She had shown up again and Snake wasn't sure if seeing her hiding behind the dumpster was a good thing or a bad one. Still he couldn't help but crack the tiniest smile. He wanted to let go with her but like all the other women he was afraid to even think it. She dashed from her hiding place to stand before him and for a moment Snake was glad to see her. The look in her eyes brought the tingling back to his neck and chest where she had touched him earlier. She still had an innocent caress, one backed with emotion despite the chaos and destruction that seemed to drain that from other women leaving a cold shell. No, Taslima was different and Snake liked it, what he heard, what he saw.
He listened to her talk about how free the place was and Snake could see himself. She was a soul lost in the darkness and searching for the light of liberty like he had been for so many years. He followed, hypnotized by her. The way she moved, her words, her spirit, Taslima was doing to him what few other woman had done. She was sliding under all that cold armor he had around himself.
Her hand brushed his as she stepped back away talking about the freedom in LA. That gentle touch broke into the coldness somehow. He could feel it deep inside a very tiny ember of humanity buried in all the cynicism and she had ignited it. Snake took another step forward following her, the charmed snake following the tune of the charmer. Snake couldn't break free from her. Somewhere in the back of his mind it whispered that he was dying but here, with her, it didn't matter.
He smiled feeling her hand wrapping around his fingers. That brought a smile as he remembered kissing her in the tunnels. It had just happened. They were sitting after running to put distance between themselves and Beverly Hills. She had sat down on the ledge with him. She was shy with her legs dangling above the ground. Looking over at her it just happened. They had kissed, ever so gently and she broke into shy giggles. It was the first time in a long time Snake had smiled from something close to happiness.
A clear gunshot burst into his thoughts, blood hit him and then the scream. She was falling and he caught her momentarily fighting his daydreams to return to reality. Snake lowered her to the ground feeling the blood running warm over his hand in the small of her back. His eye searched hers watching the sparkle fading. She was dying in his arms, there in front of him and there was no stopping it.
Sadness and loss hit him first when she her breathe stopped. He'd cursed her like the rest. Plissken's bare fingers touched her raven hair and slipped the one silver hoop from her ear. He had teased her about it earlier and he knew later when he sat to think about this he would need something to focus the grief on. More gunshots rang out and fury started to boil as he tucked the piece of jewelry into the edge of his boot.
He was still staring down at her thinking maybe she would get up. That fire she ignited in him demanded that she get up and run with him but there was only stillness. His hand slid to hers but the gunfire forced him to push his attention elsewhere. It was too much like Sophia, she was too much like Sophia. Just like her Snake was forced to abandon Taslima's body in the middle of a battle field so that he could survive. He hated himself for it. Another shot, too close and he ran from her fueled by guilt, anger and one other pain that he refused to acknowledge.