Chapter 10

Xaviour, after instructing the girl to call him Zed, he hated the way May always used his full name, had carried the girl all the way to the city. Her leg was badly hurt, she had slipped into a gully he had been passing and snapped her left shin bone so badly that the bone had been protruding through her torn blue jeans. Zed had taken the scarf that he always wore round his left arm and bound her leg with it. The pain had made the girl pass out and she had stayed that way for a good few hours. When the sun had risen to light their way he had seen that his scarf was now heavily stained an even deeper shade of red than it had been before. This kid was losing a lot of blood. Her face was white and she was still unconscious.

Hurrying through the city streets, with his charge cradled in his strong arms, he reached the hospital only a few hours after sunrise. Finding Patch asleep at his desk, his head resting on a pile of books, Zed woke the would-be doctor and led him to where the girl now lay on one of the more secluded beds in the main ward. Patch pulled an old screen round the bed and went to get some books. Where was Dee, Patch thought, I'll need help with this and lots of it.

As he re-entered his office, Patch's gaze fell on Jay, sleeping in a corner with Ebony curled up in his arms. Once again, Patch's thoughts flew to Dee, wishing he could have the privilege of waking up with his arms around the woman he loved. With a shrug he grudgingly woke the two. They had been inseparable since they had told Jay of his brother's death. Instructing them to get several things from the stores and meet him at the girl's bed Patch went back to looking for his book. Having located the elusive article, he returned to Zed and the girl.

"What's her name?" Patch asked Zed.

"Helena," Zed answered.

"I'm gonna need you're help."

"No problem."

When Jay and Ebony joined them, the four began the difficult and, had the girl been awake, painful process of straightening the leg. Patch's main worry had been trapping or, even worse, severing an artery. He was glad the only person he'd had to transfuse blood into was Mega and had no wish to give himself another chance to practise those skills. Thankfully there was no need and the girl's leg went back into place with a sickening scrape that nearly made him throw up and, in a rare show of weakness, made Ebony faint.

Leaving Jay to tend his beloved, Zed and Patch cut the leg of Helena's jeans up to the knee. Having then dressed the wound, they bound the leg, tightly, to a splint. By the time they were through, Ebony had come round and was looking extremely sheepish. Seeing the chance for a quick getaway now that the main part of the work was done, she announced she was going to check on Naduah and the baby.

"A girl brought in late last night by her man," Patch said in answer to Zed's questioning glance, "They're not from the city, they came here because they heard we had a hospital so that Naduah could give birth."

"Yeah," added Jay, "and they got here just in time too!"

"Why don't you go with Ebony, Jay," said Patch, "I can finish up here no problem. The worst is over."

Jay obediently rose and followed Ebony. Patch looked at Helena's face. It was still pale, he thought, but not too pale; there was some colour coming back. He took her pulse: it was weak, but strong enough to give him a good deal of hope. He smiled as he drew the blanket up over the girl and filled out her charts. As he did so, Zed remembered the main reason for his return to the city.

"Is Mega around?" Zed asked Patch.

"Not yet but he should be. He's supposed to be helping me with something. Do you want to wait? He shouldn't be long: he's already late!"

"Not like him!"

"No," Patch smiled, "But he often has other things on his mind these days."

--

When Ebony knocked gently on the door to what had been Jay's room, she was greeted by a quiet "Who is it?". She called back that it was her and was told to enter. When she went into the room, Naduah was sitting up in the bed, feeding her daughter, whilst the child's father sat, sound asleep, in a nearby chair. Ebony watched Naduah's fingers gently trace the contours of her daughter's face. It must be so hard, she thought, to create something so beautiful and not be able to see what you've made.

Like many others, it had taken her a while to notice Naduah's blindness, she hid it so well, but the dark glasses when she had arrived at night time had put the question into Ebony's mind and she had, eventually, asked it. Naduah had not always been blind, it had been her punishment for leading a resistance, in the mines, against the Chosen. As another part of her punishment, before they had blinded her the Chosen had made her watch the death of the rest of her tribe. Nocona had been the leader of another tribe whom the Chosen had captured and sent to work for them. He had followed her in the resistance and, when she had received her punishment, had been the only one willing to be seen alone with her. Only Nocona's love for her had pulled her through that time and, not long after, they had married.

When Jay entered, Naduah had finished feeding her daughter and had handed her to Ebony, who was standing, cradling the babe and looking down on her lovingly. Jay took one look at her face and something in the back of his mind said "Oh boy, now she's done it!"

--

Mega raced down the hill and into the city, still dressed in his old Techno clothes. When he finally reached the hospital it was six hours after sunrise, one hour after Zed had decided to wait for him there. Running to Patch, he apologised for his lateness. Patch waved the apology away and pointed out Zed to Mega. Going over, Mega caught his breath before his messenger.

"May sent me, I'm from the fourth search party," Zed began, "We've found a Techno base that could yield much information, but we can't access the files to get at it. I've been sent to take you to it."

"We'll go by the farm," said Mega, after a moment's pause, "I'll need to collect a few things."

Apologising again to Patch, Mega found himself walking swiftly back up the road he had just ran down. When they reached the farm, he told Aeryn what was happening while he packed up some food and water for the journey and gathered a few of his old technical gadgets he was sure he would need. After leaving his wife with no more than a swift kiss goodbye, Mega turned to Zed and started on their road.

--

Lex wandered downstream to a point where the water gathered into a deep pool. Pulling off his shirt, boots and trousers he waded into the cool water. It stung him where there were still open cuts, but his wife had told him he had to take a bath or they would just get infected and sting even more. Reluctantly, he had agreed and had been pointed towards the bathing spot. He still hadn't seen anything of Cat since breakfast, but he'd noticed her bow and arrows were gone so presumed she was out catching their lunch.

Lying back in the water, he closed his eyes and let his body get used to the cold. He was just swimming over to the bank when he heard a voice, Cat's voice.

"Well now there's a thing I never thought I'd see," she mused, quizzically, from her perch in a nearby tree.

"There's more of me underwater if want to come join me, babe!" Lex shot back.

"Actually, I was talking about you taking a bath, not just you with no shirt on, Lex. Oh, and don't call me "babe"!"

"What would you like me to call you?"

"Give it up, Lex," she warned, "You're really not my type!"

"Aw, hey, if you're worried about Tai San don't be. She doesn't need to know."

"Like I said Lex, you're not my type."

With that, Cat dropped lightly down out of the tree and wandered off again, her bow and quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder.

"Good hunting!" Lex called after her, hoping there would be a good lunch waiting for him if he was going to risk his neck, or perhaps another part of his anatomy depending whether they met Siva or not, in leading Cat to the city.

--

Jack and his gang of followers marched through the forest towards the city. Perhaps they would reach the edge of the forest by nightfall, he thought. He never was good with time these days: ever since Ellie had died, all the days, all the hours, had melted into one. Lost in his thoughts, a day may pass in what seemed like a few seconds. Deprived of them, minutes seemed like hours. Now, the people he had worked so hard to free were turning against him. Had Skye been right? Was he only leading them back to the city in the hope of being able to personally put an end to the Technos and avenge Ellie's death? He couldn't tell.

Every time he thought about it the memories came flooding back. Their first kiss; how he and Dal had argued and fought over her; how he and she had worked on the Amulet together; how he had been taken away from her once, found her again only to lose her to another man then, when he had left her she had turned back to him again. He hadn't believed she was sincere, he had thought it was just the grief of losing Luke. How much he hated himself for that. He had been so wary of her, kept her at a distance when she needed him most, then gone on that stupid mission with Ebony and been taken from her again. Then what had she done? She had tried to kill Ebony for getting him captured and landed herself in the same prison with a reputation for trying to kill Ram! It was all his fault. He had lost her forever now and it was all his fault. He heard Slade beside him, calling his name, and pulled himself out of his melancholy.

"Jack," Slade said, "Jack, are you alright?"

"Yeah," he answered, brushing away the tears he now realised were rolling down his face, "I'm fine. What's up?"

"Well, look."

Following his friend's gaze, Jack saw a young man, with glasses, dressed in a Techno uniform, following another young man dressed in black. Although he couldn't tell if the latter was also a Techno, Jack recognised the other as Mega, one of Ram's elite. So, he thought, one of them's escaped has he? Well, let's just see about that!

His heart burning with rage for his lost love, Jack told the others to stay where they were and, quickly followed by Slade, crept closer to where the two were picking their way through the forest. Jack, seeing now that the other was not a Techno, just, as he thought, a sympathiser, he told Slade to take the unknown man while he went straight for Mega.

Quietly creeping round to attack from behind, Jack and Slade had the advantage for a while, but a misplaced foot gave their presence away. Stopping suddenly and looking about them Mega and Zed called out in case there were any more wounded in these woods. As soon as they had done so, and had their backs to them once more, Jack and Slade charged.

For all that he was still skinny thanks to the sparse meals dished out in the prison camp, the full force of Jack's rage and pain sent him careening into Mega, knocking him flying. When he started to rise again, Jack's fist met the side of his face and sent him backwards once again. Quickly regaining his senses before another blow hit him, Mega dodged out of Jack's way and tripped him. Stumbling, Jack caught his balance against a tree then charged straight back at Mega, fists flying. As the fight continued, the light faded, hiding them from their opponents.