Part 4
Over half an hour into walking through the woods, BA and Hannibal put Amy's stretcher down and looked at her with some concern. As she satup, she felt her own head, pinching the bridge of her nose as if to ease the pain. She had a headache. Face knelt down beside her and put his hand to her forehead. He could see beads of sweat forming in her hairline.
"You're getting a fever."
"I feel fine." Amy lied, as she didn't like the worried tone of Face's voice. She moved her left arm in a circular movement, her shoulder felt stiff and ached.
"May I?" Face swept her blouse gently back to show her left shoulder and he could see a bluish bruise where the poison had been injected. 'This was not a good sign' he thought.
Murdock emerged in front of them, sweaty and panting from his fast paced trek. "They should be heading east for a bit Colonel. They'll be knocking on Woody Woodpeckers door before they reach us." He grinned smugly.
"Good work, Captain. Let's get a move on, we're moving at a good rate considering," Hannibal glanced at Amy, "I bet we've opened the gap by about ten, fifteen minutes, so hopefully that makes us about half hour in front of them. But even with their detour, they know which direction we need to head." Hannibal looked at Amy again. "You alright, kid?"
"I'm fine." She insisted as she laid herself back down on the stretcher.
Face went to pick up the front end of the stretcher, as he felt it was his turn to relieve Hannibal of the duty but Murdock intervened, insisting he would do it.
"But Murdock, you've probably trekked twice as far as us already, to send them guys on a goose chase, you need a rest."
"Its okay, Faceman, I got Amy!" Murdock insisted and grinned at Amy. "Me lady, your carriage awaits you!" He said in a British accent bowing at her.
Amy just about mustered up a chuckle at Murdock. BA took the other end insisting to Face that he would continue to carry the stretcher. All of the men trod carefully but quickly to minimise the tracks they left, keeping their wits about them and their eyes peeled.
Face caught up with Hannibal to discuss Amy's condition, before he would return to the rear position of the group.
"How's she doing, Face?"
"Well she's got a temperature and she's lying about feeling fine. Her eyes are definitely wincing at the light and I think she could really do with some water." Face checked his watch again. It didn't matter how much he looked at it, the time was running out.
"Ok, well we better just keep an eye on her and move as fast as we can."
"I don't get it Hannibal, why did those bastards have to poison her?"
"They knew it would make us mad, Lieutenant, hoping to blur our vision, affect our performance. Hell, he really doesn't know us does he?" Hannibal chuckled slightly at that thought, his men were always focused and this would make them even more determined to succeed, but then his expression turned more serious. "And as I said earlier, they know exactly what direction we've got to head in and it will slow us down. We can't risk not taking Amy to a hospital!"
….
"This way!" Simmons beckoned the other men.
"Are you sure?" Felton wasn't convinced in his tracker.
"Yeah, these tracks are fresh."
"It don't feel like we're going the right way to me." One of the men complained.
"Shut your noise, Perry!" Simmons retorted.
The six men walked in single file, following Simmons, their rifles slung over their shoulders. Watching and listening for any clues of the team they were hunting. They'd been walking about half an hour now, following the tracks. They heard a noise; it was a car passing on a road about ten feet away. They looked through the trees and could see the road.
"God damn you, Simmons! They can't have come to the main road!" Felton was furious.
"Sir, this is where their tracks lead."
"Damn they're good. They've sent us on some damn goose chase!" Felton realised that this was going to be harder than first imagined. "Simmons, head back to their van, you never know they maybe stupid enough to return there!"
"OK, Felton!"
"The rest of you, let's head for that damn hospital, it's the only place they gotta go, otherwise their little lady is dead meat."
…
Another twenty minutes had passed; the guys had walked in silence, giving the odd signals to one another.
"Murdock!" Amy cried. "BA! Put me down, I feel sick." She'd started to feel worse in herself now and had tried to hold in the nausea for as long as she could but now she was afraid that she might be physically sick. Her mouth had that watery sensation. She wasn't sure if it was the travelling on the stretcher or the poison that was making her feel this way, but either way, she felt sick.
Murdock and BA instantly put the stretcher down. Murdock turned round glancing at Amy and then back up at BA. BA nodded to Murdock as if to confirm that he'd continue walking up with Hannibal. Murdock looked back at Amy. Her face was pale and her whole body was starting to look clammy. As she tried to get off the stretcher and stand up, Amy stumbled, hardly able to stand on her own feet.
Face ran over to assist Murdock, showing an expression equal to Murdock's of worry, as they helped her to sit on an old tree stump. She put her head between her legs, hoping this would make herself feel better, but it didn't. She wanted to be sick, but she really didn't want the guys to see her like this. She hated being this burden they'd been provided with. As she tried to get up and move away so her back would be to them, she realised she just couldn't move.
Face seeing that she was trying to stand up, helped her up and brushed her hair out of her face. He tried to reassure her, as she bent over and emptied the contents of her stomach. Which was not much, considering she actually hadn't managed to eat all day.
"Feel any better?" Face stroked her back as she leaned over. She gently nodded in response.
For a brief moment, she felt better, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, the taste of vomit in her mouth, she screwed up her face in disgust. As she stood up and faced him, Face could see her eyes were watery and her skin was pale. She wanted to cry, she wanted to get angry but she just didn't have the energy.
"I really didn't want you to see that."
"Amy, I've seen a lot worse." Face winked at her, still holding her to steady her balance.
"Hey, want one of these?" Murdock handed her a packet of gum.
"Thanks, Murdock, you're a life saver!" She took a piece of gum and placed it in her mouth and started chewing it.
"No, it's gum!" Murdock winked.
The peppermint taste gave her some relief of her sickness. She tried to walk, but lost the strength in her legs, they were numb and she stumbled. Murdock and Face caught her.
"Sorry" was all she could softly mutter before she fainted, luckily falling into Face and Murdock's arms.
Murdock quickly put his finger in her mouth to remove the gum.
"We don't want to add choking to our list of worries." He said to Face as he did so.
"Hannibal!" BA called out excitedly, he had continued walking whilst Face and Murdock had dealt with Amy's sickness and had come running back to the group. "Look what I've found! Man, you're not gonna believe our luck!"
Face and Murdock gently placed Amy back on to the stretcher. Amy was coming in and out of consciousness, moaning slightly as both he and Murdock carried her towards BA calls, following Hannibal.
They came to a clearing; a gravel road that they were pretty certain led off to the main road. In front of them was a large old barn, which looked untouched and overgrown with ivy and weeds. Face and Murdock laid the stretcher down on the ground and Face lifted Amy into his arms.
With all of his strength, with help from Murdock and Hannibal, BA opened the barn doors, which hadn't moved for nearly twenty years.
The four of them stood in front of the barn, Face carrying Amy, who remained motionless in his arms, and looked at its contents. All of them smiled gleefully.
"Wow, man, a 1950s Ford F100 pickup!" BA was in heaven, the smile on his face showed it.
Stood in the barn was a large sky blue pickup truck. It was covered in dust where it hadn't moved for years.
"Looks like its been here practically twenty years or more!" Murdock put his finger along the hood to scrap off the dust. Under that dust they could see there wasn't an ounce of rust on the bodywork, only the chrome had small rust spots. Its owner had probably looked after it very well in deed.
All four men entered the barn, admiring the pickup truck. It was a classic vehicle of its time.
"It's probably some old man's, who's died or something, and the family didn't know what to do with it, so left it, and it's been forgotten about." BA studied the truck with glee, a smile beaming from ear to ear. "Hear about it all the time, man!"
"Big guy!" Murdock threw BA a set of keys, which he caught. "They were hanging up over here!" Murdock grinned at BA.
"So, Sergeant, how quick do you think you can get this baby to run?"
"I'll be as fast as I can, Hannibal!" BA threw a concerned glance over to Face who was now laying Amy on an old bench at the end of the barn.
Face ran back to the stretcher to retrieve his leather jacket and placed it under Amy's head, softly brushing her hair out of her face. He'd laid her on her side, just in case she was likely to be sick again. She was barely conscious, mumbling feverishly. Face could hear in the background the guys starting to work on the pickup truck.
"Face, I'm sorry." She whispered painfully.
He knelt beside her and gently stroked one of her hands, trying to comfort her. He looked at his watch; it had been nearly an hour now since she'd been given the injection, could she really last another hour?
Her head ached so badly it hurt to open her eyes, so she kept them closed. She could feel herself becoming hot and cold, feverish, her whole body shivered suddenly.
"I'm cold," she whispered again feverishly. But Face could see sweat still beading around her hairline and on her neck. "Face, I'm scared." She admitted, tightening her grip on his hand for comfort.
"It's okay, Amy, we've found a truck, we're gonna get you to a hospital in no time." Face tried to reassure her and then he turned his attention to Murdock "Murdock! Your Jacket!"
Murdock removed his jacket from the poles of their makeshift stretcher and came running over with an equally concerned expression to Face's. He gently placed his jacket over Amy. Face moved out of his way but stood by him.
"Those slimeballs are going to pay for this," Murdock half muttered angrily to himself. Face was concerned by the tone of his friend's words. Murdock looked at her pretty face and picked up her hand.
"You know, wouldn't it be good to just kiss her and she awake from this nightmare."
If Amy had the energy, she would have chuckled at Murdock's sweet gesture, instead she pretended she didn't hear his kind words, feeling that sleep and lying still felt better to her. She concentrated on inwardly dealing with her fever and pain.
"Murdock, I'm afraid that only happens in fairy tales," Face said patting him on the back; he could see his friend was anxious.
Their attention was soon turned from Amy, as Hannibal had caught sight of his two men standing over her.
"Murdock, Face, come on. She'll be all right. BA needs a hand! The quicker we bump start this baby, the quicker we're out of here!"
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