Bring Me Home // Bucky Barnes

Chapter XVI - Screams Into The Nothingness

The misty morning air hung in silence as the men lay in wait. A gentle snowfall blanketed the space around them and the cold cut them like knives. No man had gone in or out of this base in five hours and Bucky couldn't shake the feeling that this was a mistake.

"Steve," he whispered, "something doesn't feel right. There should be hundreds of men here. Hundreds."

Steve glanced over at his best friend, the worry etched on to his face mirroring his own, and nodded.

"You're right. What's their play? Why was there so much chatter about this place for it to just be empty?" He looked between the men but no one could answer. The six men surrounding him exchanged tense glances until Bucky broke the silence.

"I don't know, but I think we need to get out of here. Get back to the others." Bucky's eyes were pleading and Steve gave him a tense nod. As focused as Bucky was, as fantastic a soldier he could be, his mind was filled with concern right now and it wasn't for himself. This felt like a trap, like someone had set out to pull them away from something else, something bigger, and Bucky just wanted to get back and make sure she was safe.

*

The bandages should be out and ready. Why had she decided to pack them in a chest at the entrance to the temporary medical tent when she knew they'd be needed? After all, there was rarely a mission in which they all returned unscathed. Elizabeth began to unpack the dressings for the fifth time since her arrival, laying them out in a neat pile beside one of the open cots.

Since The Howling Commandos had set off that morning she had had no updates. The silence was deafening. She paced the length of the tent countless times and often found herself jogging to where a small man sat with a radio, listening intently, waiting for Captain Rogers to make contact and asking for news. Each time he gave her a half smile, shook his head and returned to his position with his head close to the radio, a pen in his hands and an empty notebook sat before him.

She dragged her feet as she returned to her station, her mind occupied with thoughts of his sea blue eyes, the music of his laughter, the caress of his voice. Her heart was aching for him, and her mind was working overtime to convince herself he would be fine. He was always fine.

A shock of blue. Airborne. Everything seemed to slow to a painful pace. The world was exploding. A guttural scream tore through the breath that was ripped from her lungs as the burning consumed her. The burning consumed everything. Her eyes fought to remain open as fire raged, as soldiers were gunned down, as men in black masks with weapons that seemed to glow with power loomed over her. Darkness came as they lifted her limp body and walked through the flames.

*

Rust. Rust and blood.

The bitter metallic taste filled her mouth as she wretched and heaved. Her head was throbbing and her ears rang with the distant memory of explosions and screams. Elizabeth desperately wished for the bitter sweet pull of the unconscious as her surroundings became more clear.

Her spine ached against the chill of the metal table she was now strapped to and her own blood stained her torn blouse. Her wrists, her waist and her ankles were bound tightly, blisters already forming as she tried to pull against them. The room, although dark, was clearer as her mind began to focus. Damp walls and a rocky ceiling gave her the impression she was no longer above ground and the flicker of the light suggested flames rather than electricity. Wherever she was, it was disused and dirty, old and decrepit and she was not alone.

He was a small man. Pushing his glasses back up his nose he smiled down at her while the fog of her mind tried to clear. His eyes, enlarged by the glass, were cold and calculating and his smile induced a new wave of fear.