Solace & Taproots

1.13

Bex had watched over Ronnie from a 45 degree angle, on the opposite side of their patient's feet... whichever way he might move, even / especially at Ronnie, she'd have a clear shot. The laser at the base of his throat, and her held shooting stance, emphasized the point.

Rhonda had cut away his fancy-ass, excessively clean BDU's below the left thigh, sterilized, packed, and covered both ends of the wound tunnel, then cinched compression knots down on both sides. She even fed him 800mg of ibuprofen from his medkit.. but she made him dry-swallow it. Mostly, she just didn't want to listen to any whining. The opiates in there were going back to the infirmary at home, not this jackass.

The ladies soon stood in a corner, guns still in hand. Pegleg there had closed his eyes where he lay, and Seb had looked to the nearest pillar and back to Bex questioningly, and nodded a thanks when she jerked her chin towards it. She still kept an eye on him while he scooted over and put his back against it. Ronnie continued what she was saying. "... it's just, damn girl. You have been on fire. Where's all this coming from?"

"I'm not sure yet, honestly," she replied in the same low voice. I think you and Sam put me in a good place for a while, and life threw me a bunch of shit to overcome. Or, I could totally be going manic and repressing the hell out of things." Ronnie nodded, seemingly at both possibilities. Bex continued. "So, uh, how am I doing at my first interrogation?"

"Well, I think you're building trust with mister Seb there pretty well. But.. I know the Geneva Convention is kinda in the dumpster right now, but shooting dipshit over there.... they came at us hard to grab us, but we don't know how they treat prisoners yet. Just remember our actions might affect our own people down the road. Or these guys could be a bunch of assclowns, you found the only decent one in the lot, and we should waste the rest of them."

Bex cringed. "Shit. Yeah. I... I guess I'm still really keyed up after yesterday. I'll try to watch my impulse control." Ronnie just patted her on the shoulder with a smile and walked back to a good line of sight on both captives.

Bex turned back towards Seb. She leant over to scoop up his hydration bladder, but the bite piece was pretty gross from the floor, and might have blood or god knows what else on it. So, she cringed apologetically to him and filled a metal cup from the supply shelf from the hanging "family sized" water filtration bag they'd filled after unpacking.

She walked back over towards Seb but stopped about eight feet away. "Seb? How many more of... " She caught herself before saying "of you" and accidentally reinforcing his association with... whoever the hell. "Do we need to worry about more people coming here?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't think so. We were expected to potentially be radio silent for at least another day before checking in if you were a no-show. And... three of us were expected to outmatch a recon team of two, especially with the element of surprise. We all know how that worked out."

"Yeah, sorrynotsorry to disappoint you. How did you know when to hit?"

"Camera, outside in the shadows."

"Sneaky."

"Hey, that AP mine was a rude surprise too."

Bex let out a little snort. "I'll pass on your compliments to the chef. She'll be pleased." She unclipped her load vest and hung it over a folding chair near where she was standing, then approached him. Right before she knelt down, she "absentmindedly" tucked the loose swirl of hair behind her ear precisely so it would just drop loose again as soon as she leaned. She made intent eye contact at his side. "I am trusting you. Please don't disappoint me."

He shook his head. "You'll probably drown me with just that water you're holding."

"Mmm, okay. Fear is a powerful motivator." She scooted the final inches (hair falling just as planned, and she saw his eyes drawn to the movement) needed to hold the cup to his lips and gently tilt it. "God, we only just met an hour ago and I'm already spoon feeding you in your old age..."