"There's the plane," Mac said from the back seat of the Blackhawk. Jack in the copilot's seat turned his binoculars in the direction Mac had pointed. Sure enough, the small Cessna's silver hide showed in patches beneath the trees of the thick forest. Now he could see it; Jack could study the signs of the ailing planes crashing path. Jack looked over at the pilot.

"I have a clearing two kliks…"The rest of the pilot's words vanished in an explosion and instant twirling fast descent into the forest. Before Jack could sputter out a question there was a flash then the tail rotor was crumbling and falling. Jack had time to glance back and share a wide-eyed panic look with Mac before they hit the canopy.

Jack moaned slowly opening his eyes. It took him a second to realize he was still alive and another to know he was dangling upside down. Blood dripped from his forehead, and his chest hurt like hell, but he didn't see any bones sticking out, that was something.

"Jack!" Mac screamed. Jack's heart leaped at the panic in his partner's voice. He glanced back to see the other half of the helicopter crushed. The pilot was apparently dead, and Mac's seat flattened into a pile of metal and broken glass.

"Mac!" Jack said fumbling for his seatbelt. A thump out his window startled him. He looked down, or up for the rest of the world, and saw Mac pounding on his window. Mac grinned when he saw Jack look at him.

"I'll get you out in a minute!" The clear shell muffled Mac's shout. Mac ducked away. Jack blinked taking time to process where they were. They had hit an ancient oak tree at the junction of two branches as big as Jack's waist. Jack gulped as he looked down at a long fall to smaller trees, maples Jack absently noted. He closed his eyes thinking the world was rocking when he realized the only thing rocking was the helicopter. Jack felt his heart start to pound. Without the tail, the aircraft was a ball. The landing had smashed on the pilot's side making it virtually a see-saw. Looking at the drop, Jack swallowed bile.

"Mac!" Jack yelled unable to hide the fear in his voice. He heard something mechanical and felt everything tip back. "MAC!" There was a loud scream, and the helicopter groaned and slowly rolled Jack-side up. Jack blinked in surprise then Mac opened the door and cut Jack's belt pulling the man ungracefully from the cockpit. Jack felt something loop around his chest. A deafening whine ground into a painful screech.

"Down," Mac yelled grabbing Jack and bending him putting his body on top of the older man. Jack closed his eyes for a second reassured by the presence of his partner then came an explosion that rocked the tree. The helicopter fell away taking half the tree with it. The air stank of burned fuel, woodsmoke and filled with black smoke. Jack choked blinded. Before he could sputter out anything, there was an earthshaking crack, and the tree was falling. Jack looked up at Mac's blue shirt as he felt himself fall backward. Jack closed his eyes his stomach almost emptying as the tree crashed through the smaller hedge of trees below it then flopped onto the ground. Jack had a sense of tipping upside down then falling, flipping in midair. Jack grunted as he was pulled up a foot from the ground by something tight around his chest. Jack dangled by his armpits sucking in air again taking a second to realize he was alive. Jack grinned.

"Mac! That was amazing!" He got no answer. Jack wiped blood out of his eyes and frowned. He kicked his feet slowly pivoting eyes darting searching for his friend. "Mac? MAC!" The fear in his voice was ramping up in volume.

"Just give me a second." Mac softly groaned. Jack followed the voice to a thicket of underbrush where he could see Mac slowly picking himself up off the ground. Jack frowned as Mac staggered then holding his side limped over to Jack. Mac leaned against Jack's side for a second. Jack did not like how pale the kid was. Mac hissed as he reached up and cut Jack free. Jack yelped and fell his legs swinging out and clipping Mac causing them to tumble to the ground in a jumble of limbs. They both sat there breathing a second. Jack laughed and held out his fist. Mac managed a watery smile and bumped it with his. Mac was the first one upright and helped Jack pulling him upright to sitting. Jack went to stand. Mac held him down and peered at the blood oozing from Jack's scalp. The blonde frowned.

"That's quite a cut, how bad?" Mac asked studying Jack closely. Jack sighed.

"It hurts, won't lie. But there's no dizziness or anything." Mac leaned back and let out a deep breath. He winced in pain and staggered a step back. Jack was up to his feet in an instant. Mac reached out a hand and steadied himself holding onto Jack's shoulder taking slow deep breaths. "What about you?" Jack asked. Mac opened his eyes and smiled. Jack scanned him. Mac held his middle, hopefully only a few ribs. His eyes were equal and not dilated so probably no concussion. Jack looked down, and his heart sank. Mac's left pant leg was soaked through with blood worse than that was a thick fold of metal that stuck out of his thigh. Before Mac could choke out a word, Jack pushed Mac to the ground holding on to ease the fall. Mac grunted his face turning another few shades of white.

"Sorry, bud," Jack said as he bent over Mac's leg. Jack winced in sympathy. The metal had impaled Mac's leg through and through. Jack glanced at Mac seeing him lose focus and swallow a few times. "So how the hell did you get us out of that? How did you not get squished?" Jack asked as he pulled Mac's swiss army knife out of his pocket and used it to cut Mac's pant leg. Mac focused on him blinking.

"I jumped out." He murmured licking his dry lips. Jack froze staring at him.

"You what?" Mac shrugged, grimaced, then held onto his side forcing himself to breathe through the pain. "How far did you fall?"

"Not sure didn't have time to think about it."

"I can see that. Ok, then what?" Jack gently pulled the last bits of Mac's pants from the swollen bloody site.

"I...I made a rope and...and used it to make the rotor into a winch." Mac's eyes kept fluttering. Jack shook him.

"Uh-uh no passing out allowed." Mac gave him the finger. Jack grinned. His amusement vanished when he saw the size of the wound. He glanced at the woods surrounding him. Any field kit or supplies had gone up in flames. The tree cover was too thick to expect anyone to see them, and that was if by miracle anyone was looking for them. On books, the plane they had been sent to find was a CIA currier flight. It had been missing for three days so any intelligence would already be out of date and scrubbed. All of the official intelligence anyway, Phoenix had its asset on the plane who had inside information about a CIA conspiracy with a new terror group. Matty had assumed the CIA had destroyed the aircraft but wanted Mac and Jack to bring back whatever information they found at the crash site.

It had taken them three days of low flights over the vast Appalachian forest before they spotted it, ten minutes later they were blown out of the sky. Not good, Jack frowned. He looked back at Mac whose eyes had slipped closed. Jack bit his lip thinking of his best options. His ingrained instinct was to leave the metal in and wait, but he knew someone would be wondering about the chopper they shot down and come to look. Jack pulled Mac up and cut off his button up leaving Mac with a white sleeveless undershirt. Mac moaned and opened his eyes.

"What're ya doin'?" He mumbled. Jack frowned.

"I have to make a bandage."

"Gonna get cold." Jack huffed. In the early afternoon, it was a pleasant 75 degrees, on top of the mountains that would drop dramatically at night; Mac was already shivering.

"I know. I'm sorry brother." Mac looked at him puzzled. Jack offered an apologetic smile grabbed the metal and yanked it out with one motion. Mac screamed his back arching. He sank back gasping in air breaking out in beads of sweat. Jack didn't think anyone could be as pale who wasn't on a morgue table. Jack shoved aside the morbid thought and focused on tying up Mac's wound. He tied it as tight as he could without cutting off circulation. Mac blinked his eyes and looked at Jack.

"Ow." He said ridiculously calm.

"Yeah, I'm not sure I will get the wound to stop bleeding without cauterizing it." Mac blinked then licked his dry lips.

"Spiderwebs."

"What?"

"Find...some webs...helps to clot." Jack glanced around them. Well, he was in the right place to find them.

"Ok, first we gotta get outa here." Mac nodded and slowly pushed himself to his feet, with Jack's support they were able to move into deeper woods away from the crash. Jack wasn't sure how long they staggered, but he could feel Mac's weight lean on him more and more as they traveled. The kid's head was bowed, and Jack could tell Mac focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

Finally, Jack found an excellent place to make a shelter as far away from the chopper as he thought Mac would be able to go. Three enormous boulders leaned against a small outcropping leaving a little crevice between them. Jack scraped away the leaves and laid Mac down putting his leg up on a log. Mac's eyes fluttered open then shut; he was out. Using the saw on Mac's knife, Jack cut down some pine fronds and quickly wove a cover that would hopefully keep the sun off Mac and camouflage him from searchers.

"I'll be back." Jack murmured. Mac didn't respond. Jack brushed the kid's bangs back wincing at how cold and clammy the kid was. Jack stood up and sprinted away, his survival training kicking into full gear. He followed a herd of deer until they led him to a small stream. Jack knelt down and studied the water. He was relieved to see life in the bottom. It would still need purifying, but at least it wasn't stagnant or had too many life-threatening chemicals if any.

Jack found a small log and worked frantically digging out the middle, so he was left with a hollow container the size of a two-liter bottle of soda. He rinsed it out and filled it with water. Always his eyes raked the environment around him looking for movement, ears hyperaware for any sound that didn't belong. Other than the deer silently walking away, there was none. Jack took a relieved breath and continued his foraging. He found a knot of black raspberry vines growing across a small sunny area. He frowned until he realized that he had absently stuffed a long piece of Mac's shirt in his back pocket.

"Yay me." Jack grinned. He plucked as many as he could folding them in the cloth. Jack had to go on for another hour before he found a bush covered with thick spider's nests. Jack grimaced praying the spiders really were more scared of him than he was of them, and if not, they at least weren't poisonous. Jack used a stick and twirled it around the nest shaking off as many moving dots as he could. When he had a ball the size of a baseball, he shook it and started sprinting back toward Mac.

Jack panted and skidded to a stop his sweat chilling him. He was relieved and worried to find Mac precisely as he'd left. The kid hadn't moved a muscle. His bandaged leg was soaked through again bleeding. Jack looked at the sky. The sun was starting to fall. Jack thought about where they'd been over the mountain before they went down. They probably landed on the eastern lee so that night would come quicker. Jack unbound Mac's leg and shaking spiders loose spread the webbing across both sides of the wound as much as he could. Jack shook his head; the webs seemed to melt into the blood.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Jack muttered.

"Pr'bly not." Jack jumped and smiled up at Mac who calmly watched him.

"Glad you woke up after laying around all afternoon while I hiked all over hell and gone." Mac smiled having trouble keeping his eyes open.

"It's your turn," Mac grunted automatically trying to move his leg away as Jack rewrapped it.

"I suppose," Jack said through gritted teeth. He looked at Mac. The younger man's eyes were at half mast. Jack glanced up at the tiny light between the lace of leaves; it would be dark in a few minutes. He wouldn't be able to light a fire at night, it would be a beacon for any pursuers, and even with his natural compass Jack could easily get lost while trying to gather the needed wood. Jack shrugged giving up the argument to himself. He sniffed the water and took a tentative sip.

Jack sighed in relief. It tasted clean and fresh. He shifted Mac pulling him deeper into the makeshift shelter and leaned him against Jack's chest. Mac mumbled something. Jack leaned around him.

"C'mon, bud, you need to drink and eat." Mac opened his eyes and frowned at Jack.

"Eat?"

"What you didn't see the McDonald's on your way down?" Mac chuckled then held his side. Jack's face grew serious. "You ok?" Mac scoffed at him.

"I'm fine...tired."

"Well here, take this then you can sleep." Mac drank half the water refusing anymore so Jack could have the other half. They split the berries as full dark fell. Jack pulled Mac closer and put his arm around the kid trying to keep them both warm. He closed his eyes. The forest was too dark to see anything in so he relied on sound.

He heard the lonely call of owls and barks of foxes and coyotes. He listened to the faint rustling of land creatures hopefully raccoons, possums or other non-mountain lion or bear. Jack dozed off. In the middle of the night, a new sound snapped his eyes open. The sound of branches snapping and steps in leaves. The voices seemed far away but on a mountain this late, it was hard to tell. Jack pulled Mac closer mentally calculating the advantages and disadvantages of their location if it came to fighting. Jack scowled realizing the steps were coming towards them.