Expendables- Devil's Ax

Chapter 5

Rose and Gunner walked through the night. The sound of birds and small insects calling out split through the silent chill that the darkness brought. The sound of Rose's breathing made chills run down Gunner's back. At first it was only a few coughs and heaves. But after an hour every breath came out in a crackling heave and when she coughed he could hear her bones rattle. Her steps were small and sluggish as she tried to continue.

"You alright back there?" Gunner asked after he had taken the lead. When no answer came he looked back at the young girl behind him and saw a blank look in her eyes. She only gave a small nod of the head a short grin. Her hand was pushed against her abdomen to help the bleeding but nothing really helped at this point.

As they continued, Gunner heard a sickening thud. His head snapped around to see Rose collapsed on the ground barely moving.

"Savig!" He said running over to side as she laid on the ground. the only sound that came from her mouth was the same heavy breathing as before. Even in the darkness Gunner could see her pale skin and a dark line running down the side of her mouth. "Just hang on." He scooped her body up into his arms and continued to walk. "We're almost to the town. Just hang on dammit." With the dark shadows of the town off in the distance, Gunner kept his eyes forward as he picked up the pace.

Lee sat on the stairs of the small church twirling a blade in his hand. His thoughts were mixed up thinking about how happy he would be if Gunner was dead, and how depressed he would be as well. Keeping his eyes locked on the blade, all of his other senses began to blur as the dark metal of the throwing knife gleamed from the small light inside the building. Suddenly, he could feel something was off. Looking up to the right, down the street, he could see a rather large shadow moving in his direction in the middle of the small dirt road. Grabbing his rifle, Lee looked through the night scope to see the familiar ugly mug of Gunner looking around the town.

"You son of a bitch." Lee said under his breath. Getting up from his post, Lee pushed the door of the church open.

"You'll never guess who decided to show up for the party!" He yelled for everyone to hear. Barney woke up from his sleep and looked over at the door just as Lee turned around and began to walk off. Caesar jumped awake and grabbed his gun and looked over at Barney who shook his head.

"Gunner." Barney said.

As Gunner reached the town he began to look for signs of life. Rose had fallen limp in her arms moments before reaching the town. As he approached the first house, he could hear something coming up from behind him.

"Well well. If it isn't fucker who decided to get caught." Came the familiar british(?) voice of Lee. Gunner turned around and looked at the short man before him dressed in all black with a rifle in hand. "Who the hell is that?" Lee asked looking a the girl.

"Someone I picked up." Gunner gave a grin.

"I can see that." Lee rolled his eyes and turned around to walk back to the church. "C'mon." Lee said in an annoyed tone.

Rose's eyes slowly opened to a dim lit room made of a strange dirt and sand walls. She laid on her back and squinted as a heavy pain pounded in her head. Her body was sore and her stomach turned as she tried to sit up. A piercing pain shot through her abdomen before she let out a small yelp of pain and fell back onto the bed.

"You finally woke up." A deep familiar voice spoke to her. Looking over to the left, she saw the tall muscular man named Gunner sitting a chair too small for his size, placed on the other end of the room.

"Gunner?" Rose said leaning on her elbows. "W-where are we?" She asked.

"In the town still. You've been out for a day." He replied as he leaned back in his chair and grinned at her. To the right of him was a doorway leading out into another room. Suddenly, a large dark shadow stepped through the opposite room and to the doorway.

"I thought your name sounded familiar." Came a rather slurred voice of a man. Rose's heart seemed to stop as the man stepped into the light. "How ya doin' kiddo?" Barney said as he stepped into the room.

"U-Uncle B...?" Rose said looking at the tall dark haired man.