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The metal cuts into his palm, not sharp enough to break skin but enough to leave it raw. The weight in his hand is both familiar and foreign as Eddie edges closer to the rundown shack. The dessert sun beating down on his back, an unrelenting heat, leaving his shirt clinging to his body.
It's been a fair trek, but Eddie couldn't risk the sound of his car giving him away. So far he has the element of surprise on his side, and that's all he has...because he has no idea what he's walking into, only that Buck is in there. Buck, who has been missing for days, having disappeared when they'd been run off the road. Eddie had woken up in a hospital. Buck had not. He was likely in bad shape, injured from the crash - and that's not even considering what else he might have been through in the time it's taken Eddie to find him.
Feet nimble, Eddie creeps around the back of the shack, ducking out of view of the windows and pressing himself up against the rotting wood that makes up the exterior wall.
Cautiously, he peers into the window. His eyes catch on movement as a man strides across the room to a wooden beam in which a figure sits slumped against it, arms tied behind them - securing them to the beam.
Buck.
Eddie takes a shaky breath, steeling himself. He turns away from the window then without another thought crouches down and quietly makes his way to the door.
He presses himself back against the wall, gun gripped tightly in one hand as the other ever so subtly checks the lock - it's unlocked.
Clearly, they didn't expect anyone to stumble across this place.
How very misguided of them.
Taking another composing breath, Eddie counts to five before slamming his foot back against the door, hard enough to splinter wood, and immediately whips around and through the threshold, gun poised as the door clatters loudly against the interior wall.
The man is crouched down in front of Buck, a blade pressed against his best friend's cheek, his head snaps towards Eddie at the intrusion and he abruptly springs to his feet. The hand with the knife falling to his side in surprise, but Eddie spots a holster on his hip, sees his free hand twitch towards the gun resting there and before the man's fingers can make contact, Eddie squeezes the trigger.
Once. Twice.
The earsplitting noise is followed by a dead quiet. Eddie turns away from the body as it drops to the floor, and slides down onto his knees in front of Buck.
"Buck." The name falls from his lips in an urgent rasp. It's the first time he's spoken in hours, the sound cuts like a glass shard against his dry throat.
"E-Eddie?" Buck's voice shakes, pitched high in shock as he pointedly avoids looking at the body that lays, still, on the ground beside him.
"Yeah, I'm here." Eddie breathes, as his hands cup Buck's face, eyes assessing his injuries.
When he's satisfied that Buck isn't in any immediate danger, he releases an afflicted sigh and presses his forehead to Buck's.
He feels Buck begin to shake beneath his fingers, his breath hitching as he says, "I-I thought you were - I thought..."
He can't seem to finish the sentence.
Eddie nods, their noses bumping, he understands.
"I thought you were..." He whispers back, agonised over the thought still, even as he feels Buck's pulse as a rhythmic presence beneath his fingertips. Alive - he's alive. "Let's get you untied, yeah?" He can hear the quiver in his own voice as he slips his cutting tool out of his pocket and cuts through the rope tying Buck wrists together.
Once untied Buck rolls his shoulders and rubs at his wrists - Eddie gently pries his fingers from them to take a look at the wounds.
Not too bad. Surface level damage only, blood flow seems to be good.
When Eddie finally looks up and meets Buck's eyes he almost shatters at the sight of the unshed tears he finds there, glistening in sunlight streaming in through the window - making a mockery of the grim situation.
Suddenly, Buck's chin starts to quiver and his arms are being thrown around Eddie, clinging to him tightly.
Buck quietly sobs into Eddie's shoulder, the fabric of Eddie's shirt slowly becoming drenched with Buck's grief.
"I know, I know. I got you. Shh..." Eddie murmurs into Buck's hair, one hand cupping the back of his head and the other around Buck's back, fisted into the material of his shirt.
They stay like that for a few minutes. Wrapped in a moment too intimate for the time or place - not that it seemed to care.
Soon enough, Buck's sobs turn into shuddering breaths.
Eddie pulls back to look him in the eye. "Can you stand?"
Buck nods jerkily. Eddie climbs to his feet, and helps Buck struggle to his own, before wrapping Buck's arm around his shoulders, bearing his weight, and slowly taking a step forward. Buck stumbles but Eddie keeps him upright.
"It's okay. I got you, I got you." Eddie whispers, as they slowly limp their way out of the shack and back to Eddie's car.
Buck whispers back, voice thick with emotion, "I know."