Caught Red Handed

Chapter Twenty-Three, Rose's Office

Tom's Perspective

Once Matt and the kind young soldier were done exchanging pleasantries, the raven-haired boy informed him that he was requested in Rose's office. "Oh! Alright, lead the way!" The ever-so-gullible ginger said as he got up. I mentally slapped my forehead at how stupid Matt was. I quickly pulled Edd out of the doorway, hiding behind the closest hallway. I listened as Matt and the sweet-souled soldier walked away for a distance before pulling Edd by the hand to follow them. Edd went along with my actions and stumbled a bit, trying his best to keep up. We followed the pair until they arrived at a particularly eery feeling office, where the soldier knocked and waited for a reply. A polite british accent replied, allowing entry. The teen then opened the door for Matt, letting him go in first. The teen smiled at Matt as he walked inside, noticing us by coincidence.

I froze in place and awkwardly made eye contact with the soldier, who then grabbed his firearm from its holster. "MR. ROSE, ESCAPED PRISONERS!!" He shouted as my flight instincts kicked in. I quickly yanked Edd into running at the fastest paceI could, the artistic brunette trying his hardest to keep up. Bullets fired and missed near the wall I was turning past, and I forced Edd to run in front of me. I winced when a bullet hit my ankle, sending searing pain through my lower body that got worse as I continued to run. I began to stumble and let out a cry of pain due to my wounded foot, falling down onto my chest. I then made eye contact with a very tall, intimidating man. He had dark brown hair and a dark red suit, with black highlights that added to his villainous looks.

He had dark red glowing pupils, as well as many battle scars along his skin. He looked like a beast out of hell, a product of extreme warfare. "Here you are, little rat. You're coming with me." He said with a malicious and toothy grin, pulling me up from the floor. I desperately fought against him, though it was little help. I was caught by the enemy, and my pain was getting worse. I was now cradled in the arms of a stranger, a strong one at that. I looked for any last resort to get away, feeling a pocket knife safely tucked away in his dress pants. I ever-so-carefully reached for the pocket knife, sliding it out without him noticing. He was giving some soldiers pursuing orders after all. I slowly felt around for the button to open it, bringing it under my stolen jacket so that I could see it and hide it at the same time.

I opened up the knife to see that it was very sharp, sharp enough to kill if I aimed for the right spot. Preferably a soft and vulnerable spot in the neck. I assessed where to use this new weapon I had obtained, enduring the terrible pain in my foot as to not draw attention to myself. Once I had figured out where to stab the evil man, I quickly sat up and stabbed the creature in one swift movement. He screeched in pain and dropped me onto the floor, holding his neck and crying out. Blood poured out of the small stab-wound more and more as the man desperately attempted to pull it out. I wouldn't do that if I were him, but I'm not him so I really don't care. Soldiers began to surround me to restrain me, and to my surprise a familiar narcissist pulled me up off the floor and ran for his life. I didn't know that Matt was this strong, I guess it's the adrenaline helping him out.

All I could do was ragdoll because of my foot, so I just laid in Matt's tense arms as I was quickly carried to wherever Matt planned on taking me. More soldiers began to chase Matt and I as what I assume was reinforcements came, trying to grab Matt or shoot him down. Matt did the most genius thing I've ever seen him do, going into a heavily crowded cafeteria and pushing through while confused soldiers shouted. He made his way out of a back door to the outside, quickly making his way out into the woods. He then laid down in the thicket and panted heavily, attempting to catch his breath after that tiring chase. I slinked out of his sweaty arms and examined my foot injury, seeing that the bullet hadn't fully punctured my foot. It was sticking out strangely, which made it much easier to move.

I carefully removed the blood-soaked bullet and threw it into the grass, hissing in pain as my foot bled out more. Matt seemed to notice my pain and took off the scarf he had been gifted from Edd on his birthday, helping me wrap up the heavily bleeding wound. "Does that feel better?" He asked as he tightly tugged on the scarf and kept it tied as a sort of makeshift bandage. I nodded in response and laid down, sighing tiredly. I could clearly hear soldiers outside trying to find us, so I pulled Matt down under the bushes we were hiding behind. My heart was racing, but I was free again. And way sooner than last time, thanks to Matt and Edd being here for me. I hope that Edd didn't get caught, but hoping isn't my specialty.

I got as comfortable as I could, though it was easier being on top of a warm and squishy body. It's like laying on a huge body-pillow. Matt stayed as quiet as possible and helped me stay in a position where my foot wasn't hurting as bad. "We're okay Matt." I whispered to him and Matt nodded, still holding me protectively. Now that I was disabled, he had to be the one to take care of me. Oh how the tables turn. I tried to relax in the dire situation, setting my head on Matt's chest. I listened to his heart quickly pound, though it seemed to slow down as time went by. The ginger under me seemed to be relaxing as well. My foot was still hurting like crazy, but I could deal with it if it meant being safe. I flinched when Matt began slowly stroking my hair like I was a cat.

I looked up at him and made awkward eye contact with him. We both stayed in silence as he petted me, because there were really no words. I sort of liked it, but I'm way too riled up to know how to react right now. I just let him run his sweaty fingers through my hair. I listened as the soldiers left our area, going further into the woods to look for us. I can't imagine what dead threats they've gotten to search so frantically for us. "Tom, are you alright?" Matt asked, snapping me out of my daze. I had been staring at him for maybe five minutes. "Yeah." I responded simply and laid my head down on his sweater. I sleepily blinked, realizing how tired I was after all of that action. That and losing much blood over a little span of time. As my adrenaline left my body and mind, I began to feel the full extent of how tired I was. I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.

I awoke later to hear soldiers yelling again, searching while shouting to each other. I could feel Matt's warm breath sweep across my face, the first physical sensation since I had awoken. I opened my eyes and rubbed them before staring up at the ginger holding me protectively in his grip. His eyes were a hue of grey and blue, probably a version of hazel eyes. "You're awake." He whispered and I nodded in response, looking to where I heard the soldiers walking around nearby in the forest. "How long have I been sleeping?" I asked in a hushed tone as I watched a soldier in view walk past cluelessly. "I'm not sure Tom.. I think it's only been small bit of time, maybe thirty minutes?" He responded quietly and watched another soldier pass by. "Well, we can't just go back to Red Leader empty handed! He'll skin us alive!" One of the soldiers yelled in a panic to the others scattered about.

Another soldier responded more calmly, seemingly an older more experienced soldier. "He won't hurt us, just try to relax and be more thorough. Besides, Rose is sure to keep him in his place. Red Leader was foolish for letting such a snake into his ranks." He said to his fellow soldiers, walking within inches of our hiding spot. Both Matt and I held our breath, trying to seem as invisible as possible. "What do you mean?" The younger soldier responded in less of a panic, walking up to the senior ranking officer. "You heard me. Rose is a snake. He's a demon, but a pure blood unlike Red Leader. Surely he'll steal his soul before next week, he's waited long enough." The tall man grunted and continued his search. "How do you know?" The young American soldier asked and followed the wiser man within eyesight. "It's a status symbol to him, being a pure bred demon. Learn your facts before you talk to me boy, he flaunts it regularly enough." The man flatly retorted and gathered the searching soldiers. I released a small breath through my mouth and stared at the close group of armed soldiers.