verb.
To fall back under pressure. To shrink back physically or emotionally.
noun.
The kickback of a gun upon firing.
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It takes a stubborn mind to cling to their humanity when the world seeks to strip it away.
It takes a desperate soul to reach f...
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The country backroads were quiet, in a way that might have almost been peaceful, had Kat's nerves not been so on edge as her bike whipped past the rolling fields of Eastern Germany. She could feel her entire body tensing when vehicles passed her in the opposite lane, but it never came to anything. She didn't meet any of the checkpoints or patrol cars she had been afraid of – the authorities must be keeping to the main roads. It meant she hadn't needed to stop to send any warnings to the boys who were following in her tracks, and she hoped it meant that they weren't being watched.
It wasn't a particularly long drive – or it wouldn't have been if they had dared to take the Autobahn, but the winding lanes added extra minutes to the ticking clock, stealing away the time they needed to reach Siberia. She could pick up a little speed now that she was running parallel to a train track, but it would make little difference.
She hated this, she hated the anticipation of knowing what was coming, and the frustrating sensation of being so helpless. Granted, she was currently doing everything in her power to hurl herself towards the upcoming fight as quickly as possible, but it still felt as though she wasn't doing enough. Her hands itched, aching to curl into fists, her muscles remained in a constant state of tension, ready to run, to lash out, anything. Sitting bent over the handlebars of her bike didn't feel like enough, she needed to be doing more, and still she knew there would be more waiting to come. The flight to Russia would undoubtably be worse than this – she would have to sit in a confined space for hours, simply waiting for the chaos to begin. She didn't doubt that the serum running through her veins was a contributing factor to her restlessness.
But at least Bucky would be there, if everything went to plan. If anything over the last agonising twenty-four hours had been able to soothe her anxious mind and distract her from thoughts of what was to come, it was him.
It wasn't even the thoughts of longing kisses that distracted her – as pleasant as those thoughts may be – it was the reassurance of his presence. The grounding warmth at her side that somehow reminded her that things would be alright. It was something she had missed so keenly over the last six months, that suddenly regaining it now almost left her reeling. The abrupt shifts between how safe she had felt waking in his arms in the early hours of the morning and now the teeth-gritting tension she experienced when left alone were staggering.
That tension only heightened when she caught sight of the concrete road bridge arcing over both her narrow country lane and the train track up ahead, the phone in her pocket vibrating demandingly against her ribs as she approached the coordinates Steve had marked as the meeting place for their contact.
The space under the industrial columns of concrete was deserted, however, leaving Kat to pull her bike to a cautious halt as she cast her gaze around the empty fields surrounding her. Perhaps she was early, she reasoned as she tugged her helmet from her head and shook her hair out, releasing a long sigh as she realised that would mean more waiting.
