Pardon

Chapter 8: Stranded in Germany

You've been driving through the absolute nowhere when the car finally runs out of gas. Bucky parks the car on the side of the road and you both start walking. It has already gotten dark. You try to avoid roads with lanterns or any other sources of light. You keep walking through the dark for a while.

After a while, you finally break the silence.

"We have enough water and some snacks that could keep us both up for a couple of days. That should be more than enough to figure something out. We just have to come up with a way to contact the team and call for backup."

"I might have the solution for that", Bucks says.

"I have this communication device here on my wrist. It sends an emergency signal to the rest of the team. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but we would be able to contact the team with it."

"Can they locate us with that, too? Because... to be completely honest... I don't even know which country we're currently in."

"Germany", Bucky chuckles.

"We are in Germany."

You look up at him, a slightly nervous look on your face and Bucky already knows what you are about to say.

"Yeah, I know. If we use it now, it might give away our location. So if Hydra is somewhere near by..."

"They might catch the signal and be here way faster than the team from New York."

"We should only use this device once we have a safe place to stay. Out in the open like this... It's too dangerous."

"But at least we know how to contact them. That's good."

Bucky nods his head.

You two keep wandering for a while until you spot a small, animal shelter a little off the road. It is worn down, but it's empty and it's at least some sort of shelter. Bucky looks over to the shelter and his body language changes. Sure, it's worn down, but his eyes light up.

"Well, look at that. You found a place to rest."

"It's not much but it's way better than sleeping out in the open."

When you enter the shelter, it's almost completely empty. A bit old hay is still flying around which Bucky uses to build a little base for a bed. You take your shower towel out of your bag and put it over the hay so that you don't have to lay down in the dirt. Bucky then takes out his towel and offers it as a blanket while you place your bags as pillows. You look down on your improvised bed and chuckle.

"It's... something..."

"This still beats the open fields, right?"

You nod your head and walk towards the improvised bed.

"No time to take turns tonight. We better get sleeping now and try to catch as much rest as we can."

Bucky nods, walks over and lies down on the right side of the bed. He pulls his towel over him and leans his head on his arm. He already seems exhausted after everything that has happened today.

You then lie down next to him. You keep your back turned towards him, but you move up very closely to him. As you're practically lying on the ground, his body is the only thing that's giving off at least some sort of warmth. He also leans towards you and ends up resting his arm over your body. For a while neither of you say anything and it's just your faint breathing sounds that can be heard. While drifting off to sleep, you can feel him move a little bit closer as he gets a little more comfortable. You don't pull away, though. His body is the only thing that is keeping you warm and you're tired and in desperate need for some rest. After a while your bodies are fully wrapped around each other, but you don't read too much to it. He is not making any moves, this is all simply for comfort.

After you fall asleep, Buckys eyes also start to drift off.

The night is short as you get woken up by the loud screaming of a German farmer who apparently really doesn't like that you two stayed the night here.

Buckys eyes immediately snap open at the sound of the screaming. His body immediately feels tense. He looks at you. It takes you a little longer to wake up and you realize quickly that you feel slightly dizzy.

The angry man approaches the shelter and stops right in front of you. Bucky immediately jumps to his feet and takes a few steps towards the man. He just stares at him as he doesn't understand a single word.

Before Bucky can get any further, you jump up and put yourself in between the two angry men.

"Entschuldigen Sie, ist das Ihr Stall? Hören Sie, mein Freund und ich haben uns verlaufen und unsere Handys sind leer. Wir wollten die Nacht nicht auf dem offenen Feld verbringen. Wir räumen sofort auf und sind dann wieder weg. Bekommen Sie etwas dafür, dass wir hier geschlafen haben?"

The mans expressions softens immediately when you start to speak. He looks down on you. He is clearly annoyed that you stayed here but he appears to calm down after hearing what you had to say. Bucky remains still for now. The man seems a little surprised that you immediately start talking German. You probably have a thick accent but he still understands every word. You offered to pay for the night but he politely declines.

"Geben Sie uns zehn Minuten, dann sind wir weg", you smile at the man and he nods.

You then turn to Bucky: "We have ten minutes to pack everything up and leave."

The farmer turns around and waits for you two to pack and leave outside. Bucky feels a lot more at ease. And when you turn around and tell him the good news, he takes a deep breath. It looks like he's relieved that this went so well.

"Alright. Let's get going. We don't have much time."

"Give me a minute, I have an idea. Be right back", you say and walk out to talk to the farmer once again.

It doesn't take long and you get back to Bucky with a phone in your hand. Bucky seems very surprised.

"I told him our phones died and that we are lost. I asked if I could borrow his phone for a minute."

Bucky watches you open a map app on the phone to find out your location. You look up at him in relief. You finally know where exactly you are.

After that you quickly dial a number. You get straight to voicemail.

"Agent in danger. Mission was a trap. Hydra follows. Current location: Germany. On our way to Nuremberg. Need backup. Be ready. We'll turn on Buckys communication device this evening. Hydra tracks all signals."

You end the call, delete the number out of the phone and look up at Bucky.

"Who did you talk to?"

"Let's pack our things and talk on the way. I'm not sure if the farmer speaks English. I don't need more ears on this."

Bucky nods, gets up quickly and packs everything up within just moments. It seems he knows what he's doing. He's done this before. Meanwhile you walk back over to the farmer to give him his phone back. You thank him for understanding your situation. Before you both finally leave, you ask him if there might be some public transportation to Nuremberg, but he shakes his head.

"No bus, no nothing. We'll have to get there by foot, I guess."

"Did you check how long it'll take us?"

"A few hours... But we'll be there by this evening", you explain.