With everyone on task, we moved as one large team. We have a little bit of cover from the furnaces and chimneys towering above us, but I don't know how much I believe in there structural integrity. My only thought is that if they have survived all of the shelling's so far, I'm hoping they will hold up for one more day while we start to move these people out of here. As we got closer to where we believe the bunker is, our team started to break off into our groups.

I slung my rifle around my back so I could start to move the ruble out of the way. Morgan stayed close by my side and we ended up working together to clear through some of the debris to try and find an entry point. It took an hour of moving rock and steel before someone finally radioed out to everyone.

"JACKPOT!" Yelled someone on Alpha team.

"Moving in!" I responded and Morgan and I made our way over to where they were working.

The teams gathered around and found that there is one large slab of concrete covering an access door. We all looked around at each other before I took my rifle off my shoulder and took a corner of the massive slab. Almost everyone else followed my lead and on the count of three, we all pushed. The slab was slow to move but I put everything I had left in me in pushing this thing. This was it, the last thing from us getting inside. With one final push, we were able to get it off the door.

I hit the floor once we were done pushing and everyone needed a few seconds of rest before we even tried to move again. I think I blacked out at one point because one second I was kneeling just over the slab and the next I was on my back looking at the sky as Morgan and Cosima were yelling in Ukrainian through the door to try and get anyone's attention inside. Just as I started to right myself Emmett came over to me and held out half a bottle of something.

"Do I want to know what's in here?" I asked looking at the neon green color of it.

"No, just drink it, it will help pick you up." Emmett said and left me to help someone else out as I started to drink.

Once the concoction was down my throat, I took another second before standing and taking my rifle again before walking over to Morgan and Cosima.

"What's going on?" I asked them.

"They are moving things away from the door, when the slab came down, it pushed the door in and now they can't get it open. Monica was going to blow it open." Morgan said.

"We have enough explosives to get through that door?" I asked.

"Yea, Monica and Akito are getting rigging it up now." Morgan said just as Monica walked over with Akito holding a strip of explosives.

"Alright, lets clear the area and let them work, make sure nobody is near the door when it goes off." I said.

Morgan and Cosima both nodded at me before I started to make sure everyone was behind cover. While they were still working I radioed Bravo team to let them know what we were about to do and to make sure the coast was clear. After I got confirmation that everything was still, Morgan and Cosima took cover with me. Monica and Akito weren't far behind them, holding the trigger.

Once they got behind another bolder, Monica flipped the switch and we heard the bang of the C-4 going off. A few seconds later we heard another clang of metal hitting the ground and I turned to peak my head over the concrete I took cover behind. Smoke was billowing out from where the door was and I slowly started to stand. Monica and Akito were up first and they waved us in once they check it out to make sure the explosives worked correctly.

Morgan, Cosima and Beth were all up front with Rob and I following closely behind them. Beth carefully dropped herself down into the hole first with Cosima following her. I had to let Morgan go first before I could follow in after her. When Rob dropped inside after me I turned my flashlight on on my rifle and looked around.

The first thing I noticed was the stale air. Everything was musty and dark as we started to move inside. Beth and Morgan led us down the hall, both of them calling out for the people they were talking to before we blew the door in. Two men came out from behind a corner and I had to hold in my flinch to raise my weapon.

"They said that there are people spread out on three levels of the bunker and he has a map we can use. Some are in need of medical attention, others just need food. We've explained that we are here to prepare them to move out when the army rolls in. Ivan and Denys said we can start to help mobilize people, they have already sent word out to everyone in the base to start getting ready to move and get closer to the surface level. The lowest levels of the base just contain the dead." Morgan explained to Rob and I while Cosima and Beth did a lot of talking.

"I'm going to brief the team, Rob, don't let them out of your sight please." I said.

"Yes ma'am." Rob said and started to walk forward with Morgan to speak with the group.

I jogged back to the entry way and looked up to find Ryan sitting on the ledge of the hole waiting for us. I held my hand up and Ryan and another Alpha team guy pulled me up and out of the bunker.

"Alright I don't know if our radios will work underground so here is what is going on." I said before relaying all the information to them and over the walkie so Bravo team is in the know.

Right now Emmett and Cosima are going to triage the injured while the rest of us work on getting everyone else ready to move. Leo and Micah are going to stay surface level by the entrance to be the bridge to the outside world if things go wrong. They are also going to put together steps or a ladder to make it easier for people to get out of the bunker. With the plan set, everyone started to move.

I was the first one down in the bunker with Ryan right on my heals. He handed me a handful of glow sticks and I knew he wanted me to use them to mark a path out of here incase things go bad. He started to crack them and drop them every couple of minutes as we walked through the maze of underground tunnels. It took us another five minutes to find where Morgan and Rob disappeared too. They were still with Ivan and Denys talking while Cosima and Beth were nowhere in sight. I tried not to let my anxiety get to me as we all started to move through the tunnels to get everyone ready to move.

The deeper and deeper we went into the tunnels the more the smell of death sat on me. All of the civilians were staring as we made our way through the tunnels. Morgan put her rifle on her back as she gathered around groups of civilians. She explained what was going on to them and I started to pick up some words from her the more she repeated them. I watched her work and connect with them, her face clear and eyes conveying the truth in her words, wanting them to believe that we are here to get them out.

Finally it started to sink in when Ivan and Denys walked through the halls repeating what Morgan was saying. Together we helped everyone pack up some of the few belongs they still had with them. As I was helping a mother and her two toddlers with there bags, I heard rushed footsteps and I looked up to find Akito running down the hall.

"Staff Segreant!" He yelled and I quickly handed everything I was doing off to Morgan to take over to meet him.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Emmett and Cosima need some help." Akito said looking worried.

"Lieutenant you good here?" I asked ready to run.

"Yea, I'm fine go." Morgan answered and nodded at me.

Akito didn't waste any time as he took off running in the other direction. We turned down a few hallways before I had to pull my neck gaiter back up over my noise and mouth. The smell of death and decay was worse here then anywhere else in the bunker so far. As we rounded one final corner, Akito slowed to a stop and pointed to Emmett and Cosima who looked like they were in a heated argument. I pushed past Akito and got over to them quickly and pulled them apart from each other.

"What's going on?" I asked the both of them.

"There's too many" Emmett said looking grave.

"We have to try!" Cosima responded with fire in her voice.

"Both of you, one at a time, Emmett report." I asked and pushed Cosima down the hallway a little bit more.

"There are too many civilians and wounded soldiers who need help. We don't have enough supplies to help everyone. I've been trying to make due with what we brought and anything else they have down here but it's not enough. So I've been triaging, helping those with the greatest outcome to survive." Emmett said. I took a breath and nodded.

"Stay here, don't say anything." I said to him before finding Cosima down the hallway.

"Let me hear it Cos." I said and watched as she turned around to face me. Tears were streaming down her face and I swallowed hard before I watched her slide down the wall. I knelt down next to her and put my hand on her knee.

"These are my people, I can't just watch him selectively help. We are here to get them out and home. We need to help them all Daniella." Cosima pleaded.

"I know, all you want to do is help them all but we don't have the resources to right now Cosima. When the army gets here we will rush those who are the worst off first for medical attention. But unfortunately there are some who are too far gone to save." I said as Marta's face flashed through my brain.

"You made us all bring our own extensive med kits, I can use them to help more." Cosima said and I had to clench my jaw.

"No, what happens if something were to go wrong to one of us and we needed those med kits? Those are always reserved for us. Right now I want you to take a minute to collect yourself before going back to helping Emmett, if it's too much please tell me and I can switch you out Beth." I said not wanting to put her through this if she can't handle it.

"My training is here, I'll stay." Cosima said after a minute.

"Alright, come find me if you can't continue." I said and started to stand from the floor. When I got vertical again I finally started to feel the exhaustion of the night take over. I put my hand out onto the wall the steady myself. Sleep was calling my name but I couldn't answer yet.

I made sure Emmett was okay before I followed the glow sticks on the floor towards the exit. As I got closer to the exit I could see a lot of the civilians that were down here were starting to make there way towards the exit. There are a lot more then I thought were down here. Easily over a thousand people.

As I got to the exit of the bunker I found Rob talking with Beth and Ivan. When they noticed me I pulled the three of them away from the crowd and stood under the hole. Micah and Leo were waiting for us and flashed me a smile.

"How're we looking?" I asked them.

"Clear for now, the sun is going to come up soon." Leo said holding tightly onto his rifle.

"Beth can you ask Ivan if there are any soldiers who would be willing to help guard the civilians once the army gets here and see what if any fire power they have left." I asked.

While Ivan does know some English, it was easier to have Beth just translate it to him. Beth and Ivan started speaking again while I took a few deep breath of cool air from the surface. It took another few minutes before Beth turned back to me.

"Most of the able bodied soldiers are going to be willing fight, they just don't have much in terms of ammunition and body armor." Beth said.

"Boss, are you hearing that?" Leo asked and stood from his position.

I climbed up the steps Leo and Micah put together and pulled my headset off my ears. It sounded like trucks, a lot of them. I changed channels on my walkie and pulled one ear of my headset back over my ear as I clicked on my radio.

"Blue Team this is Gold One, come in." I said. Blue team is the code name I gave to the Ukrainian special forces team who were waiting outside of the plant.

"This is Blue Team, Gold One the army is here, they started to roll into the plant a few minutes ago. I pointed them in your direction. They also have air support that will be in bound shortly to remove those who need medical attention right away." Their leader said.

"Good copy Blue Team, we are waiting for them." I said and switched channels again to go back to the channel we have been using for all teams to here.

"Gold One to all teams, the army is here, Bravo team, look alive, no friendly fire, please stay in position for now and focus on the sea." I said.

"Bravo One, good copy." Raymond said and I sagged in relief a bit.

Finally, after two months of work here, our mission is almost at the end. We are in the home stretch. Only a few more hours. I can do this. Things moved quickly once we got word the army as inbound. I pulled the Ukrainian flag from my backpack and held it tightly in my hand as I relayed the information down to the people in the bunker. Once I had eyes on things we will start to get everyone out of the bunkers and onto trucks to move out. I pulled Morgan out of the bunker so she could speak with the army once they got here.

We stayed hidden for a bit until we got a good look at the trucks inbound. All of them have blue tape, Ukrainian flags and NATO insignia stuck to them. That's when I walked out from behind our cover holding the flag and waved it around a few times to catch there attention. Once I had it, I used a zip tie to secure the flag to piece of metal not far from the entrance into the bunker.

Morgan and I greeted the commander in charge of the convoy and went over the run down of what was waiting for them inside the bunker. I did ask that a group of soldiers go pick up the Russian soldiers from where I left them incapacitated earlier in the night because they are most likely going to be waking up soon. The conversation was mostly in Ukrainian with some English broken in the middle to keep me in the loop of everything that was said.

The plan was made to start to move anybody that was able to walk on there own to the large trucks. It was going to be a long drive out of Mariupol to Poland. They were going to take the route that we originally came in on and I couldn't be happier to hear that they are going to be driving through the night to get out of here as quickly as possible.

The process of getting everyone out of the bunker was extremely time consuming. The longer it took to get everyone out, the bigger of a chance we could get caught by the Russian troops, whenever they return from there supply run. Once those who were able to be moved were loaded onto the trucks, we started to help those who needed medical attention. Emmett and Cosima led that charge and with the help of the NATO forces they were able to give more help to those who they didn't think were going to make it.

A buzzing from above came as we started to load those onto the trucks. When I looked up I could see three helicopters were inbound, flying low so they wouldn't be picked up by radar. The three birds landed a little ways away from us and a few soldiers popped out. Cosima told me they were here to take any that were in serious need of medical attention. Gold Team helped Cosima and Emmett make those selections fairly quickly and got them all loaded up. Once they were on board, the birds were back in the air and took off. All together, I think they were only on the ground for fifteen minutes total.

After the helicopters took off and were out of sight, the last of the civilians were put onto trucks. Ivan and Denys looked emotional as they were the last ones out of the bunker arm in arm. They took a few moments to look around before they took the flag I hung up off the pole with them and draped it across there shoulders. I couldn't help but take a picture of the two of them walking towards the convoy to get onto a waiting truck. Before I could call command and tell them we were about to start making our exit with the convoy, the commander of the convoy pulled me aside and insisted I get in a few pictures with them. He gave me a few patches of the units that are with him and I was able to give him a patch of our own before Ryan came over with a few from his own unit. Just as I was able to put all of them into one of the empty pockets of my pants, the radio cackled to life.

"All stations, this is Bravo team. We have movement from the water." Raymond said and the peace was shattered.

"What you seeing Bravo team?" I asked as I started to gear back up before walking back over to the commander of the convoy.

"At least fifty to a hundred army troops coming in on trucks and tanks. Correction, they aren't coming from the water, they are coming from due east." Raymond said.

"Collapse back to our position now. We aren't going to be able to outrun them with this convoy it's to large. Commander, I'm going to need a few of your weapons." I said coming up with a plan quickly.

The commander gave me anything I needed and I forced him to leave us behind to start there way out of the plant and out of the country. He did not want to leave, he kept trying to get a few of his soldiers together to stay but I order them to go. The more time we spent arguing the closer the Russians were getting. We are going to need to hold off the troops for as long as we can before we can make our way out of here. Bravo team got to us quickly as I started to pull the team together. Raymond gave us the last of the details he saw before they pulled out and I quickly made a plan in my head.

Monica and Akito took off to plant the remaining C-4 they hand on them. Next came the RPG and Stinger launcher system. Felix and Lionel each took one with my instructions of when to fire them while the rest of us got into position. I'm hoping that we could get all of them into the open field while we hid in the few buildings left standing to pick off any that survived. The commander of the convoy left us a few trucks towards the entrance of the plant for us to make an escape once we got enough separation from the Russians. From there we would ditch those trucks at the entrance to the plant and blow them up to form a blockade and stall them even farther to allow us the time to get into our trucks that were waiting for us back at the alamo.

Monica and Akito didn't have long to get the explosives rigged up but once they did, they ran like hell for cover as the Russians were closing in on there position. I wanted to wait until most of them were in the blast zone. I knew I wouldn't be able to get them all at once, so I made the decision to take out the rear of the group so we wouldn't have to worry about them later on. The group that remained in front would be easier for us to track and take out once the back half was gone because they would be right in the middle of the open field.

So we had to sit and wait. The group was moving at a good speed so it didn't take long before I gave the order to blow the C-4. Once they explosion went off the whole group of Russians were thrown off balance. Felix and Lionel next went to work on blasting the remaining tanks and artillery trucks. The secondary explosions from them was larger then the first one. Most of the remaining Russian soldiers were cooked in the blast of all the rockets exploding.

Once the dust settled from the blasts I stood from my position to take in the scene. The last of those alive got up slowly and tried to regroup by firing in the direction the rockets came from. But that's when we went to work. Felix and Lionel were long gone from the roof after taking those shots and the rest of us were able to take down the soldiers that were left alive.

There were some more skilled then others as we continued to take them out. A bunch of bullets whizzed past us as I changed positions a few times. As I took a knee behind cover to reload my rifle, I heard someone groan out in pain. I turned my head to look around me and I found Morgan down on the floor grabbing her shoulder. Quickly I rushed over to her and pulled her hand away so I could get a look.

"You got hit in the shoulder stay down." I said and put pressure on the bleeding wound trying to remain calm as I called for Emmett to help her. Both Emmett and Cosima were on the other side of the building and I knew it would take a few minutes for them to get to us.

"I feel like I shouldn't have yelled at you as much when the bullet hit your plate. A bullet going through my flesh definitely hurts more." Morgan said and I couldn't help but chuckle at the joke.

"You're right, bullets actually going through your body hurt more then just getting lodged in a steel plate resting on your chest. You have an exit wound which is good. Emmett will be able to stitch you right up and you'll be as good as new in no time." I said and tried to ignore my growing panic as more blood seeped out of the wound onto my hands.

"RPG! DANIELLA GET DOWN!" I heard someone yell from behind me. I turned just in time to see the rocket incoming but I knew I didn't have enough time to move out of the way. So I did the only thing I could. I turned back to look at a scared Morgan and I pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"I love you" I whispered to her and used my body to shield hers.

I heard the impact of the rocket hitting something solid off to my right first. Next came the blast wave from the explosion that pushed me into the air off of Morgan. Then came the burn of metal tearing through my skin and the hardest impact against what I thought was a support beam. The air left my lungs quickly as only seconds after hitting the beam everything went back.

a/n: song on the side is In Your Arms by Illenium, it's a much better song for this chapter then the original one I had on here.