No one had noticed their escape so far, but Kaori knew their luck wouldn't hold out for too much longer. In her haste, she'd neglected to hide the bodies of the two she'd just killed, and whenever someone stumbled across them, she knew that an alarm somewhere would be tripped. Then their stealthy little escape from the compound would no longer be so unnoticed.
They entered the hangar where the transport had first landed when they arrived. The transport was gone now, and that was the first of their rotten luck. Soon after, a shrill and ear-shuddering alarm ripped through the evening stillness. The alarm was rotten luck number two. Birds took to flight to get away from the intruding sound. Kaori cursed under her breath. Grabbing a firm hold of Little Quat's hand, she ran as fast as Quatre could keep up with her, making a straight line from the compound hangar to the field and open woods beyond. Without more time to have picked out transportation, they'd have to depend on hiding rather than running. Rotten luck evidence number three: shots were fired from the compound as soldiers gave chase. Bullets hit the ground around her feet and off to her left. Thankfully, neither her nor Quatre had been shot.
Little Quat stumbled once, pulling heavily on Kaori's left hand to keep from grinding his face into the gravel and dirt. They wouldn't be able to keep this up long. She let go of his hand long enough to catapult over a four-rail fence, turning to give him a helping hand. With a pleased smile, she noticed he'd followed her acrobatic fly over the tall fence. Knowing Uncle Trowa had its advantages.
Two horses in the distance caught her attention. Well, she'd make the most of this rotten luck. Horseback through the woods was preferable to busting into the foliage on foot. And they'd gain an advantage on agile horses. The animals could disappear in narrow underbrush where no jeep or heavily armed soldier could follow. The gunshots from behind had stopped, and Kaori needn't have turned around to see the compound bustling with activity as soldiers jumped in jeeps and bounced after them at full power. Their lead would soon disappear.
Knowing better than to run up behind horses and risk spooking them to get a hoof in her mouth, Kaori slowed to a stop and whistled, clicking lightly with her tongue. To her great relief, the dark chestnut turned its head and trotted in her direction. This horse only had a lightweight bridle on its face. For Quatre's sake, she was elated to see the lighter brown horse had a western-style saddle on and a full bridle.
"Can you ride?" she asked Quatre as she pet the dark horse's face and took a hold of the reins that dragged on the ground beside it.
"No."
"Now's a good time to learn, ne?" she said as she led her horse and Quatre to the lighter brown horse wearing tackle. Walking to the left side of the bay horse, she indicated the stirrup. "Put your left foot in there and swing your right leg over the back of the horse to sit in the saddle." Little Quat did as she instructed and wiggled a little on the hard leather to get comfortable. Immediately, his foot came from the stirrup. Kaori frowned. "You'll have to get by without using the stirrups," she said. "I don't have time to adjust them to your shortness."
"Hey, I'm almost as tall as you!" Little Quat complained.
"I know, but I'm not exactly Mount Everest." She reached up and set her hand on the horn. "You're not really supposed to, but just hold onto this. It may be a rough ride so keep your ass in the saddle and hold on for dear life if you have to. Scream at me if you slip or start to fall."
Quatre nodded as he concentrated on staying on the horse. It pranced a little as it got used to the weight on its back. Why the horse had been left with a saddle on, Kaori didn't know. But most likely these horses weren't treated the best by the soldiers, and they were probably more than a little skittish around people. It couldn't be helped right now.
She held both her own reins and Quatre's reins in her left hand as she used that same hand to grab a tuft of mane at the base of the dark chestnut's neck. Bouncing a little on the balls of her feet, Kaori hefted herself up and swung her right leg over the rump, settling down on the back of the horse. It shimmied a little to the right and snorted in contempt, but didn't try to rear up and get her off. Yet. She patted the side of its neck to ease it a little.
"You ready?" she asked Quat, getting nervous about the jeep that had just burst through the railed fence. The jeep was making its way across the pasture and to where they sat on the horses near the opposite side of the field.
Little Quat nodded fiercely and tightened his grip on the saddle horn. Kaori used her teeth to rip off the tape holding the splint on her right hand. She'd need both hands to pull this stunt off and making her knuckles bleed was a small price to pay to get out of here alive. Taking a firm hold of her reins in her right hand, she ignored the splitting stitches as she dug her heals into the sides of the chestnut, leading Quatre's horse by the its reins in her left hand.
Amazingly enough, neither of them fell due to Little Quat's inexperience and her lack of a saddle; their more than impressive steeds cleared the four rail fence and bolted off toward the woods beyond.
I think the horses are more eager to get away than we are, she heard Little Quat tell her. Kaori didn't respond but nodded as she concentrated on getting to the woods ahead. The fence would slow the progress of their chasers, but a horse was no match when compared to a combustible engine. She hoped they could make it to the forest and disappear before the jeeps ran them over.
Turning sharply to the right to avoid a ditch, her left arm wrenched as Little Quat's horse struggled to follow. Biting back her scream, Kaori felt more than over-exposed to pain for today. For the week. For her whole fucking life. She clenched her teeth and spurred her horse onward, ignoring again the tug of her arm as she pulled Little Quat's horse along.
Duck! She yelled to him as they came upon the beginning trees of the forest. A particularly low branch would have knocked them both off the backs of their horses if she hadn't seen it beforehand and warned Little Quat. Bending down low over the neck of the chestnut, she risked a quick glance back to check on the blonde. He was mimicking her every move, holding tight to the horn as he, too, leaned forward close to the pumping neck of his bay-colored horse.
Weaving in and out of the trees and going deeper into the underbrush, Kaori could hear the curses of the soldiers who'd been cut off from their pursuit due to the impeding woods. Smiling to herself, she urged her horse onward. They'd rest later. Right now they had to get as far from the compound as they could to conceal themselves in the vastness of nature.
* * * * * * *
Jin and Heero worked in perfect sync as they landed the shuttle in the wilderness of central Africa. Without having to ask, they informed each other of barometric pressure, altitude, wind direction and strength, fuel status, and their undying love. Trowa thought he'd gag when he first saw them locked at the mouth earlier on the Colony, but after remembering the troubles they'd had recently, he began to see their endearments as a blessing. And they just happened to work so much smoother this way. He and Wufei didn't complain at all as Jin called Heero a love muffin and told him to land this bucket of bolts already.
Quatre's call had scared them all out of their wits. And of course as with every other thing that ever went wrong, Jin had completely blamed herself for the whole mess. It took Heero a long time to get her to realize she couldn't have magically saved the world and kept it all from happening. And now they were here, landing at the front door of Relena's compound and watching as the soldiers scurried around like little ants outside.
A loud click of metal from behind him caused Trowa to turn in the direction of the cargo hold. Wufei had finished loading the large assault rifle with explosive-cased ammo that was illegal in all the Colonies and most of the countries on earth. Trowa didn't ask where he'd gotten the hand-held artillery. He only nodded his head in the direction of its pair. Wufei tossed the weapon to him, and Trowa ran a loving hand over the cold metal before looking up at his Chinese counterpart with a carnal gleam in his green eyes. Wufei returned the gesture with an evil grin. They were going to tear Relena apart.
With a soft jerk, the shuttle made contact with the hard-packed African soil. Wufei and Trowa leapt from the transport and began firing. Heero and Jin rushed from the cockpit and each grabbed their own illegal assault rifle on their way to join Wufei and Trowa. Heero only paused long enough to sling a chain of extra ammo over his shoulder and across his chest.
Alarms were already blaring loudly. Some soldiers were retaliating against the intruding shuttle while others piled into jeeps and heading out of the compound in the opposite direction from the ex-pilots. Why their attention seemed divided, Trowa didn't know. Nor did he care. Stalking steadily toward the compound building, he paved the way for his three comrades to follow.
* * * * * * *
Wufei was almost disappointed that they hadn't met with more resistance as they burst through the door into the cold-lighted hallways. Assuming the lead, he ran in the direction of the interrogation rooms. All these old OZ buildings were all built alike, and he'd been in plenty of OZ bases to know exactly where he was going. Shooting down the occasional soldier who happened to be so unlucky as to show a flash of green colored uniform, Wufei mercilessly tore through the halls, hoping their brash and daring rescue attempt didn't get the kids killed.
"Where are they?" Heero yelled from behind.
"One of these rooms on the right," Wufei answered, his voice straining to be heard over the insanely annoying alarm buzz. They searched each room, coming up empty. Heero burst through the last door in the hall, and he came to a complete stop.
Wufei came up behind him to peer over his shoulder. Blood littered the concrete floor beneath a large meat hook that hung from the ceiling. A pair of bloody handcuffs laid discarded in front of the door. Whoever had been here had recently left, for the bright red blood was still sticky and wet-looking. Putting a hand on Heero's shoulder, he tore the worried father from the sight of his child's bloody handcuffs.
Almost too late, Wufei noticed the body of Relena Dorlian-Peacecraft. She had fallen off of her chair, and her remains were in a heap between the steel chair and concrete wall of the interrogation room. A telltale stain of blood and pink substance clung to the wall at about the precise height of a sitting person's head. And the extreme disfigurement of Miss Relena's face and head more than confirmed to Wufei that the former Queen of the World had been shot. Shot as she sat in this exact chair and watched them beat Kaori Yuy.
Kaori had to have been beaten, or else blood would not stain the floor under the hook. The red liquid on the handcuffs told him that she'd been hung from that hook by the chain of the cuffs. Relena Dorlian-Peacecraft more than deserved her cruel fate for being behind this abduction and making the List. She deserved her undignified and dishonorable death. She was a dishonorable woman.
He turned from the gruesome sight of the dead and decaying body, noticing a small streak of red on the floor.
"She left us a trail," Wufei said, trying not to wince at the morbidity of his statement, but ecstatic with the fact that they did indeed have a trail to follow. Small drops and smears of blood streaked down the hallway and around a corner to the left. Jin took off running along the blood trail before anyone could stop her.
They caught up with her again as she stood near a side hall, her mouth open in surprise. Wufei put his hand on Heero's other half and moved her out of the way. He was beginning to get tired of this pushing his friends out of the way and looking at dead bodies thing. This time, Wufei could distinguish two bodies on the floor under the bright fluorescent lights. Long blonde hair proved to be Dorothy Catalonia. The other figure belonged to Daniel, the kid that his daughter had hung out with at the Academy. Wufei felt his anger rising as he looked down on the blonde boy. This kid had infiltrated the Preventor Academy and infiltrated their inner circle of friends. His anger subsided momentarily as Trowa bent down near the boy.
"What is it?" he asked.
Trowa thought a while before answering. "The gun from his holster is missing, as well as a smaller gun from this under-the-shoulder holster."
"Perhaps he didn't arm himself today," Wufei suggested.
"Perhaps Kaori took them," Trowa said, voicing the unsaid hope of all four adults.
"The blood trail stopped a while ago," Jin spoke for the first time since the landing of the shuttle. "We don't know where they could have gone."
"If Kaori was responsible for this," Wufei said, nodding down at the two dead bodies, "then she probably bolted for the hangar. It's only a few yards from here."
"Let's go then."
Wufei didn't know who had spoken, either Trowa or Heero. Or both. It was hard to tell which of them was speaking when they both dropped back into soldier mode. But it didn't matter who was agreeing with him and who wasn't. He was going to check the hangar whether anyone else wanted to or not. Bursting through the hangar door, Wufei saw…
Chaos.
And nothing promising.
No transport, no personnel, no jeeps, no officers, and no sign of Kaori or Little Winner. All four of them stood dumfounded for a moment, looking wide-eyed at the disordered scene of soldiers yelling at one another and threatening to kill each other, and some running off in the direction opposite of their shuttle landing. They could catch snips of conversation.
"…no leaders, so why bother…"
"Miss Dorothy shot her superior…"
"Those damned prisoners escaped and are making for…"
"…Dorlian-Peacecraft's body…"
"…killed each other, including Daniel and Miss Catalonia…"
"…why fight for their lost cause?"
Wufei, Trowa, Heero, and Jin exchanged confused looks. Did these soldiers just say what they thought they said? Judging by the disorganized frenzy of officer-less soldiers, Wufei could confirm that the words concerning superiors killing each other were true. Wufei was about to ask what the others thought about the situation when a part of the conversation called his attention. One of the soldiers had mentioned escaped prisoners. Did that mean that Yuy and Winner had gotten away?
It made sense now. The jeeps they'd seen driving from the compound as they landed weren't reacting to their sudden arrival. They had been chasing after the children.
