Blackheath
***
The strip of sunlight burned in its corner, trembling with each shudder of the road beneath the trucks team of wheels. Its heat inflamed the metal walls of the container, reaching even to the opposite corner, where the man crouched in the shadows, sweating, bracing against each jarring shudder, breath spearing the air with hisses. One hand was clamped over a dark stain, trying to hold the bullet steady in the muscle, pressing against the steady flow of blood. The other kept his belt strangled tight above the wound, a circular vice compressing his thigh and slowing the loss of blood.
But the pain wasn't as bad as the knowledge that he was trapped, and being inexorably taken further and further from the city, further and further from what he had inadvertently left behind. Inadvertent, what did that matter? The accidental nature of the events had made them all the more devastating.
A meeting place deep in enemy territory. It was a bold move, and purposefully so; only careful and skilled players would make it, culling the weaker. Automatically selecting the people ready for blunt action.
But these were also the people on the leading edge of antagonistic. People easily pushed over the edge.
And diplomacy had never been his strong point.
And so he had ended up shot. Luckily, they used silencers, and hadn't brought a squadron of Seekers down on them all. And luckily he had been able to push through the pain and run for the heavy transport hub, losing them in the containers and alleyways where a group couldn't follow without attracting attention. He had holed up in this truck, half empty and deserted. But as he had jerked his belt tighter above the gunshot wound, the container doors had shut and bolted, and the truck grumbled to life, winding through the suburbs, picking up speed on the highway, and pulling for a long distance destination. Leaving her alone and hidden in the city, waiting for him to return.
There was nothing he could do. Even if he could somehow attract the driver's attention, he would most likely be a Soul, and that would be the end of that. All he could hope for was that this truck was bound for a human settlement. He just had to hold on til he got there.
Then he would go back and find her.