❝WE ARE ALL IN THE SAME HELL, JUST DEALING WITH DIFFERENT DEVILS.❞
Sawyer held the wheel firmly as Gunner sat beside her in the passenger seat, her eyes intricately studying the road as his head was peeked out of the quarterly-opened window, allowing a gush of breezed air to lapse into the car as his tongue dangled from his mouth blissfully. The snow sketched country roads were slowly opening to the clear highway much to Gunner's delight, the abundance of cars an evident acknowledgment as were the broadly hung highway signs that indicated countless destinations.
With the growing number of accompanying cars on the road, Gunner grew more curious and contorted to stare at each passing car, urging a small smile on Sawyer's face at his inquisitiveness. With the radio gently humming a folk song, one Sawyer had never heard before, the drive was surprisingly refreshing and not at all as daunting as she had first presumed. She was en route to Washington, accepting a Mitsubishi Outlander - graciously lended by Clint - as a means to drive to her designated destination and so far, things were looking weirdly but fortunately okay.
Without a shadow of a doubt, she was beyond bewildered but almost ecstatic at her momentarily given freedom, allowing her both space from the peculiar Maverick and personal time to ponder as to why she, a useless fighter and self-proclaimed waste of space, was urgently required. She was somewhat of a blatant contradiction, or so she had concluded, but that blatant contradiction was currently needed urgently in Washington and without hesitation she intended to discover why- well, perhaps with the smallest slither of hesitation.
Gunner seemingly enjoyed riding in the passenger seat, a promotion of their growing friendship as he continued to stare out of the window, placing a front leg out the window to relax as he adored the wind ruffling through his fur. Sawyer kept her attention prominently on the road ahead as the welcome sign of Washington was hung from a sign, obliviously ignoring the consistent ambulances and police sirens as the calamity was broken, accompanied by a traffic jam of countless cars which caused her to quickly check on her curious Gunner before returning her attention to the road before then quickly retaking.
"Gunner, be careful," she cautiously warned the dog, casting a few glances across to him before her eyes profoundly widened to acknowledge his two front legs were out of the window. Her mind had already skipped to a bloody aftermath if he was to jump out, which of course being Gunner he was bound to, and so instinctively she began to slow down as she cringed at the thought. With a few moments grace to spare as the traffic drew to a stop, she helplessly began to reach across the seat to his collar to gently pull him back in and roll down his manual window all whilst trying to drive.
Groaning at the uncomfortable position, she stretched across to him as a car suddenly honked behind her, alerting her that the traffic was again swiftly moving, "Gunner please, we're literally in Washington, you can get out in five minutes," she pleaded, tugging as painlessly as she could on his collar but completely useless in her tactics with being endorsed to pay attention to the road as the driver behind her seemed to then frantically honk the horn which causing her to rattle with embarrassment, "what the hell?" she muttered confused at the sudden hysteria, almost in a panic herself as she detained an underlying urge to flip them the finger for hopelessly stressing her out.
Huffing and careless to the impatient car behind, she stretched out further but her eyes having widened even more so as Gunner seemingly began to push himself out of the window excitedly with all the frantic car horns, his stomach peeling through the gap as she yelled, "Gunner- Stop!" in complete terror, slowing the car down by retrieving force from her foot. She then hopelessly attempted to steer distantly with her outstretched left arm, her right managing to merely grasp his back left leg before he completely squirmed out of the window, Sawyer immediately retracting in horror as he slipped from her grasp, her slow speed fortunately detaining any injuries as he landed on the ground.
Instinctively, she slammed on her breaks and in her stopping distance, swerved onto the hard-shoulder of the road, watching in astounding horror as he gleefully began to sprint in front of her car down the road, Sawyer frantically unbuckling her seat belt as he proudly made his way down the road careless to the hysteria that Sawyer had oddly ignored. "Goddamn it, Gunner," she cursed, slipping out of the seatbelt and opening her car door, stepping one leg out before a suddenly nearing car horn, a swerve of tires and multiple screams dominated the highway hustle.
Immediately causing her to glance in her rear mirror in bewilderment, she watched as a car with a smashed windscreen hauled itself into her cars direction. As though time blurred to a slow stop, she barely had enough time to configure what to do before she was suddenly violently hauled out of the car by a strong grasp as her car was smashed on its rear side, the force of being grabbed from it rendering her unconscious.
⌁
An excruciating headache was the first thing to greet her as she writhed awake on a wooden flooring of which was cascaded with dust as she spluttered out, coughing against its unforgiving texture which only enhanced the profound ache in her head. Instinctively she, softly and prominently slowly due to the entire ache in her body, reached to touch her head in search for blood and in effort to deplete the abundant pain but only to grimace as it refused to subside. Clenching her face, her eyes slowly opened to reveal her fingers were peppered with her crimson blood but that wasn't the only factor that surged a sudden wave of confusion through her- she was in her old, empty apartment.
Sawyer furrowed her eyebrows, drawing out a deep breath with her face clenched, languidly pulling herself to sit up on the creaking floorboards. The world around her began to spin on an axis, her head enveloped with rush as she placed a hand on her head to try and steady her vision with a grimace. With the heavy weight in her mind not swiftly easing, she drew out another deep breath and instead focused on recollecting the prevailed events that had oddly left her sitting in her old vacant living-room. Her dishevelled hair draped across her face as she was wrought in thought, tattered down one side with her crimson blood whilst her world slowly began to stop spinning.
"I think my name is Bucky-" instantly, she turned to the unfamiliar voice, her breath immediately hitching like a jagged rock in her throat as she stared at the metal-armed man who, albeit blood sheathed and his metallic bicep slightly dismantled, stared out of her living room window in contemplation at the empty streets. She remained breathless, silently astounded he had mustered up the trust to finally communicate with his voice and not through words on a page, her lips slightly parted in muted amasement as he avoided glancing to her whilst he added, "-the man on the bridge, he said my name was Bucky."
She blinked hard for a moment, still attempting to process the sound of his distinctive voice but too profoundly enthralled by its softness to ignore his statement, "the man on the bridge?" she quickly stammered out with furrowed eyebrows, inundated with confusion but immediately wincing as her words endorsed another sensation of discomfort to ignite through her body. Grimacing, she instinctively bit onto her sleeve quickly, desperate to muffle out her prevailing whimper as not to disturb the man from his trail of thought- she had invested too much in order to gain his trust just for him to then cut himself short at the sound of her in pain.
"I think I knew him," he muttered, his tone saddening as he tried to understand why he did not remember him whilst Sawyer remained gripping onto her sleeve with her teeth as her head flared with a furious pain. He continued to stare out of the window with his eyes distantly studying the street almost expectedly whilst Sawyer drew in a silent breath, forcing herself to compose her aching body before releasing her sleeve as the pain became somewhat barefaced, her slightly obscured vision drifting to the man to study him as his attention remained outside.
A frown slowly grew apparent on her face before she braced herself for the discomfort of talking, pondering if it was him that the sirens were a result of with the marks evident on his body and a prominent gnash in his metallic arm, "what happened?" she timidly questioned, her words slightly strained whilst observing his body instantly tense, "you're hurt," she quietly mumbled, slightly concerned as he flinched from her gaze, not wanting for her to study his war-torn state. Her frown instinctively deepened, strangely wanting nothing more than to embrace him in a hug at that very moment.
"You left me," he suddenly breathed out, piercing an awaited answer whilst Sawyer's heart immediately gained the weight of guilt as she slowly glanced to her feet in shame, "I searched for you but I couldn't find you," he mumbled as she tried to suppress her sudden glazed over eyes, refraining from allowing her lip from quivering- she oddly had missed him and by his statement, he had evidently missed her also and that made her feel even more terrible. Without even glancing up, she knew he was still reluctant to face her and remained distantly fixated on what was beyond the window and so whisped in a deep breath to stop her voice from wavering.
"I killed someone- they had to take me away," she whispered out as he instantly glanced to her, his expression immediately contorted with an abundance of concern whilst she continued to stare down at the floorboards beneath her. Her dismantled hair trickled past her face and her once vibrantly smiling face was etched with guilt, her bottom lip ghosting the smallest quiver as she clenched her face, determined not to break through reminiscence, "I'm sorry," she suddenly mumbled, causing his eyes to soften, "I had no other choice."
He paused as his face fell sternly serioud, "they tried to kill you?" his voice darkly contorted, his words musked she glanced up to him, her eyes instantly clashing with his as she witnessed the smallest slither of softening in his eyes for a split second before they contorted back. She instantly hesitated at his intimidating allure, "I-" before retracting her words in consideration, "if I write down the address to the safe house, you can stay with me if you need a place to hide Bucky-" he flinched momentarily at the use of that name before abruptly cutting her idea off.
"Did they try to kill you?"
"Did you just interrupt me?-" she playfully retorted with a ghost of a smile, trying to lighten the moment before he suddenly shut it down immediately with another abrupt interruption and not a trace of humour.
"What did they do?"
"Wait, please let me speak-" her playful expression fell.
"Then answer the question-"
"Then stop being so rude," she fumbled a scolding as he merely furrowed his eyebrows with being slightly taken back by her stubborness before she remained silent for a moment in consideration. Averting her eyes from his, Sawyer suddenly hauled herself to her feet in defiance, slightly wavering in her stance with the agonising discomfort as she was simultaneously met with head rush- which led bucky to instinctively rush to her side before she shook her hand, an acknowledgment she was fine as she slowly regained focus. "Right," she breathed, "you are going to meet me outside here at eight tonight," she sternly breathed out as everything that was blurry slowly became defined, her soft voice betraying her feign of authority, "I'm taking you to the safe house," she affirmed him.
Bucky faltered with his words, slightly aggrivated by her dismissal of his question and offended before he glanced at her eyes, suddenly knowing nothing but to trust her as retorts of her leaving again slightly endorsed an underlying anxiety in him, "you promise, Sawyer?" his once strong voice slightly wavering the smallest amount at the thought of losing her again, almost like he was suddenly a sixteen year old all over again fumbling in the presence of a girl who could easily stand him up- except this girl was irreversibly and helplessly more important and at his question, a small smile had tugged at the corners of her lips and her eyebrows creased in an "of course" nature as she sincerely stated, "I promise."
Simultaneously with her reply, Gunner immediately flauntered into the room with clumsy jolts as Sawyer's face instantly brightened into a massive smile at the sight of him. Instinctively, she collapsed onto her knees and began to ruffle his fur before momentarily glancing up to Bucky, only to realise he wasn't there with a disheartened frown that she hadn't had the chance to say, 'thank you.' Distantly staring into the space he had been whilst ruffling Gunner's fur, she softly sighed- odd to think the first time they met he could've murdered her yet now, she felt safer with him around.