Survive - Arrow Fanfiction

Chapter Thirteen

It's only a day later when he can't control the chills and the fever that sets in thanks to an infection. Olivia isn't the smartest girl around, but she knows this is bad despite Slade's constant reassurances that he's fine. It takes hours for her to convince him to let her see his wound, though she's sure that it's only because he's too set in his fever to fight her anymore on the matter. It takes all of her self control not to pull a disgusted face at the sight.

"What do you miss the most?" she asks, hoping to distract him.

Slade grunts, but otherwise he remains silent.

"Of course, you miss your son. But me? I miss toothpaste. Do you know how long it's been since I brushed my teeth? No wonder you didn't want to kiss me."

A pained noise comes from his throat. Olivia swallows tightly and busies herself with getting him water. She kneels by his makeshift bed and gently lifts his head high enough to let him drink. "You need to stay hydrated," she says gently, pushing his hair away from his head. Slade groans at the contact and leans into her touch, relishing at the feeling of her cold hands. "Drink some more," Olivia insists, but Slade turns his head away and spits out the water.

"Seriously?"

"Staying hydrated isn't my problem," Slade snaps. "My problem is getting a bullet dug out of my shoulder with a dull blade and now it's infected."

Olivia bites her lip and wills herself not to argue back. She understands it must be hard for a strong, able man such as Slade Wilson to accept help let alone need it, and seeing him so vulnerable has scared her in a way that Fyers never could.

She swallows back the panic bubbling in the pit of her belly. "Slade, you're getting worse. Soon-"

"I'm fine."

"No you're not." She pauses. "Listen, Yao Fei had these magic herbs. There's probably still some left back in the cave. I can-"

"No."

"If I don't go you will die," she snaps, finally losing patience with him. "Just this once will you please let me help you." She's met with his stubborn silence. She almost winces at the memory of his wound weeping blood and puss.

Fuck him and his pride.

"This isn't going to go away and I need to stop it before it spreads. They heal anything. I'm going."

"Don't go risking yourself for me kid."

Olivia clenches her jaw and wills her tears away. "And I can't let you die," she says softly.

"Olivia," he groans. He struggles to sit up but Olivia pushes him down with gentle hands.

"I'm not sorry," she whispers, smoothing his growing hair away from his hot skin and pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead. Olivia tears herself away from him and opens the weapon chest.

"I'll be fine in a few days," Slade insists weakly.

"I won't take that chance. I can't lose you," Olivia replies quietly.

She leaves without looking back, ignoring him as he calls weakly after her.

--

She doesn't stop running until she gets to the cave, and it's with a relieved breath that she finds the pouch of herbs exactly where Yao Fei left it. A rustling comes from behind her, and in a move so fast that Slade would be proud of her, Olivia stands and whirls around with her gun pointed at the intruder.

"Help me!" he cries weakly. "Please!"

Without lowering her gun, Olivia lets out a shaky breath. She doesn't have time for this shit. Slade needs her. Her eyes linger on his badly beaten face, and she feels a touch of sympathy for the man. "Who are you?" she demands.

"My-my name is Alan. I'm a student and I was on a fishing trip with my class, and the boat caught fire - some mechanical malfunction or something I don't know!"

"When?" Olivia barks.

"A few days ago-"

"Then where is everyone else? Your class, the crew?"

"I don't know!" he cries. "Maybe I'm the only survivor. I-I thought that I was going to die! I managed to get to shore and I thought that I was lucky when these men found me-"

"Soldiers?"

"Yes," he cries miserably. "They did this to me! They had masks on and they attacked me! They beat me and then left me here," he sobs, doubling over in pain. Olivia lowers her gun. "Please, you have to help me. They could come back at any minute and kill us both."

"Where did they go?" she demands coldly. "They wouldn't just leave you here."

"I-I don't know! They got a call on the radio about another incident on the island. Please you have to believe me!" he cries hysterically.

Weeks ago she would not have hesitated to cut this stranger free and lead him back to the fuselage without a second thought other than what a good person she is for helping someone. Slade would have torn her a new one, but that was worth a man's life.

But now, after months of attacks and the memory of a bullet tearing through Slade's body fresh in her mind, she can't trust a thing that this man says. He's a stranger, and if all he has said is true, then at best he is a liability.

A liability that she can't afford to take care of.

But as she looks at this beaten, whimpering man, she can see herself in him, begging Slade not to kill her.

Slade gave her a chance, and perhaps she should give this man one too.

With an aggravated sigh, Olivia crouches down and presses the blade of her knife to the ropes binding the man's shaking hands. She looks up and says, "I'll cut you loose, but after that you're on your own."

But then she looks, really looks, and she lets out a disbelieving laugh.

Tilting her head to one side, Olivia breathes out, "I know you"

The man flinches away from her. "What?"

"I know you," she says louder, her voice turning to steel as she looks deep into this cowards eyes. "You're one of them."

The man pales slightly under his busted up face. "I don't-"

"You're one of Fyer's men. I saw you that day when he tried to-" Olivia swallows tightly. "You stood there and did nothing." Olivia presses the tip of the blade against his neck, smiling cruelly as blood trickles down his skin. "Tell me, if Slade hadn't come for me, would you have raped me after Wintergreen was done with me? Would you have held me down and had your fill of me too?"

The man, Alan, balks. "N-No! I'm a student! I am not one of them, look at what they've done to me! Do you think that I'm some sort of trap? What kind of person are you?!"

"What kind of person lines up to watch a woman get smacked around? What kind of man stands with his buddies, waiting for the moment he gets to force himself on a woman? You make me sick!" Olivia stands, tightening her grip on her gun and presses the barrel to the man's head. "You're lucky that I don't have time to give you the painful death that you deserve."

Something changes in Alan's eyes. "No. Wait! Please-"

Olivia pulls the trigger, flinching away as the lifeless body drops at her feet. Her stomach twists as she meets his lifeless eyes.

"No," she breathes, horror overcoming her as it dawns on her that she executed an unarmed man.

It was the right thing to do. She had no choice-

At least that's what she tries to tell herself.

What has she become?

A sob erupts from her as she backs away with shaking legs and promptly falls to her knees and vomits.