Tracker (Part 1)
Masterlist. Janiya.
Taglist: @voidwhump (for the forced stitch removal!).
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“Janiya,” he says quietly, because Gavin and Ivy are loudly arguing near the door and the girl in front of him flinches every time their voices rise. Her face is a mess – is a mutilation, and his stomach roils at the sight of coarse black thread stretched haphazardly over puffy lips.
Her eyes are wide, red, and wet. She is trembling, even tucked into the corner, her knees raised to her chin. He can still remember the way everyone fell silent when Gavin emerged from the compound, his eyes full of cold, murderous fury as Janiya trailed meekly behind him.
“Janiya, can you hear me?” he asks. He is crouched a couple of feet away from her, careful not to make any threatening movements. Sometimes she looks at him like she’s seeing someone else and Darin forces himself to go still until her gaze refocuses.
“Janiya?” She nods and uncurls slightly.
“You’re hurt,” he says slowly, but despite his careful tone, she presses further into the corner, her eyes going wide. She begins to shake her head, trembling, until Darin eases back another step.
“Okay,” he says, raising his hands, “I’m not going to touch you, Janiya, see?” She watches him warily. Gavin’s voice drops in tone, and so does Ivy’s.
“Are you hurt anywhere else?” he asks. She shakes her head no. The movement causes blood to seep from one of the stitches and Darin has to breathe slowly to avoid losing his lunch.
“Can I take a look at –”
Janiya shakes her head violently and Darin sighs. She refuses to let any of them close to her. She refuses to let any of them touch her. And the stitches crisscross across her face, jutting out from skin stretched taut and glistening red wherever the light strikes them.
“Janiya,” he says, trying a different tack, “You’re hurting. I can help.” She watches him like he’s a wolf trying to get closer to the fire.
“It’ll get infected if it stays in too long,” he warns, but she stays curled up, her eyes tracking him as a threat, and he straightens up to move away. He’ll try again later. Perhaps when they’re back at headquarters. The wounds will get infected, but the damage will be worse if she fights him and giving her some time to calm down will help.
Unfortunately, they don’t have the time.
It’s Ash who speaks, slicing through the rest of the muttering with a terse, “They’re tracking us.”
“What?” Ivy asks as Gavin demands, “How?”
“Give me a moment to trace it,” Ash mutters, fiddling with the device in his hands, but everyone in the room is already turning to stare at Janiya.
Her breaths grow fast and shallow and she presses back into the corner like if she tries hard enough, she’ll disappear.
“Janiya, did they tag you with a tracker?” Gavin asks.
She shakes her head violently, but her hands creep over her mouth. Ash is moving towards her and he stops, pointing the sensor at her face.
“Janiya,” Darin says quietly. She presses back further in the corner. “Janiya, we need to get the tracker out.”
She keeps shaking her head, her eyes skittering around the room as she curls up further.
“We can’t lead them back to the base,” Ash says, and he half-turns to the door, “They’ll be here in five minutes. Maybe less.”
Gavin’s face is a mask of stone. Ivy is biting her lips. Rita is watching Janiya, cool and still.
“Gavin…” Darin starts, unsure of what he’s going to say.
“We need to get rid of the tracker,” Ash says, his tone wavering between determined and hesitant. They’re all staring at Janiya now, who looks about three seconds away from hyperventilating.
“We can’t let them follow us,” Gavin says finally. And everyone knows that leaves only two options.
They won’t leave Janiya behind to the very same people that did this to her. Unfortunately, option number two isn’t much better.
Janiya scrabbles further into the corner, but there’s nowhere to go. Her breaths are too high and too fast. Darin approaches slowly.
“Janiya, we need to get the stitches out so we can remove the tracker,” Darin says, hands out, voice calm, “I’m going to do it as fast as possible, okay?”
Janiya shakes her head no.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Darin says, because she needs to calm down, he needs her to calm down. “Please, Janiya, we need to get it out.”
Janiya is definitely hyperventilating now, her face is pale and her eyes are wide and she’s shaking, her gaze darting all over the room, her hands covering her face.
“Three minutes,” Ash says unhelpfully. Kai is at the window, watching for hostiles.
“Darin,” Gavin says, his voice low.
Darin knows. His stomach twists, but they’re out of time.
“Ash,” he says softly, “Ivy.” They both come to his side. Janiya stares at him, her eyes glittering. Fresh blood has begun to leak from her wounds.
“Grab her arms,” he says.
Janiya’s eyes widen – she tries to fight, but Ash and Ivy drag her out of the corner. She struggles violently until they push her to the floor. Darin straddles her, pinning her down to get the best access to her mouth.
She’s shuddering, trying desperately to yank her arms out of Ash and Ivy’s grip, trying to buck him off, slamming her head violently out of the way of his hands. Her eyes are blown wide in panic and she’s no longer listening – Darin can’t keep ahold of her jaw and cut the threads out at the same time.
“Gavin,” he calls, and their leader comes to kneel at Janiya’s head. He grasps her face carefully, thumbs curling high on her cheekbones and fingers splaying down her cheeks, holding her in place.
Janiya stares at him in deep, betrayed terror.
Darin works fast – because they don’t have any time, because he can feel the nausea rising with every stifled whimper, because Janiya struggles fiercely and almost tears out the stitches as he works.
He works fast, but he’s still careful. Each thread is clipped precisely, freeing up her lips bit by bit. He doesn’t bother to remove the threads, they don’t have time for that and Janiya’s hysteria has welled over into straight-out terror.
Three-fourths of the way through, she stops struggling. She stares blankly at the ceiling, tears dripping down her face in tune to shallow breaths.
Gavin’s face looks like it’s been carved from stone. Ivy is looking away, unable to watch, but Ash is staring like it’s a punishment.
Darin finishes cutting through the stitches and jams his fingers into her mouth before she can bite down. He has no time to be gentle, so he grabs the phone Ash hands him and shines a flashlight into Janiya’s mouth.
Something is attached to the last tooth on the back left. Darin attempts to get it out by himself as Janiya chokes underneath him.
He tilts the flashlight to get a better look.
“I can see them,” Kai calls out, “About thirty seconds out.”
Darin breathes in, slow and deep, and out, steady and firm. It’s a wisdom tooth.
Ash wordlessly hands him the pliers. Gavin’s face has gone bloodless. Ivy looks like she’s going to be sick.
Janiya takes one look at the tool in his hand before something shutters behind her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Darin breathes out, and holds her mouth open as wide as it’ll go. She starts struggling again, incomprehensible pleas coming out gargled and strangled.
Darin squeezes the pliers around the last tooth –
Takes a breath –
And pulls.
Janiya screams.
“We need to leave now,” Kai yells as the gunfire starts.
Darin throws the bloody tooth-and-tracker at Ash, who exchanges it for a wad of cloth that Darin presses to the gaping hole at the back of Janiya’s mouth. “Bite down,” he instructs as he gets off, fervently hoping she doesn’t swallow it.
Gavin jumps to the door to exchange fire and Ivy pulls Janiya to her feet. She is still crying – eyes wide and red, face pale and blotchy, black thread and blood shining around her lips – and she stumbles after Ivy with a face blank with shock.
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Part 2.