Hey you guys. I decided to reboot this piece of junk.

Remember, there's a poll on my page for you to vote who you want Tracy to end up with.

Thanks!

Dust clouded her throat, causing her to wince, coughing rather loudly. Her throat burned with dryness as she began to roll over, finding herself to be cramped in whatever space she had managed to crawl into before they crashed. Opening her eyes, her eyes met with the leather seat of the train car. Gritting her teeth, she braced her feet against the seat and began to push herself from under it. It seemed she was alone— wait, no. She could hear the wheezing breath of someone nearby. Finally wriggling from the seat perched above her, she got to her feet. Sand scrunched under her feet, pieces of boxes and other debris scattered across the damaged car. Finally, Tracy reaches the light at the end and catches sight of a battered and stained lab coat. Kneeling down, she met the injured and quite awake Medic with a wry smile.

"That's the last time I take a train to battle." She snorts as she helps the Medic into a sitting position. The man scoffs and winces, holding his injured arm close to him.

"You and me both, Thief." The BLU Medic grits his teeth, and by the prodding of the Thief, stretches out his injured arm. She grabs a few nearby pieces of debris and rips a long piece from the stomach of her shirt and fashions and splint with the Medic's guidance. With another rip from the Medic's own shirt, she creates a sling, and eventually helps the German to his feet. He leans heavily on her, but she manages to help him from the car. The harsh light of the sun greets them, sending a wave of heat over them. The Thief's tongue hangs from her mouth as she prays for water.

Tracy sets the doctor down a moment near a few cacti to backtrack back to the car to rummage for supplies. Not many are to be found. A small medical kit, a bottle of water and a couple packs of crackers are all she finds, and a few jackets left behind by unwilling by her team.

She returns to the Medic, spreading the jackets over the cacti to create a bit of shade. The German takes off his glasses (surprisingly unbroken by the crash) and wipes the sweat from his brow. Tracy spreads their supplies out in the sand, gesturing to them without much care.

"So, we're stuck out in the desert with a four or five day walk ahead of us." The Medic calculates bitterly, reaching for one of the bottles. Tracy doesn't argue in letting him have a gulp, and quickly takes one herself when offered. "And without and medical supplies for this arm, and the few injuries I got on board…"

"Let's not think about that at the moment." The Thief waves those worries away for the time being, adjusting herself under the shade. Sweat travels down the middle of her back and her thighs, her face red from exertion and the heat. "What exactly happened out there, though?"

The Medic sighs, sticking his spectacles back onto his nose. "I believe the opposing team attacked us. I cannot be sure but I believe it was a Spy. As soon as it began I ran back to the last train cart to gather my belongings when I bumped into you. They must have disengaged the lock on the car and caused it to crash."

"Hm." Tracy mumbles, mulling this over.

The Medic looks her over, raising a brow. "You do not seem as worried as I would have guessed. Does death not alarm you anymore?"

"Not anymore, no." The Thief frowns, crossing her arms as if cold. Her boots grind into the sand as if frustrated. A lizard skitters past.

The German sighs, "How disappointing. And I was looking forward to frightening you."

Tracy scowls at him, but her anger soon diminishes as the Medic smiles at her. They settle down as the sun begins to be chased away by the dark, a chill going through the air. Tracy spreads a few more jackets out as bedding, and a larger one that was obviously the Heavy's at one point as a blanket. The two huddle together for warmth rather than companionship, but even so the Medic takes Tracy's offered-unoffered hand for security.

The third day of their trek greets them like a bad but unavoidable neighbor. Death is not a stranger to these two teammates, but yet a chill goes through them as they discover the infection growing inside the Medic's injured arm. Without antibiotics and with the last of the water sucked up by the two, they begin to trek without water and the barest minimum of clothing during the sunny hours.

As they day goes by, their urine begins turning brown, and soon they can barely stay on their feet. They soon reach a cave probably once inhabited by wolves but now empty for their use. They collapse to the stone floor, the Thief making her way on her hands and feet to spread out their coat bedding. With effort, she rolls the dehydrating and sick Medic onto the bedding, covering him with the large coat. She watches outside for anything she could chase down with a hunting knife, yet finds nothing.

When she returns, she is surprised by the sight of the Medic leaning against the wall. He is pale and sweating, his eyes glazed and far away as he looks at her. She frowns, and despite the chill she sidles up next to him to share in his warmth as the sun leaves the sky. For a long time, they are silent; the only noise heard is their breathing.

When the cave finally gets dark and the Thief lights a few dry branches with a match does the Medic speak. He is still very sick and probably hallucinating due to the lack of water and his infection, but he still speaks as if he is entirely in control of his faculties. He turns, his cold blue eyes locking with her hazel ones. "You're going to have to kill me."

Tracy doesn't make a noise nor reveals her emotions to these words. She had to have known that at least one of the two of them would die out here, and she wasn't the one with injuries. "That isn't going to necessarily help the water situation."

"You'd be surprised." The Medic says with a sigh and he pulls the jacket off of him, groaning as he attempts to stand. She stands herself, her head swimming from the effort, and offers to help him. He bats away her hands, leaning heavily on the cave wall as he shuffles towards the entrance. Without much thought, the Thief takes her hunting knife outside with her.

"So, somehow killing you will help my dehydration?" She brings up casually, as if talking about the weather. The Medic doesn't seem bothered by her tone of voice nor the idea of killing him. He did bring it up, anyways. He nods, practically falling into the sand as he sits down on a dune. She joins him, her feet bare and digging into the sand.

"Yes." The German says, looking towards the stars. A violent shiver goes through Tracy as she watches him, crossing her arms. The hunting knife lays in the sand beside her in full view, but the Medic does not reach for it. "Have you ever heard of blood siphoning?"

"No, but please, illuminate me." The Thief replies sarcastically, leaning against his bare arm for warmth.

The Medic shifts slightly to allow her closer, for their warmth to be shared. He does not shiver, but it is most likely from the fever. His skin radiates heat, which would have worried her if he wasn't speaking about killing himself.

"Blood siphoning is where one person gives their blood for another to drink. Blood is mostly plasma, and plasma is ninety percent water." The Medic explains. "That's why I am offering myself to you. The fact is, this infection will most likely kill me before dehydration, and I would rather you not get sick when you drink from me."

"That's quite an offer." Tracy nods, but bites her lip self-consciously. Despite the casual front she puts up about death, she's never had to kill a teammate before. And she rather liked the Medic.

"Indeed." He nods, "I'd rather be killed by my teammate rather than some infection, if you wouldn't mind."

"I don't suppose you have any last wishes, Medic?" The Thief turns towards him.

The Medic pauses, turning to her with a rather weary look in his eye. He sighs before smiling at her, like a man would a friend. "Please, call me Fritz."

Tracy stares at him a moment, her mouth slightly agape before she shuts it. Not many people offered their names in this business. They usually went by their classes, as to not get entirely close to their comrades. But in this instance, instead of shock, she began to smile.

"Of course Fritz." She nods. "Close your eyes."

The sun reflects light off the metal of the train tracks. Dark, almost black blood droplets hit the hot metal, hissing and bubbling almost immediately. She walks beside the tracks hopping on and off the wood of the tracks as she licks her lips, blood staining her blue once t-shirt now belly tank-top. Her high-waist trousers are now stained with the sand of the desert, and the blood from kneeling too close to the body once belonging to the faithful doctor.

She had piled stones atop his body once she was finished with it. She did not wish for coyotes or wolves to get to him, piling any stone she could to protect it. She promised herself that, once she found the base she would get a car and bury him the proper way, but this was all she could do at the moment. The sun bared it's teeth at her, burning her neck and shoulders, burying itself deep into her flesh. Blood dried and stained her fingers and nails and down her neck. She didn't fret about it but kept moving, despite the watery impressions to the left and right of her, which were most likely mirages.

She knew she was close when she began to see trash littered about. She surmised one more day, just one more day out in the desert. She took a rag that was still damp and heavy with blood and sucked on it, wetting her tongue with the slightly congealed blood.

The night was cold and harsh with only one jacket, having wrapped the Medic's body with most of them to keep away scorpions and other bugs from digging into his flesh. She shivered throughout the night, getting a few hour sleep in-between. When the sun finally showed its face, she got to her feet and began the trek once more. She sucked on whatever was left of the blood on the rag, which was nothing, and soon abandoned the scrap of fabric. Her head swam with random thoughts as dehydration once again began to take over. It wasn't long until she could see the wooden building of Coal Town ahead.

What she knew of the place was vague. She knew it once held miners; a small town of Mann Co.'s that had dried up when other resources were found for fuel. Now it was kept as a historical monument to Mann Co.'s success. Well, now it was used as a battle ground for RED and BLU, but she supposed a few scorch marks and bullet holes couldn't do too much damage to the place. She hoped it had running water.

But as she approached one of the wooden buildings, she noted it was rather quiet. Wouldn't it have been one of the match days today? Tracy stumbled and practically fell over when she noted a rather oddly shaped piece of metal sticking out of the ground. Leaning down to inspect it, she pulled it out to reveal and metal arm. It was unlike the Engineer's metal hand in which he used for construction of his contraptions. This thing was a full arm, and made with finesse as far as she could tell. Most likely manufactured by a company as it didn't have the Engineer's home-made style.

She threw the arm to the ground and decided to hesitantly investigate. Finding a latter nearby, she climbed it quietly to the roof of a building, finding a Sniper camped out nearby. What stopped her from greeting the Sniper was the fact he was made entirely out of metal and in what appeared to be BLU garb. As she tried to sneak up behind in, a panel of wood creaked under her heel and alerted the Sniper of her presence. It whipped around, growling out something with a metallic voice before trying to hit her with the butt of its rifle. She dodges the blow narrowly, grabbing the gun and kicking the butt back at its jaw. It fell back with a metallic clang before Tracy climbed atop it and beat it down until she couldn't hear its gears clicking anymore. Peering through the scope of the rifle, she catches sight of the RED Team huddled up near their base, where most of the battle seems to be happening. This explains why she couldn't hear it earlier.

Relaxing her grip, she fires off a round from the rifle, taking out a metal Soldier that had been going after what appears to be a bomb. This surprised the REDs who attempt to find their helper, but are distracted by a wave of metal Scouts. The Thief herself couldn't think of a reason why she was helping them, other than the fact that she didn't like robots.

Finally, it appeared that the robots had trickled down to a few strays that randomly popped up here and there. Tracy helped take out a few, including a robot Spy, before they finally stopped. Dropping the rifle, she climbed down the ladder once more to approach the REDs in hope they wouldn't kill her.

Her feet kick the sand as she nears their base. A few REDs ready their weapons, calling to others to get ready themselves. She holds up her hands in the universal "I don't have weapons" sign. As a RED Engineer disentangles himself from the crowd of his teammates to approach her, Tracy's head swims a bit too hard and she feels herself slipping…

To be continued.