| "The Pennsylvania Burning" | |||
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National Guard Barrack May 25, 2008 0300 hours Paige scrambled wearily up the last embankment settling in closely next to Eric. It had been almost three hours and they had hardly said more than two words to each other. One hour had been after they just woke up, and that was spent packing the gear and stuffing their backpacks with explosives and chargers. There was little discussion on tactical, there wasn't any needed. It was simple, get to the base, locate the trailer, blow it up, go home. Simple. Easy peasy. They had picked a plan that was typical Section and no words needed to be exchanged to do that. Which was kind of funny when you thought about it, agreeing on a Section tactical plan for the mission. And using Section material, PDAs, and weapons. Or maybe that would be ironic? She didn't know, but either way it had offered a way out of actually having to speak to one another. She did not pretend to know his reasons for wanting to get this over with except that he still felt this need to protect her and make sure she was safe. Or maybe it was because she openly used that against him? She didn't want to speak to him because of the one thing that was missing after their conversation. Guilt. She didn't feel guilty and that scared the hell out of her. Just where did he get off analyzing her relationship with Joshua? Who was he to tell her that SHE was in too deep? What about him? Hadn't he done the same thing? Hadn't he thrown her right into the lion's cage with a slab of meat tied to her neck because HE was in too deep? Hadn't he? Hadn't he been in too fucking deep? Damn him. Damn him to whatever hell he believed in. That hour of constant mental torture had blurred into the next, but thankfully, they had the truck radio to act as a suitable buffer between them. The third hour she had spent following the greenish black figure in her night vision goggles. She had not memorized the maps and layouts on the PDA, she had not been capable of it. She knew it was stored, somewhere, maybe, but she was essentially ineffective in that area where she had always been. That was her job: memorize the landscape, pick a route, and lead everyone � no light ever had to be flashed, no PDA powered on in the middle of nowhere, just follow Paige. Hell, she had just done it not two days ago. But not this time. This time she had followed. She had followed Eric, over the barbed fence (which was a little awkward if you could imagine scaling a fence with a cast on), into the compound and to the small tree covered embankment they found themselves on. They overlooked the north part of the tiny compound and currently, overlooked the trailer that housed the hardware Joshua wanted to be destroyed. And what Joshua wanted... ...she depressed the buttons on the remote detonators simultaneously... ...Joshua got. They were close enough that the sight of the explosion as well as the sound reached them concurrently, and she flinched the tiniest bit. There was something sinister about the fire, the way it climbed into the night sky licking at it, tasting it, as if it were reacquainting itself with a long lost lover. Fire and air, the former needing the latter to survive, getting to know each other again. There was something familiar about it, about this setting, which made Paige widen her eyes and hold her breath. The pictures came quick and hard, the Burning. The fire was so bright, so red and orange against the blackest of skies. The smoke, began to thicken even more as it consumed billowing up into the air unseen because it was the same color as the night. She would see Them next, the Section people, coming to get her. And there they were, running, shouting, barking orders. God the fire, the smoke. The same feeling that raced into her heart that night raced in her heart again � get away. She turned and bolted, grabbing whatever would support her weight and whatever she could grasp with her casted hand to get to the other embankment. It had only taken her minutes and she now stood on the second embankment, that had thicker trees, and it was dark. Darker than it had been down there. She was further from the fire, its glow only reaching the tops of the trees now. It was just a memory, she told herself, just a nightmare, and it wasn't in the now. It wasn't happening now. They weren't after her, they weren't going to come bearing down on her pushing her to the ground. They weren't going to drag her back into the building after the fire was out. They weren't going to make her watch. She could still hear the echoing howl of her own pleas, cries, and sobbing in her head and it tore at her heart. She had begged Them not to kill them all. Begged Them like she had never begged before. Like she hadn't done since. It was weird, how moments of clarity came at the most inconvenient time. She heard Eric seconds later moving quickly towards her where she stood staring at the ground breathing heavily. He moved in front of her gripping her shoulder gently trying to gain her attention. "The trailer's destroyed," she whispered. "We should get going." "The burning," he said hesitantly. Her eyes snapped up to meet his, how did he know? "How do you know about that?" "I saw it...in the water that was not water." "What?" she whispered. What the hell was he talking about? "There is not time for that now. Come." He turned heading back the way they had come in as her mind worked to figure out what he was talking about, sorting out the burning (and especially what had happened after that). It wasn't so bad, the way back. They had moved much quicker now as their packs were many pounds lighter and the adrenaline pumped freely. It wasn't until they got to the fence. To the barbed fence that Paige had another moment of clarity. That was weird, too, how emotions brought back the tiniest of details... ******** She shrugged inspecting the wound carefully. It had been sharp, whatever it was, and had penetrated into Joshua's abdomen, then not as deeply, ripped almost straight up over his ribs for about 5 inches. Various other somewhat deep incisions were also made to either side of the largest one. "What the hell did you do?" she asked not being able to visually place a weapon into the slashes that presented themselves. ******** She couldn't place a weapon then because it hadn't been from a weapon...but barbed wire however, that would slash someone like that. She could visualize it in her head, Joshua attempting to hop the fence, and something happening, something startling him taking his concentration away just for a moment. Or slipping, something, anything to get himself caught on the barbed wire, ripping through the layers of clothes and into the tender skin of his abdomen as he used his weight to drop to the ground. He had been the one then, to get the surveillance pics that were on the PDA. He had scoped the place out beforehand. The revelation made her catch her breath. How long had he been planning this then? "Paige," Eric hissed quietly from the ground. She held on to the wires as she pulled her legs up and over the center bar careful not to get herself tangled. It wasn't that difficult (even with a cast), really, once you practiced, and cutting the fence would have been easier. But not cutting the fence left their ingress and egress points secret. She dropped to the ground next to Eric. "Stay close," he whispered to her, more of an order. She silently agreed as it was better this way. Better for her because now she could think and sort out the barrage of images coming to her now. It was almost scary, because some she didn't even recognize, some were just pictures that made no sense to her whatsoever. Watershine. What was that? What did these things mean? She assumed in time that they would mean something, but she, for now, pushed them away. She had to focus on the Burning and she had to focus on Joshua and what else had been passed over, disregarded, or ignored during his reign over her soul. They moved quicker now through the woods, more confident with the distance already built between them and the destruction they had caused. She, really. She had been the one to plant the explosives letting Eric assume watch. After all, this was her deal, he was just along for the ride. And it was just as they reached the truck, that rested deep in the woods off a small park road choked by years of weeds that another thought struck her. She stopped, freezing a mere ten yards from the truck, its shape rising unnaturally from the surrounding tress, its darkness as overwhelming as the darkness of the woods themselves. But the truck stood out anyway, stood out darker than the darkness, stood out on its own. Just like him. Joshua was working alone. This mission was not authorized by anyone except him. Whatever the end game was, whatever the reason for this romp, she was sure neither Oversight nor Section knew about it. Michael did, for she always felt there was something between those two, but Section most definitely did not. Because if it were, if Oversight or Section HAD authorized it, why not send a Section team? Any rookie Section team could've handled a simple operation like this. Hell, she'd go as far to say as any Red Cell rookie team could handle something as simple as this had been. So why send her? Why get her to manipulate Eric to help? Why would he have gone through such lengths... To protect his goods. His goods? The way he had said it, she thought he meant her. But maybe she was wrong. Maybe he meant whatever was in that hardware. And what exactly was in that hardware that Joshua and Michael went to such great lengths to destroy and even greater lengths to keep it hidden not only from the media, but from Oversight and Section??? "Paige." She blinked a few times, her head now starting to ache with the overload of stimuli it was receiving from the inside. "Paige," he said again. His hands were on either side of her face and he looked to her concerned. "It's so fast, Eric," she whispered to him. "What?" he shook his head clearly confused. "The pictures...they're coming so fast, the Burning...and they just started coming." He nodded his head grabbing her wrist and pulling her slightly. That got her feet moving and they crossed the last ten yards or so to his vehicle. She climbed in, trembling a little as she tried to figure out the images being sent to her brain. But first things first. She thought for a moment, where her cell phone was. Back at Eric's place. How could she have been so stupid not to bring her cell phone? "Do you have your cell phone?" Eric moved a bit and fished out his cell phone handing it over to her. She thought, just for a brief second what Joshua's number was. Then it came, the picture of him, holding up his cell phone number. If anything, Joshua had a lot of confidence in her memory after the head injury...more confidence than she did. She dialed the numbers listening to it ring until his voice mail finally picked up. It was a simple 'leave a message' and even in that, it sounded like more of a demand rather than a request. "Joshua, it's me. It's done. Target is out and we're heading home." Then she disconnected the line. She guessed he was busy raising his covert hell. Too busy to answer his phone. She handed the phone back to Eric, "thanks." He just took it silently and nodded as he turned on to a main road. What were Joshua and Michael doing? What were they up to? What had triggered her on this thought trail anyway? Her thoughts meandered as Eric continued the hour long drive to his home. Her head increased its thumping capacity with each mile. And why was her damn arm so itchy? She pulled off her jacket, hastily, and stripped off her sweater. She sat there in her full length sport bra trying to look at her cast. "What is the matter?" Eric asked. "I dunno," she stated, "you have an interior light?" A second later the front of the cab was filled with a soft yellow glow. It wasn't very bright, but it was enough for Paige to see what she needed to see. The cast was wet and mud filled into her fingers. She could feel her wrist swelling inside of it and the moisture did not help the problem. In fact, she would say it hurt like hell right about now. "Fuck," she breathed out. "What?" Eric said his attention split between the road and her. "My cast is wet, and I got mud all inside of it," she looked up to him, "it has to come off." He took a moment for it to sink in. "Ok," he said slowly. "Do you have any cutters? Wire cutters or something?" "You want me to cut the cast off?" "Well I can't cut it off of myself." "Is that wise?" "Since when did wisdom ever play a role in my life?" He looked to her and she just smiled. "It needs to come off." "Fine," he said evenly as he turned the interior light off. They were silent for a couple miles as Paige leaned her head back, her eyes closed. She needed sleep though it would not come. There were certain images that would not go away. So, she spoke quietly, without moving, without asking for acknowledgement. She just spoke quietly, hoping it would exorcise them from her mind. "They forced me to watch." She paused for a long time. "I watched Them kill seven of my colleagues. The ones that didn't die in the fire...I watched...as They shot each of them in the head. Even as they begged for mercy...begged so softly. I begged, too. And They just shot them...every last one of them." She wasn't even sure why she said it, or if he understood, or why it even mattered. But the images remained and sleep did not find her on the ride home. Return |
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