Authors' Notes: We're getting near the end here... just six more chapters to go for this part :)
Face immediately swam towards shore, along with Murdock and Hannibal.
Once he'd climbed onto the bank, Murdock gave the helicopter a formal salute and said something in Korean as it sank into the lake.
"Come on." Hannibal tugged his arm, "We have to get moving, soldier."
Charissa followed them to the shore and smoothed her hair back, "So does this happen a lot?" She glanced at each of them.
BA instantly spoke up, "More than it fucking should." He stated matter-of-factly and shook his head to get the water out of his Mohawk.
She nodded at his reply and paused for a moment taking a second before standing up straight and looking around, "Any idea on where the hell we are?" She asked and then glanced up at the sky, "And any chance they think we're dead?"
Not a clue." Murdock said cheerfully. "All I know is, that way's north." He pointed to the direction they'd been flying, "North Korea is huge, and as enemy territory goes, not very friendly. B.A. might not get a chance to kill me before somebody else does."
Suddenly the air filled with the sound the chopper and she turned, "Well that answers my other question." She yelled above the sound and began to run as fast and as hard as she could. Her body screamed at her for making it work like this while still weak but she didn't care as the chopper began to lay down fire at them.
"In here!" Hannibal ushered them into a dense area, where the line of sight would make targeting impossible, and certainly they couldn't bomb the entire area, "As long as they don't drop fire on us, we can walk from here."
After a few more minutes of angry buzzing noises, the helicopters seemed to drop away, leaving them alone in the jungle.
This was really going from worse to hell in a hand basket. She leaned against Face for a moment once they were all hidden in the denseness of the jungle and sighed, "We're going to have to figure out accommodations before night fall." Being killed and eaten by some wild animal or snake really wasn't high on her list of ways to die.
"Take stock. What do we have?" Hannibal looked at the others.
Murdock felt around in his trousers and jacket pockets,"Got my big pocket knife," He brought it out, "and some fishing line. We can rig up some lean-tos with the skinny trees round here and use loose sod to line it. As long as it don't rain, we'll be good."
Face shrugged, "I've got nothing, Hannibal, these aren't my clothes."
Hannibal pulled out his lighter, a pack of cigars, and a few small odds and ends, "Wish you had your tool kit, B.A."
Murdock put up his hand. "I can go back to the lake, take a dive, see what I can recover from the helicopter."
"Good idea. Take B.A. with you."
"You're tellin' me Hannibal." BA agreed and went with Murdock without a fuss about it.
Charissa had the same problem Face did, she wasn't in her own clothes and her things had been lost a long time ago. She also wasn't exactly used to this sort of situation, not that she couldn't handle it but it was all new for her and she felt like a fish out of water. She rubbed her arm a moment and looked around not liking the idea of doing nothing, "What can I do? I need to do something I just can't stand here."
"Start snapping small branches up for kindling. We're going to try and build a fire without much smoke, so it needs to be dry." Face pointed out, taking Murdock's knife and starting to cut notches into the branches Hannibal was breaking off of trees. "Also, if you see any loose clumps of earth, try and move them over here." He began setting up some lean-tos.
She nodded and got to work, she ripped off a strip of cloth from the bottom of her shirt to tie her hair back after it kept getting in her way. She ignored her body's whining and protests and pushed on, she gathered up more than enough kindling for a fire and managed to locate some loose patches of dirt too, "Well, at least it's not monsoon season." She commented, but that didn't make it any less hot or humid it just meant they wouldn't have to worry about getting flooded out.
BA waded into the water with Murdock and waited while the crazy man dived and inspected the chopper and kept an eye out for their buddies should they decide to take a swipe by.
In less than an hour, they'd made a base camp: Hannnibal and Face had set up three large lean-tos against trees, packing them with earth and moss and whatever they could find: vines and leaves and bendier twigs.
Murdock and B.A. returned a little while later, lugging several large crates with them.
"What did you find?" Hannibal asked, standing up to wipe the sweat from his brow.
BA sat the crates he had down and began to work one of them open, "Whole buncha good shit." He stated with a grunt as the top came off and he sat it aside, "Looks like we got us some weapons in this one Hannibal." He said with glee and rubbed his hands together before pulling some of them out. They weren't much but it was something and there were at least two guns for each of them and a few knives and a machete.
Charissa made her way over to where they all stood and felt a little easier at the fact they had weapons, "Any food or other supplies?" She asked.
BA moved onto the next crate, "Hell yeah girl, we got us some grub in this one." He grinned and shuffled through the dry packs of food.
"And medical supplies." Murdock had opened the other two crates.
They were packed with something like warm straw in between the layers, which Face loved. He began to tuck it into the walls of the lean-tos, and put plastic liner crate sheets on the ground. He moved the blankets on top, and pushed the crates to block the wind, "This is going to be more fun than I thought!"
"This is not fun." Hannibal rolled his eyes as he lit a fire and began opening some tins of food. The sun was setting and it was getting dark quickly.
She rolled her eyes, "You were a boy scout weren't you?" She teased Face lightly and helped Murdock and BA put the weapons in a safe and easily accessed place, "And I'm with Hannibal. This is not fun." She wasn't being a girl about it, but this wasn't anywhere close to the realm of her idea of fun. She settled near the fire and watched it.
"The night will hide the smoke, it won't stand out as much as long as we keep it dry and hot." Hannibal nodded at Sosa, "How are you feeling?" He was taking blankets out of the medical case, "You should stay warm and dry, you're still recovering."
She pulled her knees up against her chest as she sat there and watched the flames dance, occasionally feeding it a few extra branches if it start looking even remotely sad. She wondered how long they'd be out here like this and if they'd ever get back. She almost jumped when Hannibal spoke to her, she had been so lost in her own thoughts, "I'm surviving." She said simply and hugged her legs with a small smile, "Yes, sir." She added when he told her to make sure she remained warm and dry.
Murdock began cooking things - or at least, pretending to - over the fire. He warmed up some cans and opened them, testing before eating, declaring them fit for consumption. Luckily, he was right, and no one would have bowel problems tonight.
BA was hungry and dug into a can of what looked and tasted like pork and beans.
Face limited himself to things that Murdock tested first, then stole something when the pilot had his back turned. It tasted good, maybe it was some variation of garden vegetable soup.
Murdock stored the rest of the food and medical supplies in a single crate, breaking down the others for sliding walls on their lean-tos.
"Sleeping arrangements." Hannibal looked round, "Myself and B.A., Face and Murdock...Captain Sosa? Would you prefer your own, or should Face keep with you?" He eyed the two of them, "You realize if you stay together, there will be no, I repeat, NO, shenanigans?"
She took up a can of food and ate a few bites, she really wasn't very hungry but she forced herself to eat at least half a can. She glanced up when Hannibal asked about sleeping arrangements, "I'll behave. It's him you have to tell. He starts it."
BA chuckled a little, "An' plus we don't wanna hear that shit." He added his own two cents worth in on the subject.
Murdock smiled, "Would you rather I serenade you? I don't wanna sleep by my lil' ol' lonesome..."
Hannibal sighed, "B.A., you can take your own spot. We're too big to fit in the same lean-to."
"Yaaay!" Murdock proclaimed, taking his blanket and laying it next to Hannibal's in the biggest lean-to, "I get to sleep with the boss! I get to sleep with the boss!"
Hannibal glanced at Sosa, "It's not what it sounds like. Trust me."
She snickered anyways, "Oh, I know." She assured the Colonel.
BA smiled wide, "You're the best Hannibal." Then he looked at Face who was being a little too quiet in his opinion, "So do we wanna take bets on if the Faceman can keep his damn hands to himself?" The Sergeant liked to get his digs in when he could considering the fact both Face and Hannibal enjoyed making him fly way too much.
"Sure. How much money do you want to give me?" Face smirked, "I can keep my hands to myself. But can you?"
Hannibal glared, "Cut it out, you two, before I make Murdock sleep in YOUR lean-to, Lieutenant."
BA laughed, "Ah come on Hannibal, just havin a lil fun." He fished in his pockets and came out with a five and a twenty, "Twenty five bucks says that woman of yours has to smack you upside the head before the night is over because you wanna get friendly." He sat the money down on a rock between them then looked to Sosa, "I never win bets against this fool." He explained in hopes she'd side with him.
"No cash." Face fished in his pockets and couldn't come up with anything, "I won't need to owe you, because I'm going to win."
"I'm going to bed." Hannibal growled, "B.A., take first watch. Wake me up when it's my turn."
Murdock followed him and they pulled the crates over them before they curled up in their blankets.
The fun and the betting made the situation easier to deal with in her opinion, but she knew that Face would behave himself as long as she did the same⦠well most of the time, "I'm staying out of this, sorry boys." She looked to BA, her hands in the air, "And I'll do more than smack him. He'll be sleeping under the stars if he tries anything." The idea of sex in a situation like this wasn't exactly appealing and especially since they weren't exactly alone.
Face nodded. "Anyway, keep the fire going as long as possible. We'll want it going when we all get up, because it's going to be cold out here." He reasoned, as he helped Charissa to her feet and then to their carefully-built sleeping quarters. He'd put extra sod on the ground to raise them up a bit, and unrolled the extra blanket as he pulled the crates over the open side, blocking out the light and the heat of the campfire. Inside the lean-to, it was actually not that bad. The campfire had heated it up a little before, and the sod on top of them was doing its job as insulation. As long as they didn't get wet, they'd be fine.
BA snorted with laughter, "We'll see, we'll see." He said to Charissa and gave Face a nod, "I've got this fool." He settled back and crossed his ankles, his arms folding and his eyes alert.
She settled down onto the make shift bed and laid there looking up at the top of the lean-to, she could see glimpses of the sky through some of the leaves and branches, "I haven't slept outside in years." She commented and folded her arms behind her head, stretching her body out and making a sound that suggested the movement was both a little painful and felt good.
"When we finally get out of here," Face suggested, "we're going somewhere warm, and we're going to relax, and we're going to sleep out under the stars. And hopefully not get eaten alive by bugs." he swung the blanket over both of them, sharing body heat. "Speaking of which, have you noticed we're not getting eaten alive out here? Small mercies, huh?"
She laughed, "I somehow doubt sleeping will be involved." She turned and curled against him, "And yeah, probably the fire keeping them away?" She suggested and laid there listening to the sounds of the jungle around them. A few times she tensed hearing an animal killing another one, but she was at ease for the most part, she knew she was in the best company to be in during such a situation. A few times they heard BA cussing about something, but other then that their camp was quiet.
"Well, we can't function on food and sex alone, eventually we're going to crash." Face teased lightly, before moving closer and just relaxing again. He was laying on his back now, pressed up against Charissa's side, both of them wrapped in blankets like cocoons.
"That's true." She said sleepily and then let herself slowly shut down. She would be surprised at how deeply she slept when she woke up the next morning.
More to come soon! Thank you for reading and reviewing! :)
