got to our feet. Then Kyle tried to put my KA-BAR through my head. I dodged and put my foot through the side of his knee. He howled in pain and stuck the blade in my thigh as he went down. I growled through gritted teeth as I stood over him.

We were both winded. I could taste my own blood on my tongue and there was a wet spot on the side of Kyle's pants. Probably blood from where his bone was sticking out. I looked up over Kyle's head and saw Brandon and David drawing down in my general direction. It didn't exactly look like their muzzles were pointed at me, but around me. I stumbled around and noticed several mercs and dracaenae with rifles shouldered and bows drawn, all of which were aiming at me.

Kyle broke off a loose tooth off with his tongue and spit it on the floor. "Well, little bro, you came here to kill me. Didn't you?"

"Naw, I came here to get my friend back," I replied. "Killin' you and your dad is just gonna be a bonus."

"You two fight like you're married." Kyle beamed his bloody teeth. "So you gonna kill me or whistle Dixie?"

I didn't look behind me but I did look up at the rest of my team. Concern was plastered on their faces through the grime of war, but Brandon was holding my 1911 down low in his hand. Options were slim, but at least I still had some.

Adrenaline was still pumping through my body. I hadn't noticed it but Kyle had sliced my collarbone right in two but I couldn't feel it yet. My knife was still stuck in my leg and without really thinking, I pulled it out and dropped it on the floor. I felt that. . . very much felt that. Then Brandon tossed my 1911 and I jumped over and behind Kyle. I caught the handgun in midair and took cover behind his back. I snapped his neck just as rounds started popping off and arrows started whizzing past my head.

Kyle's now lifeless body shook from the impacts of each round and arrow from his own guys. It was a miracle that I didn't get hit again. I had the pistol in my left hand under Kyle's arm and was yanking the trigger as fast as I could until it stopped kicking back. Who the Hell knows if I hit anything but Brandon and David must have been taking some lives because eventually all the shooting stopped.

I turned my head around. Both Brandon and David were standing there behind their sights with smoke still flowing from their muzzles. The walls of the hallway were plastered with bullet holes and arrows sticking out of the drywall.

Arrow heads poked out of Kyle's back when I shoved what was left of him forward before I stumbled to my feet. Brandon and David walked over to me as I leaned up against the wall.

"OK, you shouldn't be standing up," said Brandon, his 416 hanging on the sling as he bent down to pick up my 1911.

"I'm alright," I replied, putting pressure on my bleeding shoulder.

"You just got stabbed by a big freaking knife! You're not alright!" replied David as he tried to treat my shoulder.

"Standing will keep me from blacking out," I replied as I leaned up against one of the walls.

He took a short hooked blade and cut away my Camp Half-Blood T-shirt which was tucked into my BDU pants so it just hung in tatters around my belt-line. He took a handful of gauze and started to apply more pressure to the wound.

"How many T-shirts have we gone through since we started this thing?" I asked.

"I think the grand total is four now," answered Brandon who was dragging my plate carrier over to the wall that I was leaning against.

He pulled a bottle of water out of the backpack and unscrewed the lid. He handed me the bottle and I downed the whole thing in a matter of seconds. You never know just how thirsty you are until you start losing a lot of blood.

"So, how does it feel?" asked David.

"It feels like I got stabbed," I replied. "I'm not losing consciousness yet."

"That's not what I meant," he told me.

"Oh," I said. "It ain't finished yet. I still got his dad. Then justice will be served. You almost done?"

"Getting there. Brandon, can you grab me some of that Quick-clot stuff?" David asked Brandon.

Brandon picked up David's first-aid kit and pulled out the packet of the evil powder. He handed it to David who used his teeth to open the packet.

"OK. This is going to really sting," he told me as he temporarily moved the gauze and slowly poured the white and green clumps onto my wound.

It stung, just as David had warned me. But it helped stop the bleeding. Brandon pulled out another bottle of water and David poured some of it over the wound to wash out the excess powder. It all stung but the pain helped keep me awake. Then he moved down to my leg while Brandon bandaged up my shoulder. This sucks. He cut a bigger hole in my BDU pants so he could work on my leg. Then he dumped more powder onto the open wound. Even more pain filled my body. He treated that wound the same as my shoulder.

"So, what are we going to do now?" asked David.

"Easy, we finish the mission," I replied.

"You can barely walk. You're lucky your not dead. Let us finish this and you take off," suggested Brandon.

"That's not happening," I replied.

"No, you're staying with KATE and that's final," Brandon told me.

"You can't stop me unless you shoot me yourself. I am going on that rooftop," I replied.

"Don't tempt me," I heard Brandon say under his breath. "Look, I know you don't believe it, but we all heard that gunshot."

"I'm not giving up on her yet. I owe it to her brother," I replied. "I won't believe it until I see a body."

David finished with my thigh and Brandon handed me my 1911. I held the firearm in my right hand at my side as I grabbed a new magazine out of my plate carrier. I couldn't lift my arm but I could still hold things in my hand. I pressed the mag release on the frame with my thumb and let the empty magazine fall to the floor. I slipped the new magazine into the magwell and hit the slide release, chambering a new round. I could feel the vibrations from the slide in my shoulder.

David took point and Brandon held up our six as we moved up to the roof where I knew that John was waiting for me. We made it to the hatch and I was the one that pushed it open this time.