Screams in her ear, so loud it hurts
Flames, roaring stretching burning reaching for her, closer taller stronger brighter...
Smoke.
Michelle coughed, found that her eyes were watering, and sat up, flailing around in mindless panic.
"Tony!" she called, struggling to open the door of the car in which she found herself trapped, smoke pouring in from the open windows...
"Morning!" his voice answered cheerfully, and she was confused for a moment before she stumbled out of the car and to the left, and found her husband holding a burger on a stick over a raging campfire.
She stood there staring for a moment before she grasped that she wasn't actually about to burn to death, and she saw Tony's cheerful expression turn to one of concern.
"Are you okay?" he asked, stepping towards her.
"Yeah," she smiled, though somewhat feebly. "I guess I just wasn't expecting to wake up in a car full of smoke."
"Sorry 'bout that." He put an arm around her, still holding the stick in the other. "I did make the fire a little larger than strictly necessary."
Michelle rolled her eyes. "Men..." she said, smiling and shaking her head. "You'll be forgiven if you have food for me."
"I do have food." Tony nodded and held up the stick with the burger on the end. "For breakfast today we'll be having vegetable burgers with no buns, no fries, no lettuce and no ketchup. But we do have croissants and mayonnaise, and Pepsi to drink."
"Sounds delicious."
"It'll definitely be an interesting experience. Here, take this and I'll get another one," Tony said, handing her the stick.
Michelle went to hold the burger over the fire and watched in amusement as Tony removed a burger from a soggy box which had obviously defrosted overnight, and proceeded to very carefully push it onto the end of a stick. Then he sat down next to her and pulled her onto his lap.
"You sleep okay?" he asked.
"Not really... the back seat of the car isn't exactly the most comfortable of beds."
"Yeah, I know what you mean."
Silence descended as they both refrained from pointing out that they might be sleeping in the car for a while.
Michelle closed her eyes and snuggled closer to Tony, who tightened his grip around her waist.
"Your burger's burning," he remarked a moment later.
"Dammit!" Michelle said, sitting up a little too fast and causing Tony to hiss quietly. "Sorry," she said, taking the stick away from the fire and blowing on the burger to make it stop smoking.
"'S okay," said Tony, wincing as she settled into a more comfortable position.
She kissed him on the cheek before turning to the difficult business of getting the burger off the stick without making it fall apart.
And then she dropped both burger and stick when she felt more than heard a bullet whizz past her ear and shatter the glass in the closest window of the car.
Tony was pinning her to the ground before she had time to say anything, his gun somehow already in his hand, cocked and aimed over his shoulder where the bullet had come from.
"You okay?" he asked, glancing at her face for the briefest of instants.
"Yes," she gasped, suddenly finding it difficult to breathe after the shock.
Tony fired three rounds into the bushes, and Michelle closed her eyes and pressed herself into the dirt.
"Where's your gun?" he asked, his voice strained.
"Floor behind the passenger seat."
He fired again. "Alright, on three we're gonna get up and get behind the car. Make sure you stay in front of me."
"Tony, you'll be exp--"
"Michelle, I'm armed, you're not. You're in front, no arguments."
"Okay."
"Alright." He paused, then: "One. Two. Three."
The two of them got to their feet and, with Tony laying down cover fire, scrambled to the relative safety of the other side of the car. Michelle crouched behind the front wheel, Tony next to her behind the back one.
"Take this. I'll get yours." Tony reached out to hand her his gun before opening the back passenger door. Michelle winced as more glass shattered above her head, holding his gun by her side and watching him feel around in the back of the car for hers.
"Okay." Tony pulled his upper body back out of the car and slammed the door shut, shaking Michelle's gun out of its holster. "How many of them do you think there are?"
"I don't know." She risked a quick glance around the side of the car, but saw nothing but trees until there were several sudden flashes of black and a new barrage of gunfire. She quickly pulled back. "At a guess, I'd say a lot. Or they're good enough to make a few seem like a lot, which is worse."
Tony peeked around the side himself, then looked back at her. "I agree. I think we should run."
Michelle nodded.
They joined hands and fled into the woods.
-- --
Skidding down a steep incline, trying not to trip on exposed roots and struggling to keep her panic level down as adrenaline began to surge through her body, Michelle marveled at the fact that Tony somehow managed to also look behind them, count their pursuers, and think about their options.
"There's no way we can outrun them or win a firefight," he said, panting only slightly as they wove through a particularly dense patch of trees. "We need to hide."
Michelle felt panic begin to rise in her chest again before she spotted a large tree a short distance away and inspiration thankfully struck. "Over there." She pointed. "We can climb up."
Tony scrutinized the tree and nodded. "Let's go," he said, tugging harder at her hand as he ran faster.
Michelle reached for the lowest branch as soon as they were close enough, jumping to wrap her arms around it before swinging her legs up.
"Hurry, before they see us," Tony said, giving her a push to help right herself before climbing up after her as she silently tackled the next branch.
There was a rustling in the distance and she reached down to help him up behind her. "One more and then we stay still and don't make a sound," she decided. Tony merely nodded as they continued their ascent.
Once she was up Michelle stood as close to the trunk of the tree as possible and wrapped her arms around it. Moments later Tony climbed up beside her and inched along the branch before encircling her waist with one arm and pulling their bodies close together, keeping himself steady by resting his other hand, still holding his gun, somewhere above their heads.
Then they waited.
Acutely aware of the sound of her own breathing in the sudden silence, Michelle attempted to regulate it, to match the pace of the calm breaths she could feel Tony taking, inhaling when she felt his chest inflate against her back, exhaling when warm air from his open mouth touched the side of her face. Sharing his rhythm like this immediately made her feel calmer, steadier, more grounded as she stared down at the small patch of ground still visible beneath their feet and all the branches which separated them from it.
A black-clad figure ran underneath them and she gasped slightly despite herself, closing her eyes until she felt Tony press a kiss to her temple.
They stood there for what seemed like forever, until her arms felt like lead against the bark and she was convinced her feet were about to fall out from under her. Finally, Tony leaned forward and whispered, "Let's see if it's safe to climb down."
Michelle nodded, and together they wearily and warily descended.
They stood at the bottom with guns at the ready before it became clear that they weren't going to be shot at -- at least right away-- then decided to make their way back to the car.
Peeking through the bushes at the side of the clearing where they had parked, they saw two men standing guard on either side of the vehicle. Tony motioned to Michelle to take out the two on the left while he took the ones to the right. On his signal, they both opened fire.
The guards were caught unawares and went down without even managing to raise their weapons.
Tony and Michelle ran for the car and sped away.
-- --
"Oh, thank God," said Michelle.
She was leaning over Tony's shoulder in an internet café, reading the subjects of his new e-mails. The top one was from Jack and titled Re: Brother.
Tony clicked to open it, tapping his fingers lightly on the mouse buttons in impatience. Finally the new page loaded; the message from Jack was short, but there were several large attachments.
Here's all I could find, I hope it helps. Stay safe. Jack.
Tony clicked on the first attachment -- an image file.
Michelle felt her mouth drop open when she saw the picture. "Oh my God..."
The eyebrows, the mouth, the jawline... This was why Rees had looked so familiar! The face on the screen was one Michelle recognized all to well... and that would explain why she'd been having the dreams so much lately...
"What?" Tony asked, looking at her apprehensively.
Michelle shook her head, still trying to organize her thoughts, unable to tear her eyes away from the photograph. "This whole thing... it was never about you at all."
She looked at him, and said:
"It's about me."