A/N: Ok, I only just saw the new episode of Agents of Shield and I... seriously, I... I don't even...
SKYE! How can I possibly live with this cliff hanger for FOUR weeks?
As always, please tell me what you think. Both the ep and my fic if you want to ;)
Chapter 11: Track Records
In this confined space, echoing from the bare stone walls, the shot was deafening.
Skye had seen people getting shot several times by now, but a part of her still expected it to be like in one of those terrible Hollywood movies with the victim being blown halfway across the room by the blast, blood spurting from the wound like a fountain.
Reality was different, though.
Despite the pain he had to be in, Jack's eyes remained focused on Skye's for several seconds, as if he couldn't quite believe what had just happened, either, until his gaze finally shifted down to the hole in his shirt that was quickly turning red. He gasped as his hand moved up tentatively to the wound, but then his legs suddenly gave out underneath him and he crumbled to the ground, hitting the floor hard.
Reflexively, Skye retreated along the wall away from him until she found herself with her back in the corner, shaking all over. She kept staring at the motionless body in front of her, and only now did she slowly begin to realise what had happened.
She had killed Jack. Shot him without even really meaning to.
A desperate and terrified sound escaped Skye's throat as the reality of the situation sank in and she began to panic. She barely realised as the gun fell from her trembling fingers and landed on the floor with a metallic clank, as Skye was already moving, hurrying for the door.
Locked.
Or at least that was her first thought when it didn't budge immediately. Thankfully, though, the door was only stuck and when she gave it another hard pull, it finally sprung wide open and the young woman ran outside without hesitating or looking back.
Once she had left her cell behind her, she was faced with the choice between going left or right, but as the corridor looked equally uninviting in both directions, and she had no idea where to go anyway, the hacker blindly chose right and kept running.
Skye was sure that Jack hadn't been acting alone and so there would surely be others nearby, who might have heard the gunshot and could come looking for him any second now.
She had to get to safety. She had to get out of here. If only she knew where here even was.
Hurrying down the long and narrow corridor in front of her, Skye noticed the tubes running along the wall and ceiling and the safety instructions everywhere, supporting her earlier theory, that she was in fact in the basement level of some kind of factory or industrial plant. It had to have been abandoned for quite a while, though, going by the rundown state of things.
There was dust and dirt everywhere, several of the lights along the ceiling seemed to be broken and the entire place was filled with such a damp cold that she doubted anyone was still working here.
Except for the men who had kidnapped her of course.
Skye felt lucky that so far, she hadn't encountered anyone on her escape. She had passed a few closed doors along the way, but hadn't dared opening any of them for fear of running into one of Jack's accomplices.
She didn't know if none of them had heard the gunshot after all, or if simply nobody had thought it alarming enough to investigate, but Skye could only assume that they hadn't found Jack's body yet. Otherwise, she figured, there would be men coming after her by now. She could only hope that she would find a way out of here, before her escape was noticed.
So far, the corridor had gone straight ahead, leaving her with no choice but to follow it, but now Skye finally noticed a junction about 20 meters ahead of her. As she could also hear voices in the distance, she slowed down immediately, her heart hammering in her chest at the mere thought of being discovered.
As slowly and noiselessly as she could, the young woman inched forward until she reached the corner in the hallway. In three directions, including the one she had come from, she could see nothing but empty corridor ahead. In the remaining one, however, the corridor opened up into a large hall with a massive machine in the centre that was blocking most of her view. The voices she had already heard from the corridor belonged to two armed men in black combat gear, who seemed to be standing guard in the room. Luckily for Skye, they weren't facing in her direction at the moment and hadn't noticed her, but it would be impossible to proceed any further without being spotted.
Skye was already about to go back and find another way, when she suddenly noticed something else that caught her attention.
There, at the other end of the hall was a door with a sign for the staircase right next to it. Given the size of the complex, there had to be more stairs elsewhere, but chances were that those were guarded as well. And, of course, Skye would have to find them first, without running into one of her captors on the way.
No, if she wanted to get upstairs and find a way to the outside, this was probably her best bet at doing so. If only she could find a way to get past these men undetected.
Skye cursed inwardly as she thought back to the gun she had dropped earlier in her cell, wishing she would have kept it instead of leaving it behind. It certainly could have come in handy right now. Although, if she was being honest with herself, she was still so shocked and rattled from shooting Jack, that she wasn't sure she would have been able to aim a gun steadily at anyone, let alone pull the trigger again.
She wasn't quite ready to deal with what had happened, though, and so the young woman pushed the memory aside, forcing herself to focus on the current situation instead. Her mind already racing to come up with an idea, Skye pulled back into the corridor and went in one of the other directions instead, looking for anything that might help her get past the guards, like something that could work as a distraction.
After not even a minute, she found herself in front of another door, but this one had a small window at the top and she could clearly see that the room behind it was dark and empty.
Skye bit down on her bottom lip anxiously as she laid her hand on the door handle, sending out a small prayer in her mind that the door wasn't locked. Much to her relief, it wasn't.
The young hacker quickly moved inside and found herself in some kind of makeshift break room. There were two tables positioned in the centre of the room, with an old desk lamp standing on one of them, and a couple of shelves at the wall, although they were mostly empty except for some mismatched couple of dishes. There was also a fridge standing in the corner, which was actually running, judging by the low humming sound emanating from it.
Skye left the lights off as she closed the door, to avoid drawing any attention to herself, in case somebody should pass by, but the small window afforded enough light from the corridor to allow her to move around without trouble.
Despite her still terrified state, the adrenaline rush she had felt earlier was slowly wearing off, and Skye realised once more how extremely thirsty and hungry she still was. What Jack had brought her earlier couldn't even have been considered a meal, and so she was desperately hoping that her kidnappers were actually storing some of their supplies in here.
After a last nervous glance towards the door, Skye opened the fridge, hoping to find something to drink and maybe even some food in there. Once she got a look at the contents, however, that were illuminated by the small light inside, which seemed unnaturally bright in the darkness of the room, all thoughts of nourishment were immediately forgotten.
There, front and centre in the fridge, standing between beer cans and soda bottles was a big jar, filled with a clear liquid. And in that liquid was a hand.
A real, actual human hand.
Skye wanted to scream, but found that she couldn't, as her voice caught in her throat.
She had seen horrible things in the past, but finding this here, now, just made her wonder once more in what kind of hell she had found herself.
Her mouth still slightly agape, Skye kept staring at the hand – the hand in the fridge – unable to tear her eyes away from it, until a tiny detail suddenly caught her attention and the scream burst from her throat after all.
For a moment, she didn't care who heard it, didn't care about her own safety, because she suddenly knew whose hand this was.
Her mind raced back almost two years, to her time in LA and to the small apartment Miles Lydon had lived in at the time.
- - It was a Saturday morning and the sun had already been up for hours, but Skye and her boyfriend were still in bed, just enjoying their time together. They were snuggled up against each other, with Miles lying behind her, his arms wrapped protectively around her. The young woman had her fingers entwined with his and was smiling happily, but as she ran the tip of her thumb across his skin, her brow furrowed ever so slightly as she noticed a small scar on Miles' ring finger.
"Where did you get that from?" she asked sleepily, her head turning in his direction.
"Bike accident when I was a kid," the hacker answered, gently intensifying his hold on the young woman. "But I swear it wasn't my fault. That wall really came at me out of nowhere." He pressed a soft kiss on her neck as Skye started laughing, but didn't object to his advances.
"You know," she managed to get out in between bursts of laughter, "I should probably rethink letting you drive my van, now that I know your track record."
"Oh, really?" He pulled her around, so that she was now looking up at him, with him lying on top of her.
"Yeah, really," she replied, still a big grin on her face.
"Well, maybe I should rethink letting you sleep here, then."
"If that's what you want." Skye's voice was completely innocent, but the look in her eyes was both challenging and inviting, telling Miles everything he needed to know.
"Nah," he finally answered and leaned down to kiss the young woman passionately. Their hands found each other again and Skye's fingers traced once more over the small scar, the same one she was staring at right now, here on the hand in the fridge…
To be continued…