~John

"Jack, we're under attack, we need to leave!" I shouted to him over the loud crash of metal against metal falling to the tiled floor. He nodded and ran over to where Aaron was scrambling out of his red sleeping bag in the candy aisle. After a tense three minutes of packing needed supplies and gathering the group away from the shelves, the store once again became silent again. The air was thick with dust stirred up from the shelves. I coughed to clear the dust out of my throat and jogged over to where Mark's sleeping bag was located by the frozen food area. He was the only one I couldn't find in the midst of chaos. "Mark!" Aaron called out worriedly. The only sound that could be heard was the footsteps of  the rest of the group following me as I cautiously approached the sleeping bag. "Guys," Jack bent down and shakily retrieved a crumpled piece of notebook paper that was tear stained, causing some of the red ink to bleed through the paper. Jack handed me the paper with shaky hands as his blue eyes began to sparkle with tears. I cleared my throat as I began to read the sloppily scribbled words. "Aaron, Jack, Sherlock and John, if you found this, then you know that I'm already gone far away from here, so don't even bother looking for me. (Also if you hear a loud noise, that was me. Sorry) anyway, I had to leave since I couldn't risk hurting any of you. It wasn't anyone's fault, especially Sherlock. I don't want him to blame himself. I'm glad that I was able to save such an amazing person. I hope you guys can forgive me. All I ask is that one of you let my fans and family know that I died in a car crash or something. They don't need to know about what really happened. I wish you all the best of luck in your careers. Goodbye." Even though I barely knew Mark, I felt like someone had ripped my heart out of my chest and stabbed it with a knife. He was a great, selfless, kind man that always put his friends first. The last time someone sacrificed themself to save me was back in Afghanistan, the battle before I got a bullet wound in the leg. I didn't even know the man at all.

        We were pinned behind a tower of wooden crates, flanked on all sides. Sand was swirling around us everywhere, due to the helicopter hovering above our heads. The helicopter was transferring some hostages that we found back in the abandoned enemy base to our base. Or at least we thought it was abandoned. They had set a trap for us, and we had walked right into it. Soldiers went down from enemy fire coming from behind a broken and empty army tank. I winced whenever someone threw a grenade at the tank, causing a loud explosion to echo throughout the mostly barren landscape. The grenade seemed to do no damage to the tank. At least the only thing that was here was sand, rocks and cacti. Thankfully, no citizens could get hurt here. "Get down!" The solider on my right hissed as he dropped to the ground. Without hesitation, I dropped like a stone down beside him. A grenade flew over our head and blew up in the air. I nodded to show my appreciation as I army crawled over to a nearby cluster of cacti for cover so I could reload my gun. The person that saved me from the grenade darted over towards me. "What are you doing?!? Everyone else is dead!" He cried in panic. "We can't stay here!" "I know!" I shouted in response. A bullet breached through one of the cacti and flew harmlessly into the rock formation behind us. "They've flanked us!" The man warned me. I looked up and was surprised to see that he was right. "Go." He commanded. I barely heard him over the simultaneous clicking of guns reloading around us. "Now! The guy commanded as he shoved me out of the cacti. I ignored the needles that stabbed through my uniform as I rolled behind the tank that they were previously using for cover. "Go John!" The soldier yelled after me as the enemy concentrated all of their firepower on him. I couldn't even feel the pain emanating from my arms that were covered in cacti needles or the fire that burned in my lungs as I ran as fast as I could back to base. I couldn't even look the general in the eyes as I told him of what happened.

Still to this day, I regret the decision I made of leaving him behind. Because of my actions, a good man died from multiple bullet wounds while I scurried away like a coward. I was done letting people let themselves die just to keep me safe. "John, is every-" Sherlock ran towards me, dragging me from my memories. He immediately froze when he saw my face. "Mark's gone." He deducted, glancing down at the paper I had clenched tightly in my fist. I quickly loosened my grip and let the paper fall softly to the floor. "I'm going to go find him." I promised the group, looking Jack and Aaron directly in the eyes. Jack seemed just as stoic as Sherlock. His blue eyes were harsh and his expression was impossible to read. Aaron was shaking slightly, his eyes filled with fear and concern fir his friend. "Not without me ye aren't." Jack suddenly scoffed, interrupting the tense silence that had encompassed the room. "If we're going to find him, we need to stick together. I'm in." Aaron agreed readily. I looked over at Sherlock for his opinion. He only rolled his eyes in annoyance. "They're not going to take no for an answer." He pointed out. I could tell by the looks of pure stubbornness on their faces that he was right. "C'mon then, gather as many needed supplies as you can, I'll wait for you by the door." I lumbered over to the doors and took stock of my inventory. I had six water bottles, three boxes of protein bars, my small silver flashlight, a half filled pack of triple A batteries, and a multi purpose tool. I could've swore I had more supplies than that, but I guess I must've lost them somehow or used them. I rolled up my sleeping bag and tossed my brown knapsack away since I didn't need it anymore. I had found a larger backpack, but it was hot pink. I dumped all of my supplies into the new bag and slung it over my shoulder. "Nice backpack." Jack chuckled in amusement as he adjusted the strap of his navy blue backpack. He had his matching blue sleeping bag tucked under his arm. "Nice color coordination." I shot back with a smirk. "Thanks." He grinned smugly. "Everyone have what they need?" I inquired as Aaron walked over to Jack with his sleeping bag and a new dark green backpack that seemed ready to burst. Sherlock then joined by my side with a black messenger bag and no sleeping bag. No one spoke a word. "I'll take that as a yes." I muttered awkwardly as I stepped through the door, careful to keep my hands off of the doorway that had nails still protruding from it from when I broke down the wooden boards. Sherlock followed after me, then Jack and lastly Aaron. For some reason, the weather was boiling hot, even though it was barely dawn. Sweat almost immediately began to form on my face. Sherlock closed his eyes in concentration. "He would've went somewhere where there wasn't many people...somewhere far from this location...this way." Sherlock pointed northwest. "But-what-how did you know which direction he went?" Aaron stammered in bewilderment. "One of the perks of being a consulting detective." Sherlock winked as he began walking in the direction he had pointed. "Come on!" He beckoned without looking back at us. I took a swig from one of my plastic water bottles, then pursued after him with the others in tow.