Chapter Quote:
"Goodbyes hurt the most when the story was not finished."
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Chapter 13: Primis

Grey

I made my way downstairs, passing Grandma Edna on the way who stood at the kitchen counter. She was pouring something into her cereal bowl. I had just stepped foot outside when I backed up into the house, staring at what she was pouring into her cereal. It was a Jack Daniels bottle. She paused, staring me down for a moment before saying, "You didn't see this."

"I didn't see this," I agreed. For all I knew I was hallucinating that too. However, it was Grandma Edna so it may have been real.

I went back outside, heading towards the hammock to take a rest until Jax was ready to go out for lunch. Maybe I went to the spot I did because I was hoping to find some shred of evidence that I hadn't been hallucinating earlier. Maybe I went there in hope of seeing them again because God knows I wanted to.

But on my way, I stopped at the tree where I'd seen my compatriots earlier in hope of a sign that proved they had truly been there, but there was no one and nothing to be seen. No footprints in the soft dirt other than my own. Running a hand through my hair, I let out a sigh. I was going to need to talk to Abigail about this. This wasn't a good sign. But considering she was my therapist, and considering the military were going to need her approval for me to go back into the field, I needed to keep it quiet. At least until I got back. Besides, the hallucinations weren't terrifying or dangerous to me. I could get through this by myself. At least long enough that I could get myself back out in the field to finish what I started.

Shaking my head, I went to the hammock, easily getting in it. The sun took the chill out of the air, and as I stared up at the clouds passing by, I slipped into sleep once more.

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"Fray! Where are you?!" Duke shouted. The gunfire had ceased as the enemies regrouped and while we waited for back up. Daryl and Micah were trapped in a room by some rubble; MC-squared and Frank were trying to clear it all to get them out. Christian and Tyler were MIA. No one could reach them on the radio. Duke, Chris, and I were unscathed, but only barely. The building we'd been taking cover in had collapsed barely five minutes after we exited it. We had all paused for a moment to let it sink in that we could've been in there. We could've been crushed under the stone and steel with no hope of making it out of there.

But we regained our wits quickly because there were things that needed to be done, including finding the rest of our comrades. We came across MC-squared and Frank first. They were struggling with some of the bigger pieces of debris. The three of us helped them and within the next few minutes, Daryl and Micah were able to crawl out.

"What happened?" Duke asked.

"An IED went off, and we ducked for cover in here. We're not hurt. Where are the others? Where are Christian and Tyler?" Daryl demanded.

"We don't know. They won't answer their radio," I said grimly.

"We need to find them." Daryl tried contacting our missing comrades over the radio, saying, "Fray, Hilton, if you can hear me, we're in section one outside what used to be building four. If you can hear us, make your way over."

"Sir, we've been trying since before we found you. We said the same things. I don't think they can hear us, or if they can, they can't move or respond," Duke said. None of us said what we were truly thinking, but we didn't need to. We were all fearing the worst for our brothers' safety.

"Kennedy, Stone, McAllister, do a sweep of their section and see if you can find them." Daryl ordered. "MC-squared and Dawson, go with them for back up. Radio me if you find them. Micah and I will stay here and get in touch with base to see how far away reinforcements are."

"Yes, sir!" We replied simultaneously. Then we trudged off towards the section Christian and Tyler had last been reported. All of us were on high alert. MC-squared took up the rear, keeping an eye on the back. Frank and Duke kept eyes on the sides. Chris and I had eyes on the front. We arrived at the section with no problems, but that put me on edge. Something was going to go wrong here. I could feel it. I wished it would go away though for I desperately wanted to be wrong.

"Fray? Hilton? You out here?" Frank called out. Unsurprisingly, there was no response.

"Boys, keep cover out here while Chris, Duke, and I do a sweep of the remaining buildings. Try and stay out of sight to avoid any ambushes," I ordered. Mitchell, Michael, and Frank nodded, taking positions that covered all visible attack points. Duke, Chris and I entered the building, although that was a bit of stretch calling it that. Most of the walls had crumbled from the explosions that had rocked the city. Some of the floors had collapsed, and it looked like the ceiling was barely holding on. I kept a wary eye on it as we made our way through, checking under rubble for our comrades. At one point, we decided to separate to cover more ground faster. We all needed to regroup as soon as possible because we were stronger together than we were apart.

I called out their names repeatedly, and in the distance, I could faintly hear Duke and Chris doing the same. I went back outside through one of the holes in the wall, scanning over the rubble of the surrounding buildings. I had a bad feeling of what we were going to find. I called out their names again, not expecting to hear anything.

At first, I thought it was the creaking and groaning of the buildings that were struggling to stay upright, but then I realized it was human. I started moving across the debris, searching for any signs of Tyler or Christian.

"Grey," a voice croaked. I stopped in my tracks, head snapping to the right. Tyler was on the ground. Blood was trickling out of his mouth and staining his teeth red. He wasn't moving, but he was breathing. That was all I cared about.

"Stone to Team. I've found Fray. He needs immediate medical attention," I announced on the radio.

"McAllister and I are on our way," Chris replied.

"Rescue chopper is on its way. Give me your coordinates," Daryl responded. I gave him the requested information, then grabbed onto Tyler's hand to give him some comfort.

"Do you know where Christian is?" I inquired gently. Tyler shut his eyes tightly before slowly turning his head to the wreckage on his right. I hadn't noticed it when I arrived at the scene, the hand sticking from amongst the crumbled concrete and twisted steel, covered in gray dust that matched the surroundings. Bile rose up in my throat; I barely managed to swallow it down. I needed to be strong for Tyler right now.

"W-we got all... the civilians out..." Tyler stammered out. He was in pain, it was obvious. I wondered what all wounds he had suffered, and how many I couldn't see. If he didn't get immediate medical attention, he wasn't going to last much longer.

"You did. You're a hero to them. You saved their lives," I told him.

"And he saved mine. The blast... he jumped- I couldn't-"

"Hey, he always said he'd rather die first so he wouldn't have to see any of us go. You wouldn't have been able to stop him if you tried," I insisted, trying to make him feel better.

"Oh god..." I heard Chris murmur behind me. He and Duke knelt on the other side of Tyler who was struggling to breathe. "Hey, the rescue chopper is on its way. Just hang in there okay?"

"If I don't... m-make it, t-tell Jane a-and my pa... parents I love..." Tyler took in a deep breath as he struggled to get the remaining part of his sentence out. "I love them."

"You're going to tell them yourself. Hang tight, Baby Brother," Duke said. Tyler nodded. Chris, Duke, and I shared a look of despair. We knew this was a futile situation if we didn't get him out of here right now. I started to figure out that a lot of his wounds were internal, which were deadly because there was nothing we could physically do to help. External, maybe. Internal, no. We looked back down, only to find Tyler's eyes were closed.

"Fray, open your eyes!" Chris ordered. "You need to-"

"Chris," Duke interrupted. "It's no use."

I placed two fingers on his wrist, praying to feel a pulse. But there was nothing. I couldn't feel a thing. I hung my head, swallowing back the knot in my throat.

"Semper Fi," I whispered.

"Semper Fi," Chris and Duke echoed.

"Stone to Watson. Fray and Hilton are gone," I announced despondently, the words sounding foreign in my mouth. There was silence over the radio for about five seconds before our squad leader replied, "Is there any way you can bring their bodies back to us?"

"Tyler, yes. Hilton... he's under a bunch of rubble. We'll try though."

"MC-squared and I are on our way to help," Frank informed, his voice devoid of any emotion. It was strange hearing him like that. I knew it was because he was trying to stay strong and focus on the mission, but when you lose a guy that basically taught you almost everything you know and when you lose the guy you swore to protect because he was your Baby Brother, it was difficult.

Frank, Mitchell, and Michael showed up within a few minutes. Mitchell seemed the most affected, staring in shock at Tyler's lifeless body. Despite all his teasing, Mitchell had taken Tyler under his wing in a way. He let us all tease him because we were his squadron, but if anyone from any other squadron tried, they had to either get through Mitchell or answer to him. Considering people didn't want to do either, people left Tyler alone.

The six of us proceeded to struggle getting the blocks of concrete and the beams of steel off of Christian's body. We all refused to leave his body in this state. It took us about fifteen minutes but finally, we were able to extract his body. He was barely recognizable, having been so mangled from the being crushed underneath everything. Duke and Michael were ashen. Chris's face was red. Mitchell had a blank look in his eyes. I could only imagine what I looked like.

Not wanting to even ask who was going to carry Christian's body, I simply lifted him myself. Mitchell gathered Tyler in his arms, cradling him as if he were a newborn child. He and I walked in the middle. Chris and Duke flanked us in the front and back respectively. Frank and Michael walked on either side of us. They kept an eye out for enemy attacks while we made our way back to our squad leader, completely unaware that things were about to get much, much worse.

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"You think he's getting a sunburn?" Frank asked. "Boy's so white he could be Frosty the Snowman."

"Dawson, be nice. The boy's been through hell and back," Daryl's voice answered. The sun blinded me when I opened my eyes, so I shielded them with my hand, scanning the area around me. My eight comrades were back, standing in front of me. Chris and Mitchell leaned against the tree that the hammock was tied to. I sat up, finding Tyler sitting on the ground, leaning on his arms. Michael was lying on the ground, arms behind his head which was turned to look at me. Daryl, Christian, and Micah stood next to Chris. Christian appeared perfectly healthy, if not just a bit pale.

"What are you..." I trailed off, unable to comprehend that they were here. But there was someone missing, prompting me to ask, "Where's Duke?"

"Like you, we're not entirely sure. Since they never found his body, we don't know if he's alive or dead. But considering the rest of us are, I don't think the odds are too good for him either," Mitchell said sadly.

"How are you doing brother?" Chris asked.

"I-I'm... I don't understand. How are you here?" I stammered.

"We're not. Not really. But you know that," Michael said. "So are you okay?"

"I'm not okay. Why did I survive? Why me?"

"You had a promise to keep," Chris said. "You promised Tyler something too. You promised us all something. You lived because you needed to fulfill those promises."

"Take care of Abigail, tell Tyler's family and girlfriend he loved them... what are the other promises?" I asked, my mind hazy. I didn't remember much from the attack because I'd tried to purposefully forget that night. I didn't want to remember all my brother's dying, their lifeless bodies beside me as I thought I was going to die next.

"You swore to me, to us, that if you lived, you would get justice for our deaths by getting back in the field and helping take over that city," Daryl said. "You have yet to do that."

"I'm going back once I'm well enough again. It's not like I can exactly function the way I could before right now," I groaned, lying back down in the hammock and rubbing the sides of my head. I was having an imaginary conversation with my dead brothers. There was nothing wrong with this situation at all...

"Incoming," Michael warned.

"Hmm?" I asked, sitting up to see what he meant. Abigail and Jax were suddenly by my side, the former carrying a can of Diet Coke.

"What?" she asked, looking at the tree where my comrades were. But as I expected, she ignored them, turning back to me because she couldn't see them. She greeted me with a kiss and inquired, "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answered, my eyes flicking over next to the tree. My comrades were still there, watching us silently. "Weird dream. What's up?"

"Jax is done with his session. We wanted to come wake you up so you two could go to lunch. If you're up to it tonight, we were thinking of doing a family ride out in the woods. You up for it?"

"Yeah, definitely," I agreed, getting out of the hammock. The three of us started heading back to the house. Jax and Abigail were talking about the horses while I snuck a look behind me. My brothers were no longer by the tree. They were no longer in sight.