Jason Mercer realizes Joe Hunter has both injured him and saved him when Hunter tackles him out of the path of a shotgun blast. Hurt and badly shaken, Mercer crawls under the porch for cover because his trembling hand and unstable vision make him almost incapable of shooting accurately. From there, Mercer listens to Hunter exchanging fire with the gunman near the garage while a vehicle arrives and brings more attackers.

The fight quickly grows worse. Assault rifles join the shotgun fire, and Mercer hears a pistol from farther away, which tells him Jared Rink is still alive and fighting. Inside and around the house, Hunter keeps moving and firing, apparently trying to close with the shotgun-wielding attacker. Glass shatters, doors are forced, and the battle shifts into the house itself.

Mercer then hears the shotgun firing from inside the house and realizes Hunter must have taken it from an enemy. That small advantage does not last, because the newly arrived gunmen rake the house with rifle fire. Even under the porch Mercer is endangered by bullets punching through the boards, and he can only wait while trying to steady himself enough to help.

When the rifle fire stops, Mercer sees a gunman jump onto the deck and begin communicating quietly, apparently coordinating a trap with someone else. The man ends up directly above Mercer while another attacker moves against Hunter inside. Hunter blasts one intruder, and as the man on the porch leans to fire into the house, Mercer finally gets a clear chance.

At point-blank range, Mercer fires upward through the porch into the gunman's legs and groin, crippling him. Hunter immediately finishes the attacker, and Mercer feels briefly useful after being forced to hide. The moment is cut short when a grenade explodes nearby, almost deafening Mercer and collapsing part of the wall behind him so that boards crash down onto him.