Waking up the next morning was involuntary. Calum was banging on the door of everyone's quarters, yelling that they were under the impression that an ambush was on its way. Ashton immediately jumped into battle mode, throwing himself from his and Luke's bed, tossing on his clothes and throwing his gun and knife into their holsters. Luke was a tad bit slower at getting his things together, but he came rushing out of the quarters right after Ashton, cocking his gun and keeping it in his hands as they rounded the corner to the meeting room.

All of the team members were standing in the meeting room, their bodies physically buzzing with anger and anticipation. Hayley wasn't talking to anyone, all she had was a stone cold look on her face that was absolutely radiating pain and anger as she paced back and forth in the same five foot section.

Calum came rushing into the room with Michael at his side, shoving his gun into its own holster before addressing everyone. "Does everyone have their weapons ready," he asked coldly, his eyes glancing around the room as the team gave him their affirmative. He gave them a court nod, motioning for them to follow him out.

Once they were all out of the basement and on the ground floor, the team exited the house and began spreading out in different directions. After a few minutes of searching the parameter, they were about to give up until they heard Hayley's cry of distress, making their way over to see her kneeling on the ground with something in her hand. She stood up and faced her team, about to speak before a gunshot rang out and she fell to the ground, a gunshot wound directly between her eyes.

A shrill cry came from Ashley as she turned and shot in the direction that the gunshot came from. Ashton walked over to Hayley's now lifeless body, swiping his hand across her face to close her eyes before looking down in her hand. She was holding a cold, chain link necklace, covered in old blood with a charm in the shape of a lock on it; Dom's signature branding. Ashton grit his teeth and stood up, his eyes immediately catching an unfamiliar person and his gun going off before he had the time to process.

The man fell to the ground and the hazel eyed man called out to his team. "Head east," he yelled, his hand pointing in that direction as he went forward. Before he could even blink, around a dozen men came out of their hiding spots behind the giant oak trees and began opening fire.

All of Ashton's team dove behind shrubs, aiming their weapons in the direction of the shooters. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Ashley stealthily left her hiding spot and climbed a few feet up a tree behind the men. Unsheathing her hunting knife, she jumped from the tree and onto the back of one of the men, knife driving directly into the back of his neck. Blood coated her face before she stood up and began attacking a couple others, being stopped short as a bullet lodged itself into her chest, sending her directly to the ground.

"Ashley!" Ashton's voice came out strangled as  he watched the body of his best friend – his little sister – fall onto the earth and her blood begin to pool in the dirt. He came out from the shrub and pulled out his own knife, throwing it at one of the men, watching as it lodged into his side before taking his gun and loading him with rounds.

The sound of gunshots continued to ring through the quiet forest, making them seem so much louder and so much more powerful than they probably were. Ashton was hearing grunts, cries, shouts of other's names; Matty. Alex. Jack. Nick. The names continued to fly around as he turned to see a man sneak up behind Michael and his voice came a little too late.

"Michael!" His body lurched forward, his knees hitting the ground first as he held a hand to his stomach, pulling it away and seeing the blood pooling in his hand. He looked up at Ashton with a pale face before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell to the dirt, his body completely ceasing all movement.

Ashton felt the tears running down his face as he looked for more of Andrew's men, only spotting a few before picking up his gun and aiming at all of them, watching them drop like flies before he went further into the trees, searching for the two people he had lost track of.

Ashton rounded a certain area of shrubbery before noticing Calum lying in the dirt, a gunshot wound in his shoulder and one in his side, tears caking his face. Ashton bent down next to him, his hands coming up to his face as his words came out soft and quiet. "Calum," he whispered hoarsely, "Fuck, Calum, c'mon. Open your eyes, look at me."

His skin was paler than Ashton had ever seen it and it was colder than he ever thought it could be. Calum was trying so hard to breathe, one hand pressed to his side to keep continuous pressure on it as he barely opened his eyes to look at Ashton. "M-Mikey," he spoke, his voice completely wrecked, full of pain, and fading fast. "S-Save Michael."

Calum's body went completely limp, his skin ice cold as Ashton watched his chest stop moving, his hand slipping away from his bullet wound and a never ending river of blood pouring out of him and onto the forest floor. Ashton clenched his teeth, the tears coming out faster as he closed the eyes of his brother, standing up quickly to go find Luke.

And he found him.

There, deep in the woods, being pinned against a tall cedar tree, Luke's hands were gripping the arm of who Ashton could only assume was the Kingpin himself; Andrew Hemmings.

Ashton watched as Andrew pressed the pistol he already had against Luke's neck hard against his jaw before he smirked and pulled the trigger.

He didn't remember how loud he screamed, or how fast he moved, but Ashton could only remember bringing his weapon up and firing endlessly until he watched Andrew's body fall completely to the ground, but he didn't stop firing; not until his gun completely ran out of bullets. Once it was completely empty, he tossed it onto Andrew's lifeless body before he walked over to Luke – his Luke.

He was already dead – the gunshot that went through his skull had to have killed him instantly. Ashton dropped to his knees in front of him, taking his face in his hands, not caring about the blood that was seeping through his fingers. He held Luke's head to his chest, his sobs coming out loud and broken as he held him tight, his blood soaking his shirt as he rocked them back and forth.

Maybe that's why he didn't hear the sound of crunching leaves behind him and why he didn't feel the need to care about checking his surroundings.

It also might be why he didn't care when he felt the barrel of a gun pressed to the back of his skull and lost complete consciousness as a bullet passed its way through his brain.

Ashton continued to hold Luke with the last bit of life that he had left, falling to the ground beside him, his arms wrapped around his head, cradling him to his chest.

Ashton told himself he was willing to die for Luke.

So that's what he did.