(REALLY SORRY FOR THE DELAY, my food poisoning got so bad to the point it landed me in the hospital for a few days.)
Hours have passed by, and yet you're still lying down. It's just you, the cabin and a quarter-full bucket of bile and vomit. The terrible aftertaste lingered in your mouth as you quietly wretched, your every movement jerky and rigid.
Your stomach has been churning repeatedly as well, which doesn't help your current situation by any means as you've thrown up a concerning amount of bile just a few moments ago. Your body hasn't been in the mood to help you out either, being even more sensitive to any contact and shivering restlessly.
You groaned in exhaustion, looking up at the ceiling. Your head swam and your surroundings felt like they were spinning or closing in on you.
You closed your eyes. Instant relief.
The dizziness has went.
It's better to have your eyes closed, after all.
Just as you were preparing to doze off again, the sound of loud shuffling footsteps emanated from outside. You immediately froze in shock and fear before recovering and straining your ears to listen in on the outdoor commotion. It was the sound of men talking and shouting as well as light gunfire, along with faint screams.
Shit... It's really the union...!
Light chatter and words you couldn't make out seeped through the small open cracks of your dusty, tinted windows as your heart raced, trying to weigh the considerable severity of your current situation. Judging by the volume of the voices, it seemed like they weren't too far away from your cabin.
At that very moment, Bobo's advice echoed in your mind.
"Due to the disappearance of the nextbots, the union is probably going to be on patrol tonight. If you don't wanna risk getting raided I suggest you turn off the lights and act like no one's home."
"Right... If I act like I'm not here, maybe I won't become a hostage," you thought to yourself, swallowing hard before nodding at your own words. Carefully and discreetly, you slithered off of the bed and onto the dusty texture of the floorboards. You gagged, but now wasn't the time to be worked up over something as minor as some dust and grime.
You hastily moved and ducked beside your closet, holding in your breath with your hands as you anxiously watched the dimly reflected figures converse outside your cabin. Judging by their reflections, they each had gun holsters, no doubt about it. Who knows, there could be a rifle on their backs; but you couldn't tell from their side view.
You strained your ears again to listen in, but it wasn't helping you much either.
"It's strange... abandoned... gone... no one," one mouthed as he gruffly sighed, lighting up another cigarette and dragging on it as he looked at his partner.
"Really? Still... sounds like... useless," the other one replied in a bored-sounding tone, shrugging while lightly nudging his partner back. "Besides... caught a few... hiding... unbelievably stupid."
You sighed and grumbled quietly to yourself, swallowing hard and narrowing your eyes at the dimly illuminated window. It was difficult to get any form of information out of these two, but they're talking about people hiding. Probably from them.
How thickheaded can these soldiers really be anyway?
You froze.
A pair of eyes, perfectly reflected by the dim moonlight stares right back at your E/C ones from outside the tinted windows. The conversation stopped, and so did your thoughts. You stared back and forth at him, quiet and frightened.
"Shit... did I get caught?!" You thought to yourself, panicking as your internal turmoil began to arise and stir. Your mind raced to think of ways to make this situation any better for yourself, but your thoughts are cut abruptly by the sharp ear-piercing sound of a gunshot before your window crumbled and shattered into a myriad of shards. To your disbelief, the soldier climbed in, followed by his buddy...
"FREEZE!" One of them yelled in an aggressively loud voice, pointing his rifle at you while studying your features with cold hard eyes, his voice icy and dripping with a threatening undertone. You jolted and yelped at the sudden gesture, quickly raising your arms up in surrender.
As the both of them discussed on what to do with you (or your supplies) with the gun still pointed at your chest, your eyes hurriedly scanned the cabin and the wrecked window for any possible escape route that could be efficient enough. Your mind was completely blank, and you were praying desprtately for anyone you knew to come by and get you out of this predicament. Bobo, Jard, someone you saved before, a rescuer...
You didn't have the time to think and list out all the possible people before a firm voice demands, "Name, now."
He's significantly much nicer than his other buddy, but you're not sure if he's really less feisty or if it's an attempt to manipulate you.
In an uncontrolled shaky voice, you replied, "Y/N L/N."
He narrowed his eyes, almost as if he recognized your name. His other partner did the same, but by crushing his burning cigarette in his hands. You've got to give him one for somehow having the audacity to crush a cig with his bare hand. You stared back at them with an unreadable expression, trying to mirror their attitude as you frowned to make an attempt to act angry.
They probably know about all the rescuers.
"What do you think we should do with you?" One of them asked, bending over and inching closer to your knelt figure held at gunpoint with a cocky sneer. He puffed out some smoke in your face, making you gag and choke at the revolting scent of both smoke and his breath while holding onto your stomach to avoid wretching and throwing up.
You're currently trying your best not to spit at him. Your patience is running thin and you needed a secure escape plan, and fast. Your eyes darted all over the place, but you decided your best bet was to punch one of them to distract the other, make a leap of faith through the window and hide in a nearby desolate place then decide the rest for later.
As he began to get back up, you seized your chance and landed a decent blow at his nose, making him yelp loudly and stagger backwards. These soldiers were definitely trained to counter and fight, but not to cope with or overcome the element of surprise.
"HEY!" A loud voice echoed throughout the empty cabin. Judging the sounds, you were almost completely sure that he was about to open fire.
Without wasting another moment, you shoved the staggering soldier towards him, causing him to yelp and jump backwards in surprise. You made sure to trip them over your leg as you made a run for the window.
"STOP RIGHT NOW!" a gruff voice shouted after you, but you paid no attention and prepared to dive through the window.
You leapt out of the window frame and rolled against the sandy and rough floor, making you groan as you struggled to get back up without triggering your nausea. You staggered back on your feet and started to run for your life towards a shack you knew would be left unattended.
You grunted, running with all your might and sprinting as fast as your legs could carry you. Even though they were cramping and your stomach was clearly unhappy with the experience, you forced yourself to carry your feeble body forward.
You briefly sighed in relief as the shack began to fade into view, piercing through the misty fog of the night and slowly yet surely inching closer and closer.
"AH!"
You yelped loudly and staggered, falling over and wincing in pain as you felt an excruciating pain pierce through your ankle. Then another, this time in your arm. Your hand reached down to your ankle to rub it, only for your face to contort in horror to see a deep, grotesque red running down to your elbow on your shaky palms.
"FREEZE!" a loud voice shouted. It was another armed soldier who was running over to you. You looked down, accepting your defeat as you waited for him to scurry over. His army boots got closer and closer, and before you knew it, you were yanked up to your feet.
You cussed loudly at the pain, a small tear piercing through your eye as your arms an legs throbbed from the exhausting sprint and the bullet administered into your flesh. The soldier wasn't in a hurry either, patiently forcing you into a deep red van parked in the middle of nowhere. You winced as he roughly tied your arms and your legs together respectively.
In the van was yet another unfamiliar face, wounded as well.
It was deafeningly silent in the back seat, with no one else but you both. There wasn't a driver either, and it was just you and whoever the other person was in deep silence. With two bullets in you and your limbs tied together, there wasn't much to do, and securing an escape route certainly wasn't one of them this time.
"Hey," you whispered quietly but loud enough for the other person to hear.
Instinctively, their head perked up, their dullen and tired eyes meeting yours. You've never talked to them, heard of their name before, but you know for sure this is a rescuer and they also recognize you.
"What's going to happen to us next?" you asked, clearly concerned for the wellbeing of the both of you. They leaned back into the torn up seats, closing their eyes to think carefully over their words for a moment before responding.
"We're hostages now. The types that are going to be kept in a cell," they replied in a matter-of-factly tone, narrowing their eyes. "And that cell really won't be fancy or admirable."
"And how do you say?" you pressed, eagerness and curiosity clear in your words and tone of voice while you waited for an answer.
"There have been stories. The cells are barely maintained," they explained grimly, being slow and methodical and patiently pushing you to the edge of eagerness while not breaking eye contact. "They're literally rotting. Think of an abandoned place. Moss, dirt and grime, peat and sometimes even insects."
You scrunched your face up in disbelief, shaking your head as you looked down, resisting the urge to cry or ask for more information.
Well, staying in a cell can't be that bad... right?