@gcdsaved & @iculltheweak // challenge accepted
It had taken John longer to catch on to him than Alex thought it would. Weeks of slipping out from under his nose, avoiding the more disgusting of requests with atonements, and the like. Never overtly denying him or refusing, but carefully toeing the line so as not to arouse suspicion. But he’d made a mistake. He hadn’t been able to look away when he overheard a peggie casually talking about what they were going to do with a local. While out checking outposts with a few of John’s men, they’d pulled over beside a stranded vehicle and found the woman that had been waiting beside it. They tied her up, forced her to her knees and demanded to know where anyone else was that had been traveling with her. Alex watched from the tail-end of the truck, not getting involved one way or the other.
Other than the occasional ‘fuck you’ she didn’t seem keen on talking. They kept throwing punches, hitting her across the cheekbone with the end of a rifle, kicking her in the back so she fell face-first on the road before then dragging her back to her knees. All it took was one smart remark about the necessity of the resistance captives for repopulating the world after the collapse and Alex snapped in a calm, detached, disturbing sort of way. There was no warning, he simply acted on the instinct that overwhelmed him. Silent, face stoic, he launched himself at the one who said it, taking him to the ground. He grabs the rifle, yanking it from the peggie’s hands and then tossing it aside before he starts punching him. Hard, fast. Getting enough hits in to bloody his face beyond recognition. The other peggie jumps into action after a few seconds of delay. It was all the time Alex needed to do serious damage. A surprised ‘Jesus Christ!’ warns Alex of his approach. As soon as he feels a hand on his shoulder, he stops punching, and throws an elbow back into the peggie’s groin. The woman watches, shocked by the outburst of violence.
The peggie doubles over, but wises up. There’s no warning, no careful touch. When he hits Alex he hits him in the temple, with the grip of his pistol. Alex crumples to the side, rolling onto the asphalt with a groan. His vision is splotched with black holes and bright white spots, but he catches a glimpse of the peggie returning to the cab of the truck, opening the door and leaning in. It’s a muted sound but he can hear the peggie talking into the radio, asking for backup to come and collect a sinner. Then he hears John’s name, and that gives him a surge of strength. Alex gets his hands underneath himself and pushes off of the ground to his hands and knees. He crawls over the downed peggie, snagging his knife along the way. When he reaches the woman he slices at the ziptie around her wrists. Then urges her to go. The sound of her running gets the man’s attention who had been on the radio. He turns from where he was standing beside the driver’s door and lifts his gun. He takes aim, and then fires wide when Alex tackles him by grabbing him at the knees and yanking him forward. The peggie falls backwards, the bullet goes skyward.
Alex is too disoriented to do anything more, and the peggie takes advantage of it. He hits him twice more over the head before a third strike knocks him out.
When he comes to he’s in a familiar place, but surprisingly not tied down. John’s ranch. Not the bunker. Not yet. Disobedience had to mean bunker. He sits up, crusted blood along his hairline cracking with the movement. The peggie must’ve gotten some good hits in to break skin. Alex glances around, trying to piece together what happened. He’d been laid on the couch, left there to recover, but he’s not alone. John is lurking just out of his peripheral vision. Which is pulsing in time with his pulse, a sort of blurred then focused then blurred again film around everything. Each time his heart beats everything does this weird shifting of focus. Shit did he have a concussion?
Even though it might make him throw up he scoots forward, intending to stand up, but John fixes him with a look that speaks volumes. So he stays put. It’s when he looks away from John that he realizes there’s someone else here.
Alex hadn’t given a second glance to the shock of red and green on the other side of his peripheral vision. He hadn’t thought about how out of place the shapes and colors were until he got more of a look at it. His head snaps to the side so quickly that it makes everything spin.
“Jacob.” Why was Jacob here? Alex’s stomach drops.
