''I need an evac.'' Richard waited for a response, but it never came. ''I said I need an EVAC!'' There was some static, but still nothing. ''Is anyone there?'' Then, a voice came in. ''Switch to channel 109, private.'' He hated the word private. He was obviously a skilled soldier, and he already had over 50 kills. He should have been promoted. Nevertheless, he switched over. ''Hey, what the hell is going on?'' ''Rasmus...You weren't supposed to come out of there.'' Richard didn't know what he was talking about. ''What do you mean?'' ''It was a suicide mission. You were supposed to die, just another random American soldier.'' Richard was outraged. His own country tried to murder him?! But why? ''Why are you doing this?!'' ''Politics. You see, there's gonna be a outcry if we don't pull the troops out. And well, you're our best sniper right now. You're an amazing soldier, and that's why you're gonna be martyred. If our best soldier is K.I.A, then that's the perfect reason for the president to pull us out. You don't know it, but you're back home being hailed as a hero. If they find out you died, the government would have no reason not to pull the troops out.'' Richard thought about it. Why did it have to be him? He was an American! That's when he realized. No one knows he's out there. Behind enemy lines, and even if he was in the states, he was still behind enemy lines. He had no where to go. ''But-...Fuck! You can't get away with this! Someone has to be listening in on us!'' ''Sorry, kid. Yesterday, they issued us a new channel, due to security concerns. I stayed on waiting for you.'' ''Remember. You're gonna be known as a hero, the way we honor you. I personally am sorry. But you know how congress is, all conservative pricks. I'm sorry. But no one's coming. I salute you, soldier.'' Richard threw the radio on the ground, smashing it into pieces. He was dead. He got it now. War is really hell. Gotta stay up in your lane in the game . He might as well kill himself, rather than be captured by the enemies, or starve to death...'No.'' He thought. ''They won't get away with this.'' He knew he had to get back home. But how? ''The embassy!''
Jimmy and Rich went to scout the area. Me and the rest of the group held up in this little room, which I think is a med bay. Let me see if I can find some morphine, or something. I opened one of the first aid kits. Painkillers, band aids, and needles. Not morphine, though. I looked over the counter and found another box. Opening it, I found a needle, and bottle of morphine. Glad they just had fucking morphine lying around. I picked it up and sat down next to Sam. ''Hey.'' ''Hey. How's the side?'' She winced a bit. ''It's not that great. Better than before.'' ''Here. Let me inject you. It should dull the pain.'' I move closer to Sam. She grabbed onto my hand and squeezed tight as I injected the morphine. It made me think, what's wrong with my blood? That was not fucking normal, I've seen blood, that's not blood. ''Are you sure this will work?'' ''I once bruised my rib sparring. I think my trainer said something about it...'' ''Why the fuck did you stop?! My...My side hurt- You think they give a fuck?! Here! Come here!...Stay still let me stick you. Coach, is this legal?! No, but neither is what's gonna happen if you keep fucking squirming.'' ''...Uh, it was something like that.'' She giggled a little. We sat in silence for a while. ''Vinz, I need to ask you something...'' ''I think I do too. You go first.'' She looked down for a second. ''Do you, um...do...You like me right?'' God, I feel like I'm in middle school. ''W-well yeah-I mean, like-like, of course...'' She squirmed uncomfortably. ''Why? When I was in high school, I had a lot of friends, but...No one really liked me, like that.'' That's a good question. Why did I like her? For some reason, I feel hot under my collar whenever I'm near her. What happened to me? I'm supposed to be the hard veteran! Now, I'm falling in fucking love! And if the apocalypse taught me anything, when you fall in love, love is gonna break when you hit it.
Vinz reached his hand out, and stroked my cheek. His touch made me blush heavily, God! This is so embarrassing! ''Sam, I've never felt this way about someone else. Girls always flocked to me, but I never felt anything about any of them. Not you, though. I flocked to you. You were independent, you were strong, and you knew how to fight. You're beautiful, inside and out. Not matter how cliche it sounds, it's true. It's funny really-heh. I thought once I killed P- I mean...I thought me being a terrible leader would make you not interested in me.'' I smiled. Jesus, my hands are sweating, my face is as red as a tomato, I'm a fucking mess! What did I do to deserve a protector? My head rested on his shoulder. ''Sam, once we get out of here, and find a place we can call home...I-'' All of a sudden, Jimmy and Richard burst through the door.
''Come on-it's fucking-got the guns-fuck-we gotta go!'' ''What the fuck are you talking about?'' Jimmy tossed me a shotgun. A Benelli M4. My father had bought one and used to hunt with it. How did Jimmy find this? ''I saw a helicopter! Parked right there! There was some asshole standing outside right. He had one of those helicopter hats or whatever they're called, so I killed em, and stole his keys!'' Rich jumped in. ''I had gone downstairs and told him I'll guard him as he gets the keys. And he came back with the keys. And half the fucking soldiers in this place. Whatever, we gotta go!'' I stood up. I looked around, and saw Alex and Clementine running up to me. ''Vinz, what's gonna happen?'' Little Alex said. ''What's gonna happen is you're gonna stay right behind me, along with you,'' I nodded to Clementine. ''and we're gonna fly on a helicopter! Isn't that cool?...''...Well this is awkward. Sam grabbed Alex and pulled him over to her.
''Listen, Alex. There's gonna be a lot of scary stuff happening, but I need you to stay strong. I need you to stay right behind Vinz the entire time! I'll be right behind you, don't even worry. We're all gonna be fine. Okay.'' He had that scared look in his eyes, that he's had since Vinz did that surgery on me. I absentmindedly scratched my arm where he did it. Though it doesn't seem it, those were better times. Times where we weren't getting shot at 24/7. ''Okay...'' He said. When we're safe, I need to teach him how to use a gun. I turned to Vinz. ''You ready?'' He asked. ''Yes. Let's go.'' I pulled out my pistol, and advanced towards Jimmy with Vinz in front. As we exited the room, Richard turned towards me. ''Listen, I'm gonna tell this to you specifically. I know you're scared right now, so I'll take the rear. But whatever happens...Just keep behind Vinz. Alright?'' I thought about it. Vinz was always a people first type of guys since I met him. He gave people what was coming to them. With Rich, Jimmy, that little girl and Kenny. Didn't even ask twice. Just let them in our group. Even Paige...When Vinz was asleep, I asked Jimmy what had happened to Paige. He said the mayor shot her. But I still have my doubts. You know, she never talked. Since Vinz joined our group. She just sat . ''Time to move!''
So, it was Jimmy in front, then me and the kids. Then Sam. Then Rich. Oh boy. All of a sudden, a loud speaker turned on. ''INTRUDERS. EVERYONE ARM YOURSELF AND HUNT THESE MEN. IF YOU COME OUT UNARMED AND WITH YOUR HANDS RAISED, YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED!'' Well, how generous. A door at the end of the hallway opened up. Jimmy and I fired, destroying the door and whoever was coming inside. The Belinelli barked in my hand. I only have however many shells were in the shotgun already, meaning I need to find another gun. Jimmy turned around. ''Listen, mate. There's a stairwell there,'' He pointed through the door. ''take this, and as soon as I open the door to the top, throw it.'' He handed me a...Fucking grenade? Where did he find this shit? Before I could ask, we advanced through the door and past the dead bodies. I grabbed one of their assault rifles and headed up. We stacked up by the door. ''Alright, everyone! As soon as we go through here, we run as fast as possible towards the helicopter-where is it again- Just forward- Okay- Straight ahead of us. Alright, on three. 1- Go!'' Jimmy burst through first, and I looked out. There was a small group ahead of us, so I lobbed the grenade. I aimed my rifle right after I threw at and started firing. The grenade exploded, killing all of them, as I took fire from below us. A giant wave of people were standing outside the entrance, probably waiting for us, and I returned fire as we all ran. All too quickly, I ran out of ammo. There was a small unit we could all take cover behind. We hit behind there for a second. As we caught our breath, I looked at Jimmy. ''If you have more of those grenades, it would be great if you could give one to me.'' ''Nah, mate, but someone's watching over us today.'' He pointed to the end of the unit, and saw a gas canister. Probably not the best use for it, but better than nothing. ''Here's a gun. Throw it in the air, and shoot it.'' He handed me a 45. ''Alright, I'm gonna distract those guy, once I step out, start running-'' ''Let me go first! I know how to fly it.'' Richard stepped in. ''Okay. Now!'' I stepped out and ran to the end of the building, hurling the canister off at the same time. It took me two shots to hit it, and I immediately dived backwards to avoid the gunfire.
The fire rained down and I heard the screams of the people below. I looked left and saw them climbing in the copter. I was the only one they were waiting on. That is, unless we didn't have fuel. I got up, and started running to the copter. As soon as I stood up, the door behind me opened up and four heavily armored soldiers came out. I turned and fired my gun, hitting two in the head, and killing them. I ran as fast as I could, but one of them got off a shot right before I could hit him, and went right into my fucking calf. My vision blurred, almost as bad as when Sam shot me, but not as much. Only one was left, and I turned to aim. We fired simultaneously.