Ghost - An Avengers Fanfiction

Chapter 14

Bruce looked down at the sleeping girl in front of him and sighed. His mind was running a million miles an hour, and he could feel himself getting more and more stressed with the situation. Taking a few deep breaths, Bruce decided to prioritize. It was getting dark, and Bruce knew that if they ended up staying overnight, they would need some kind of fire.

Bruce had no idea what kind of wildlife were about, but he suspected there might be some wolves. A fire would make them easy prey, but unfortunately, the need for a fire outweighed the risk. When it got dark, Bruce knew the temperature would plummet. He was already shivering, as the hoodie and track pants he was wearing offered little protection against the cold. Bruce was more concerned for Sophie though. She was certainly wearing more than him, with her combat boots, dark jeans, singlet and leather jacket, but she was still soaked to the skin. Bruce watched her shiver slightly as she slept, her lips still tinted blue. Bruce sighed as he turned and started gathering sticks to build a fire. He would prefer to face wolves than pneumonia, and if they were attacked by wolves, he could always Hulk out as a last resort.

After collecting a few armfuls of firewood and arranging a few sticks and leaves into a structure for the fire itself, Bruce looked around for a way to start the fire. Sophie's backpack was lying near her feet, and she had pulled all of the contents out and laid them on the grass. Bruce's eyes were immediately drawn to the box of waterproof matches. Feeling relieved that he wouldn't have to rub two sticks together, Bruce quietly walked over to grab the box. As soon as he stepped near, Sophie's eyes cracked open and she raised the gun to aim at his head. Bruce froze, his stomach twisting as he heard the Hulk growl in the back of his mind. A second later though, Sophie was back asleep, the gun hugged tightly to her chest. After a second, Bruce quietly grabbed the box of matches and started the fire. 

He sat back for a moment, his bare feet soaking up some of the warmth from the flames. Curious, he looked over the neatly arranged items lying on the grass. The backpack itself was dark blue, and made of sturdy, waterproof material. That explained why his clothes were dry, despite the backpack going into the water with Sophie. Next to this were two bottles of water, one that looked like it had already had a few mouthfuls of water drunk from it. Bruce grabbed the full bottle and drank half of it, not realising he had been so thirsty. After that was a large ziplock bag, contains a few apples and some kind of dried meat. There was also a small torch, a large hunting knife, two cartridges for the handgun Sophie was hugging to her chest, and a couple of small knives and blades.

Grabbing the torch and the hunting knife, Bruce ventured into the now shadowy tree line to find some more firewood, using the serrated edge of the hunting knife to saw some of the bigger branches off the trees. He ended up making a decent pile of firewood, and settled down beside the now blazing fire, listening to the crackling of the burning wood and allowing the flames to warm his hands. He kept an eye on Sophie, who was still asleep, her back against the log. Bruce felt sad looking at her. She still looked cold, shivering as he slept, but she was close enough to the fire that Bruce was sure she would start to warm up soon. He felt sad as he watched her. Her sleep looked anything but peaceful. She held the gun close to her chest, her whole body tensed as if expecting an attack at any second. In fact, every time Bruce had made a loud enough noise, or come close to her, Sophie's eyelids would open a crack and Bruce knew she was checking where he was before going back to sleep. The fact she slept so lightly told Bruce that she didn't trust him, but he felt that this was always how she slept - awake at the slightest hint of a threat, body tensed and ready for an attack. It seemed like such a practiced routine, that Bruce wondered if she had ever had a truly peaceful night's sleep in her life. Occasionally she would mutter a phrase, frowning as she did, but Bruce could never catch any of the words. He wasn't even sure she was speaking English to be honest.