She Outshines Them All (Athena and Matthew)

Chapter 421 Brandon answered the call and an indistinguishable voice rang out. "There are explosives buried in the pile of concrete under Zayn's feet. If you don't want Zayn to die, tell him to leave immediately." With that, the person on the other end hung up. Brandon broke out in a cold sweat and wondered who the other party was, how the person knew so much, and if the person was credible. 'Can this person be trusted?' he thought. However, whether he believed it or not, he couldn't leave Zayn's life to chance.

Therefore, he shouted, "Zayn, there might be explosives under your feet," and rushed over at full speed to the ten-foot-tall concrete pile. He tugged Zayn to get off it.

Brandon ran very fast, but Zayn's feet were injured and he couldn't run as smoothly as Brandon. Just like that, the two people, who weren't synchronized in speed and strength, fell to the ground and rolled.

"Boom!" Right when they got to the ground, a deafening explosion thumped. Brandon instinctively flipped over to protect Zayn's body with his. The pile of construction waste exploded, sending rubble and broken iron flying everywhere. Brandon felt an intense pain in his back and legs. He knew that he had been hit by flying shrapnel. The impact from the explosion pushed his body, and that made him roll down from Zayn's body and then down the slope.

The intense pain was the only thing he felt. He couldn't even open his eyes. He could only faintly hear shoutings coming from all directions. "The Jackal have appeared. Everyone, stay on your toes!" "Bang! Bang! Bang!" Gunshots were fired very shortly after that.

Brandon rolled into the river and the icy water woke him up instantly. He gulped a few mouthfuls of it. He struggled with all his might, trying to swim to the bank, but he was seriously injured and couldn't move his feet at all.

He wanted to call for help, but he choked on the water. His mouth and nose were in grating pain, making him unable to make a sound. His consciousness was rapidly fading away.

He couldn't help but think to himself, 'Am I really going to die here tonight? 'If I die, so be it." He sighed inwardly. "At least I helped Zayn once before I died. It's not a loss. It's just that I won't be able to eat home-cooked food anymore. Now, that's sad." Just as Brandon's head sank into the water, a powerful force clamped his body and dragged him upward. His head broke the surface and fresh, cool air rushed into his nostrils, and he started breathing instinctively.

Then, this force dragged him through the water. Brandon's head was in a muddle, and he couldn't think. He only knew that he had been saved. It felt like a whirl, and as if twas distorted.

Slowly, he felt his body getting out of the water and being dragged ashore. Then, he was placed on the ground. His body was hurting from the uneven ground.

Brandon slowly opened his eyes and saw that the person beside him had turned on the flashlight. To his surprise, it was Nicolette. 'Did she save me?' he wondered.

The first thing that cto his mind was that he was extremely lucky to be saved. Nicolette examined his external injuries and nodded. "You're fine for the tbeing. Rest first." Then, she took out her combat radio. "Any updates on Zayn and Jackal?" "Zayn's fine, but he's not in a good condition. Jackal has been terminated." "General Trevor, what's your location?" Nicolette replied, "I'm on the other side of Wyo River. I'm injured but it's nothing serious. Zayn's brother, Brandon, is with me. He's seriously injured but he's in a stable condition. I'll send you my location. Send a car to pick us up and inform Zayn and Jaden." Then, Nicolette looked around and asked Brandon, "Can you stand up?" Brandon put his hands on the ground and tried to get up for a while. He then shook his head. "Sorry, I can't." Nicolette nodded. "Although it's just a river between us and the other side, there's no bridge connecting the two banks.

"It'll take them stto go around the river to pick us up and will probably take about an hour for them to get here. There's no place to park on the bank. I'll piggyback you to the roadside." Brandon looked at her in surprise. "I'm more than six feet tall and weigh over 170 pounds. Are you sure you can carry me?" After saying that, he realized that he sounded belittling and quickly explained, "I'm not doubting you. It's just that ordinary people won't be able to carry someone like me, right? Besides, you're injured too." Nicolette wasn't affected by the things he said. She just smiled. "Indeed, ordinary people can't carry you, but I'm a professional soldier. My current injuries are nothing." After saying that, she turned around and squatted down with her back facing Brandon. "Hop on." Brandon didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure if he was going to let a woman piggyback him.

Nicolette said, "We're still in a battle. Staying here is wasting precious time.. Also, I'm a soldier and you're an injured civilian. Injured civilians should listen to the instructions of the soldiers under such circumstances. You shouldn't be here tonight if you don't even have this basic awareness." "It's not that. I'm just afraid that you'll get hurt," Brandon explained guiltily. After that, he lay face down on her back and put his arms on her shoulders.

He was really worried that he would crush Nicolette, who didn't look very tall or brawny. However, he immediately understood that he had underestimated this very young female major general.

Nicolette bit the flashlight in her mouth and bent down. She held the back of Brandon's knees and stood up slowly and steadily. Then, she stepped on the dense and prickly weeds and walked upslope step by step. Brandon could see that what Nicolette was carrying wasn't just an injured civilian, but also the heavy responsibility of this battle against the terrorists. She was insanely strong physically and mentally.

From the river to the roadside was a long slope of about a hundred yards. The ground was uneven, and the weeds were dense and grew taller than his waist. It wasn't an easy terrain to walk on, but Nicolette's every step was as stable as an elephant's.

Brandon could see the weeds and thorns scratching her face, leaving thin traces of blood but she didn't frown, not even a bit. At this moment, Brandon was certain that Nicolette earned her stripes as a major general. A strange feeling bloomed in his heart. 'What's is this strange feeling in me? It's not something I'm familiar with. Wait, is this a sense of security?' He tried to analyze what he was feeling in his head.

Brandon's parents and family may have given him ample sense of security when he was very young, but perhaps he had forgotten what that exactly felt like.

After all the hardships his family went through, he decided to play the role of the protector and convinced himself that protecting his family was his duty and responsibility. He was always worried about the possibility of his family getting hurt again. He had never imagined that he would get a sense of security from someone else.

He mumbled in his head, 'No, it might not be a sense of security. A peace of mind, perhaps? Yes, this is the feeling of peace. There's no need to worry too much.'

Brandon stopped feeling frustrated and anxious. His mental state was ΟΠΙ very calm and peaceful Just as he was thinking about this, Nicolette suddenly stopped. "We're here. I'm going to put you down."

He was stunned for a moment after noticing that Nicolette had already carried him to the roadside. Not far away, dim strom Not far Streetlamps were flickering. Further away was a residential area with sporadic lights. "Th-thank you," Brandon stuttered. "Just throwdown. I'm not that fragile." Nicolette nodded, slowly squatted on the ground, and let go of his legs.

Brandon sat on the ground and looked at her. "Are you alright?" Nicolette was wearing a military uniform and bulletproof vest. Even if she was injured, the blood had been washed away by the river. He couldn't tell where her injuries were.

Nicolette coughed a bit before she sat down cross-legged beside Brandon. She raised her wrist to look at the time. "I might have caught a But it should be fine. They should be here in about half an hour. I can take the medicine then." "Well..." Brandon hesitated. "I don't like owing favors. You saved my life, so I hope to repay your kindness. Is there anything I can do for you? Anything." As he spoke, he thought to himself, 'There shouldn't be anything that Nicolette needsto do, right? Should I ask Zayn what she likes?'