The Captain’s face wrinkles in annoyance before he lets go to shove Ocher in the opposite direction. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” he replies with a knowing look that promises pain. “We’ll deal with you later. For now, go with Dominicus to hunt down the intruders.”
Dominicus gives him a worried look and pulls him away from the Captain. Ocher jerks his arm away, he’s tired of being dragged around. He’d rather enjoy his last few moments of freedom. His fingers rub lightly at the tender patch of scalp that he was pulled by. He had to accept it, if he even attempted to fight back, a bullet might have been the last thing he felt.
“This looks really bad, Ocher.”
“I think I get that better than you,” he responds as they merge into the flow of soldiers headed towards the other side of the compound.
“Stay close and try not to do anything they can use against you later.”
“Alright.”
The first thing they see is their warehouse. The door has been broken open and the inside ransacked, but no intruders around. Whoever planned this was prepared. They must have struck the minute their attention turned towards the fires.
“Spread out into the forest, capture anyone who looks suspicious. Kill if they resist.” The order comes from another steely eyed Captain and they fan out.
Ocher hears Dominicus calling after him, but he’s already running off on his own. All Dominicus wants is for him to stay nearby, so he can prove that Ocher is innocent. Dominicus doesn’t realize that his word is less believable because he's so obviously biased towards him and everyone knows it.
He'd do better trying to catch whoever's responsible himself and maybe clear his own name. Although, either way he won't get out of this without some form of punishment. The severity is the only thing that changes.
Diverting away from the group, he sets a punishing pace through the forest. The intruders couldn’t have disappeared that fast. The forest is dense and uneven, with all the stock they were carrying, it would have been slow going.
There!
Ocher spots a flash of movement from his left and immediately pivots, gaining on his target easily. He’s been trained for endurance, there’s no way they could outrun him. He’s closing in when the intruder stops and turns to him with a raised hand.
There’s smoke, then everything goes dark. Ocher tries to slow himself, but it’s too late and he trips over something he can no longer see, hitting the ground hard and losing hold of his knife. He hears footsteps approaching him and scrambles desperately on the ground for his knife. Even if he can’t see, he can still swing it enough to keep someone away.
The footsteps stop next to him, “Oh, it’s you.”
Ocher’s head shoots up. That voice, he recognizes it. “You!” The culprit who gave him the bomb! “You caused this! They all think I planned this!” He reaches out and hears the other male move out of his reach.
“Well, now you can tell them you’re innocent.”
Ocher glares, unsure if he’s even looking in the right direction, but angry enough to not care. “They’ll never believe I had nothing to do with this.”
“That has nothing to do with me.”
He takes a breath to calm himself, getting angry has never helped him, only made things worse. “I’ll be punished.”
“That does sound like a problem,” he murmurs back understandingly. “But not my problem.”
Ocher lunges, feels the other male side step him again and he yells in frustration. It’s then that he hears the voices heading in their direction and he curses himself for losing control of his emotions. His voice is leading them right to their spot.
“You may want to be quiet if you don’t want to be found.”
“It won’t make this any worse after how you set me up.”
“Hmm...I guess you could always run away.”
Ocher pauses to actually consider the suggestion. If he goes back, he’s going to be punished. That’s undeniable and he also hates it there, so leaving wouldn’t be a loss. Then again, he knows almost nothing about life outside the base and he has no money, no food, and nowhere to go. It wouldn’t be long until they recaptured him and he’d definitely be labeled a traitor.
Right now could be his one chance to escape, but in doing so, he’s casting himself as guilty. He could never come back after running. Ocher sighs and shakes his head, remembering another obvious fact. “Even if I wanted to, I’m blind.”
“Also a problem.” There’s the sound of something sliding across the dirt then fingertips brushing against his eyes. Ocher blinks and slowly his surroundings come back into focus, including the deep blue eyes staring into his own. His eyes narrow into a glare and the other male smirks at him before turning and running deeper into the forest.
He hears the sounds of the search getting closer to his location and he glances around for his knife, but it’s nowhere to be found. Now, he has to make his decision. To run or try to explain. He wavers, this could be an opportunity. It’s a risk either way. A branch snaps in his direction and he makes up his mind.
Ocher rises to his feet and runs after the intruder, feeling branches scraping against his skin in the denseness of the trees as he tries to catch up. “Wait! Don’t leave me!” This stranger might be his only shot at freedom.
“Why? You can take care of yourself. You’re a soldier!” He calls back over his shoulder.
“Not anymore, thanks to you.” The stranger laughs without breaking his stride and Ocher follows behind him, just barely keeping him in sight until they break the forest line and end up near a solid wall.
He follows the other male through a hole near the bottom of the wall lining the perimeter and glances around. It looks like they’re on a side road outside the city boundaries. He hasn’t escaped yet, but outside of the confines of the base and under the cover of night, it’ll be harder to locate him.
A flashlight shines in his face and he flinches back, shielding his eyes and getting a good look at the person responsible for this mess. Olive skin, curly black hair with a single strand of multicolored beads braided into it on one side, and deep blue eyes that look almost black in the night.
“You’re a mess!” The other male exclaims, cutting through his thoughts. “You’re still obviously a soldier though. They’ll never let you in, not that I would even ask them to. Here is where we go our separate ways. Good luck.”
“No!” Panic spikes inside him again. It’s the middle of the night in unfamiliar territory. He has nothing with him, not even his knife. And come tomorrow morning, they’ll be looking for him, he can’t stay here.
“Yes. Now that you’re out, you should go hide somewhere.”
“No, you should help me,” Ocher continues in a calm voice, not wanting the other male to hear his desperation. When people can sense your feelings, they can use them against you more effectively. “This is your fault, you planted the bomb.”
“And what would you have me do? Turn myself in?”
Absolutely not, Ocher thinks. Then he’d have to go back too.
“You have no idea what to do and that’s unfortunate for you. My advice is to go back and turn yourself in before you get yourself killed. Maybe they’ll go easy on you.”