Karma [Bastille Fanfiction]

Painted Red

Tara POV

Two months since I heard I love you. Two months since I felt his lips against mine. Two months since I reached the center of hell. Two week since I had been taken to its core.

All I could remember was the sound of guns firing. How did they know I was here. Collins was dead, Steve had pulled back the others. I rose my hands in the air before my arms were tied and my consciousness slipped away.

I couldn't tell you what I had been through the past two weeks. The pain made my memories fade in and out. Today was different. They set up a camera on the table in front of me and I could see the red light recording.

"Say hi to your commander. He's got a live feed of you now." I glanced at him before looking to the camera. My arms bound behind a chair, my eyes heavy from lack of sleep. How many times I had been shocked, cut, burned, and beaten was too hard to count. "You still have not spoken a word! Are you a mute!?" I turned my head and glanced at him before the butt of a gun connected with my jaw and the chair fell over crushing my forearm. A groan passing my lips. For once in a long time I prayed for my life to end.

Dan POV

I rolled onto my back, looking up at the ceiling of my room. Sleep and I weren't friends even after the month tour. Not a call, not a letter. Nothing until today when my phone began to ring so early in the morning.

"Hell... Hello?" I mumbled sitting up and turning the light on. It was the automated female voice playing.

"Please report to base 28 at 0800 hours. Please state your name for the system."

"Daniel Smith"

" Daniel... Smith. You will be briefed on Operation Cleo. Please bring the following... Kyle Simmons... William Farquarson... Christopher Wood... Lucy Robins..." The line hung up, my heart racing in my chest as I ran out of my room and down the hall.

"Lucy! Kyle! Wake up! Get ready! We have to be at the base!" I quickly texted Will and Woody before going to get ready. It was Operation Tara in my head. I didn't know whether to feel panicked or excited.

"For what is she back?!" Lucy was zipping up her jacket to brace herself for the winter weather outside. All I did was shrug and grab my keys once I had on my white converses, black jeans, and wolf hoodie. Just like clock work we all were at the gate at exactly eight then led inside to park. Before long Evans walked out and ushered us into the building without a word until we reached a door. He turned around and took a deep breath with his hands behind his back.

"I have to ask... Are you comfortable with seeing something painful... What is inside... I can't do anything about. Not at this very second, but we have men on the ground ready as soon as we find this location." I felt sick, but I had to see what he meant.

"Yes." I looked back as everyone else slowly nodded. He opened the door to a large conference room with a projector and the screen black.

"I suggest you sit... And if you want to stop watching please don't hesitate to ask or leave." He turned around and clicked on the screen. " This was live an hour ago." If I had eaten breakfast it would have surely left my stomach. Her eyes were glossed over, she wasn't there mentally. The bags under her grey blue eyes showed how tired she was. Her mouth was leaking blood as was a cut over her right eye brow. The firey read hair was pulled back into a bun.

"You still haven't told me where the information your friends stole went..." Her eyes followed the man for a moment before closing. Lucy was crying at the sigh and Kyle held her. "Tell us and it's over. I'll kill you right now. That is what you want isn't it?"   The man moved off camera and came back on, pressing a button on a device that made a zapping noise before he pressed it against her neck. Once he stopped she coughed more blood up before her eyes crossed and moments later she seemed to get her focus back. The man chuckled before walking out of the door behind her and closing it. When she looked at the camera it was like she was looking at all of us. Then a bloody smirk crossed her lips as she winked. She was in there somewhere, holding onto her sanity somehow.

"Commander if... If you're really watching this..." She mumbled, her voice cracking probably from the shocks. "Get my POC...if they can... Handle watching this... Let them... If you're watching with your million dollar smile... Please tell me you've got me some new clothes for when I get home and that my blue eyed guy is still smiling. I hope the rest of you... The two Ws are being behaved. As you can see I'm not. Cat man... I really hope you're covering for the both of us" She laughed weakly... "As for you... You know who I'm talking to... I'm sorry I didn't say it... But I do love you. I hope I get to say it in person." She lowered her head and took a deep breath before coughing.

" This... Is current time." He pressed a button and there she sat, her eyes closed, she was breathing softly, finally sleeping it seemed. I loved her and wish I could go get her myself but here I sat. Will and Woody couldn't look any more and Lucy hid her face in Kyle's shirt. He and I were the only two who could finish watching. "We've got Stevens and a ground crew on a grid by grid search. We've been setting off noise makers and they have been getting closer it sounds. However I can't say get your hopes up right away... Trust me the feed is a lot worse than this, but I should spare you all."

" What did they do to her?"

"I don't think -"

"I want to know." I looked him in the eyes as he sat down and took a deep breath.

"She has been beaten... Burned... Shocked... Cut... Broken bones..." He took a moment before speaking again. "Her nails are gone... I can see that in the video... As for Every thing else I'm not sure, her clothes are still on, I assume all bruises are hidden." I placed my head on the table, resting my forehead on my arm and taking a shakey breath before lifting it once more.

"When could we possible get her back? If ever?"

"The ground team should be reaching her location by tomorrow evening, if she's really in that city. They have to get her to a base... Well enough travel then she can come back... Maybe next week? That is if she survives. " He lowered his head for a moment. "I had a doctor watch... He says the blood from her mouth is coming from something internally bleeding and it is possible she could choke on her own blood if it continues.... She will suffocate." All I could do was hide tears, but inside I was dying. What was this wild world doing to her?