Operation: Healing Shadows

The first hole

Mason's POV
       I crouched next to Luna and looked at the activity around the outside of the ruins, "Think we can do it?" She looked over, I couldn't see her eyes because of her veil but I could almost feel the eye roll as she replied "Of course we can, hand me your rifle. I've got overwatch" I shifted my weight somewhat uncomfortably "You sure? You're a lot better than me at infiltration, I'm just a medic" she patted my shoulder "I'm also a trained sniper, let's go. The sooner we start clearing out these guards we can get out of this rain" I gripped my rifle sling and pulled my L115 off my back before holding it out towards Luna, she gripped it and went to take it but I held onto it "Take care of it, it's the thing I love most in life" she scoffed before lowly speaking "Wow, I see how it is" I smiled under my balaclava "Well my dear you're not a thing, you're a person. I use the word thing to describe inanimate objects, not people" she sighed before I let go of my rifle and watched Luna scramble to hold her grip. I lifted my R5 and tightened the suppressor "You ready to go live?" Her veil shook wildly as she nodded and we headed to an overlook. I crouched behind her as we slowly made our way through the thick underbrush of the Everglades, I kept glancing down at the forest floor below us searching for any snakes or other environmental hazards. I tapped Luna's shoulder and motioned to a large gator slide "We've got a big boy somewhere around here, it's fresh. Stay away from the water" she nodded and stepped further away, I saw her veil shift towards the water every couple seconds causing me to whisper "Luna, it's okay. They pretty much only go for prey that's actually next to the water" her sigh was barely audible but she picked up her pace obviously uncomfortable with the knowledge of a gator being around.
     We crept slowly until I had to yank Luna back causing her to spin angrily as she whisper yelled "What the hell are you doing?!" I pointed infront of her in the ground "You don't see that?" She looked forward angrily "Nej(no), I don't see anything. am I supposed to?" I picked up a stick and placed the tip carefully on the ground "See it now?" She looked at the stick in confusion until I moved it half a centimeter back and watched the Cottonmouth strike the stick "see? This place is a god damn minefield, you need to treat every step like if you don't you'll lose your leg" she sighed as the snake started slithering away "undskyld(I'm sorry), I'm just on edge. I want answers" I nodded before replied "I know, I do too but you need to be mobile. A strike from a cottonmouth will take you out of the game indefinitely" her veil shifted down before she spoke "I'm good... recentered." I nodded before I shifted around her and took point "Stay close, I've got point" she lifted her FMG and started checking around us as we moved silently to our overlook. We dropped to our stomachs and I pulled my binoculars up scouring the the base until I saw our big boy erupt from the water in what seemed like slow motion, I watched his eyes close and his enormous jaws clamp around the mask's leg. The scream of pain was clearly audible, it reminded me of my own scream when my leg was lost, his vocal cords were shot as the loud crack of his leg was heard. Every other mask nearby came running trying to react quickly enough to save their friend only to be forced to helplessly watch as the huge gator ripped the man from the bank with a hiss and disappeared into the brown, murky water, the only sign he was ever there being the trail of red and bubbles in the water.
       I shivered as I glanced at Luna "That's not the way I want to go out" she nodded slowly before replying "I don't think anyone wants to go out like that, that was horrifying" I looked up at the thick black rain clouds "Come on, this storm isn't letting up anytime soon" she stared at the swamp for another couple seconds before asking "Do you think he's dead yet?" I paused looking at the water "How long has it been since he got taken 10? 20 seconds?" She nodded before replying with some nervousness creeping into her voice "About 15" I looked forward further up the trail "No, his lungs probably feel like they're on fire right now. The gators still got his leg locked in his jaws and is just waiting for the mask to drown." She shivered but started setting up her position "Why was he so big? I read that most are only 10 feet" I helped her put some concealment infront of the rifle as I replied "he's probably been eating masks, boar, big whitetails, hell he's probably been eating smaller gators. He's getting a lot of calories and fatty food so he's getting supersized" she looked at me as her hands stilled and she sat back on her haunches "How big do you think he is?" I looked at her "15, maybe 16 feet. Listen if you're that worried about him this rifle can easily crack through him and there a tree right there you can climb."
She took a deep breath before leaning forward and resting her forehead against my collarbone "when we get back to the safe house, I want a nap" I patted her back "Sounds good, but we have to get this done" she flipped up the scope covers and sighted down shifting from place to place before she replied "I'm set, you good to enter" I patted her thigh as I stood "I'll be back before you know it" she didn't reply as I subconsciously steeled my nerves at the fact I'd have to cross a slightly sunken bridge, it's a wooden bridge that sits about 6 inches below the waterline. It's genius, satellites can't see it and it's hard to locate unless you're standing right next to it, that's all well and good but now I had the fear of a 15 foot gator trying to eat me. I took a deep breath as I paused 5 feet away from the submerged bridge only to hear Luna "Hey, you okay? You've frozen" I muttered back softly "yeah... yeah.... I'm good, I'm good" she replied calmly, soothingly "just breathe and take it slow, I've got your back. Trust me and I'll get you to the other side" I started the seemingly impossible journey as I started to move across the bridge. My eyes darted around wildly as my senses heightened to near unprecedented levels, every swish of the water against my boot, every small splash, doorstep or even the slightest breeze of the wind. After an eternity I reached the other side and crouch ran to the nearest concrete wall pressing myself against it and breathing heavily as the anxiety started to subside, I heard Luna "You okay? Think you can finish the mission?" I replied breathily "yeah, yeah I'm good. I just need a second" I heard the echo of a suppressed shot and heard a thud to my right, I looked over and saw a masks slumped against the wall with half his mask and skull missing, the flys had already descended upon the man brains.
      I lifted my R5 and slowly creeped to the corner before peaking around and locating the main destroyed compound, "Moving to enter" She only offered a curt "Scopes on" I crouched slightly and jogged across the open ground only to be forced to lift my rifle and fire a burst of 5 rounds into the chest of a Mask as he stepped out of the door and into my view. I spun and pressed my back against the wall before I waited straining to hear over the storm only to hear a Mask "I think someone's here!" I closed my eyes for a second before spinning and entering the open door, I looked to my right seeing no one before I shifted my aim to the left and saw a mask lifting his AK only for me to kick up and hit his mag release before I fired a long 3 second burst into his chest feeling 12 rounds kick into my shoulder. I quickly shifted my aim to the main entrance as I crouched and slowly made my way through the door and down the hallway, I glanced to my left and saw 5 masks watching some TV while they got their guns ready it was obvious they were on alert and using the tv for a sense of comfort "think it's rainbow?" To which one with a gruff voice replied "I heard from jimmy that two rainbow ops are AWOL, could be them."
I popped around the corner with my R5 leveled at my hip, I squeezed the trigger and shifted the barrel left to right and back again watching as my rounds ripped every mask down and pained the wall red. I shouldered my rifle after swapping the mag and switched it to Semi firing 2 rounds into each of the mask's heads making sure they stayed down, I started towards the back room. I heard the bite of the suppressed L115 as I pulled out a flash bang while pressing my back against the wall next to the door, I tossed the flash and backwards through the door and gripped my R5 waiting until I heard the loud pop and saw the doorway illuminate brightly, I spun and leveled my R5 firing a burst into the mask standing behind the table directly infront of the door. I saw him disappear behind the table before I shifted to my aim right and saw two masks holding their heads in pain, I squeezed the trigger holding it until I saw them drop and heard my rifle click empty, my training took over and I released my R5 feeling the barrel bounce off my thigh as I pulled my P99 and saw the last mask. I ran forward as the mask leaned down to pick up his rifle, when I reached him I rolled across his back before spinning 180 and kicking the rifle from his hands only to spin counter clockwise throwing a heel kick knocking him back before I finished my third counterclockwise spin and lifted my P99 firing 5 rounds into his chest and head. I shifted my aim to the first mask and fired 3 more rounds into him making sure he died before I turned my attention to the table, I turned on my shoulder mounted flashlight and started to shift through files making a pile of ones I thought could be useful, I heard Luna on the coms "Hey we need to start moving, I'm seeing helicopters in the distance"  I shoved the files into a waterproof bag and replied "Got it, I'm coming out now."
       I sling the bag over my shoulders before reloading my weapons and tossing a Thermite grenade back into the building setting it on fire as I started running across the open ground towards the sunken bridge. I was about 4 feet away from the edge when I was forced to jump back as the Gator had erupted from the water trying to grab me, I stood still and stared at him as he did the same thing to me for about 10 seconds before he turned and started getting back into the water, my nerves were shot and I was considering the several different ways I could have even the slightest chance of getting across the bridge without having to go across the bridge. I heard the choppers in the distance and realized I wouldn't have time to get to another route, I took 2 steps back as Luna asked over coms "Come on, we gotta get outta here. You're not frozen right?" And I started running the jets of water and loud crashes of my feet going through the water were like a dinner bell for the gator but I was on the other side of the river before he could make another pass at me. I collapsed to my ass when I reached Luna's position and looked at her "Well Nøkk, that was terrifying. I thought I was gonna die" she pulled me to my feet "You're not allowed to die, come on, before the choppers get to us. The boats not that far"