Long Shot | 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Chapter 9

Together, as we ran into the compound, we passed by members of the 17 Feb, who looked at us with slight confusion; but most importantly, we passed windows and doors with burning hot flames pouring out of them. Jack had seen the fire starting up back at the Annex, so by now it was in full effect.

"State, we're on property." Rone called through the radio to the men who had been begging for help for what felt like hours. "State, we're coming in! We're on property!"

Jumping over a row of bushes that lined the driveway, we ran over to the men who were waiting outside the front doors for us. "Hey, talk to me, guys." Rone asserted as we met up with them. "Where are they?"

"I looked everywhere." a man answered through fits of panicked breathing. "I can't find them. I think they're still in there."

Rone then turned to Scott, who's face was black with soot. "You got bad guys inside?"

Scott heaved as he weakly shook his head. "We got separated. I can't find them."

"Our guys? How many?"

"Two." Scott informed us as Rone went to take a look at the front door. "It's too hot! Go around that way."

Motioning for Jack and I to follow, Rone lead us around to another entrance of the building where the flames weren't quite as ferocious as they had been at the front. Without thinking about it, Rone ran a few feet into the building. "Chris!" he called into the building, but quickly backed out again when he realized just how hot it was inside. "Shit. Jack, Lex, come here! Let's go in."

On Rone's signal, the three of us cautiously entered the burning building, which quickly made me rethink all the times I had complained about the Benghazi heat; because compared to this, that was like fucking winter.

We called out for the Ambassador, Chris, as we searched the first room, but it wasn't long after that that we were forced to run back out to breathe. "No one could survive that." Jack coughed as he wiped the layer of sweat from his face.

We all knew that Jack's words were true, and that the odds of us finding somebody alive were next to nothing, but nevertheless, on the count of three we ran back inside. The thick smoke filled my lungs within seconds and I found myself struggling to breathe as I followed the men through the rooms.

We continued to call out for the Ambassador, but every time I exerted my energy to yell, I felt my body getting weaker and weaker due to the loss of oxygen and immense heat engulfing my body.

Turning off into another room, I stopped by the doorway and tried my best to suck as much oxygen as I could into my lungs before proceeding. I could feel myself getting lightheaded, but this was not the time nor place to pass out. Eventually, due to hearing Jack yell for us to follow his voice, I realized that we had all gotten split up.

I turned on the flashlight attached to my gun so I could see I little better, but I didn't have enough energy left to call out to Rone and Jack, so the best I could do was to follow Jack's advice and follow his voice. After a while though, the calling stopped and I still had no fucking clue where I was. Despite getting an entire tour of this place days before, the layout seemed completely different when new walls of fire had been put up and dark clouds of smoke were covering seventy-five percent of my vision.

"Lex!" I heard one of the other guys call. "Lex, are you still in there?!"

I tried to call out to them to let them know I was still inside, but as soon as I opened my mouth it filled with smoke and I began to cough violently. Thinking quick, I slammed the butt of my gun against the wall a couple of times to let them know I was still inside. Thankfully, they got the message and kept calling, which gave me something to follow in order to get out of that death trap.