Chapter Text
Beams of light cut through the trees, twigs snapping and leaves crunching under his feet as he ran. Alejandro's legs were killing him, one eye glued shut by dried blood. His right arm was limp and useless by this point, possibly dislocated at the shoulder. He knew he had to stop to pop it back into place, but getting away from the many men who were chasing him was slightly higher on his priority list.
Alejandro was being pursued by a large group of soldiers, the fucking Shadow company. He had no idea where his Vaqueros were, let alone his 141 allies. He'd woken up to an empty base, and when he stepped out, he was greeted by men in heavy gear who had no interest in playing nice.
He'd gotten away, just barely, deciding to cut through the trees in an attempt to lose them. He rolled down a hill, feeling his arm scream and then go numb under his weight. He had briefly lost the shadows in the thick brush, and he wasn't sure if they could see him now, but he could see the shines from their flashlights, and that was bad news.
He stumbled, again, sliding down a short incline, glancing behind him and—
Oh fuck.
His upper body fell forward over a short fence, and he landed face down in mud. Mud? It wasn't raining. It hadn't rained in about a week—
He pushed himself the rest of the way over the fence, cringing but shrugging off the feeling of wet dirt soaking into his clothes. He wiped his face, pulling himself to his feet using the metal bars behind him as leverage.
He looked around, peering through the darkness. He couldnt see a fucking thi—
He felt his face light up. Literally. He heard the click of a flashlight and was immediately blinded by one hitting him in the face. He turned away, holding up his working arm to shield his face, gritting his teeth.
" Tu no eres una puma. " (You're not a mountain lion.)
Alejandro nearly collapsed from relief. Even though upon a second glance, the light was connected to a rifle, he quickly put two and two together to figure that this wasn't a Shadow.
" No, No soy. Escucha— Mira, lo siento mucho, pero necesito esconderme—" Alejandro breathed, chest heaving. He moved through the thick mud, tripping over something large. He heard a squeal, and looked down to see whatever he'd fallen over skittering to its feet and running away. A pig? He was in the pig pen. Fucking beautiful. (I'm not. Listen— Look, I'm very sorry, but I need to hide—)
"¿ Estás sangrando ?" The farmer practically exclaimed. Alejandro froze halfway to his feet, listening closely for footsteps approaching from the treeline. He heard a few pairs of voices and english that unfortunately wasn't carried by a British accent. (Are you bleeding?)
He turned towards the farmer, who was already leaning over the fence, hand outstretched. Alejandro breathed a heavy sigh of relief, stumbling closer and allowing the man to wrench him out of the pen and pull him towards what he could see was a barn.
" Gracias, gracias, gracias ," Alejandro heaved, lids heavy. He stumbled against the farmer's frame, the man pushing a hand under his limp arm to hold him upright. He didn't expect anything other to be shot on sight, and this man and his flannel looked a lot like an angel right now. (Thank you, thank you, thank you.)
" Relajate. ¿De qué estás huyendo? " The farmer asked curiously, pulling him into the barn and propping him against the wall next to his rifle. He shut the door behind him and hurried further in, allowing Alejandro to slide down the wall and collapse against a bale of hay. (Relax. What are you running from?)
" No puedo decir ," Alejandro felt rude, not even telling his savior why he needed to be saved, but he couldn't say because he didn't know. He knew bits and pieces, but none that would make sense. Also, he didn't want this guy to think he was harboring a criminal and hand him over to the cops in the morning. (Can't say.)
" Justo. ¿Estás bien? " (Fair. Are you okay?)
Light flooded the barn as the interior lights flicked on. Alejandro shut his eyes instantly. He felt like he was getting flash banged. He gritted his teeth, allowing himself a moment to breathe despite how much it hurt.
"¿ Señor? ¿Eres un soldado ?" (Sir? Are you a soldier?)
Alejandro's mind was loud, buzzing. He hadn't realized the farmer had approached at all until he heard how much closer the voice was. He opened his eyes and finally got a good look at the man.
He had a worried look on his face, but it looked so practiced, as if etched on. Dark eyes peered down at him, flickering from the vest that he had thrown on in a hurry to the dried blood on his forehead that had trailed down to his eye. The man would then reach down with a hand that made Alejandro flinch. He paused, moving much slower now, gently turning Alejandro's head to get a better look at the wound.
"Barely a graze. Let me clean that up for you," He spoke lowly, offering Alejandro a hand. The Colonel glanced down at his useless arm, wincing and reaching up with the other. The man seemed to realize this, switching hands and pulling Alejandro to his feet and over to a table in the center of the barn. He sat him down in a chair and paused, glancing to one side. " Déjame encontrar el botiquín. " He muttered quietly, standing and walking over to a nearby corner. (Let me find the first aid kit.)
Alejandro turned away, moving focus back to his arm. It was numb, not even pins and needles. Just dead weight. He had to do something about it right now, or he'd lose it for sure. He inhaled sharply, gritting his teeth, grabbing it by the bicep. He counted in his head, one, two—
"Is something wrong with your arm?" The farmer broke his concentration, and Alejandro opened his eyes and looked up. The man held a small kit, placing it on the table and popping it open. He sat down in front of him and inched forward, their knees touching.
"Dislocated, I think." Alejandro murmured, glancing down at it.
"I can help," he chirped, holding out his hands, pausing mid reach. Their eyes met, and he silently asked for permission. Alejandro sighed in relief and nodded. He wouldn't complain about a bit of help, although his mind briefly reminded him he had no idea if this man had any kind of medical—
" FFUUUCK !" Alejandro yelled as his arm popped back into place, a brief searing pain shooting through him before the blood started to flow through his limb again.
"Sorry. It helps if you don't say anything. You didn't bite your tongue, did you? ..I'm Rodolfo, by the way."
"Who told you that?" Alejandro hissed, rubbing his arm, but sighing with relief when his fingers twitched faintly in response to his movements. "Alejandro. I'm fine.. Thank you."
The Ranchero, Rodolfo, masterfully avoided his question with one of his own. He'd glanced back, towards the barn doors, then looking back at Alejandro. He slowly veered closer to the wound on his forehead with the alcohol wipe while asking, like some sort of shitty interrogation.
"What happened to you?"
Alejandro furrowed his brows, about to repeat that he couldn't tell before Rodolfo hissed at him to keep still. He sighed and relaxed, letting his eyes fall to the floor.
"I was.. ow," Alejandro winced as the wipe ghosted around the wound. He watched Rodolfo lean over the table and grab the gauze. "You just have this sitting around? Get injured often?" He asked, suddenly curious.
Rodolfo gave him a look that said he could tell Alejandro was avoiding his question but said nothing about it.
"No. Well, sometimes, but it's just in case. I like to be prepared." Alejandro grunted in reply, more of a hum as a patch of gauze was pressed to his forehead and wrapped tightly to keep it in place. When it was done, he ran a hand through his hair to make sure it was out of the bandages and decent, although his appearance was hardly anything to marvel about, considering he was still covered in mud and a bit of blood.
Rodolfo peered at him out of the corner of his eye as he shut the first aid kit.
"You wanna get yourself cleaned up?" He asked with a hint of hesitance that Alejandro couldn't help but place. Fair—being allowed into his barn was one thing, but the man's home is a different story. Especially if he had a family, which Alejandro didn't doubt he did.
"I wouldn't want to intrude." anymore than he already had , especially since he wouldn't even tell Rodolfo why he was intruding at all. "I'm sure your wife won't be very pleased with a random man in your—"
Replying a bit too fast, Rodolfo corrected him. "No wife. I live alone."
Oh. Unmarried.
A small silence was cast over them before it was abruptly broken by a banging on the barn door. Rodolfo turned around, and Alejandro looked past him. There was no immediate forced entry, which was decency Alejandro didn't know the Shadows had, but with the blinding lights on inside, he had no doubts in his mind they were visible from the outside, too. It was only a matter of time before they busted in looking for him. Alejandro wanted to apologize for the intrusion that was bound to happen, but before he could, Rodolfo was already on his feet and grabbing his rifle off of the wall. The colonel didn't have a chance to urge him to put it down (or at least keep it out of sight), because Rodolfo was already at the barn doors, looking back at him and waving him over to the horses.
Alejandro jumped to his feet, running around the table and hurrying down the hall of stalls. Stallions and mares stared him down as he sped past them, looking for an empty stall. He didn't find one, but he found a particularly relaxed looking donkey, so he shrugged and hopped over, landing on his feet.
Alejandro pressed his ear to the stall (figuratively—he didn't doubt that Rodolfo looked like the type to clean up after his animals, but he didn't want to risk it and wake up with an infection,) hoping to listen in and hear something about why he was being chased by Graves' men, or at least where his were.
He heard the telltale sound of a barn door opening, a loud drag, followed by a pause, and a " Hola señores. ¿Puedo ayudarte? "
Then, a longer pause, making it evident that whatever soldiers were at Rodolfo’s door didn't speak Spanish. Definitely Shadows.
"Can I help you?" Rodolfo translated, slightly slower, surprisingly unafraid of the men whom Alejandro had seen earlier were fully geared up.
He could hear the shadows loud and clear in their reply. Fucking Americans.
"Yeah. We're lookin' for a fugitive, a dangerous criminal of war. You seen anybody who looks like that around?"
Alejandro could see it now— the shadows looking past Rodolfo into the barn and the ranchero stepping right aside once he heard the word dangerous, or criminal, or even just fugitive, pointing them right down towards the stalls so they could go in and blow his brains out.
"No. I've been out here all night, looking for the puma that's been hunting my pigs. Haven't seen a thing."
Alejandro breathed a nearly audible sigh of relief, placing a hand over his mouth and resting his arm on the donkey, leaning on it for support. He internally reminded himself to give the Ranchero a big ol kiss for saving his ass.
"Right. He might've snuck in while you were out searching. He's sneaky like that, real slippery bastard. Mind if we take a look?"
Well, not so soon.
Fucking shadows.
"I do mind." Rodolfo said with a stern tone. "I'd know if someone snuck into my barn. The door's loud and heavy. Not many places to hide. I'd know," He repeated at the end, and Alejandro could tell from the long pause that he was flashing his gun. Especially because—
"Are you threatening us, sir?" Another shadow practically barked, seemingly excited to fight a farmer who was just trying to protect his land.
"Not at all."
Long pause. Rodolfo seemed to like those.
"But this is private property, and you dont look like any military I've ever seen."
So, basically, get the fuck out if you dont have a warrant.
Alejandro felt his heart slowly sink as the silence droned on. He was picturing the shadows forcing their way in regardless, firing a shot into the ranchero's head, killing aimlessly on their way to him.
"Alright. Well, have a good night."
Oh, thank god. Alejandro nearly collapsed on the donkey he was leaning on.
Rodolfo didn't reply, but by the loud, sudden scrape and slam of the barn door, he could tell that he'd said his own kind of goodbye.
Alejandro didn’t leave his spot until he was sure he could, waiting to hear the lone pair of footsteps trotting down the stalls before he stepped forward and away from his donkey friend.
Rodolfo leaned forward to check if he was in the stall, pausing and raising a brow. "I see you and Pinza are familiar now. Seems like he likes you."
"Hah. He's not so bad for company," Alejandro forced a grin that came out more like a grimace, stepping closer to the gate and hopping over it, waiting for the question he knew was gonna—
Rodolfo raised the rifle, aiming it towards his stomach, just under where his vest stopped.
" Lo siento, hombre, pero ahora realmente necesito que me respondas. " He nodded his head to one side, shrugging awkwardly. (Sorry, man, but now I really need you to answer.)