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Chapter 7
Bernie slowly became aware of her body laid down upon a hard surface. Too exhausted to move, she simply stayed like that until she became conscious of the pounding in her head and the clamminess of her skin.
Pain. She also felt pain. On the side of her face, on her arms, her back, her legs, her throat. She couldn't pin point a place she didn't feel pain. 'Dear god, is this what it feels like to die?' she questioned.
Heat began to rise through her body of its own accord, a wave of nausea following it. Squeezing her eyes tight at the sensation, her mouth began to water. Dear god! She was going to be…
Quickly pushing herself up onto her elbows, she suddenly found her hair pulled back and her face in a bucket as she gagged and wretched. Thick green bile left her body faster than she was able to take in breath, but just as she felt herself about to faint, it stopped. Gasping for air, she then became aware of a hand rubbing soothing circles on her back.
Bernie flinched and bolted upright, immediately regretting doing so as a wave of dizziness hit her, causing the bile to rise once more to her throat. In a bid not to be sick, she screwed her eyes shut and took a few deep breaths before opening them again. She focused her gaze on the strong hand holding the bucket in front of her.
She slowly trailed her gaze up the hand's arm to meet two tired looking, puffy brown eyes, each one wide and afraid.
"Serena?" Bernie tried, her voice hoarse and her throat aching. The vibration from her voice alone was enough to make her clutch her head in pain "what happened? Ugh. What did I drink last night? I feel like I've been hit with a freight train"
"Bernie, what's the last thing you remember?" Serena asked cautiously, unwilling to believe this was really Bernie until she got solid proof.
Bernie rubbed her eyes and fought through the hazy fog in her mind. What did she last remember? She stopped rubbing her eyes as her brain suddenly pushed the image of Serena's wet and desperate eyes to the forefront of her mind.
"Kiev…" she whispered before looking up at Serena "Serena I…" It was then that she realised where they were. Suddenly an entirely different set of images pushed themselves to the forefront of her brain. She remembered being shoved into a van, the sting of a needle biting at her neck. Dear god were they really…
The thought was never finished. Her stomach lurched once more and she found herself once again with her face buried in the bucket as the contents of her stomach left her mouth.
What was merely seconds, felt like hours and Bernie couldn't help the tears that trailed down her pale cheeks. When she finally stopped choking on the green liquid leaving her mouth, she took a couple of ragged breaths before wiping her mouth and leaning back against what passed for a headboard.
"How long have we been here?" she asked, closing her eyes as she heard Serena walk away from her.
"I don't know, they took my phone. But we've been here over night" she then heard running water briefly before there was complete silence again, save for the light footfalls of Serena as she approached Bernie once again.
Feeling a cup pressed to her lips, she opened her eyes and drank gratefully, savouring the feeling of the cool liquid running down her throat.
"Thanks"
"Well they certainly were going to give you the best suite in the house, weren't they? Stiff bed, running water? Life of luxury" joked Serena, trying and failing to lighten the mood.
Bernie furrowed her brow in confusion "They? Who are they?"
Serena began to nervously fiddle with her hands "I-I don't know"
"Where are we?"
"I don't know"
Bernie's eyes widened "What did they inject me with?"
"I don't know"
"What do they want us for?"
"I don't know"
"SERENA!" Bernie yelled in frustration as her stomach gurgled uncomfortably, whether it was at the lack of information or the drugs she wasn't sure.
"I don't know, Bernie!" Serena yelled back in frustration "I don't know! They said they needed help to win a war, something about needing a surgeon" she chose to leave out the part about not needing her, Bernie had enough upsetting her stomach.
As if on cue, Bernie once again wretched into the bucket, Serena rubbing gentle circles across her back. Bernie felt beads of sweat roll down her brow and couldn't help the moan that left her mouth as her stomach contracted painfully.
Eventually Bernie once again lay back against the headboard, her vision dancing as her head spun. 'Fuck" she breathes as Serena watches her intently "Just kill me now".
'She doesn't mean that' Serena tells herself, but it still does nothing to quell the anger that flushes her face red. Bernie hadn't been the one who'd had to listen to her scream and cry out, not knowing how to help her. Bernie hadn't been the one to try her best to time a seizure without a clock. Bernie hadn't been the one who'd used what little they'd given her in the med kit to clean her self inflicted wounds and make sure they didn't get infected in this grotty hell hole. Bernie hadn't been the one to clean someone else's blood off her face. Bernie hadn't been the one who'd stayed up all night, fighting back tears every time there was a hitch or a pause between the blondes breathing as she lay unconscious. So fuck her anyway for making such a tasteless joke.
Serena shook her head to clear her thoughts, what happened last night was another thing Bernie couldn't find out about. She'd never live down being in such a vulnerable position.
Bernie was sick on and off throughout the day. A man had come by with two plates of toast but neither were in any state to eat anything, the sight alone only serving to make Bernie gag more. When Bernie did get some strength back, it was only enough to look around the room from her position on the bed to try and form an escape plan.
At some point, Serena felt her eyelids droop and nodded off, still knelt on the floor with her head on the bed. Bernie said nothing and simply watched as the woman slept. It must have been quite late in the evening when Serena awoke to the lock on the door clicking. Forcing her eyes open, she could see through the opening door the fading light of the sky through the windows just beyond. Her heart sank a little that no one had rescued them yet.
In through the door came the man who, for all intents and purposes, seemed to be the leader from what she'd seen of him. He had a smirk on his face as his eyes fell upon Bernie, still propped up against the headboard. "Good evening ladies, I trust you find the facilities a bit cramped?" Serena's glare was his answer "Well I must apologise; the room was only supposed to facilitate one of you" He looked directly at Serena now and she found herself rooted to the spot. Was this it? Was this his insinuation that he was going to kill her now?
A smile broke out across his face. "You had quite a few phone calls last night, Serena Campbell" What little colour Serena held in her face quickly drained "Your colleagues are quite worried as to your whereabouts… as is little nephew Jason" tears began to rise to Serena's eyes. Jason. He wasn't supposed to be back until Thursday but his plans had been changed. If that weren't upsetting enough for him, he'd been expecting Serena home last night.
He looked to the blonde as she glared at him "Good to see you still alive, Major" he watched as her face dropped and her eyes sharpen as it registered with her who this man was.
"You…" she began "you're the man who stopped us in the hall outside theatre…"
"SIMON!" yelled Serena as her mind suddenly remembered.
Simon laughed at this "well done, Ms Campbell, well done" his green eyes darted between the two women with glee "what luck" his tone was wistful "like waiting for a bus and two show up at once. Two co-leads to thee trauma unit." His eyes fixed themselves on Serena and suddenly she felt like she was going to vomit "Perhaps we won't kill you after all. You're no Major Wolfe, but still every bit as useful"
Bernie slowly reached across and placed her hand on Serena's shoulder, borrowing Serena's strength as she pushed herself up a little taller in the bed "What do you want with us?"
"Hasn't Serena told you?" Serena flinched at the use of her first name. Dear god she really did feel like she was going to vomit "You're here because I need you to help me win a war"
"What war? Encase you hadn't noticed, our government doesn't fight wars on its own shores anymore" Bernie spat back at him, her grip tightening on Serena's shoulder as dread began to fill her.
"I'm not talking about the wars you must have seen, Major, however those experiences will come in handy quite soon." He shoved his hands in his pockets and moved further into the room "Some rather unfortunate competition has come up in lieu of a new drug hitting the black market. We claimed it first and this is our territory."
"A fucking drugs war…" whispered Bernie in disgust "You people make me sick"
"Yes well, life must seem pretty damn rosy up there on that pedestal, Major Wolfe. How was last night by the way? Have fun? Only we could still hear you screaming as we drove away" he smiled at her then, a wide toothy grin that reminded Bernie more of a snake than a human. The information he give her puzzled her somewhat though. She was screaming? It certainly explained her scratchy throat but Serena never mentioned anything about her screaming. Why was she screaming? She quickly decided that this was a conversation best had when she was alone with Serena.
"What about us? How do we fit into your plans?" She tried her best to keep her voice level but she'd be lying if she said she wanted the answer to her question.
"Well, Major, here's the thing. In 2 days time, we're going to raid a warehouse of the 'unfortunate competition'. We're also going to take out said competition and we're going to have casualties. You came into my plans because having read up a bit about you, you have field medic training in warzones. Who better to have on my side?" He then turned to Serena "Happy accident here, will assist"
"I haven't been trained as a field medic"
"It doesn't matter, we won't be helping him" growled Bernie, anger flaring throughout her body, causing her hand to tremble where it rested on Serena's shoulder.
"Oh I think you will" Suddenly there was commotion in the hall way just outside the door.
"No… NO! You can't do this! I DIDN'T DO IT!" echoed through the corridor.
Both women's eyes darted to the man being dragged into the room, quite literally kicking and screaming. Serena moved to sit on the edge of the cot beside Bernie as the man was thrown to the floor before them.
Breathing hard, he attempted to turn and face Simon but Simon had other ideas and kicked him back around to face the women. "No no, Mick, you're gonna face these lovely ladies and apologise." Both women looked to Simon in confusion but when no words were forthcoming from 'Mick's' mouth, he simply rolled his eyes. "You see, ladies, Mick here was caught on camera tampering with this month's supply of the new drug." He flicked his eyes up to meet Bernie's "I rather think you owe the Major here a rather big sorry for nearly killing her, don't you?"
Mick gritted his teeth as he looked up into Bernie's face "Army bitch, you deserve everything you get!" He then spat at her "What makes you think you can win this war?" Bernie held his gaze, a sense of dread coming over her. Reaching up, she placed her other hand on Serena's empty shoulder.
"You see Major, he tried to kill you so you couldn't help us… now doesn't that make you want to be sick" Bernie tightened her grip on Serena as he reached behind his back. "Ladies…" He spoke as the tell-tale muscles of his bicep flexed as he tightened his grip around something "This is what happens when I don't get what I want"
"No, Serena" Bernie quickly spun Serena around and wrapped her arms around her head, holding her close to her chest and cutting off as much of her hearing as possible as Simon drew a gun and shot Mick in the back of the head. Serena flinched as the gun banged, fear striking her to the core as Bernie rocked her back and forth.
Bernie watched, dear god she couldn't turn away! She had to make sure that gun wasn't next pointed at them. She had to protect Serena with whatever strength she had left. It seemed to take forever for Mick's body to fall to the ground, but it did, the resounding thud sending vibrations through the room. Bernie tightened her grip on Serena as she felt her tremble.
"I'll give you until tomorrow to rethink your decision" Bernie glared up at him from over Serena's head as he stalked out of the room, his minions dragging Micks lifeless body behind them.
When the door clicked shut, she loosened her grip a little on Serena to allow her to breathe but Serena brought her arms up between them and clung to Bernie for dear life. Bernie instead brought one hand down to pull Serena's legs onto the bed so she could lay her down in a more comfortable position and drew the blanket around them before once again holding Serena tightly as she cried.
That's how they stayed until Serena passed out from exhaustion, but Bernie never loosened her grip. She didn't know what happened whilst she was under the influence of the drugs but she knew that she had to be the strong one now. She'd protect Serena with her life if she had to. "I'll get you out of here" she whispered into Serena's hair as tears finally let them selves loose "I promise"
If you don't know why my villain's name is Simon, you need to go and watch that absolutely ADORABLE video of Jemma Redgrave laughing at a convention with Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy! It will change your life!