Never Safe

Chapter Twenty-Three

You heard voices when you woke up. You weren't sure if they were what had woken you up in the first place, or if credit for that goes to the pounding headache that was bothering you.

You groaned and sleepily opened your eyes. You slowly pushed yourself to sit up.

"She's finally awake."

You looked through tired eyes at the man standing in front of you. He bent down and grinned at you.

"Hello y/n Barnes."

"N-no."

"Oh yes."

"No. No, I mean, no, I- I'm not y/n Barnes."

The man's face dropped.

"I- I'm y/n y/l/n. Y/n Barnes was at my school, b-but she left like, a month ago, to- to live with her dad."

"You're not y/n Barnes?"

"No" you lied.

"You don't have a brother called Bucky?"

"No. I- I have two sisters. They're both younger than me. And my mom- we don't have a dad. I need to help my mom. Please let me go."

He slowly stood up and turned to two other men in the room. "You kidnapped the wrong kid! Are you fucking kidding me!"

"Uh-"

"The fuck is wrong with you!"

"I swear that's her."

"Someone find out who this kid is right now before I kill someone!"

They all left the room, leaving you on your own. You shuffled backwards to lean against the wall behind you. You hugged your knees against your chest and started to cry.

You knew your lie would stall them, but it definitely wouldn't stop them. So you just had to wait.

***

"I think I almost respect you for that."

You looked up at the sound of his voice, and watched him walk towards you. He bent down in front of you.

"You're a filthy little liar."

You turned your head to look away but he suddenly grabbed your face, causing you to wince in pain as his fingers tightly gripped your cheeks.

"Liars... need to be punished" he spat.

He threw your head back; you hit the wall behind you. Your gaze followed him as he stood up.

"What are you gonna do?" As much as you tried to hide it, your voice came out weak and nervous.

"You don't need to know the specifics. Just that it's gonna hurt. A lot."

You slowly shook your head. "Please. Let me go. I wanna go home."

"Well, people don't alway get what they want, do they?"

"Why are you doing this?" you asked quietly. Tearfully.

"You'll understand when you're older" he smiled hatefully for a second, then turned with a straight face to the other men. "Take her."

They marched towards you. You pushed yourself back against the wall, as if it were about to magically give way and create an exit. But there was no escape.

"No, no, no, no" you cried over and over as they grabbed your arms and pulled you to your feet. They dragged you across the floor and out the room, ignoring your desperate sobs. There was nothing you could do.

***

"You must be starving."

He kneeled down opposite you.

"I always forget to feed our guests" he smirked. "Would you like something to eat, y/n?"

You didn't respond. Your eyes focused on the floor beneath his feet. Your eyelids felt heavy, about to close any minute.

"No? You not hungry?" He reached out and brushed his thumb over your bottom lip. He frowned at the red on his finger. "I suppose the taste of blood can make you lose your appetite."

You looked up and faced him. Your eyes narrowed hatefully. You spat at him.

Immediately filled with frustration, he grabbed the back of your head and pushed you face first onto the ground. You already had a headache. That made it ten times worse.

You didn't even try to get up. He kept his hand on your head, holding it on the floor. He bent over you, pushing his knee into your back. Your breaths were unsteady. You accidentally inhaled some dirt, and you began to cough. Your blood spilled into small pools by your mouth.

You watched a pair of footsteps approach. They paused just in front of you. He took something off them.

You were suddenly awake, fully conscious and aware and feeling one hundred percent of the pain he was causing you. He was pressing something into the back of your neck. It was hot, burning into your skin. You couldn't help but scream until he stopped.

You were still crying when he finally moved away from you and stood up.

"That'll teach you to disrespect me. Step out of line again, and I'll make sure you're in pain for a hell of a long time."

You didn't say anything, but he could still hear your sobs. He decided to put an end to that, stamping down once on your head, shutting you up by knocking you out.

He left you lying motionless on the ground.

***

Bucky couldn't help passing out after three days of nonstop searching for you. He had been sat on the couch, worrying about you for a while now, when his eyes slowly fell shut. He was exhausted, but only managed a couple hours of sleep before he was disturbed.

He was awoken by a small crashing sound: Tony had walked into the coffee table and knocked a mug off of it.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"What are you doing creeping around Stark?" Bucky frowned at him.

"Oh, I was coming to find you to tell you something... but you haven't slept in days, you should probably get some more rest."

"What did you need to tell me?"

"Um, well, I think I found her."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"You found her?"

"I think so. We can leave for the Hydra base first thing in the morning-"

"Fuck that! I'm not waiting another goddamn second!"

"Uh huh, okay. Makes sense. We can leave now. Be at the Quinjet in twenty minutes" Tony instructed. Bucky was already walking off before he had finished speaking.