Wildlands (rskde & BurningWillows)

[Risky]

"You've done a lot, I can't personally think of anything else you can do without exploring the pleasures of life." He says with a laugh, recalling what she had said earlier. "Honestly, if you want to go back to your room, you can." He says to her.

"Red and I are gonna go on a sniper mission in the morning, we're gonna hit that main compound you circled twice." He explains, pointing to the compound circled twice.

 

[BurningWillows]

"Just the two of you?" her tone isn't accusing, its full of worry, "One compound against two guys doesn't sound like fair odds. And how are you going to find the girls while your fighting the cartel off?"

"I could come and help," she shrugs, staring down at her hands, "I don't know fighting, or weapons, but I know the compound and all the routes. I can get us in and get everyone out. If you'll let me."

 

[Risky]

"You can come along, if you're up for it." He says to her, watching her carefully. "You just gotta know that I can't guarantee your safety." He explains.

"And hey, what can I say, your sister loved a badass." He says with a laugh, rubbing the back of his head. "I've taken down entire sections of the cartel by myself, scared your sister to death when I didn't come back for two days." He admits, seemingly reminiscing.

 

[BurningWillows]

Serena couldn't help but laugh, "You aren't the first badass she's dated. Although maybe the first to actually use a weapon. She was quite popular in high school."

The laugh died, thoughts of her sister always making the young woman sad after a while, "Yeah, I'd like to help. And my safety has been in question since the day I decided to take a trip to Miami and visit that harbor. So... do I get a cool get-up too?"

 

[Risky]

"Uhm.. Lemme see." He says before standing up and walking over to the closet, opening it and grabbing one of his Casper t-shirts from it. He then grabs a plate carrier and a civilian issued AR-500 Kevlar plate. He slides the plate into the carrier.

He walks over to her and hands her the heavy plate carrier and the t-shirt. "Thats all I got unless you want a Casper hat too." He says with a laugh, sitting down on his bed. "Be careful, the Kevlar is heavy."

 

[BurningWillows]

She stares at it in her hands, then up at him, "This is heavy. How do you people move in this stuff?"

Putting the kevlar down she looks at the shirt before taking her red coat off, letting the dirty thing fall to the floor. Underneath is a plain ratty white tank, courtesy of the cartel who made all the girls wear them. She doesn't even blink twice before stripping that off, leaving only her black bra on. He can see the fresh scars and cuts now, crossing along the milky white skin of her chest, arms and some on her back. He can also see the very distinct outline of her ribs due to malnutrition bordering on starvation the past few weeks.

"Not pretty to look at," Serena muttered, knowing he could see the state of her body the cartel had left her in. Pulling the shirt on, it was slightly baggy but it fit. Over that she slipped the kevlar on, and the weight dug into her small frame, "Anything lighter than this? Or do you get use to the weight?"

 

[Risky]

"Anything lighter will get you killed." He explains to her. "That armor I gave you will stop a couple of rounds but give you some bruises in return."

"You're as beautiful as your sister." He assures her. "Maybe even prettier." He says to her jokingly before walking over to his gear and grabbing his FN45 pistol, handing it to her. "Keep this on you, it doesn't matter if you're not a soldier, you need to learn to defend yourself out here." He explains.

"Now get some rest, we've got a long day ahead of us.. I'm in here if you need me." He says to her.

 

[BurningWillows]

Nodding and saying goodnight, Serena moves back to her room and offloads her things. Crawling into the bed, she tries to sleep but it doesn't come easy and when she finally falls asleep its full of nightmares making her toss and turn, growing worse until she wakes up screaming.

It's pitch black in her room as Serena wakes, her screams dying out as her body shakes and sweat beads her forehead. Those cold green eyes haunt her dreams now, accusing and sad.

 

[Risky]

After she left Al lays down and falls asleep almost immediately, no dreams come to hk mind he finds himself awakening to the sound of a scream from the other room. He gets up and moves out of his room, opening the door quietly to Serena's and slipping in before closing the door behind him quietly.

He presses his back against the door, his eyes adjusting to the darkness and watching her panic. "Are you alright?" He asks softly. He seems stealthy enough to earn the title of Ghost.

 

[BurningWillows]

Serena jumps and squeals at the sound of his voice, having not heard him come in. Realizing it's Alex she relaxes, pulling her knees up under her chin and hugging her legs.

"I'm okay," she whispers, wiping sweat away, "Just another nightmare. A lot of nightmares actually."

 

[Risky]

Al walks over to her, sitting on her bed and nodding. "I used to have a lot of nightmares about Em, after she died. You're kinda lucky, you didn't see it happen." He says to her softly.

"If you need anything, I'm here for you, I'm the only person here other than you that really knew Em well." He explains.

 

[BurningWillows]

"Thank you Alex," she nods, "I'm okay. I think I'll get up though and look around, try to shake the dreams away."

She's still in the shirt he gave her, and the dirty jeans she'd been wearing for a few days now. Pulling back the covers, she moves to get up, pausing only to kiss his cheek to show her gratefulness.

"I'm sorry I woke you, but thank you for checking on me."

 

[Risky]

He nods and watches her, the kiss on his cheek like electricity coursing through his veins. He watches her go, waiting for a few moments before going back to his room, he lays down on his bed and falls asleep again, this time is mind is occupied by dreams,

 

[BurningWillows]

Serena aquaints herself with the hotel, finding places like the kitchen, and eventually wandering up to the roof. As she comes out of the stairwell she spots someone along the edge, staring down.

"Sorry," she holds her hands up, "I just wanted to see the roof."

A tall man turns and smiles, his red hair a shade lighter than hers.

"No worries, I enjoy company. You're the new girl right? My name's Red."

"Serena," she relaxes, stepping towards him, "What are you doing?"

"Just on watch duty for a couple hours. Winters had the night shift, and is now pushing to do the morning shift too so I'm giving him a couple hours to sleep. Why are you up?"

"Couldn't sleep. You're coming with me and Alex on the rescue mission in the morning right?"

"Alex...oh, Al. Yeah I am."

They continue talking, keeping each other company till the sun began to rise and Serena took her leave to get ready. Downstairs she showers and dresses, then runs down to the kitchen and grabs two yogurts and protein bars. Just the fact she can eat something more than scraps excites her and as Serena returns upstairs she munches on her protein bar.

"Alex," she calls, knocking on his door with his breakfast in hand.

 

[Risky]

He wakes up and gets up, grabbing his rifle and attaching it to the side of his backpack to prepare for the mission today. He walks over to the door and opens it, seeing Serena with food.

"Hi." He says tiredly, moving aside so that she can walk inside.

 

[BurningWillows]

"Here," she hands him a yogurt and protein bar, "I brought you breakfast."

Sitting on his bed she waits while he gets ready. The Kevlar is heavy on her and weighs her down, making her slower but she tries to ignore it.

"So I met Red," she smiled, "He's...nice. Very chatty, kept me on the roof for a couple hours talking."

 

[Risky]

Al takes a bite of his protein bar. "He's kind've annoying." He says with a laugh. "I only deal with him for missions, I try to keep away from him on my spare time." He admits to her before taking another bite.

"You ready for today? First priority is securing the body, second is the slaves, then we kill everyone inside and outside." He explains. "Although the order could get messed up if we run into any complications."

 

[BurningWillows]

"I think I'm ready. Although I think I'll stick to the first two priorities and leave the bloodshed to you professionals."

~~

Hours past and the three find themselves about an hour walk outside the compound, being dropped off by Shrake. They sit hidden on the top of a cliff overlooking the compound, both snipers watching through their scopes as Serena pointed out obvious points of interest like the guard towers and the easiest route for them to sneak in.

"If we go around the side entrance we can sneak up and behind and take most of those assholes out before someone sounds the alarm. All those girls will die once they know we are there, so the longer we can remain stealthy, the longer we have."

"Cute and informative," Red complimented winking at her, "Your just the entire package."

Serena blushed, "Uh, thanks Red. Alex...did I miss any points?"

 

[Risky]

Al feels his fists tighten around his rifle, he calmly shakes his head. "No. Everything you said is all we need." He says before walking towards the edge of the cliff, he turns and winks at Serena before falling off backwards.

She's right, I am badass.

He turns so that he is facing the ground, widening his arms a little to reveal a wing suit tucked into the sides of his chest carrier. He grabs his Karambit knife from his vest and descends down, grabbing a guard by his head and snapping his neck in mid air. He falls on top of the body before turning, slashing up his buddy who was about to sound the alarm.

He hides both of the bodies in the tall grass before calmly grabbing his radio. "Im outside of the slave area. Guide me." He says before grabbing his silenced FN45, his backup one, from his holster. He moves to the entrance and gets ready to enter it.

 

[BurningWillows]

"Alex!" she throws herself towards the cliff, hitting the dirt as she watches him...not fall. She can't help but smile at his cockiness, watching him take two men out.

"I thought I was going in too," Serena looked over at Red who only shrugged and handed her the radio she could hear Alex from, "When did we decide you were going in alone?!"

Suddenly Red fired, then swore.

"What?"

Grabbing his rifle, he tugged her arm, to pull her away from the cliff edge quickly.

"Al, I was spotted. Top guard tower, right near you. You'll have to move quick or he'll sound the alarm. I took out the sniper, didn't see his buddy crouched low. He's heading down into the compound."

"Where are we going?" Serena asked, trying to pull her wrist out of his grip, "Alex needs us!"

"We aren't any help if we are dead. We got to get down that cliff and into the compound. C'mon."

Into the radio he continued, "We'll be there in five for back up. Good luck."

 

[Risky]

He runs into the building and opens all of the pens, motioning for them to run up the cliff. He whispers to them the directions before running towards the main compound, taking aim and killing the man in the watchtower as the alarm is sounded.

He runs into the main courtyard, firing shots to kill the guards there before jumping up and cutting down the body of his former lover. He puts her over his back and carries her up the cliff.

 

[BurningWillows]

By the time the reach the compound Al has managed to free most of the girls being kept, and is working on the guards. Serena follows Red, motioning for him to try inside the main building, where more could be waiting.

"Go ahead, I got your back," Red orders and Serena nods, slipping around the edge of the compound with Red at her heels, taking out guards as they ran.

"Do you see Alex?" she calls back but Red's busy taking two guards out.

"No, he's probably grabbing Emberly's body. We don't have much time Serena, back up will be here soon."

Serena hopes Alex is alright and focuses on racing for the main building, Red on her heels. As she nears the back door theres a loud bang, and Serena drops to the ground, fear gripping her.

"Fuck, another sniper," Red snaps looking up at the nearby tower, "Serena get inside and find the girls. I have to take this sniper out before he hits any of the girls or Al."

He's already gone before Serena has a chance to explain she has no training for this. Obviously Red hadn't got the memo that she wasn't military. But waiting outside is just as dangerous, she snaps at herself, opening the back door and slipping in.

Sure enough there are more women inside, locked in the basement as she had been many a time. The door is locked though, so Serena races to find something to pry it open. After a minute of searching she spots a crowbar and begins working on the door. Her strength is nothing like Alex's or Red's, and it takes her far longer to get through the door and free the dozen more girls inside.

"C'mon," she orders, rushing them out, "Run for the cliff. Don't stop for anything."

Checking for any stragglers, Serena turns and flees upstairs, turning around the corner. Suddenly an arm wraps around her waist and entraps her. She screams, struggling against them as the smell of alcohol and gunpowder fills her nose.

"Stop moving," a sharp knife presses into her throat, "Behave little girl, or I'll slice your throat."

He shoves her forward, keeping her trapped with his one arm and the knife against her throat as he pulls her outside into the courtyard where all can see.

 

[Risky]

Al is now in a sniper position, his rifle aimed at the courtyard, where he can clearly see Serena being held hostage, a knife at her throat. A kill shot could cause the knife to kill her, not shooting would kill her. A risky shot is necessary.

He measures out the wind and the distance of the shot. When he gets the shot he speaks into the radio. "Let her free, or your die." He says simply, hoping her radio is transmitting so that he can be heard to her hostage keeper.

 

[BurningWillows]

The radio attached to her belt buzzed and then Al's voice came through precise and clear. It startled her captor slightly and the knife dug in slightly too hard, nicking her skin. It wasn't anything serious but Serena could feel the tiny trickle of blood running down her neck and it freaked her out even more.

"Help me!" she cried, squeezing her eyes shot, "Please...please I don't want to die. Please Alex help me! Oh my god! Don't kill me! Please...please I really don't want to die. Alex! Alex can you hear me! Fuck, he's going to kill me!"

"Shut up bitch," the man swore, punching her side so the air from her lungs whooshed out and she coughed, the knife digging harder into her neck, threatening to kill her if she moved a muscle.

 

[Risky]

"So, how're we gonna play this? You gonna step away or do you want me to prove just how good o I shot I am?" Al asks over the radio again, his finger flicking the safety off on his rifle.

He adjusts his aim slightly, ready to take the shot at any given moment. "Any demands? Anything, I'm listening."