"One Night"
Chapter 9
 

Disclaimer: I don't have ownership of any of these characters. They belong to their respective creators, including Cameron/Eglee Productions and 20th Century Fox Studios. The story is not for sale or resale it is written solely for Dark Angel fans. No money is being made from the use of these characters.
Summary: Logan goes to a Manticore doctor for help.
Spoilers/Timeframe: Occurs after "Designate This".
Rating: R
A/N:

*****

She dropped out of the truck and slammed the door shut. It was late, probably close to midnight; the moon was full and cast a pale blue glow over everything in sight. She shivered, pulling her jacket tighter; she trudged to the porch of her small colonial style home. She was probably the only person in the entire state of Alaska without a radio or television. Somehow, that fact never bothered her, suppose it had to do with the idea that she liked to feel apart from everything else. Distant, perhaps disconnected, it never occurred to her that being without such simple forms of communication could be dangerous. She turned to wave to Maria, as the truck started to pull away from the house. Maria had offered her a lift home after work, since her wheels where still out of action. It had been two days since she had performed the procedure on Logan. Bling had called her to say that they where headed back to Seattle this morning. They would be safely home by now. She smiled a sad smile, she didn't regret that she'd left them behind as she did but she did miss being with everyone. She missed Max, Snuffy, Logan, Bling, most of all she missed Zack.

The truck was half a mile down the road and soon it would disappear through the trees. Putting her overnight bag on the porch, she fished for her keys. A chill crept up her spine; she got the distinct feeling that she was being watched. Putting the key in the lock, she turned slowly to look over her shoulder. To her right, nothing, a light wind picked up the soft snow and made a cloudy mist. It was hard to make out anything past the cluster of trees near the house. As she turned back towards the door, she started to turn the key. It was then that she heard movement behind her. The feeling of ice-cold metal pressed to her neck made her freeze. She didn't have time to react, it was if her assailant materialized from thin air.

"Don't move a finger, put your hands were I can see them. You even flinch and I'll blow your pretty head off." Eva acted as she was told. " 'ata girl, they'd prefer you alive but with the resources you cost us, I won't hesitate to bring you in dead. At this point, dead or alive will do just fine." Croan grinned wickedly. This was all going real easy. "Now turn around slowly."

For safety sake, he backed away a few paces, allowing freedom to react if she tried anything. Over the passing months, he had been reduced to a five-man team. The board could not afford to allow anymore. They had wasted enough of Manticore's resources on the renegade X5 series. Now with the whole Manticore operation under threat, they needed to lay low and conserve their resources as much as possible. Croan gritted his teeth, today was it. They had been chasing this particular X5 all across America. The board was getting edgy for results, well today they'd get them.

As she turned around, Croan caught sight of her stomach. It was the size of a small beach ball. His mouth dropped open and his eyes where glued to her belly. The split second diversion was all that she needed. Eva moved to disarm him. She wasn't fast enough, Darn her sluggish response. Damn this oversized body.

******
Zack had come to see Eva, he hadn't planned to leave it so long but he didn't get a choice in the matter. He knew that the minute he left she wouldn't stick around. Part of him expected that she would disappear but the other part of him wished that she would try to contact him. It had taken months of pestering Logan to get information out of him. As usual, it took Max's intervention for them to reach an agreement.

Well time to face reality, he climbed the small embankment. Nearing the top, a shot rang sharp in the air. He hurried toward the source of the sound, his heart pounding. Standing less than a hundred metres from the house, he surveyed the scene before him. A woman with long dark hair lay sprawled on the ground, a man dressed in black stood above her. His gun trained at her head.

Eva, his brain screamed. He stopped thinking rationally and his legs moved on impulse, running like the wind toward the pair. Zack didn't even hesitate, he didn't look and he didn't scout for possible danger. A perilous mistake, because hidden in the trees was another soldier. The man had his sights on Zack and was ready to take out his target. The gunman cocked his rifle; he flinched when he heard a snarl and a wolf jumped him, sending his shot off the mark.

Snuffy jumped on the gunman and tackled the gun away. The shot caused both Zack and the man in black to turn around. Snuffy was in the trees snarling and fighting, the gunman was pinned to the ground and screaming in pain.

The man in black saw Zack, took aim and fired but his shot didn't hit Zack. Eva had managed to knock Croan off balance by punching him in the back of the knee. Zack covered the distance between them and with one movement he snapped the man's neck. He left the lifeless body to fall on the ground in a heap by Eva. By then, a pool of blood had formed beneath Eva and she was slowly drifting into unconsciousness. Zack dropped to his knees and gently turned Eva over onto her back. Her eyes were closed, blood had soaked through all her clothing making it all sticky and icy. The cold set in and her body started quaking. He quickly assessed the situation and decided on his course of action. First, he would get her cleaned up and then patch the damage. Picking her up he headed inside.

She was a lot heavier than he remembered and although he carried her with ease, he couldn't help but puzzle over it. Hugging her close to his body, he noticed that she was a lot larger around the midsection. But those thoughts where quickly banished as he searched for a suitable place to lay her down.

Zack placed Eva down on the kitchen table, it would have to do as a makeshift op table for now. He had to go through her emergency supplies, he only hoped that she'd have all he needed. Lighting an oil lamp and some candles, he made sure that she was stable and then ran in search of her medical equipment. When he came back with her metal equipment and supplies box, he found Snuffy whimpering beside Eva. The blood was still oozing and dripping off the end of the table, collecting in a tiny puddle on the floor. He had to plug that wound or she'd bleed to death. He set the box down on the kitchen bench and tore open Eva's jacket and jumper, splitting the material clean in half. Underneath she had on thermal underwear, all soaked dark red and clinging to her like a second skin. Ripping the reminder of her clothing off, she lay naked to the waist. Her skin usually creamy white was stained with blood. As his gaze traveled downward, his eyes caught sight of her stomach. Previously concealed by her bulky overcoat it was now in plain view. He cautiously placed his hand on the mound. When his hand met her skin, he felt a sharp kick beneath his touch. He jumped back as if burned.

He shook his attention away from her belly. There was no time for that now. Eva was fading fast; he only wished that there was someone else to help him. He didn't even have enough time to start a fire. He would have to work quickly. She could easily die from one of two things; the cold or loss of blood. Or maybe both.

Focusing on her upper body, he started cleaning way the blood. He did it as best he could with swabs; the bullet had gone clean through. The entry point was high on the left side of her chest, just above her breast. As the swab brushed past the wound, he heard her wheeze. It was only a tiny sound but he picked it up. The wheeze turned into a soft gurgling noise, then the choking sound came. He ransacked the box desperately looking for the item he needed. Finding it, he doused it with alcohol and without a second thought, he plunged it deep into her chest. Pushing the release valve, he listened as the air hissed out. He let out a shaky breath. Pressure had built in her lungs and if hadn't been released she would have suffocated.

With the crisis passed, he continued to work on her. He patched her up and applied a little pressure to the wound. He had no way of assessing how bad the wound was or what was going on inside. He's aim was to slow the bleeding and get her medical attention as soon as possible. How he was going to manage that he wasn't entirely sure. Lifting her upper body as gently as possible, he wrapped thick bandages around her chest. Binding both the entry and exit wounds. Settling her back down, he went to find something to keep her warm. When he came back, he pulled off her wet boots and pants and bundled her in a woolen blanket.

Snuffy was still huddled nearby whimpering, Zack stopped for a minute to part the dog's fluffy head. "She'll be fine boy, I promise." Big ice blue eyes fixed their gaze on him, so trusting. Even as he said those words, he wasn't so positive about Eva's condition. He had to get her to a hospital, how was the question. Both Zack and Snuffy were alerted at the same time, engines approaching. They had more company.

******
Two vans arrived at Eva's small house simultaneously. Max halted the rental van she was driving and stared out the front windscreen. Even though the snow was falling steadily, it hadn't yet covered the dark patch of snow near Eva's front door. A foot from that lay a figure, unmoving in the snow. The black unmarked van screeched to a halt and three men jumped out, one headed for the trees the other two towards the house.

"Oh no you don't." Max launched herself out of the van and started running. Logan had been about to warn her but kept his mouth shut at the last moment. She knew to be careful and at this point, any distraction could be fatal.

Logan watched the scene unfold before him and felt powerless to help. Max reached the first man just as he was reaching to turn over the unmoving figure. She took him out with two swift kicks to the head. Before he could even blink, Logan saw a man with pale hair take out the second man with two punches in the stomach and with a round-house kick, the man fell unconscious to the ground. Both Max and Zack turned at the sound on an engine. The black van floored its accelerator and left, tires squealing and icy snow flying in all directions.

Zack turned back to Max. "Forget them, we have to get Eva to a doctor or she's not going to make it." Zack hurried back into the kitchen were Eva lay. Max gasped when she saw all the blood. It was everywhere, bloody torn clothes scattered on the floor, soaked swabs, bloodstains on the table and the floor around where Eva lay.

"There's so much blood." Max couldn't tear her eyes away for the horrific sight before her. Eva's face was so pale in the dim light. Almost gray looking, close to death. "We have to get her out of here. Come on, Logan's in the van, he'll know where to take her."

Zack nodded silently. Even though he hated to acknowledge it, it was really something to have someone like Logan on your side. Zack picked Eva up and made sure that she was warmly wrapped, whilst Max collected a still sullen Snuffy. Together they headed out past the group of still bodies and piled into the rental van.

"What happened?" Logan stared at Eva who lay unconscious in Zack's arms. Even as he asked, Max gunned the engine.

"She got shot in the chest. We need to get her to a doctor," Zack stated.

"Where can we go?" Max threw at Logan.

"There's hospital in Palmer, I have a contact there. He'll help us." Logan said that with doubt in his eyes, which Max saw. They all knew that Eva had lost far too much blood. Something Logan didn't want to mention was just how far Palmer was. It was a good forty miles away. He prayed that Eva would be able to hold out long enough. He didn't have to tell Max to step on the gas. She knew that time was short; she was putting all her attention into driving full speed and keeping the car on the road.

Eva…I do need you…just hold on…