Forgetting
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He woke to Julian's careful shakes. The doctor looked terrible, but he was awake and moving. "Wake up, Garak. We have to go."
Looking out over the desolate territory, Garak wondered if it would have been better to take his chances hiding out in the city. It hadn't been this cold and there were more options than a rocky trail and a sick friend to lead them. He dragged himself up on sore feet. It was still dark, but the first hints of dawn were starting to show. "Is there time?" he asked.
Julian was leaning against the wall to support himself. His face was pale with red patches from the fever. "It's not too far. You'll have to help steady me but I can make it."
Garak made him sit and gave him water, and they divided the rest of the food. "We need to eat first," he stated insistently.
Julian drank what he could and picked at the food, eating just a little. Wrapping it up he handed it to Garak. "I need to move now while I can."
Garak tried cleansing and re-bandaging the arm but was waived away. "You know that won't make any difference," said his friend grimly.
He quietly put the bandages away, but could not quite cover the fear that his friend would die along the trail and leave him lost.
Holding Julian by his good arm, he guided them out to the trail. With a firm grip of shaking shoulders, he followed the mumbled directions, hoping at the end of each bend to find their destination.
Eventually, after perhaps an hour and early dawn lighting the skies, they came upon a small side trail. Julian pointed at it silently and Garak half carried him along the barely visible trail. At the end was a small cave.
Bashir mostly whispered, "This is the rendevous point. Remember the code." Garak nodded and guided him inside the entrance, pulling him toward the darker, and perhaps safer, end of the cave.
Collapsing against the smooth walls, Bashir pointed at a pile of rocks. "There's food hidden in the rocks, not sure what else." The last words were barely audible.
Checking on the catch of food, he wondered if he was dreaming. His stomach growled unceasingly with hunger, but there was an odd feeling that he had eaten quite well recently. But if it was a dream why was he so hungry? Uncovering it, he was disappointed there was so little, but divided it and ate all of his. Julian was asleep or unconscious, and he added the new food to what had been saved before.
It was still cold. He hated the icy winds of the hills. Julian was hot from the fever but could not be so visible. He gathered the drifting leaves to conceal him. His arm was rigidly curled against him, and he knew it would only wake him to clean it.
Scouting the opening briefly, careful to be silent, he retreated back into the darkness at the end of the cave. Someone should keep watch, but he too was exhausted. Gathering more leaves around him, a thicker layer hoping for some warmth, he stared into darkness for only a little while before falling asleep.