Part 10

"His name is Neal Caffrey," Peter explained, rushing after the rolling bed with Chuck by his side. Neither man knew what to make of the other but all questions on both sides were pushed aside by Neal's current condition. He was losing a lot of blood which was the biggest cause for concern, or so Ellie said.

"The generator's running for the infirmary," Chuck explained as they moved down the hall and swerved into a large room filled with medical equipment.

"I have to say, I never thought we'd use any of this," Awesome commented as he placed a mask over his face. To Peter, he looked like a man better suited to the beach than surgery.

Ellie looked over at Chuck's and Peter's worried faces.

"Out," she ordered, "you won't be able to help in your current condition. Get some rest, food and sleep."

"I don't need any of that," Chuck said, his voice wavering with emotion. Peter nodded in agreement.

"Then find Bryce," she said, "he'll want to know about this. Either way, I want you out so you don't distract us."

She and Chuck stared at each other for a moment before Chuck relented with a sad sigh. Peter glanced around in panic as Chuck placed a caring hand on his shoulder and guided him out.

"Wait! What about Neal?" he questioned, turning back to the doctors.

"We'll do the best we can."

"We'll save him, dude. Don't worry, be awesome." Peter found that to be a strange response and didn't have anything to say in reply. There was a window built into the wall which they could use to watch the operation however, they couldn't see much besides the two doctors leaning over a body on the operating table.

It was like something from one of Peter's nightmares.

"Well?" El asked when they exited.

"He'll be fine," Chuck said, with something like conviction. "My sister and Awesome are the best. They'll save him."

Sarah chose that moment to quickly walk over to them.

"We'll show you around while you wait," she said.

Down the hall from the infirmary room was a kitchen and a large dining area. It reminded Peter of high school. Sara's nose crinkled, Jones shivered and Mozzie's eyes narrowed at the sight of the plastic chairs, long tables and buffet style kitchen area.

"Look, it's not the nicest of places-" Sarah began to explain.

"Speak for yourself," Casey interrupted.

"But the food is decent."

"Dad," a voice said in a scolding tone as a long-haired brunette walked out and placed her hands on her hips.

"Alex."

"I heard you made Morgan go with you on patrol this morning," she said, "you know that Morgan gets up at the crack of dawn to collect milk, eggs and make our bread and breakfast. And I know you get up at dawn to exercise and stay strong but, Morgan should be cleaning the kitchen after breakfast, not running around with a gun in his hands."

"Alex, these are dangerous times. I need to be sure that he will be able to protect you if the time comes."

The brunette stuck out her lip and looked like she was about to say something more when Sarah intervened.

"Alex, this is... um," she trailed off as she realised they didn't know anyone's name.

"How rude of us, sorry," El said, stepping forward. "I'm Elizabeth Burke and this is my husband, Peter, his coworkers, Jones and Diana. This is Sara Ellis and Mozzie."

"Just Mozzie," Mozzie clarified.

"Nice to meet you all," Alex said in a confused tone.

"I hear new voices!" another voice said as a short man with a fuzzy beard and shark-fin hairstyle popped out from behind the kitchen counter. "Hi! I'm Morgan." He turned to Casey and asked cheerfully, "prisoners or visitors?"

Casey made an impressed sound before responding.

"Neither. They're staying."

"Well, nice to meet you." Morgan smiled and held out a hand for El to shake. "So, what's up? I thought only our team was using this place?"

"Yeah, well, Larkin hid things from us. Surprise, surprise," Casey's voice droned as he spoke.

Peter's group had no idea what to make of this. This group was taking everything in stride and each of them wondered if they even realised how the rest of the world was faring.

Sarah with Morgan, Casey and Alex all tagging along showed them to the cabins. There were ten of them, all lined up in a row. They were connected up to a generator but, it wasn't running. It wasn't like the cabins needed it. They were sparsely furnished. There was a bedroom with a king-sized bed and, outside in the central room, a set of bunk beds as well as a wooden table. And a balcony empty of any furnishings but with a lovely view of the nearby forest.

The bathroom only had a toilet as there were showers in the main building they just came from. It reminded Sara a little of the only time she went camping. She had lived rough before but it was never for an unknown period of time and never at a facility set up with shared showers, kitchen and dining.

Her discomfort was reflected in a few of the other's faces, surprisingly Mozzie was one of them. Or maybe that was his reaction to hearing that they would be sharing a cabin.

"It's either her or this guy," Sarah said, pointing at Jones.

"No way," Jones responded for Mozzie as the little guy spluttered in outrage. It was then that Sara noticed someone was missing.

"Where's Peter?" she asked El quietly. El just gave a smile and a shrug, glancing back towards the building they had left.

Peter had gone to watch over Neal. El promised to tell him anything important when he returned which was all he needed to hear. He stood at the window and watched the two doctors work.

"He'll be okay," Chuck said, making him jump. The younger man pointed to the chair he had been sitting in before continuing. "Awesome said the biggest issue they face is blood loss." Peter raised an eyebrow. "We have the perfect donor on site," Chuck explained quickly, "he arrived during your tour and I just finished extracting the donated blood from him."

"Perfect donor?" Peter questioned thinking that this was a little too convenient. His answer came in the form of a door opening and a messy dark haired man walking out of the room next to the operating room.

"See, Chuck? I'm fine. Don't need to rest any longer." He was rolling down he sleeves as he spoke which as why he didn't notice Peter until the last moment. "Uh... hi?"

Bryce didn't know how to react to the agent who arrested Neal. Even if he spun some kind of story, he didn't know whether the agent would believe it. Neal did say that he had some kind of uncanny ability to tell when people lied to him.

"You must be Bryce."