She wasn't scared. But she was running. Trees whizzing passed her in this dense, military forest. Her heart was pounding in her ears and her stomach started to cramp. "This is it." She thought to herself. Her breath was spiking in time with her aching feet.
This. Was. It.
This is what she had been training for and she was hell bent on proving herself. Bombs were exploding around her. She could hear the cries of the injured and violence in the distance, Commanders barking orders at their troops. If she gets captured, at least she knew in her heart she had stood up for what she believed in. She was proud to be the rebel she was.
***
Kat had had a tough time in training. She was the only female rebel and so she had a lot to prove. Her commanders did not take it easy on her and informed her that she would have to keep up with the men if she wanted to survive. Initially when she approached the rebel group she was met with laughter. This angered her because she knew what an asset she could be. They eventually accepted her owing to the valuable information she possessed. She didn't expect special treatment because of her gender, nor did she receive it. This is how she liked it and she knew she was tougher than any man she had ever met. And she was.
Although feminine, with a voluptuous build, she was fierce.
During her training as a rebel, she had learned many things but mostly to take down an enemy double her size. Many of the men she had fought in training had laughed at her and patronized her.
"Aw! What are you going to do, Little Bird? Bitch slap me to the ground?"
"Careful, you might break a nail, Darling!"
"Oooh, a woman, I'm so scared I'm shaking!"
This gave her just the right amount of anger to drive her to get them on their asses before they even knew what hit them.
Of course there were times when she was the one on her ass. Or her face. Sometimes even on her pride. But over time, the men had almost forgotten she was a woman and respected her as one of them.
She wasn't always a rebel though. In fact, she used to be rather the opposite. A patriot, if you will. She was even part of the opposing force a few years back until she found out information and secrets about the government and associated powers that be that led her down this rebellious path. In her mind, they were now all corrupt pigs with whom she wanted no association. They had to be stopped.
And so here she was. Running. Not scared. Just running.
Her boots were hurting and her overly large green and brown uniform felt like it weighed a ton. She had been separated from the rest of her troop and was completely out of ammo. All she had on her was her trusty pocket knife.
"This will have to do." She was ever optimistic.
The ambush on one of the military bases had gone according to plan. Well, mostly according to plan. She was happy that the mission had been accomplished.
However, the further she ran, the more she knew she was lost. She knew this was still military territory and so she had to keep going.
She could no longer hear the sound of violence. Just quiet. Almost too quiet, something she was not used to but missed dearly.
Sweat was dripping down her spine and her chest. Her feet subconsciously started to drag on the leafy floor. She slowed down to a jog and after some time she was walking.
It was getting dark now and she knew she would have to stop before she faints or lands up walking into a trap in the dark. This whole area was riddled with traps that she had been carefully avoiding. It was easy for her to do this in the day light.
She stumbled around and leaned herself against a tree for support. She was going to collapse. She fell to her feet, closed her eyes and drifted away.
***
"ON YOUR FEET, NOW!" Kat woke with a fright, dazed and confused and not knowing where she was until she looked up and saw the barrel of a gun pointing straight at her. Fuck, she'd been caught.
She slowly stood up and lifted her hands where this soldier could see them.
He was tall, much taller than her and he was only half in uniform, wearing a grey t-shirt and the camouflaged cap and pants. And he was alone.
"This is weird" she thought "But this should be easy".
She could see by this soldier's posture that he was not going to shoot her. He would not have it in him.
This was another thing her training had taught her to do: to read people.
His stance indicated that he was anxious. "Amateur" she thought.
"Who are you and who do you work for?" the soldier asked.
She kept her cap low so he could not see her face and was silently scanning her environment for tactical purposes.
The soldier was getting impatient and he moved closer to her.
"I'll ask you again, who do you work for?" his face reddened and she sensed the aggression in his voice.
Within a second she was able to grab the gun from his outstretched hand and aimed it towards him, cocking it as a warning.
She didn't want to shoot this guy. She noticed he was young, almost as young as she was. "Very young actually", she thought. She wasn't a killer but if he forced her hand...
She also noticed he was handsome. "Very handsome actually".
He had a buzz cut, naturally, a strong jawline with some stubble starting to sprout, piercing green eyes and a strong, muscular build. But he had kindness in his eyes. Killing him would go against everything she now stood for.
"Still", she thought, "Brains over brawn."
She aimed the gun at him in a confident manner. She just wanted him to leave so she could find her way back to her base and now she was getting irritated that he was wasting her time. The soldier looked surprised but unafraid. She was impressed by his bravery.
Not taking her eyes off him, Kat dissembled the gun, dropping all the pieces to the ground as she did.
"I don't have time for this." She said in the deepest voice she could pass and started to walk away with her back turned to him.
As she had predicted, the soldier came running towards her in an attempt to tackle her to the ground. She had out-maneuvered him and landed up pinning him to the ground. They battled it out for a few moments and she realized her body was exhausted. She was feeling slow and something wasn't right. By now they were back on their feet and she started to regret losing the gun. She reached for her trusty pocket knife: also gone. "Where the fuck..?" she whispered.
She took a look at her opponent, trying to assess the damage.
She had definitely got in a few great shots as the soldier's nose was bleeding and he winced every time she made her move but he was also getting in some decent shots, especially to her abdominal area. Every time he hit her she thought she would vomit. She could taste blood in her mouth and the earth began to feel like it was moving beneath her feet. She couldn't remember the last time she slept in a bed or the last meal or sip of water she had. She needed water. The soldier looked at her with triumph as she collapsed to the ground with a thud.
He wiped his face with the back of his hand and approached her as if he was the hunter and Kat, his prey.
"Tell me now, who do you work for?" he hovered over her. She didn't like this. She felt vulnerable and sick, like she was going to throw up.
The soldier had a new-found confidence after wrangling this rebel to the ground.
Kat would rather die than give away any information.
This soldier wanted to get a better look at his fading opponent and so he slowly removed the cap off of her head, freeing her long, thick, wavy, brunette hair and exposing her feminine yet dirty face.
"Oh fuck! What have I done?" This was the last thing Kat heard before she blacked out completely.
Kat woke up in a strange room, her limbs aching and her head spinning. She was in a bed in what looked like an army base built for one. She was still in her dirty clothes but there was a glass of water on the wooden table next to her. She grabbed the water and gulped it down, not nearly quenching her parched throat. But where was she? How long was she out for? What happened to that soldier?
The room was small, just containing the bed, wooden table and a small cupboard. The walls were white and clinical but she definitely wasn't in prison but still, it gave her the creeps. She got out of bed and made her way out the door to find a tiny bathroom adjacent to a tiny kitchen. The door in the kitchen was the way to the outside world.
The soldier was nowhere to be found and she took this opportunity to refuel. There wasn't much in the fridge besides pickles, eggs and bread.
She guzzled down the food and drank so much water that she landed up feeling even more ill than she did when she was dehydrated and starving. She reflected upon her mission: how many hours she had to lie still, how many days she had to stay awake for, how she severely underestimated the amount of rations and sustenance she would require. The mission took much longer than she had anticipated, but at least she did what she had set out to do. In her mind, what happened to her now was insignificant.
"Good morning..." she heard a voice behind her, awakening her from her daydream. She turned around to see the soldier standing in the doorway. Fuck. What did he want with her? Why didn't he just kill her when he had the chance? Did he save her so he can torture information out of her?
He had obviously been working out or something, because he was wearing shorts and a white t-shirt and he was sweating profusely, something that made her insides twitch.
She didn't move nor did she say anything.
"Please, help yourself" he said sardonically, noticing the pickles and eggs she was devouring.
After a few moments of staring at each other, Kat was able to blurt out an almost inaudible "What do you want?"
After staring at her for a while he replied "I don't know..."
"Then why did you bring me here? Where am I anyway? How long was I out for?" she was so confused and just wanted answers.
"I brought you here because you would have died out there if I left you. You are currently in my kitchen and you were out for about 26 hours, give or take." He replied matter-of-factly.
"Does anyone else know I'm here? Why do you live here?" she asked.
"I live here because it's my job. I guard the outer fences of this particular military facility. Nobody else knows you are here... if they did you and I would probably both be hanging from our toes."
"Oh" was all she could whisper out. She didn't appreciate his smirk.
Fuck, she thought. She had made it right to the fence and then gave up and now she is stuck here with this guy.
"May I enquire your name?" he asked her with apprehension
Kat kept quiet. She wasn't going to give him any information that she didn't want to.
"Ok then. Well my name is Jake. Can I get you anything?"
What is he playing at? She was so confused. Just hours ago they were beating the shit out of each other and now he's acting like they are friends.
