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“One hundred and sixty fucking hours,” Johnson groans. “Just one more goddamn week, and then we’re—”
Ka-Boom.
The explosion rockets the vehicle into the air, the sound ricocheting through my ears as my body launches from the seat and slams against something hard. Metal crunches, and I feel myself tumbling around as the vehicle rolls, whipping violently from one direction to the next. There’s a flash, the sound of another explosion, then total darkness.
I don’t know how long I lay there. I only know that when I open my eyes, I’m not in the vehicle anymore, and Adler is no longer beside me. My skull vibrates, and a shrill ringing pierces my ears as I try to get a grasp on my surroundings through the haze of dust. It’s the surge of adrenaline that drives me to move. Only I can’t. When I try, I collapse. I’m injured, but I don’t know where.
“Adler,” I wheeze his name, hoping he can hear me wherever he is.
Time passes. A minute. A fucking hour. I don’t know. I try and fail three more times to get my useless meat sack of a body to function. Gradually, the ringing in my ears subsides, only to be replaced by the sound of a firefight around me. We’re in the middle of an ambush, and I can’t fucking move.
“Goddammit,” I bellow in frustration. “Adler, where are you?”
I manage to roll myself onto my stomach after the initial shock subsides, and that’s when the first flood of pain hits me. I grit my teeth and dig my fingers into the earth, attempting to crawl, but all I can do is pull myself along, dragging the weight of my dead legs behind me. Something’s wrong with my back and I can taste blood on my lips, but the only thought at the forefront of my mind is that I have to get to Adler before I die. I have to make sure he goes home.
“Adler,” I try again, but my voice cracks as shock waves from another explosion rock the earth beneath me.
Fragments of disjointed words drift on the breeze. Someone says something about a medevac, and another guy screams that he’s been hit. He’s pleading for help, the terror in his voice eventually fading to silence as he takes his final breath. Dust whips around me, coating my face and tongue and obscuring my vision as I slither across the ground, calling out for Adler.
A bullet whizzes past my ear, and something explodes to my right, sending shrapnel into my leg. I grunt at the impact but don’t stop moving. I can’t stop fucking moving. I slap my hands down, clawing them into the earth for leverage until, at some point, what I hit isn’t dirt. It’s a boot.
“Adler?” I call out.
The sound of someone choking on their own blood is the only response I get, and when I pull my hands back to clear my vision, I find myself staring at someone I don’t recognize. At least until his gaze meets mine, and my blood runs cold.
Half his face is burned, and the gash in his neck is at least three inches wide. Every breath he manages pumps blood from the wound, and in my gut, I can see that he’s already lost too much.
Instinct takes over, and I drag myself closer, applying pressure to stem the bleeding. “You aren’t going to die on me, motherfucker. Get your shit together, Adler. We’re getting out of here. Remember what you always tell me. It doesn’t matter which direction we move as long as we do. So come on.”
He tries to speak, and blood explodes from his lips. I shake my head, and everything gets blurry as I attempt to get my own shit together.
“It’s going to be okay,” I tell him, but I’m a goddamn liar. “We’re going home.”
He opens his lips again, and his body jerks as he conjures up the will to utter one word. One word that says everything I need to know.
Zoe.
I know what he’s asking of me and what he needs to hear right now. We made this agreement. A promise that can’t be broken. But giving him my assurances means accepting what he already knows. I want to shake him. I want to scream at him to stop choking. He’s not going to do this. He’s not going to fucking leave.
“I gave you my word, and I meant it.” I summon a superhuman strength I didn’t know I had as I rip off part of my shirt and fashion a makeshift tourniquet around his neck. “But it doesn’t fucking matter because we’re getting out of here. Then you’ll see Zoe yourself.”
The exertion causes my vision to dim, and I’m worried I’ll pass out before I can get him where he needs to go. I’m bleeding somewhere too, and the clock is running down. I pivot toward Adler’s good leg and grab it, glancing around us for cover. Attempting to summon more of that superhuman strength, I try to drag the weight of his body beside me, but I only manage to move him a couple of inches before my muscles give out.
