Everything was deathly quiet except for a slight moaning of metal as it strained to hold together. KITT tried to scan the area, but his systems were sluggish and some were not responding at all. Then he heard Michael gasping.
"KITT, release the restraint, I can't breath."
KITT loosened up the setting of the laser restraint but did not completely release Michael. "Michael, don't move. My position is not stable and if I roll completely onto my side I fear the impact will start the trailer rolling again."
"Okay." Michael said as he started to look around. KITT was partially on his passenger side with his driver side tires resting on what should be the floor of the semi. He couldn't see anything outside KITT's cabin, the lights were out. "KITT, can you put some light out there? Where's Bonnie?"
KITT turned on his lower fog lights and illuminated the disaster area that used to be their mobile office. "My scanners are minimally functional, but I can detect her on the floor directly ahead of me about 5 feet away. Actually she is on the wall just like I am."
Fear welled up inside Michael at the thought that Bonnie might be badly injured. She had just gone through the same thing he had, but she didn't have KITT to absorb all the impacts. "All right, you're gonna have to let me go partner so I can get out there and check on her."
"Michael I'm afraid if you move too much you may cause me to loose my balance and fall over." There was a slight tremor in KITT's voice. He was scared and this was one of those rare occasions where he had no control over the situation to help his friends. In fact he was actually in a position to cause them more harm.
Michael looked around again, and then noticed warm fluid running down the side of his face. He was bleeding from somewhere on his head. That would explain the hammer like pounding inside his skull he thought. "I think I can get out the driver window, I'll be careful to keep all my weight towards the left side to keep you balanced, but I have to get out to help Bonnie. Okay?" He was trying to calm KITT a little.
"Alright, are you ready?" KITT asked.
"Yea, let me go slowly."
As KITT loosed the restraint Michael worked his way up to the driver seat all while trying to keep his weight as close to the floor of the car as possible. His head was really pounding now, and he had to move slowly to keep from getting dizzy. He made his way out the window and started to slide down the front fender.
"Watch the hood Michael it's closed but not latched."
"I see it." he said and then jumped lightly off of KITT's fender to the wall, now the floor, of the trailer. He went down to his knees immediately, holding his head trying to still the pounding and the slow the dizziness that enveloped him.
"Michael, are you all right?" KITT's voice was heavy with concern.
"Yes, just give me a minute." he said as he took slow deep breaths trying to control the pain.
Then he heard a moan from Bonnie's location and it got louder. He swallowed down his nausea, gritted his teeth against the pounding in his head, and got up to move over to Bonnie. He found her lying just a few feet from KITT, with her left shoulder in an unnatural position. He knelt down beside her and placed his hand on the side of her face and neck.
"Bonnie, can you hear me? Don't move I think you dislocated your shoulder." He could see the pain she was suffering in her face and he wanted more than anything to wipe it away for her.
"Michael, where are you? What happened?" she said. There was definite confusion in her voice.
"Open your eyes, there's light in here." He paused and when she didn't obey him he tried again. "Come on open your eyes, let me see those beautiful brown eyes." he said softly.
This time she listened and opened her eyes to look him straight in the face. She could see the stream of bright red blood flowing down his cheek and neck. "Oh my God, Michael you're bleeding!" she said and started to wipe the blood away when the pain in her shoulder shot down her arm. She screamed as the pain increased. Michael grabbed her arm and held it still.
"I told you not to move." Without turning his attention from her he said, "Can you x-ray her shoulder, KITT?"
"No, Michael, the x-ray system is not functioning. However from my limited other scanning equipment I would say her shoulder is definitely dislocated, and I might add that you both are probably suffering from mild to severe concussions."
"Yea, I coulda guessed that one." He lightly placed his hand on her forehead and brushed her bangs away. "Bonnie, l want you to look at me again." she had her eyes squeezed tightly shut trying to fight back the pain in her shoulder. Michael kept talking to her softly.
"It's gonna be okay, come on I want you to focus on me." Finally she opened her eyes and looked at him. He flashed her his killer smile and she smiled slightly in return. "Okay that's better." He sat down next her for fear that he might fall on her if he couldn't fight the dizziness.
"I'm going to have to put your shoulder back in place. It's gonna hurt like hell for a few seconds and then all the pain will go away. Okay?"
She nodded her head "Yes." she replied in a shaky voice.
"Okay." Michael moved to her left side and looked over her shoulder without moving her arm or anything. The ball of her shoulder had popped backwards out of the socket; he would have to pull her arm forward with a hard jerk to get it to pop back into position. He sat down next to her and started to take his boot off and explain what he was going to do.
"I'm gonna use my foot as a brace and hold your hand to pull your arm out straight in front of you. Then with one quick jerk I'll pull your shoulder back into place."
Bonnie stared at him blankly for a second. "Where are you going to put your foot?"
"In your arm pit, to brace your shoulder while I pull."
"Michael, I don't know about this. Have you ever done this before?"
"Yea sure lots of times." he smiled.
She looked at him and knew he was lying. "Alright, if you say so."
He realized that she knew he was lying, but she trusted him to do it anyway. He reached out to her cheek, rested his palm there, and looked deep into her eyes. He saw fear, pain and enormous trust. "This is going to really hurt and then it will be all over."
She nodded in reply before he gently lifted her arm and placed his foot in her armpit. He pulled lightly until her arm was straight out. She moaned in pain and bit her bottom lip as a tear escaped from her eye.
"Here we go three… two… one." He counted down and then pulled her arm very quickly and very hard towards him. He felt as well as heard the joint pop back into place. She cried out in pain louder than the first time and curled up in a ball. Michael held her arm and rubbed it to work the feeling back in and soothe the pain. Then he pulled her up to his lap, held her and whispered how sorry he was for hurting her.
The pain had stopped already and she could feel Michael's hands on her arm. Then he pulled her into his arms and held her close. She clung to his strength and the warmth of his body. She sat there for a few seconds feeling safe from the world in his embrace and momentarily forgot the disaster around them. Then she felt the warm sticky fluid on his neck and remembered that he had been hurt too.
She pulled back from him. "You're bleeding."
He looked at her and brushed her hair away from the left side of her face. He saw a small gash there above her ear. It wasn't bleeding as profusely as his head was, but it was bleeding nonetheless. "So are you."
She looked around the mess trying to locate the first aid kit and spotted it secured to the front wall where it should be.
"Sit here I'll get the first aid kit," she said as she got up.
"Try to stay to the floor side of the trailer. KITT's afraid that we aren't real stable here." He said as he lay back on the floor. Now that she was okay he was having trouble fighting off the dizziness.
She came back with some antiseptic, gauze and bandages. When she knelt down next to him she noticed that he was very pale. "Michael?" she said questioningly.
He opened his eyes slowly and looked at her. "You don't look good." she said.
"Thanks, you on the other hand look like you're ready to go dancing."
"Sorry." She reached out to his chin and gently turned his head to the side to get a better look at the cut. "Michael, I think this is pretty deep. It's probably going to need stitches."
He had closed his eyes again and responded without opening them. "There are supplies in the kit to do that."
She snorted a little "You have got to be kidding right? There is no way I can stitch up your head. I can't even sew a button on my shirt."
Her hand was still resting on his cheek and he reached up to place his hand lightly on her arm. "You have to." he said quietly. Then he rolled his head so that he could look in her eyes to let her know he was serious.
She sighed "All right. Let me clean it up and try to stop some of the bleeding first."
He rolled his head back to the side, and she went to work cleaning the wound. It wasn't a large gash, only about an inch or so.
"KITT, I'm going to need some help calculating the dosages of drugs. I know there is an anesthetic in the kit as well as a pain killer of some kind." She said as she finished with the cleaning.
"Of course, you should probably give him some antibiotics too."
She started to get up and Michael caught her arm. "No drugs, I need my head clear."
"You need some pain killers."
"I said no drugs." He repeated in a calm but forceful voice.
"Michael, at least let her give you some penicillin and Tylenol." KITT said pleadingly
"Okay, but nothing else." he agreed.
She went back to the first aid kit and retrieved the materials to stitch up Michael's head as well as a small vial of penicillin and a syringe. They had always kept a few prescription drugs on hand for emergencies, but there had never been a use for them until now. Michael usually made it to a hospital first. She came back to him and sat down again. She gave him the pills first and a bottle of water, then she started to thread the needle with the silk. Her hands were shaking and it took several minutes for her to accomplish the task.
Michael knew she was scared to death; he reached out to her hand and covered it in his. "You can do this."
"I don't want to hurt you."
"I'll be fine. Just make the stitches small and go in and out of the skin quickly. That'll hurt less." She really didn't think she could do this, but Michael had such confidence in her and he needed her to help him.
She nodded once and started to stitch him up. She finished in a few minutes and with KITT's help administered some penicillin as well. Then she put a bandage over the newly stitched cut.
"There, all done. How do you feel?" she asked Michael.
"Like I've been used for a pin cushion."
"Well, I guess that sarcasm means you'll live."
"Yea, I just need a few minutes here."
"Fine. I'll look around and see what kind of condition we are in." She stood and walked up to KITT's prow. "Well this is certainly a different way of looking at you." She said to him.
"I'm getting a different perspective of the world as well." KITT responded.
"What can I do for you? Are you okay?"
"At this point my problems are minimal and none of them are life threatening to you. However the engine is going to need much more work now. I believe there is a leak in the crank case and oil is spilling out."
Bonnie got concerned, if the oil managed to get into some of the electronics it could short out circuits and cause KITT further discomfort. "KITT, where is the oil leaking?"
"I'm not sure. There are no self diagnostics functioning right now."
She left him to look for a flashlight and after searching around the rubble and remains of her computers and workbench she finally came back with one.
"If I open your hood will it unbalance you?"
"I don't believe so, but just in case do it slowly."
She opened his hood a little and glanced around. The oil leak was small, but visible. "I found it. I think with some rags I can stop the flow enough so that nothing will short out."
She put a few shop rags around the leak and stuffed a couple more in places where the oil had dripped already. "KITT, have you activated the emergency signal yet?"
"Yes, I did it as we started over the cliff."
"Good." Then she stopped dead in her tracks and turned to look at Michael. "Oh my God!" she shouted.
Michael sat up instantly and regretted it immediately as his head pounded and the dizziness returned. "What?"
"I forgot, I disabled all the emergency alarms at FLAG and never turned them back on."
Michael held his head as he got to his feet. "Don't worry about it; someone will notice them eventually when we don't call in."
Bonnie looked pale, "What if they don't?"
He walked up to her "They will. Now let's clean up your cuts and I want to get some ice on this." He indicated his injury.
They moved over to the first aid kit to save carrying the supplies around, and Michael cleaned and bandaged up the cut on Bonnie's head, two small ones on her arms and another one on her knee. She had numerous bruises all over.
"You know you're really going to feel these tomorrow." He said as he finished up and put the supplies away.
"What are you talking about? I feel them already."
He poured a couple of pills in his hand. "Here take these. It's just Motrin, nothing real strong."
"Alright time to assess the situation. KITT, I'm assuming there's no communications out of here?" Michael said.
"That would be a correct assumption. My systems are still down and I don't think you'll find any of the computers on the floor functioning." KITT said
"What about cell phones?" Bonnie asked.
Michael looked around and laughed. "Do you have any idea where yours is?"
Bonnie also looked around the mess and shrugged. "I guess we could start looking and then hope it's not destroyed when we find it."
"Michael your phone is still here with me." KITT called.
"I don't know if I can get back in there and not knock you over."
"Well, I'm lighter why don't I try? Besides I want to shut down some of KITT's unnecessary functions. We didn't get his battery charged and I don't want him going offline due to a lack of power." Bonnie said as she made her way through the debris to KITT.
Michael followed right behind her. "You know this is really creepy with the couch and table nailed to the wall". He had stopped next to the couch and was staring at it.
She laughed at him and raised her arms to start climbing up KITT's nose to the fender. Her injured shoulder pulled and she grabbed it with her hand and rubbed it.
"Hey, let me boost you up there." Michael said and came up behind her. "We should really immobilize your arm when you're done in there." He picked her up and supported her with his hands on her butt. He grinned "This is where I've always wanted to put my hands."
"Michael Knight, can't you ever be serious?" she said as he shoved her up onto KITT's fender.
"Now where would be the fun in that?"
She inched her way along the fender to the open window.
"KITT, is there anyway I can help counter balance you while she crawls in there?"
"Perhaps, but I'm not sure if it's safe for you." KITT said.
"Well tell me what it is and I'll decide."
"Would you two hurry up? This is not the most comfortable position." Bonnie complained.
"Michael if you crawl under the open gap between the bottom of my chassis and the wall you might be able to find some place to hang your weight that will help. The higher up the wall you can go the more counter balance you will provide."
Michael started to move under KITT, keeping as close to the wall as possible. He found that KITT's tires against the wall left a decent gap between the car body and the wall. He jumped up and grabbed a hold of KITT's frame. "Okay go on in, but don't take forever. This isn't the most comfortable position either."
Bonnie slid in the open window and stood on the side of the passenger seat back. "KITT, where is Michael's phone?"
"In the center glove compartment."
She crouched down in the cramped space, found the phone and shoved it into her pocket. "OK got it. Now let's shut down some systems." She moved her head under the dashboard and brought out the flashlight. "I know this drives you crazy, but the main scanner is a power hog. I'm gonna shut it down."
"That's alright; it's not functioning correctly anyway. Just leave the local communications running."
Bonnie smiled to herself; she knew KITT wanted to be able to keep track of Michael and his condition. He hated being cut off from Michael. She spent a few more minutes turning off nonessential equipment and systems.
"Hey, are you about done in there?" Michael shouted. "My hands are going numb."
"Okay I'm coming out now."
Bonnie climbed out and slithered across the fender. Michael met her at KITT's front end and reached up to help her down. When he got her to the ground they were standing face-to-face and very close. Michael's hands were on her hips. They stood there for a few seconds staring into each other's eyes, and then Michael backed up.
"So did you get the phone?" he asked.
She was bewildered for a second, something had happened just then and she wasn't sure what.
Michael repeated his question "Hey, did you get the phone or what?"
"I… augh. Yes I have it." She dug the phone out of her pocket and turned it on.
The phone displayed no signal. "Dammit, we're not getting any signal here. Wherever the hell here is."
Michael remained silent for a few seconds and she wasn't sure he had heard her.
"Michael, did you hear me?"
He turned to her. "Yea I heard you. I didn't really expect it to work, but we had to check anyway." He paused. "I have to find a way out of here and get to the cab."
"What, you can't go out there. You'll freeze to death." She said.
"Michael I doubt that any communications in the semi cab are working." KITT added.
"I'm not going to check the Comm.'s. Paul and Jim are out there, they could be worse off than we are."
Bonnie raised her hand to her mouth. "Oh, I'd forgotten all about them. Do you think they are okay?"
"I don't know, but I have to go find out." He answered.
"How are you going to get out of here? There is the door." She said and pointed to the floor at the forward end of the trailer. They had rolled onto the side and blocked the door shut. "I don't think we want to open the back end even if we could."
Michael glanced at the wall that used to be the ceiling. He found what he was looking for and walked up to the air vent. It was a small opening but he thought he could fit through. "KITT, will I unbalance us if I try to climb out this vent?"
"I really have no way of answering that without seeing the situation outside." KITT answered. "Unless of course you want me to call the psychic hotline?"
Bonnie turned to Michael and gave him a dirty look "Oh he is spending way to much time with you."
Michael just laughed and went to work on the air vent. "I think I can open this, but its really only supposed to pop up to allow a little air flow. I'm going to have to take the thing off to get a hole big enough for me to crawl out. Do you have a screw driver in here?"
"Yes, somewhere." She walked around, located a small pile of tools and brought a handful over to Michael.
He removed the screws and was about to pull the vent off then stopped. "It's going to get cold in here, why don't we find our jackets first and get some warmer clothes before I open this?"
"Good idea. I have our coats." She replied.
Michael moved to the front of the semi knelt down and tried to open the door to the living quarters. "Damn this won't budge. It must be wedged or torqued shut."
"Can't you kick it in?" she asked.
"Maybe if the door opened inward, but it opens out to this area remember? Do you have a cutting torch on board?"
She thought for a minute "Yes but it's in the outside tool compartments. There's no access from in here."
"I could use my laser to cut a hole in the door." KITT suggested.
"Hey great idea partner!"
"No, not a great idea. KITT, you know how much energy the laser consumes. If you use it, even on low power, it will nearly wipe out your power reserves. I'd have to take you offline." Bonnie pointed out.
"Okay, so much for that idea." Michael said.
"No, it's my power and I can use it for what ever purpose I want. Getting to the warmer clothing and blankets is an important enough reason for me." KITT argued.
Michael looked at Bonnie and shook his head. "He has a point; we can't treat him like a child all his life."
"I don't like it." she said.
"I know you don't Bonnie, but it is my decision to make. Just as it is Michael's decision to make to go out after Paul and Jim." KITT said.
She sighed heavily and KITT knew he had gotten through to her. He loved her dearly, but sometimes she really over mothered him.
"Alright." was all she said.
"Good. Now may I suggest that the two of you move way back here closer to me? My targeting system is out and this is going to be a trial and error thing."
"What?" Michael said as he grabbed Bonnie's hand and walked over to KITT. "You're going to shoot all over until you hit door?"
"That was my plan."
"Great this idea gets better by the minute!" Bonnie sarcastically commented.
"I'll use the lowest power setting until I strike the door. That will conserve energy. Michael I'll need your help zeroing in on the door, since my main scanner is offline I'm shooting blindly."
Bonnie groaned. "Don't say it." Michael stopped her before she could say anything. "Okay KITT, fire away."
KITT's first shot was way too high and actually struck the ceiling. Bonnie and Michael both ducked.
"Whoa partner, way off. Come down four feet and right three feet." Michael said.
KITT fired again and hit the front wall this time and incinerated a hole in the refrigerator.
Michael laughed, "I hope that thing wasn't working after the crash."
"This is not funny! How am I going to explain all this to Devon?" Bonnie whined.
"How are you going to explain what? What did I hit?" KITT questioned.
"Don't worry about it KITT. Just try listening to my directions. You came down too low. From the last shot, come up two feet and right two feet."
The next shot hit the door right where Michael wanted it.
"That's perfect. Now give me a three foot square hole using that last shot as the bottom left corner."
KITT increased the laser power and fired a steady beam cutting the hole as Michael directed. When he finished he stopped the beam and assessed his power levels. He was alarmed to find that he only had enough power to keep his CPU running for another four hours. Then he would have to shut down into the horrible dark and silence. When his CPU is taken offline, there is still a small amount of power left that keeps data storage going. Unfortunately it also allowed him to remain in a semi conscience state. He has the ability to think and is aware of time passing, but unable to see, hear, speak or feel. He would be imprisoned in a catatonic state and aware of it every minute. He also realized that he would leave Bonnie and Michael in the dark without his fog lights.
Michael patted KITT's nose as he walked away. "Nice job". He stopped just before the door and kicked in the square piece KITT had just cut. He poked his head in and then came back out with a funny look on his face.
Bonnie had remained near KITT leaning on him. When she saw Michael's expression she joined him at the door. "What's wrong?"
He picked up the flashlight, and came back to the opening. "I'm not sure but I think I hear water." He shined the light into the living quarters, and it reflected off a two-inch lake in the room.
"Oh no. The water tank must have leaked." She said.
He turned to her with a dumbfounded look. "You think?"
She made a fist and punched his shoulder. "This is no time for joking around. Everything in there is going to be wet, and if you go in there to look for dry stuff you're gonna get wet too."
He swung away from the opening and started looking around the rubble. "Maybe not. If we can find enough stuff to pile in there I can stand on it to keep out of the water."
They worked together finding items that would fit through the hole and make a path above the water, which was slowly rising. Michael then crawled through and searched the room. He found only two blankets that where still dry. Some of Bonnie's clothes were dry too and he brought them out as well.
"One thing is for sure, we have enough water to drink." Michael said as he squirmed back in through the hole.
"You didn't find anything for you to wear out there." Bonnie commented.
"No, but I have a bag in the trunk. I think there is a sweatshirt in there. KITT, is my climbing gear still in there?"
"I believe so." KITT answered.
Michael spent a few minutes getting his bag from the trunk as well as a hundred foot climbing rope. When he finished putting on the extra clothes he secured one end of the rope to the couch leg nailed to the wall, and the other he tied around his waist.
"Okay you two, I don't have any idea how long I'll be out there so don't worry if I'm not back right away. While I'm gone Bonnie, why don't you look over the food situation?" He said as he put on his gloves.
"Michael those are driving gloves, they aren't going to be enough to keep you warm." Bonnie said. She moved over to stand in front of him. "This coat isn't going to do much either."
He looked down at her. "I know. I'll try to be as quick as I can and get back here." He started to turn away, and she reached out to hug him. He pulled her close and rested his cheek on top of her head.
"Be careful, and come back. I need you here." She said into his chest.
He put some distance between them; afraid that if he didn't something might happen. As much as he wanted that, now was not the time. He removed the air vent lid and housing and hauled himself up to the open hole. It was a good six feet up from the floor. Then he wiggled out the hole and was gone. The rope pile on the floor began to ply out the hole.
