Chapter Eight
They arrived in a small town about forty minutes later. After a few directions from Sam, Steve pulled the car up on the street corner. Once the car was stopped Sam and Clint stepped out on either side of her, and Alessia followed Sam out onto the sidewalk.
It really was a small town. There were only two streetlights on the entire street. The building Sam had Steve stop in front of was a camp and hiking supply store. On one side of it was a small boutique store with dressed mannequins in the window, and on the other side was an old fashioned candy and toy store. Across the street was a used bookstore and a cafe. Very quaint, the sort of place tourists probably stumbled upon when vacationing in the bigger city closeby. It was still dark so the streets were lit with the yellow of the two streetlights, and a muggy, damp smell hung in the air like it does on cool evenings, but Alessia could sense the approaching dawn.
Clint had circled around the car to where Alessia and Sam were standing. Steve and Bucky were still in the front of the jeep, talking to each other in low voices. Alessia couldn't hear their words, and knew it was rude to try too, but she could tell by the tone of voice that Bucky was reluctant to leave with her and Sam.
"You're going to be fine, I promise." Clint began, the comforting paternal softness to his voice. "Sam knows what he's doing. And Bucky… Cap's trusted Bucky for a long time, so, that means I trust him." Clint almost seemed like he was convincing himself rather than Alessia.
"What is Laura gonna tell my mom?" Alessia asked.
"She'll think of something. Don't worry about that. Just… Just try to keep up with the guys, and I think you'll be fine. You'll be fine." He said it again, the same way, like he was convincing himself that it was true. "Yeah, I'll be fine." Alessia replied.
Steve and Bucky exited the car, Bucky's face in shadow, his hair falling over it. Steve stopped on the sidewalk beside Bucky to pull him into a hug. He muttered something in Bucky's ear and when they parted, shared a meaningful glance.
Steve pulled away from Bucky and turned to Sam "You got this?" He asked.
"Man, you know I do," Sam replied. Steve nodded at him, gave Alessia a little nod of acknowledgment, and shared another look with Bucky before nodding to Clint to follow him into the car.
Clint pulled Alessia into a tight goodbye hug. "You're gonna be fine," He said. He pulled away to smile at her. "You can handle this. I know you can." He sounded more confident now. Alessia smiled back at him. "Bye," She said.
"Bye," He replied, giving her shoulder a squeeze, and smiling at her one last time before turning to get into the car. He had opened the door and had been about to step in, when he turned, looking back at Sam and Bucky "And no funny business, either of you, she's my precious little flower."
"CLINT!" Alessia barked, face reddening. He left her with a wink, slipping into the car and shutting the door behind him. Steve started the engine, and pulled away. Alessia was trying to channel the heat away from her face, so that Sam and Bucky wouldn't see how red she was. Why did he have to say that? Alessia thought, irritably, unable to look up at Sam or Bucky. Instead she glanced up at the tail lights of the car, rounding a curve and disappearing out of sight.
Oh god, he's really leaving. He's leaving and he's taking Captain America with him. What kind of plan have I signed up for? Alessia thought, stomach turning.
Alessia turned around to see Sam picking the lock on the camp store they were standing in front of. Bucky was standing off to the side, his arms crossed and a vacant expression on his face, gazing into the distance. He's probably really disappointed that Steve is gone now. Alessia thought. I wonder what he thinks about when he stares off like that. Bucky glanced over at her at that moment, catching her watching him. Alessia felt her cheeks warm yet again and quickly focused her attention to Sam. To her relief, at that instant the handle clicked and Sam opened the door.
Leading the way inside Sam started saying: "We're just here for necessities, alright? I don't know how long we're going to be fugitives, so don't be afraid to stock up, anything you think you might need." He had already grabbed a backpack from the rack of them and started stuffing it with beef jerky and bottled water from the stand by the checkout.
Alessia made her way to the hiking boots section , and started searching for her size. She grabbed a pack of socks from the stand beside the shoe shelves, and found a pair of lace up boots that seemed pretty comfortable. She was glad to see that in addition to having socks, there were packs of underwear and tee shirts down the next aisle, along with the sleeping bags and thermal underwear. She grabbed these and turning back to the front of the store, found another backpack and stuffed the socks, tee shirts, and undies into it.
Sam had moved onto the section with small propane stoves.
"I'd save the space, if I were you." Alessia said. Sam glanced back at her.
"I mean, unless you were planning on ditching me, you shouldn't need one of those." Alessia explained. Sam silently replaced the propane tank.
Alessia caught a glimpse of more foil packages, and realized that the wall on the far side of the store had dozens of "just add water" meals. She headed over, slinging the backpack over one shoulder so that she could still put things in it with her other hand. She started examining the options, and was wondering if dehydrated pizza could actually look as delicious as the photo on the front, when she realized Bucky was next to her. Right next to her. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up the second she noticed that he was practically touching her. How is is even possible to be that quiet?! She wondered.
"They're like… rations." he muttered, more to himself than to Alessia. He was holding a foil package of dehydrated chicken. "They're like.. K-rations. Those were always the worst."
Alessia wasn't quite sure if she should respond or not. He looked sort of confused, standing there, like the package was a math problem he was trying to solve in his head. In the light from the streetlamp outside, Bucky's left arm and the foil package in his hand glinted, but his hair threw shadows across his face.
Alessia wanted to ask him if something were wrong, but she already knew the answer from the look on his face. And there was no point in asking him exactly what about dehydrated chicken was bothering him so much- it was undoubtedly not something he was going to tell her about. So instead of trying to talk to him, she timidly set her hand on his shoulder. He didn't brush it away, so she slowly, carefully, lifted the pack of chicken out of his loose grip and put it back on the wall. He turned his gaze at her, and didn't change his expression. He stared for a second, a blank, empty look in his eyes, before breaking eye contact with her.
"I'm sorry." He said. He shrugged his shoulder so that her hand slid off. He shifted his gaze downward, and turned around and disappeared down another aisle.
What was that? Alessia wondered, glued to the spot. Rations? K-rations? Maybe.. It must be a military thing. That makes sense I guess.
They left the camp store shortly after. The sun was starting to come up and the air was tinged with early morning chill. In the pink dawn light, the three of them set out with stolen backpacks and a stony silence between them.
They found a car in the back parking lot of a library nearby, and Sam managed to hotwire it. Bucky slid into the passenger seat, Alessia took the back, and they were on the road before the sky had lightened.
They drove in silence for about an hour before Alessia's impatience got the better of her.
"So, we were kidnapped by something called Apex Gold Unlimited?" She asked.
"Yep." Sam replied shortly.
"Which is a front for some kind of…?" Alessia trailed off.
"We're not sure exactly," Sam sighed. "But Tony thinks that they may have off-world allies."
"Off-wo.. Wait, do you mean aliens? Like the ones in New York?" Alessia asked.
"Apparently Stark had traced some radiation back to them that might have to do with interplanetary communication.. Or something. That's why Thor is on earth right now. He's supposed to be helping out with the research."
"And this same place… was blackmailing the avengers to disable their weapons.. And they might have aliens in on all of it?" Alessia asked.
Sam sighed. "That's the long and short of it," was all he said. The silence resumed, and Alessia turned to watch the scenery fly by. The country road they were driving down was absolutely deserted. It was paved, but patchy, and there were no businesses or rest stops for miles. Every so often they would pass a gas station, but the car wasn't running low, and Alessia was pretty sure none of them had money anyways. The lonely road didn't bother Alessia, but she found the silence unnerving, mostly because she had too much to think about. It seemed like Sam and Bucky both wanted to remain in contemplative silence, but it made Alessia antsy.
Alessia leaned forward to try and see Bucky in the passenger side. His head was turned to the window, resting on his fist, so she couldn't see his face. But since Sam had already proved an unwilling conversation partner she tried again.
"Soo.. Bucky." She said. He didn't acknowledge her. "You're um… friends with Captain America? That's really cool, how'd you meet him?" She asked, as innocently as possible.
He didn't respond right away, which made Alessia worry. It seemed like a simple enough question. Either he'd correct her and say they were more than friends, or simply answer it. Besides, what else was she supposed to ask him? How'd he get a metal arm? Why is he wanted by the government? It was really the only logical conversation starter with him.
"I- I don't really remember… We've been friends a long time." He said finally.
"You don't remember?" Alessia asked, dumbfounded. "He's a national icon…"
No response. Alessia slumped back into her seat. They drove on. The sky darkened with storm clouds. Soon Sam had to switch the headlights on. Alessia casually rolled one of the backseat windows down, to catch a whiff of the storm.
"Um, do you mind?" Sam asked from the front seat.
"Hmm?" Alessia murmured absentmindedly playing with the manual crank on the window. Her car had electric windows, The crank is so cute she thought like the car we had when I was a kid..
"It's freezing." Sam said.
"Oh, sorry," Alessia quickly apologized. "I don't really get cold." She explained, as she wound the window shut.
It wasn't long after this that Sam pulled over so that they could set up camp for the night. Pitching a tent in the rain was never fun, but with an unfamiliar tent and only the light of the headlights, it took them about half an hour. Afterwards, they piled in the sleeping bags from the camp store, and Sam flicked off the headlights of the car.
"Alright, you guys get some sleep," Sam said as Alessia was unlacing her shoes "I'm gonna take the first wa-"
"No you sleep, you drove here," Bucky interrupted him, an exasperated tone to his voice. "I'll watch."
Alessia settled into the middle sleeping bag, while Sam climbed into the one on her left side.
"Man, even when he's doing you a favor…" Sam muttered.
The rain pattered heavily on the tent. "Why… why is his arm.." Alessia timidly began.
"It's… a weird, messed up story." Sam said.
"So he… he did have a normal arm once? He wasn't just born without it?"
"Yeah." Sam said.
"Why is he wanted? I mean, he must have done something pretty bad."
"Listen, you really don't want to know." Sam said with a tone of finality.
Alessia let out a deep sigh and turned onto her side so that she was facing away from Sam. This was too frustrating. At least when Captain America… or rather Steve and Clint had been around she was able to get some answers. Bucky was practically non-verbal and Sam wasn't much better. Alessia fell into an uneasy sleep listening to the rain falling on the tent and trying not to think about anything else.
The high-pitched singing of a zipper being rapidly undone jolted Alessia into consciousness. She sat up in an instant, gasping hard and blinking rapidly into the darkness. The rain was still pelting down outside and Alessia could just barely see a figure in the entry of the tent.
"It's just me," Bucky's voice was low and gravely. He sounded tired.
"I guess that's my cue," Sam said, rolling over in the sleeping bag. He groaned as he pulled himself up. Bucky stood aside to let Sam out before he came into the tent.
Alessia stayed sitting up as Bucky ducked in and started taking off his shoes and his jacket. Alessia could still barely see, but she could hear him taking off the jacket he'd gotten from the camp store, and unzip his sleeping bag.
"You can go back to sleep you know." Bucky said irritably, noticing that she was still sitting up. "I'm uh, sorry I woke you up."
"Aren't you all wet though?" Alessia asked.
Bucky scoffed. "And?"
"Well, how can you fall asleep like that? Couldn't you get sick?" She said. She could hear him make another slight scoffing noise. Why did he have to be like that? She was trying to be nice to him…
"Well, do you have a dryer?" He asked, voice oozing in sarcasm.
"I was going to offer to dry them for you, asshole." She retorted. "But if you wanna fall asleep in cold wet clothes and catch pneumonia or something, be my guest." She lay back down.
Bucky was silent for a moment, and Alessia knew he wasn't in bed yet because there was no more rustling. After a moment he asked: "Can you actually dry them?"
Alessia sat up. "Yeah, just gimme your clothes." The words were out of her mouth before she had thought about them. She felt her face flush and snapped her mouth shut. She heard Bucky snort and she flushed even deeper. There was the sound of wet fabric being dragged across skin. She saw a glint of orange on what must have been Bucky's arm and realized she was blushing so hard she was actually glowing.
"Here," Bucky said. Alessia reached her hand out and found his outstretched arm. After a fumbling moment of moving her hands down from his elbow, she made it to his wrist and hand and found the dripping wet tee-shirt he had been wearing. She took it and hugged it to her chest, trying to channel her utter embarrassment into her arms and torso. Meanwhile she could hear a pants zipper come undone and the more wet fabric rustling. Wait.. is he… he wouldn't give me his underwear, would he? Oh god, he's not getting NAKED is he?
Bucky reached his arm out again and Alessia once again fumbled, accidentally grazing his fingers with her hand. Alessia's heart was pounding almost as hard as it had been at the boy's camp earlier. She grabbed his pants and pulled them into the bundle with his shirt. She tried not to think about the fact that Bucky was sitting there, probably completely naked, and tried to focus on the quickly drying clothes in her arms.
"So you don't ever get cold?" Bucky asked, breaking Alessia's concentration.
"Not unless I'm really tired or hungry." She replied. "Are you saying you're cold? 'Cuz I'll be done with these in a second."
Bucky was silent for a moment, and Alessia ran her hands over the bundle of clothes. They were warm and most importantly, dry. She shook them out slightly and handed them over to Bucky "Here you go."
He took the bundle from her and Alessia lay back down in her sleeping bag. That wasn't awkward at all. Nope. She could hear Bucky getting dressed again and then the rustling of the sleeping bag as he lay down finally.
"Thanks." Bucky said gruffly.
"Mmm." Was all Alessia gave in return.
