Red, White & Blue | Bucky x Reader

Chapter Eleven

It seems like hours have passed before Marie and Evelyn finally join us in the bunk. I've stopped crying but haven't moved from Georgia's hug.

"Y/n," Evelyn prods, trying to get my attention. I don't respond, keeping my gaze on the ground. "Y/n, he could still be alive."

My head snaps up. "What?"

"We overheard some of the men talking to Colonel Phillips," Marie explains, "they lost quite a few soldiers in the fight, but a few were captured."

"Captured?" I ask. "Do you know where they took them?"

"I'm afraid not," Evelyn admits.

Before either of them can say more, I jump up from my seat on the cot and rush out of the tent. Hope rises in my chest. Bucky could still be alive. Captured, but alive.

"Y/n, wait!" Georgia shouts as my friends follow me through the camp.

I lead us to the administrative tents, leaving the girls outside as I enter. Once inside, I see Colonel Phillips standing by a desk, leaning over some documents and a small map. Around him, his subordinates also stand, discussing the events of Azzano, and leaning against the back wall, there is a much larger map with a location marked.

"Colonel Phillips," I address him.

"Not now, nurse," he responds firmly, not looking up from the papers in front of him.

"Please, sir," I request. "The men from Azzano, do you have a rescue plan?"

Phillips looks up at me then, clearly annoyed that I'm disturbing him.

"Yeah!" he states sarcastically. "It's called winning the war."

"But if you know where they are..." I question, glancing at the map behind him. "Why not—"

"They're thirty miles behind the lines," he says, baffled and angry that I'm questioning his authority. "Through the most heavily fortified territory in Europe. We'd lose more men than we'd save. But I don't expect you to understand that. Now, if you would be so kind, I have work to do and I believe you have somewhere else to be."

"Yes, sir," I reply, storming from the tent and rejoining the girls.

"Well?" Evelyn asks.

"They know where they are, but they won't try rescuing them," I relay. "They're too far behind the lines and it's considered too much of a risk."

"Oh, honey," Georgia says, putting an arm around me. "I'm so sorry."

I let them lead me back to our tent, but my head is moving quickly, formulating a plan of my own.

Later that night, I lay awake in my cot, waiting for everyone to fall asleep. When the moon is high in the sky and a deep quiet settles over the camp, I get up and slip on my field uniform. Georgia stirs in the cot across from me as I finish tying my boots, lifting her head off her pillow.

"Y/n?" she asks, still half asleep. "What are you doing?"

"Shh," I whisper back. "Go back to sleep."

She returns her head to the pillow and promptly resumes snoring. I stand and exit the tent, sneaking out into the dark.

The camp is quiet, the only noise coming from my footfall on the grass and the soft snores coming from the barracks as I pass. I make my way toward the administrative tents, hoping to get a better look at the marked location I saw. My eyes immediately search for the large map as I enter the tent and I slowly inch my way forward, being careful not to bump into anything or make any loud noises. Using only the moonlight, it takes me a second to see that the enemy base is in Kreischberg, Austria.

It'll take a few days to walk from here, I silently tell myself. Unless I can steal a vehicle...

Looking around on the desk for the smaller map Phillips had, I finally find it under some documents. I grab a nearby pen and mark the location of the base before folding up the map and shoving it into my pocket. I carefully exit the tent, making sure everything is the way I found it.

Slowly, I make my way towards the edge of camp, and, to my surprise, I see that there are no men on watch duty. The last two must've left a bit early, eager to return to their beds, while the next two haven't arrived yet. Slipping under the barricade, I walk down the road into the forest and soon come across one of our trucks. Someone must've left it here to help bring in the wounded, then forgot to return for it in all the chaos.

To my luck, as I climb inside the cab, a set of silver keys hang from the ignition. I put the vehicle in neutral and hop out, pushing it further down the road and out of earshot from the camp. Once at a safe distance, I climb back inside and turn the key, and the truck comes to life with a sputter. Before I can talk myself out of my plan, I slam my foot down on the accelerator.

"Hang on, Bucky," I say, clutching the steering wheel as I drive off into the night. "I'm coming."