Guarding Her Heart | t.swift

Chapter 20: Battles and Bandages

Quincy sat on the porch of the safe house, rain dripping steadily from her saturated clothing. Her mind was far from the present, lost in the haunting memories of her last U.S. Navy SEAL mission. She closed her eyes, trying to steady her breathing as vivid scenes played out in her mind like an unwelcome movie reel.

It was a mission like any other, until it wasn't. The rain had poured relentlessly, turning the terrain into a muddy quagmire that seemed determined to swallow them whole. Quincy, then Lieutenant (0-3), had been leading her team on a rescue operation deep in enemy territory. They were ambushed, and chaos erupted around them.

She remembered leopard crawling through the mud, the cold seeping into her bones. It was during that crawl that she found her newest team member, bleeding out. The young man was pale, his eyes wide with fear and pain. Quincy moved to help, but he stopped her with a weak grip on her arm.

"Sniper... northeast corner," he managed to whisper, his voice barely audible over the rain.

The safe choice was to wait for backup, but Quincy couldn't bear to watch him die. She instructed him to clench his jaw and fall over, using the leaves to camouflage himself. He was too scared to move, frozen in fear and pain.

Assessing the area through the downpour, Quincy spotted a small building nearby. Waiting until the rain became a deluge, obscuring visibility, she hoisted the young man over her shoulder and carried him to safety. Inside the building, she did her best to stabilize his wounds, working swiftly and methodically to keep him alive.

As she tended to his injuries, Quincy questioned him about the rest of their team. He confessed to hearing shouts from the west before they were ambushed. But before she could leave, the young man had clung to her arm, tears streaming down his face.

Quincy's heart sank as Ethan clung desperately to her arm, his grip tight despite his trembling hands. "Please, Lieutenant," he pleaded through choked sobs, "don't leave me here."

Quincy's jaw clenched, frustration and urgency warring within her. She knew every moment counted, but Ethan's fear was palpable, his panicked breaths echoing in the rain-soaked air. "Ethan, listen to me," she said firmly, sure to maintain her composure. "I need to find the rest of the team. We can't stay here." For all she knew her team was lying scattered around her bleeding out.

Ethan's eyes pleaded with her, desperate and wide. "I can't... I can't do this alone," he whimpered.

Quincy knelt down in front of her newest team member and grabbed his shoulders. "I need you to man the fuck up. If you don't, then we're both gonna get killed," Quincy sighed heavily, her mind racing.

She knew the risks of leaving Ethan alone, but she couldn't afford to wait any longer. "Here," Taking a deep breath, she unholstered her pistol and grabbed Ethan's trembling hand, placing the weapon firmly within his grasp. "Hold on to this, it's loaded, hairpin trigger," she instructed, her voice commanding despite the compassion in her eyes. "Stay hidden. And don't you dare die on me. I'll be back."

She stepped to the exit but stopped and walked back to the young man tapping his cheek to make sure he wasn't lost in thought, his eyes were wide with fear and adrenaline.

"When I get back you better be breathing, you don't stop breathing if that clip is not empty," Ethan nodded, tears streaming down his face as he clutched the pistol tightly. Quincy squeezed his shoulder reassuringly before she turned away, her heart heavy with the weight of the decision. 

Ignoring the pounding rain and the chill that seeped through her clothes, she pressed forward, determined to find her her team and bring them all to safety, Quincy ventured back out into the storm, crawling and rolling through the mud, her senses heightened and focused on survival.