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Rooster grunted as he pulled against the chains that were cutting into his wrists, leaving red welts and blistering skin. The more that he fought against them, the worse that it became. A soul smell was beginning to fester from them, and there was no doubt in Rooster’s mind that it was infected.
The pain that throbbed in his skull was becoming overwhelming. Each strong beat of his heart brought another wave of pain that sent him almost curling forward with his head pressed against his knees. The tang of dried blood hung thick in their air, doing nothing for his nausea and pain. No matter how many times he tried to push it away and ignore it, the feeling came back with a new wave of intensity, leaving him almost screaming into the darkness.
A sudden clang of the rusted door hinges being opened caught Rooster’s attention. He lifted his head timidly and raised a hand over his eyes to block the light that came from the opened door.
“Get him up,” one of the men commanded with a look to two taller men that followed him into the room. “We’ll get him to talk this time if it kills him.”
Agitation rose inside of Rooster as the two men came on either side of him and picked him up by the shoulders. He kicked out his legs fiercely, a cry so harsh on his lips that Rooster wondered if it didn’t come from his very soul.
“Get the fuck off of me,” Rooster snarled, saliva flying from his bottom lip.
The two men drug him over to the first, who was standing over a barrel filled with greenish brown water. Rooster turned up his nose at the scent of it as if sight wasn’t enough for him to be horribly aware of how disgusting it was. There was no telling exactly where the sludgy liquid had come from, but the scent alone that came from it was enough to tell anyone that they should stay as far from it as possible.
“I’m going to ask you again,” growled the man in charge as he came over to stand over Rooster. “What is the location of the nearest military base?”
Rooster cocked his head to the side. “What?”
“I said...” The man instinctively came over and slapped the back of Rooster’s neck. “Where is the location of the nearest military base?!”
Rooster winced at the slap before blinking his eyes quickly. “I don’t even know where we are. How the hell do you think that I would know where the closest Naval Base is? Besides, that’s not exactly privileged information.”
The man snickered as he motioned for the other men to haul Rooster forward.
Rooster fought to dig his feet into the ground to keep himself from being thrown forward. His left leg was kicked out from under him, and he took in a sudden breath before his head was shoved under the surface of the sludge-like water. He held his breath for as long as possible until a hand came up to grasp the back of his neck so harshly that nails dug in and scraped the back of his head, beads of blood rolling over his skin. He was forced to take in a water filled water and his lungs roared in protest. Adrenaline pulsed through him as he continued to thrash, begging for it to be over.
Just when Rooster was sure that he couldn’t take it any longer, he was yanked back out of the barrel. Water bubbled from his lips as he coughed, retching until he was able to take in a breath without immediately choking once more. His eyes burned and he fought to remain upright before the men in question gave his shoulders a shake while his head flopped forward, breath forced out of his nose deeply.
The leader reached out and grasped Rooster’s face, squeezing his cheeks fiercely. “Where is the base!”
“Even if I did know, I wouldn’t fucking tell you,” Rooster spat, the horrid taste of the water sitting heavy on his tongue. “Whatever you think you’re going to find there, you won’t! It’s too heavily guarded for the likes of you.”
The man threw his head back before flicking his wrist back toward the water, pointing intensely.
Rooster barely had time to take in a gulp of air before he was plunged back down into the murky water below. He continued to fight and thrash, but this time his entire chest was forced over the barrel while his head was craned so far down that his forehead almost touched the slimy surface. They jostled him around until the motion had him opening his mouth. Even more water forced its way into his lungs as he bucked upwards harshly, only to be shoved back down while agony exploded from his chest and was beginning to settle in his head.
Darkness was beginning to enclose around his vision when he was forced back once again. This time it took all of his strength to cough up a few mouthfuls of water. It dripped down his face onto his chin while he gagged, the water collecting in his stomach and making him nauseous. Rooster attempted to take one step only to stagger sideways, and it was only the men beside him still restraining him that kept him upright.
“He can’t take much more of this,” one of the men pointed out to the leader. “Over a minute at a time is going to kill him sooner than later, Gator.”
The leader, Gator, threw his hands up in frustration. “Damnit! Do it again. He’ll talk one way or another. We need those codes and he’s the way we’re going to get it.”
Rooster felt himself being lugged toward the barrel again. He hardly fought as his head was forced back under the surface once again, the water stinging his nose and eyes. He only lasted thirty seconds this time before he felt himself take in water, lungs howling in protest. He could hardly stand it and begged for death. At least then the pain would fade and he wouldn’t have to fear betraying the Navy.
When he was finally drug back out of the barrel, he barely had enough strength to even lift his head, let alone bring up the water he had just ingested. Unfortunately, his stomach decided for him as he vomited harshly, the taste of the water and bile enough to make Rooster cry out. He let out a few frantic coughs as he was drug away from the barrel and forced back into the corner of the room. He felt the chains tied back around the shackles around his wrists, and when he lifted his arms to test their strength, he found himself unable to so much as move them an inch.
“We’ll come back and try again,” Gator told the other men that were still clustered around, eyeing Rooster warily. “He’ll talk before long.”
“Aren’t you worried about someone finding him? I mean, he is a pilot and all. Don’t they need him?”
Gator rolled his eyes. “They’ll never find this place and they’ll never find him.”
Rooster peeled his eyes open, saliva dripping from his bottom lip. “They’ll come for me,” he murmured, unsure whether or not they could even hear him.
“C’mon, let’s check on the others. One of them will talk if he doesn’t.”
That was the first thing time that Rooster heard that there were others beside himself. The rest of the Daggers had gotten away unscathed as far as he knew, but he would be damned if anyone else got hurt because of him.
Rooster attempted to stand just as the door was slammed shut. He only made it half a step before he stumbled forward, hands braced forward to stop himself from face planting. A yell left his burning lungs as he rolled onto his side to force himself back against the wall.
Frustration overwhelmed him as he forced his head backwards against the wall. Pain spread from it, but it didn’t nearly come close to how his lungs ached for breath, and yet how he never felt he could take in a full breath every again. Tears clung to his eyelashes when he refused to let them fall, even when his own eyes grew cloudy with tears and he feared that if he started crying, he would never stop.
“Dad,” Rooster begged with his head bowed forward into his hands. “Dad, please, let me get out of this. I don’t know how much longer I can do this.” A strangled sob suddenly tore through him, despite his best efforts to stop it. “Dad!”
Rooster felt himself losing the battle with sleep, or unconsciousness he wasn’t quite sure. Either way, his entire body slumped back and he closed his eyes tightly as he felt himself begin to fade into darkness.
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“Rooster! Rooster!”
Rooster was faintly aware of someone yelling his name on the other side of the door. The sound of someone slamming into the door echoed in his ears until it flung open, allowing blinding light to fill the small space.
Rooster was too tired and too weak to lift his hands to cover his eyes, so he merely closed them tightly and turned his face to the side, nose wrinkling. He longed to drift back to sleep as his head was pounding and it hurt to breathe. A chill made its way down his spine as he hunkered into himself, knees brought up to his chest.
“Rooster!”
Rooster would’ve recognized that voice anywhere, but he was too tired to speak nor acknowledge that someone he knew was coming toward him.
Before he could even process what was happening, strong arms were wrapped around his shoulders and pulled his chest close. He could smell the familiar faint scent of cologne that he knew only one person in his life wore.
“Mav,” Rooster rasped, surprised that he could even talk.
Maverick only tightened his hold on Rooster. “Thank God you’re okay! I thought I lost you.”
It only took another moment for Rooster to break down, sobbing against Maverick’s chest. “I never thought I’d see you again,” he rasped.
“I would’ve never stopped looking for you, kiddo,” Maverick reassured as he rested his chin atop Rooster’s head.
Rooster grunted as he lifted his hands that were still chained to the wall and began to smash the shackles together. “Off....off! I want them off,” he shouted hysterically.
“Okay, alright, we’ll get them off.” Maverick lifted his head and twisted around while placing his hands over Rooster’s ears. “We need some bolt cutters over here!”
Rooster winced at Maverick’s tone while Maverick held him close. “It’s going to be alright, I promise. You’re okay. I’m here now.”
Rooster continued to sob despite his best efforts to stop. He was faintly aware of others in the room, shouting and moving about with purpose, yet he couldn’t bring himself to care. He only became aware of it when another solider rushed forward with bolt cutters and cut off the shackles and chain around his wrists. Once the chains dropped to the floor, Rooster felt freer than he had in days, certainly before he was captured,
Now that the shackles were removed, Rooster draped his arms over Maverick’s shoulders, letting them rest heavily on him. He pressed himself as close against Maverick as possible, willing the pain and terror to leave his body.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you ever again,” Maverick vowed. He realized that he couldn’t really promise that, but for the sake of keeping Rooster as calm as possible, he knew that he had to lie to calm him down.
Rooster held Maverick tightly and longed to never let him go.