SACRIFICE: A House of Ashes Story

-PROLOGUE-

Ooh, death
Won't you spare me over 'til another year?

Well what is this
That I can't see
With icy hands getting hold of me
Well, I am Death
None can excel
I open the door to Heaven and Hell

Ooh, death
Ooh, oh death

Too late, too late
To all farewell
My soul is doomed so heed me well
As long as God
In Heaven dwell
Your soul, your soul shall scream in Hell

Oh, death

Ooh, death
Ooh, oh death

-A Conversation With Death-Khemmis-2017-

-NICK-

"It's over," Talia murmured, sinking to the ground.

"Yeah, that's the last of them," Rachel confirms with a tired sigh.

"Salim!" Jason ran over to our new ally to check him for further injuries. "You ok?"

"I'm alright," Salim responded to him with so much tenderness that I turned away, feeling like I was interfering with their moment.

I'm shocked as hell, to say the least, that Jason had fallen for Salim. Not because of his sexuality, we know about it already, and we've chosen to protect him because of it...but because of his initial intolerance towards the Iraqi people. I was the first to meet Salim when he saved my life.

Eric and Rachel were being chased by the rest of Salim's former unit and commander, Dar. To our shock, he helped us fight them off, and he killed Dar before he could kill Eric. From what Salim told us, he had been forced to join the ambush, just as he had been forced to serve in the Ground Forces. It was his son's birthday, and he was meant to retire...

Jason had been the only holdout. Openly hostile and suspicious of Salim's motives, no matter how many times Salim had saved our lives. To his credit, Salim never gave in to it. He remained cautious and civil with Jason. I don't know what the hell happened between them, but when a hoard of vampires attacked us, one of them dragged Jason off, and Salim tore after them without a second thought.

I'm not sure how long we had been separated from them, but by the time we met again, things had changed between them...looking back, I wondered how much of that intolerance came from how he'd been raised. We know the stories of how his father reacted when Jason realized that he wasn't straight...Jason had been at war with himself long before we got here.

I guess Salim helped him through some of it, somehow. I'm not going to ask unless Jason wants to tell me. He's used to bottling things up to "be a man." It took him a long time to open up about the Green Zone, but he did. And in turn, I'd confessed about my affair with Rachel, which made the team implode.

Rachel hadn't been able to tell Eric yet, even though I'd asked her to... many times. Eric and I had already fought a few times until we asked her to decide. On top of that, I'd hurt Talia, another close friend on the team. What shocked the hell out of me was when she slapped Rachel, not giving a damn about rank, and Rachel didn't reprimand her...she apologized.

Usually, I could get a read on Talia. Not this time. When I tried to pull her to the side, she recoiled as if I'd burned her. After hitting Rachel, I thought I'd be next. I waited for it: the lecture about having an affair with a married woman, the wrath I've come to know, and loathe. This time was different. She withdrew. The light in her eyes dimmed and I realized that there was one thing worse than her anger: disappointment.

After we talked everything out, at Joey's insistence, Rachel realized that even though she had felt something with me, she wanted to reconcile with Eric. It stung, but at least she admitted that she shouldn't have gotten caught up, that she should have tried to fix things. I've been in a dark place since that checkpoint. She had been a highlight for me these past few weeks...so has Talia, who hasn't looked at me or spoken to me since.

That's when all hell broke loose, with vampires swarming us on all sides. We didn't have any more time to process what happened or deal with it. We lost Joey and Merwin in the assault. I'd thought we lost Jason, too, until we saw him again. After that, we had to put our shit on the back burner and survive.

**********************************

We fucking did it...I don't know how the fuck we survived, but we did. Well, not all of us...Merwin, Joey, and Clarice didn't make it. After what felt like the longest six minutes of my life, sunlight filtered through the hut, where we took a stand against the vampires.

"Air support is here," Eric sighs in relief.

"Shit!" Jason swore. "They-we gotta tell 'em that Salim is one of us! We can't let 'em-"

"Hey, we'll do whatever we have to!" Rachel insists. "Okay? Breathe."

"As long as they don't catch on to your relationship, it'll help our case," I added pointedly.

"Right," Salim nods. "I suppose there's intolerance all over."

"Unfortunately," Talia sighs, still not making eye contact with me. "We won't let anything happen to either one of you."

"...Thank you," Jason slurs.

We're exhausted. If I had to guess, we've been down there for twenty-four hours, maybe more. A lot went down in that temple. Hopefully, we can figure it out once we get the fuck out of here. I know I hurt Talia with what I've done, and now I'm paying for it. 

"Wait," Eric murmured. "Something's off."

"The helos have landed," Rachel frowned. "But why haven't they come inside?"

"...They've surrounded the hut," Talia realized after she perked up her ears.

"Because of Salim?" Jason wonders, throwing the man behind him. "They'll have to get through me first!"

I don't know if it was dread or fatigue, but the air felt heavier. The heat was already intense, especially when we had been trapped underground for God knows how long. Whatever CENTCOM is doing, I hope they get in here soon. I'm not doing too well. I don't think any of us are.

"Jason, please," Salim pleads. "Provoking them isn't a good..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he pitched forward and collapsed.

"Shit!" Jason swore as he caught him. "What the hell?! What's taking CENTCOM so long?!"

I ran over to the two of them as I heard Eric cry out for Rachel, who passed out, too. What the hell?

"...Gas..."

Eric and I looked down to see that Talia was right. CENTCOM was gassing the place. I don't understand why. We covered our noses and mouths, but it was too late for Jason. Unfortunately, we've already breathed some of it in, and soon, Eric and Talia were out, too. I tried to hold out for as long as possible, but I knew I couldn't for much longer.

The last thing I saw were gas masks and hazmat suits as they breached the hut...but what they said scared the shit out of me:

"Test subjects secured. Prepare for extraction."