A/N Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews! This chapter is a little shorter but I felt compelled to offer up something in return! I hope this lives up to your expectations! ~Kelcor
Knowing that any gunfire would bring the rest of this guy's crew running back to the clearing, Steve knew that stealth was the key here. So, leaving his gun holstered, he inched his way forward, while Danny distracted the guy, neither of the Five-0 agents noticing the unexpected enemy behind Steve.
As he came up to the gunman's back, little more than a foot away, Steve prepared to make his move, aiming to trap the guy in a choke hold… when his foot landed on a dry branch. Danny had, unfortunately, chosen that moment to stall in his banter. In the comparative silence, the cracking of the branch seemed to be as loud as a cannon!
The thug swung around to face Steve, just as Steve himself leapt forward, knocking the gunman to the ground and landing on top of him, the machine gun thrown to the side in the struggle. The thug, being beefier than Steve got the upper hand for a moment and rolled to the right, putting Steve below him. The huge amount of weight knocked the air out of Steve's lungs but his agility won him bonus points as he wriggled an arm free and elbowed the thug in the nose, knocking him off his chest and back onto the ground.
Taking advantage of the bloody-nose-distraction, Steve took his gun out of its holster but the thug recovered faster than expected and knocked the gun out of Steve's hand, sending it flying somewhere into the bushes. He then slammed Steve in the face with a huge fist. Once. Twice. He pulled a large knife out of his belt and raised it above his head. Steve's eyes widened as the knife came hurtling towards his chest - BANG!
A look of shock registered on the thug's face before he fell forward on top of Steve.
Steve looked up to see Danny holding the thug's smoking gun - literally. He shoved the guy off of him with a grunt, then rolled a few feet away, toward the tree line.
"You okay?" Danny's voice was filled with concern.
Steve took a moment to take a deep, somewhat healing breath, then: "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."
"Good to know. Cuz, y'know, you look like crap."
This earned an honest-to-goodness smile from the ex-SEAL. "Thanks." They both knew what he was thanking him for.
"Your welcome," Danny replied, turning back to the path they had used to get here. "But we should really get outta here. There's no way his buddies didn't hear that gunshot. They're gonna come back and I doubt they'll be happy that we killed one of their own."
Steve didn't respond and Danny could swear there was tension in his silence.
"Steve?" He turned back to his partner, only to find him staring at the ground with more than a little trepidation. "What? What is it?"
"Uh, remember when you accused me of not being afraid of anything?"
"Yeah, the first day we met. You still give new meaning to the term 'fearless leader'," Danny said with a chuckle. Then, he put the pieces together. "Why," he asked, the single word drawn out by a distinct sense of dread.
"Because, the one thing I'm afraid of? Well, it's staring me in the face, right now."
Danny started to take a step toward him.
"No," Steve said. "Don't move."
It suddenly occurred to Danny how still McGarrett had become. Steve was never still unless he was in stealth mode. That's when he heard the hissing. "Steve, what is it?"
"Rattlesnake," Steve answered, desperately trying to keep the fear out of his voice… and failing miserably.
"No way. Can't be. Hawaii doesn't have rattlesnakes. I know. I looked up every possible venomous snake and spider when Gracie moved here. My research told me very clearly… no rattlesnakes in Hawaii."
"Well, they have 'em in Venezuela, and this one looks quite similar to a rattler I saw there once."
"But how'd it get here? I mean, they can't swim… can they?"
"No," Steve said, still not breaking eye contact with the snake. "It probably hitched a ride in one of those crates over there," he added with a barely noticeable jerk of his chin.
"Okay, so, how do we kill it then?"
Usually rattlesnakes didn't attack humans unless they felt threatened... usually. But Steve could sense something different from this particular creature. Something was off about it. Making his decision, he slowly reached out toward Danny. "Hand me the gun. Slowly," he whispered through gritted teeth.
Inch by agonizing inch, Danny handed the gun to Steve. It slid a bit in his sweat slicked hands but he managed to keep a hold of it and slowly brought it to bear on the snake. But before he was able to even place his finger on the trigger, the snake struck!
Steve grunted, barely holding back a cry of pain. As he lay on the ground, grabbing at the wound in his leg to try to ease the throbbing, the snake slithered its way toward the tree line and freedom. Danny snatched the gun away from Steve and fired a few rounds into the venomous creature, not satisfied until it lay smoking in the dirt.
With a quick glance behind him, Danny knelt at Steve's side and tore the pant leg to get a better look at the wound. The bruising was already appearing around the bite marks. Without a second's hesitation, he leaned down and began sucking the venom out, spitting it to the ground each time. He would have continued, except Steve pushed him away. "There's no time," he panted, voice tight with pain. "If they didn't hear the first gun shot, they definitely heard that. We need to go. Now."
Reluctantly, Danny agreed with his partner. He quickly ravaged the camp for supplies.
"What are you doing?"
"We can't go back the way we came. We're going to have to circle around to get to the car and get you medical attention. It might take a while," he said, grabbing a few bottles of water and tossing them into a nearby satchel. He transferred the food and medical supplies he'd found in there, as well. Tossing the satchel over one shoulder, he returned to Steve, who, of course, was struggling to get up on his own.
Without waiting to be asked, Danny gripped his partner by the elbow and hauled him the rest of the way to his feet, then wrapped the wounded man's arm over his shoulders. In the distance, they were able to hear the other firearm smugglers returning. Danny wrapped his free arm around Steve's waist and took most of his weight as they ran/hobbled into the forest, moving in the opposite direction from which they came… away from the car, cell signals, and safety.
TBC
A/N Looks like this will be longer than a two-shot. Maybe a three-shot? That is, if you even want me to continue…?
