Chapter Four:

Fire and Water

Here we go - an extra chapter as promised. Again, sorry about the confusion. And thanks to "Rebecca is NOT Amused" for a good suggestion for a dialog sequence.

"Oh no!" Rebecca exclaimed, jumping to her feet. She bit back a wince as her bruised legs protested the action.

I knew it, she thought as she scanned the tunnel where the train had crashed. He ran out on me. As soon as he saw I was unconscious, he booked it. I bet I'll never see him again. An intense feeling of depression that followed immediately after that realization took her by surprise. She told herself that it was just because she had failed to control the first person she had ever arrested.

"Relax, girl," she muttered to herself. "There will be other chances. For now, I need to get out of here."

She looked around, gasping in dismay as she saw that her med kit had been torn open by a shard of broken glass during the crash. Her supplies were scattered everywhere. She salvaged as much as she could, but a good number had fallen into the various flaming piles of debris that were everywhere. Luckily, both her handgun and the empty hunting gun that she'd picked up on the train were lying close at hand. She picked up the former, since it still contained a few bullets, and walked slowly around the room.

As she neared one corner of the room, a still form on the ground made her jump with surprise. She peered closer, half-dreading that it might be Billy, only to see the mangled, disjointed limbs of a zombie. This one was dead, however, its skull crushed in. Idly, she wondered if it had died as a result of being hit by the train, or if Billy had killed it on his way through.

Either way, she thought, that's one less monster for me to deal with.

There was a sudden sound behind her, and she jumped in surprise, whirling around. Billy was standing in front of her. She barely had time to swallow her instinctive sigh of relief before he dropped a few small box at her feet. It contained fifteen handgun rounds. Rebecca loaded five of them into the chamber of her handgun, feeling a lot better about the situation.

"So I see Sleeping Beauty finally woke up," Billy said.

Rebecca scowled at him. "Where did you go?"

He shrugged. "You were unconscious, sweetheart, so I thought I'd take the liberty of checking around a little. You know, to see where we ended up."

"If you ask me," Rebecca said through clenched teeth, "you've been taking a few too many liberties, Coen. Don't forget you're under arrest."

"I won't," he said cheerfully.

Rebecca sighed, refusing to admit that she was glad he was still alive. He's already been sentenced to death for his crimes, she reminded herself. It doesn't make any difference whether he's executed or gets eaten by a B.O.W.

Her stomach growled loudly, and she remembered the packages of noodles that she'd grabbed from the train kitchen. She had only found one of them, but she still had a bottle of water. She poured the precious liquid into the Styrofoam noodle container until it was full, and then covered it and set it as close to the flames as she could without melting it.

The oily smell of the noodles contrasted strangely with the scent of death that surrounded the wrecked train. But it was the first food that Rebecca had seen since her breakfast that morning, so long ago. She picked up the plastic fork that had come with the meal and stirred it, breathing in the rich steam.

Then she realized that she was faced with a new problem: with handcuffs on, how was Billy supposed to eat? She thought about taking them off for a little while, but rejected the idea. He was already too cocky. If he thought she would show him any lenience, he would become intolerable.

She stuck the fork into a clump of noodles, twisting to catch as many strands as she could, and then turned to the convict, who was seated nearby.

"Open wide," she directed.

Billy looked surprised for a moment before answering, "You don't need to give me any, sweetheart. You should have it all to yourself."

"I'm not going to let you starve to death," she replied sharply. "No matter what you might think, I'm not the sort of police officer who feels nothing but hate for criminals. I think that every person has the right to basic comforts, no matter what they've done."

His eyes grew unexpectedly sad. "You're a sweet kid, Rebecca. Too good for this world. If I-"

Before he could finish his sentence, she jammed the forkful of noodles into his mouth, smiling in satisfaction as he choked slightly and let out an incoherent curse.

"Just shut up and eat," she said. "That's an order."

She took a bite herself, happy to see that the charming glint was back in his eye. She was used to Billy the Arrogant Flirt by now, but she wasn't sure what to think of Billy the Serious Philosopher.

As the fork touched her lips, and then her tongue, she blushed suddenly as she realized she was sharing a utensil with him. It's not like I have a choice, she thought, angry at her embarrassment. Besides, all I can taste is noodle. Still, she tried to take the noodles from the tip of the fork as gingerly as she could.

Within minutes, the substance of the meal was gone, and all that was left was warm, flavored water. Loathe to waste any form of food, Rebecca drank half of the broth in one gulp before setting the rim of the cup to Billy's lips, tilting it slowly so as not to drown him. A hot flush crept up her face as she watched the movement of his throat when he swallowed. A little too eager for the uncomfortable procedure to conclude, Rebecca tipped the remainder of the broth into his mouth in one smooth movement. She had underestimated the amount, however, and a thin trickle slid down the side of his chin. Reflexively, Rebecca reached up and brushed it away. The slight scratch of his stubble against her wrist make her shiver, and she jerked away quickly when she noticed him grinning at her.

Standing up, she tossed the empty noodle cup aside and put the rest of the water and the handgun bullets into her med kit. Behind her, Billy got to his feet as well, with a little more difficulty.

"Thanks for the food," he said, his voice unnaturally polite. Rebecca didn't dare look at him; she didn't want to see the teasing in his eyes.

"You're welcome," she replied stiffly. "Let's get moving. We need to get to safety."

"I'm with you there, sweetheart," Billy said.

Upon inspection, it became apparent that there were only two ways out of their self-created prison. One was a set of double doors that looked like they led to an elevator; these refused to open. The other was a small door, the green paint flaking off the metal. Rebecca opened it and stared down the questionable, watery passage that it revealed. There was a little bit of space along the walls for a person to step, but no handholds, and the stone looked slippery. She decided that it would be more embarrassing to fall into the water than to just walk through it from the beginning.

"Need a piggy-back ride?" Billy's deep voice rumbled from right behind her. He sounded amused.

"Absolutely not!" Rebecca snapped, stepping down into the knee-deep water just to prove that she wasn't afraid. She bit back a hiss of disgust as the cold, clinging fluid seeped through her shoes and started creeping up the legs of her pants. She ran through it as quickly as she could without making too much noise, and seized the ladder at the other end of the passage, climbing quickly.

She was about halfway up when it occurred to her to wonder how Billy was going to climb up. It wasn't like he could turn around and ascend backwards. She looked down and saw him standing at the foot of the ladder, peering up at her. She didn't even need to explain the problem to him, as he clearly understood.

"I have an idea," he said calmly once she had climbed back down. "Why don't you handcuff my arms in front of me instead? These ladder rungs are close enough together for me to be able to get up like that. Once we get back to the top, you can switch them around again."

She frowned at him. "You're being awfully cooperative for a fugitive."

He shrugged. "You've got the gun, sweetheart, and I've never been one for resisting arrest." The humoring look in his eyes said that he had another reason for playing along, but he didn't voice it.

Rebecca didn't see that there was any point in arguing. "Fine. Turn around. But I warn you, if you make any false moves, I won't hesitate to shoot you."

"Yes, Ma'am," he said. Taking out her key, she unlocked the cuffs. He flexed his arms, and she was afraid for a moment that he would try to run for it, or even turn on her and exact his revenge. But instead, he just turned around and held his wrists out in front of him so she could cuff him again.

Enjoy this while you can, she told herself. I'd be surprised if any other criminal you arrest is going to be so good-natured.

"You go up first," she directed, but he shook his head.

"No. If I fall, I don't want to knock you off the ladder. Just go ahead. I promise I won't run away."

She glared at him, but eventually she had to accept that fact that there wasn't much she could do to persuade him, short of pulling her gun on him, and she didn't want to do that.

Taking hold of the ladder, she climbed quickly, reaching up to push aside the panel at the top. She crawled out and then knelt on the floor and looked back down to see how Billy was faring. Truthfully, watching him climb the ladder was a fairly amusing sight. He gripped each rung with his right hand, moving his left up as far as the handcuffs would allow so that he could grab the next. In that fashion, slow and steady, he made his way to the top. Rebecca moved aside to let him get through. He sat on the edge of the hole, swinging his legs and sighing.

"That's got to be the longest ladder I've ever climbed," he said.

Rebecca wasn't sure how to reply. He seemed to be making a joke, but at the same time, she could understand how he might feel a little resentful of being forced to climb ladders in handcuffs.

Wait, what am I thinking! He's a criminal! He deserves to be in those handcuffs. I have to stop thinking like this. I can never be a real officer of the law if I can't even arrest someone properly.

"Hold out your hands," she said, sharply. When he did, she removed one side of the cuffs and then twisted his arm roughly behind his back so that she could clip them back into place.

"Whoa," said Billy. "You must really be into bondage, or something."

Rebecca could only gawk at him. She had never heard such a ridiculous statement in her life. "Wh-what?"

"I mean, you slapped those handcuffs on me in a pretty aggressive manner, as if you're pretty used to this sort of thing. Plus this whole 'keeping me at your mercy' thing … it just seems kinda …" he trailed off, his eyebrows raising as he watched her eyes go from shocked to angry.

"It just seems kind of what?" Rebecca asked poisonously.

"Hey, never mind," he said. "It was a joke, all right? It's obvious that you're just trying to do your job here. Sorry for being such a pain in the ass."

Rebecca stared at him. Really, she could just not understand this man. First he makes a comment about her liking bondage, and then he apologizes for it and admits to being annoying? Exactly what was going on in his mind? She narrowed her eyes.

"Apology accepted, Coen. Now, let's get moving. I want to see what sort of place we've ended up in."