Chapter 25

Dawn brought with it the rolling thunder and gray clouds of an approaching storm, but provided much needed warmth for the couple.

Lara ate a ration quickly and then did some short-range scouting to find the easiest route back to the car - and to look for Elder's crew. When she returned to Max, he was eating slowly, his swallows seeming to cause him pain.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Been better," Max replied as he managed to down the last piece of what he called his 'healthy-crap-bar' and winced as he did so. "Think I just stumbled onto a great new diet - just associate pain and eating, loose a pound an hour. Wanna' be on my infomercial?"

"Absolutely."

"Christ, do I look that bad?"

"Pardon?"

"You're agreeing with me like I'm on my death bed. Stop being nice to me - it really throws me off..."

"As you say..."

Max turned to Lara and saw a slight smirk on her face. He chuckled in reply, closing his eyes against the pain.

"Hurts to laugh."

"Let me see..." Lara ordered as she removed his dressing. When she got to the last layer of bandage, the first few layers of new skin were torn off as they had grown into the material. Max let out a hiss and flinched slightly as she did so.

The area of Max's chest was pitted and oozing all manner of pus, blood and watery substances - all of which merged to form a sickly pink substance. Max had made it through the really difficult part, surviving the shock of his injuries, but there were still trials to go through. The pain and itching that Max would feel as his body repaired itself would be quite uncomfortable - as Lara knew from experience, there were few things more painful than burns.

As she re-dressed the wound, Max stared at his ravaged chest.

"There goes my shot at a Calvin Klein model..."

"Want some more for the pain?"

"Naw, got a nice balance between chest lava and the biggest hang-over I ever had."

"Probably a concussion."

"You think?" Max asked in a sarcastic manner, recoiling in pain at the giggle that followed.

"We'd best get you back to your auto before the storm hits."

"We won't get any of it."

"Why not?"

"Magic knee, Big Sis. Tells me what the weather's gonna do before it happens..."

"Your wife hit you with that big stick of hers?"

"Naw, old high school injury."

"Football?"

"Drama club. Take a little advice, learn how to fall correctly on stage, or you'll regret ot for the rest of your life..."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"There we go, just placate and shut me up, none of this agreeing with me crap."

"Shall we get moving, then?"

"We shall."

Lara wrapped Max's arm over her shoulder so that he could lean on her and they started off towards their goal. They had gone no more than six or seven meters when Max stopped walking and doubled over.

Lara turned to him and tried to get him upright again, realizing her mistake a split second too late. She had just turned him to face her when Max's healthy-crap-bar and everything else he had eaten recently found its way onto Lara's leotard.

Max raised his head and managed to mouth 'I'm sorry' to Lara before she set him gently on the ground. There was little she could do at the moment. His retch was largely liquid and was absorbing into her clothing at an alarming rate. She resigned herself to borrowing another of Max's shirts when they got back to the car.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah, I don't know what to say - I'm really sorry."

"Accepted."

"Guess it's just a little revenge for the shooting and the nut-crunching."

"You've had a bad knock on the head, nausea is to be expected."

"Yeah, but I haven't done the whole technicolor yawn in like twelve years."

"Perhaps today is a special day..."

"Maybe, but I think I'll be happy when it's over."

Lara took Max's arm again and they headed out across the mountain.

* * *

Three hours later found the duo very close to their destination, yet they hid behind a short ridge line. Before them rested half a dozen large trucks, twice as many tents, and other assorted bivouac equipment. Several soldiers had stood watch at sentry posts.

Lara peeked over the lip of a small fissure, straining to make out details of the encampment. Next to her, Max lay on his back with weapon drawn - as though he were in any condition to put up much of a fight.

"How many?" he asked.

"Three on rotating watch, I think I saw four others - it's hard to tell at this distance."

"All the crap you bring along...did you ever think about a pair of binocs?"

"Well someone told me that their awe-inspiring camera could see just about anything, so I didn't worry about it."

"Sorry. Did they find the car?"

"I can't see it, so they haven't pulled it out if they have...I think that it at least a hundred meters on the other side of their camp."

"Got a plan?"

"Possibly."

"Wanna hear mine?"

"Of course."

"Okay, you run interference while I sneak around and get the car. There's no way they can catch us in those beasts."

"How about this: I sneak around and get the car, and you keep you bum planted here."

"I like my plan better."

"If you so much as try to get up, I will pistol-whip you on your drama club knee, understand?"

"Fine. I've got a key hidden under the front bumper, driver's side. It's just behind the stock fog light fitting. On the remote, to disable to alarm silently, hit the right button twice and then the left one once - you got all that?"

"Driver's fog, right twice, then left."

"Just remember, it's a car, not a toy, and it should be treated that way."

"I won't put a scratch on it..."

"Good. Now, there's one more thing that you might find useful, a little jobber that I built myself..."