UNCHARTED TRAAASH! @s1cparvism4gna - Tumblr Blog

I Like You A Lot

WARNINGS: cursing and violence

Tags: @desertvvitch, @courtenbae , @ammaliatrici

Chapter 21

Sunny’s POV

Orca kicked his way out of the helicopter, clutching the Tusk in his gloved hands. The second he noticed us, he looked around for something to defend himself with. He spotted his gun a few feet away from him and immediately began to launch himself into the dirt for it. Nadine snarled and pulled her gun from her hip with the quickness. “Don’t.” She said simply, pointing the gun at him, her nostrils flaring. He peered up at her from his broken visors. With a disheveled grunt, he sat himself up against the helicopter.

“Ma’am.” He sighed, clutching the Tusk close to him as he breathed raggedly. I watched as Nadine kicked his gun away from him, still keeping her aim at him. “You’re looking well—”

“What the hell have you done with my company?” She snarled.

“Made it profitable, for starters.” He answered smugly.

“I think that was a rhetorical question, love.” Chloe commented, also joining at her side.

“I should’ve shot you back on that godforsaken island.” Nadine growled, tightening her grip on the gun.

“I wish you had. Would’ve spared us the sight of watching you turn tail and run—”

“You’re still breathin’, right?” I said, my hand resting on the handle of my gun.

“Not for long.” Nadine mumbled before all three of us pulled our guns on him, taking a step forward with intent to kill. But we were stopped.

“Alright, alright! Just…. hash your shit out on your own time, okay?” Sam called from behind us before pushing between us to reach a hand out. “The tusk, please?”

“You three? Working together?” Orca chuckled weakly. “Either you’ve got a piss-poor memory or you’re even more desperate than I thought—”

“Jeez, I’m just gettin’ it from all sides today, huh?” Sam grumbled to me before walking away. I gave a short chuckle before adjusting my aim.

“I’m not the one reduced to hustling weapons to ragtag insurgents!” Nadine argued.

“That was always your problem… Thinking too small.” Orca replied with a bloody grin. “You really think I would’ve traded this in for munitions?” The way he said that left a bad feeling in my chest.

“What do you me—” I began to ask.

“I don’t give a shit! Hand over the tusk!” Nadine snapped.

“Hell’s bells…. You’re gonna miss the fireworks, man.” He said eerily, pointing to the train that had just begun to leave the rail yard. My heart skipped as my brows knitted together. I looked to Chloe and I could tell she was thinking the same thing I was.

“I won’t ask twice.” I heard Nadine say.

“Fine.” Orca sighed. “Catch.” He suddenly tossed the tusk towards her and quickly began to reach behind his back for his firearm.

“GUN!” I heard Sam shout. I snapped my gaze back to the man before me just in time to watch him pull his weapon on her. But Sam quickly dove to push Nadine out of the way when he pulled the trigger. They landed to the ground as she put four— shit, maybe six— bullets in Orca’s chest. And he fell limp.

“Nice shot.” Sam murmured.

“Thanks.” Nadine sighed.

“Pattern’s just a little wide but—”

“Get off of me.” Nadine ordered and Sam backed away from her.

“Yeah, sure.” He grumbled, getting up as I walked over to Orca’s now dead body to retrieve the tusk. I ogled it a moment before handing it to Chloe, which she handed to Nadine— completely bypassing Sam. I could see something was troubling Chloe. Her blue eyes narrowed in thought as she paced. I looked over my shoulder as Sam and Nadine began to squabble over pay cuts. In the corner of my eye I spotted a piece of folded up paper. Just out of curiosity, I picked it up and unfolded it. It was a detailed blueprint of….. ‘No… That can’t be right….’ I thought, straining my eyes for a better look. My brain began to put two and two together and a panic began to set in.

“Fuck…” I gasped, aloud. Chloe turned to face me as my face fell.

“What’s up, China?” She asked, approaching me. I was so shaken, I could barely speak. I simply handed her the blueprints and let her read them over. Her eyes widened and her prominent brows narrowed as the words of a harsh reality fell from her lips. “It’s a bomb…” she said. I suddenly heard the two idiots behind me stop their argument for a moment.

“What?” Nadine asked, wanting to be sure she heard correctly. I turned my head and locked eyes with Sam, sadly shaking my head as I stressfully dug my fingers into my now messy curls. He made his way over to us.

“Asav… The bastard traded the Tusk for a bomb.” Chloe told them, meeting them halfway, placing the blueprints in Sam’s hands. He opened them up and his relatively hard expression softened up a bit.

“Fireworks….” Nadine recalled Orca saying before his timely death. When I glanced up at Sam, he seemed as shaken as I was. But I could see the gears in his head moving him to the wrong thing.

“Th-Th—This is big…” he stuttered.

“Yeah— no shit.” I muttered, throwing my arms over my head, folding them on top of my head and pacing. Chloe looked horrified.

“Those tracks run right through the city…. Through the market…” she said softly.

“So then we find the nearest town. Notify the authorities—” Nadine suggested. If we had more time and lived in a perfect world, that would’ve been the smart thing to do. But that just wasn’t true on either fronts.

“It’ll be too late.” I said. “With that bomb type… if it goes off, it’ll kill thousands…”

“And...that is a terrible shame but—” Sam said solemnly, but I knew where he was going with his words. I felt an anger boiling inside me.

“Don’t say it—” I begged quietly for a moment.

“But we did get what we came for…” Sam continued. I scoffed and walked off. “Sunny—”

“You can’t be serious!” I snapped. “Those are innocent people out there!”

“Yeah, I know but Sun—” He tried to reason with me but his reasons weren’t good enough for me.

“You didn’t see when this plane dropped bombs over the city. You did see that mushroom cloud and the fire or hear the screams—”

“Sunny, this isn’t our fight!” He yelled above me.

“WELL IT SHOULD BE!” I screamed. I stared at him a moment in disbelief, my bruised lips trembling.

“Ladies, please talk some sense into her! Chloe?” He looked at Chloe but all she could do was shrug and pace herself. “Nadine…” She looked between the two of us, knowing exactly what we were thinking. Before she could open her mouth, Chloe had already made up her mind. And once she did that, there was no going back. I knew that. She picked up an assault rifle from the ground and cocked it back to check how much ammunition was left before slinging it over her shoulder.

“Wait— you’re not seriously thinking about going after that train, are you?” She asked her. When she didn’t answer, she huffed. “Okay… fine. Do you have a plan?”

“Evidently, that doesn’t seem to be much of a requirement in this organization.” Sam mumbled, looking down at me. Quite frankly, I was disappointed. But what could I expect from someone who’s only ever had to look out for himself.

“Seriously?! You’re just going to let her do this alone?!” Nadine exclaimed at him.

“I… I don’t know!” He shouted defensively.

“She won’t be alone.” I commented, picking up a gun myself and patting bodies down for ammo. I had made up my mind from the very beginning; wishing I could do something. Now was my chance. “I’m goin’ with you.” I told Chloe.

“LIKE HELL YOU ARE!” Sam roared, grabbing my arm.

“WELL I AIN'T STAYIN’ HERE!” I snapped, snatching myself from his grasp. “NOT WHEN I CAN ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING TO HELP THESE PEOPLE, SAM! SOMEONE OTHER THAN MYSELF! But I guess I wouldn’t expect you to understand that.” He stared at me in surprise. Maybe even a bit hurt. But nonetheless, I turned to my friend again, speaking very clearly. “I’m goin’ with you, Chloe. Just tell me what to do.” I said, joining her side.

“No.” Nadine opposed. “No— you said so yourself. This is not our fight! Even if you two blockheads catch that train, what next then? Hmm? Disarm the bomb?!—”

“I’m equipped with the knowledge to do so. I’ve sold and put together bombs like these in the past. I can do it again—” I said rather confidently, my face still as stone.

“That’s not the point, Sunny— this is an impossible job.” Sam objected.

“Maybe so but we’ve got to try, Sam.” Chloe said.

“Frazer—” Nadine began but she was once more interrupted.

“You’re right. This isn’t our fight. It’s my fight.” Chloe insisted. Nadine looked at her in surprise. “That bomb detonates, it’ll spark a civil war. I can’t walk away. I’m tired of walking away…” The look Nadine gave her was absolutely heartbreaking. Her eyes practically glasses over at the thought of losing her.

“You’ll die…” she said weakly.

“I can live with that.” Chloe responded, solemnly yet proud of the decision she’d made. It was the same feeling I had I’m sure. If we died saving thousands of innocents, what were two deaths to anyone?

“Hey—” Chloe said, clearing her throat and trying to end the conversation on a lighter note. There was no time to waste. “Save my share of the Tusk, ‘kay?” She smiled before kissing her cheek and starting for the Jeep. I took a deep breath and turned on my heel to follow when I heard Sam’s withered voice.

“Sunny…” I heard him say. I looked up at him as he approached me. I took a deep breath, trying to ignore the vulnerable look in his eyes; like he might lose me, too. “This is crazy…” he chuckled faintly.

“Yeah. Yeah, it is.” I replied with a relaxed and awkward smile. I’d made peace with dying a long time ago. If it was time for me to go, it was just my time.

“I… I don’t know what you want me to say here…” he said nervously. I placed a hand on his cheek and looked into his bright puppy dog eyes.

“Don’t say anything. Don’t try and stop me either. I need to do this.” I said. We stared at each other for a second before he engulfed my small body in his arms, hugging me tightly before I kissed him deeply. I could feel a small tear fall down his cheek and I wiped it away quickly, not reacting as so to keep his dignity or whatever.

“I love you.” He murmured against my lips as his forehead rested against mine. My heart finally felt full. I smiled before pulling away and hopping into the backseat of the Jeep with Chloe.

I took a deep breath without looking back and placed a hand on Chloe’s shoulder. “Let’s get ‘er dun, Chloe.” I whispered to her.

“Let’s.” She said with a smile. “Sunflower…. Thank you for this. If you change your mind, I completely understa—”

“I’m not goin’ nowhere.” I said to her. Suddenly, in the corner of my eye, I could see Sam approaching the Jeep. Without a word, he climbed into the passenger seat. The two of us just looked at him in surprise.

“What?” He said nonchalantly. “There’s no way you’re leaving me back there with her.” He said, nodding towards Nadine, who was left pacing herself. We both smiled widely and I threw my arms around his neck, kissing his cheek.

“Plus somebody's gotta look out for you.” He said to me. I’d fallen for him even more now. Then suddenly, Nadine appeared by the side of the car without us even noticing, scaring the bejeezus out of Sam.

“Move.” She said.

“No.” He replied plainly. She pulled her hand gun out and pointed it at him.

“I said, move.” She reiterated.

“Jesus, okay…” he frowned, hopping in the backseat with me as she took his place. Chloe smiled at her broadly and she simply replied with a shrug.

“What?” Nadine asked. But there was no reason to question her. So with that, Chloe started up the engine and began our path on the rough terrain to follow the train.

Read More on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26555698/chapters/73386069