Positively Unknown

Raelyn Jarrett | 25 | The Outlanders

[ajax-pulanski]

A pretty ol’ lady like yourself and some cereal. [he winces at his shoulder] Hell, that sounds like a plan if I ever heard one, Red. [he smiles and tries not to look at the palm she kissed too much, blushing slightly]

[raelyn-jarrett]

[rolls her eyes and snorts] Be pretty once Church lets me outta here to go get hair dye. Friggin’ Scythe rainin’ on my individuality parade — [catches herself mid-thought, her voice lowers] Don’t have any gas mask anymore, either. Left mine in the chopper. [leans against his side, closing her eyes] Yeah, ‘m thinkin’ the best plans are just stickin’ with you and kickin’ some ass for some Govvie armor. Paint that shit up.

[ajax-pulanski]

I’ve got one. Having cereal, like the good kind, the one with the frosting on one side; but no milk.

That’s a fucking tragedy. [he groans] You can take away my comics, but leaving a man with good cereal but not milk. That’s just not fair.

[raelyn-jarrett]

Well, y’know how to brighten a girl’s day. Soon as ‘m up and runnin’ I’ll get my hands on some frosted colored loops. [takes his hand and kisses the palm]

[ajax-pulanski]

It’s one of those hand pump things and heating it up takes days. [he runs a finger through the outside of Raelyn’s greasy hair and jokingly grimaces] But yeah, we got some running water. I dunno, months of blood and dirt make you look badass Red.

[raelyn-jarrett]

Oh y’know I get all dolled up in dust ‘n dirt for you, ‘Jax. [chuckles a bit, wincing but still sighing contentedly] Cold water in the dead of winter. What’s better? 

[ajax-pulanski]

Nothin’ new. I’ve got so many bullet holes in me you’d think I was target practice for the Govies. [he glances at her hair] I think your hair’s just fine. But, I don’t know, a shower wouldn’t kill you. 

[raelyn-jarrett]

I won’t worry ‘bout ya ‘till you leak when you drink [pats his leg] You’re tellin’ me you’ve got runnin’ water after all this? I’ll be under that the minute Church lets me outta bed.

[raelyn-jarrett]

Why aren’t ya layin’ down then? [moves over slightly in the cot] C’mon. Just kick yourself back. Hell, ‘m jus’ tired. I can go somewhere else and you can lay down, tha’s fine with me. [shuffles around to swing her feet off the cot]

[ajax-pulanski]

[he gets up a little too quickly and winces] Ow–fucking hell. [motions a hand near Raelyn’s legs] Nah, nah I’m fine, really. I should be sleepin’, but we both know I never was someone who could just sit around. Or follow Church’s orders. [he sits beside her] You sleep. You’ve earned it after the hell you been through on your own.

[raelyn-jarrett]

You say that like I can’t handle myself, ‘Jax. Maybe I wanted a break from all you nuts [lays back down, settling her head on the edge of the pillow] My hair’s shit, though. Do miss that. [glances up at his bandaged shoulder] How bad’s it?

[raelyn-jarrett]

Why aren’t ya layin’ down then? [moves over slightly in the cot] C’mon. Just kick yourself back. Hell, ‘m jus’ tired. I can go somewhere else and you can lay down, tha’s fine with me. [shuffles around to swing her feet off the cot]

[ajax-pulanski]

[he looks over the pieces] Was I green… Or yellow? [he lowers his head onto the table] I don’t even know.

[raelyn-jarrett]

 Wha’s wrong ‘Jax? Ya seem off. [shifts to try to sit up, winces, leans her head back against the cot while shifting onto her side as a compromise] Where even are we?

[ajax-pulanski]

[he flicks over some toy soldiers, sitting at a table in the infirmary]

You up, Red?

[raelyn-jarrett]

Yeah? [mumbles and shifts her head towards Ajax’s voice] ‘R you winnin’ over there?

[raelyn-jarrett]

ajax-pulanski:

Ajax bent his head and tapped his forehead against hers in a nod, hooking an arm around her and another under her arm to get her to her feet. “Get your gear, we’re moving now.” He quickly changed his tone, the fresh teams huddling behind him while he helped Raelyn to the exit. “Rae? You stay with me, we’re gonna get you some help and get you fixed up okay? Stay with me Rae.” Outside the mall was a small convoy of parked armored cars barely running on half a gallon of gas each. Ajax gently lowered Raelyn into the back seat of the lead car, “You know, we gotta’ stop meeting like this Little Lady.” Ajax snapped his fingers and pointed at the others to get in the other cars. “Any word from Matt’s team?” He carefully got into the backseat with another Outlander pressing a patch against the hole in his back.

“Nothing yet, probably still out scavenging.” The cars all started and took out down the long stretch of road and through the bent and beaten frames of abandoned buildings.

“Elias?” Ajax asked.

“Nothing. Him and his lady friend got the hell out before the agents came knocking on his door. Still no word on where they went.”

Ajax leaned over and pointed down a turn, “Turn here and keep going till I say. Church isn’t gonna have what we need to help Rae. We’re paying a visit to some old friends of ours.”

She suddenly felt like she was seventeen again, being shuffled into cars with things around her being shouted. The difference was that, this time, the men in the car were people she knew. James handed her a dirty cloth with a small nod before shutting the door jogging to his jeep. Looking at the rag in her hands, it was stained with red from her own fingertips. A mixture of her blood and Ajax’s, though they looked identical.

“Jax —” She knew she’d barely get a word in edgewise. He was all business and she didn’t have the wits about her to retort. The wave of adrenaline that went through her at the fight was fading and with it her coherence. “’M fine. Really.” Raelyn noticed fresh blood on her jeans. Judging by the pain, it was just a graze, but it was something to focus on. “You’re worried about nothin’. Promise.” She retched, her fingers gripping the edge of the seat as she leaned over the floor board. “Promise. okay?” Rae lifted one hand and put it on Ajax’s leg, gently caressing the fabric under her fingertips. 

In all truth she wasn’t sure how okay or not she was, but the last thing she needed was more Outlanders putting themselves at risk for her. A couple more body-shaking coughs and she leaned back into the seat, resting her head gently against Ajax’s arm. “’s fine.”

Next she knew, the sun was setting in the sky as the convoy came to a halt, her head rolling enough for her to jerk into a bleary state of awareness. Her head pounded and her body ached as she tried to connect all the dots for what was going on around her. 

[raelyn-jarrett]

ajax-pulanski:

“Yeah–Yeah I am.” Ajax smiled wide, breathing hard and getting out a little laugh between breaths. He held his hands on her face after wiping what blood he could of with his sleeve. “You’re bleeding too, Little Lady.” He was closer than he’d ever been allowed in months, but it wasn’t even a thought in Ajax’s head at this point. All he could see and hear, was her. There were hands on him at one point, and flashlights all around and shouting. 

By now the others had caught up and were trying to get a medic in to check on Ajax and Raelyn. At first the radios went dead, and came back with “Raelyn?” as if her name was forbidden or lost for some time since she vanished.

Ajax was just kneeling there, his hands on her face, smiling like an idiot. “I missed you.” He said on the verge of either crying or laughing again, you could never tell with Alex.

Raelyn wanted to hide her face in Ajax’s chest, but his hands on her face prevented it. All she could do was sit there and sob. She hadn’t felt this way before — Overwhelming, crushing hope. For months it’d been just her, on the edge of death, accepting that everyone else was dead. Now she was face to face with the person she’d been missing most. She was realizing something for the first time. She hadn’t stopped because she knew he might be alive, that someone may have survived. Back when she was trapped under the rubble of the bank building, he’d been the one to tell her that she would get out and that it would be okay. His voice rung in her head during all those empty, cold nights. 

“I —— missed you too.” The gasp between two words was more than just needing air. So much was coursing through her that she wasn’t even sure if the word touching her lips belonged there. It stuck like honey, the sweetness spreading through. It felt right, but she didn’t know what to do with it all. 

Rough fingertips on her skin, encroaching on Ajax to pull him up broke her train of though. The calm was broken by panic, just as sharp as the broken tiles around her body. “Don’t — Please.” Raelyn started coughing so hard her body shook and she began to gag. Months of isolation came crashing down with the world around her blurring into a mess of tears, blood, and hands, pulling her up and out from under the tables.

[raelyn-jarrett]

ajax-pulanski:

Ajax sprinted to the nearest kiosk, a heavy thump threw him off balance and into the edge of the little store. He was shot, but whether it hurt or not or where didn’t matter. He was still moving and threw himself over the front of the kiosk as a barrage of bullets crashed on the counter behind him.

“Down there! Close in on them!” A shrill voice commanded the gunmen. Footsteps between the series of exchanges of bullets thundered through the empty mall.

Ajax checked a throbbing pain in his side and felt that the bullet bounced off his vest. He fumbled for his pistol and peeked over the counter. One of the bandits raised his weapon at Ajax on the way down the stairs, but a loud pop and a mist of blood sent him tumbling. The team of Outlanders were fighting back hard, but were down a member. In the middle of the chaos and bandit corpses falling from the railings, Ajax was frantically looking for Raelyn. Or was it Raelyn? Could it have been? It had to be. Ajax shot back at what few bandits remained, peeking back to see where Raelyn had retreated to. “Red!” He shouted. “Red!” He wasn’t sure if he was shouting to finally hear her name, or to see if he’d shout himself awake out of this dream he could have been having.

Ajax leapt over the side of the kiosk and sprinted towards the head of dull read hair screaming his name. The tiles around Ajax cracked and flew at him against the bullets. Another thud struck harder this time just below his shoulder but Ajax pushed through it; ducking himself and throwing his arms around Raelyn. He shielded her with his whole body as all the world turned into one big gunfight around him. And he just held her tightly in the middle of it and squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth, waiting for the one bullet that’d put him down for good.

The familiar gun in her hand, she shot up randomly in the direction the bullets were coming from. She felt like she was nearly choking from the blood running into her mouth but she didn’t let up — even as a figure started barreling towards her. The impact of Ajax’s body against hers hurt, sending her backward as she let up on the trigger so she didn’t shoot him. Gunfire that had been following Ajax now spit under the tables. Small bits of tile cut into her bare skin and she buried her face against Ajax’s vest to protect her eyes. Raelyn curled her fingers into the free space in the armholes of his vest, not wanting to let go, not wanting to risk losing the thing that was quite literally pinning her to reality. 

When she realized fresh blood running over her fingers from his shoulder wound, she opened her eyes enough to see through the dim, dusty light. Gunfire was slowing down and seemed more sporatic. There was still a minor scuffle, but it was no longer directed at her and the sound of boots on tiles told her that not all the Outlanders had been slaughtered. The fabric around his bullet wound glistened and she pressed the heel of her hand against it, trying to help slow the bleeding. Her voice was weak and cracked with tears, but she pushed through the taste of blood. “You’re bleeding. You’re bleeding blood. You’re bleeding. I’m so sorry.”

It wasn’t until the gunfire had come to a complete halt that she felt a stinging in her calf that hadn’t been there before, but the pumping adrenaline dulled the pain. Bootsteps got closer as people called Ajax’s name but she didn’t release her grip. Months of sleep deprivation, pain, and sickness all boiled down to this moment and she was sobbing into his chest, barely comprehending that this could actually been real. Maybe she finally slipped into a hypothermic state and was near death.

[ajax-pulanski]

The light poking through the shattered glass ceiling caught Raelyn’s face perfectly. The sight of her immediately hit Ajax all at once, her eyes, pale face, then her not-quite red enough hair.Ajax desperately tried to find words, ones he hoped would pull her close so his arms could reach her. Before all that, he was violently brought back to his senses by a loud crack of gunfire beside his ear then Raelyn’s hair flying into one of the other Outlanders. Almost all at once there was shouting then gunfire from behind them, everyone had started scrambling. Ajax’s feet carried him behind one of the aging potted plants beside him, as he peeked over he could see gunfire coming from the balcony, “The balcony!” Ajax shouted, “up on the fucking balcony!” He desperately looked around for a weapon and saw everyone scrambling for cover and Raelyn now struggling with Chelsea who cursed at her.

“Agh! Get off of me you–” Chelsea held her gun and slammed her face into Raelyn’s “–bitch!”

[raelyn-jarrett]

Raelyn wrestled with the girl on the ground, even with gunfire around them. That must’ve been the bandit group on of the figures had mentioned. Dust flew everywhere and Raelyn fought to wrestle the gun from the girl who just wasn’t giving it up. Getting a forehead to the nose was a dizzying blow, though, and Raelyn relinquished her grip. Blood poured from her nose down her face as nauseating pain filled her head. She heard the girl scuffle on the floor before the sound turned into boots. 

Seeing red, Raelyn crawled under the nearest food court table for cover, getting under just in time for someone’s shots to come dangerously close to her feet. Once there, she pressed hands against her face, trying to slow and wipe off blood. Her next move was decided when she spotted Ajax’s rifle under a couple fallen chairs. A few feet of crawling and the metal was in her hands, heavy and familiar. Familiar. She examined the weapon, quickly recognizing that it wasn’t new military issue. In fact, it was very well worn and a matching “A. P.” was etched into the butt. 

Tears welled up as she took the safety off and made sure the clip was secure before holding the gun in her shaky hands, eyes scanning for Ajax in the scuffle. What was the likelihood of him being taken in with his canteen and his rifle with worn clips? And why give an android an outdated weapon? One of the figures from earlier was laying on the floor, hands pressed against their gut with red seeping across cracked tile. Androids bleed clear. Raelyn’s voice ripped from her throat with renewed fervor. “Ajax! Brandon! Anyone!” Tears rolled down and mixed with blood. Was she who she thought she was, or was she an android if no one recognized her? Who from her camp had she just sentenced to death on the food court floor?

[ajax-pulanski]

“Fucking bitch is loco,” One of the scouts muttered beneath his mask. They started spreading out, two of them circling to Raelyn’s side with guns all trained on her.

Ajax crept closer to the hysterical woman, “Hey, hey we’re not here to hurt you.” He glared back at one of his scouts, “Lower your fucking guns!”

“Ajax for all we know this bitch is gonna go run to that other group we found, she could be a fucking bandit,” The oldest scout argued, “getting all cozy with just so she can put a knife in you!”

Ajax continued closer to the woman and stopped a couple feet away. “What are you talking about? Come on, let’s talk this out. Nobody is trying to hurt anybody.” Ajax tried pushing the woman’s comment about Matt to the back of his head. She was hysterical, and the Matt that Ajax knew couldn’t be the only Matt. Was it a coincidence? “What did you mean about Matt? You know a Matt?”

[raelyn-jarrett]

“Of course I know Matt.” Raelyn wasn’t calming down, and the guns now almost surrounding her only made matters worse. Her eyes were frantically searching for a gap she could escape through. “You don’t know him? That just proves you’re nothing more than a bucket of bolts cyborg piece of shit.” Raelyn ran a hand through her hair, pushing the stringy, faded, matted mess back and exposing her dirty, sallow face fully. 

“If you don’t know him, then you don’t know me, and you’re not my Ajax, you’re just a face. Nothing more than a fucking face and I’m not going to the test labs with the rest of them.” Her back hit the railing of the mall divide. She could jump the perimeter, but that’d only wind her up with broken bones. Instead, she began to notice the wavering in someone’s gun to her left and, luckily, it was one of the smaller frames. 

She didn’t even really wait to see the Ajax-droid’s reaction to anything she said, instead taking one look into the eyes she’d thought she never see again and took a turn, aiming between two people and aiming her shoulder to knock the shakier person. Just before she jumped to slam her body weight, she heard the sound of gunfire.

[ajax-pulanski]

The woman’s sudden transition from the chair to her feet made Ajax jump in his chair. Suddenly his senses all came roaring back from the stillnes they both shared. There was shouting now, his team all rushed to the area and aimed their guns at the woman who was frantically backing away from them.

“Hey! Hey, fucking stop right there!

“Hold it!”

“Don’t move, don’t move!”

“Ajax who is this girl?”

“I fucking said don’t move!”

Ajax stood up from his chair quickly, the chair actually falling back on top of his rifle, “Hey! Lower your guns, what the actual fuck!”

“Ajax she’s moving!”

“Cause you scuzzbuckets are pointing guns at her!” Ajax’s voice boomed, “we’re sitting and you asshats come up with guns drawn? You serious!”

“Keep your goddamn voices down!”

Ajax stood between his team and the woman, slowly approaching her with his hands up to show he wasn’t holding anything, “Hey, hey what’s going on? What’d I say? Was it something I said?” He tried to keep his cool given all the shouting. “Talk to me.”

[raelyn-jarrett]

Raelyn may not have minded death at that moment, but getting pumped full of lead wasn’t how she would opt to go. Markings on peoples’ gas masks started ringing bells for her, but they were aiming guns at her. Her breathing was rapid as Ajax came into view, clearly upset at what had gone down. Raelyn didn’t put anything past the government as far as what they were capable of when it came to catching wanted criminals, especially those possessing the trait.

“You stay the fuck away from me you plastic piece of shit.” Raelyn had her arms up and out straight in front of her, index fingers pointing at the group with guns and the approaching Ajax. “You - Y-Y-You all think you can just - just fool people with faces, but there’s more than faces in the Outlands and I guess y’all better program better in the future if you want to catch someone. I escaped your asses once before and I’ll fuckin’ Houdini that shit again if I have to.” 

Raelyn watched Ajax’s face, emotions getting the better of her. Her chest felt like it was caving in at the thought of him getting taken, tested, scanned, killed, and reproduced. Her Ajax, her partner in crime, the person who’d attempt missions with her even when Matt advised against it. “If you’re real you’d fucking have Matt with you and you don’t. You motherfuckers can’t catch us all otherwise you’d have him.”

[ajax-pulanski]

“You’re making a real good first impression with all these gorilla jokes, you know?” Ajax could feel beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead. The strip mall wasn’t hot in any sense of the word, but the mask left little to no ventilation. A cough filled with mask with just one burst of warm air too many. He tugged at his mask but the straps caught just under his ear. “Whenever we’re out, yeah. Keeps people from identifying us later on and everything. Plus, Matt thought it looked cool.” Ajax finally unhooked one of the straps and removed his mask, setting it on the table. “We’ve got decent faces underneath.” He looked passed her at his group and waved them over.

[raelyn-jarrett]

a

Raelyn’s face changed when she heard the name “Matt,” but seeing the face under the mask made her blood run cold and her adrenaline pump. She stood up abruptly, the chair falling to the floor and shattering the eerie stillness of the abandoned mall. Her next move was to shove the table closer to Ajax. She didn’t have her full strength, but it was enough to put some space between her and him as she clumsily started to quickly walk backward, away from him and the approaching group who now had their guns raised.

Little to no information had gotten to her in the mall, but she had heard rumors of executions, brain washing, and even the creation of android cops with the faces of the fallen rebels with intent to lure them in and reign in dissent. “What did they do to you? What the fuck did they do to you?” Her voice was getting hysterical, ripping at her throat. She could already feel the tears stinging her eyes. He would have recognized her if he was himself.

[ajax-pulanski]

Ajax laughed again, lowering his gun and placing it under his chair. Much of the weight he was lugging around was in his backpack, his arms were sore from the straps of his rifle pulling down on him all day. “Now that’d make one hell of a story.” He said, gesturing towards her. “I’ve gotten worse nicknames before, and met people in hell of a lot weirder places.” He paused and shook his head, “I swear to God I’m not a stripper.”

He reached into his backpack and sifted through his gear, retrieving his canteen and offering it to the woman. “Gorilla water.”

[raelyn-jarrett]

Raelyn grabbed the canteen from his hand, probably rougher than necessary, but the thought didn’t really cross her mind. She unscrewed the top and took a few massive gulps of warm, but clean, water. It had to be the first she’d had in a while, considering her fresh water was few and far between and mostly only came when it rained. The sound of her gulping and the lid clanking against the side. 

“Oh man — that was better than sex.” she stopped, leaving some left in the canteen and wiping her mouth with her arm. “Thanks. Better than rain water on a dirty roof.” As Raelyn screwed the cap back on with shaking fingers, she noticed “AP” carved into the metal just above her thumb. 

“Hey — you’re only one letter away from ape.” She chuckled and handed it back, leaning forward a bit to rest her arms on the tabletop. Some light from above hit her eyes just right, and she shook her bangs into her face to block it somewhat. “Do you guys always just walk around creepily masked?” Raelyn asked, seeing a couple people come closer, also wearing masks.

[ajax-pulanski]

“What? Makeover–me? Nah, nah.” Ajax chuckled. He threw his backpack full of whatever scraps of food he was able to pull together, it made a loud thud on one of the tables. “The most makeup I did was draw tiger whiskers on my face when I was a kid. I couldn’t even color my face orange, I just like… smeared it. If people saw you with that, looking the way you do now. You’d leave em’ confused as hell.” He let himself laugh a bit.

He used a foot to drag one of the chairs out for her, still clinging his rifle in one hand. Ajax let himself take a seat across from the table. The food court was dark, with small beams of light poking through the glass in the roof and catching thick layers of dust in the air. “If you’re not part of some psycho, cannibal cult, yeah we’ll abduct you if we’re feeling nice.” Ajax felt a sense of peace for the few minutes they spoke. Maybe it was a mistake, and she’d put a knife in his gut that he missed. The idea of that didn’t really scare Ajax, if he was being honest, he’d take a knife in his stomach if it meant being able to just talk to somebody. Anybody that wasn’t letting New Hope hit them like it had the Outlanders.

[raelyn-jarrett]

Raelyn grinned at the man’s story but didn’t make any verbal confirmation. She really didn’t want to give him an upper hand or let her guard down in any way. But, none the less, it was human contact and she almost felt like clinging to him to see if maybe she could restart her life — again. There was a sharp pain when she thought about everyone she’d leave behind, but she still wasn’t going to give up hope that someday they’d cross paths.

She sat into the chair with a hard thump, not much grace left in her body. Raelyn signed and pulled her foot up to poke the sole of her boot, seeing if the holes had gotten any worse — not that they’d get any better. New Hope technology was advanced, but not that advanced. “Feelin’ nice? Well you called me ugly, so I guess I won’t get my hopes up, gorilla.” Raelyn chuckled a bit, letting her guard slip for a sly comment. “Ya know, don’t get your feeling hurt there hunkoid. Gorilla is better than blue butted baboon, though I’m scared to know how we’dve met to get that nickname.”