Never Safe

Chapter Thirty-Nine

You were bored from the minute Bucky walked out the door. You didn't want to be on your own, but you didn't want to ruin Bucky's date.

You sat still on the couch. You let your mind wander for a while. It eventually took you back to Hydra. You subconsciously began itching your arms where your cuts where. It made your skin sting, but you ignored it.

There was a noise outside, down on the street. A bang. It made you flinch. Car horns started beeping. You nervously began chewing on your thumbnail.

You'd obviously been on your own before. Many times. It was always fine. But this was different. This time you were scared. You knew that there was something out there to be afraid of. They came looking for you once before, they could come again. You wanted Bucky around in case something did happen. You checked the time. It had only been about twenty minutes since he'd left. He wouldn't have even gotten to the compound yet. You stared at your phone screen for a moment, then decided to message him. You wanted him to come back.

The little dots popped up on the screen.

There was a sound from outside the door. Your head jerked in the direction of the door.

"Oh sugar" you heard your neighbour. She'd dropped her groceries on the stairs. You looked back at your phone screen. Your eyes fixated on the word 'no'. Of course. You were just being paranoid. He wasn't coming home because he didn't need to come home. There was nothing to worry about.

Except you didn't think any of that. You thought there was everything to worry about. You called him. There was no answer. He ignored your texts too.

Your mind instantly explored the possibility something happened to him. He was texting and driving, maybe there was a crash. You knew you were overthinking but you couldn't help it. You put your phone in your pocket then curled up in a ball on the couch. You let yourself zone out, shutting off everything from the surroundings and letting your thoughts drown your mind.

You paid no attention to anything. Not the group of men walking up the stairs. The footsteps stopping outside. The quiet knock on the door. It wasn't until they forcefully knocked it down that you were brought back to reality. You looked up just as your front door swung open, revealing the men outside.

You were paralysed with fear. You didn't move, even as they filed into the apartment. They split up; they were looking for something. One of the men approached the couch and bent down in front of you with a malicious smirk on his face. You gulped nervously.

"Good to see you again sweetheart."

You shook your head. You didn't know what to do. You had thought about this occurring, but you had thought you were just overthinking. Now it was actually happening right in front of you, you were terrified.

A crash came from the kitchen. The guy turned his head, so you used that opportunity to try and get away. You stood up and tried to push past him, almost successfully sneaking past until he grabbed a fistful of your hair and yanked you backwards. As soon as your back was pressed up against his chest, he tightly wrapped an arm around you, covering your mouth with his hand. You tried to hit him away, so he held your arms in place. You couldn't really move. You felt too terrified to try.

And yet again you felt useless, and weak as Hydra took control.

Your eyes filled with tears, which eventually seemed to anger the man.

"God, stop crying!" he exclaimed. He let go of you, spinning you around to face him. Before you could process what was going on, he'd punched you in the face: his fist meeting your eye. You stumbled back but didn't get too far before he grabbed you by the neck. His hand tightened around it as he lifted you up in the air, off your feet. You started gasping for breath and fighting to pull his hands off you.

Half a minute later, he was momentarily distracted when another agent appeared beside you. "We've got it" he said. "Let's go."

The man holding you looked back at you. With his spare hand, he pulled something out from behind his back. You didn't see that it was a knife until it tore straight through your stomach. Your mouth gaped open but no sound came out, silenced by pain. He dropped you to the floor and you hit your head on the ground. You ignored the agents as they left. You were too busy focusing on the pain they'd caused you, waiting until eventually you passed out when it got too much.

***

Bucky felt like he couldn't breathe.

"No" he bent down behind you. "No, no, no" he gently rolled you onto your back. Bucky's jaw dropped when he saw the blood seeping out your stomach. The knife was still in place, stabbed through your skin. "No" Bucky had tears rolling down his cheeks already. "Come on, y/n, you've gotta be okay. Don't do this" he said as he checked your pulse. As soon as he'd felt it, he picked up your limp upper half and hugged you tightly, careful not to touch the knife. "I'm so sorry." Bucky brushed the hair out of your face and kissed your forehead. He noticed now the bruising around your eye. He didn't know what to do.

He sat there, rocking you back and forth in his arms for a minute, crying. He knew he should call someone. So he did.

"Steve?"

"Bucky? Is everything okay?"

"She- she's bleeding out."

"What?"

"Y/n is... she... I don't know what happened, Steve... she's been stabbed and- and she's bleeding and I- I don't know what to do..."

"She was stabbed?"

"Yes! Steve! Y/n was stabbed and she's bleeding out and I don't know what to do!"

"Okay, where was she stabbed?"

"Her stomach. The knife is still there."

"Okay. Bucky, take her to the hospital."

"But what- what if I don't make it? I can't- I can't lose her, Steve. I can't..."

"I know. Bucky, go now. I'll meet you there."

"Okay. Yeah. I'll- I'll see you there."

Bucky didn't bother hanging up. He just dropped his phone and picked up your body. Your head lulled back over his arm which made Bucky wince with pity. "You're gonna be okay. I promise." He adjusted how he held you so your head was lying on his shoulder. He grabbed his phone and shoved it in his pocket, then stormed out the apartment.