The two survivors of the four Americans kidnapped in Mexico last month by a drug cartel are now speaking publicly about their ordeal.

On March 3, four friends – LaTavia Washington McGee, Eric Williams, Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown – who drove from South Carolina crossed the US-Mexico border on their way to a medical appointment in Matamoros, Mexico.

U.S. officials believe that they were mistaken for Haitian drug smugglers when Gulf Cartel gang members attacked them, ultimately killing Woodard and Brown.

“They didn’t deserve that. None of us deserved it. But we’re alive – we have a lot of recovering to do,” Washington McGee told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Tuesday (April 11) in an exclusive interview.

The gunmen shot Woodard and Brown when they jumped out the vehicle and ran, said Williams, who was also shot in both legs when he tried to run from the gangsters. A video widely circulated on social media showed the moment when the four Americans were forced onto the bed of a pickup truck.

While the abductors transported them, Woodard and Brown were still alive. The kidnappers took them to someplace for interrogation. “That’s where Shaeed said, ‘I love y’all, and I’m gone.’ And he died right there,” Williams said.

Over the course of several days, the cartel members transported them blindfolded to different locations. Williams was taken to a clinic during that time where his legs were hastily patched up just enough to keep him alive.

Washington McGee recalled being placed in a room with Brown who was seriously wounded.

“He was fighting for his life and they didn’t do nothing [sic]. I talked to him the whole time … I just told him sorry because I asked him to come with me,” she said. “He was like, ‘It’s okay. I’m your brother. I’m supposed to be there for you. I love you.’”

Washington McGee said the kidnappers knew that the authorities were hunting for them. The gangsters listened to police scanners, seemingly always one step ahead of the multiple law enforcement agencies searching for them.

As the kidnapping quickly became a global news story, a man entered the dark room where the victims were held.

“He was like, ‘There’s nothing that we can do to bring your two brothers back. But we’re sorry. Somebody made the wrong call. They was [sic] high and drunk,’” Washington McGee recalled the man saying.

The ordeal finally came to an end on March 7 when they were rescued from a wooden shack and brought back to the United States.

ABC News reported that Mexican officials charged at least five Gulf Cartel members with aggravated kidnapping and murder on March 10. They were found tied up near a pickup truck with a handwritten apology note tucked under the windshield.

"We have decided to deliver those involved and directly responsible," the note said, according to ABC News.