Every second that passed became more and more precious, both for you and for the Iraqi Lieutenant. In his mind, Salim already knew how hateful Dar could become with his patriotic ideals, but also how extremely dangerously he could be, just like now.

Although he had his palms empty, he still had the metal stake behind his back, but that was definitely the wrong weapon for that kind of situation...he had to think of something else in order to calm his friend, until he saw Dar lower the rifle.

[I'm willing to forgive you Salim...if you kill her in front of me.] Suddenly, Dar bent down to pick up Salim's gun and hand it to him.

You couldn't clearly understand what was going on between the two of them until you caught the eye of the black-haired man, who stared at you as if he were asking you to run as far as you could...but the problem was that you couldn't even if you wanted to, because in front of you were the two Iraqis, and a fucking closed door behind you.

You were clearly cornered. With no way to defend or attack.

Dar became impatient to see him motionless, obviously determined not to do anything to you...

[Tsk! As I thought, I have to do it.]

When you saw him walking in your direction, you backed away until your shoulders were against a pillar, in the middle of the room.

Suddenly, he grabbed your neck with some violence, ignoring your futile attempt to break free.

[I'll take care of you later...but now, the little bitch comes first.]

It was useless to hit him, that bastard was definitely bigger than you and you didn't think he would have moved so easily...

But out of the corner of your eye, you saw Salim point the gun at Dar's back.

[I'm sorry, but I won't let you do such a thing. Not again.]

At the sound of those words, the other started to laugh and squeeze his fingers, making you cough inevitably...if he continued like that, you were sure he would choke you for real.

[That's nonsense! There must be no mercy for people like them! This is our land Lieutenant, we must fight back to free it, in the name of God!]

Although he had known him for many years, once again, Salim didn't think in the same way as he did; he had a son and couldn't allow him to live fatherless because of his crazy ideologies! In any case, he had in mind the decision to leave that life once and for all, without having to point a weapon at the head of another soldier, American or not.

[...we lost the war a long time ago. It's over Dar.]

The anger ran through his veins and Basri didn't turn to look at his comrade, who was proving to be just a coward and focused on staring at your aching face, as you tried to resist against his grip; to prevent you from kicking him, he had pinned you against the pillar with one knee between your legs and because of this forced you to stand on tiptoe, to not suffer further pain around your neck.

And it was there that another idea came to the Iraqi one.

[You know what, Salim? Maybe you're right, there's no need to kill her...] Salim didn't understand immediately and you noticed the sudden change in the bastard's voice, along with a mad grin on his face.

[Now that I get a better look at her, it would be a total waste to leave her here to die...]

He flinched at those words and his reaction didn't promise you anything good. Salim couldn't believe Dar really wanted to do that to a young girl, treating her like a prisoner of war, and his fingers tightened on the gun...seriously, that man had gone out of his mind!

But before he could do anything else, a faint click alerted him of an unknown presence behind him; however, Salim stood silent while watching one of them sneaking up on his Captain.

Dar was about to wonder why the Lieutenant had stopped talking until your spit reached his face, making him growl angrily.

[You—]

There, he raised his arm to rage on you again, when he felt something pressed in the middle of his back, stopping abruptly...

《Make a move. I fucking dare you.》

Dar didn't it, he was clearly taken by surprise and you widened your eyes the moment you recognized Jason's intimidating voice.

[Drop the weapon and hands over your head immediately.] Suddenly, you heard a woman speak Arabic and couldn't believe your eyes when you saw Rachel right next to you.

Dar clenched his teeth when he realized he was surrounded by Americans...however, he had no intention of heeding her words until he received a sudden blow to the back of the head by the marine soldier, definitely a less friendly warning than the woman's.

Once free, you began to cough repeatedly, massaging the throat to give yourself some relief; in the meantime, Salim had his hands up, as he was surrounded by Sergeant Kay and Colonel King.

《How do you feel, Officer Hale?》  The caramel woman's voice caught your attention as she checked that you had no gunshot wounds or anything else on your body.

《I'm better now...》  Of course, the cough betrayed you every time you spoke, but it didn't seem so serious to you  《...and I'm so glad to see you again, ma'am.》

《Eh. Same for me Miss Hale.》  There, you could see a relieved smile on her bloodstained face and wondered what the hell of a place she was back from...but in the end she had managed to survive, it seemed almost impossible to believe of the contrary, anyway.

Although he aimed the rifle at the Iraqi Captain, First Lieutenant Kolchek couldn't help but look at you too, noticing that you had another mark on your face, as well as blood and had no doubts that they had done that to you.

《I say we drill these sorry looking motherfuckers. What'd you think, Colonel?》  Jason started saying as he kept pointing at Dar, he really would have liked to fill that asshole with lead right now.

But Eric deprived him of the satisfaction of shooting him, when he said they needed help against those monsters. There was something different about Eric, just like you saw the annoyed expression of the younger one...maybe that was just your impression, but it was as if one were going against the other on purpose.

《We have to help each other.》  Salim dared to say with the intention of not reacting against them for any reason and, to your surprise, Eric and Nick lowered the weapons against him.

Of course Dar didn't take his partner's attitude very well...

[Don't be a fool! You got duped by that little–]

《Shut up!》  But Jason stopped him abruptly, he was visibly tired of hearing him talk and not understanding shit.

Right there, Rachel turned to you with a clear confused expression and so you decided to explain to her, and everyone else, how things were...

《Out there, Salim was the only person who could have let me die or kill me, but he didn't...I trust him.》  Eventually, you ignored what had happened earlier, still trying to believe in him and Salim thanked you with a smile.

But when you met Jason's gaze, well, he didn't seem to think in the same way. Of course, he still hadn't forgotten the gun pointed at your face and that guy didn't convince him at all...absolutely, he had to keep you away from that Iraqi soldier.

Just then, you did a quick check on yourself...you were taking big breaths and trying to wipe dry blood away on your nose, using the good sleeve of your left arm; you had to admit you were a real mess, even your hair went on its own on your head, so dirty with dust and your makeup had fallen from your eyes, if not almost entirely gone.

To tell the truth, you didn't know who was worse off between you and Rachel now...you were so pissed off from how the situation was sucking more and more.

But while you pitied yourself for that, you didn't see that Jason's eyes were glaring at you from under the visor; well, he couldn't help but notice that you were shattered, even though your expression was saying something else...whatever it was, he didn't think at all of what you thought of yourself and, if he could, he would stare at you until you finally realized how attractive you were also in that way.

But he was forced to look away, unfortunately, as he had to keep the situation under control, narrowing his eyes with an expression of dissent at the idea of collaborating with his other enemy...casually, you turned around in that same moment and because of that, you smelled a sudden sense of discomfort.

Of course, Jason had noticed your terrible and unattractive appearance now and you couldn't help but sigh bitterly.

It can't get worse than this, right?

But suddenly, you all turned quickly to the corridor, where strange and frightening echoes came from there.

Indeed, the troubles were about to begin.

《...it's them! We must get this door open!》  There, Salim ran towards the door, trying to push with all his might  《Why are you standing still there!?》

He was right, he needed help with that and, without thinking too much, you went to push next to him, while the others pointed their weapons on the opposite side, but you feared your arms wouldn't be enough...

《...》

《Don't even think about it.》

Kolchek told Nick sternly, as he was intent on joining your side.

《Fuck, Jason! The enemy of our enemy is our friend. Come on man!》  The other just protested against him and freed his hands to push the door with you and Salim.

《—It doesn't move!!》

《—We are talking about a door that hasn't opened for more than three thousand years, of course it won't open right away!!》  Salim shouted after that, pushing with outstretched arms and without noticing Nick's questioning look.

《—Oh you seem so sure of that, wouldn't be surprised if you've been here on a trip before...》  The sergeant chuckled as he changed position, this time putting his back to the door.

《—You wanna make me believe you've never studied History at school?》  Again, Salim turned to him with a bewildered expression.

Seriously, how long were they going to continue with that, you thought with your head down and your knees aching from the effort...

《—Sorry to disappoint you, but I flunked that.》

《OKAY CAN YOU FOCUS HERE TOO PLEASE?!?》  You raised your voice to the two soldiers who immediately fell silent; anyway, it seemed to have moved more than before, but you still hadn't managed to separate the doors.

The tension grew more and more and seeing his teammates in trouble, Eric asked Rachel to help you with that, while he would have thought of covering your shoulders.

When the door finally opened, the rest of the group followed, until you were inside a large chamber with a really creepy look...there were bones scattered all over the place, just like in the previous catacombs and the walls had large, dark cavities in them.

You didn't know why, but you were hoping they were bricked up.

Just like the others, you started looking around and your gaze fell on a large statue, which depicted an almost human-looking demon.

《...I'm sure that's a Sumerian demon, but I don't remember its name.》  Suddenly, Salim joined you to look at it.

《I think it's Pazuzu.》  You answered and the Iraqi blinked in disbelief, wondering how you already knew.  《That man...in his journal, he has many representations of this divinity...it looks a lot like those creatures.》

You and Salim looked at each other for a moment when you thought the same thing as him...it seemed crazy, but you were sure those monsters were painted as gods by the same Sumerians, unaware of their current existence on Earth!

Of course, the group of archaeologists understood that, but they hadn't come back to tell it. And now, it was your turn.

Anyway, you were so focused on your thoughts that didn't notice someone had approached you, with a clearly annoyed expression on his face...

There, Jason sneaked in and positioned himself between you and Salim, not interested in that statue at all.

《Well this looks like the worst place in the goddamn world...》  The marine said carelessly just to stop your chatter and you just saw the poor Salim going back to the bastard with the beret.

As you thought, he was competing with the Iraqi one and you didn't understand why.

But right here, you felt Jason's left arm against your right one and was unexpectedly warm. You tried to ignore that pleasant feeling, but you also didn't want to break the physical contact...obviously, the marine noticed it and tilted his head towards you.

《Does it hurt? Your face, I mean.》  He asked, as he gently placed a hand on your cheek, fearing a bad reaction, but you didn't flinch.

On the contrary, you loved his touch.

《Not like before.》  Before you could look him in the eye, you placed your own hand on his  《You know...I was afraid of not seeing you–》

《Don't say it.》  Jason interrupted you as he shortened the distance between you two; right there, his thumb felt a small drop run down your cheek and wiped it immediately.  《I wouldn't have stopped looking for you Y/n, even if had a fucking broken leg. Wherever you are, I'll always find you.》

The cap boy's breaths became heavier as he remembered that bad situation you had found yourself in...once again, he had risked losing you and, right now, he had decided that he would no longer allow it.

Not while he was still alive.

《So. Whatever happens now, don't get away from me, okay?》  There, his gaze was more intense than usual and you couldn't, or didn't want to escape from that for any reason.

《I'll stay by your side Lieutenant, no matter what.》  Despite the bruises and cuts, you managed to smile jokingly as you made the military salute at him; that was definitely the first time he had seen you do it and couldn't hold back a chuckle, as beautiful as you were.

《Stay guard, those monsters may arrive at any moment.》  Suddenly, Colonel King's voice burst into the room and you and Jason were forced to separate, but without losing sight of each other.

Then, you caught Rachel, who was smiling softly, and Nick's eyes, nodding at them as you approached the group. Salim also followed you after discovering that Dar was no longer going to shoot any of you...

But there was something watching him and when he turned around, he saw a giant shape appear right in front of him and Salim. The Iraqi Captain didn't hesitate to fire the first shots at that monstrous being.

From the corridors and cavities in the walls, more of them came out and together growled to the unwelcome guests, trapping them in the center of the chamber.

Instantly, your hand slipped in the holster tied on your thigh, looking for your gun, forgetting that there was nothing left there.

Aaah no, not again!!

In that moment, you didn't notice that a monster had pointed at you from above and before it could jump on you, Jason quickly pulled you by the arm to make you dodge.

《Behind me!》  He screamed and began firing at the creature, which quickly flew away; although the bullets had hit it, the vampire didn't seem to be afraid of them and came back to attack you again.

There, Jason managed to keep the bat thing away, while you stayed to cover his back even without weapons.

《Right!》  Suddenly, you hit his shoulder to warn him of a new danger approaching, so that the other could react just in time.  《Dammit, there are too many and the shots don't hurt them!》

After that, you saw Jason make a quick gesture on his M4A1 carbine by pushing another trigger on it.

《Let's see if these fuckin' bastards are going to be so bad even now!》

With a rash gesture, Jason aimed the weapon at the next one and fired a grenade at it, leaving you stunned. Now, in place of the creature, there was only a large smoke, after that small but intense explosion and you could see a satisfied smile on his mouth.

After that brief moment, the minutes didn't stop, just like the shots of your teammates, until you heard a scream in their midst...luckily, it didn't belong to anyone of them, but to the Iraqi bastard, now in midair after being clawed by one of those demons.

But there, Salim managed to get behind the monster to stab it with the metal stake, freeing Dar.

《Fuck! We have to get away from here!》  Jason told you, taking a moment to breathe before grabbing your wrist with a firm grip.

You did what he said, believing it was the right thing to do, and both of you moved towards the walls, until you reached the entrance of another hall, which seemed to be safer than out there.
But before he could take refuge in there with you, Jason was distracted by the sight of Nick, struggling with one of those monsters.

《Shit! Don't move from here, you hear me Y/n!?》  Jason wanted to make sure you understood before he went to rescue his friend, not seeing anyone else who could do that.

His hand abruptly left yours and as a result, your heart started beating wildly; although he was doing everything to protect you, you couldn't let Jason do it all by himself and in that moment you blamed yourself for not having a fucking weapon in your fucking hands!

You stood there as you watched him go back into that carnage, until your gaze shifted to Rachel, who was trying to keep her opponents at bay by herself...

But suddenly, you opened your mouth in shock when you saw a black figure quickly throw itself behind her. The creature managed to trap the woman to the ground, unable to fight back or defend against it now.

You had to do something to help Rachel before it was too late. You looked around desperately, until your eyes saw a gun on the ground...it wasn't so far from you, you thought as you took a long breath.

Now or never!!

Without further delay, you started running to get the weapon and after a couple of seconds, you had already pointed it at the vampire on Rachel...with your arms and legs outstretched, you shot towards its body and head, forcing it to leave its prey.

But that tough moment of yours ended almost immediately when you looked up at the large statue next to you, where you had a face to face with one of them.
You didn't know why, but you stood still...inexplicably, you were in a state of trance and couldn't take your gaze away from that creature, which was approaching carefully, so as not to let escape its new prey, from which it already perceived an irresistible scent of your blood, so full of fear.

However, when it leapt towards you, a barrage of bullets caused it to swerve in the opposite direction and you woke up just then, turning to the person who had avoided you the worst.

Once again, that person turned out to be Salim.

《Get away from there!》  He yelled at you, running in your direction with the intention of getting you out of that hell, until someone else approached you and Salim with a hurried step.

《Nick? Are you alright?》  You were relieved to see him still alive, although you noticed that something was wrong  《Wait...why isn't Jason with you??》

《One of those things...took Jason...I tried to follow him, but...》  Sergeant Kay looked so confused, while your heart had stopped beating. How could he have left behind the one who was practically a brother to him??

Beyond that, Nick managed to tell you that Rachel had run to help the colonel, but then he had lost sight of both of them.

You put your hands in your hair, you didn't want to believe any of those words, especially what happened to Jason...right here, Salim saw the madness in your eyes and touched your shoulder to try to get you back to your senses.

Until you looked at them.
《...I have to go now. I-I can't leave Jason!》

《Are you crazy Y/n, do you want to kill yourself by chance?! You can't do that alone!》  Suddenly, Nick tried to convince you that staying together was the right thing to do.

Of course it was, if you had decided with your head...but now, you let your heart do that and told you that you you had to go save your man at any cost!

So, you grabbed the gun in your hand, looking at the direction the vampire had taken, which turned out to be the same corridor you had seen earlier.

《This is my decision. Hope to see you all on the other side.》  You finished by taking one last look at the two soldiers.

Salim looked at you helplessly as you ran away, praying you were successful, until a creature took them by surprise, attacking them from above; as a result, Nick was thrown away somewhere, inevitably losing consciousness, while Salim managed to get up from the ground and run in the opposite direction, into another dark corridor.

But before that, he clearly saw some vampires were busy holding Dar, who kept screaming desperately as they fed on him, still alive.

Well, even a bastard like him didn't deserve such a miserable end down there...

• • •

When you recognized the growl of a vampire just later, you realized it wasn't very far from you and decided to hurry up. It was lucky your run was much faster and lighter without the stuff you had brought for the mission, although this may prove to be a vulnerability issue for you...

But you didn't care about that now and kept turning first right and then left, making your boots more and more dirty with sand at your every step...

However, when you heard no other noise, you feared that you had taken the wrong turn, if not worse.

What if Jason was—

But you shook your head to get rid of that awful thought...you didn't want to believe something bad had happened to him, not before you were sure of that.

Finally, you heard something again from the other side of the wall close to you. It sounded like a cry of pain, although not human, followed by a deathly silence...maybe, someone had killed the vampire, but you still didn't know who and your nervousness increased more.

Before you found out the culprit, you loaded the gun by removing the safety, to make sure you can shoot if needed...

Until you suddenly petrified yourself.

《...》

《Teach ya to mess with a marine.》

Your hands, your legs, every part of your body trembled at the sound of his voice. You came out of your hiding place and saw him standing there, with a big knife in his hand, as he wiped the sweat from his face, taking a regular breath. At his feet, there was the creature you had heard suffer earlier, just to discover it was Jason who killed it.

Anyway, you must have made a little noise, because Kolchek looked up in your direction, sure that some of those motherfuckers had followed him.

But he found you, instead...for a moment, he thought he had just seen another of his dream and that you would vanish soon, right in front of his eyes.

But you didn't and, without thinking twice, you ran towards him.

《Jason!!》  Your worried voice rang in his dirty ears  《Please tell me you're okay...》

He just looked at you, as you checked his condition; other than a few scratches on his bare arms and a slight bruise on his right cheek, he didn't seem to have any serious injuries and you breathed a sigh of relief...

Definitely, no one could mess with a marine like him even if they wanted to!

But when you looked up at him, you saw a serious, almost angry expression and you didn't understand what it came from.

《Jason...》

《Dammit Y/n, why you always do the fuck you want...》  He said suddenly, a few inches from you, not caring to raise the tone of his voice.  《You shouldn't have followed me! What if I couldn't kill that fucking monster?》

From his reaction, he seemed to have deleted the fact he was the one who had been dragged several meters away by one of those things, because he seemed to be more concerned about your doing...maybe, during that, he must have hit the head a couple of times, if not more on the ground, you thought with an expressionless face.

《'Course, I would have done anything to save you! Isn't that what you've done so far, or you're just saying that because I'm not a fucking soldier like you? Do you really think I can't do this after all I've been through? Sorry to disappoint you honey, but I'm not the weak and naive Miss Marshal you thought I was.》

There, you managed to catch his attention, fully convinced of what you were saying. Of course, the marine was speechless, until you saw a raised eyebrow and a half smile on his lips, possibly after he had heard that loving nickname you gave him...but the truth was that you were thinking exactly the opposite.

Gosh, why is he such an idiot!?

Anyway, Jason pulled you against him suddenly, wrapping his strong arms around you so firmly, as if they didn't want to make you let escape...and you did the same with yours around his neck, just above the shemagh.
There, the cap boy felt the weight of your body, as you stood on tiptoe to reach him, and folded his hands behind your back to lift you up; in that position, he rested his forehead in the crook of your neck.

《Shit, you're the most badass girl I've ever met in my fucking life!》  Right there, you felt his breath against your skin, causing a proud blush on your cheeks.

《And you're the dumbest boy.》  You said softly, but still letting him hear that and Jason raised his eyebrow curiously.

《Isn't that a good thing?》  When he said that, you met his arrogant smile, a few millimeters from you, without stopping to stare at your astonished expression.  《Don't deny it sweetheart. Actually, you like that, no?》

《Oh you seem pretty sure of that...I wonder why.》  You just replied, this time with your hands resting against his chest, but without turning away from him.

But on the other side, Jason had stopped rubbing your back.

《Tell me then, why you followed me here, risking your own life for someone like me?》

Even with Rachel's words, Jason wanted to find out what you really thought about him and immediately noticed your unusual silence, as if the answer were too obvious.

You tightened your rosy lips, clearly you didn't want to talk about this at such a time.

《...I think we'll have to go now. The sooner we get out of here, better will be.》

But suddenly, you jumped when you felt him grab your hips, as your lower abdomen was pressed against his.

《You didn't answer my question Y/n.》 He leaned his body towards you, more serious than before. Before returning face to face with those fucking monsters, Jason wanted to hear that you were like him too, that you thought of him just as he did...

《I was afraid of losing you Jason. I can't accept something bad happening to you, because...》  You hesitated to say it, while the other stood motionless, waiting for the rest of the sentence.

But what if he didn't feel the same as you? This was your doubt, until you felt his forehead hitting yours in a frustrating way...

《Jason, I–》

《Aaah fuck it!!》  Suddenly, he shouted with no more brakes, ignoring the fire that was spreading inside him.

You froze instantly.

《I like you Y/n. You've always been in my fucking head, since the day I first set eyes on you! Even now that we're in this shit together, I can't stop doing it, definitely I'd go through any Hell for you.》

He had red patches all over his face, ears and neck. And for the first time, Jason Kolchek was really dying...

Dying of embarrassment.

He tried to look away, as he was nervously scratching the back of his head and you couldn't help but think he was cute. Honestly, your heart was racing from that shocking and straightforward confession...sure, you already knew that he was interested in you, but that he was in love— no, lost in love with you, well, you couldn't help but be flattered.

And so happy, above all.

But now, you absolutely had to say something, otherwise he would have thought that you didn't care!

Come on Y/n, just tell him!

You had opened your mouth to speak, until Jason added something else, this time in a different way than before.

《Fuck, I knew shouldn't have said that without thinking. My bad.》

You were speechless.

《W-what are you talking about? Wait–》

《That's okay Y/n, don't want to force into something you don't want...just like you said, we've to find a way to get out of this shitty place once and for all, hope with the rest of the group.》

Coming to his senses again, Jason looked for the rifle on the ground with the intention of taking it back in his hands, when you pulled him back to you, taking his cheekbones in your hands and kissing him deeply, if not almost aggressively. Later, a clear smooch echoed somewhere in the temple, as you and Jason parted your lips.

《Shit— what the hell was that now...》  The marine grumbled, taken by surprise, as he placed his hands on your forearms suspended towards him. At this rate, you would have been his death, little but sure.

《Well, something I don't do with someone I don't like...but I thought you already understood that, Lieutenant.》  Then, you said cunningly by tilting the head to one side, revealing a sweet smile.

But Kolchek said nothing, just putting a hand on his cap before it could fall off his head, still smiling wildly...

Damn, that cheeky, dirty, battered little girl was definitely the perfect one for him, he thought confidently, as he let all of Eric's bullshit about her go to hell with him.