He doesn't say much else than that, and instead focuses on getting Raleigh
to somewhere safer, a place that is far enough from the beach so that they
aren't spotted and aren't in danger of being ambushed.
It's a long, tense hike, and Chuck isn't satisfied with anywhere they pause
fora good long while. Eventually though, he eases Raleigh to the ground and
quickly scouts the area before coming back and squatting in front of him.
The blood has dried on his face at this point and he probably looks more
like a deranged wildman than a terrified fifteen year old, but he doesn't
care.
"How's the legs?" He reaches, grips Raleigh's shin with his hand, fingers
gently pressing into muscle.
Raleigh doesn't even notice the blood, really, it's just Chuck helping him. He bites back a pained groan when Chuck's fingers press into his muscles, but then he's grinning.
"Better. If we sit a while, till sun-up maybe, I should be fine." Well enough at least to run and walk as needed. He'd deal with the long lasting effects later. His more immediate concern was figuring out how to convince Chuck they needed to go back to the edge of the jungle. They needed to meet up with the others so they could break the arena and get out.
Chuck's fingers are pressing into him and it gives Raleigh and idea. He curls forward, too close to Chuck, but it puts their hands between their bodies and obscured from any cameras. Quickly, before Chuck can pull away or ask what the fuck he's doing, Raleigh traces out letters on Chuck's hand.
Keep moving your hands so it looks like we're doing something.
Raleigh makes a pained grunt as if Chuck's hand on his calf has his a particularly pained spot.
We're going to break the games. The victors from three invented most of this technology and they know how to fuck it up. Herc knew. We didn't expect you to volunteer and the less people that knew the better. We're trying to get our group out alive. Mako, Chueng, Sasha, Aleksis, Newt, Hermann, you and me. But we need to find Sasha and Aleksis. Help protect the 3s from the careers or this will end like every other games.
He whimpers at some point in the middle of his tracing a couple of times and drops his head to Chuck's shoulder, pretending to be weak enough to show the pain he's actually in.
Chuck keeps moving his hands, rubbing at Raleigh's legs, fingers working
into tense, tight muscle as he reads Raleigh's handwriting.
Break the games.
Get them out.
It's an act of war, because that is what this will lead to - there is no
other alternative. It's a long time coming, Chuck knows, and he can't say
he's surprised. He'd be more pissed if he'd been kept in the dark
purposefully, but he can see sense and reason when it is there, and Raleigh
has not had an opportunity to tell him - and couldn't, even if they were
alone. There are cameras everywhere.
Raleigh drops his head to Chuck's shoulder and he plays the good nurse,
pressing his cheek against blond hair and continuing to massage.
"Tonight you sleep," he says out loud, smearing his hand so the writing
smudges and turns into nothing but a dirt stain. "Tomorrow..."
Raleigh nods, so relieved that he'd been able to explain to Chuck what their goal is. They'd be working together now instead of at cross-purposes, and maybe Chuck would trust him a little more. It would certainly make things easier. He settled with his back against the tree and refused to think about what it meant to him that Chuck came back for him. He doesn't really sleep, of course, but he dozes and rests, at least until a scream echoes through the forest.
It sounds older, but the older victors' pictures had flashed at midnight. They were already gone. It didn't make sense. And beyond that, the voice wasn't only older, but familiar to Raleigh. He looked towards Chuck to see if he thought they should ignore it or look into it.
Chuck has no intentions of implicitely trusting Raleigh -- he could be
lying. Chuck doesn't think he is, but it's possible.
The scream jerks him out of his thoughts, though and he frowns, and cants
his head. He's inclined to let it go, but if Raleigh's telling him the
truth, it might be worth investigating.
Raleigh shakes his head, pushing himself to his feet. He's by no means at one hundred percent, but working at his muscles and resting for the hour had helped him become functional again. He could walk, run, and fight if he needed to. The screamed echoed again and he frowned turning towards it.
"We shouldn't split up if we can help it. I'm fine now."
"Whatever," he snarls, getting up and to his feet, and not bothering
to extend a hand to Raleigh. He's getting real sick of this shit, of
Raleigh thinking he's fucking incapable and he wonders how many people he'd
have to murder for Raleigh to get it through his head that Chuck can
take care of himself.
"C'mon, then. Better keep up, not coming back for you again."
Raleigh frowns after Chuck, not sure what he did to make him angry again, but knowing better than to ask. He could just be angry at their situation still. The scream echoed again, twice this time. He let Chuck go first and set their pace. He'd push himself and keep up. He wanted to try to stay on Chuck's good side at least. He was going to need his cooperation when daylight hit and they went looking for the others.
Chuck trots ahead, careful not to step on anything to make his footsteps
heard, then pauses and holds a hand out to stop Raleigh when he hears the
scream again and he tilts his head, brow furrowed in thought, then keeps
going.
"We're close," he murmurs softly, almost inaudibly. "Get ready."
Raleigh nods, fine with trusting Chuck, and he pulls out his gun, flicking the safety off. He creeps behind the younger teen not close enough to get in his way, but still right there. He strains his eyes trying to see what's ahead.
Chuck can't fucking see anything -- it's driving him mad. He heard it, he
knew that he did - as much as he's been through, Chuck knows that he's not
fucking crazy. Not yet. He heard it, and it sounded familiar and--
There it was again and this time, he knows it. He hears his name, a plea
for help and it's fucking Herc, Christ they've got him in the arena
and Chuck bolts, tearing through the jungle and completely
abandoning Raleigh.
Raleigh recognizes the voice, just as Chuck seems to, and he follows Chuck into the jungle. His muscles are protesting, but saving Herc, keeping up with Chuck and making sure they aren't separating, that's all much more important. So he follows without a word fully expecting that they're going to go barreling into danger and have to think fast to get out of it, especially if Herc's there and in danger.
Chuck isn't bothering to be quiet. He hears Herc's voice all around,
screaming for him, crying out Chuck's long dead mothers name, shrieking in
pain and anguish and Chuck is fucking panicking, because he can't
find him.
Chuck screams and Raleigh looks all around them trying to be sure no one else has pinpointed them and is zeroing in. It's because of that he sees it-the jabberjay sitting on the tree branch ahead of him. He touches Chuck's shoulder lightly.
"It's not him, Chuck. It's the bird-the jabberjay. We can't do anything about it."
He shudders because it's just like Herc is there with them being tortured out of sight.
Chuck swats the hand away, whirling around to stare at Raleigh with wild eyes. He doesn't really hear him, not with the jabberjays shrieking like that. He clamps his hands over his ears, the only way that he can try to block it out, and screws his eyes shut.
Raleigh slips into the fortress of his mind, the place he hides when he doesn't want to feel what he's doing with body, so he doesn't hear the jabberjays, and he presses his hands on the outside of Chuck's to help muffle the noise. He guides Chuck gently into the hollow of some close growing trees so he can watch their front without worrying about their backs. He tucks Chuck into the space between him and the trees.
He wants to tell Chuck it will stop soon, but he knows he won't hear him, and he's not sure if it's the truth.
Chuck can't do anything but let Raleigh lead him and push him around. He
can't -- let go of his ears, he can't hear that. So he ends up
tucked up against Raleigh's chest, face buried in his shoulder and entire
frame trembling.
They disappear, but Chuck's hands don't fall away and he doesn't make any
move to get up or take a drink. Raleigh can nudge him all he wants, Chuck's
still kind of in shock and isn't really in any shape to talk.
Raleigh sees that Chuck's not moving, so he makes a bowl out of leaf and holds it under the spile filling it up with water and holding it out in front of Chuck. He doesn't shove it in his face, he just waits with it in Chuck's sight so that it'll be ready when Chuck is.
Raleigh waits and Chuck trembles, finally looking up at him, face a little blotchy and tear stained but he doesn't say a fucking word, just takes the offered leaf and sips slowly, drinking gratefully.
Raleigh fills the leaf up again for Chuck before cupping his hands under the flow of water and drinking some himself. He ducks his head under it, cooling off a bit, before stepping just outside the hollow, checking their surroundings and the sky.
"It's getting lighter." They'd need to start towards the beach soon if they could. He carefully doesn't mention anything about what happened to Chuck.
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"Good."
He doesn't say much else than that, and instead focuses on getting Raleigh to somewhere safer, a place that is far enough from the beach so that they aren't spotted and aren't in danger of being ambushed.
It's a long, tense hike, and Chuck isn't satisfied with anywhere they pause fora good long while. Eventually though, he eases Raleigh to the ground and quickly scouts the area before coming back and squatting in front of him. The blood has dried on his face at this point and he probably looks more like a deranged wildman than a terrified fifteen year old, but he doesn't care.
"How's the legs?" He reaches, grips Raleigh's shin with his hand, fingers gently pressing into muscle.
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"Better. If we sit a while, till sun-up maybe, I should be fine." Well enough at least to run and walk as needed. He'd deal with the long lasting effects later. His more immediate concern was figuring out how to convince Chuck they needed to go back to the edge of the jungle. They needed to meet up with the others so they could break the arena and get out.
Chuck's fingers are pressing into him and it gives Raleigh and idea. He curls forward, too close to Chuck, but it puts their hands between their bodies and obscured from any cameras. Quickly, before Chuck can pull away or ask what the fuck he's doing, Raleigh traces out letters on Chuck's hand.
Can you understand this?
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Raleigh leans forward and Chuck nearly jerks back, but Raleigh's got hold of his hands and is...
The hell is he doing.
Chuck squints, looks down, and leans forward, top of his head brushing against Raleigh's.
He gives a brief, barely perceptible nod. Yeah, he can read it.
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Raleigh makes a pained grunt as if Chuck's hand on his calf has his a particularly pained spot.
We're going to break the games. The victors from three invented most of this technology and they know how to fuck it up. Herc knew. We didn't expect you to volunteer and the less people that knew the better. We're trying to get our group out alive. Mako, Chueng, Sasha, Aleksis, Newt, Hermann, you and me. But we need to find Sasha and Aleksis. Help protect the 3s from the careers or this will end like every other games.
He whimpers at some point in the middle of his tracing a couple of times and drops his head to Chuck's shoulder, pretending to be weak enough to show the pain he's actually in.
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Chuck keeps moving his hands, rubbing at Raleigh's legs, fingers working into tense, tight muscle as he reads Raleigh's handwriting.
Break the games.
Get them out.
It's an act of war, because that is what this will lead to - there is no other alternative. It's a long time coming, Chuck knows, and he can't say he's surprised. He'd be more pissed if he'd been kept in the dark purposefully, but he can see sense and reason when it is there, and Raleigh has not had an opportunity to tell him - and couldn't, even if they were alone. There are cameras everywhere.
Raleigh drops his head to Chuck's shoulder and he plays the good nurse, pressing his cheek against blond hair and continuing to massage.
"Tonight you sleep," he says out loud, smearing his hand so the writing smudges and turns into nothing but a dirt stain. "Tomorrow..."
They find Aleksis and Sasha.
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It sounds older, but the older victors' pictures had flashed at midnight. They were already gone. It didn't make sense. And beyond that, the voice wasn't only older, but familiar to Raleigh. He looked towards Chuck to see if he thought they should ignore it or look into it.
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Chuck has no intentions of implicitely trusting Raleigh -- he could be lying. Chuck doesn't think he is, but it's possible.
The scream jerks him out of his thoughts, though and he frowns, and cants his head. He's inclined to let it go, but if Raleigh's telling him the truth, it might be worth investigating.
"...I'll go check on that."
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"We shouldn't split up if we can help it. I'm fine now."
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"Whatever," he snarls, getting up and to his feet, and not bothering to extend a hand to Raleigh. He's getting real sick of this shit, of Raleigh thinking he's fucking incapable and he wonders how many people he'd have to murder for Raleigh to get it through his head that Chuck can take care of himself. "C'mon, then. Better keep up, not coming back for you again."
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Chuck trots ahead, careful not to step on anything to make his footsteps heard, then pauses and holds a hand out to stop Raleigh when he hears the scream again and he tilts his head, brow furrowed in thought, then keeps going.
"We're close," he murmurs softly, almost inaudibly. "Get ready."
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Chuck can't fucking see anything -- it's driving him mad. He heard it, he knew that he did - as much as he's been through, Chuck knows that he's not fucking crazy. Not yet. He heard it, and it sounded familiar and--
There it was again and this time, he knows it. He hears his name, a plea for help and it's fucking Herc, Christ they've got him in the arena and Chuck bolts, tearing through the jungle and completely abandoning Raleigh.
"I'm comin--hang on, old man!"
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Chuck isn't bothering to be quiet. He hears Herc's voice all around, screaming for him, crying out Chuck's long dead mothers name, shrieking in pain and anguish and Chuck is fucking panicking, because he can't find him.
"Where the hell is he!"
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"It's not him, Chuck. It's the bird-the jabberjay. We can't do anything about it."
He shudders because it's just like Herc is there with them being tortured out of sight.
"I'm sorry."
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"Fucking Christ!"
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He wants to tell Chuck it will stop soon, but he knows he won't hear him, and he's not sure if it's the truth.
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Chuck can't do anything but let Raleigh lead him and push him around. He can't -- let go of his ears, he can't hear that. So he ends up tucked up against Raleigh's chest, face buried in his shoulder and entire frame trembling.
It's gonna be a long hour.
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"They're gone. They just..flew away."
He turns, pulling the spile out of his pouch and sticking it into the tree.
"Here, we should drink something."
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They disappear, but Chuck's hands don't fall away and he doesn't make any move to get up or take a drink. Raleigh can nudge him all he wants, Chuck's still kind of in shock and isn't really in any shape to talk.
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Whatever, maybe Becket isn't so awful after all.
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"It's getting lighter." They'd need to start towards the beach soon if they could. He carefully doesn't mention anything about what happened to Chuck.
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"Yeah," he croaks, not looking at Raleigh as he shakingly makes his way to his feet, pushing himself up and holding onto the tree for support.
"Better get going."
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