War Guilt [#Wattys2015]

Chapter Thirteen

Hydra Base, Germany, 1943

Maria

"Her body is reacting to the injections," Zola said to Schmidt. "It's trying to find a way to accept them."

"Record the evidence and proceed to the next level," Schmidt replied.

"Yes sir," said Zola.

I was again strapped to the metal examination table to be studied. Zola checked all my vitals and then proceeded to study how my body was coping with the chemicals.

"This is amazing," he said in awe. I noticed that he had a Swiss accent at that moment.

After he was done fascinating over how my body was reacting, he began to inject me with more multicoloured liquids. My body reacted differently to these ones. Instead of breaking out in rashes and making me cough madly, my skin glowed - literally.

"The chemicals have been accepted," Zola said quietly.

The sudden change to my body made me extremely tired and I found it hard to keep my eyes open. Zola was still poking and prodding but fatigue made it feel very faint. I felt someone lift me up and then suddenly it went dark.

**********

"Maria. Maria," someone was saying my name. "Maria!"

My eyes shot open and I found myself looking up into Barnes striking blue eyes. He seemed worried.

"Oh thank god you're ok!" He exclaimed.

"What? What's happened?" I asked.

"Well the guards brought you back and you were unconscious and your skin was literally glowing!" He exclaimed.

I sighed. I couldn't understand why they were experimenting on people, innocent people at that. I knew that there was something about the way that my body had accepted the chemicals that Zola and Schmidt liked. For some reason I couldn't help but feel like I was something special to them.

"What do you think they're doing to me? Do you think I'm going to die?" I asked him quietly.

He glanced at me with a pained expression and wrapped me in a hug without saying anything. He didn't need to say anything. We all knew that we were all going to end up dying in the god forsaken place.

I sat with Barnes for a while, keeping myself occupied by poking my skin and making it glow golden. To be honest it was quite beautiful but who knew what it was really doing to me. I ended up drawing little patterns on my arms and legs then curiosity got the better of the others and they wanted to try. Somewhere along the way we ended up having a tournament of naughts and crosses.

Not long after that Barnes and I began a conversation about our lives back home. I asked him about his family and how he met Steve.

"My folks died when I was young but I have a sister named Rebecca, who could be anywhere. Steve and I met when I was about thirteen; he was getting beaten up like usual so I pitched in and saved him. We've been best friends ever since," he explained.

"Why was he always getting beaten up?" I asked.

Barnes chuckled. "Because he's too dumb not to run away from a fight."

I laughed back and thought of the scrawny man who I met back at the training camp. I wondered what happened to him and if he ever made if over here.

"What about you?" He asked me.

"My parents were killed after I left Italy. I still don't know who did it and why, but that's the reason why I joined the army," I replied. "I don't have any siblings, only people that I now consider my siblings like Ryan."

"You guys are close huh?" He asked.

"Yeah. We met at the training camp where I met Steve. He knew all along that I was a woman but he never treated me any different. He always had my back but now I'm afraid I'll never see him again." I replied.

Barnes was about to say something until he was cut off by some guards storming into the room. They collected a few men, including Barnes. I'd learnt from the others that they take them to work on some sort of rockets (the base was a factory). Every day they would come and get them. One day I noticed Barnes health was deteriorating, and quickly.

"Try not to move," I said softly to him.

His head was in my lap and he looked up to me. He was covered in sweat and shaking like a leaf. His temperature was scorching also. I knew the symptoms; pneumonia.

God help him, please...

The guards came at their usual time to collect him and the few others they take. I knew they noticed his health but still persisted to take him.

"Please! Look at him! He's so sick!" I and the others would yell.

After a while of persisting, they eventually have up and left. I was standing with Barnes leaning on me, he was so heavy and tired.

"Oh look at you," I said as I looked him up and down.

I sat him down on the ground, his head leaning on my shoulder. He was mumbling words that I couldn't make out. I thought he was going to die.

"Look at me," he said quietly.

I turned my head at his request and he smiled. It was so good to see him smile. As I was about to turn my head back he held my cheek with his hand and kissed me. I wasn't sure what to do at that moment, so I kissed him back. That's when I realised something; I was so in love with James Barnes.