LET YOU DOWN.
chapter thirty one.
hunter begins, pt. one.
ATHENA GRANT WOULDN'T BE able to forget that day. She wouldn't forget the look on her husband's face as he sat in the hospital waiting room, ignoring the questions that Chimney and Hen threw at him one after another. She wouldn't forget the way Kyle Dobbs stood frozen over the body of the dead Chechen sniper. And she would never be able to forget the sight of the page and bloodied Hunter Callahan as her breathing slowed on the ground while Buck held her tight.
Everything after had been a blur. From the moment the helicopter had sent down a stretcher it seemed as if time had begun moving at light speed.
The hospital had warned those waiting of the dangers, the fact that a gun shot wound had gone improperly treated for hours did not help Hunter's chances.
Eddie sat in a chair with Chris in his lap, curled up into a ball as the sun head begun setting. The Diaz man had not been there when they had found the injured Callahan, as he was still recovering from the shot to his shoulder. For once, Chris had not been able to make him feel better.
Buck laid slackened in a chair with his legs stretched out and face blank, a hand running over his tired features. The emotions he had gone through in the past few days had left him drained, unable to properly process anything that came next. So many questions ran through his head that needed to be answered.
Even Penny and Collin Dunn waited, for once in the same room as each other after not speaking for months. Collin had known Hunter for years now, being the one who shaped her into the marine she was and he wouldn't stand idle to watch her fade away. And Penny, she couldn't help but feel as if she could have prevented Hunter from leaving her house and in turn, kept her out of this hospital.
And Hunter, of course, she wasn't thinking anything as she laid unconscious on the operation table. A nurse steadily handing the surgeon each tool he asked for while another closely watched her blood pressure and heart rate, it showed her as bradycardic as her pulse kept slowing further. Each passing moment it seemed death had been closer to taking her, but she hadn't know. All she knew was what her brain let her see, all the memories she had, good and bad. While the hospital worked tirelessly to save her, she simply remembered her life.
2008. Lubbock, Texas.
HUNTER FROWNED AS SHE looked around the house. It was quiet. Too quite. Cody was at basketball practice and her father was deployed but there still should have been a hint of some life. There was a slight hum of the furnace she could hear through the floorboards— but that was it.
"Mom?" She called out searching for Sydney Callahan. She should have been home, in theory. The matriarch didn't work, electing to stay at home with her two kids so her husband could continue to enlist. Not that Sydney had minded, she had never truly worked a day in her life— that was the kind of person she was.
The lack of response sent Hunter into a search. The seventeen year old girl was more than curious, she didn't like the feeling that was sitting in her stomach like a churning rock.
Walking into the master bedroom her heart sank. It didn't even look like someone was living there. Opening the closet, over half was gone. A picture was turned over on the nightstand over her parents. To begin with, there wasn't much there originally so to see the bedroom so bare was immediately noticeable. The bed made a little too perfect and unruffled.
The Callahan's were far from perfect, Hunter never remembered a time when they were. Christmas and thanksgiving were always just one continuous argument instead of joyous, and her parents had love lost— to say the least.
Pulling out her phone Hunter dialed her mothers number on the classic sliding keyboard that was in style for the time. The line stayed silent, not even ringing as Hunter sat down on the neatly made bed.
Swallowing hard, Hunter dialed the next best number which rang for more than a moment before the familiar gruff voice picked up. "Hunter I'm working-"
"Yeah?" She rhetorically asked, "well your wife fuckin left and I don't know what you want me to do—"
"What do you mean she left?" Earl's voice echoed over the phone as he elected to ignored the foul language coming from his only daughters mouth.
Hunter swallowed hard, "I mean she's gone," there was a break in her voice as she tried to maintain a steady voice, "she took everything that was hers. Blocked my number..."
Sydney Callahan left no trace, there was no note or letter saying goodbye. There wasn't some phone all that Hunter missed, no she had just vanished.
Her own mother had left her.
2009, Lubbock, Texas.
"You're what?" Cody yelled out.
"I know, I know—" the blonde teenager groaned as she laid sprawled out on the leather couch, a hand coming up to run over her facial features.
Cody rose from his spot on the couch, "we promised we'd do this together. Go join the navy, like dad did."
"I know, but I don't want to be a sailor," Hunter argued, "I know you don't either. I want to be a marine, and I— I already enlisted."
"Without telling me?" Cody exclaimed, "I may not want to be a sailor either but I would leave you behind."
"I'm not leaving you behind, there's a spot for you in the corps too," Hunter told him, trying to calm him down.
"No— fuck you, I'm not following you," he stated confidently, his twin rolled his eyes at the insult but didn't take it to heart, "and how are you going to tell dad?"
"I don't know..." Hunter let out. Deep down she knew he wouldn't care, "he'll understand. I use to want to be a seal like dad but grandpa and I were talking and now I want to be a marine."
"Good luck," Cody laughed, Hunter could still tell he was a little upset that she had abandoned their plan but it was for the best. Neither of them wanted to go into the navy, Cody just needed the extra push to make that decision.
"Training starts next month." She let out with a cringe as she watched Cody's expression drop even further.
The darker haired boy shook his head as he glared at the girl, "you make me rethink my no hitting girls policy."
2009. Paris Island, South Carolina.
Marine Corps Recruit Depot.
Hunter was going to kill the kid next to her. She had been placed with a "battle buddy" to run drills with and he just so happened to fuck up. She could feel the eyes of Kyle Dobbs staring at her from across their line up, trying not to laugh she got yelled at for something another private did. The two had managed to land the same basic training camp after enlisting together.
She hated the idea of battle buddies. She did not want to be blamed for the mistakes of another incompetent man, the excuse of "all for one and one for all," was getting a little too old in her opinion.
"Private DeBloke," Drill Sargent Dunn got closer into the face of her battle buddy, "I want you to go and apologize to that tree over there for wasting it's oxygen!"
Hunter kept her lips pursed as she tried not to laugh but she quickly grasped a blank face as the Sargent stopped in front of her, "you go too, Private Callahan, don't come back until I tell you to."
"Yes sir," Hunter let out with her voice loud before turning to follow her battle buddy to the lone tree.
"I'm going to kill you," she whispered to Aaron DeBloke.
"You think I want to do this?"
"Coulda fooled me," Hunter scoffed, "a fuck up like that can't be an accident."
"Screw you."
The two stood in front of the tree, maintaining point as they apologized for wasting the oxygen it was producing. Hunter Callahan managed to throw in a few extra words, apologizing for on behalf of the man next to her— using curse words the Debloke had never even heard of before. The sun had begun falling down by the time Sargent Dunn came back over to release them of their position.
Hunter stood outside the barracks, drinking from her canteen as a man approached her. "He can be a real hard ass, huh."
Hunter sent a confused look to the man who clarified, "Dunn."
"Oh yeah," she nodded with a bitter chuckle, "that's one way to put it."
"Don't worry, he means no harm," he laughed, "just a little bit rough sounding."
"It's been three weeks and I was ready to quit on the first because of him," Hunter admitted.
The man laughed, "yeah, try living with him for 18 years."
Hunters eyes widened in shock. "What?" The man laughed at the blondes face, "is that a surprise to you? That sweet old me is the son of everyone's least favorite drill Sargent."
"Yeah, just a little bit," Hunter confirmed, looking over at him. Hunter stretched her hand out, "Hunter Callahan."
"Lane Dunn," he introduced himself, firmly gripping her hand, "USMC field medic."
"Ahh, admirable," Hunter pointed out, before looking down and herself and gesturing, "aspiring long distance marksman—"
"You know, just saying 'sniper' sounds cooler," he smirked, taking away the girls moment.
Hunter rolled her eyes, "maybe I'm just trying to impress you with fancy words."
"Oh? Really?" He smirked, shifting to look closer at her, "color me impressed."
"Good."
"And is the pretty lady impressed with me? I can perform a field surgery on DeBloke if it would help," he joked back.
"Oh, your MOS ain't what's got me impressed," she continued the joke, looking over at the youngest Dunn on the base.
They both knew the flirting was harmless, chances were after lane left she wouldn't see him again. She guessed he was just visiting his father but a little bit of entertainment never hurt anybody.
"Well I still got a week before I leave, if you want to give me the chance to impress you some more."
2010. Helmand Providence, Afghanistan.
Camp Dwyer.
"Welcome to the 8113," Captain Issac Holloway told her, walking her to the barracks and entering inside, "this is your spotter, Andrew Kirk."
Hunter already didn't like him. She could tell from the smirk on his face and the attitude he carried in his walk that he was full of shit. But she shook his hand and introduced herself nevertheless. Besides, there was no chance in hell an older man would be okay with a younger woman moving in and becoming the top sniper— that was a bad accident waiting to happen. No one wanted to be a spotter, everyone wanted to be the one behind the long gun.
"Meet me in the command tent in an hour, Callahan," he told her firmly before leaving.
"Yes sir," she called out after him. Kirk and Callahan stared each other down. This was her first tour but she still knew not to trust him. Instead of getting to know him, Hunter placed her bag on a bunk before walking back out.
"Hey," she heard as her shoulder ran into someone, "I gotcha."
She felt herself being steadied as she looked up and saw the ever familiar face. "Dunn, right?"
"Well, I'll be damned, Callahan," he smirked, standing up straight, "welcome to Dwyer."
"Thanks, I'm glad to be here—"
"Oh, come on you don't have to lie," lane laughed, "Camp Dwyer is everyone's last choice."
Hunter cocked an eyebrow and smirked at the man, "oh, I never said it was the location I was happy with."
"Hasn't anyone ever told you not to flirt with your superiors?"
"I tend not to listen to rules," Hunter retorted, looking the man up and down. He was clad in the same green uniform but in her mind, he wore it much better. She would see the edges of his sleeve of tattoos peaking out from underneath his cuff.
Lane laughed lightly, "I guess it's my lucky day then. Want me to show you around?"
"Well, someone's gotta— and I'd prefer if it wasn't Kirk."
2014. Tarinkot, Afghanistan
"Oh, Hunter Quinn, my lovely lady," a voice called in a sing-song fashion, causing Hunter to stop in her track and spin around to face the familiar voice with a smile.
Lane and Hunter were both clad in their matching desert tanned cammies as they walked back to their armored vehicles. The woman furrowed her eyebrows as she saw Lane's arm tucked behind his back.
The Callahan slung her rifle over the back of her shoulder as she gave the Dunn her full attention. "For my pretty girl," he said with a smirk as he brought his arm out from behind his back. Hunter let a grin take over her face as she looked at the sunflowers in his hands. Sweetest of the sunflowers, how you're the sun to me— she recalled his words she had heard before countless times.
Captain Holloway patted Lane on the back with a smile as some of the other Marines hooted at the two. Hunter rolled her eyes at Isaac before asking lane, "how the hell did you manage to get-"
"Never ask a magician his secrets," he mumbled with a smile as he brought his lips to hers. Hunter giggled lightly and shook her head at his antics with a slight blush on her cheeks. It was hard to tell the blush apart from her already sun reddened cheeks but it was still noticeable. Hunter took the flowers from his hands and wrapped her arms around him as she felt herself being lifted off of the ground.
"What is this all about?" She had asked, using a hand to brush baby hairs out of her face, the Afghanistan atmosphere too hot for gel to be used on her low bun.
"Oh, darlin, can't I just be in a good mood?" He asked with a sly smirk.
"Normal people, yes. You? No-"
"Hunter Quinn," he fake gasped, "you hurt me."
Hunter rolled her eyes but her smile never left her face. He had always called her that, of course it only because after he had incidentally found out her full name and insisted on calling her nothing else. Not that she minded, it was a subtle sign of affection that she grew to love.
The rest of their unit was still walking towards where they had left their vehicular but the couple stayed slightly behind.
"I have a question for you, very important," Lane stated while pretending to think, "I'm in dire need of an answer."
"Oh god-" the blond man always favored his theatrics, loving a good dramatic build up along with his stellar jokes that never failed to lift up a mood.
"Shut up and let me do this, okay?" He deadpanned, turning serious for a moment as he looked ahead at his girlfriend of over five years.
"Okay," Hunter sighed with a shake of her head, finally agreeing to listen to him.
"Now," lane started as he wrapped his arms around the blonde and turned her to face the skyline, "isn't it crazy how in the middle of a war, something so messy can still manage to seem so beautiful?" He asked rhetorically.
Hunter nodded in agreement. The sky always fascinating to her, and Lane knew that. Hunter felt the strong hold of Lane drift away but she didn't turn around, her eyes remained focused on the soft tan and brown dunes of Afghanistan.
"Maybe we can be that beautiful too?"
The words from Lane echoed loosely in Hunter's ears as she spun to face her boyfriend, preparing a response. The possible words she could have spoken faded as she saw the blond man.
There Lane was, in all his glory. His soft curls sat on his forehead, plastered there by light amounts of sweat. One knee sat firmly in the sandy ground as he held up a silver banded ring.
"That is, only if you would like and help me with that," he said before cheekily continuing, "personally, i think the two of us standing at an alter in Texas would be pretty beautiful-"
"Well, I think we might just have to try that," Hunter managed to get out once she had gotten her jaw to properly close again. A smile was firm on her face.
"Hunter Quinn, is that you're way of saying you'll marry me?"
"Of course I will," she said, grabbing the arms of Lane and pulling him up to his full height, the sunflowers still sat in the grasp of her right hand as Lane took her left, "I wouldn't dream of anything else."
Hunter watched as he slid the ring onto her finger. She would later come to find out he had acquired that ring outside of Kandahar after saving a woman's life. Her husband was grateful enough to offer him a favor. Luckily for Lane, the man turned out to be a jeweler, or for better words, a silversmith.
The small diamond that securely on the thin silver band was more beautiful than anything Hunter could have asked for. Lane knew her too well, that much was clear. Hunter quickly let her free hand grab the back of his neck and bring him down for a kiss.
"I love you so fuckin' much, Hunter Quinn," Lane said as he rested his forehead against hers, both of their eyes then drifting off to look at the sunset. Even in the middle of a war ridden land, they managed to be beautiful.