Redemption ||Bucky Barnes||

28. Compromised

Eerie silence. Pain. Faint heat.

I'm lying face first in the rain, on the ground. Whatever noises I hear sound like they're at the other end of a tunnel, they're so muffled. I blink slowly, feeling time slow down with me. I'm dazed, I can't gather my bearings quick enough.

Fortunately, while I'm temporarily taken out of action, someone else has his head on.

Bucky pulls me to my feet, firing behind us. The gunfire is faint in my buzzing ears. I quickly jump down to snatch the gun that had fallen out of my hand when the explosion hit. I'm pulled alongside Bucky into the woods once he grabs me again, rain dowsing us.

The longer we flee, the more my hearing starts to come back. The shouts are getting louder now, the gunfire too. My lungs are starting to burn, but everything else is numb from the cold. Bucky practically throws me on ahead, I nearly tumble on the land. He returns fire, I don't look back.

I have no idea where the hell I'm going, neither does Bucky. We can't fight Hydra, it's not a wise choice. Though both of us would definitely love to turn around and stand against them, now isn't the time.

Trees take the bullets for us, and I begin to think this is a smart decision. The ground has become slick, and our vision is blurred thanks to the rain that for some reason won't let up. At least we're not in a storm, just a shower.

I push myself off trees to keep my momentum consistent. We've got to lose them. I twist around long enough to fire a couple of bullets. Of course, I only hit air instead of bodies.

"Watch, Danielle!" Bucky shouts.

I turn around only to slam my shoulder—my recently healed shoulder—into rough bark. I cry out and lose my footing for a second. Tears are being held back, I don't need anything else screwing up my vision.

I'm surprised I haven't collapsed yet. I must have a lot of stamina. Is that from Hydra training or S.H.I.E.L.D.? I think Hydra, as I didn't run around the Helicarrier during training. My legs are whimpering. I turn around to fire another two bullets.

My breathing and my gait aren't synchronizing, they're off beat with each other. One's faster, one's slower. I know Bucky is right behind me, I hear his heavy feet pounding after me, hear him fire at our pursuers.

I wonder if this is how S.H.I.E.L.D. felt in that ambush a while back. Like they had no choice.

Out of nowhere, Bucky pulls me to the right, nearly dislocating my shoulder in the process. My feet tangle themselves and I go down, Bucky lets go. I grit my teeth, pushing myself up as quickly as I can. Hydra agents shout orders behind us.

I don't want to know how close or how far they are, I just want to know that I'm not in their hands right now.

We weave through the trees. The familiar sound of rushing water is just up ahead. For some reason, it pulls me towards it, the sound. It pulls Bucky in too, like we're hypnotized by it. The ground rises under our feet and we both stop at the cliff's edge.

We both look around, hear Hydra agents shouting over the rain again. Loud whirring makes me look up to the skies. Through the dark clouds and sheets of rain, a helicopter is flying overhead. My heart drops into my feet.

I know that's not S.H.I.E.L.D. coming to bail us out.

The spotlight puts the beacon on us. I realize the gunfire on the ground has stopped. They must see that we've stopped. My eyes don't tear away from the chopper above. Will they shoot at us? In a way, we're cornered. Hydra behind us, Hydra in the sky. Who's to say they don't have people in the water?