OUTBREAK: ZERO is a semi post-apocalyptic pandemic roleplay set in the fictional city of Lethford, USA. Current season: Winter, 20/21.
March 2020. The world is in pandemonium as one month ago, GHNv-20 was confirmed, five months after the beginning of norovirus season. The number of the infected are in the higher hundred thousands, and the death toll is at an estimated 250,000, with about seventy percent of the rest of the population experiencing mild to moderate illnesses connected to the S. pyogenes bacteria.
The fear of the unknown has caused mass hysteria and panic.
In an attempt to provide a semblance of safety and control, military personnel patrol the streets, even here in Lethford City, and the police force is trying to keep up with the rising street violence, assault, and theft.
Welcome to OUTBREAK: zero. Will you survive?
HAYANA
SITE OWNER + HEAD ADMINISTRATOR
Hi! I'm Haya. I'm pretty much your girl for everything! If you have any questions regarding our plot, membergroups, etc. don't hesitate to ask me. I'm also in charge of coding, graphics, anything skin related, and advertising/affiliates.
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ADDI
ADMINISTRATOR
Hey! I'm Addi. Hit me up if you need help with anything. I'm always for plotting so don't be shy. I like coffee, booze, and working out. I'm back from a long hiatus the dead so if you need anything, best ask the others until I get back into the groove of things!
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FINNLEY
GLOBAL MODERATOR
Hi hello! My name is Finnley, or Finn, call whichever and I'll be there for you (yes like the FRIENDS theme song). I am in charge of the claims and helping with miscellaneous things. Let me know if you have any questions!
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outbreak
/ˈaʊtbreɪk/ zero /ˈzɪərəʊ/
a sudden occurrence of something unwelcome, such as war or disease. number, no quantity or number; nought; the figure 0.
The words she could hear replaying over and over in her mind. They had been spoken from the lips of a Spanish woman, just a few years older than Ruby herself. The woman had gotten her number and had begged her to help get her husband out what she called jail. He was the only one who could speak English, the only one who brought in money. She had taken the case immediately, just from the phone call and the next day she had been in the courthouse. It had seemed he wasn't in jail though, he wasn't in the hospital nor the quarantined area. He had been moved to the military base where they were holding him for two more days before sending him back to Mexico. She had argued for a trial, but because of everything with the virus, his status hadn't allowed it.
She had then went to the couple's home to deliver the news. The woman had started crying when Ruby told her there was nothing she could do. It had been heartbreaking, but she had done all she could, at least in the eyes of the judicial system. Then the woman had left the room only to come back with a three-week old infant. The woman placed the baby in Ruby's arms, begging her once more to help. "He's all she and I have," she said softly. Ruby felt tears come to her eyes and she pursed her lips. Handing the baby back to it's mother. She left a few hundred dollar bills on the coffee table and told her she would try her best. por favor ayudenos was all the woman said.
She had then spent the next day researching all that she could of the base, the other half of the second day planning her mission. He was scheduled to be sent back in the morning so she had to move that night. She had put her hair in a ponytail, a black ball cap over it. She had then put on jeans and a dark hoodie. The woman had told her that a friend of her husband's friend could get her into the base and she had followed up on that tip. The man had hidden her among the crates and boxes of food, allowing her to slip out when the truck wasn't being watched by soldiers. She had prayed the entire way there, taking steadying breaths to calm her nerves.
She knew it was risky, she knew it was crazy, but she couldn't sit back and do nothing. Her feet hit the steps of the base, traveling underground through the hallway. She kept her cap as low as she could and tried to walk at a normal pace. There were soldiers everywhere, but as far as they knew she was one too. She only had to be in the brightly lit hallway for a minute more.
She didn't look at anyone as she moved along, trying to keep focused on where she needed to go. She made it to a door and pulled out McCabe's stolen ID, scanning it quickly. The light turned green and she walked through, heading towards the stairwell. She walked two floors down, scanning his ID once more to get through. She then waited against the doorway. She doubted this was a well-traveled area. The people down here weren't of much concern to the soldiers above. She doubted they even saw them as people. Just numbers labeled as rule-breakers. She counted to 80 and when the hallway still remained empty she pulled a rock out of her pocket and jammed in the door for a quick escape. She ran to the door that housed the cells and swiped the ID. The door opened and she ran inside, her eyes scanning along the cells. There were only three men in there and mercifully no guards. "Alejandro?" She called out. A man in the back raised his hand up and she ran to his cell, "I'm going to get you out of here, your wife has her things packed, you'll need to leave the state immediately." He nodded to her and she scanned the card. The pad became illuminated and she pressed the unlock button, glancing around as the door began to open. The man met her outside the cell and she motioned for him to be quiet.
She couldn't shake the feeling that she was forgetting something but for the life of her she couldn't remember what it could be. The pair moved to the door and she waited again, counting to 80. When it was clear there was no one there, she opened the door and he followed her outside, the hallway still empty.
She took one step towards the stairs when an alarm went off. She had forgotten to close the cell, it had an automatic alarm, she had known that, she had just gotten too distracted to remember. "Shit." She said, turning to Alejandro. "Okay, we need to-" She was mid-sentence when he bolted from her, running through the open door and racing up the stairs that she had come down earlier. She paused, frozen in her spot a second before deciding to run in the opposite direction down the hallway. At least if people tried chasing her he'd have a fighting chance to escape.
She began running, her heart hammering outside of her chest. She came to the end of the hallway and scanned the ID, bolting to the left as soon as the door opened. She had almost made it to another door when it opened in front of her. She kept her head low and skidded to a stop before running away in the opposite direction. She could hear the pounding of feet behind her and she tried remembering which way was the exit.
It had been useless though as the soldier quickly caught up with her. When she was certain they were close, much too close to outrun, she stopped in her tracks, her elbow shooting back to hit the person. She felt her elbow graze skin before it was deflected, her arm shoved behind her back. She stomped hard on the person's foot but realized it wasn't helping much since they were obviously wearing combat boots. She began struggling to get out of their hold, the hoodie falling away from her face. She tried to land another gut shot with her other elbow, but the person fended off the attack too well. Her hat fell to the floor, her hair loose from its restraints. The soldier had her subdued in mere seconds.
It was game over. She turned as much as she could while still being restrained by the person, looking to see exactly who had captured her. Her blue eyes met his, and she immediately stopped struggling, "Golden boy, fancy meeting you here."
It was decent weather out, which was why he was still standing outside, watching the few soldiers who wanted to work out with him run the course ahead. He had already beaten a few of them, which prompted in them asking him to train them. He was used to being asked for training in the classroom. What he did took every ounce of energy sometimes, being tested mind and body for his whole training and being expected to keep up with that standard throughout his career. And even after twelve years in, he could keep up with the ones who were younger than him. Not that thirty two was old by any means.
William stood with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched them running the course for the second time. Lights were the only thing keeping some of the course lit, while the other part was still cloaked in darkness. It was good to have your senses messed with when it comes to letting you test your body with different courses, different environments, and different lighting. A few of them paused as they stopped for a breathe. "You stop on the field and that could leave you exposed. Find a spot for cover before stopping," he shouted to them.
Sure, right now it might not be top priority but you had to train as if you were in a high danger area. One moment of relaxation could be the matter of life or death. Like a few weeks ago, he let his guard down unlike anything he had ever done. He let a moment of bad judgement hit him and wound up with his higher up chewing into him for somehow losing his damn military ID. He went looking for it, showed up at the pharmacy and asked the woman who had caught him in his weakness. At least when he saw her this time he wasn't all heavy lidded or kiss swollen. Or with some smudged lipstick pressed against his neck. He found that once he got home that day.
The thought of her, Rebecca, was something he had to shove out of his mind a lot recently. Because every time he thought about her, he didn't immediately think of how she felt under him or her lips against his. Nope, he thought about that grin she gave him that was a genuine grin, and the way she murmured his name. He snapped out of it as the wind picked up and smacked him in the face with its crispness. He almost thanked it. While looking for his ID, he looked for her. The woman at the pharmacy never found his ID, when he asked about Rebecca, the woman gave him the oddest look as if she had no idea who he was referring to.
When he mentioned it was the woman he was with there, the woman just repeated 'Rebecca?' as if she heard him wrong. He nodded and saw a flash of confusion across her face. But she offered no explanation. Just said she hadn't seen her recently. He was in civilian clothes at that time and pulled out a piece of paper from his wallet and handed it to her. It had his name and cell number on it, and he handed it to the older woman asking if she would give it to her if she saw her. And either she never saw her, or Rebecca chose to not reach out. He half expected no response. Still sucked.
But his ID was no where. He ripped apart the vehicle, searched the pharmacy a bit more throughly with permission. Ripped his home apart looking for it. But nothing. He had to report it to his reporting officer, which earned him that verbal lashing. And then a 'we will get new ones made'. He just got his new ones yesterday, which he was paranoid about and he patted the internal pocket of his pants to make sure it was still there. Yep, haven't moved.
The blaring sirens that started up behind him startled him a bit, and he whipped around to look at the entrance of the underground base that was directly behind him. Without much thought, he took off running towards it. Clearly something happened and he knew immediate action would be needed. As he came through the doors, he ran into another solider who stated that they had an escapee on the loose. The quickest nod went out as they separated. Whoever escaped couldn't have been too far from where the cells were and he knew that he at least needed to get to the halls that were somewhat around it. As he scanned his new card and the door opened, he was briefly surprised to watch a smaller figure in dark clothing bolt from him.
He immediately ran after the person, his long legs closing the distance as he caught up to them. He was getting ready to snag them when an elbow came flying back towards him. Will reacted just fast enough to avoid a full on collision of elbow to throat action, but still caught enough of it to make him swallow quickly at the discomfort. There was no one else in the hallway as he deflected the few blows coming from the smaller figure and he quickly got control over them. The hat flew to the ground as he finally pinned the arm behind the escapee's back and he pushed them forward to use the wall as leverage as well to keep them pinned between his body and the steel of the underground wall.
What he was no ready for, and no amount of training could have prepared him for, was a very familiar scent hitting his nose. And then those blue eyes looking back at him, and suddenly he was completely caught off guard for a second, even his grip on her lightened slightly from possible bruising force to just a firm hold. She was definitely not someone who was being held here.
"Golden boy, fancy meeting you here."
She was still just as beautiful as the last time he saw her. But his mind immediately let that as the sirens blared still in the background, lights flashing. "Don't golden boy me, what the hell are you doing here?" He bit out, not releasing her because truly, he didn't know what was going on. He had hundreds of questions run through his mind as he stared at her. This was not good, he already knew this was not going to be something he was going to look back at later in his career and go 'yep that was the best moment of it all!'. He knew soon that there would be others coming down that hallway and his first thought was how was he going to get her to safety.
This was not good. "Rebecca, what the hell is going on?" Even if she answered, his mind didn't process so he felt the need to ask again.
Ruby's heart was racing as she had begun her run, her mind firing off thoughts left and right. What if he was caught? What if she was caught? How much trouble was she looking at here? She tried making peace with the idea of her career being over. Her licence to practice law was going to be revoked faster than the blink of an eye if this went south. It didn't have to though. She just had to make it out. She was trying to decode the labyrinth of stairs and levels in this place in her head but too much was going on. She couldn't think straight. Then the door had opened and instead of trying to throw off the soldier, play like she was one of them her flight instinct had taken over and she had bolted.
She had gotten shoved against the wall, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Her mind raced to try to think of an excuse that she could have given the person, wondering for a brief moment if she could get away if she flashed McCabe's badge, but to her shock, it had been him who had restrained her. Blue eyes met blue eyes and she was a little pleased to note that he looked just as shocked as she was. That was good, at least he hadn't suspected her to do anything like this. It was a small, merciful win that she gladly took. She felt him loosen his grip on her, though not fully, her mind screaming that she wasn't safe with him any more than anyone else. He was golden boy, of course he wasn't going to help her escape.
She made a smartass comment and the sirens had blared again, making her jump. His grip on her remained steady and his words came out harsh. It was odd hearing this voice of his, his commanding military voice that he addressed her with, demanding to know what was going on, cutting through her snarky bullshit with a knife. He was going to turn her in, she could feel it. He asked her once more and she closed her eyes for a brief second, trying to pretend she was someone else.
Nothing. Give them nothing. She repeated over and over in her head. It was something she told her clients who had been taken into jail. Tell them nothing, give them nothing. She shook her head before taking one more deep breath, readying herself to make another run for it. She doubted she would be able to overtake him, but she had to do something.
She angled her body as much as she could, aiming to land a kick to his legs. He had moved his body from her just as quick but the action had caused him to lose his grip where he had been holding her. She turned where she was now facing him, but he was too damn quick in his recovery for her to actually be able to go anywhere. She tried pushing him, her confidence breaking bit by bit, "Will please, let me go. Please." Her eyes pleaded with him, her mind cursing at the fact that he couldn't let his damn soldier loyalty drop for one minute. She tried again to push against him, her body clearly no match for his in the strength department.
Then a shout rang out, just barely audible from where they were, "GET ON THE GROUND." She paused, freezing immediately. A male voiced shouted the words again, "GET ON THE GROUND." It sounded close, her mind racing to Alejandro and his escape. Were they talking to him? Had they actually caught him already? Was this all in vain? She didn't have time to think any more on it though when shots rang out from a gun.
Ruby jumped again, instinctively moving towards William, her hands gripping him in fear. The silence was deafening. One second passed, then two. She looked up at him, her face terrified. "Did...did they...?" She couldn't finish the words, the thought of the man who she had just freed being shot slamming into her like a train.
She leaned against the wall, her legs buckling. "They...they shot him, oh god. Don't...I don't want to get shot...oh god..." The idea that her struggle could end in her being fired upon was enough to ice whatever confidence and bravado she had before. Alejandro was going to give her up, he had to. They'd give him a lighter sentence in return for the information on who set him free. He would have to take it, hell as his lawyer she would all but make him. He could go home, take his wife and leave this place. But as for her, she was done for. Career? Over. Freedom? Over. Her heart was racing, her eyes scared and wide. What had she been thinking?
This was out of control. She was struggling against him, even as she saw who he was. She didn't trust him as far as she could throw him, and he damn well thought the same thing about her at this point. What the hell was she doing on base? Of course he knew nothing about her and she could very well work for the government and he had her pinned to the wall like a criminal, but that thought barely made him ease up. What were the chances that she winds up being the person he catches right after alarms start going off? She had to be the reason behind them. As her leg shot out towards him, he shifted to avoid contact. Part of him, wanted to remind her what his job was.
He wasn't some pencil pusher sitting behind a desk. He was trained for combat, water, air, hand to hand. So she would have to really catch him off guard to land a hit on him. But his shift did offer her the opportunity to spin and face him. His hands immediately shifted to keep control on her, his hand pinning her wrists together and he gave her no room to run from him. No, she wasn't going to just slip past him like she did the last time.
"Will please, let me go. Please."
Her eyes were wide with fear. He was briefly reminded of a cornered animal and something in him wanted to protect her. It popped up briefly before he heard shouts coming. His initial thought was to call out to them. But it quickly went away as her body froze against his, and he heard the shouts get more frantic. What he wasn't ready for was the unmistakable sound of a gun firing. After counting off one, two, three, more shots rang. Whoever they fired on, probably wasn't moving at this point.
Her small body pressed into his, and suddenly he did not want to be here. Why did he have to be the one who found her? But at the same time, thank god he was the one who found her. She struggled for words against him and he realized that he released the grip on her hands at some point as they grabbed onto him out of solid fear. He had never expected to see her like this, as her knees seemed to give out, he moved to hold her into place, to keep her from hitting the ground.
"They...they shot him, oh god. Don't...I don't want to get shot...oh god..."
And suddenly he became aware of the voices down the hall. He should be calling out for help. He should be putting her into a cell and seeing what the hell she was actually doing there. Because right now, it didn't look great. But as he started down at her, his heart lurched into his chest and goddamn him if he didn't just go against everything he had been training for. "Goddammit," His voice broke as he snapped an awful idea into his head but one that was probably the best chance they had at the moment.
Well the best one he had of getting her away from all this. "Look at me, and listen to me because we aren't going to have time for me to repeat this," he stared down at her, willing her to look into his face. He was going to help her, hide her until he had his questions answered so he could know exactly what he should do with her. It was the only thing that made sense to him because he needed answers at this point. "When I tell you to, you are going to break free of my hold and you are going to hit me as hard as you can in the jaw," yeah he wasn't going to like this but he needed it to be believable.
He continued on, keeping his voice just loud enough so she could hear him, "You are going to knee me in the stomach and I want you to run back the way you came. The door I came from, you are going to exit that door and straight ahead of it, will be another one that goes outside. Stick to the shadows and you are going to go left outside. Run straight through the course, and keep going. You will see some homes. Go to 3268, spare key is on top of the light by the front door. Go inside, keep the lights off, lock the doors. Stay there, you will be safe. And I will come for you as soon as I can." And he hoped she believed him. Because damn him but he was going to keep her safe.
"Do you understand?" The moment she gave him any signal that she understood, he was ready to take those hits and maybe be a bit dramatic if needed. Because cameras were watching and he needed to make it look like she actually got the jump on him.
Ruby wasn't truly aware of his arm around her, easing the pressure so her knees didn't give out. All she could process were the gunshots. Why had they fired on him? Had she made a mistake somewhere down the line? Her mind was running wild with theories. Maybe the shots had been a warning. Surely they wouldn't have gunned down an innocent, unarmed civilian. Nothing made sense. How she had thought this endeavor was a good idea was beyond her.
She heard shouting in the distance, footsteps reverberating towards them. She momentarily felt her head swim. This was all going to come to a head, this whole stupid idea. She just hoped she made it out alive. She watched as his head tilted slightly, she assumed he was hearing the same charge of soldiers that were going to be upon them as well. She knew it was over. "Will I'm not armed, I promise I won't run, please ..." She slowly raised her shaking hands in surrender. Then he had cursed and she closed her eyes, waiting for him to apprehend her again, shove her back against the wall.
Instead, he demanded she look at him, his voice forceful. Her eyes snapped open, meeting his. She slowly lowered her shaking hands, his going around hers in a way that mimicked his hold from earlier, but with no force behind it. Ruby nodded when he told her to listen. She wasn't sure where he was going with all of this, but she knew he had rank and she intended to follow whatever demand he asked of her. At least while the possibility of getting shot was very much on the table. When he told her what she needed to do her face filled with confusion but she didn't ask questions. "Okay," the only thing she could force out of her lips.
When he further asked her to knee him in the stomach, a few of the neurons in her brain began doing their job and firing again. He was going to get her out of here. The realization hitting her hard as she tried to focus on his words, his instruction. "3268...3268..okay.." She nodded, wordlessly repeating the number once more. She could do this. She had to do this. The only other option was the business end of a gun and a bunch of soldiers hell-bent on capturing her.
Safe. The word causing her to meet his eyes. Why he was helping her was beyond her understanding at the moment, but she couldn't worry about that right now. Right now she needed to follow his instruction, stick to his plan.
He asked if she understood and she nodded. Ruby swallowed hard, sucking in a deep breath as the shouting got closer to them, the door opposite of them signalling that someone was using their ID card to get in. She felt him relax his grip on her hands and she pushed upwards and out, appearing to break his hold. She then turned her body into him, her fist connecting. She had tried to hold back as much as she could with it still looking realistic but with the adrenaline over-riding her system she truly wasn't sure how hard it may have landed. All she knew was that her knee came up after that, right on cue, landing at his stomach.
Then she bolted. Her feet pounding down the hallway, throwing open the door and running through, sticking to the shadows as much as she could. The other door came into view and she didn't dare stop, didn't dare turn her head though she was almost positive there were a set of footsteps chasing her. The door opened to the outside, the markers of a course laid out in front of her just as he had said.
She lit out through the field, chasing after the blessed darkness that laid after it. The footsteps had fallen away and she sent up a silent prayer that his plan was appearing to work. The blare of the alarms was fading and she mercifully hit the shadows on the other side of the field, continuing her pace until the edges of a neighborhood came into view.
She slowed her pace, adapting to a walk, still sticking as much as she could to the shadows. She counted off the house numbers until she saw the one he had told her to go to. Crossing the street she walked up to the porch, reaching on her tip-toes to feel for the key. She grabbed it, her hands shaking so badly that it dropped not once, but twice before she could put it into the door securely.
She turned the doorknob, stepping inside, shutting the door immediately. She locked the door and kept the lights off as instructed. Ruby glanced at her watch. 45 minutes. Not even a whole hour had passed from her stepping inside the base to it all going to hell.
The house was silent and faintly smelled like him. It was too dark to see very much but she could see his couch nearby. The living room seemed like as good a place as any to wait this out so that was where she went. She moved past the couch and a chair, going to the corner of the room and sliding down the wall until she was sitting.
A few good deep breaths in and her hands slowly stopped trembling. Her mind unable to stop thinking about what had happened. What had she been thinking? What happened with Alejandro? Why had William helped her? The questions kept coming and she didn't have any answers to them. She wondered what Alejandro's wife would be doing. If the friend of a friend had made it off the base. She wondered who would break the news that things had gone wrong to the woman. She wondered how long it would be until Alejandro told them who she was. The tears came to her eyes and she was thankful she was alone. She brushed them off angrily, hugging her knees into her chest. She didn't know how in the hell long she would need to wait but she didn't care. As long as she was in the dark alone she could manage until she figured out her next step.
William watched her beg him before his explanation of getting out of there started. He didn't like it, he didn't like this part of her at all. He almost rather that she still was fighting him, because at least his heart wasn't crushing in his chest at those terrified, wide blue eyes looking at him. What the hell she did to his mind, he had no idea. And had this been three hundred years ago, he'd suspect her a witch that cast a spell on him. That's how it felt, like he couldn't help but want her safe and he wanted to comfort her until the trembling stopped.
He watched her with sharp eyes as he gave instruction, watching her process what he as saying and repeating back the number he told her. Good, she was actually listening and he knew that she wasn't going to try and do her own thing. She was smart enough to know that he was her best bet for getting out of there. Once she looked like she was ready, he relaxed his hold and she burst into action. Part of him was damn proud of her for not hesitating as she got out of his grip. Her punch hit hard, which actually stunned him for a moment and the knee colliding with his stomach made him grunt and fall to his knees as he tried to catch his breath. On his tongue he tasted the metallic taste of blood and knew she caught him well enough to bust his lip.
He waited until she got outside the first set of doors before he got up, slowly as he sucked in a few deep breaths before he started off after her. He had to put on the chase, knew that it was important to make it look like he really wanted to capture her. He even turned on the heat to gain a bit on her as they hit the doors, up until he knew the cameras didn't have sight of them. And that's when he stopped, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He could only help her so far, and he hoped she would get the rest of the way safely. It was late enough that no one would really be out where the homes were, so she shouldn't have any issues. And he never left his lights on in his house, so if she kept in the dark until he got home, there was a damn good chance she'd be good.
The next hour was a circus show, lots of 'what happened?' going around and people fussing over the fact that someone made it around. William was there in the middle of it as well, pushing orders for searches and trying to figure out what even happened, or so they thought. He watched the videos with them, and even though he got some odd looks, like how he had a fast one pulled on him, he snapped at them. Like they had never been caught off guard or lost a fight. He wasn't invincible. Which they all backed off after that. Once he knew there were enough things in place to keep things secure, and knew that his job was done there, he started to make his way back home.
The ride home was quick, and he tried to be as casual as he could as he pulled his bike up the driveway and opened the garage. He parked it, got his keys out and unlocked the door as he hit the close button for the garage. His house was still dark, and he hadn't seen any sign of movement when he pulled up. He realized it was about an hour and a half since he last caught sight of her disappearing. And he had high hopes that she was inside considering no one came in saying they caught her. The garage door lead him right into the hallway between his living room and dining room, so he placed down his keys and flipped the hallway light on.
He felt comfortable turning on that light, because even if someone saw it on, they had to have heard his motorcycle pull up so he was home. He wasn't a great decorator or anything, his walls mainly blank except for a few that had pictures of his daughter randomly down the hallway, and even a few drawings that he framed from her. His living room had the staple couch, gray in color with a few throw pillows on it and a blanket tossed over the back. A widescreen tv mounted to the wall and a coffee table. A lounge chair in the corner that was red in color and out of the way. And one picture sitting under the tv on the entertainment center.
He walked slowly, boots making a solid sound against the hardwood floor as he walked and peered into the dining room before he moved on. "Kitten?" He was sort of surprised that the nickname came out instead of her name, but he wouldn't take it back. His voice steady as he waited for her to make herself known, from where ever she was. So waiting in the hallway between the main areas downstairs seemed like the best idea. The only other area she could have gone was the bedrooms upstairs.
Ruby sat quietly in the dark. She didn't glance at her watch anymore. She didn't care about the time. She considered herself lucky that she wasn't in handcuffs right now. She wondered what in the hell life was going to be like for her. If she got out of this situation by some miracle, she'd have to run. She'd have to leave the state, hell she'd have to leave the country. The United States government wasn't too keen on letting rule breakers run around unchecked, especially not ones who had broken into a secured underground facility.
She doubted she'd make it far. There were too many of them. She was up against a literal army. Her mind kept bringing William up, wondering why in the hell he had risked his life, his career for her. A part of her wondered if he had just gotten her moved to an area where they could keep her until they figured out what was going on. If maybe he hadn't been genuine in his offer to keep her safe. It didn't matter when it came down to everything. Whether William turned her in or she was nabbed at the border, there was no escaping what was coming.
It would take five seconds for them to put her name into their database. Alejandro could give them more than a name of course, he had been the one to give his wife her number. He knew her name, what she did for a living. They would have her address, her college records, her legal license, they'd probably have it all right down to her adoption papers. She was done, professionally speaking.
Her degree was in criminal justice, she was all too familiar with the charges they could put on her. She was looking at everything from breaking and entering to treason. Depending on what they could get Alejandro to say against her they might could even tack on a charge for attempted murder, if they could get him to testify that she made him run, forced him to leave his cell. She wouldn't refute it, it didn't matter anyway. There was no future after this.
The time ticked on and Ruby sat, hugging her knees to herself. There was an occasional car here or there. Once she heard a dog bark somewhere outside. But on the whole, it was silent. The tears had mercifully stopped coming a few moments after she had gotten time to process what happened. A few minutes to steady her breathing and focus on the solid corners of the wall. She hated crying, it was too weak. She had chosen her path the second she had gotten on the truck. She had to live with and face whatever consequences it called for.
The sound of a motorcycle made her angle her head slightly, listening quietly as it grew louder. She could hear a mechanical noise and headlights swept over the room as the vehicle came to a park. At once she was on alert, swallowing hard and trying her damndest to keep her breathing level. She could hear a key at what sounded like a back or side door and she closed her eyes a moment as she listened to footsteps enter into the house. It sounded like one person, but what the hell did she know.
She opened her eyes as a hallway light was turned on. She couldn't see him, her mind furiously scrambling to come up with an exit plan if she had mistakenly made it into the wrong home. Then the words called out, "Kitten?" She loosened the breath that she had been holding, thankful to anyone above who was listening that it was him.
She stood up slowly, quietly making her way to where he was. When she got at the edge of the hallway she leaned against the wall, facing him. Her arms wrapped around her, "Thank you." The words falling quietly from her lips.
Her eyes tried reading him, falling onto the cut on his lip. Sadness filled her face from the notion of her striking him hard enough to draw blood when he clearly hadn't deserved it punching a hole in her chest. She moved towards him without thinking, before her mind could yell at her to stop. She was barely a foot from him when her senses kicked in, her hand pausing mid-air before she pulled it back to her side. She had done a very awful thing and put him in an even worse spot. She doubted very much he wanted her to touch him. "Why? Why risk that for me?" Her confused eyes landed on his, searching for some reason, any reason that would make sense as to why he had done what he did for her.
William knew how long time could be, and how fast it could go as well. It all depended on the situation and what was happening at the time to you. Right now as one of those times that the silence of his own home, was dragging out long enough to make his skin crawl. It made him want to run down the hallways and into the different rooms till he found her. But he knew that would be an idea that neither of them would wind up liking. The sound of running after everything that just happened, would probably only frighten her and then he would be the sole cause for those wide blue fearful eyes.
When he heard a shuffling noise from his living room, a small breath left him. So she was here, she was safe and had made it all the way into his home. When she appeared at the end of his hallway, he was frozen in his spot. How was she still as beautiful as she was, even after everything. He quickly shoved that thought aside as the thank you fell from her lips and she wrapped her arms around herself. His eyes quickly ran over to ensure that she seemed uninjured. As if she had to hold onto something or else she would fall apart, or float away. Still, he stood there just taking her in, afraid he would move too quickly and startle her.
Her eyes caught on his mouth and immediately he could see the sadness that hit her face. He lifted a hand to wave it off, “You’ve got a mean hook. But it looks worse than it actually is,” he said, his voice quiet and trying to get her to understand that he wasn’t upset. That punch, though stunning alongside that kneeing action, was just for show. He dropped his hand as she moved towards him, her hand lifting up as if to touch him and he stood as still as he could. And suddenly it was dropping back to her side, and with that movement he stepped forward, capturing her small hand in hers and lifting it to place on his cheek as she asked him a question that he didn’t quite understand either.
“Why? Why risk that for me?”
He let out a small, almost lost sounding laugh that lasted just a second. His eyes staring at her in this close space. “I’ve asked myself that a lot this last almost two hours,” He thought out loud, because it was true. Whenever his brain wasn’t being pulled in a million different directions after the ‘escape’, he found it going back to what the hell he was thinking. Why had he made that choice. “All I know was I didn’t like the thought of you in one of those cells, and that you aren’t stupid…” His voice trailed off for a second, shaking his head and looking down for a moment before looking back up at her, “Well, okay, maybe stupid after this stunt, but you had to have had a good reason for this.”
He reached out his own hand, hesitant like she was about touching her anywhere that wasn’t her hand. But he was daring enough to brush his finger tips against her cheek and push back a strand of hair there. Yeah, just like in those cheesy movies. But he didn’t do anything drastic after that, instead he let his hand fall back down and he shifted in front of her. “I told you before, you’re like a goddamn beautiful siren sent to lead me to my death. And I truly believe that now.” He laughed, like truly laughed at it and rubbed the back of his head. He had no idea yet what to do from here. And maybe that could wait, wait until morning after he’s had a gallon of coffee and a mound of eggs to kick start the brainstorming process.
“You’ve got a mean hook. But it looks worse than it actually is"
If it had been any other time she would have laughed. She might have even made a comment about him not being able to handle her, but this was not the time. She hadn't meant to hurt him, she hadn't even wanted to make contact with his skin, but it had seemed that her adrenaline had thrown that thought out the window. She knew she could throw a punch, had it been anyone else but him she might have even wagered the odds in her favor for escaping. That's what she had spent months of her life focusing purely on: training. She had vowed to never be in that helpless position again, and yet...here she was.
Her hand paused in midair though and she had moved to take it back, unsure about what was going on in his head. She knew she wasn't out of the clearing. She knew it wasn't this easy. She still wasn't entirely sure he didn't have ulterior motives on allowing her to escape. She doubted very much that he would have wanted her to touch him. Yet, instead of moving away from her, he stepped in. His hand holding hers as he gently placed it on his cheek.
This wasn't real. This couldn't be real, her mind began fighting with itself again. She tried to push away the thoughts, letting her gut take the lead on this one. Her thumb gently caressed his skin, her hands traitorously beginning to shake again. She could feel his heat underneath her hand and she stepped forward tentatively, moving to press her body against his. Her hand moved from the side of his cheek to palm-down, over his heart. The steady rhythm of his beating heart soothing her. She rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes for a moment. There wasn't anything sexual about the movement. She just needed to feel him. She needed to convince herself that this was real, that he was real, that she could breathe again.
She listened to him humorlessly laugh, telling her that he had no idea why he had done what he did for her. It didn't sound right, but he kept speaking so she tried to focus, pursing her lips when he mentioned the cell. Her mind could recall the room perfectly of course. Zero privacy, zero comforts, and zero regards for welfare. The idea of being locked in one made her feel dizzy.
He had shaken his head, mentioning that maybe after tonight she very well might be stupid and she found the ghost of a smile play on her lips before disappearing again. Oh it was stupid, she at least agreed with him on that count.
His fingers softly caressed her cheek and she closed her eyes, savoring the touch. Real. It all had to be real, surely...it had to. Her brain screamed otherwise. People, especially people like him didn't go around putting their life and career on the line for strangers. It didn't make any sense in the world why he had done what he did if his reasoning wasn't from a solid convicted action. Maybe he wanted to question her alone, maybe he wanted her to finish the fire they had started weeks ago, maybe he was working with them to get information out of her. Any number of those were more plausible than him saving her for no reason.
She wanted to bolt, she wanted to lie, she wanted to seduce him and then slip out in the morning but couldn't. Even if he did have any of the number of hidden motives behind his actions, he did possibly save her life. She had made her bed, she would have to lie in it.
She swallowed, her throat slightly sore from all of the running. She cleared it before speaking, trying to steady her nerves. "How much has he told you?" It was a solid legal tactic, ask, never say. Don't give them anything. A gut reaction that had come out effortlessly. Ruby closed her eyes, reminding herself that the game was up, she didn't get to play those cards anymore. "I tried Will. I tried to take the right road, follow the right channels but..." She felt like a heatwave was rolling through her body, the anger filling up whatever fear she had been feeling moments ago. "They denied it. They wouldn't even let me argue the case. They just...took him. They decided he was wrong and just took him away." She shook her head at the sheer audacity of it all.
"I found this on the ground, that day in the pharmacy." She moved from him, knowing that the more she talked the less he would want her near him anyway. She slipped her hand into her back pocket, pulling out his ID card. Her hand held the card out to him, her eyes locking with his. She knew he would be angry of course, this road wasn't one that ended well. It had been nice to have him near her, but that was going to end soon and she needed to make peace with it. He didn't owe her a damn thing.
"I thought.." A sigh coming out before she spoke again, "I just couldn't let them take him away. So I snuck in...on my own..and I let him out, told him to run. I'd like to think we would have made it out if I had remembered to shut the damn cell door behind us." That hadn't all been totally accurate, but she didn't want to mess up any story Alejandro might have told them and she sure as hell wasn't going to implicate the driver of the food delivery truck.
What he said earlier about her leading to him to his death hadn't stuck in her mind until that moment. No truer words had ever been spoken. Her eyes moved from his, not wanting to see the betrayed look she was sure was coming. Instead, she focused on where they were, the framed pictures on the wall of the hallway. Confusion took over as she noticed the framed drawings. A niece or nephew perhaps? Then she saw them together in the next picture. There was no denying her, she had to be his. Her blonde hair, and matching piercing blue eyes to his. They even had the same damn smile as they grinned back at the camera. She turned back to him, a slow panic spreading over her, "You have a child?!"
The shift of her moving into him, was all about grounding. It was a way that, like her he was sure, was a way to make sure this wasn’t just a dream. A bad dream that had no good endings to look forward to. No, the warmth of her body, the gentle pressure of her head on his chest made him take in the fact that this was one hundred percent the reality of a situation that was just downright trouble. Something he wasn’t ready for was her string of words that started going on about ‘him telling them’.
His brows pulled together in confusion as he stared down at her. What was she even talking about? The channels she took, the case? William was not a dumb man, not by any means. And the more she spoke, the more she tried explaining things to him had the gears in his head trying their best to get traction. As she said they took him away, he suddenly felt his features melt into a look of sorrow. She thought the man was alive that she let out of the cell. Thought that he was being held somewhere and questioned, not that he was currently in a body bag down in a large refrigerator of kinds with a toe tag on.
This took a turn that made him want to immediately back away from her and leave. He was never the one to tell families about the unfortunate fate that fell upon their loved one, and he thanked the heavens for that. It was bad enough when he stood at the funerals with men that he worked with or knew, watching the sadness and distraught wreck havoc over the family that now had to learn how to live without their loved one. How they would never see them again and they needed to learn to heal and move on, with a flag and paycheck handed to them before they were left on their own.
She kept talking, and his eyes slowly moved from her own to the outstretched hand in front of him. There, sitting between her fingers, was his badge. The one that he lost and had spent days searching for. The one that he went back to try and find, with her as well. And she had it the whole time. His eyes closed as he felt anger rip through him. How could he have been so stupid? He was glad she moved away from him, because suddenly his skin was on fire and he had to swallow back a string of cuss words that wanted to flow out of him. His eyes slid back open when he knew he had semi control over the anger. She thought that they would have gotten out? As if they didn’t have other things to catch their escape. And he was brought into this, because of his stupidity a few weeks ago with a damsel in distress with tempting blue eyes and soft pillowy lips.
“I take back what I said, you are stupid. How did you even plan on leaving the base? There is only one way in, and one way out. Heavily guarded.” Suddenly he wished he had left her back there, or at least detained her and left her to be in that cell. He reached out and all but snatched the ID out of her hands, he was now more involved with this whole situation more than he originally thought. He made a point not to touch her as he grabbed it. “And his case? Assuming you are some sort of attorney with that statement, you should have thought this out more. But rest assured, he hasn’t said anything because he can’t say anything. He was dead right after we heard those shots.” His electric eyes staring at his own face looking out at him on his ID. He didn’t know who was staring back at him, because he was no longer that man. His voice was cold and he couldn’t help it.
“You have a child?!”
That caught his attention. William’s head snapped up and he locked eyes on the picture that was near them. The blonde hair, toothy grin of his daughter staring at him made him want to weep. Suddenly all those gears that were struggling to work just went from zero to five hundred in point three seconds. He felt his face pale and he swayed, his shoulder catching the hallway wall as he stared at those blue eyes that were exactly like his. He was going to faint, no, he was going to throw up. He took a deep breath and steadied himself the best he could. His eyes not moving from that picture.
He has a daughter. One who looked forward to their FaceTime dates and sent him pictures in the mail that she drew. One who was looking forward to when he could come visit her again, so they could go bowling and watch movies together with way too buttery popcorn. One that should have been at the front of his mind when he made the choice to patch the woman standing before him weeks ago. “Harper.” He finally spoke, and his voice sounded so foreign to him suddenly. He had to clear his throat as he continued, “Her name is Harper, she’s eight.” His chest felt tight just talking about her. A juicy curse came out of his mouth as he slid down to sit in his hallway, his eyes shifting to the blank wall in front of him. His arms resting on his bent knees.
“What are we going to do?” His voice gave away how tired he was, and for once, he was at a loss as what to do. His eyes finally turned to look at her, desperation causing his eyes to burn suddenly. Because now, whether they liked it or not, they were going to have to see this situation out together.
The words had all come out. He hadn't interrupted her once and she had been so focused on getting the words out that she hadn't noticed any of his little reactions to see if he had been following along or not. She had been too consumed by her need to feel his solid and steady presence.
Then she had moved back from him, her hand holding out his ID card. She kept her eyes trained on him, even as his eyes closed, his mouth pulling in anger. She braced herself for him to yell at her, for him to say a magic word and cause a handful of soldiers to come swarm her. Instead, his eyes slowly opened to meet hers in a venomous way and she could practically feel the anger radiating off of him. She clenched her fist, trying to steel her nerves. She didn't think he'd strike her, he hadn't seemed like the type, though in her experience, they rarely looked the part.
Instead, he had yelled at her, calling her stupid which, though some part of her definitely agreed with, another part didn't roll over so easily. "I got in didn't I?" The question came out level. She didn't want to risk more of his anger by yelling back at him, but she didn't want to sit there letting him call her an idiot like she had decided to take the task on by a whim either.
He snatched his card back from her and she jumped from the force of it. Good, this was good, she told herself. He wasn't hiding under the guise of being into her or helping her because she had captured his heart or any of that other bullshit he had been alluding to earlier. Anger was good, it was real. She didn't believe in optimism nor pessimism. People were who they were but she did believe more were bad than good, that was just the reality of the world. He had been an anomaly before, challenging that part of her brain. When it came down to it though, he was just like the rest of them and that was something she could trust, that everyone lied, that everyone was looking out for themselves. That was something she could cling to at least.
Then he had struck out. Not with his fists, though after hearing what he had to say she wished he had hit her instead. Dead. Alejandro was dead. "What?" The question came out barely audible. She felt the room tilt and she leaned against the wall. "Dead?" She repeated the word. He was gone. She had gotten him killed. It was her fault, all of it. "Why? Why would they shoot him? He was a good person...he..." Her chest rose and fell rapidly as her mind raced.
The image of his wife flashing in her mind. She had made her a widow. The woman was barely older than she was and now she would be alone, just her and-. Ruby's mouth opened involuntarily as the memory of the three-week old baby girl filled up the space in her mind. She couldn't meet his eyes, she couldn't do anything except slide down the wall as her knees gave out. "Oh god...." The tears came before she could stop them and they didn't stop coming. "I took her father away."
She was having a hard time breathing, her body pushing the air in and out too fast. She crossed her legs, holding her knees. "I didn't want her to grow up without a father. It wasn't her fault that they weren't here legally. I thought...I just wanted to help them escape and now he's gone and they're alone...and it's all my fault."
She closed her eyes, trying her damnedest to push the memory of the infant in her arms out of her head. She had been so small, her little lips had made a perfect cupid's bow as the edges of her mouth had pulled into a smile. She remembered wondering what in the world a baby so young could be dreaming about. She had watched the baby girl sleeping for a heartbeat of a moment more before she had given her back to her mother.
Now she would grow up fatherless, and that was the best-case scenario. Her mind brought up horrible thoughts, thoughts of her mother smuggling her out of the country, never to know who her father was, thoughts of her mother not being able to support her and giving her up. Ruby had lived that hell, it was too real. It was all too real.
She clenched her fist together again, she had to think. She had to do something. An idea brought its way up and she met his eyes, pleading with him. "I know you don't owe me anything but please, please Will-" She felt an invisible knife go in her as she said the shortened version of his name, the name that she had instinctively called out when she needed him. "William..." The name sounding wrong somehow in her mouth, "Go to my apartment, it's in The Oaks, number 277a. There's close to 80 grand in a locked box under the bed. Give it to her...the wife.." She couldn't remember her name, her damn mind blanking, "Put it in an envelope, tell her he had it on him, I don't know...just make sure she gets it. Please. Tell her it's...it's for Maria."
The money had been from the settlement her old legal office had agreed on when she had all but demanded that they counter-sue. It had been her words vs his though and he had the backing of the government. They hadn't wanted that kind of heat so they had paid her to go away. She didn't need the money now, not anymore. She didn't want it anymore.
Then another child had been forced into her thoughts. His child. She watched, wanting nothing more than to throw herself off a cliff as he processed the danger she had put them in. She wanted to move to him, she had an insane need to pull him close to her and promise that she would fix this, but she couldn't move. Her body was shaking, the tears falling down her cheeks. Plus she knew that she was the very last person in the world he wanted to have touch him and she couldn't blame him one damn bit for it.
He mimicked her pose, sliding down the wall, though he looked a hell of a lot more in control than she felt. She looked over, her eyes heartbroken. Damn it all to hell, she couldn't let him just sit like that. Ruby got on her hands and knees, her legs much too wobbly to walk, and moved until she could sit down in front of him. When he asked what they were going to do she closed her eyes, resting her forehead on her knees. There was nothing they could do, but as her mind worked to find a solution it became glaringly obvious that there was something she could do.
"He didn't get to tell them anything. They don't know anything about me yet. I can change the narrative." Her breathing got steadier as her plan began to take shape in her mind. She could do this, she could get him and ... Harper out of this.
"Turn me in. Right now." She nodded, her mind filling in what she would have to tell them to cover his ass. She stood up, putting her arms behind her head, her back to him. "I targeted you at the pharmacy that day. I have a record for hating the government and I wanted to cause trouble. I distracted you and stole your ID so I could break into the base, but then Alejandro was arrested. He was my lover and I wanted to break him out. I made a run for it after the gunshots, knowing he was dead. I made it to the neighborhood and noticed your last name at the mailbox. I broke in...planning to kill you to avenge him. You subdued me." She nodded, her mind trying to poke holes in the story but coming up short. It was good. It would work. "It'll hold. It'll work just please...please give her that money." She closed her eyes, waiting for him to slap handcuffs on her, one damn tear falling down her cheek, "See, I told you I was good at paperwork."
William wasn’t a cruel man. He was tough, he knew how to push people to grow and learn things while in the field. He has yelled into their faces just like people did to him back in the day to get their head in the right spot. But he was not cruel. He didn’t seek out pain or suffering, he didn’t wish ill will on people who had done him wrong. But he was also human, which that alone had flaws all throughout it. Pick any year in history and he bet he could show you nightmares of people.
But he felt cruel the moment he watched her face fall after he harshly told her about the fate of the man. He felt like he just reached out and hit her across the face, stunning her. He watched the panic set in her face, the confusion as she started to wrap her mind around what he just said. His face anger started to crumble as collapse, her mouth opening and tears started coming from her eyes. He felt like the cruelest man suddenly and it made his palms ache with the hurt that was radiating off of her. Her chest breathing hard and he had to tell his body to not go forward to her.
The pain was real and as much as it hurt to watch her like this, it was something he felt was needed. So many things got turned upside down because things were done without thinking, without having a complete plan for something. As much as he wanted to stand there, hardened and cold to her, that crumbled the moment she looked up at him and he could see the tears blocking the bottoms of her eyes, making them shinier than ever. And then his name, Will, as if she was close enough to him to call him that shortened name. A name that felt so… intimate for her to be saying. And even when she changed it to ‘William’ it was hard to keep up the ridged body language.
She suddenly seemed to be talking fast, at least in his world. Apartment 277a? The Oaks. And suddenly talk about a gross amount of money and giving it to the wife of the dead man. The name Maria, the daughter she was talking about. The one who just lost her father. And that tore at something personal and made it feel like he had a gaping hole in his chest. Maybe that was part of the reason he couldn’t stand straight anymore and wound up on the floor. There were innocent children involved, maybe not in the direct line of fire, but ones that would be effect from it. The ones that would be left behind in the wake of the disaster. “Rebecca, I…” he started and felt his chest rip open as he caught another look at her tear soaked face.
William stared at her, bracing himself as he got the gears in his head running again. The anger slowly fading. “Apartment 227a. The Oaks. For… Maria.” He felt like he was repeating a mission back that was just handed to him, and he only prayed it didn’t sound completely detached. “Why wouldn’t you just give it to her?” He asked, blue eyes inquisitive and unwavering.
When she crawled over to sit across from him, he was aware of how close she was to him now, how he could easily shift his arm out and touch her legs that were pressed to her chest as they stared at each other. He felt that protective urge rise in his chest as he realized how small she looked as she held onto her legs. And how her eyes slid shut as he asked how they were going to get out of this. She looked as tired as he probably did, probably felt it down to her bones like he did. He felt it clinging to his bones, and yet his mind was awake now. Especially as he watched her seemingly make her mind up at she mused over the fact that she hadn’t been sold out.
“Turn me in. Right now.” He immediately started shaking his head as she stood up in front of him. He watched her from his position on the ground as she put her arms behind her head as if she was being held at gun point and he was an officer getting ready to cuff her. She went on with this story, one that sounded damn good if he was being honest. He got a flash back of her underneath him as she spoke about how she distracted him at the pharmacy to get his ID. Part of him wanted to ask if that is really why she kissed him, why she really took his jacket off and filled his mind with sinful ideas of what he could do to her. Just so she could get his ID badge. He felt a pang of jealousy even shoot through him at the mention of him being her lover, and that was snuffed out as quickly as it ran through his head.
Her head nodded as it faced the wall, not looking at him. Will knew that this sounded somewhat solid, but the idea of marching her back to the base. Giving her over to anyone there so they could interrogate her, question her for hours on end until she gave something of interest to them, and then they’d continue the questions. And depending on who got her, that caused a shiver to run down his spine. He closed his eyes as she spoke about the money and giving it to his family. The little brunette hadn’t dropped her arms from her head and she still wasn’t looking at him as she spoke. “See, I told you I was good at paperwork.” The laugh that came out on a breath was not one that was filled with humor. It was dry and he realized how dry his throat felt.
His gaze hit that picture of Harper. The easy thing to do would be to turn her over, do exactly what she said. It made sense and it probably would hold. The fact that it was his ID wouldn’t be thought about too much if he was the one to turn her over and prove that it was just a bad distraction on his end. He’d probably get smacked with all kinds of classes or extra duty as punishment. But it was the easy way out. Something he was trained to not believe. The easy way worked sometimes, but sometimes that was the quickest thing to blow up. He slowly stood up from his position on the ground. He realized how much taller he was than her as he stood behind her as she waited.
And that was when he stopped thinking again, because this was all messed up and he hated it. He closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her against him. Burying his face in her hair and neck, he held her to him and just breathed his shaky breaths, trying to figure out another route in his head. Any route that wouldn’t involve him handing her over. “I can’t let you do that, there has to be another way.” He said against the skin where her neck and shoulder met. He was ready for a fight back from her, because he expected it. Expected that she would argue with him that they needed to do something and that her way was the best. “Give me 48 hours, if we can’t come up with something else, we will go with your plan.” He could only hope she would agree.
Ruby had her eyes focused on him as she asked him to help her. She knew it wasn't fair of her to ask him to do anything, but she had to try. She couldn't take the baby's father away from her and not try to do everything she possibly could to at least help provide for her future. He was staring at her and she couldn't read him, his body rigid. In the short time that she had come to meet him, she had found out pretty quick that he wasn't great at hiding his emotions. Tonight, however, he was giving her a run for her money.
He spoke a name, not hers but the one she had given him. She closed her eyes, shaking her head softly. "Ruby. My name is Ruby, not Rebecca." She knew how bad it looked. She knew how easy it would be for him to see all of the lies piling up and comprise a pretty good narrative on how truly horrible her character was. She hadn't gone into it with such bad intentions though, the last thing she could have ever imagined was how badly this was going to mess up things for him.
She had been doing what she had trained herself to do. To lie her way through things, at least the things that had the potential to be dangerous. To trust her gut and follow her, apparently, reckless nature. It had gotten her this far. She met his eyes, a small shrug from her shoulders before biting her lip. There was nothing she could say in her defense. Nothing that made any of this right.
Then he had repeated the information she had given him, talking it over like he was trying to memorize it. She nodded when he got them correct, her face filled with gratitude. "Thank you." Her mind mentally ran through what he would see if he actually did go to her place. It was a nice place, probably more organized than he might have guessed. She had paid a designer to set up the house, furnishing it with whatever artwork and pieces of decor they liked. She had only picked out a few random things like the color of the couch and her bedding. Everything else had been meticulously curated from the designer. She didn't have anything personal. There were no pictures of friends or family. No special items she had collected over the years. Just a beautiful home filled with beautiful things that she cared nothing about. She couldn't think of one thing to ask of him to grab for her, not that she assumed he would if she did ask. There just wasn't anything she cared enough about there, the story of her life she supposed.
She then had crawled over to him. It was odd being so near him yet feeling like there was an ocean between them. When he asked why she herself wouldn't just give the money to the woman she gave a humorless laugh, "Despite what happened tonight, I'm not stupid. There's no getting out of this for me. I just broke into a military base, broke a detainee out of their cell, assaulted one of their officers and got a man killed tonight. Does that sound like someone you think your bosses are going to let walk out of here?" She shook her head, the traitorous tears threatening to spill again.
She hated this. For a moment she even hated him for toying with her. He had to know there was no escaping this. She imagined they'd find at least one good shot of her face on the cameras and that would be all it would take. Her name, job, and crimes flashing on the television screens of major news outlets across the state. She put her forehead back to her knees, her words level."You're in my world now Will. There's not going to be a trial. They're going to invoke martial law, probably throw in something about treason and I'm going to be court-martialed and that's going to be the end of it." She kept her forehead down for another minute. At least if he could get the money to the woman this wouldn't have been a total damn waste of life.
Then she had stood up, turning her back to him, offering him a lifeline out of the mess she had created. The seconds felt like hours while she stood with her back to him. Her mind ran through the story one more time, snagging on an issue she hadn't picked up on before, "You can't go to her. They'll be watching you. It'll look too suspicious." She tried thinking of ways around this, how she could still make this work. "You'll have to tell them that you got my address out of me. You'll have to be with the team that goes in. The box is hidden and relatively small, it should fit in an empty laptop bag. Just...don't go to her. That'll give you away. Mail it, pay someone off in cash...just..." She rubbed her head, the weight of it all feeling like it was slowly collapsing in on her, smothering her alive. "Just make-" The feel of his arms wrapping around her silenced her thoughts for the moment and she let her body fall back into his.
He was warm and strong. How he was standing so solidly was beyond her. She felt like her body was going to collapse, like she had run a marathon she had never prepared for. "Will..." She turned her head softly into his, letting herself imagine for a moment that things were different. That they both led easy, simple lives. Meeting together in his living room after a long day. It was so impossible it was almost cruel. "What are you doing?" the question softly coming from her lips. She shook her head when he said there had to be another way. "There's not." She tilted her head back closer to his chest, letting herself enjoy the feel of his lips so close to her neck again. What the hell, she figured, it wasn't like she'd get any more moments like this anymore.
"You have a daughter. You have a job that provides for her. You are going to make some woman very happy to take your last name. That's not me Will. There's no part of this that could end well. My card is up, yours isn't. You have to be smart."
When he gave her a 48-hour deal she sighed, shaking her head softly again. "Why are you doing this? Ten minutes ago you didn't want to touch me and now you're holding me in your arms, asking for a plan B. Why?" She turned, meeting his eyes, trying to keep her composure together, "I am not good for you." She touched his cheek a moment before making herself step back from him, the anger flaring in her chest, her mind not understanding how in the world he couldn't see it. Wondering if he was just playing some sort of cruel game with her. "I don't know why but you have a blind spot with me Will. You can't see that I'm not going to fit into whatever ideal version of me you have in your head, ever." She turned, her feet carrying her to the hallway, pacing. She hoped he would follow, that he would move just a little closer to the hallway and away from the front door. "I am messed up. I am damaged goods." The tears were rising again, and she didn't care if they fell anymore. She was angry that she had to say it all out loud, that she had to force him to see how screwed up her life was. She ran her hands through her hair, moving back towards the front of his house. "I've already ruined one kid's life, I'm not going to destroy another's." On that note, she bolted to the door, her hands quickly turning the lock.
He could only laugh at that. Of course her name wasn’t Rebecca. She didn’t seem like a Rebecca, and it only made since that she lied to him about that to. Ruby. At least she gave him a name that started with the same letter. He shook his head as he laughed. Whatever happened to her, really made him beyond pissed at the uniform that he still had covering his legs. The top long forgotten back at the base, probably thrown over a chair somewhere in the room where they set up camp to watch the videos and review what the hell had happened.
Her thank you made him feel uneasy. He didn’t like the idea of him having to go through her things without her there. That he would have to comb through her home and see little bits of her around it, knowing she was being held somewhere on the base with little help from him. On her own. Even though it seemed she had that whole ‘independent’ thing down pat. She didn’t need anyone, and maybe that’s what made him feel like he had to step up and be that person for the small moment she did need them. She needed him earlier in the night, and she needed him later as well.
“Does that sound like someone you think your bosses are going to let walk out of here?”
Of course she was right. He was stupid when it came to her but not an idiot. He knew exactly how this was going to work and that’s why he wanted to protect her. Ever since their meeting, he felt like his eyes had a filter taken off of them and he started watching things from a new perspective. All the things that he normally wouldn’t give a second look, he found himself analyzing these things. Was she just really wrong with her thoughts on military and it had just been an off chance that she had a bad run in? Or were things really going down hill right in front of him and he had just learned to turn a blind eye to it? Which made people like her suffer.
“Of course you wouldn’t walk out of here. I know what interrogations have started up, and I can’t…” his voice broke for a second as he thought back a week ago. How he had an ensign run up to him telling him that his commanding officer was asking for him. Without much thinking, William of course went to him and found him in the farthest room possible down the hall he was told to meet him in. And the scene he opened the door to was something that made every sense in his being run cold. That was definitely not how things were supposed to be handled and he wanted nothing to do with it. For sure wanted nothing like that for her either. Her voice continued on about how that was going to be the end of it. As if he had no say so in this at all. Which in a way, he didn’t. But damn he would try. “I can’t send you into that willingly.” He finally finished.
She kept going on about Maria and Alejandro’s family. How he could get the money without letting them know about it. Them being the other men in uniform. None of what she was saying slowed him down from grabbing her and holding her against him. The way she immediately fell into him like it was the most natural thing had him shift closer to her still. Her head turning towards his made him think about grabbing her chin and holding her head still so he could kiss her. Silence any argument that was going to come from her lips. Which at first was just a simple ‘there’s not’. And as simple as that shut down was, she still leaned into him further as if she was enjoying the moment as he was.
Ruby started on her protest further, bringing in his daughter and how her card was up. He felt his shoulders tense up a little because of course what she was saying wasn’t not true. She had facts to her backing and he supposed that was part of her job, she never denied an attorney like position so she would be collecting information along her interactions with him and storing them for moments like this. “But if your plan doesn’t work, I am already jeopardizing all of that anyway. My card could very well already be up, but you just can’t see it.” But still, he offered the 48 hours. Just a delay of action, that’s all he was asking for. Perhaps some sleep to clear his mind and since tomorrow he was told to take the day off to sleep off the blows he had taken, he at least had some time to try and put together something of a plan.
“Why? I am not good for you.”
He allowed her to spin in his arms, as she touched his cheek so softly, it was almost not even there. “A lot of things aren’t good for me, but I still enjoy them.” He said lightly, meaning it to be a small joke but it came out as serious as can be. There was something there in her eyes as she stared up at him, but it was gone in a flash and replaced by something angry and meant to push him as far away as possible. And then she immediately was out of reach, moving back in the hallway and immediately he followed without much though. “I am messed up. I am damaged goods.” God, he felt anger towards whoever, whatever made her feel like that. He stalked closer to her, but not reaching out because he had a feeling she would not react well to that right now.
“We’ve all got baggage, Ruby. It doesn’t make us ruined.” He said her name for the first time and it felt so much better than Rebecca ever did. A small part of him wondered if Ruby was a lie as well, but he felt she seemed to open about it. The tears making their way back down her cheeks made him stop his attempt to get closer to her again. And he instantly regretted it a she spoke up to him again. “I've already ruined one kid's life, I'm not going to destroy another’s.” And she was gone, flying around him and towards the front door. Thankfully some other part of him reacted and took off after her. His larger hand smacking against the door to hold it closed as she flipped the lock open.
His next thought was to wrap his hand around and cover her mouth, because she was going to scream, something. She wouldn’t be able to pry him off that door, his weight alone leaning into it would probably keep it shut. “Ruby, listen to me.” He kept his hand in place and pulled back so she was once again had her back pressed to his chest but in more of trying to have control over the situation kind of way, when compared to just seconds earlier. “I can’t hand you over, not after what I’ve seen happening. I can’t. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself or ever look at my daughter in the eye knowing that I willingly handed you over without trying to find another way. Maybe I am the damaged one who is messed up,” He took a deep breath and tried again, this time with another tactic. “You owe me Ruby. After everything, you owe me for what you’ve done. And don’t try and spin this as you running out my door now and getting yourself caught as calling your debt even. Give me the 48 hours to figure this out. I promise you, if we can’t come up with something better, I will haul you down there and turn you in.”
He could practically taste the bile on his tongue at the thought. But he had to keep going. “You. Owe. Me. 48 hours. No more, no less. That’s all I am asking for. Because if you leave or do something rash, I won’t ever forgive myself for at least not trying.” God he hoped she would give him at least that. And with that small prayer, he lowered his hand from her mouth and waited for her response. His hand still firmly on the door.
“Of course you wouldn’t walk out of here. I know what interrogations have started up, and I can’t…”
She watched his face as his stare went on for miles. She wondered what kind of hell he had seen. She hadn't honestly thought about them trying to make her talk. She had planned on being an open book, with a few modified pages torn out of course to protect him. Her ego had thought that of course, they would buy her lies, she lied for a living. But he had brought up the dangerous thought that maybe they wouldn't. That maybe they would see right through her and demand the real truth. When he said he couldn't send her into something like that she looked away, her eyes moving to the floor. She hated how much the idea of being locked up and at the mercy of a stranger, a military stranger at that, terrified her. She didn't say anything, there wasn't much to say on the matter.
She felt like she had hit a brick wall. She didn't know if it was the stress or the possibility of being locked up at the base, but she was so tired from it all. Then he had held her and for that brief moment, it was okay. She could see how easy it would be to fall into this kind of life. A life that had someone there when you needed them, a life where someone caught you before you hit the ground. It was tempting and the idea was wonderful, but it was just that...a dream. That kind of life wasn't possible. It just wasn't. At least not for her.
She had needed to remind him of that. He said that everyone had baggage and she gave a sarcastic laugh. "You have no idea. I'm not talking about commitment issues or stupid habits and quirks. God, I wish it was that easy." She wasn't going to get into it. She wasn't sure if her mind could handle that tonight on top of everything else. Plus, it would have been the morning before she would have been able to tell him the whole story. They didn't have that kind of time.
Then she had bolted towards the door. Her hands had quickly slipped the lock out of it's position but he was quicker. His hand was against the door in seconds, followed by his body. Her mind instantly jumped to screaming for help so someone would come investigate, giving him no choice but to turn her in, but his hand was over her mouth in seconds. One side of her mentally cursing him up and down for knowing her tricks.
Had it been anyone else, the action of a large male figure holding her mouth shut would have sent her into a blind panic. Hell, it would have been likely she would have either passed out or attacked until she was safe again. As Will pulled her back to him though, she dropped the struggling, melting back into him again. Her chest rose and fell, her body so damn tired as she listened to him speaking. He was calling in the favor.
"You owe me."
She wanted to curse. She knew she owed him a whole hell of a lot more than waiting, but if that's what he needed then she didn't see another choice. Maybe he'd come to his senses. Maybe he'd figure out that she was right. 48 hours. She could do that. She wasn't the most patient person in the world, but she could give him 48 hours. She nodded, his hand moving from her mouth.
She sighed, her breath ragged. "Okay. 48 hours." She turned so she was facing him again. He looked tired, the blood dry and caked on his lip. She didn't know how this all could have gone to hell so quick. Of all the bad ideas she had, this one had certainly taken the cake.
She ran her hands through her hair, the muscles in her arms aching already. Tomorrow was going to hurt like hell. "Can I use your shower?" She didn't have a change of clothes of course, but she didn't care. Hers were ripped and dirty, more than that though she wanted them the hell off of her. She didn't want any part of tonight on her skin. The idea of a hot shower was her literal version of heaven at the moment.
It was game over. She turned as much as she could while still being restrained by the person, looking to see exactly who had captured her. Her blue eyes met his, and she immediately stopped struggling, "Golden boy, fancy meeting you here." 
Then a shout rang out, just barely audible from where they were, "GET ON THE GROUND." She paused, freezing immediately. A male voiced shouted the words again, "GET ON THE GROUND." It sounded close, her mind racing to Alejandro and his escape. Were they talking to him? Had they actually caught him already? Was this all in vain? She didn't have time to think any more on it though when shots rang out from a gun. 
He asked if she understood and she nodded. Ruby swallowed hard, sucking in a deep breath as the shouting got closer to them, the door opposite of them signalling that someone was using their ID card to get in. She felt him relax his grip on her hands and she pushed upwards and out, appearing to break his hold. She then turned her body into him, her fist connecting. She had tried to hold back as much as she could with it still looking realistic but with the adrenaline over-riding her system she truly wasn't sure how hard it may have landed. All she knew was that her knee came up after that, right on cue, landing at his stomach. 
She opened her eyes as a hallway light was turned on. She couldn't see him, her mind furiously scrambling to come up with an exit plan if she had mistakenly made it into the wrong home. Then the words called out, 
