The Soldier and the Wolf

Chapter 18

              There wasn't much we could do on a large cargo ship. He had to constantly stay alert and make sure we wouldn't get caught by any workers. We were able to find an empty storage room to find out in, and we only left the room when we knew no one else was out. It was usually at night, and Bucky and I would climb up on the crates on the top deck and just talk. We actually spent most of the trip talking. I would continue to teach Bucky about the 21st century and things that he missed out on that I thought were important. He was especially interested about the technology. I told him about Apple and computers and all that fun stuff, and I even let him explore on my phone a bit. He couldn't do much on it since there was no WiFi, but he still enjoyed looking at it. Bucky also thought that it would be a good idea for me to learn how to speak Romanian. It was a good way to pass the time on the boat, but unfortunately, due to lack of paper for notes, I wasn't able to really grasp on to what he taught me. I could make out a few words if he repeated them enough in a sentence, but that was about it. We also talked more about what our lives were like before, when we were younger. For short periods of time, parts of him, the old him, would resurface as we got into deeper conversation. I learned that he enjoyed technology, which was already kind of obvious. But he also seemed...a bit like a dork. But in a good way. He gave off the "Teacher's Pet" vibe when he would talk about his school years. When he said he enjoyed reading, I suggested Harry Potter to him, then gave a very detailed summary about every book. That was probability the highlight of that miserable two week boat ride.

      Finally, after two very long weeks, the cargo ship docked on the coast of the Netherlands and we were few hours away from Amsterdam, where we would take a plane to Bucharest. With the money I took out of the bank, we were able to rent a car, and we drove to the airport in Amsterdam. Once we got there, we bought our plane tickets, and we were fortunate enough to get a plane ticket for that same day so we didn't have to spend the night in the car. The Winter Soldier news had spread to the European countries, so on some of the TVs in the terminals would have the news channels on and they would be talking about Bucky and Hydra and all that crap. Fortunately for us, it would be hard for people to recognize Bucky because he looked so different. His long hair and whiskers made a very good disguise and we were able to effortlessly pass hundreds of people and even sit on a two hour plane flight without having people give Bucky suspicious looks or have anyone recognize him as The Winter Soldier.

      While on the plane, Bucky looked a little bit shaken up.

       "You okay?" I put my hand on his forearm. He was sitting up straight and had his eyes closed. He was gripping the armrests tightly with his hands. He opened one eye to look at me and nodded.

         "It, it's just...last time I was in a plane, I killed several people to get to it. And all the planes I usually flew had some kind of weaponry on it." I patted his forearm.

        "It's alright. This isn't some air force plane or Hydra plane. It's just an ordinary airplane that brings people to different places. You have nothing to worry about." After I said this, Bucky relaxed his shoulders a bit, but he still kept his eyes closed. I also managed to take a little nap on the plane. I found the turbulence actually very relaxing and I drifted off very easily. When I woke up again, it was from the pilot. He spoke in a language I didn't understand, but Bucky was able to translate for me.

       "He says that we will be landing in Bucharest in about ten minutes." Ten minutes later, we were on the ground. Bucky and I decided to let all the other passengers unload and get off the plane before we got off just so that it wouldn't be too chaotic for us. Once we got out of the airport, we took a bus to a car rental place, and headed off to wherever Bucky had planned next.