A few moments later, Jason Kolchek got to his feet, not considering that he had just fallen for many meters underground.

That earthquake had definitely taken him by surprise, just like everyone else in that desert field, but when he had seen the little girl, his little girl, on the verge of falling down, he didn't hesitate to grab her...yet, he had failed and now he didn't know where the hell she was.

《Y/n!? Can you hear me?》 He said out loud hoping you were nearby, but all around him was shaking rock and sand.

He also tried to contact you over the radio several time, but without getting an answer.

Shit...how could I let her go... He thought guilty, almost on the verge of biting his tongue.

But that wasn't the time to lose his mind and, for now, he had no choice but to go ahead, until he found himself standing in front of what looked like a giant hall, with the statue of a large hand in the middle of it.

Of course, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of place he was in...but his thoughts were interrupted when he heard some footsteps and so he pointed the light in that direction, until he recognized a familiar silhouette.

《...that you, Nick?》

The sergeant walked up to him and Jason was relieved for a while to see his friend unharmed.

Now he discovered it wasn't a weapons silo, Jason told Nick what they needed to do: regroup with the rest of the squad and get back topside...
But his patience began to lose when he noticed the other wasn't listening to him.

《Sergeant Kay! Pull yourself together. Eyes wide!》

Shortly before, Nick had experienced Joey's death and that had certainly shaken him, but now he seemed to have seen something disconcerting, because he could hardly speak.

《...all good. Just wasn't expecting to suddenly fall into the fucking earth.》 However, he said nothing about it, taking that as just a bad joke of his eyes and when Nick came to his senses, he asked Jason what happened to you.

《What about Y/n, wasn't with you?》

《I lost sight of her when we fell.》 Jason's tone was more than firm, but Nick had clearly seen anger and concern in his friend's expression.

《You'll see man, we'll find her.》 Then, the sergeant put a hand on the lieutenant's shoulder, who stood staring at him with the rifle clenched in his hands.

《You can bet on it.》

Jason nodded confidently, but that wasn't enough to make him stop thinking about you...after that, the two marines set out to explore the area, until they found a closed high door.

But suddenly, the painful screams of Corporal Merwin caught their attention...and from that moment on, things would never be the same again, especially when their survival was put on trial from a new and unknown evil.

• • •

When you opened your eyes, you found yourself completely lying down on a mound of sand.
You started coughing repeatedly when you lifted your face, luckily not entirely immersed in that golden dust.

You slowly got on your knees, checking that you weren't injured; apart the sand all over you and some scratches, probably caused by the fall, you didn't have anything serious.

Before you could figure out where you were, a call from the radio gave you a chance to be located.

《-this is Officer Hale, can anyone hear me? Over.》 You rested your fingers on your left ear hoping for an answer...

But you didn't hear anything else and you were afraid that your earpiece was broken, because not even the light was able to turn on.

In that moment, you remembered that Jason had tried to help you, but he had fallen like you in the end and now you could just hope he was fine; you wondered if the others had fallen down there too.

Gosh, how could such a thing happen??

Then, you looked above you, where the external sunlight was coming from and you saw the big hole that had formed in the earth; you didn't have your sunglasses anymore, you wouldn't need them down there anyway, and rather you took off your backpack to look for something useful; you immediately noticed the pair of climbing ropes you had brought from the camp...

But you gave it up right away when you saw that there was no safe foothold to use them. The rock was too crumbly and you couldn't risk letting it fall on you.
You felt like you ended inside a cave but, apart the darkness, you still didn't know if there was really an exit; always from your backpack, you took out a small flashlight and pointed it towards the shaded area.

You started walking in that direction, and stopped abruptly when you heard a different noise than your footsteps on the sand.

...who is there?

You waited for someone to come out...until you hear the sound of a rifle on your left but before you turn around, a violent blow to your temple made you fall to the ground, stunned.
You started complaining and pressing the hand on your head before blood dropped on your ear and cheek.

In that moment, you heard someone speak Arabic, until you saw the same man with the beret again.
Anyway, you understood he was the Captain when you heard him order something to the other guy you couldn't understand...and you couldn't do anything but raise your hands.

Where's that damn gun, now that I need it...

You had lost it because of the fall and didn't know where the hell it was, but you were sure that asshole wouldn't have thought twice about shooting you, if you tried to attack him just like earlier.

Suddenly, the Iraqi Captain pointed the rifle at you and said something in his language, but you didn't say or do anything...seriously, why didn't he speak English, you thought in a distressing way.
At that point, he signaled to the soldier, who came up behind you and abruptly took off your backpack, throwing it away from you.

You thought it was over, but you parted your lips in a confused way when you saw the captain in front of you laughing. The sweat began to fall on your forehead.

I don't like this feeling...

Despite the burning in your eyes, you didn't want to take your eyes off him, to understand what he wanted to do with you.

For his part, Dar couldn't believe that a brat was really a soldier and that was already a good reason to laugh; obviously, he had never seen a woman who did such a thing and was tired of his country being subjected to constant oppression from the Western world, particularly from the USA...so, he decided it was time to make Americans understand what their place were.

And yours in particular.

So, he rushed towards you and knocked you to the sand with a kick on your stomach, which fortunately the plate armor managed to hold back; you thought he wanted to beat you to death, but you widened your eyes in shock when you saw him grab your armor and wave it frantically.

W-what the fuck is this bastard doing!?

You tried to stop him by putting your hands in the middle, but as a result his soldier hit you with the weapon in the face. Your vision was blurred and for a second your strength was gone...in this way, Dar was able to take off the plate armor and throw it away from you as well.

You weren't only unarmed, but also without any more defenses. No matter how many times you tried to rebel, Iraqi soldiers would hit you until you stopped moving...the more you couldn't and more the fear took place in your mind.

Well, you knew from the start that mission wasn't right for you, but you were determined not to go back and prove that you could have been worthy of your promotion, when you would return home to receive your new proudly rank...but despite that, you couldn't imagine reality could be so different and now you were lying there, helpless, on the verge of a miserable end because of two animals like them.

Is this how it ends?

But you received the answer to your question when the two men stopped, as soon as they heard a strange sound.

By order of the captain, the Iraqi soldier went to check and when he moved far enough away from the daylight, something attracted him suddenly...you and the Iraqi captain could just hear his desperate cry.

Dar walked away from you, this time aiming the rifle in the direction the soldier was gone, as you started to move slowly again.

You were wondering what it was, until you saw the Iraqi soldier emerge, completely covered in blood and begging for help with just one arm outstretched...

And in that moment, you saw it. A strange hand full of long, pointed claws grabbed the soldier by the head to lead him back into the dark, without letting him return from there.

《W-what the hell...》 You stammered in a weak voice, unable to believe what you had just seen.

In the meantime, you noticed the other one had already escaped leaving you alone against whatever was down there; at least, you could tell it wasn't the beating that caused you such a hallucination and what had happened was all drastically true.

Of course, you didn't stand there waiting for that thing to come and get you, so you stood up from the sand, albeit with some effort, to get your backpack under the lighted area.
Unfortunately, the plate armor was too far from you and you were forced to do without that.

Then, you picked up the flashlight again and headed for a dark tunnel, unaware of what would come your way from now on, but it was the only alternative you had to try to escape from that absurd situation.

• • •

Your face hurt like hell when you tried to touch it. Those Iraqi bastards hadn't spared themselves in beating you up, you thought, and who knew what else would have happened to you if that thing hadn't intervened...

Aside from those claws, you haven't seen anything else, but it certainly wasn't something good and so your heart hadn't stopped beating fast. After what did to the Iraqi soldier, you didn't want to meet it again.

Your breathing got deeper and deeper with every step you took and the darkness you walked into literally drove you crazy, but despite that, you didn't dare to speak, as you didn't want to attract any danger to you, including the Iraqi Captain. He still remained a threat to you and if you weren't careful, he would certainly attack you again.

You couldn't think of anything other than what was around you, not even the people you had just met. Well, just one person came back to your mind, but he disappeared instantly when you heard a sudden noise behind you.

In turning the flashlight, you picked up a stone near your feet, but luckily there was nothing and so you started walking again, without leaving what for now you had to call a weapon.

Always better than nothing, right?

That cave was definitely a labyrinth and it was almost impossible to figure out where to go without being afraid of finding something dangerous on the other side...

Until you saw another light in the distance and decided to reach for it.

You let out a sigh of relief when you were in a brighter and bigger place than that suffocating tunnel; just like earlier, there was a big chasm above your head, from which the sun's rays entered.

You took the opportunity to take a break and check if your earpiece had started working again.

《-this is Warrant Officer Y/n Hale, I find myself in these...underground cave, please someone answer me. Over.》

At that moment, you heard small noises in your left ear...maybe, an operator or a teammate of yours was trying to convey a reply message.

Please make it work!

You were waiting, but still nothing. Then, you slowly collapsed against a wall and started drinking, sip by sip, the water from your bottle, until you decide to throw the rest on you but it had become too hot to relieve the pain on your face.

You had to admit, you were tired and scared, but you couldn't just sit...you had to keep going, just so you could find a way out of there.

But when you were pouring courage inside you, something moved and made a sound you had never heard before; in any case, you immediately got to your feet to prepare yourself for escape. Or for fight.

Anyway, you were forced to give up the second option, as what presented before you was beyond anything imaginable...a strange, large creature emerged from the darkness of the cave.

His appearance was really monstrous; the skin was dark as night and a pair of bat wings came out of the back. Your gaze immediately fell on its claws, the same as those you had seen earlier.
Suddenly, the creature walked slowly towards you, but was like it didn't see you at all; there, you noticed that its face was eyeless, but well stocked with sharp canines in its mouth, in particular with two long, pointed incisors.

You didn't move a muscle even though your heart was beating wildly. You had never seen such a thing before and suspected it was been this monster that had captured the Iraqi soldier...
Fortunately, that strange being began to move away from you, probably sure it would find nothing more there.

You took the opportunity to walk slowly in the opposite direction, intent on hiding behind a rock and wait for him to go away completely...but when you took the first step, drops of sweat ran down your wet cheek, carrying some of your blood left on your face, until it fell to the sand; of course, you didn't pay much attention to that, but you stopped abruptly when you heard the monster had stopped walking too.

This time, it looked up at you.

Oh shit.

Without thinking twice, you started to run and the creature sprinted in pursuit of its new prey, opening the immense wings under its arms...

However, when you crossed the area hit by the sunlight, the monster stopped for a moment, but continuing to growl; you tried to escape, hoping to find an exit from there, but there was nothing waiting for you except a rocky wall.

W-where I go!?

If you went back, the monster wouldn't give you any chance to survive...it had to be another way, you thought, preventing panic from overwhelming you.

And you found it at your feet.

The sand was cold, as if air was coming out and you noticed there was a crack in the rock.

A passage!

You lay down to crawl under it, but immediately noticed that your backpack was preventing you from passing...before you could think, you saw the creature climb the walls to outwit the light.

Aaah, fuck it!!

You quickly let that slip off your shoulders and rushed under there, crawling with your elbows and legs on the sand and with your head brushing the rock above, hoping it wouldn't collapse on you in that moment...
Anyway, you had almost reached the end, until something grabbed your ankle to pull you back forcibly.

You didn't think the monster could come after you, because the passage was too narrow for it, but apparently you were wrong.

《Ah no! Let me go!》

You yelled trying to free yourself from its grasp kicking that abomination repeatedly; but your move pissed it off even more and, this time, its long claws ripped the fabric of your pants, causing long cuts on your right calf.

You screamed in pain, but you tried to hold on until you got out of that tight and suffocating hell. Until that monster would let you go...
But it didn't and you kept slipping further back, as you couldn't find anything other than sand to grab.

...at this rate, I won't be able to-

But your bad thought was interrupted by an arm that suddenly appeared in front of you and out of nowhere.

《Grab my hand, come on!》

It was the voice of a man coming from the other side of the passage. You did as he told without any hesitation and when you grabbed it, that unexpected help was able to make you win against the monster, who was forced to let you go, unable to go further...and that terrifying growl echoed inside the cave even after you managed to get out of there.

Definitely, that was one of the worst experiences of your life and you were been incredibly lucky to be able to escape from it.

At least for now.