Reliant ~ [John Soap MacTavish]

I. Left for dead

Alex Heart (Spike) ~ 11:00 pm

"For fucks sake," I scream out into the open forest, my chest rising and falling quickly as I try to catch my breath.

It's dark, and I'm alone. My crew was left stunned after a surprise attack by our newfound enemies.

I'm ashamed to say that we didn't see them coming in the slightest. Maybe my boss did, who am I kidding? I wouldn't put it past him if the bastard knew and deliberately chose not to warn us.

I throw my gun to the side. The mag is empty and I don't have a spare one anymore. All I have left is a handgun with just three bullets. I reach for my comms and call out, hoping someone, anyone, can hear me.

"This is Alex to Carter. Do you copy?"

I wait, but I get no response.

Nothing.

Another frustrated yell escapes me before I realize I better be quiet. I look around but see no one. I stand there in the dark forest without all of my necessary gear. I do have my military vest and I did manage to snatch an AR and one nearly empty handgun from the wall before leaving. I take note of where I've thrown my AR, but at this point, I couldn't care less. I won't be able to go back to grab more ammo anyway.

My right hand is wrapped tightly around the handle of my gun. The heavy black material is cold against my skin as I'm not wearing any gloves. In the hassle of getting out of the building, I didn't have any time to grab all of my necessities. Everything had turned into a mess within a split second.

Irritation resurfaces as I think back to the mess that we call our higher-ups. Things had gone to absolute shit the last couple of weeks. It all started the moment Torren was murdered. The one man who was able to bring a bit of structure to the company.

Ever since Canmoore took over, it seemed like everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Adding to that, a part of my authority had been taken away.

Stupid decisions were made that led us to this point, and I had no say in any of them. I wasn't for working together with Kahdemi. I didn't trust him, and neither did Torren, but Canmoore didn't hesitate a single minute to strike up multiple deals with him. Our teams were linked only a day after Torrens' death.

As my brain runs back over to my whole military career and where I went wrong, the sound of a single gunshot sounds near me. I quickly lower myself to the ground, trying not to catch any unnecessary attention.

I groan in frustration once more before I try to find some cover in one of the many trees.

~

"Alex...They're here," Carter looks at me with widened eyes.

"Who?" I ask, still unbeknownst to the chaos ensuing.

"One four one," he whispers, his eyes still wide as ever.

I look to my right and remove the headphones from my ears as I focus on the thick steel door separating us from the others. Loud thuds sound from behind it. Yells, grunts, and muffled gunshots follow.

"What the fuck," I nearly growl, my anger levels quickly rising. "Canmoore said he was keeping an eye on it."

"We need to go.. Now," Carter says before opening the rack full of guns.

Beads of sweat form on the back of his neck, some of his hair sticking to it as he frantically tries to get the rack open faster. His voice isn't as I've heard it before. He's usually calm, collected, and rational. Seeing him like this has me realizing the urgency of the situation.