Once again, apologies for formatting. Forgot one thing last chapter- A disclaimer! I do not own any of this, cept my OC's of course! Thank you for reading! Love you all! (Even if I don't know you in any way shape or form)
Roach seemed to freeze as she continued to cry, and struggle and Ghost arrived at his side. The girl he had his muscular arms wrapped around was crying and struggling, legs kicking out and arms attempting to lash at him. Of course, they had no effect. He could practically see the puzzlement in Ghosts eyes, and Meat's as well when he joined them a second or so later. "NO! I won't let you take me!" She cried shrilly. Roach sent a pleading glance at Ghost. "Let her down, but don't let her get away." He instructed Roach quietly. Roach thought he could detect something like uncertainty in Ghosts voice. He gently lowered the small girl to the ground, but kept a firm grip on her arms. She attempted to turn around, and Roach allowed her to. What he saw surprised him further.
He hadn't known what to expect, as he had never seen the face of the girl. He thought that it might have been a woman, short though, but he knew instinctively that he was looking into the wild face of a girl much younger. Her eyes were tearing up, and she still attempted to lash out at the trio. Roach ran his eyes up and down her body, noting a large gash in her upper thigh, a deep red soaking its way down her entire left leg. Ghost seemed to notice it as well; Ghost kneeled down by Roach's side, and tried to calm the girl. Roach was surprised, as he had never seen Ghost act in a way so gentle and compassionate. "Hey, it's okay" Ghosts voice soothed the young girl. "We aren't going to hurt you. We just want to talk, okay? Can I take a look at that leg of yours?" The voice seemed to have little effect on the girl, though she had stopped struggling. Now she just seemed like a tense and quivering bundle that Roach held close to him.
Roach saw her look up into his eyes, and then jerk them down again. She seemed frightened beyond belief. Roach looked over at Meat, who was attempting to flip over a couch that seemed to have escaped most of the burning. Still in a gentle yet constricting way, Roach scooped the girl up gently, holding her sobbing and shaking form close to his body. She let out a small cry of defiance, but Roach still got her gently down onto the couch beside him. It was kind of awkward, so he quietly soothed her as Ghost came over. "Hey, listen, please, we don't want to hurt you. We see you are hurt too, and we don't know who you think we are, but we won't hurt you. I promise. We want to help you. I am going to let go, but as long as you promise you won't run. Okay?" Through sobs and cry's he thought he saw a nod. It didn't really matter though, as she wouldn't be going anywhere. The leg looked much worse up close.
Roach gently set her on the couch, her back gently touching it and Roach's arm sliding away. The girl was half lying down now, and it appeared she was trying to hold her injured leg. Ghost came up next to Roach, looking down at her. She was wiping at her tears with one grimy hand, and holding her leg with the other. Roach, Ghost, and Meat just stood there for maybe a little over a minute as the girl cried, but soon they faded out of what seemed like pure exhaustion. She looked up at them, her short hair a tangled mess. Her eyes were bright with fear, and Roach felt his heart turn over. She couldn't be more than fourteen, maybe younger. But why was she here, and who was she? Ghost sat down on the couch in the little space next to her. She stared at him wide eyed and frightened, edging away from him. Ghost stood, holding his hands up a little to show her he meant no harm. Her breaths were coming quickly, and Roach was worried she was going into shock or something of the sort. Ghost whispered in his ear. "I don't know about this. You seem a bit younger, and my balaclava might have scared her a bit." Roach nodded, taking this as an order. He kneeled down on the floor next to her.
"Hey" He whispered gently. Her eyes were a vivid green and they looked at him, fear sparking them. "Like I said, we aren't going to hurt you. We are American, not Russian, if that helps." Her eyes got wider at this, but she darted her eyes away from him again. Roach noted that she was looking at a spot that she had looked at earlier. He followed her gaze, and noticed she was looking at his gun, and the magazines and pretty much every weapon taped to him in various ways. He was sure she was looking at them on Ghost and Meat as well. His hand had been gripping it pretty tightly. He turned his head around to look at Ghost, mouthing "It's our weapons" Ghost nodded, and Roach turned back to her. "It's okay." He whispered this, lowering his gun to the ground gently. "See? I told you we weren't going to hurt you. If it's our weapons that scare you, that's easy to fix. See? Mines on the ground now, and I'm not going to use it. I can't say as much about those two, though, because if someone comes in and attacks us they have to defend me. Okay?" She nodded, still eyeing the weapon on the ground. He pushed it away slightly, though still within arm's reach if he had to grab for it.
Roach saw something in her eyes with the fear. Pain. He guessed it was the leg, but he couldn't go there yet until he found out more. He looked at Ghost, mouthing the question "Can I tell her who I am and who we are?" Ghost nodded, warily. Roach turned back to face her. "Hey, I am guessing you are pretty scared right now. I am Gary Sanderson, but everyone calls me Roach. "Her mouth parted a little, and she spoke, much to Roach's delight. "Roach?" Squeaked the small voice. It sounded like a question. "Yeah, Roach. What's your name?" To his surprise and joy, she spoke. "Alison." He smiled a wide smile. Finally, he was getting somewhere.
"That's good. Now, do you think you can trust me?" Roach asked this only for one reason. He knew they had been here for a while already, in the building more than ten minutes. That was really pushing it, considering there could be more joining forces forming outside at this very moment. She seemed to nod a little, which is good. "Now, it is really dangerous right now, what are you doing here? What happened? You can tell me everything, and why you were hiding would be great too. How about that?" She seemed very reluctant, nearly bursting into tears again. Roach wanted to look back at Ghost for some kind of guidance, but figured right now he needed to work on gaining her trust. "Do you promise not to hurt me?" She whimpered. Roach felt his heart twist, almost like a physical wound. She truly was terrified. His voice was very gentle as he spoke. "Of course we won't hurt you. Never." She swallowed, chocking back another sob by the sounds of it. "I lived in the house next to here. My parents owned a shop down the street-"Her voice cracked, and she drew in a breath. "Then these bombs came, and then people. They- They killed my parents" She choked out, trailing off into sobs for another few moments. She finally sucked in a deep breath, and continued. "They killed everyone around here, and ransacked everything. I hid, and somehow, I lived. I knew they were coming to my house next, but when they bombed my leg got hurt." She looked at her leg, and Roach himself winced. He had suffered something similar, but the bombing was nearly a week ago, and she was so young and small. She continued after a breath. "I dragged myself over here, and it was already like this. I hid over there, where you found me, hidden for what seemed forever. I thought they were gone, but then they came back. They seemed like they were planning something. They talked about this thing, 141 something, and hurting someone, and this guy Shepherd. It's a little foggy, but if I focus I could remember more, I think" Roach nearly froze as he heard this. 141?
Surely, he hoped, the girl had to be mistaken. Roach wished it, but by the sound of her voice and by the sound of her trauma, she was in no way lying. And Shepherd? That had to be something bad they were stewing up. For the first time since he got her name, he looked back at Ghost and Meat. Both of the tall, strong men had worried looks on their faces. It was not a good thing, to hear this, but Ghost was starting to look antsy. Roach felt the same way. They had to get out of here. Time was of the essence, and time was something they did not have in excess. Roach leaned down to her, and could sense she had more to tell. He didn't doubt it, but he found himself launching into another question. "How old are you?" She wiped her hand over her face, trying, it seemed, to clear away the tears. She swallowed, answering quietly. "I'm thirteen, my birthday was last month."
Roach felt his jaw want to drop open. He had suspected fourteen or a little older, but barely thirteen? She was very young, and brave and smart considering what he had heard her say. Once again he felt the time nagging at him. "Please, can you trust us? We want to help you, but we really need to go." She looked up at him, wide eyed, and the defiance he had seen in her struggle became apparent in her cracking voice. "I don't know you at all. How can I trust you at all?" He took a breath. He knew she was right, and using her common sense as well. "You don't have any reason too. But have we given you any reason not too?" She shook her head. "Can I have a minute?" She asked. Roach nodded, knowing that this time was not a luxury they exactly had. He turned around, looking at Ghost. The masked man had just finished speaking into the radio at his shoulder. "We have a bird coming in o two minutes. We need to get out of here and down the street. Hurry it up. What I've heard from her, we need here. She might know something valuable." Roach nodded, kneeling down again next to her.
Roach noticed she had her eyes shut. He spoke to her once again in a gently tone. "We really need your answer now. We need to go, and are in danger the longer we spend here. We need you to come with us though, because we think you heard something important, and we need to fix that leg of yours. Can you please trust us?" She drew in a shaky breath, opening her eyes. Her voice was firm when she spoke, surprisingly so. "Yes, I think I can." He smiled at her answer. "How about we get going, then? We are going to have to go down the street. Can you come with us?" She grimaced, and Roach knew what was coming. "I can't walk. I had to drag myself over here, and this thing hurts like hell." Roach swallowed before speaking again. "I will have to carry you, I guess. Is that okay?"
Roach looked into her brilliant green eyes. Everything in her body language spoke of a battle being fought in her mind, telling her to run, another side telling her to trust. She took a breath. "Yes, that's fine. Just, please, it hurts really badly." He nodded, and stood up. He very gently slid his arm under the crook of her legs, and the other around her back. He lifted her small, frail body into his large arms, and held her gently to his chest. He was nervous that he could have broken her frail and shivering body, the one he held close to him, and looked towards Ghost. "We have one minute to get there. Let's go." With that, Ghost and Meat took off at a light jog through the building, guns out and ready. Roach looked at his gun only for a brief moment before following.
Roach felt like he was carrying a bomb with the way he was, mentally. He didn't was to jostle her leg or make her feel uncomfortable in any way, but he had to get down the wrecked streets and to the chopper. He heard her gasp and even cry a few times as he ran along, each time Roach drawing her in a little closer to him. Soon, he felt her wrap her arms around his neck. He smiled. So, this was something close to trust. He had to have her trust him, or they would never get anywhere. And, in the few minutes he had heard her, he felt sympathy beyond anything. This poor, young girl.
Eh, short again! Oh well, what can I do? Review please! Love the critics in you all!
