===============Chapter 1===============

 

The smell of burning mixed with the smell of urine and feces and every other disgusting smell you could think of. My nose crinkled up and I added throw-up to that list. It was disgusting, almost barbaric what they were making me go through. Beside me were the dead bodies of my companions on this mission, two young minds who were going out on a training mission and would never get to see their newly acquired families. The bodies were another thing to add to that list. It's funny that I've been able to survive this long. It was probably the fact that I had gotten used to it until the smell of burning made everything's stench different.

 

 

 

I could hear screams and gunfire above me. Adding to that was the distinctive sound of a helicopter preparing for flight. Explosions would occasionally rock the ground. The pit my captors had left me in for the past two and a half weeks was unscathed by whatever was going on above. I pretty much sat back and paid attention above, to see if something or someone fell in.

 

 

 

I had been sitting with my back to a rounded dirt wall for a couple minutes when a man wearing a pair of Levi's and a button down cowboy shirt and leather vest walked over to the edge. He was holding a bandanna over his mouth with one hand and an AK-47 in the other. I could hear him cough, could see the wind gently blow the branches of the trees to the North, the opposite way of the battle. I could see the smoke following the wind like it was chasing after it.

 

 

 

I stared at the man, and knew now why he was aiming his weapon at my head. The Americans had come, finally. They had come to save us. Well, myself and the corpses at least.

 

 

 

He was about to pull the trigger when I heard a THUMP! as if from a silenced weapon. The man's forehead shot out and pink matter came with it, raining down on me. The body fell into the pit and lay face down in front of me.

 

 

 

I looked from the body to the SEAL that stood over the pit. I could hear him scream into the microphone attached to his helmet, "One live soldier! Two corpses!". I scrambled to the AK and grabbed it. The SEAL tensed and aimed his silenced Beretta toward me.

 

 

 

I got back against the wall and pulled the clip from the weapon. I checked it and saw it had about twenty out of a possible thirty one bullets inside. I shoved it back in and checked to see if the mud on the ground of the pit had caked inside of anything. It didn't, and I laughed. If I needed to, I might be able to fight. I felt a little dizzy since all I had been fed was bread for the past weeks (ever since my partners died, I got their shares, which was pretty good).

 

 

 

I watched the SEAL who had found me throw a rope in and tell me to get up. I nodded, and as soon as I stood, I felt my brain kind of melt. I couldn't think very well, let alone coordinate myself. I wobbled to the rope and grabbed it, cradling the AK in my armpit. It was pointed backwards in case it went off.

 

 

 

"Pull." I was able to tell the SEAL and he did. I was pretty skinny, though my beard probably weighed a ton. He needed the help of two others to get me on South American soil again. I coughed when I got to the top and then pumped my fist triumphantly. I had done it.

 

 

 

"What happened to the other two?" One of the SEAL's asked me.

 

 

 

"Thought they could pick a fight with the pirates. Couldn't think because of the little amounts of food." Just saying the words was making my head spin.

 

 

 

The man nodded and took a blue blanket from someone. He threw it over me and I suddenly realized I was naked. And had mud and brain juice all over me. Then, the men tried to take my gun. I pulled it from his grasp and said, "I need protection." The SEAL nodded and tried to get me to my feet.

 

 

 

I almost collapsed, but the guy grabbed me before my face met the ground. He let me lean against him and hurriedly headed toward the whirring sound that belonged to a helicopter. And of course, the helicopter had to be on the other side of the fires and the smoke.

 

 

 

Great.

 

 

 

I shoved the blanket over my mouth and went with the guy into the blackest smoke I had ever seen. We ran faster then I thought a man in my shape should be able. The helicopters rotors were probably helping to fan the smoke out, which was helpful, but my coughing told me that it wasn't enough.

 

 

 

When we got to the black Apache, that's when the problems began. First a shot was fired that went through the neck of my companion. Next I fell to the ground with his dead body and smacked my head into the metal floor of the Apache, my head ringing. Then, I saw men start to surround it, dead soldiers being thrown out to show us that we had been beaten.

 

 

 

I tried to pull myself into the helicopter but was shot in the leg. I screamed and was about to pass out when the co-pilot shoved me inside and yelled "Get the hell out of here!" The co suddenly ran to a mounted machine gun in one of the helicopters windows, and I was conscious enough to watch my captors be torn into swiss cheese. Blood and guts flew everywhere. Shots rang against the reinforced metal of the aircraft and I felt the Apache fly upward.

 

 

 

We then flew over the trees of the Amazon jungle.

 

 

 

The flight was pretty much a blur. The co-pilot patched me up and set me in a third seat behind the pilot and I pretty much passed out, occasionally waking to the sound of the pilot screaming that their team had been nearly destroyed.

 

 

 

I remember prodding the pilots shoulder and whispering in his ear (it was pretty hard with all the gear on his head), "I'll take you on my team since I lost mine.".

 

 

 

There was laughter and a conversation between the pilot and co-pilot and more darkness and nightmares and ringing.

 

 

 

That day was not the best I've had in my life...

 

 

 

---------------------------

 

The darkness would soon dissipate and I awoke as the chopper flew low over a large city. I could barely breath. Oh hell.

 

 

 

"Hey!" I yelled. The co-pilot looked back.

 

 

 

"Morning Sleeping Beauty!" He said with a smirk.

 

 

 

I smiled and rolled my eyes. "How long was I asleep?"

 

 

 

"A day." The man replied. "Enough time to get to Mexico City. You missed the two wonderful airstrips we stopped at. I swear to god if we weren't careful we would have gotten shot and this damn chopper would have been taken to a chop shop."

 

 

 

I looked down at my leg and instantly regretted it. It had been tightly bandaged by the co-pilot and did not hurt quite as bad as it did before, but it was still a sharp pain that made me shriek.

 

 

 

"The bullet was stuck in the bone and I had to pull it out with tweezers. You were barely conscious." He laughed.

 

 

 

I laughed too, I don't know why, but I instantly regretted it and gasped for air.

 

 

 

"Love that good ol' Mexico City air!" The pilot was apparently someone who had lived here at the American Embassy because no one should be able to breath this unless they had been here for years. I knew I would need an oxygen mask once we touched down.

 

 

 

We landed at the Mexico City Aeropuerto. I was instantly thrown on a stretcher, an oxygen mask strapped over my mouth (thank god) and hauled to the nearest ambulance.

 

 

 

Boy, my time in Mexico would only get better.

Nice, but if the air in Mexico City was that bad I doubt twenty million people would be living there.

Yeah, why would he be whinging about the smell of outside air after being stuck in a pit full of urine, feces and rotting corpses?

 

 

 

xD

LLamster: My friend went and said the air was horrible. You have to have lived in those conditions to seriously not complain about it.

 

 

 

Langzor: When another smell mixes with a smell your used to, it tends to make you smell the thing differently.

Well, I like the story, but to be the honest, the title made me think it had to do with the Mexican flu (I know, I know, I'm stupid).

 

 

 

Anyway, it was nice and suspenseful, nicely done.

I'll update it soon, I just started High School so I am pretty stressed out and I still have an essay to do and three more chapters of notes and questions so hopefully every Saturday I'll be able to add a chapter or two to this.

 

 

 

Thanks for the criticisms!

LLamster: My friend went and said the air was horrible. You have to have lived in those conditions to seriously not complain about it.

 

 

 

 

But oxygen masks?

LLamster: My friend went and said the air was horrible. You have to have lived in those conditions to seriously not complain about it.

 

 

 

 

But oxygen masks?

 

 

 

Yeah, I think it would be much better just to give the guy an oxygen mask then let him sit there and the main guy was also heading to a hospital for multiple injuries so the oxygen mask just helped with his breathing as well.