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Entry tags:
(closed) Ours not to question why.
Who| Hawkeye and Ellie
What| A thrilling game of hide and seek gets cut short when a T-Rex marches in
Where| As far into the jungle as their legs will carry them
When| Week 5, Thursday
Warnings/Notes| Death by dinosaur, so lots of blood and guts
The past days had been terrible. That is to say, more so than every other day before. Hawkeye had learned how different the arena was from Korea, how there wasn't a warning, not even a minute's worth, before disaster came. How nearly any form could be a killer- and it wouldn't have been such a big shock if he thought about how easy it was for people to kill people, but it wasn't just people here. Being afraid of monsters hiding in the closet or under the bed hadn't been an issue for years, and yet here he was some nights, cradling a mangled arm and useless hand, waking up with a shout synchronous to those the jungle sometimes projected on its own. He tried to keep the gasps muffled and low and short and he'd sometimes succeed because his sleep was light and he'd remember Ellie slept so close to him.
He'd spent the days after his injuries drifting in and out of that sleep. The fever was there and the bite of the wounds and a fractured bone made Hawkeye flinch at odd times. He had started to feel strangely aware of how malnourished he was- of how his breath was more shallow than it should be, how his good arm was thinning when he'd bring it up to wipe at the sweat on his face. The reek of him was growing and he felt strangely proud of Ellie for sticking around- and he'd tease her for it. I'm driving you wild, aren't I? But it was more because he was a nuisance she shouldn't deal with than because he was some gallant figure irresistible to a teenage girl.
It was morning and Hawkeye figured it would be about time for reveille if he were in the 4077. What he couldn't figure out was why he had awoken. His mouth felt like a hot cotton ball- and maybe that was why. He parted his lips to suck in a fresh breath -freshness being relative- and moaned instead. Like a cow. He hadn't meant to, honest, and he cuts the noise short when he realizes he'd done it. He hears another low sound and could swear it hadn't been his.
He wants to shout when a trill and chirp confirm it. There's a rustle and a distinct sound of teeth nipping together, of heavy movement, of talons that Hawkeye remembers.
There's panic, but it must be the fever that's deluded him, made him sluggish and calm when he shakes Ellie's shoulders. "Wake up, El." An urgent whisper, but low. Actually low. He's strangely proud of himself for that, too. "We're bugging out."
What| A thrilling game of hide and seek gets cut short when a T-Rex marches in
Where| As far into the jungle as their legs will carry them
When| Week 5, Thursday
Warnings/Notes| Death by dinosaur, so lots of blood and guts
The past days had been terrible. That is to say, more so than every other day before. Hawkeye had learned how different the arena was from Korea, how there wasn't a warning, not even a minute's worth, before disaster came. How nearly any form could be a killer- and it wouldn't have been such a big shock if he thought about how easy it was for people to kill people, but it wasn't just people here. Being afraid of monsters hiding in the closet or under the bed hadn't been an issue for years, and yet here he was some nights, cradling a mangled arm and useless hand, waking up with a shout synchronous to those the jungle sometimes projected on its own. He tried to keep the gasps muffled and low and short and he'd sometimes succeed because his sleep was light and he'd remember Ellie slept so close to him.
He'd spent the days after his injuries drifting in and out of that sleep. The fever was there and the bite of the wounds and a fractured bone made Hawkeye flinch at odd times. He had started to feel strangely aware of how malnourished he was- of how his breath was more shallow than it should be, how his good arm was thinning when he'd bring it up to wipe at the sweat on his face. The reek of him was growing and he felt strangely proud of Ellie for sticking around- and he'd tease her for it. I'm driving you wild, aren't I? But it was more because he was a nuisance she shouldn't deal with than because he was some gallant figure irresistible to a teenage girl.
It was morning and Hawkeye figured it would be about time for reveille if he were in the 4077. What he couldn't figure out was why he had awoken. His mouth felt like a hot cotton ball- and maybe that was why. He parted his lips to suck in a fresh breath -freshness being relative- and moaned instead. Like a cow. He hadn't meant to, honest, and he cuts the noise short when he realizes he'd done it. He hears another low sound and could swear it hadn't been his.
He wants to shout when a trill and chirp confirm it. There's a rustle and a distinct sound of teeth nipping together, of heavy movement, of talons that Hawkeye remembers.
There's panic, but it must be the fever that's deluded him, made him sluggish and calm when he shakes Ellie's shoulders. "Wake up, El." An urgent whisper, but low. Actually low. He's strangely proud of himself for that, too. "We're bugging out."
no subject
"What's up?" She asked, hazily, before shaking her head and forcing herself awake, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "Something-- what's wrong?" Her voice got significantly lower when she realized that Hawkeye's voice was low, a real sense of concern slipping into her expression. The Doc was never quiet.
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"We're moving out, Major," Hawkeye shoots back. He motions with his good hand- up, up, get up. Hurry, he says, but he keeps from pacing, keeps looking like it's just a cool decision he's made. "I don't like the-"
He can't hear anything outside anymore. It makes him nervous. He digs into his shirt and holds both dog tags in a closed fist, raises the chain over his head. He didn't want them to hit together. He didn't want to- he didn't want to give up, either. Another gesture, and he tries to usher Ellie close. He winces and bites his lip. He feels his skin pull where it shouldn't have attached. There are two tags attached to the ball chain and Hawkeye fumbles around and takes his precious time, a pair of seconds, to detach one. He holds it out to Ellie after he slipped his own Army proof of life back over his neck. "I don't like the neighbors." A farewell trinket, just in case. Everyone did it. He mouths the word, 'dinosaurs' and clasps a hand on her shoulder and fights the urge to lean on her. The chirping returns- inquisitive, closer. The noise didn't come from birds.
no subject
Now Ellie was rarely quiet. She liked the regular affirmation of people being alive and being able to think, so she liked talking. Someone who wasn't talking might be infected, and if someone was infected then she could very soon be dead, so talking was not only a pleasure it was a survival tactic.
That didn't mean she didn't know when to shut up.
She didn't say a word after he spoke, her lips thinning tightly, but she nodded.
He pressed the tag into her hand and a chill went down her spine. She turned it over, half expecting to see a firefly on the other side, and was almost confused when there wasn't. But she wasn't home, and he wasn't from her world, no matter how badly she sometimes wished that someone was.
Completely silently she scrambled to grab the little gear she'd accumulated. A good sharp stone, a stick that she'd sharpened the end on. She was ready in seconds.
And then she heard them.
no subject
Christ, children shouldn't be here.
But the cards were dealt and the enemy patrol was at their door. It was either bug out now or die later- that is to say, soon. He knew those buggers were fast. He knew stepping out of the hollow tree might mean death. And all they'd see would be the gray-brown of scaly skin and a flash of yellow teeth or black claws and a lot of red. He knew because he'd seen that before. And suddenly he wanted to panic, but knew he couldn't. He gives Ellie a squeeze on the shoulder before she ducks to grab her things. It was supposed to be reassuring but he's so quiet and still he doubts it's everything but, and he feels his gut clench. Well- well at least she had sharp things and she was faster than he was.
Chict, chict, rrreeei
He'd be the lame one, the easy prey.
Christ, he didn't want to be.
He wasn't even sure he could force his legs forwards, he felt glued to the ground under them. He was dizzy and his left arm was hurting, dull and long lived damned jabs at the rest of his body, at angry nerves and an ill-prepared body.
Rrreeeiitch
And that trill was loud and he heard a breath, a huff that wasn't his
and he pushed the girl out the opening and he'll be at her heels, if nothing else is first.
no subject
He better be fucking running. If he tried anything stupid she was going to kill him. She'd kill him with her own bare hands.
Jaws snapped right behind her and she couldn't hold back the yelp as teeth caught in her clothes, instinct forcing her to whirl around. The raptor was nearly on top of her and she lashed out - swinging the rock as fast as she could right into its face. It screamed at her and shook its head roughly, giving her approximately two seconds to scramble backwards.
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Four strides later and he was shoving her again because she's somehow survived- a more gentle gesture than he would have ever imagined possible in the instant it happened. He pushes her with his left hand, then arm, then shoulder- a running support and all he wants to do is stop and sob but the raptor's friend had come and laughed its ugly laugh at the unfortunate hunter that had been bested by a fourteen year old girl. The first lizard was angry, and the sport wasn't just a chase anymore. There was a heavy branch coming up- plenty of vines knotted on the ground ahead and just below it. Hawkeye drew in a breath to instruct the girl to duck and he whined high-pitched instead. She'd get it, she'd get it if she was smart enough not to look back. Hawkeye nearly threw himself under the obstacle. He cried out again and clutched at his hand and hated himself and the tears rolling down and the blood from his tongue where he'd bitten down but somehow he scrambles to his feet again.
And the raptors saw the plan, and parted ways. They would circle and signal in animalistic silence.
no subject
She can't make out whatever he's trying to say to her and as she sees the giant branch it's only luck that causes her to throw herself under it rather than vault over it.
She hears Hawkeye cry out and she snaps her head back around to see him scrambling up and her heart comes out of her throat for just a second. He was alright. Still alive.
"Come on!" She hisses, when she realised they suddenly were no longer being chased. "Shit, shit shit shit where did they go--"
no subject
there.
A talon clicked ahead. There was another footfall that sounded to him in his feverish state too large to be any good, unless it was BJ's, but it wasn't.
Back, back, he kept shoving, because he'd mostly forgotten about the second danger. He'd also mostly forgotten about the branch that had saved their hide seconds ago. "Eleven," he says and means there's danger at eleven O'clock. "Jus- just keep moving, sweetheart. Man O'War's jealous." It was too quiet to call danger, really. So he doesn't.
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She hadn't meant to get ahead of him, but she was smaller than he was so she could scramble through the underbrush faster.
As soon as there was more than a foot and a half of space between them, one of the raptors decided to make its move. With a full-bodied leap, it flung itself between the two of them, separating them with an inhuman, high-pitched screech. Ellie couldn't help it, a answering yelp escaping her lips as it surprised her and she fell backwards into a bush.
no subject
And he wasn't sure if he yelled at Ellie or the dinosaur but he'd pretend later that he had had the balls to yell at a dinosaur.
His heart just about gave out. He was too old for this. He felt cold and numb and hot and wet- his body kept up with the contradictions about as well as his mind did. Ellie fell back and the dinosaur's eyes snapped to the movement. In that instance, Hawkeye found his good hand had snapped off a branch and that it was being chucked at the marble-black that was the muttation's eye. It hit. It made the raptor snap its jaws and thrash its tail and Hawkeye wanted to get past it to Ellie's side but couldn't. He just had enough time to hope she'd get up. The jaws turned to him, and they opened and stayed that way and he knew hot breath came from the mouth but couldn't feel it, even as it approached and hissed and he stumbled back and back. From the right of Ellie, another gray and scaly and playful face peeked from the shadows of the jungle. And a roar rang out- louder and deeper and angrier than a raptor's. It made Hawkeye whine though he couldn't hear it himself, made his hair stand on end. Made him shout low and angrily, "I told you to move!" to Ellie just before the raptor of his charged and caught his broken left arm in its teeth.
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"No!" She screamed, reflexively, as she saw the jaws clamp down on his arm. One of the raptors immediately whipped around and snapped at the air where she had been the second before - it's movement having caused her to slam backwards into the tiny hollow of the tree.
Safe. Trapped. But she could still see. Oh god, but she could see.
"Leave him alone!" She cried desperately, even as she knew it was in vain.
no subject
Mortar fire. It felt like mortar fire on his arm.
The bone crunches, and skin tears, and a moment later he's on his back on the ground and clean out of breath and there's a gray figure rearing back. And his arm's red and that's about all he can make out- a ribbon of red and black. A flash- his head's too heavy to lift, though his hands are moving, gripping, panicked, and grabbing roots and grasses and mud and their own tatters-- but there's a flash, to him it seemed like one at least, and there's something larger and. Brown. A shadow of thick skin. A bull T-Rex, the tyrant, one of the ones the Capitol had conjured up because the game had become too stale. Because there were pairs out there like Ellie and Hawkeye who hid away and chatted and died too slowly, become shells before they became dismembered. Because girls slipping into hollows and their high-pitched cries for the men who were still pinned under a raptor, torn but floundering, were much more entertaining.
Four, five seconds tops. These were monsters and they didn't care for shows or cues. The raptor that had snapped at Ellie screeched, the one with Hawkeye's blood on its nose did the same. The newcomer announced himself with an ear-splitting roar and the ground even shook in recognition. Then there's blood dripping, smelling strong, from the Rex's knee. Then one raptor is missing a leg, and then half of him is gone, the other half twitching as it fell to the mud. The other loses a head and stills and falls in a heap where it had stood. And that's how Hawkeye found his blood tinging the dinosaur's, his chest constricting and it's unbearable-- the red, the heat inside of him. He stutters. He makes use of his legs for a second, and there's this sort of half-impulse, half-hop back and he's flat on his ass the next time he closes his eyes and Christ. He's going to die. And he can't think and there are bodies and his arm- and he groans but it's half of a sob because his mind doesn't know what it wants. Hawkeye only sees the massive feet step forward and he mouths, "My what big feet you have. All the bett-t-er to, uh." And dignity? No. If he can sink into the mud, if he can cover himself, if he can slither back like a worm then maybe he'd be below notice, maybe. His arm's dead. He sobs at the pain that makes his body go rigid. He feels a ton snap a leg- hears it, too. Shattered. Skin busted open like a balloon and his vision goes white and he shoots up to sit
and maybe now he just wants to die but he's not thinking thoughts with words, because that takes too long.
"Ellie!"
The ton lifts from him. He moves an inch- throws himself back- isn't sure it isn't just a convulsion of a dead body. And when he throws himself- there's a tree. His back presses to it and the air around him's warm and everything's dark, but his back presses against the tree and he comes to a miraculous stand and he whimpers like an army man and begs for his father. Then there's the head crushing him- because the mutt was too large to pick the bony man with its teeth alone. It sniffs. It nudges. It pushes. The tail sways, frustrated.
no subject
She could have closed her eyes. She should have closed her eyes, really, but something kept them open, kept them focused, and she watched the giant jaws and claws and feet tear her friend to pieces.
She didn't even notice how her hands were gripping the bark of the tree so hard that she was drawing blood under her nails. She was silent, now, because no sound she could make would drown out the sound of Hawkeye crying out her name, ringing in her ears as she watched them tear him to pieces.
She didn't even notice how the tears had started to spill down her cheeks, leaving gleaming streaks of clean skin in their wake - desperate pale trails to reveal the freckles that had been hidden by the dirt and grime. Her eyes stung and her throat felt so tight it was nearly choking her.
She didn't look away, not once, not for a second. Not when the giant bull T-Rex snapped at the velociraptors and scared them off. Not while it ate its fill before being scared off by the hovercraft come to snatch the body. Or at least, what was left of it.
She watched as they raised his mangled corpse up through the trees. Listened as the jungle once more became still.
She didn't move for hours, and let the jungle swallow up her whole existence.