02-09-2015, 05:50 PM
The lieutenant made her position clear. And her value. The precision of his words steeled her spine for war, the minute play of fingers against his pistol deepening the fissure of anger behind ice-pale eyes. She was not a pawn. Her stare was defiant, but her lips sewn shut. His use of the word Mende in place of people - all people - completely unhinged any hope of docile cooperation, but he still had her hand twisted behind her back. Beneath the stillness of her expression, her jaw twitched, but she swallowed an honest reaction in favour of peace. A thin mask of it, anyway. She understood the threat.
Somewhere ahead, commotion broke the tension. The heat in her blood ran suddenly cold as her eyes set on Azu. And Ayo. Folami's words were almost lost to the sinking feeling in her chest as he strode away. Behind her, Jacques Danjou spoke logic and sense. Except it wasn't Ayo she was concerned for. Natalie had only left the offices in order to give Kamenashi more time to get clear of the compound, not truly to find the missing child before they left. She understood the urgency, and also believed the girl would be safe with Azubuike despite the infiltration of the camp. Or had.
But Ayo cowered now, tears streaming down her face, and Azu's expression crumpled. The whites of his eyes flashed fear as the lieutenant's attention bore down. She didn't hear what was said, but she witnessed enough.
"Don't wait, then. Get them out of here. My colleagues are ready to leave. They were ready when I left."
The words were calm, though her heart was beating a violent torrent. Her gaze didn't turn back to Jacques. Her feet didn't shift. As a child she'd had a recurring dream. Of blood-soaked hands, palms still warm, a fragile body beneath them. It wasn't the death that had always strangled her suddenly awake and shivering with a complex knot of fear and regret. It was the sure knowledge of complicity, however unintentional. Of inadvertent actions bringing an end to another. And she felt that sickness now, a hollow pit in her stomach, before defiance rippled to something electric across her skin.
Endless grasping became the warm embrace of a sun. The world shifted, enlivened into stronger focus. It urged something foolish, but she reigned back, remembering the brute force of the hospital. Still, she was reckless enough to do this her own way. When her boot plucked off the ground, it was to follow Folami, not Jacques.
Somewhere ahead, commotion broke the tension. The heat in her blood ran suddenly cold as her eyes set on Azu. And Ayo. Folami's words were almost lost to the sinking feeling in her chest as he strode away. Behind her, Jacques Danjou spoke logic and sense. Except it wasn't Ayo she was concerned for. Natalie had only left the offices in order to give Kamenashi more time to get clear of the compound, not truly to find the missing child before they left. She understood the urgency, and also believed the girl would be safe with Azubuike despite the infiltration of the camp. Or had.
But Ayo cowered now, tears streaming down her face, and Azu's expression crumpled. The whites of his eyes flashed fear as the lieutenant's attention bore down. She didn't hear what was said, but she witnessed enough.
"Don't wait, then. Get them out of here. My colleagues are ready to leave. They were ready when I left."
The words were calm, though her heart was beating a violent torrent. Her gaze didn't turn back to Jacques. Her feet didn't shift. As a child she'd had a recurring dream. Of blood-soaked hands, palms still warm, a fragile body beneath them. It wasn't the death that had always strangled her suddenly awake and shivering with a complex knot of fear and regret. It was the sure knowledge of complicity, however unintentional. Of inadvertent actions bringing an end to another. And she felt that sickness now, a hollow pit in her stomach, before defiance rippled to something electric across her skin.
Endless grasping became the warm embrace of a sun. The world shifted, enlivened into stronger focus. It urged something foolish, but she reigned back, remembering the brute force of the hospital. Still, she was reckless enough to do this her own way. When her boot plucked off the ground, it was to follow Folami, not Jacques.