Save Me || Bucky Barnes

12

The next morning, I'm woken up by someone nudging my shoulder. I let out a small groan and turn over, ignoring whoever hit me. 

"Charlotte, get up." my older brother hisses in my ear. 

"I don't want to, leave me alone." I reply, my head still pounding from last night. 

"No, get up now. We have to leave." he insists. I open my eyes and stare at my brother, who was kneeling beside my head and looked very mad. I stuck my tongue out at him before I pushed myself up into a sitting position. However, as soon as I sit up, my stomach churns. 

"Oh no." I whisper. 

"What's wrong?" Steve asks, raising an eyebrow. I ignore him and stand up, looking around for an empty space. 

"Charlotte?" Steve calls, earning the attention of Bucky, Dum Dum, and a few other people. I find a spot and race towards it. Leaning against the back of the truck, I empty my already partially empty stomach. 

"Oh, god, Charlotte." Steve sighs, running around the back of the truck. I wipe my mouth before looking up at my older brother. I move away and sit on the other side of the truck. 

"Is she okay, Steve?" Bucky calls out, running over to us. I close my eyes as I lean back against the truck. A cool hand on my forehead makes me open my eyes.

"She's burning up." Steve mutters as Bucky kneels down next to him. Bucky gives me a small smile before looking at Steve. 

"What are we going to do?" he whispers to my older brother. 

"There's not much we can do until we get back to the camp in Italy." Steve sighs.

"No, guys, I'm fine." I reassure, trying to stand up. My stomach churns again, so I sit back down and hold my stomach. 

"No, you are not. Come on, I'll carry you." Bucky offers, smiling at me again. 

"No, no. I can walk." I insist, waving him off. Steve and Bucky share a glance before Bucky picks me up in his arms. I don't resist and instead wrap one of my arms around Bucky's neck. I rest my head on his shoulder as Steve and Bucky walk back towards our new friend group.

"Is she alright?" Jim asks as we get closer to them. 

"I think she's got a stomach bug." Steve tells them. 

"Well, what do we do now?" Dum Dum asks. 

"We have to get back to the camp, that's what we have to do." Steve says firmly.

"It just might take us a little longer." Bucky admits as he adjusts my position in his arms. 

"Better get the show on the road then." Monty chuckles before walking away to get all the other soldiers together. 

"You got her?" Steve asks Bucky. 

"Yeah. We'll be okay." Bucky assures Steve before following him towards the front of the crowd. I tighten my grip on Bucky's neck when he walks past Alex. Bucky notices him and walks faster so he won't make a stupid comment about anything.

"You feeling okay?" Bucky asks me after we had been walking for a while. Well, I hadn't, but you get the idea. 

"Mhm." I mumble, my eyes closed as I rested my head against his shoulder. 

"You know, I can walk if you're getting tired." I suggest after Bucky re-positions me, again. 

"No way. You need to save all your energy for getting better." Bucky refuses and keeps walking. 

"Well, then give me to one of the other guys. You need a break." I argue lightly. Bucky glares down at me before he shakes his head.

"I almost died yesterday. I wouldn't have gotten to see you, to tell you how I feel. There's no way I'm letting you go now. I just got you back." Bucky tells me. 

"Awe, that's sweet." I reply, blushing. Bucky smiles down at me and kisses my forehead before we fall silent again.

"Boys, we've got company!" Monty shouts from the front of the group a few hours later. Bucky had slowly started to drift to the back of the pack, partially because he was tired from walking and carrying me, but also because he said he didn't like walking in the front.

"What kind of company?" we heard Steve ask. Bucky glanced down at me with an extremely worried look on his face. 

"Put me down." I demand. 

"No, you're still burning up." Bucky protests but as I struggle to get out of his arms, he drops me. I stand up and dust myself off before smiling at him. 

"I'll be fine. Let's go see what's wrong." Bucky nods and together, we rush up towards the front of the group. Everyone had stopped walking so we had to push our way through to get up to the front.

"What's going on?" I ask Steve. 

"What are you doing? You're sick!" Steve protests but one look from Bucky stops him from arguing with me. 

"What kind of company are we talking about?" I ask, cracking my knuckles.

"Just a few rogue HYDRA soldiers. Dum Dum and a few other men went to go take care of them." Steve replies without making eye contact with me. 

"Are you sure they'll be okay?" I worry. Steve shrugs and sighs. 

"We'll find out, I suppose." 

Bucky and I share an uneasy glance, not liking the sound of this. 

"This all sounds a little off, doesn't it?" I point out after a few quiet minutes. Bucky nods next to me as Steve turns around to look at us. 

"How?"

"Well, there could be more than a few HYDRA soldiers, now couldn't there?" Bucky adds on. Steve thinks about this for a moment but stops when Dum Dum and a few other men stumble out of the bushes.

"Are you guys alright?" I call out to them as Bucky, Steve, and I run over to them. They were covered in dirt, but other than that, they all looked mostly unharmed. 

"Yeah, we're fine. There were only like ten of them." Dum Dum shrugs.

"Ten?!" Steve repeats, shocked. 

"Yeah. But we took care of them." Dum Dum replies proudly. 

"Okay, new plan. We need to put as much distance between us and this area as we can. We're going to walk through the night." Steve informs us.

"I don't think that'll go over well with everyone else." Bucky hesitantly points out. 

"Alright, half the night, then." Steve says. Everyone reluctantly agrees before we separate to spread the word about the new plan.

No one was happy about it, but once we told them the reasoning behind it, they were more than eager to put as much distance as we could between this area and us. So the day continued like that, walking until we stopped halfway through the night.

"You don't need to stay up and watch over me, Buck. I'll be okay." I tell him as we all settle down to sleep that night. I knew Bucky needed to sleep, he looked tired and worn out. 

"No, I'm fine. Get some sleep." he reassures me. I sit up and cross my arms over my chest, glaring at him until he finally gives in and lays down next to me. 

"Thank you." I hum as I lay my head down on his chest. 

"Yeah, whatever." Bucky chuckles, his chest rising and falling with his laughter. I fall asleep that night to the beating of his heart and the even rise and fall of his chest.