the snort that lodged in the back of his throat wasn’t loud enough to bounce back off the metal walls of the bunker, but it was just loud enough for linny to hear. he still had that pride about him - the same pride that had made mince-meat of his shoulder and had seen his whitetails slaughtered.
where she once would have had pity for that consuming pride, linny now felt nothing but annoyance at it. this wasn’t day one in the bunker. they were months into this new reality now, things had to start changing soon, because he and wheaty were still too closely entwined and she wasn’t going to watch him drag wheaty down with him.
‘ you were wrong, eli. do you understand that? wrong. the father didn’t make the collapse happen. he saw what was coming and you chose not to listen. that’s on you. ’
the snort that broke the silence wasn’t eli’s this time, it was linny’s and she had to do her utmost to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the ceiling of the bunker - she was well aware of her place in the project. she was one of hundred of pawns
‘ i might be a gullible kid eli, but at least i was willing to listen. you weren’t and you led the whitetails to their deaths - you nearly led wheaty to his death. ’
ears straining to make sure there was not distant murmuring of voices or echoing footsteps and linny took a step towards the older man, canting her head to the side
‘ you think you’re so much different from jacob? stop ... if you told wheaty to jump, he’d ask how high. if someone took a shot at you, he’d throw himself in front of it ... he believes every thing you tell him. every syllable that falls from your mouth; your own perfect little pawn. ’
‘ i will be a player in this game eli. and do you know what my role is right now? the task jacob gave me - to make you both see and hear the fucking reality that’s all around you. now i realise how hard that’s going to be, but we’re here for the long-haul and i’ve got years to make that happen, and trust me - i will. ’
so this was the guy who’d led the whitetails before wheaty? and the guy who’d been in the bullet farm ... shit. he’d dropped a ball on that one. probably should have spent a little more time figuring out just who tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum had had in there.
‘ i hear you’re the man with about sixteen lives, if the tales are anything to go by? ’
Out of all people from her past to make a resurgence, it had to be Eli. She tried to deceive him, tried to lure him into a trap and while it failed, she’d succeeded numerous times before with his people. Dozens of lives were on her hands. Their weight lessened over the years, but she never forgot what she’d done, the person she became. It was true, Jacob had moulded her into the Lady in Red, a weapon without sharp edges but just as deadly, and yet she did nothing to stop it. She was part of the problem. She didn’t fight it anymore, merely accepting the role that had been carved for her. And she never left, still working alongside the eldest Seed, still tied to him by an invisible string.
Eli’s survival would... complicate things. He was supposed to die, each measure carefully taken by Jacob to ensure his death, but here he stood, alive and pissed off.
Sara grunted as she was shoved against the wall. Her arrow fell to the ground at their feet and Eli kept the hand that held her bow pinned, rendering her weapon useless. Teeth grit, she turned her head to meet his fiery gaze. Age had worn both of them down, but it seemed to harden Eli—his eyes dark like coals and his skin tough and weathered.
Fingers curling, she made a move to squirm against Eli’s hold, but thought better of it. Any more commotion and the guards would be on them.
“—Not unless you want to die in the process,” she snapped in response, her voice low so only Eli could hear. “They wouldn’t even hesitate.”
29. the one where your soulmate’s ghost haunts you when they die.
*Also under a read more because I have no sense of control or when to stop.
There was little way of knowing who your soulmate was until it was too late. Rook heardplenty of stories about it from other people. Some had gotten lucky, had foundtheir soulmate before they died and then when they did pass it was hard but they at least had been able tolive a life together and knew it was their destiny to be together once more. She sometimes wondered if she’d already mether soulmate, but never pursued them because she was a guarded person. The typeto make friends, and get along with people, but never pursue anything behind aone-night stand or friends with benefits type of situation. Not that she evenallowed much of those either. Whenshe gets to Hope County there’s a small part of her that wonders if the personshe was meant to be with was here, in Montana.
It’s a little easier, for that reason, to get alongwith the locals. There are a few that she wants nothing to do with. Drubman Seniorcomes to mind, but overall she falls in easily with the locals and they arehappy to have someone from the city to tease. Though as one mournfully pointedout at the Spread Eagle one night, “You’renothing like what I would’ve figured.” Which she took as a compliment andan insult all rolled into one. There were plenty of outdoors-types in the city,especially in Washington and Oregon and she just happened to be one of them.She easily adapted to the lack of GPS, to spotty cell-service. She’d need tomemorize the routes for working with the sheriff’s department and the ambulancecrew as well. Creed kept active and would often pass early morning fishermen onher runs who got used to seeing her sprinting through the countryside.
A soulmate wasn’t at the top of her to-find list –– to do,her mind supplied in a helpful inner joke, but even if she wanted one then she’d have been hard pressed to locate them afterthe Reaping. Now, more than ever, she’s locked herself away behind the title ofthe Deputy, of Rook who was going to do what she could to help whoever shecould along the way. It’s not long before she gets to Eli’s region and meetsthe Whitetail militia –– introduced by way of Eli cutting her free from Jacob’schair. She’s too disoriented from the bliss, from the music and windinghallways that she was forced to run through over and over again to notice it.The way she so easily leaned into him, let a stranger take on her nearlydead-weight. When she wakes up on a couch, there are a few people talking overher but she remembers his face. More clearly than she did the kid who had foundher lying on her side in a pool of blood.
He tells her to get some rest, and for the first timesince the helicopter crash, she trustssomeone enough to close her eyes and sleep. After learning more about Eli andhis militia, she lingers in the mountains –– it’s the last place she wants tobe after Jacob scrambled her brains around, but she can’t abandon him when he’dhelped her. They get along and work well together with Eli telling her where togo and who needed help the most. She followed his lead, and of course Jacob Seed noticed it. Teased herabout it when he next got her stuck behind bars. Rook tried not to let him knowhow much it scared her –– the idea of Eli being used against her. When Stacibroke her out and showed her the corkboard with Eli’s picture and her namebeneath it with red ink scrawled over it, her heart had plummeted.
She should warn him, should tell him that she can’t betrusted, and she does. Not that Eli listens. He believes in her, has more faithin her than any other person has in her entire life and it makes this all theharder to deal with. Rook ––– Sam –––had never been driven to tears in her life, not that she could remember. Notsince she was a kid, but the thought of Jacob puppeting her like a marionette tokill someone she cared about was enough to make her eyes burn. Only at night,when she was curled up in her sleeping bag, but it was bad enough knowing howmuch he meant to her and how powerless she felt in the wake of Jacob Seed. Soshe fights him, fights the Soldier more than she’s fought anything or anyoneelse in her entire life. Rook struggles against the conditioning and thetrials, but none of it matters. Just like Staci had described. She does it, shecounts out the kills and it ends with a bullet through Eli’s head. There may bea small mercy in knowing it was fast, in that there wasn’t any suffering butshe can’t forget his last words –– the panic in his eyes, but the faith that she wouldn’t pull the trigger.
Then she did anyway.
Samantha Creed might have had a chance, at living, atbeing herself before killing the oneman that had reminded her of the fact. The moment Eli collapses, blood haloing hishead behind him, she feels a profound sense of loss. He’d been important toher, still was, but this went deeper than friendship –– than what might’ve beensomething more. She’s struck mute bythe pain of losing him, her . . . Wheaty’s in her face with a gun, shouting,crying out. Rook won’t stop him from shooting her. Where he is loud, overt withhis pain, she’s silent. Her tears leave tracks down the sides of her face, andTammy is telling her to go to leaveand kill Jacob or else they’d finish the job. Watery eyes dart towards Eli, lyingon the ground, with Wheaty crouched above him and holding his hand. Her mouthdrops open, but Tammy shoves her towards the hatch.
It’s unlike anything she’d have expected to feel. Wasit worse because she was the one to kill him? Did that mean her suffering was goingto be compounded? What sort of hell awaited the person who murdered their soulmate? She has yet to see him, but it may be the song interfering. The red haze thatpaints her surroundings with fire and pain. Jacob Seed coos at her, into herthoughts that she should’ve killed herself –– saved her friends the trouble.Tells her he doesn’t care about dying, but she pushes through. When the lastgenerator is destroyed, the music cut off abruptly, she staggers forward, intofamiliar surroundings and she sees him.Eli is standing there, a heartbroken look on his face and Rook can’t handlethis right now. She can’t. She runspast the specter of Eli and makes her way to the mountain where Jacob takesshots at her from. He’s good, manages to clip her shoulder once and then gets agood shot at her leg. It makes climbing the rockface difficult, but shemanages.
Eli’s at the top, standing behind Jacob and watchingher, brow creased with worry as she lunges at Jacob –– all teeth and feral energy.She’s running on empty and Jacob knows it, easily countering her and pinningher to the ground. “Did you really thinkyou were free?” He asks, “That you wouldn’tmake your sacrifice?” Rookscreams at him then, “Fuck you!” It’s the first time she’s beenso aggressive with him and he blinks, surprised by the sudden ferocity and herdecision to finally speak. Her eyes flick towards Eli who walks towards them,kneeling down and gesturing towards the knife at Jacob’s side. It’s withinreach.
Jacob sees the way her eyes track something that isn’tthere and his lips twitch into a grim smile for a moment. “Oh I get it now. There’s no turning back now deputy, you can try andrun from it, can even kill me, but you know what?” He leans closer and Elinods once. “I’ll always be there insideyour head, and he’ll always be here, haunting you where I don’t.” And shegrabs the handle of the knife, sliding it free before she slams it into Jacob’sside, just below his ribcage. He wheezes out a harsh laugh, doesn’t fight it ––like he expected it and when hestaggers backwards, he looks happy.Or as happy as a man like Jacob Seed could be. Rook sits up, breathing heavily,her own blood soaked into the dirt from where he’d shot her and now mixing withthe red dripping from his side. Jacob might be able to survive the knife wound,if he had left the blade there but he yanks it out and drops it.
Rook watches as the life bleeds from him, and only whenit’s her and the ghost of Eli on the mountaintop does she curl up and cry intothe tops of her knees. Hope County had taken everything from her. Even that which she didn’t know she alreadyhad.
“I’m sorry.” Sheapologizes to the air, to the ghost of a man who deserved better than her. Rookapologizes over and over again, the word mixed up with her sobbing as sheignores the radio call from Tammy asking about what had happened, about Jacob ––the bunker.
‘ why are there eight power-sockets in the bathroom? like right next to the toilet and shower ... i know you’re an engineer and all that, but like - isn’t that a hazard? ’
Send me 🚿 for a starter of my character catching yours just out of the shower/bath
earphone dangling from one ear, the other giving anyone she passed a demo of the song she was listening to - way too loud, but what teenager ever cared about the volume? besides, she was trying to learn the song. best way to learn anything new?
repetition.
humming along to the first few chords of the tune, linny was on autopilot as she maneuvered her way up to the main level of the wolf’s den. the woman on the track started singing after a few bars of instrumental and linny was mumbling along with it, paying no need to the racks of good as she passed through the food store.
stepping over some new bags of rice that hadn’t quite found a home on the shelves yet, the teenager made a mental note to see if she could do some sorting in the place after she borrowed wheaty’s guitar. it wouldn’t take too long, actually maybe she could do a full stock-take?
it’d kill a few hours and at least it was something that would be useful to eli or tammy?
yeah, good - she could swing by wheaty’s room, grab his guitar, then stop by his work station and grab a refill pad to write on - he was off out with walker on a mission, so he wouldn’t mind.
‘... i’ve been sleepwalking, been wanderin’ all night ...’
the guitar on the track still strummed along artist’s solemn lyrics and linny was half-singing and half-mumbling the words alongside the track, bracing a hand on the entrance to wheaty’s room, she swung inwards and grabbed the guitar from its perch in the corner just inside the doorway. swinging back out again, linny had just enough time to loop her arm through the instrument’s strap before she walked full-pelt into someone.
jumping with surprise, she was thankful her arm was already through the strap because, sure as shit, she would have dropped wheaty’s guitar otherwise ... if she hadn’t dropped it from the shock of someone being right there and her being shunted out of her own little world, then the teenager was certain she would have dropped it the second she looked up and saw who she’d walked into.
eli.
no biggie, not like he was a stranger, or she was up to something she wasn’t meant to be doing, she was completely allowed free roam of the den ... but he was ... wet.
and only had a towel around his waist.
and he had a lot of tattoos ... and scars. and muscles ... had his arms always been like that? the shirt only showed off his forearms, which were covered in tattoos.
he had abs too.
and he was staring at her just as much as she was staring at him.
‘ i ... i, uh, i was sleepwalking — fuck, no. sorry. that’s the song. i meant stocktake ... or that’s what i wanted the guitar for. ’ nope, that wasn’t right either. wow, one flustered second and all her words tried to jump out together, huh?
pulling a face at her own mental-jumble. linny narrowed her gaze, leaning in closer as she spotted why something seemed a little different.
‘ — did you cut your hair and shave? ’
@eli-whitetail
(also tagging @whitetail-wheaty because your adoptive pops is kinda a dilf)
He was a light sleeper - it came from a combination of his years in the military, mixed together with the comings and goings of living in the Den. And the constant pressure of being hunted by Jacob and his peggies added to that habit too.
So Eli started awake when he heard the footsteps, sitting upright and already half out of the small bed when he saw Linny. Sitting back on the small camp bed beside the map table, he rubbed his eyes and offered a tired smile at the teenager.
“Don’t worry about it, you okay?” Eli looked Linny up and down, automatically suspicious as to why she was creeping around the bunker this hour of the night.
she had asked him for something to do - a purpose or chore to keep her occupied in the narrow hallways of the wolf’s den, but what he’d asked had left her reeling; point out john seed’s silos so that the deputy dutch was helping could destroy them.
it was a line in the sand that she’d shied away from. fear and maybe the lingering grasp of faith had her cowed and stuttering over an excuse of not knowing the locations - knowing the whole time that eli could tell she was lying.
but guilt had crept in and refused to let her sleep. one of wheaty’s shirts hung around her frame, linny had traversed the quiet halls of the wolf’s den in her bare feet, trying not to wake up any of the slumbering whitetails until she’d reached the monitor room.
shaking her head at the man’s question, linny moved over to the map spread out on the table - one eye watching all the different feeds. picking up a pencil, she leaned down to draw a black cross on the map, just to the north west of rae-rae’s pumpkin farm.
‘ rae-rae’s, strickland farm, red farm, i think there’s one over by kellet’s cattle place ... there’s one at john’s ranch too. ’
