Behind The Mask (Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 [2022] Fanfiction)

- FOUR -

"Ouch," I groaned as I lifted my head, vision blurry and silver specks spotting the corners of my vision.

    Looking about I noticed I was still far from the city yet yards down the hill. The lights of the Mexican guards were nowhere to be spotted from my position. I sat up as I breathed deeply, the action making my ribcage area twinge in protest. My fingers slid around to the back pockets of my shorts, trembling.

    Dread really spread when I couldn't feel my phone. I wasn't sure if it'd been lost in my tumble or way before, but I knew I couldn't go back. Backwards meant impending death of those who were going to search far and wide for me.

    I gingerly pushed myself up, deciding heading toward civilization would help hide and provide. My right hand clasped over the deeper scrape from the bullet earlier, still bleeding and likely leaving a trail of blood. A limp and missing high heels kept me slow, but I was still able to manage being steady.

    Whoever those people and Hassan were, they were beyond dangerous and had to be a part of something huge. They had killed dozens of innocents without question.

    My friends...

    A sob escaped my lips as I continued to piece my way down the hill in the dark. The saltiness of my tears stung the scrapes from my fall and blurred my vision even more. My heart swelled thinking about the short lives and quick deaths behind me. I'd known them for years and now they were just...gone.

    The image of Karin being shot and Noelle collapsing against the wall would be with me forever. Donovan's throat being shot out of him and bouncing into the lap of Noelle was even worse to remember. I didn't want to imagine how the remaining three had been ended.

    I raised my head as I came closer to the outskirts of the large city. A few dogs were barking. The shadows held danger and death, that I knew. As fun as it could be as a vacation, Mexico was a death-sentence for someone in my position. A young American woman with no way to defend herself or phone to be tracked with. No one would ever know what happened to me.

    My steps grew softer as I pressed into town. There was no one in front of me, from what I could tell through my spinning vision. I continued to push for a darker alley, holding my throbbing arm and gimping on my right leg.

    When the sound of a roaring truck hit my ears, every muscle in my body stiffened to stop me. I took a couple of deep breaths, trying to slow my heartbeat in order to hear better. They were approaching fast, one from the right and the other from further down the alley on the road in town. 

    Looking out across the landscape to my right I could see the incoming headlights. I had just enough time to cross back the way I'd come—down the rocky and unsteady side of the damn slope. 

    "¡Ahí está!" 

    The exclamation was announcing my presence, that was no doubt. I guessed right as the cartel truck on the dirt path screeched to a stop on the right. The second vehicle rounded the corner to the alley, headlights blinding my vision adjusted to the darkness. Soldiers got out of the first vehicle, beginning to fire my direction with guns. Loud and terrifying guns which had bullets making thack sounds in the dirt and rocks close by.

    It was pure adrenaline that launched me forward into a stumbling, heaping mess of a sprint. I let out a cry of panic when I lost a little footing; the rocks that scraped my bare feet were going to leave painful scrapes later. More shouts followed in Spanish, likely curses as the armed men pressed after me.

    I am never going to outrun them.

    The thought was enough to almost make me stop and fall to my knees in defeat. Another, more hasty part of me was determined to get out alive. I refused to let the bastards have one more kill from my friend group.