Till the End of the Line

"Wake up! Come on, Sarah, get up!"
Groaning, Sarah tried to push away whoever was shaking her. When she finally opened her eyes she saw Bucky's face hovering over her. Alarmed by the anxious look in his eyes, although the rest of his features were set to a determined calm, Sarah sat up straight.
"What's going on?"
"No time," he replied briskly, pulling her out of bed by the arm, "Just get dressed, now!"
For a moment, Sarah stared around in confusion. Bucky was already halfway down the stairs when he called: "Hurry!" at which Sarah started groping on the floor for her clothes.
When she came running downstairs, taking two steps at a time and pulling a jumper over her head, she found Bucky standing at the kitchen table, stuffing the laptop into a backpack.
"What's going on?" she asked again, still looking thoroughly confused.
"We need to go right now," he said, zipping up the bag and pressing it into her arms along with her coat.
"Go where?" she began while putting everything on, "Wh-…" but she was cut off before she could ask another question by a loud bang that came from the hallway. It sounded as if someone was breaking down the front door. Bucky seemed to freeze for a second, his face tense and apprehensive, his eyes fixed on the source of the noise. Then he rounded on Sarah.
"Hide!" he hissed, gesturing towards the couch. While Sarah hurried to duck behind the coffee table, Bucky positioned himself halfway up the stairs, where he could only be seen from the living room. Although her vision was mostly blocked by the table's legs, Sarah could see the kitchen floor if she kept herself low enough, and when she leaned to the right she was able to see Bucky on the stairs, with an expression of utmost concentration and a gun ready in his hand.

The noise at the door persisted, until, with one last, loud bang, they heard the sound of wood breaking away completely. Sarah's heart beat furiously against her ribs as she watched two pairs of booted feet walk into the kitchen. When they had passed the kitchen table they halted for a moment, and Sarah could hear them having a brief, whispered exchange. They fell silent again, still not moving. Then one of them started walking into the living room, the other one following after a few steps. They were heading in her direction and Sarah almost flattened herself, pressing herself to the floor so they wouldn't see her. But then two muffled gunshots crashed through the silence and the two men collapsed with dull thuds. When she dared to glance up again, she saw Bucky cautiously taking a few steps down the stairs, gun raised. Sarah sat up, still looking at Bucky, who had his eyes fixed on the hallway entrance. He cast a quick look over his shoulder, saw Sarah getting up and gestured to her to stay down. She obeyed immediately and watched Bucky's feet while he slowly moved towards the kitchen table. She saw him turn on the spot, then he took a few steps in the direction of the hallway.

Sarah held her breath while the seconds passed by in almost painful suspension. For a moment she thought it was over, but then the whole house suddenly shook as an enormous blast came from upstairs. Within seconds, it seemed, footsteps were thundering down the stairs, surrounding Bucky's feet, obscuring them from Sarah's view. Shouts filled the living room, in English and another language Sarah couldn't understand. Paralysed, she listened to the fight that ensued, more shouting and gunshots filling the air. The floor trembled with the shifting weight of all the people scrambling in the living room. Everything was a blur, everything was noise. Suddenly the coffee table was pulled aside and Sarah felt herself being wrenched up from her hiding place by her waist, the man who lifted her throwing her on the floor in the middle of the room. He pulled her hair, forcing her to look up and she saw Bucky holding one man by the front of his shirt and another by the neck with his metal arm. He was breathing heavily, his eyes darting from Sarah to the man behind her. The man put a gun against her cheek, pressing the cold steel hard on her skin. Bucky's eyes were still flashing between Sarah and her captor, and after a second's hesitation he let go of the two men. They immediately picked up their guns from the floor and pointed them at him.
The man holding Sarah said: "Glad you're finally cooperating. Now, you know why we're here and you know what'll happen when you don't do exactly what we want…" he pressed the gun a little harder on Sarah's cheek. Bucky's eyes were now fixed on Sarah's, his face set, his lips forming the word "down". It took her a second to understand what he meant, then his eyes moved to the man behind her and she knew what to do. She dropped to the floor as the sound of gunshots and screams rang in her ears. She felt the man behind her drop down too, landing painfully on her already injured ankle. She shrieked in pain while Bucky jumped over her, gun raised and aimed at the only man left standing.

Hovering in front of the window, the man had his gun aimed at Sarah, who lay watching breathlessly from between Bucky's legs as he stood over her, shielding her.
"Put the gun down, or I'll shoot the girl."
Bucky was still breathing hard, Sarah saw him grip the gun a little tighter. "Put it down!" the man repeated, almost shouting.
"No…" Sarah whimpered, but Bucky was already lowering his weapon until it was on the floor next to Sarah. He held up his hands and took a few steps towards the man, who watched Bucky approach with a gleeful sneer.
"That's right…" he jeered, pointing his gun at Bucky now, "you thought you could outsmart us, but we've really got you now…"
"No you don't," Bucky muttered, his hands still raised, and a split second later he kicked the man forcefully in his chest, sending him flying at the window, which shattered as the man fell through it, screaming.
For a moment, he stared at the broken glass, then quickly turned around and ran back to Sarah. "Are you okay?" he asked, panting. Sarah nodded and tried to get to her feet but her ankle wouldn't support her and she fell back down again. Bucky hastily grabbed his duffel-bag, swung it over his shoulder, then bent down and lifted Sarah up in his arms.
"We need a place to hide," he said.
"I think I know somewhere," Sarah replied.

The sun was not yet up and a cold breeze rustled the leaves on the trees along the sidewalk.
"This is it," Sarah murmured, and they stopped in front of a row of townhouses with steps leading to each front door. Bucky carried her up the steps of the house she had pointed out and Sarah rang the doorbell. While they waited, Bucky turned his head to look around the street. Sarah glanced up at him inquisitively.
"I don't think we were followed," he said in answer to her frown.
The lock clicked and a groggy Olivia peered out from behind the crack in the door.
"Sarah? What are you…"
"Can we come in, please?" Sarah cut across her, and Olivia let them through.
"What's going on?" she asked once Bucky had carried Sarah into the hallway.
"We'll tell you in a minute," he said, "she needs to lie down first. Do you have any ice?"
Olivia looked puzzled, but nodded after a second.
"Of course, put her in here," she pointed them to the living room, where Bucky lowered Sarah carefully onto the couch while Olivia ran off to the kitchen. Bucky took off Sarah's shoes and socks, placed a pillow under her ankle and started rolling up her jeans to examine it more closely. She watched as he gently pressed and moved her ankle, but even the slightest touch was painful and Sarah had to bite her lip to keep from moaning.
"Well, it's not broken," Bucky concluded, moving to crouch down next to her, "but you'll have to stay off your feet for a while."
Sarah touched his arm and attempted a thankful smile. He looked at her, but before he could say anything Olivia returned holding a tray with a teapot, mugs and a pack of frozen peas.

Bucky took the peas from her and put the pack on Sarah's ankle. Olivia poured out the tea and handed them both mugs before sitting down with a mug of her own.
"So, what the hell happened?" she asked, staring from Sarah to Bucky. They exchanged a look, and Sarah swallowed before answering slowly: "Well… Someone broke into my apartment."
Olivia gave a small gasp and Sarah continued: "We heard a noise downstairs and B-James…" Sarah's shot a look at Bucky, who frowned a little, but then comprehension seemed to dawn on his face, "James went down to check. Turned out there were a couple of guys, one of them pulls out a gun and… there was a skirmish. I came down too, because of all the noise. One of the guys pushed me over, hence…" she gestured at her ankle. Olivia's mouth was open in shock.
"But why did you come here?"
"Because we need a place to stay for a while, my apartment is a little bit…" Sarah's eyes briefly met Bucky's again, "…damaged."