Notice me

CHAPTER XI : SURVIVAL

"And just how did Beckham manage to get his hands on those pretty files of ours?" Her last attire swapped for a tight army green tube top and baggy camouflage pants. The look on her face almost identical to that of her past identity.

"I don't know but we need to get them before he leaks them"

Rory stayed quiet silently nursing a bottle of jack from the corner of the room, the light barely grazing the sole of his shoe. He didn't care how Beckham got them, they had enemies left and right; all that mattered was finding them before it was too late.

"Tate!" He looked up seeing Judge holding the yellow file almost all its contents visible from where he was.

"What judge!" The whole conversation proved meaningless to him at this point. Beckham was somewhere plotting and lurking about and wouldn't stop till he got whatever it was that he wanted.

"We're here because you wanted-no needed us ! It's not only you at the end of the blade it's all of us. So if you wanna go and mope like a fucking pussy do it on your own time" at this point he couldn't begin to care less. None of them had what he had or more specifically was about to lose.

"We get it Tate you have your little Barbie to go home to but... at the end of the day we all got a home to go to" the scowl on Danny's face didn't go unnoticed by him.

"You don't get to talk about her" her face contorted from anger to sadness all in one till it just vanished. He took a risk getting her here now he just hoped he wouldn't regret it.

Zoe would always be his number one girl.

"You don't get it do you!" Her face looked angered beyond belief, something he knew about all too well. " when she was never there it was always us Rory not you and I but us! We were all you had and at this moment all you have"

"What do you mean at this moment"  confusion laced his features catching them all by surprise. Tate was a rock you'd never be able to read him by his features. It was something only his 'Zo' could do.

"You don't even know do you" she smirked slowly nodding her head and licking the corner of her lip. "She left the town, currently heading to Haradlsteen  just two towns over"

He felt like he did three years ago when he came back in her life. Out of place, mis-informed and downright lost. Was this the right place for him if at all? She wouldn't even acknowledge his attempts at rekindling what they somehow had dimmed but was already catching the first drive out.

"I'll deal with it" he guessed she'd have to learn one way or another.

Danny looked at him almost confused. She had no idea what he saw in his 'Zo', it's like he forgot his own family in the span of two minutes. All for her. Searing anger clogged her pores bursting through her skin. Like a steaming cauldron she broke out in steam.

"She doesn't give a fuck about you Roar! Honestly she left before you could even explain to her. Does that scream loyalty. She damn well could've found someone else, someone bet-" his palm caught her mid- rant.

"I told you to stop speaking about her" rage clouded his eyes. The heat travelled from his chest to the top of his ears.

"ENOUGH!" Judge stood between them catching Danny before she could've hit him with the boot of her gun.

"We'll find Beckham, destroy the files and for your sake Tate we'll never  have to cross paths again" It was the first they've been together  since the war that she's spoken with such certainty and determination.

"Fine" not even twelve hours and they're already causing a rift between them.

Not a word was spoken after. Even the sly glares and incoherent mumbles were non existent. It was almost like they were strangers from start.

Judge sat in the corner tracking possible locations, Danny to the weapons checking to make sure they were stable and fully operative while Rory just glared at the aerial map of ivory matching each place like a maze. If Beckham wasn't the man he knew since enrollment he would've never guessed where he came through.

" Clay" his fingered grazed all possible exits but none were there in such plain sight that he would've checked. "Beckham always hated being in the public's eye, we check Clay first, Grayhms just private land with bear traps at all exits, Sofia is purely water bound, and clay... it's the perfect hide away"

The group exchanged looks each one a different means of  confirmation.

They bustled out slowly, all in different outfits but the same color. Rory's GMC was just outside. Danny sat in back chewing her gum, judge beside her peering out the window and Rory in the driver's seat contemplating how this would really turn out. With each bump in the road his thoughts got firm, tense and even more violent that the last.

When he found Beckham he'd kill him no if's and buts about it. "We're not killing him" judge knew him like the back of his hand.

"It speaks" a humorless laugh left his throat and he did his best to prolong his sarcasm once more.

"Jackass" Danny scoffed.

"I don't know when you'll learn Tate but the only one sidetracking you is yourself" for a minute he paused but his tongue got the better of him. " you think you have your whole life under control but you don't. You fuck up and when you do you find the most convenient hurdles to jump over. Play hypocrite all you want but don't come running back to us when you hit the deep end"

"The fuck do you know about me judge"

"Enough to know why you left that little girl all alone without a family" his heart skipped a beat , the scowl on his face replaced with a blur of fear. He froze and it wasn't for a good reason.

Thank you all for reading💝 word count 1044.