Insanity

Chapter 28

Song: Innocence by Nathan Wagner

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"Listen to the light, don't
let the darkness take you.
Your memories aren't
your destiny."

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Bucky walked for miles and miles, and the longer he was out the more injured he realized he was. First it was his arm, when he had pulled that Steve person from the river. Maybe it was broken, maybe it was sprained; he wasn't sure.

Then, it was his knees. He knew when he had landed on them on the helicarrier that they were going to hurt later, but he hadn't expected it to be quite this severe. Perhaps that was because before, he'd thought he'd be going back to Hydra after all of this. Getting fixed up by his doctors only to be frozen for another decade until there was someone else who needed killing. But thankfully, he'd turned out to be wrong.

He trudged through the forest, every part of his body besides maybe his ears aching terribly, though even they were ringing irritatingly. Once he got to the end of the treeline the sun was beginning to set, and he decided to wait until dark before leaving the forest.

Bucky wasn't too sure where exactly he'd be going from here but as long as it wasn't back to Hydra, he didn't particularly care where he ended up. If it was with some rats in a sewer or raccoons in garbage bins then so be it; anything was better than Hydra.

He dabbed at the cuts on his face and body with leaves and trees as he waited for the sun to set. It was a nice thing to watch. He wasn't sure when he'd last seen a sunset, but he never remembered them being so beautiful. It was as if God himself had painted the sky with only the most beautiful colors in the universe, just for Bucky to see that evening. He wondered if Steve had ever watched the sun set, what he thought of it.

Eventually the sun slipped below the horizon, leaving the earth blanketed in only the shimmery, muted light of the silver moon in the sky. Bucky decided it was dark enough to keep him mostly concealed so he crept out of the safety of the treeline, the last thing separating him from the real world. His last little bit of a leash connecting him to Hydra; he knew he'd need to keep moving in order to keep them from tracking him down.

So, he left the treeline, emerging into the streets of Washington D.C., completely exposed. He kept his cybernetic arm folded as close to him as possible, wrapping his right arm over it in hopes that maybe he could keep it mostly covered and away from prying eyes.

Luckily, nobody seemed to be out and about that night, which greatly worked in his favor. He was able to sneak down alleys, keeping his weight over the balls of his feet, using the shadows from broken, flickering streetlights as his only camouflage. He couldn't explain it, but it was as if his instincts told him to peer down every alley he passed, looking for something, someone, without any reason; he wondered if perhaps it was related to Steve somehow, since that's what all of thoughts immediately turned to anyway.

Even if the streetlights didn't work well, the light of the moon still caused a reflection from his left arm and Bucky knew he'd need to cover it, and soon. He hurried to the end of a pitch black alley, searching for a garbage dumpster; people were wasteful, surely someone had thrown away a jacket or shirt at some point.

A big, rusted green garbage dumpster sat at the very end of the alley, practically begging Bucky to dig through it. He weaved his way through other garbage cans, empty boxes, and bags of trash before finally reaching the end of the alley and getting to the dumpster. He grabbed an empty crate from beside the dumpster, propping it up against it to use as a makeshift stool.