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Riza watched him fall. The gunfire had rung through the forest, and she had seen the Colonel fall. He crumpled to the forest floor and rolled down a slope that hid him from her view.
Riza’s heart dropped to her feet. It was the respect and the relationship they had that caused the reaction because she knew that he was too close. The shooter was only a little ways away... Not far enough to miss... Not far enough not to kill Roy...
She understood that she was a different case from most, but she hadn’t judged on her own skills and capabilities. She judged on what she knew of others.
She fired her own gun into the back of the man who had shot the Colonel. She felt numb. She rushed up the side of the hill and gazed down at the slope overgrown with shrubbery. She started down, sliding on loose leaves and dirt. Her feet scrambled for a purchase in the loose earth. Gravel tumbled down the hill... The Colonel had as well.
She paused when red glistened in the light. Blood. It was smeared on leaves and spattered on the twigs and branches.
He was dead. She knew that she had followed the man into the military and that that meant they were putting themselves in danger-- in situations of life or death. But once death stares you in the eyes... Nothing else had felt this raw.
She broke through the shrubs, finding a level patch of crushed moss and grass. Blood saturated the area. This was clearly where the body had stopped... But he wasn't there.
Riza’s eyes widened. She should have pushed down the blossom of hope welling up in her stomach. She should have played it safe and assumed that... Screw it. Whatever the case, she had to find him.
---
Roy blinked dirt out of his eyes and clenched his teeth. It burned. It made sense. A bullet had just gone into him fresh from the gun. Hot and burning.
He grunted as he forced himself up onto his shaking elbows. He should have probably been dead.
Blood drip-dripped from his lower chest onto the ground below, painting soft green moss a deep, rich red. Oh, shit... He mentally hissed. He was scared. He was probably dead. Well, not yet, but soon. His body already felt shaky from the blood loss, or maybe the adrenaline pumping him up. Either way, Hawkeye would have thought he was dead. She was probably going after his killer instead of him.
That meant that even if Roy’s mind was slightly out for the count, he was still going to have to do it all on his own.
Roy sat up and pushed himself up onto his feet. His knees trembled under his weight. They weren’t the best conditions, but Roy had to find his way out of those woods somehow.
He took a couple of steps, keeling sideways into a tree that broke his fall. He shook the fog out of his head and pushed off the tree, stumbling his way toward the next. His blood smeared on the bark, and little chunks of moss and bark clung to him, sticking to the blood from his wound.
Sounds behind Roy put him on high alert. His heart was thundering. The gunman was back... He hadn’t finished the job. Roy’s feet moved with remarkable speed anywhere away from the sounds. He bounced off the trees like a marble off of pegs. He was going to die.
Roy’s knees buckled. He was far enough away that it didn’t matter, so he just let his body collapse into his side. He curled in on himself, clutching his wound as the blood continued pouring. His eyes were unfocused as he turned his head to look up into the branches silhouetted in the evening’s light. They were blurs of spinning leaves.
Roy blinked— long and hard. He was tired. He didn’t know where he had gotten himself, but it was fine; he’d escaped.
---
Riza stumbled through the dark. Even if the Colonel were alive after the fall, it was a lot less likely now. The sun had set, and on top of bleeding out, he was in danger with the wildlife.
She tripped and face planted into the ground. She had hoped that her eyes were well enough adjusted to the light, but it turned out she was wrong, or It was still getting even darker.
Riza dragged her feet over the log, freezing as the realisation hit her. The log wasn't stiff and hard like a log was supposed to be. It gave like a body collapsed in the woods might.
Riza spun her head around and scrambled back toward the body. It was the Colonel. She swallowed hard. His face was grey, washed in blue light. He looked like death.
"No..." Riza grabbed his shoulders and just stared into the pale, lifeless face. She had failed to watch his back.
His nose scrunched, and Riza almost toppled back. Her eyes widened, and she placed her fingers under his jaw, checking his pulse. It was threads, and she didn’t know how long he had been like that.
"I've got you, Sir." I've got your back again.