"TOC, Bravo One here, mission accomplished," Jason communicates with the base. "Ready for exfil."

"Copy that." Blackburn's voice came from the radio. "Your ride will be there in ten. TOC out."

"Alright guys, heard that? Pack up," Jason ordered his teammates. "Let's leave this mess behind."

"You don't have to say it twice, Boss," Sonny said, immediately starting to collect their equipment.

Exhausted and sweaty Bravo Team promptly settled in the chopper. The back was a little crowded, the only one really comfortable was Jason, sat in the front.

"Hey Brock, would you please keep Cerberus away from my personal space?" Ray said, sticking out the side of the chopper. "His smell is really starting to bother me."

"I can try, but I'm afraid it's not just the dog's fault here." He chuckled, seeing Ray that annoyed.

"And let's thank God we didn't manage to take prisoners," Trent pointed out, with a little frustration shining thought his voice.

Ray shuddered at the thought of dividing the already limited space with those terrorists, and found himself in the desperate need of a deep breath of fresh air.

"I'm telling you one thing guys," Sonny said with a grin. "If the support personnel finished all the beers during these eight days of our absence, I'm going to give someone a hell of a flight home."

"Let's pray not then," Clay said. "We're already tired of hearing your voice complaining about everything."

"That's easy for you to say, little blonde monkey," Sonny quickly replied. "You know that some of us happened to grow up in the civilized world, right?"

They all laughed at the sound of the two making fun of each other.
After all, they already knew that with the two of them packed together, side by side, for a ride that long, the show was ready to happen.

...

The chopper was midway to the base, when things started going rough.

"You heard that?" Ray asked concerned.

"It's just the normal sound of this old ladybird," Trent's tone didn't sound too secure.

They heard another clanging.

"You think?" Sonny turned back, starting to worry.

Clay was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the commotion around him.
The astonishing view of the palace that he once used to call his home, completely blessed him, leaving him overwhelmed with memories filling his mind and his heart.

Six years old Clay was quietly set on the small plane, staring at the already consumed photo he tightened among his little hands.

His grandparents were really surprised a boy that young could face a trip so long without giving them any kind of trouble.

"Came here baby," his grandmother said, carefully loosen his strap.

She took Clay in her arms, "Look," she softly said, pointing at the tiny window.

"Isn't it the most amazing thing you ever saw?" she whispered, kindly removing his hair off his forehead.

The boy stood silent, his eyes were full of amazement as well as filled of fear and uncertainty.

"This is far from the concrete jungle we have back in the US, uh? This...is the real stuff!"

Clay insisted to be put back in his seat.

"It's ok, we're almost there." She put his strap firmly on again. "This will be your new home."

"I don't want a new home...I just want my mom..." his eyes were filled with tears, but for no reasons he was going to let them wet his cheeks.

"Oh, sweetheart, you're gonna love here, I promise." She smiled with a kindness that made him feel everything was going to be ok.

"What the..." Clay was abruptly awakened from his daydream as the chopper became unstable, and they had to grab strong to some support to not be thrown off it.

"May-day. May-day," the pilot said, as he saw a rotor catching fire.

He tried to stabilize the chopper, but it quickly started to lose altitude, and they went down, starting hitting the vegetation.

It started to flip around, and the men on the edges had a really hard time to stay on board.

Sonny tried to grab Clay as he was slipping out. They all tried to hold on, but the crash was now inevitable.

The tail went in pieces, and controlling the chopper was now impossible.

"May-day, we are going down!" Support personnel at TOC started to get nervous.

It all happened so fast that they barely had the time to acknowledge the situation.

"Bravo One, this is TOC, what happened?" Blackburn tried to maintain the comms open.

"What the hell?" Davis' voice was full of fear.

"Any Bravo team, respond!" he tried again, unsuccessfully.

"Air space is supposed to be clear, what could have happened?" she asked confused.

"We have no evidence of hostiles in that zone," the commander continued.
"Davis, find their last known position, we have to arrange a rescue mission," he ordered.

The atmosphere at the base changed in a blink. Everyone was now trying to make themselves useful.

"C'mon, we have to find them now!" Blackburn yelled.

...

Jason slightly opened his eyes. Disoriented, and with blurred vision, he tried to recall what happened.
He blinked, trying to focus. 'Mission accomplished; on the way back home; chopper crashed,' he resumed the situation in his mind.

As soon as he was able to concentrate, he turned to his left, and checked on the pilot's condition.

"Damn it," he muttered, not feeling any pulse.

He started looking for his men.

"Hey," Jason tried to call out to Brock, the only one in his immediate sight.
He was hugged to Cerberus, and hasn't yet regained consciousness.

He painfully got up to reach him, and he heard him moaning.
Relieved his teammate was still alive, he quickly valued the situation. The main part of the chopper held the fall, but there were pieces of the tail and the rotors everywhere.

"Boss!" Trent was a few meters away, heading toward them.

"Boss, you alright?" He asked, trying to check on him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jason carefully avoided mentioning the ringing in his ears. "You?"

"I'll be good," Trent nodded, so they turned to Brock.

"Ugh... I'm good," he said, lifting his head up. "He seems fine too," he added, meticulously checking the dog.

"Pilot's dead..." Jason paused.
"Where're the others?" he said, desperately looking around, then he turned to Trent, "Did you see them?"

He shook his head, "I ran toward you as soon as I woke up...didn't see anyone."

Mangroves and giant trees prevented them to see far from their position.

"They must drop down the chopper before the crash."

"TOC, this is Bravo One, anyone there?" Jason tried a couple times.

"Any Bravo Team, this is Bravo One, do you copy?" he harshly continued.

"Vegetation must be shielding the signal, Boss," Trent pointed out helpless. "We know too well how things work here..."

"And the GPS is going sideways, even if we can contact them, we don't know where we are."

Brock instructed the dog to search for their teammates, and he immediately started to follow a lead.

"Ray!" "Sonny!" "Clay!" they started calling out in plain voice, searching the surroundings.

Jason had difficulties standing straight, and he had to lean on Trent.

"Who... Ok boss, maybe you shouldn't get up that fast..." he tried to object.

"I'm fine. I have to find my men," Jason argued, freeing himself from his teammate's support.

"Cerb found something," Brock yelled, running after the dog.

"Hey, Sonny!" he said, approaching his friend. "You ok, man?"

"Mmmm... I'm never ok in the jungle," he replied, hastily looking around.

Trent tried to help him stand up, but Sonny growled in pain.

"You must dislocated your shoulder," Trent instantaneously judged.

"Yeah, feels like that," Sonny admitted annoyed.

"I got this," Trent said, and without hesitation he grabbed Sonny's arm, and put a foot on his friend's hip for leverage.
"This is gonna hurt, you ready?"

"Go ahe... Ohw!" Sonny couldn't finish his phrase, that Trent put his shoulder back in position, making a loud 'snap' in the process.

He took a deep breath. "Is anybody else hurt?"

"Pilot's dead..."

"Oh man," Sonny reacted, having some problems standing straight.

"Ray and Spenser are missing."

"Missing? What are we doing here? Let's go find them!"

"Wait! You two should wait near the chopper, and rest," Trent said firmly. "Cerberus will lead me and Brock to our guys."

Jason not liked the idea, but he knew his teammate was right, they could only get in the way in their current condition.

"Ok," he looked straight at the others. He knew that the forest should be cleared by the hostiles, but, like Sonny never stopped pointing out, wild animals and venomous plant were still a threat.

"Be careful!"

Trent and Brock looked straight at their boss, and nodded.

...

Ray regained consciousness, finding himself surrounded by the dense vegetation.
He got up with every fiber of his body aching.

"Alright Raymond, you can do this," he said to himself.

Seeing no one there, he reached his radio to ask for his teammates positions, "Useless" he muttered, as he found it badly damaged.

He inspected the surroundings, and spotted some metal fragments. When he reached them, he took a while to recognize Clay's motionless body between the chopper's rests.

The soft light penetrating through the trees woke Clay from his forced sleep. The sweet, humid air quickly filled his lungs, and the sound of birds and mammals leaving their life surrounded him.

He looked around, his view was prejudiced by enormous trees, and big leaves. He closed his eyes, and tried to hear something, while the sound of children laughing filled the air.

Suddenly a local boy appeared from the vegetation, "Nooma nte, nooma!"

"Follow you where? Clay asked, confused. "Where are we? Where're we going?"

"Nooma nte, tubaboo." the kid disappeared in the jungle.

"Batu! Batu!" he tried to go after him, but he immediately lost him. "Wait for me, kid..."

"Let him go," a familiar voice sounded from behind him.

"Brian?" he looked back surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"You saw where I grow up, it felt right to do the same for you." Brian smiled.

"Yeah...ok," he looked around more and more disoriented. "I have to find my team..."

"Relax, they will find you." Brian voice was getting more and more distant. "Trust them, they are your family..."

"Don't leave me alone, wait!"

"Spenser!" Ray jumped into the swamp the kid was partially immersed in, and started checking on his conditions: he had one rotor blade stuck in his right side, and the rest of his body was tangled in the mangroves.

"Mmm...Where did he go? What..." Clay tried to move.

"Woo... Hold still kid." Ray put firmly a hand on his teammate's shoulder. "You are gonna worst your situation here."

"Ray?" Clay slowly opened his eyes, trying to understand his current situation.

"Yes, Spens. It's me," he tried to act calm and reassuring. "Hold on kid, you are stuck, but I'm gonna take you out of here, ok?"

"Mmm..." Clay nodded, trying to recall what happened.
"Where're...the others?" He tried to look around, but Ray held his head still.

"Don't know kid," Ray said, trying to figure out a plan to free his friend.
"I haven't seen anyone, nor the main part of the chopper round here." He couldn't hide his concern anymore, "and my radio is out of order."

"Try with mine..." Clay said, instinctively trying to reach it, but a sharp pain invaded his body. "Ahg..."

"I told you to hold still! And that's an order, ok?" Ray carefully removed the radio from Clay's chest, and tried to contact the rest of the team.

"This is Bravo Two, anyone out there?" he tried.
"This is Bravo Two and Six, anyone copy?" he persistently repeated.

"Bravo Two, thank God," Jason answered, surprised that the radio were working again. "Are you good?"

"I'm in one piece... but the kid," he paused, looking at him. "Spenser's stuck and injured."

"How bad?" Every possible outcome popped up in Jason's mind, making him feel chills in every inch of his body.

"Don't really know Boss, but I can't move him.
"Is everyone else ok?"

"A little beat up, but nothing we can't handle," Jason replied, looking at Sonny. "We'll be good." the latter nodded.

"Don't worry. Cerb is leading us to you." Trent stepped into the conversation. "Just hold...until we get...ok?" he managed to say between one interference and another.

"Copy that. Two out." Ray turned to Clay. "You heard that? They're coming for us."

"Yeah, " he nodded, feeling relieved.
"Oh man, Sonny is gonna mock me for life for this." He abandoned his head leaning on the mangroves.

"I hate to agree with him, but," Ray smiled. "I'm afraid he will have a really good point this time."

Despite Clay's efforts to hide his pain, Ray could clearly see how much the kid was suffering.
He was losing blood, and his skin was turning more and more pale.
Ray felt powerless and useless, but he knew he needed to focus on keeping Clay calm, and preventing the shock to kick in.
There was absolutely nothing more he could do for the moment.