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Slowly, my body began to sink lower and lower into the deep depths of the vast blue water, the wet substance coating the inside of my esophagus, burning my chest as it found its way into my strained lungs. Bubbles of air escaped my lips, floating their way to the surface, popping the moment they make impact with the chilly wind atop the sloshing waves. My eyes remained shut, my mind not even processing what was going on. How stupid is this? Not knowing how to swim. What a pathetic way to die as a grown adult. 

A loud splash sounded out from next to me, the impact of the large figure hitting the water reverberating around my sinking form. The sonorous sounds of frantic swimming and yells calling out my name were drowned out from the water rushing in my ears. My chest started to tighten, my body beginning to thrash as my eyes shot open. My blurred vision wildly darted around, I was surrounded by darkness. My limbs flailed every which way beneath the water, desperate for someone to save me, desperate for air to find its way back into my body. 

Tears from my eyes intermingled with the salty sea of water engulfing my entirety, loud screams erupted from my throat, unheard of from the people above me as the noise became lost in the water, trapping my pleas and cries underneath its surface, trapping me underneath its surface. My vision began to darken once again, my writhing form becoming nothing more besides a few twitches from my extremities. When my eyes fluttered shut for the last time, two large hands gripped beneath my underarms, dragging my unconscious body back up to the surface. 

"Y/n!" A deep British voice boomed in my ear, "Fuckin' wake up... cmon, WAKE UP!" My head lolled downwards, water dribbling from the corners of my mouth, cascading down my wet features. "Fuck, cmon, please," the British voice pleaded again. The two large hands once holding me up by my upper body found their way around my lower abdomen quickly, the muscles of the man's arms keeping me in place rippled against my body. The burly fists attached to those strong arms began to pound into my stomach, one time, two times, three times.

Water shot out of my mouth as my eyes widened. Four times. More water escaped my throat followed by loud, hacking coughs. My entire body trembled, exhaustion looming over my weakened form. My head began to feel heavy, sagging down in front of my chest once again. "Please just... stay with me," the British voice behind me whispered again, the syllables in their words wavering. Slowly blinking my eyes, I managed to lift my head up ever so slightly. My lungs burned along with just about everything else on my body.

A deep, gruff sigh of relief emerged from the lips of whoever held me from behind. Confusion still overshadowed my mind, drowning will definitely do that to a person. The hands holding me up by my waist begin to turn my body around, my eyes lazily following the movement before widening once they came in contact with Ghost's masked face. Was this hell? "Ghost?" I mumbled, my voice hoarse. "No, the fuckin' boogeyman," he grumbled in return, his once soft features quickly hardening in just mere seconds. Or maybe I was just imaging things and they were never soft to begin with. My eyebrows furrowed as I soaked up his visible features in front of me. Why would he save me? After I almost got his best friend killed? After I betrayed him. Opening my mouth to speak again, I was cut off by a wide eyed Soap.

A huge grin formed across his lips once he realized I'd be okay, "Had me worried for a second there lass," he joked, eyeing me up and down. This was all so confusing. He had almost died because of me, and he was worried about my wellbeing? I don't deserve these people. My lips pressed together as I gave a half assed smile in return. Ghost's arms never left from around my body, his strong grip keeping me above the water. "Not judging ya or anything but... how the fuck do you not know how to swim?" He asked, followed by a light chuckle. My eyes narrowed down at him, "Maybe because I don't like swimming," I bit back. The smile never left his face, "Glad almost drowning didn't take away your feisty spirit," he joked. 

After a few moments, Alejandro swam over to us as well, "Oh Y/n, you had me so nervous. I thought I'd never get to see your hermosa rostra (beautiful face) again," he remarked, a sexy smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. Ghost's arms tightened around my waist, causing me to shoot a glare back at him, him giving me the same harsh look in return. Rolling my eyes, I looked back at Alejandro, "I don't really know what that means... but thank you," I replied, my voice soft like honey... but also gravelly because I just drowned not even 5 minutes ago. He grinned before opening his mouth to speak again, "Of course-", Ghost immediately cut him off, "I think we should get going, they might call reinforcements," he grumbled, his voice dark.

Alejandro shot him a look before nodding his head. Like clockwork, a few bullets began to fire in our direction, my eyes widening. The fuck was I supposed to do? Not like I could just swim away like everybody else can. Ghost's body tensed up next to mine as more bullets impacted against the water surrounding us, he angled his head downwards, peering at me through the slits of his mask. "Hold onto my back. Do not let go," he growled in my ear before hoisting my body behind him. My arms wrapped tightly around the base of his neck, my head pressed firmly against his strong, muscular back. God even in the murky ass water he still smells good. Not that I noticed or cared. It's really just an observation.

As more bullets continued to fire in our direction, Ghost swam off, following behind Alejandro, my body laid flat on his back, using him as some sort of life-raft. It was quickly made clear he couldn't shoot and have me on top of him at the same time, after realizing that, he whipped his head around and yelled out at Soap, "I need you to cover me and Y/n," he barked before returning his gaze back in front of him. "You betcha L.T.," Soap chimed in quickly, bullets firing from his gun soon after. Alejandro sent off his own round of shots before calling out to the rest of us, "Move down the river to the bridge! Use the rocks for cover!" Ghost growled and repositioned my arms around his neck, letting them sit at his broad chest. "You don't gotta choke me out, Y/n," he muttered in a raspy tone. 

The new position made it harder to keep a firm grip around him, the water splashing against my hands and wetting his clothes wasn't doing much to help either. My legs instinctively went to wrap around his waist, unknowingly digging the heel of my boot directly into his groin. A pained whimper fell from his lips as his hands quickly moved my feet. "That was my dick," he mumbled under his breath. My cheeks immediately burned with embarrassment, a small flutter formed in my stomach... but I'll also deduce that down to embarrassment because I'm not opening that can of worms right now. "Oh... I-... Sorry..." I mumbled, the heat from my cheeks still prevalent. Thank God he couldn't see my face.

As Ghost kept swimming with me on his back, Soap continued to send off endless shots as well as Alejandro. It became glaringly obvious how outnumbered we were, especially with our disadvantage in the water. Oh, and the fact neither me or Ghost could shoot. Nervously biting at my lip, I decided to help. I'd been dead weight for way too long. My hand retrieved the pistol attached to my holster, quickly checking the magazine before shoving it back in its catch. I glanced down at Ghost, "I'm gonna start shooting, there'll be some recoil so... try not to sink," I mumbled before aiming out my gun. 

One thing I really didn't take into consideration was how insanely difficult it was to take a good shot on top of a moving person while also laying at a weird angle. This wasn't working, but there's no harm in continuing to try. Alejandro clicked on his comms, I managed to make out what he was saying from where he was swimming in front of us. "All stations, this Victor 0-1, how copy?" There was a brief moment of silence before a broken voice replied, barely intelligible over the static, "---dow 1! Do you--? -ay again, -o you re--?" Jesus that sounds annoying, glad it's not in my ear. Speaking of... definitely need to request a new earpiece if they don't decide to kill me after what I pulled today. So, I'll just put a pin in that for now.

After a few more shots from Soap, he looked out in front of him at Alejandro, "Radio's picking up somethin'," he called out, as if that wasn't fucking obvious. Trying to keep my gun as steady as possible, I also continued to fire out shots, my body recoiling harshly against Ghost's back. Ghost grunted beneath me, "Stop that," he hissed. My eyes narrowed down at him, "Stop helping?" I scoffed. A growl from the depths of hell itself fell from Ghost's lips, "Just shoot when you need to, fuckin' stop." I opened my mouth to protest, but remembering how crazy he is, I wouldn't be surprised if he dumped me back in the water, so I bit my tongue. 

With one of my hands still wrapped around Ghost's chest and the other holding out my pistol, a smile grew on my face. We must look stupid as fucking shit like this. My smile immediately faded as more reinforcements rolled in, dozens of soldiers and even some military vehicles began to pull up on the edge of the river. Completely ignoring Ghost's comment, I decided this is when "I needed to". Aiming my pistol once again, I began to fire shots into the soldiers bodies, directly my bullets straight through their skulls. Some missed, but I'd like to see anybody else try to hit moving targets sitting on top of somebody else in the water, at night. That's what I thought.

Soap and Alejandro glanced at one another, giving each other a nod before looking back at Ghost. My eyebrows furrowed, did they come up with some telekinesis language and not let me in on it? Ghost hands gripped around my thighs tighter as he began to swim at a much faster pace. My hips started to slip down his back, in turn his fingers started to dig deeper into my soft flesh only covered by tactical pants. Soap and Alejandro also sped up, slinging their rifles over their shoulders, putting most of their effort into swimming. Rolling my eyes, I mumbled to myself. They really couldn't have just said "Swim now, shoot later"? 

Bullets whizzed past all of our bodies, colliding deep within the water. Eventually we reached a rapid part of the river, it would take lots of skill in swimming to be able remain level headed. My eyes darted down at Ghost as I hugged my body closer to his, my limbs trembling. I've already drowned once today, I'm not looking to drown again. He squeezed my body tighter to his as he swam expertly through the rapid currents, water splashing up in his face probably getting trapped under his mask. How he isn't choking? I have no fucking clue.

Using the rapids to our advantage, all of us managed to get away from the hail of bullets unharmed. A large metal bridge came into view, on top of it rested three or four large military vehicles painted in deep, midnight black hidden beneath the night sky, surrounding the SUVS were dozens upon dozens of soldiers. My eyes widened, this was not looking good. Thankfully, at least, the water became more shallow so I could hop off of Ghost's back. He groaned loudly before taking cover behind a large boulder, readjusting the crotch area of his pants. I kicked him in the dick on accident like ten minutes ago, was he seriously still being a baby about it now?

Not wanting to waste any more of my thoughts on Ghost, I decided to take cover behind the rock Alejandro was using while Soap took solace next to Ghost. "There's vehicles on the bridge!" Soap yelled out at Alejandro who growled loudly in return, "They're not ours... Fuck!" He barked, anger written on his features, "They called in reinforcements from the army!" My eyebrows furrowed, all of this for Hassan? Maybe this had something to do with the missiles as well. My train of thought was quickly interrupted by a barrage of bullets flying in our direction, digging deep into the boulders we hid behind. "We have to hold here and get extraction," he continued with a grim expression. 

Ghost glanced over at Alejandro and then me for a second, his expression unreadable, before peering over the boulder, firing off copious amounts of bullets into the silhouettes of Mexican army soldiers. Soap did the same thing, aiming his gun either around or on top of the large rock, sending bullets flying off in every direction. Alejandro gave me a small smile before aiming his gun and squeezing down on his trigger rapidly. My hand reached for my own rifle currently slung over my shoulder, gripping the stock between my fingers as I carefully peered out from behind the rock, neutralizing every target in the vicinity, one man at a time. For a group of 4 we were doing pretty fucking good for ourselves. We were making the world a better place, and I was helping. I was doing good. 

A crackled American voice sounded over Alejandro's comms, so loud that even I could hear it without an earpiece and over loud bangs of gunfire. "This is Shadow-1! Engaging the bridge North of your position. Danger close!" He barked over the earpiece, Alejandro grimacing because of it, probably praying there was a volume toggle he could turn down. "Who the hell was that?" Alejandro asked, glancing over at Ghost. "Commander Graves, Shadow Company. They're with us," he rasped in return, reloading his rifle in the process. Graves. What a stupid name. 

Amid the background of the dark sky, a deafening roar rent in the air as a large missile streaked downwards toward the bridge. My eyes widened the moment the deadly projectile came in contact with its mark, the impact a cataclysmic burst of pure destruction. An eruption of fire and debris exploded right in front us, the reverberation of the collision knocking me straight off my feet, my rear colliding harshly against the pebbled river floor beneath me. Flames and billowing smoke obscured my view, my eyes working quick to blink back my vision. "Shadow 1, Brave 0-7. Good shots, fire for effect!" Ghost barked out next to me, clicking down a button on his comms. 

The structure of the bridge collapsed in on itself, engulfed by fire. The sounds of crumpling steel and charred debris splashing against the water filled my still slightly muffled ears. "All stations, no enemy movement detected. You're clear," the strong American accent screamed out again. A grin tugged on my lips when I looked back at Alejandro, he seemed 3 seconds from smashing his own earpiece under his boot much like I did. 

"Good to see you boys," Graves spoke loudly over the comms. Ghost nodded his head and replied, "Likewise, mate." Quickly I began to walk up closer to Alejandro, following him out of the river and into a dense green forest, the soft grass smushing under the weight of my boots. In front of us sat a large black SUV with Rodolfo leaning against the side of it, a grin on his lips. "We'll be going back to my base, hermosa," Alejandro explained, smiling down at me. A huge breath of relief escaped my lips, fucking finally--this day has been exhausting. Alejandro eyed me up and down with a raised eyebrow before shaking his head and walking off toward Rodolfo. 

Before following behind him, I turned my head back around looking for Soap, a smile forming on my lips as I saw him trying to squeeze all of the water out of his clothes. In my peripherals, I could just barely make out Ghost's unwavering stare directed at me. Haphazardly, my eyes flitted over to his direction. Resentment was written all over the look he gave me with just his stare alone. Gulping slightly, I turned on my heel and began to quickly walk away toward the SUV, hoping this time I could get the damn window seat. Not even two steps in front of me, Ghost's strong hand had gripped onto my shoulder, harshly spinning me around. "We're gonna have a fuckin' talk," he growled, his voice incredibly low before brushing straight past me. 

Maybe Alejandro's base wasn't going to be as relaxing as I previously thought.