» At this point, he’s running for all he’s worth. He knows time’s running out; knows time’s running out fast, and as the clock ticks down, so too do the chances of Liv making it out alive. He knows she’s making it to the radio tower now, knows exactly where she’s running – but the pirates do, too. Rabid animals, two-legged and four alike, chase after the trail she leaves, chaos ensuing at what they believe to be the close of a chase. Jack kills two more; he knows there’s at least six left.
His radio crackles and he nearly loses his balance on the unruly forest floor, hair raising on his neck and his shirt clinging to his chest. What came through was crackled, some unintelligible, only small little spurts of a voice here and there that was undoubtedly hers. His heart was filled with ache and fear and fury, an ungodly mix that sent instinct into overdrive and strangled his logical sense. This was what it meant to make things personal; to be so emotionally invested that everything else dies away. He’s felt it once before, dangling Irons off the side of the ATLAS building, and he feels it now – that same loathing and hatred and animalistic intent that left nothing but ‘kill at all costs’ running like a mantra in his head. He’d get to her. He’d get to her.
“Liv,” He breathes in between measured pants, finger pressed down on the ‘T A L K’ button, “I’m coming, Olivia. I’m coming. I’m almost there, okay? Hang on – -”
The squeal of tire brakes and the ugly crush of gravel sends a fire through his chest and he skids to a stop, abruptly switching gears and darting to the right. They’re shouting, firing, and he hopes desperately that they’ve not been able to fire an accurate shot. He waits one second, two, before lunging forward, raising his assault rifle to the closest man. He drop quickly with a cry, his gun falling silent. and before the three others can figure out what’s going on he’s killed two more. The last one he jumps up across the rail guard of the truckbed and pulls him down, jamming his elbow to the center of his nose and hearing a dull crack.
A tense, harsh silence washes over all too quickly, and Jack finds himself far more worried than before. Liv. The name hits him like a brick and he sets off, chest heaving and eyes searching wildly, in a lope. “Liv,” Jack huffs, “Liv!”
There. Jack catches the sight of yellow, of something in the underbrush that most certainly shouldn’t have been. Panic scrabbles for a permanent hold over his mind as he nears, seeing indeed the form of a body – of his wife – and he almost stops. No. No, no no no no.
“Liv,” The soldier croons, dropping to his knees. It’s a dangerous move; he doesn’t know who – or what – lurks just around the trees, but when there’s that much blood marring her shirt, he can’t seem to give a shit. “Liv, it’s Jack. Can you hear me? – - God.” He’s immediately tearing the cleaner strips of his own shirt off, trying to scramble his thoughts together. Where’s the closest ally outpost? Shit. She’s losing so much blood. No medevac, no nothing. A trembling hand presses itself to her cheek. and he applies his own pressure with the new strips to her wound. “Just – just hang on, alright?”
She is fading. In and out, the pain ebbs and flows, and Liv isn’t sure of what’s real and what’s not anymore. Jack is close; she knows that for sure, but how close? Will it be enough? Part of her is terrified it won’t be, and she could feel the panic beginning to claw at her chest. She wants to struggle to her feet again, but with all of the pirates lurking so close, she can’t risk letting them know she’s still alive.
His voice cuts through it, and Liv sags into the dirt, deathly still as Jack collapses to his knees beside her. Just knowing he’s close, that all of her running and cleverness and risk had been worth it in the end, causes her to sigh in relief. “I’m---I’m okay, Jack.” And she means that, truly. She knows that the both of them, they’re going to be fine.
Liv is still and quiet as Jack starts to patch her up, though she keeps her arm resting on his forearm, thumb stroking his skin to show him she’s still alive, still conscious. It’s when he presses his hands down that she whines in discomfort, body tensing before she makes her grand attempt to sit up.
“The pirates... they pulled up in jeeps. Just... Just below the tower.” She gestures vaguely in the direction they’d both just come from. “If we take it and... and go quickly, maybe the others coming would mistake us for allies and we can make it back to the north.”
