Purge (Larry Stylinson au)

Chapter 13

A/N: this chapter starts off right where the last one left off so the intro is a little choppy, but hopefully it makes sense lol

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Niall runs up to Ella and wraps her in a tight hug, disregarding the bullet wound on his arm entirely. Harry watches them, smiling, but unsure of when they'd grown that close. Sara leads Stan over to the fire where Liam offers him a piece of rabbit meat. Stan accepts gratefully and leans against Sara slightly for support as he eats. Zayn is sitting close to Liam, their thighs rubbing against each other and they're talking in low voices. Paul soon joins them, and they immediately include him in their conversation. It's clear everyone is shaken up from their encounter with the Purge.

"What happened after you left?" Louis asks Harry, sitting down against the ridge, cradling Darcy in his arms.

Zayn comes over to hand them both a piece of meat, which they thank him for and watch as he goes back to sit with Liam and Paul.

Harry takes a bite of the meat, thinking of how best to answer Louis's question. Eventually he just decides to tell the full, honest truth.

He explains how the troopers had found them, how the captain had threatened Darcy and how he said he'd killed Louis. He explains how Paul and Stan had fought the other troopers while Sara and Ella protected Darcy. He explains how they'd taken everyone but the captain out. Louis looked like he was going to cry when Harry told him how the captain had gotten him in a chokehold and they'd fought, until they were on the ground and the captain was on top of him, punching him everywhere he could reach.

Louis nearly cries when Harry tells him how he'd fought the soldier off and stabbed him in the heart before shooting him. Then he hold Harry as he's told how the younger lad had to help fix Stan's arm. Louis knows how squeamish he gets around broken bones. He kisses Harry's head and tells him he's proud of him after the story is finished. 

"What about you?" Harry asks gently, watching as, across the fire, Ella gently touches Niall's bandaged arm, making him smile. A few feet away, Zayn tenderly holds a wet cloth to Liam's bruised eye, clearly hoping the cool fabric would calm the swelling that had started. They exchange sweet smiles and Harry's heart warms. Sara's stroking Stan's hair as he sleeps with his head against her shoulder. She's talking in hushed tones to Paul, who's glancing around them every so often, a tense look in his eyes. 

"Well," Louis starts softly, looking down at the sleeping baby in his arms, "I teased the soldiers for a bit."

"Of course," Harry chuckles. 

"Nothing very interesting happened though. There were a lot of them. The whole fight was basically just duck and cover and shoot when you find an opening." He sighs. "It took us almost three hours to get rid of them all. I think once some of them knew we were here, they kept calling for reinforcements. We'd get rid of a wave and catch our breath and then fifteen more would appear."

"Do you think they could still show up?" Harry asks cautiously, looking around. They're camped exactly where the Purge first found them. 

Louis shook his head. "Nah, not for a little while at least. We stole one of their radios and called in, pretending to be troopers. We said that the Purge had won and we were dead. They said they'd expect us back tomorrow. Their base must be a bit of a distance. They won't notice they've been lied to until tomorrow morning at the earliest, and even then it'll take a bit for them to get people back out here. We've got a little while to rest here."

Harry nods. "Okay, if you're sure."

"I wouldn't be sitting here if I wasn't sure, would I?" Louis challenges.