Rain poured over her like there was no tomorrow, distant gunshots being heard here and there, only pushing her forward more quickly. Somehow she was able to cut through the trees and get to the outskirts of the town, stumbling her way into the dark.

A root got in the way of her boot, causing Rora to fall against a tree. She cursed under her breath and punched the three with her knuckles, a dull pulsating feeling indicating that she might've only caused more damage to herself. Taking a second to check her other injuries, she sucked in a breath, already knowing that things weren't looking so great for them.

Her left thigh burned with every step she took, a bullet taking a small chunk out of her soft flesh, slicing open her black cargo pants. Blood oozed out of the injury, mixing with rain and mud, the pain getting stronger as she placed more of her weight on her injured leg. It looked like shit.

And if that wasn't enough, in the middle of her epic escape, her arm got caught up in some thorny plant, ripping into her skin and leaving a few marks. It didn't hurt that much, she was just annoyed with herself that she got another reminder of this shitshow of a night embarked on her skin forever now.

Her grip tightened around the pistol she managed to keep, it being her only weapon right now. She still had two more bullets, which meant two things. She could take down another two Shadows if she was lucky. Or, if she happened to run out of her remaining little luck, she could take out one and keep the last one for herself. Under no circumstances she would get compromised: she learned that men were the cruelest things, especially in times of war. And if you happened to be a woman, your future will be just as dark as their tinted soul. So, in case to protect her already broken soul, she was quick to think of ways she could end her life if it was needed.

Her gaze wandered towards the city, scanning the narrow streets in front of her, searching for any threat. But the only sound she could hear was distant echoes of gunshots, meaning that the Shadows were already out there, looking for them. Rora pushed herself off the tree, wincing as she put her weight on her left leg, making her way towards a dark alley she just spotted.

She wondered if the boys happened to escape. She saw Soap leave, but there was no guarantee that he didn't get shot midway. And she even knew less from Ghost: she didn't see him get away, nor did she hear anything from him. And she left him there, alone.

She left him just like she let down Everett.

The realization caused her knees to buckle under her weight, stumbling against the cold wall of a house. She swore she would never let a man behind, and there she was, leaving her lieutenant behind to save her own ass. It was pathetic. She was pathetic. She didn't even want to live that much, she had more than enough of life at this point, but something still pushed her to survive. That something maybe was her grandmother, still not ready to meet her sweet and hot-tempered granddaughter in hell, or her love for her squad, she didn't know.

But in her desperate state, she reached for the radio secured on her vest, turning it on. She just wanted to hear from the others, or anybody at this point: otherwise, she was going to go insane from the voices inside her head, telling her that she just killed another two men that were close to her heart.

Immediately, she was greeted by the voices of Shadows, discussing their plans. They talked about raiding houses and clearing everything in the city. She switched stations. There, they talked about a family they just murdered. She switched again. And again.

She switched till she found an empty channel, only hearing static as she listened in for another couple of seconds. When she was sure that nobody used this frequency, she pushed down the button on the side of her radio, pulling it closer to her mouth.

„Scorpion here, does anybody copy?" she kept her voice low as she spoke, her eyes franticly searching her surroundings. She grew very paranoid real quick, feeling like they could jump her at any given moment.

The radio silence only made things worse, her foot anxiously tapping on the rocks under her boots, lightly splashing water on her other boot. She chewed on her bottom lip, still waiting for any response till she couldn't take it anymore, and dove towards the broken window of the house she used as support so far. With her busted leg, it was rather difficult to climb inside without cutting herself, straining her injury in the process.

She landed with a thud on the floor, a groan escaping her lips when she felt her gunshot wound flame up again, more intensely this time. She pressed her forehead against the dirty floor, shutting her eyes for a second, trying to collect herself. Her only mission right now was to find Soap and Ghost, none other mattered. Either dead or alive, but she was going to find them.

Using a nearby wooden chair to support herself, she pulled herself back on her feet, looking around the house. It was small, looking like it just barely survived a tornado. Most of the furniture was broken and torn apart, pieces of artwork littering the floor next to some broken glass and bullet casings. Seemingly, the Shadows had already swept this house.

Rora dragged herself towards what she believed was the bathroom once, immediately tearing open the cabinet above the sink. Rummaging through some garbage, she found some painkillers which she took in dry, swallowing the hard pills with a bitter aftertaste. Throwing aside the now empty bottle, she reached for the top shelf, biting her lip to keep in a cry as her thigh burned up. Blindly searching through the top shelf, her hand touched something cold and hard, something box-shaped. Pulling it down, despite the darkness wrapping around her like a cold blanket, she was still able to make out the big white cross atop the red box. It was a first-aid kit.

Sitting back to where she just climbed through, since the moonlight and some lamp post down two houses were the only light sources inside. She opened the box, and even though most of its content was already gone, there was still some gauze and band-aid left in there. No antiseptic or something that could clean her wound, though.

With a sigh, she reached for her radio again.

„This is Rora Wells, does anybody copy?" her voice was getting more desperate by the minute. Rubbing her sensitive temple, where she took a blow only a few days ago, she fought off the tears that started to sting her eyes.

They are already dead, why are you still trying?

„No, they're not," she mumbled to herself, shaking her head. „They are fine."

You said the same thing about Everett. Look where that got him.

„They are still out there!" her hands curled into a fist beside her stretched-out injured leg, and on impulse, she took a ball of gauze and pressed it against her wound, hissing as the material pressed against her distressed flesh.

They had to be out there.

„Ghost?" she tried again in the radio, her other hand tremoring as it pressed the gauze against the wound. It already started getting soaked through by blood. „Soap?"

No response.

„Fucking hell!" Rora burst out, slamming the radio against the floor, and cracking a piece of black plastic off its edge. „Useless fucking piece of shit."

Fighting her tears, she wrapped her leg up to her best knowledge. She just had to stop the bleeding, she could worry about infection later on. That was a problem Future-Rora had to deal with. Right now, Present-Rora had to survive a little longer.

Just as she was ready to let her tears run freely, both from anxiety and fury, the radio cracked beside her.

„Wells?"

She had to blink a few times, not being sure if it was real. Because after all, she lost a lot of blood recently, she was probably in mild shock from the betrayal and she haven't slept more than 3 hours in two days. Hallucinations were really real things.

„Rora, do you copy?"

But this time, she caught perfectly the words coming out from the dusty speakers. And those were the most beautiful words she have ever heard.

„Loud and clear, Lt.," she replied, a relieved sigh leaving her lips. She let her head fall back against the wall behind her, staring at the dark ceiling. This was the shittiest place on planet Earth, with a bitch of a wound on her leg, but she was never been this happy to hear a man's voice in her entire life.

„Good," his sigh was almost inaudible, but it was enough to make her smile widen. „Are you whole?"

Her gaze wandered to her leg, twisting it to the left and right on the floor, testing it. Finally, the painkillers started to kick in, so it wasn't that bad.

„I had worse," she tried to brush it off, but the wave of secureness washed over her so suddenly, she couldn't stop a stray tear to escape her eye. „What the fuck happened, Simon?"

Her voice came out much more broken than she thought it would, causing his breath to hitch in his throat, for multiple reasons. He only heard her voice break like this when they talked on the hill during a scout for El Sin Hombre, but this was the first time she had truly addressed him by his name. By his real name.

„They betrayed us," his voice came through more softly this time like even he couldn't believe this. A silent sob escaped her lips.

There were many things she could take without literally any care. A lot of things when she would just shrug her shoulder, or not even think about it more than twice in her life. But betrayal wasn't one of those things. It was just something she couldn't swallow: it choked her up, sucking all the air out of her lungs, shattering her heart into another million pieces.

Her mother betrayed her when she promised she would quit being an addict. Her father betrayed her when he said he would be always there for her. Her grandma betrayed her when she stopped breathing. Everett broke her heart so many times, it was impossible to pinpoint when did he betray her first. And the men in higher ranks in her previous unit betrayed her trust and took away a part of her soul that she would never get back.

And now Graves, Shepherd, and Shadow Company only added to that long-ass list.

„Rora," Ghost's voice broke her out of her dark thoughts. She closed her eyes, not being sure if he talked before that, but she just let it go. „I need you to move towards the church."

„I'm not in the mood for a prayer," she groaned, grasping the window sill, pulling herself up. Gradually, she put her weight on her leg, trying it out. It still hurt like a bitch, but she could manage.

„I'll wait for you there," he ignored her remark, knowing that this was her way of coping with stress.

„Why can't you find me?" she asked, her voice getting softer like she was afraid to ask it. And the moment she said it out loud, she wanted to punch herself in the face.

„It's too risky."

„What's risky, fellas?" another voice rang through, startling the both of them. A surprised chuckle bubbled from her, wiping away her tears as she leaned against the wall, staring out at the starry night.

„I was never this happy to hear your annoying voice, MacTavish!" Rora beamed, earning a small chuckle from the said man.

„I can say the same, Wellsy," Soap replied, his voice heavy with relief as he listened to her.

„Johnny, you're alive," rang Ghost's voice, and even though he tried his best to sound unaffected, she could tell that he was just as happy to hear from Soap as she was.

„Good to hear your voice, Lt."

„What's your position, Soap?" she asked, tightening the gauze around her thigh. Suppressing a groan, she pressed her lips together, readying herself for the fight of her life.

„I don't know," he sighed, probably just as lost as Rora was. „I only see Shadows. They are bloody everywhere."

„I know," Rora's jaw clenched, the sudden distaste towards Graves' squad returning in a heartbeat. Her previous lighthearted joking self was gone now, the rage bubbling inside her like acid. There was nothing worse than betrayal. „I'll find you, MacTavish. Just hang on."

„Be careful," Ghost directed his words for both of them, knowing that his pleadings of leaving her agenda in sticking together would only find deaf ears. „Let's RV at the church."

„We're pretty stuck out here, Lt.," Soap commented, earning an eye roll from the woman. Her rage was so much louder than her instincts right now, she just wanted justice. She wanted to make them regret ever turning against them. She was hungry for blood, for revenge.

„Oh, I'm not stuck out here, boys," she reached up to tug a few pieces back into her bun, clearing her vision. „They are stuck here with me. And they say nothing tastes better than revenge."

„I like the sound of that," Ghost's amusement was showing through his voice, causing her lips to curve into a smile. He was glad that her previous broken self was sheltered by the vicious, blood-hungry Rora, protecting her other side from these situations. It was only a defense mechanism, but as far as it kept her alive, he was happy with it.

And he won't lie, he found this side of hers pretty hot.

„Give 'em hell, Wellsy," Soap encouraged, a proud smile appearing on his face despite the circumstances. He knew that if any of them could avenge what Graves did to them, it was Rora Wells.

With a devilish grin plastered on her face and pistol in her hand, she jumped out from the window she just dragged herself in, getting back to the streets. Hell and suffering were approaching in the form of Rora Wells, her icy eyes glistening like diamonds next to her pitch-black soul, hungry for blood. And there was not one soul that could escape her vendetta.

________________________

our girl is out for blood! ❤️

this is probably my favorite part and im so excited about it you cant imagine

also, thinking about making a soap and/or an ale fic, cuz they have a special place in my heart. let me know if you would be interested in them! also do if you don't, we can talk about something else

love you xx