Feeling the shotgun pressed into her back, recognizing the drawl in the owner's voice and wishing like hell she didn't, Carrie swallowed hard, looked over to Farrah.
"Honey go to the cabin, okay. Go right now.", she ordered, trying to keep her voice steady and as calm as possible. It didn't keep the fear in the girl's eyes at bay though.
"C..Carrie?"
"Sweetheart I'll be fine, I promise. Just go to the cabin.", she insisted as 'Chief' let out a laugh.
"Yeah go on sweetheart, just do what her pretty face says.",he mocked.
Eyes cold, using a simple but effective combination of movements, Carrie managed to disarm and pull the gun back on him. Only to hear Farrah let out a scream.
Glancing over her shoulder she saw the girl shakily standing, whimpering, about to burst into tears, and then remembered what she was holding that had her so upset.
"Oh no...oh shit..", she gasped. Her eyes darting from Farrah, to the two men lying on the ground, and then to the one standing directly front of her. The idiot looked thrown by everything, but still was giving her a smirk, looked ready to get some revenge.
Knowing he wouldn't get it by landing her in jail for assault with a deadly weapon, Carrie backed up, looked at the gun once more before throwing it as far away as she could, deep into the trees.
"What the fuc...throwing my goddamn... you're still a fucking piece of work, aren't you!"
She'd made a break towards Farrah but he'd gotten hold of her hair, then arm before he shoved her down. Underestimating though how quickly she'd be back on her feet.
Angrily he staggered towards her, and left a scant amount of space for her to run.
Backed against a tree on the far side of the clearing, Carrie knew she'd have to dodge and get around him, or fight the fucker head on.
Knowing though dodging could give him opportunity to grab his buddy's gun, not willing to traumatize Farrah even more this morning, she opted to do some ass kicking.
Sizing him up she knew a well timed kick, well placed throw would bring the bastard to his knees. She sensed though he wasn't as drunk as his friends, and knew this encounter was way beyond him sporting for a fight. The pool hall incident had turned this personal for him, and she'd have to get creative to get out this unscathed. Even if it meant giving him the satisfaction of winning for a few horrible moments.
Faking him out, by faking him out and clumsily running to her left, she put up minimal resistance when he grabbed her, held her in a choke hold.
His hot, boozy breath hit the back of her neck as he hissed in her ear about 'Opie'. Babbled on about her needing a protector.
Between the dig at Brody and the flat out insult, Carrie wasn't scared so much as spurred to inflict severe pain.
Biting down hard on his arm that had her trapped, she kicked at his ankle then stomped on his foot. It wasn't as satisfying as kneeing him in the balls, but it was the quickest way to free herself and get towards Farrah.
She ran towards where she'd last seen her though and tensed up, not seeing her there or anywhere else near by, and forgetting in all the chaos where she'd told her to run to.
"Farrah..FARRAH!"
...
Hearing her name Farrah wanted to stop, turn back around but she was confused. Frightened. And seeing the cabin not too far ahead decided to run the rest of the way there. She kept thinking about the man holding her arm and the guns and Carrie picking one up too, and just wanted to grab Merriweather and hide under her fleece blanket with him and Calvin. Stay there until Brody and Carrie worked it all out, told her the bad men were gone and she was safe.
Running onto the porch her lip quivered, seeing Brody wasn't in the chair where he'd been sleeping earlier.
"Nick?! NICK!",she cried, running inside the cabin over to Calvin.
"Calvin, where Nick?!"
Mewing, the kitten ran to the back bedroom, started scratching at the closed door while Farrah knocked.
"Nick!"
"Brat, hey..hey! What's going on? What..."
Getting down to her level Brody realized she was shaking. Trying not to panic he brushed a stray hair off her forehead, took a gentle grip on her shoulders.
"Farrah what is it. What's wrong?"
When she didn't answer, shook her head as she looked down, tried not to cry, he tried his best not to panic. Gently reaching to lift her chin.
"Brat it's okay. Whatever it is, the only way I can help is if you talk to me. Let me know what happened. Look, you want Carrie to tell me instead? I-"
When Farrah's eyes widened and she looked even more frightened, things clicked and now Brody was the one nearly shaking.
"Where is she..", he breathed, but fought to keep his voice calm, steady and collected. He tried again.
"Farrah, it's okay. All you have to do is tell me what happened, tell me where Carrie is."
"Carrie...she...she...the, the man...gun...hurt.."
Fumbling with the English, Farrah started speaking Arabic a mile a minute. Reminding Brody how Issa would get when he was nervous or upset. Then, and now, he had to concentrate and pay close attention to the words to understand them. But wished he had a more difficult time understanding what she was saying now. Something had happened to Carrie in the clearing, and had scared Farrah out of her mind.
"Nick...he try, but she...the gun..."
"Shhh, shh..don't think about it okay. Don't think about it.", Brody soothed as he held her, rubbed her back, forced himself to take deep breaths in and out.
"Listen you stay here. You stay here and lock the door until I get back."
"But-"
"Farrah do not follow me. Understand?"
Getting a nod and a still quivering chin, he hugged her again.
"It'll be fine. Carrie will be fine. Just keep Calvin company until we get back."
Grabbing his baseball cap on the way out the door, Brody broke into a run until reaching the clearing where he held back. Forced himself to stay back until he could assess the situation, like any trained marine sniper would. He saw two men were down but one of them had caught up to Carrie and grabbed her arm. He looked malicious and too damn familiar.
"Motherfucking shit.."
Wondering what possessed him to fabricate a story about this Nazi fucker earlier on, when Brody heard him start taunting her, white dots flashed before his eyes before they iced over.
Crouched in the trees not far away he grabbed the first weighty object he could get his hands on. It felt like a rock.
...
After breaking away from him, calling for Farrah and not seeing her, when "Chief" grabbed her arm for the first time since this ordeal started Carrie was panicked. She'd been caught off guard, distracted for the slightest second and turned her back on the fucker. Now he had the upper hand, but she wasn't intending on him having it very long.
She spun back towards him trying to figure out a way to get some leverage from his hold on her. Maybe flip him over. But while she was strategizing, he was aiming to throw the first punch, socking her square in the nose.
...
Hearing the sickening "thwack" of a fist hitting her face, seeing all the blood and her falling backward, Brody's stomach lurched and he tasted bile. He'd been forcing himself to stay hidden, in position, take down his target from a distance, stick to his training.
But his training hadn't been worth shit after he'd been given his new orders in the desert. Watch us demonstrate deathblows on your partner before you give the final ones. Resist and you'll be in that hole instead of him.
He wasn't looking at Tom's (allegedly Tom's) bloodied face though, he was looking at her's.
He wasn't in the desert, this was the woods.
But in the desert there hadn't been rocks. In the woods there weren't hulking guards holding him back.
Brody was on his feet before even realizing it, slamming the rock into the back of "Chief's" head. The idiot fell like a ton of bricks, missed landing on Carrie by a few seconds.
Helping her to her feet Brody took off out of the clearing, not letting go of her hand as they ran. They were a good distance away before he realized his name was being yelled.
"Brody, fuck just slow down! Just stop!"
At first he didn't even hear her, let alone follow her instructions. But they were almost at the cabin and having run the whole way there, he was winded and forced to stop. Focus on everything around him instead of the nightmarish imagery in his head.
"Carrie, you okay?"
"You have a tissue on you?"
After he handed her one she cupped it around her nose, trying to curb the bleeding. It was just a trickle now but the throbbing was starting up. Her whole face hurt like a mother, but she'd been through worse.
"You...you know what you just did back there, don't you?", she asked as he turned to face her, trembling. Darty eyed. She hadn't seen that look since his double agent days. But was too worked up, had too many questions to let concern get in the way of getting answers.
"Carrie, I don't want to talk about-"
"Well I do!", she yelled but then winced, feeling her nose throb as he walked over, switched out her tissue for a new one and held it in place. Thanking him she let out a heavy sigh.
"I'm okay, Brody. I just got a piece of his fist. He swung, I didn't duck in time. It happens."
"I know, I saw it.", he muttered, backing up.
"Did you see how over the top you were?", Carrie scoffed.
"You slammed a rock into his fucking skull! What if one of his moron buddies had come to and seen you when we were back there?"
"They didn't, Carrie. I was quick, I did what I fucking had to."
"I was holding my own with them. You didn't have to-"
"What did you expect me to do, goddammit?!", Brody exploded.
"Just to stand there and watch while someone beat the shit out of you!"
"Beat the shit...it was one sucker punch!", Carrie yelled back before taking a breath, forcing herself to calm down.
"It was one punch, from one drunken asshole. He just got the better of me for one second."
"One is all it fucking takes."
"Brody, it's okay! He didn't-"
"It doesn't matter! He still, what I saw him fucking try to...never mind."
Shaking his head bitterly he shot her a look then stormed off.
"Brody, BRODY!" Yelling as he walked off down another trail, too far away to hear her, Carrie swore, then kicked at a tree before feeling her head and her nose throb in unison. Shaking her head she rubbed the bridge of her nose, fighting tears as she walked the rest of the way back to the cabin.