CHAPTER 9

JUST A WARNING. THIS CHAPTER MAY CAUSE A FEW TEARS. BE PREPARED!

Beca walked briskly down the sidewalk. Past the playground…past the elementary school…past a bunch of houses she didn't even realize were there before this moment… She had just told her parents about her decision to enlist in the US Army. She was beginning to wonder if it was a mistake…

Sure her parents fought all the time. Hell, it was like they purposely disagreed with each other just to start a fight sometimes. But it was all in good fun…

Nothing like what had just happened

Or maybe it was. Maybe Beca had just bee blind…

She thought about how her father told her she was "signing her death certificate"… how her mother supported her totally… how they got into a yelling match… how her father packed himself a suitcase and dismissed himself without so much as a look back on his way out…she thought of the way Chloe squeezed her hand supportively under the dinner table when the front door slammed behind him…how Chloe called after Beca when she shot up and stormed out of the house.

She eventually found herself approaching the old abandoned tool shed from her younger, seemingly happier days… Next to Chloe's bed, this was the safest place she knew. It was her refuge. THEIR refuge. Beca closed the creaky door behind her and took a seat on the old beat up rolling chair by the workbench. She closed her eyes, smiling softly as she blocked everything out. She only enjoyed being there…remembering all of her adventures with her best friend… how they would "run away from home" until dinner time then go back to Chloe's to watch cartoons.

Beca was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear the door to the shed open behind her… She didn't even notice Chloe was there until she felt a hand on her face, wheeling around. She was met with her best friend's sympathetic blue eyes…they were even more beautiful in this moment however, because they were clouded….something Beca noticed when Chloe was trying to be strong. Those sparkling sky colored eyes would become a light grey, as if they were overcast…

Beca bit her lip as she fought back the tears.

What if she really had just signed her death certificate? Even if she did, why couldn't her father be more supportive? This was just as scary for her as it was for him… Why couldn't he just talk to her?

"Bec…" Chloe started softly. Her thumb caressed Beca's cheek as she leaned forward to plant a kiss on the brunette's forehead.

"I'm…I'm sorry you had to see that, Chlo." Beca stood so she could leave the shed, but Chloe cut her off, pulling her into her arms. She knew Beca was ashamed. She knew she wanted to run off so she could cry, but Chloe needed her to know that it was okay. Chloe would never leave her. She could trust Chloe.

Beca buried her face in the taller woman's bosom. She could feel the tears coming and she didn't want Chloe to see her. Maybe if she closed her eyes, the pain would go away…she wouldn't cry…she'd be strong for Chloe. Because that's how it had always been. That's how it was supposed to be.

Chloe felt tears trickle down her cheeks as her friend began to shake against her. She wrapped her arms around the smaller woman and began to run her fingers through the woman's chocolate locks because she knew how much it comforted her.

"You don't always have to be strong, Bec… Sometimes, you have to let others be strong for you," She whispered against her friend's hair.

"You've my hero for so long…you'll always be my hero. Sometimes…you just need to let me be here for you." Hearing this, Beca pulled away slightly so she could look up into her friend's eyes. She found it hard to believe a person as beautiful as Chloe on the outside could be so beautiful on the inside. She found it even harder to believe that she could care about Beca as much as she said she did. Everything Chloe did and said proved Beca wrong, day after day…year after year…and it scared her. It scared her how much the redhead meant to her. It scared her how much she thought about having Chloe always be a part of her life.

What scared her the most in that moment was that she was looking into Chloe's eyes and there was no question. She was completely and utterly in love with her best friend since elementary school. She always was… Before she knew what was happening, she was kissing her best friend and it was probably the best feeling in the world. It even trumped the feeling Beca got when she worked with music or computers. It was a while before Beca's brain processed the fact that Chloe wasn't pulling away. If anything, Chloe seemed to be pulling her closer. Impossibly closer. Beca knew they would talk about it later, but in that moment she couldn't care less. All that mattered was her, Chloe, and the unspoken conversation between their lips…

THWACK!

Beca was awakened by a belt to the back. Her body jerked in surprise and agony as her eyes shot open. She could only bite her lip and clench her fists in her restraints as she refused to cry out in pain. She wouldn't give them that much satisfaction.

The guard chuckled, his eyes crinkling once again in the slits of his scarf. "You Americans always think you're so damn TOUGH…and SMART. Especially you," He approached Beca again and began to circle her dangling body. "You don't look so smart now though, huh? Without that computer…you are just another hole to fill. Am I correct?"

The Afghani soldiers and civilian recruits had been long gone. After that first night, they had all grown bored of watching the three Americans sustain beating after beating. That left the guard alone to do as he pleased and he did just that. Though it seemed he got the most joy out of torturing Beca. He was ashamed to learn that one of the Americans that had out-smarted him was a WOMAN. He would never let that go. He had been singling her out since the three soldiers got there…threatening to kill Cap or Jesse if they spoke up. He knew very well what he was doing… Every time that belt cracked against Beca's skin, every time he threw a fist into her ribs, every time he drew blood or comment on how much more colorful her pale skin was becoming… he saw how it affect her comrades.

How they'd flinch at the sounds her body made…how they'd squeeze their eyes shut and hang their heads as if that would speed the process up…

The guard learned quickly that he didn't have to beat them all. The emotional torture the others got from seeing their female battle buddy in pain…that was much worse.

The guard raised the belt once again as he prepared to bring it across Beca's back.

"STOP! PLEASE!" Cap shouted, nearly in tears.

It was the fifth day when Cap had finally had enough. He didn't want to watch Beca get beat like a dog. He didn't even want to hear it. He couldn't. The woman meant to much to him. She was the daughter he always wanted… And he would die before he let this go on.

"What?" The guard lowered the belt and made his was over to the older man. He couldn't believe the man had the nerve to speak to after he'd told him what would happen if he did.

"Look, sir…I mean no disrespect," Captain Bingham started, the desperation clear as he spoke," Just PLEASE…hit ME. Not her-"

BANG!

Up until this point, Beca had been drifting in and out of consciousness. Her head nodding as she'd drift and come to… But her eyes snapped open when she heard the thunderous pop of a handgun echoing throughout the room. She looked to her right and saw her commander's eyes roll back as a round pierced his skull. Her heart clenched as she watched his head roll forward. She took notice of how much heavier his body seemed to be as she watched the blood trickle down his face.

"Cap?" No response.. The only sound being the guard's infamous chuckle.

Beca was frozen in shock. Yeah, Cap was hurt but surely he wasn't dead, right? He couldn't be. He was indestructible…he was her partner in crime…he was practically her father…

"C-cap?" Still no response. Beca felt her heart break as she realized he WAS, in fact, dead. As her eyes fell to the dark red pool beneath his body, she knew for sure. He was gone.

Jesse's eyes had been squeezed shut throughout all of this. He didn't want to look down and see if he'd been shot (but he wasn't feeling any pain, so that was a good sign)… but somehow, he knew one of his fellow soldiers… one of his friends… had just been killed. He was forced to face his fear when he heard Beca's gasping…or was that wheezing?

Was she gasping for air…for life? Or was she mourning?

Jesse couldn't tell.

He opened eyes and looked to his left. That's when he saw his commander's lifeless body as well as Beca's trembling body on the other side. She was taking this hard.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" The guard screamed. Just as he was about to bring his hand across Beca's face, an alarm sounded.

"What now?" He muttered, exasperated.

"All Soldiers are asked to report to the heart of the camp! We have intruders!" A deep, authoritative voice bellowed from the intercoms. In seconds, the guard was gone, unslinging his rifle and holding it in the "ready" position, mentally preparing to shoot on sight.

"Beca…," Jesse started, as calmly as he could,"We're going to get out of here. Stay strong. This isn't just about us anymore….We have to do this for Cap."

STAY WITH ME EVERYBODY! IT'S GOING TO GET BETTER. *SENDS VIRTUAL HUGS*

I'M GLAD TO SAY THIS IS THE WORST IT GETS. IT'S (MOSTLY) UP FROM HERE ;]