Radioactive - Chapter 7

A/N. So this story is escalating… quickly. I’m going to try slow it down, add more detail, y’know? And updates might be slower from now since I’m a bit busy with preparing for a Musical.

Terri had returned to the fort, where she got greeted by Soldier yelling in her face about how she needed to report to him every time she wanted to leave the fort. “DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU HAVE CAUSED, MAGGOT?” he screamed. Terri flinched and put her palm on his helmet, pushing him back. “Don’t yell at me,” she hissed, ignoring the fact that his helmet was half melted now. No one else was around to see it and Soldier himself was too stupid. “I’ve only been here three days.”

Soldier kept yelling at her, but she ignored him, turning and storming to her room, slamming the door shut.  She threw herself onto the bed, ignoring Sniper as he knocked on her door.

“Shiela? Ya okay?” he called. Terri let out a distressed moan from inside, telling him to go away. “Okay, see ya tomorrow,” Sniper said. Terri didn’t get off her bed till she heard footsteps retreat into the distance before she got up. Suddenly, there was a crash outside and yelling, peaking her curiousity.

She poked her head out of the door, missing Scout as he ran by. “Yo girly, c’mon!” he shouted. “What?” What the hell was going on? Scout turned back, swinging his bat. “Some BLU just invaded!” BLU? She reached for her bow- where was it? Shit. The bow wasn’t lying on her bed like it should have been. Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t brought it back at all.

Which meant she left it in enemy territory.

Not good. Drawing her kukri from the table, she sprinted out of the room and to the bridge where the REDs were surrounding the BLU Medic. He was holding her bow, the feather dangling off the edge. God dammit. “Why’d ya got me cousin’s bow?” Sniper growled, pushing the barrel of his rifle up against his chest. All the REDs seemed pretty pissed about it.

“Yeah, you hurt her or something?” Engineer snapped, turning to her. “He hurt you?” he asked. She shook her head, unsure of what to do. Horst shot her a look and she shrugged desperately. What was she supposed to do?

Sniper had taken back the bow, and Terri took it back, pushing the REDs away. “He’s got my bow. Let me deal punishment myself,” she said, standing in front of him. “Ya can’t trust ‘im, Shiela,” Sniper argued, but she pushed her face up against his. “I said, let. Me. Deal. With. Him,” she snarled. “Go back to base. I’ll be there once I’m done.” She pulled out her kukri and ran a finger across the blade, glaring at Horst.

Slowly, the team retreated to their base, and Terri dragged Horst down into the water where the Team couldn’t see. “Danke, Fräulein,” Horst said, brushing off his coat as Terri sat down, tucking her kukri in it’s sheath. “Sorry ‘bout my team. They’re… idiots. What’d ya come over to our side for?” she asked. What a stupid question. “To return your bow, you vill need it for tomorrow, ja?” Terri sighed. “Yeah. Now uh… I’m gonna have to hurt you in some way or get blood on my knife or my team’s gonna know something’s up. But I don’t wanna kill ya.”

“I got an idea, vait here,” Horst said, disappearing through the sewers to his own base. He returned a minute later holding a heart. “Is that a…” Terri winced at the sight. “I’m sure your own Medic has held vorse zhan a heart,” Horst said simply, taking the knife from her sheath and stabbing it through the bloody organ. “Here. Take zhis back to your team and tell them it vas mine.” The floor was already stained with blood dripping from the stabbed heart, and her shirt and hand was stained too.

“Petit?” Spy called from the opposite sewer. “See you tomorrow. Here, another feazher for your bow,” Horst said, placing a white feather on her palm then turning. “Wait!” Terri called, as Spy called out for her again. “I never asked for your name,” she said. Horst paused, looking back. “Horst. Horst Dieter-Ahlbach. See you, Fräulein.” With that, he disappeared just in time for Spy to step out of the corner of the sewer and swim over to her. Terri curled her fist around the feather.

He could have been spying on them, but Terri had noticed the lack of an Invisibility watch on his wrist. He’d probably sent it to Engineer for repair again. “Oh- uh, hey Spy,” she sad, staring at her knife with the bloody heart. “Very good, I see you killed ‘im. Where is ‘is body?”

“Uh… picked up by Respawn,” she said, hoping he wasn’t good at picking up on lies. The last thing she needed was for him to realize she was lying. He seemed skeptical initially, but the heart on her knife was convincing enough. He flicked it off the kukri and wrapped a hand around her.

“Come, mon cher, the team is waiting,” he said. Silently, Terri followed him, feather still in hand.

Sleep was difficult for Terri. She constantly tossed and turned in her bed, and ended up staring at the ceiling. Already the white feather had been tied on a string, round her bow with the rest of the coloured feathers.

The night was cool, but she felt hot and irritated. She rolled over, checking the clock. One in the morning. With a groan, she flopped back into bed, turning over and yanking the blanket over her head, hoping to get some sleep.

It was around three she had finally given in, pushing open her room door and stepping out. Her hair was a huge mess, but she didn’t really care. She knocked on the door of the Infirmary and when she didn’t get a reply, she let herself in. Medic was asleep on the table, Archimedes curled up in his arm. As she stepped in, Archimedes opening its eyes and flew over, crooing.

She tickled the dove before sifting through the cupboard for sleeping pills. Archimedes crooed again, offering to help. “Sleeping pills, Archi. You know where they are?” she asked. The dove stared at her for a second, then cocked its head and nudged a bottle at the back of the cupboard.

Terri reached in and pulled it out, careful not to drop anything. Sure, the label read sleeping pills. So she popped the cap and took two, closing the bottle again and putting it back. She stroked the dove again before leaving the room and flopping back onto her own bed, letting the pills take effect and her mind wander into nothingness.

In the morning, Terri woke up feeling cranky and even more tired than the previous night. Irritated, she threw the blanket off her and flung her door open, dragging her bow and kukri out with her.

“Whoa, wot yoo so pissed about lassie?” Demo asked as she threw herself into a seat and rested her head on the table. “Yes, what is Leetle girl angry about? Tell Heavy, Heavy beat person that make Leetle girl angry,” Heavy offered, but Terri just shook her head, burying her head into her arms. “Nothing… I’m just tired,” she muttered.

Morning was no good, she had snapped at almost every single one of her teammates and then resorted to locking herself in her room to avoid the questions, only letting Spy in and burying herself in his arms and muttering about feathers and sleeping pills.

“Mm… I hate this so much…” she moaned, as Spy gently stroked her arm. “Oui, I know how you feel. I like this job but yet I hate it,” he said, pushing her away and stood up. “Come on, you cannot lock yourself in here all day. The battle starts in an hour.”

Terri slammed her face in her pillow. “Ugh… I don’t wanna go…” she whined, her voice muffled by the pillow. Spy poked her a few times. “Come on, I don’t have all day,” he sighed. Finally, she sat up. “Fine. We’ll go.”

“TODAY WE ARE FIGHTING IN ARENA. SO IF YOU DIE, YOU DO NOT RESPAWN TILL IT IS OVER. AND ONLY PANSIES DIE!” Soldier shouted as the team got ready in Respawn. Sniper nodded, ignoring him as he slipped on his aviators and hat. “Mm, we know that, mate,” he grunted, picking up his Sniper Rifle.

Terri didn’t like the idea of dying and not respawning. But at least she’d Respawn later after the game was over. But that could last an hour. Or two hours. Maybe even more, if both teams were strong today. She sat down on the bench and sighed as the Admin counted down the last five second before the game began.

Today was going to be a long day.