Alex groaned.
The plunge down the slope had happened so fast, she barely even understood what had happened. One second she was trying to scare off the bear, and the next… She was lying on a slightly less steep part of the slope, having been stopped by a small tree.
Then, the pain caught up to her. Because a sharp ache shooting through her right leg had her gritting her teeth and grunting loudly. She looked down, her face paling when she saw the bone sticking out of her lower leg, blood oozing out.
"Fuck… fuck…" She whispered through the pain, lowering her hands, but finding herself unable to put pressure on anything without making the pain a hundred times worse.
Another second of pain made her realize that she hadn't exactly fallen down by herself. She felt lightheaded at the implications of not hearing or seeing her anywhere around her.
"Maggie?!" She moaned out, her voice not managing anything other than a weak whisper. "Mags…"
She tried to drag herself away from the tree, as it was blocking a part of her vision down the slope. Her arms protested at the effort it took not to rustle her injured leg, but as the tree disappeared from her vision, a body a few feet down made her heart stop.
"Oh god… Maggie!" She cried out, now trying to move down on pure adrenalin, and ignoring the various pains shooting through her body. Because the thought of anything happening to her…
Before she could reach further down, she saw the detective begin to stir. Immediately, Alex became lightheaded with relief. "Mags? Can you hear me?!"
Maggie moaned pathetically, and turned her head slightly so she was facing Alex's direction. The agent could see the blood running down her temple. But as she opened her eyes, and their gazes locked, Maggie's mind caught up.
"Al… Oh… baby, your leg…" The detective got up. Alex had about twenty phrases ready to get Maggie to stop moving around so quickly, but she was in too much pain to voice any of them. Instead, she settled on a weak hand gesture. "I'm fine, don't worry."
Maggie didn't respond sarcastically, and Alex made a mental note about it. It was clear Maggie wasn't exactly in the right mind, but that didn't matter, as she was currently crawling closer to Alex. Her arms and legs seemed okay enough to move around.
When she reached her, Maggie cupped Alex's face in her hands and kissed her desperately. "I'm so sorry, I thought I… It was going to… and I…"
Alex took a hold of one of Maggie's hands, and shook her head. "It's okay… We just need to get help."
"There's no reception here, Alex." Maggie swallowed thickly, panic lining her voice. "I tried earlier, when you were scouting ahead. Not a single bar… We're… We're stuck and you're hurt and… God, it's all my fault, I'm…"
"Hey, no." Alex winced, but tried to cover it up. "We're not playing the blame game. This was an accident. That bear wasn't meant to be there."
Maggie laughed weakly at Alex's joke, but then grew serious again immediately. "Tell me what to do, Al… Tell me how I can help you."
Alex seemed to consider the situation for a second. She'd had received training to survive in any sort of climate, which had included being dropped in the wilderness and surviving for three days before being picked up at a rendezvous point. She knew what to do.
The only problem was, she couldn't move without pain shooting through her leg, let alone walk. And she was still much too concerned about that gash on the side of Maggie's head that had made her lost consciousness to forget about it.
They needed each other.
"Okay… uh…" Alex clenched her eyes shut, trying to think, trying to get a plan. Maggie was kneeled down next to her, looking her in the eyes. But apart from the head injury, she seemed okay. That thought comforted Alex, at least a little bit.
"We need to get help. We were walking up the hill at least two hours, but we slid down most of it, I think." Alex looked around, trying to orientate herself. "That means our cabin is maybe one hour away."
"Okay…" Maggie nodded slowly, but winced as her head moved around too much. She reached up to touch the side of her head, and grunted at the blood coating her fingers. "We can do that."
Maggie moved forward, and slipped an arm underneath Alex's knees. But when Alex winced, she pulled back immediately, a look of helplessness and concern on her face. "I can't move around with a broken leg, I'll slow you down."
"Alex, I'm not going to leave you here. It's getting dark, I… What if that bear comes back?!"
Alex leaned back, closing her eyes. "Mags, it's our only shot of getting help. You need to run back to the cabin."
"I'm never going to find you if I leave you behind…!" Maggie seemed decisive. "I'm not leaving."
"Mags, fuck, this isn't some noble thing you can do." Alex was getting annoyed at Maggie's behavior. "Just go and get help!"
"Can't we… I…" Maggie was breathing heavily and looking around, and Alex frowned as she watched her sluggish movements. Of course. Maggie wasn't in the right mindset, she probably had a concussion from slamming her head into a tree.
She reached forward to touch Maggie's cheek with a shaking hand. "Maggie, I need you to look at me. Babe, hey."
Maggie's eyes finally settled on her, but Alex saw the pain behind them.
"I'm sorry…" The detective whispered again. "I should have been more careful, you're hurt and I'm…"
"Babe." Alex tried again, her voice a concerned whisper. "I need you to stop talking."
Maggie trailed off immediately. Alex leaned forward to put a hand over one of Maggie's eyes, shielding it. She'd never been this desperate for a pen light.
But there wasn't enough light around them to properly do her check-up, so she looked at her again. "Maggie, what's my last name?"
"Sawyer." Maggie responded. For a second, Alex's heart dropped at the answer, fearing that the detective truly had brain damage. But Maggie flashed a weak grin after that. "Although we haven't exactly had that discussion yet."
Alex didn't reply to the cheeky comment, as she was too busy trying to assess the damage. "Do you feel dizzy or nauseous?"
"Al, I'm fine." Maggie insisted once again. "Stop it. I'm just going to go walk around the area to try and find reception. If something's wrong, yell out, okay? Give me your phone."
Alex nodded weakly, and handed it over as she watched Maggie get to her feet and start clambering back up the trail, one phone in either hand
Meanwhile, Alex considered their options once more. She highly doubted Kara could hear them from this distance, and J'onn's psychic radius definitely stopped as soon as they crossed the state.
Truly, the only option they had was getting back to the cabin. So Alex experimentally tried to get back to her feet using the nearby tree. Maybe, if she could lean on her left leg and Maggie could support her, she could at least get away from the slope before either of them slipped and fell another hundred feet down. It was miracle both of them had survived the first fall without being gravely injured.
She managed to crawl to her feet carefully, without putting pressure on her injured leg. It wasn't ideal, and she felt her left leg ache from the earlier beating it had taken, and now from supporting her entire weight.
A few cracks overhead made Alex believe that Maggie was back. But the noises didn't sound like Maggie's quick and light footsteps at all.
Alex's eyes widened, as she drew her gun. Her barely being able to move didn't mean she wasn't going to go down without a fight against whatever animal was currently stalking her.
As she aimed around without a clue where the animal could be popping out from, she heard a shout a little higher. She couldn't see Maggie anywhere, but she knew it had been her.
It had been far away, so she didn't know whether it was a scream of terror or victory. But she didn't want to take any risks with whatever was close to her, so she settled on hoping for the latter, and staying alert.
The instant something shot out of the bushes behind her, she turned around, the pain in her leg making her yell out, as she fired three bullets into the sound's direction.
After that, the forest went deadly quiet.