12 Minutes (#2 in Military series)

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

"No," Jules gasped as she ran forward and collapsed to her knees beside Marc's body, bullets firing around her on both sides as the stalemate ended. The sand had not settled on Abbas's dead body behind her before Jules was reaching out and clasping onto Marc, her breath ragged as she let go of the her handgun and it dropped to the ground beside her.
Grabbing handfuls of his jacket Jules grunted as she pulled him over onto his back, praying that he was still alive. As Marc's body rolled over she saw that he was unresponsive, his head lolling to the side a little, as she leaned over him and ran her hands up his chest, "Marc?"

It felt like someone had reached into her stomach and was squeezing her stomach with both hands as she looked from Marc's ashen face before she saw the blood at his neck. The wound was small, barely a few inches in length, but it was deep and she could see the twisted flesh inside. Its position on the side of his neck and the amount of blood that was escaping told her that it had most probably cut some major artery. The blood pooling by the side of his head was already substantial as she reached forward and pressed the palm of her hand firmly against it. His blood was warm and his skin slippery against her hand.

"Marc!" She shouted at him, her face less than a few centimetres from his, as bullets whizzed over the top of them. Lifting her head she looked around them to check they were in no immediate danger before she turned back and shouted at him again. She could feel the blood beneath her fingers beginning to build up, pressing against her hand. "MARC!" She screamed as the first tendrils of fear began to grip her heart, her voice conveying all of her anxiety and panic. Gasping as she felt his blood seep through her clenched fingers she pressed both hands over the wound when she looked at his face and saw his eyelids begin to flutter gently. "Marc?" Jules breathed uneasily as hoped exploded within her chest.

Over the noise of bullets and men shouting around her Jules did not hear someone move up behind her until it was too late. One arm wrapped itself around her neck whilst the other curled around her waist and dragged her away from Marc along the ground.

"No!" Jules screamed as her fingers slipped from his wound, exposing it once more, her eyes drifting from Marc's that had slowly began to peel open.

Reaching up she grappled at the tunic that covered the man's arm whilst she kicked out with her legs at the ground as she was dragged along before the man stopped moving. She felt the arm around her waist slide away and the arm around her throat be replaced with the tight grip of a hand as the man clambered out from behind her and moved around until he was straddling her waist. Both of his large hands wrapped themselves around her throat, squeezing the life from her body, but when Jules looked up and saw who it was she screamed in shock.

The lights from a vehicle were shining directly upon them lighting up Abbas's face violently and illuminating the gaping bullet graze on the side of his head. His turban had been knocked off and the bullet had left a rivet in his head which was dripping with blood. She could feel her brain working triple time as her body panicked and her legs thrashed out beneath her uselessly. Her fingers clawed at his arms before she wrapped them around his wrists and tried to push him off of her but gravity was working with him as he bore down upon her, his knees digging into her ribs painfully.

"He killed my son," Abbas grunted down at her through clenched teeth, "Now I shall kill you."

Her heart was beating so fast inside of her chest it felt like one continuous beat as she felt her windpipe getting crushed beneath his hands. Her lungs started to protest at the lack of oxygen as she let go of his wrists and reached across to the left side of his head with her right arm and tried to push him off of her but his fingers clamped tighter around her throat. She felt her chest beginning to fit as choking sounds escaped her lips and her vision grew darker. Her mind was raving, shouting in protest, even as the strength began to leave her body. She could feel her hands slipping from his head when she made one last attempt to hold on. Clawing at his face she felt her fingers pressed against something slippery and warm to touch and as she dugs her nails in Abbas let out a tortured scream, his fingers loosening around her throat.