Virgil came to rest at the bottom of the deep wooded ravine. He lay parallel to a small stream, his exposed left arm resting in the cold water. He was not moving.
Gordon was just about to fire TB2's cannon when he saw images on the screen moving into the target zone. Then within minutes the shooting and mortar fire stopped. He had guessed that the army sent there to protect them was doing their job, albeit a bit slow. He switched the cannon back to stand-by and hurried out of TB2. He headed straight for the basement doors of the church looking for his brothers. Too bad he didn't think of his watch, he would have gotten an answer faster by contacting his brother's via the com link. But he was too worried about them being hurt to think about it. He found Scott first when he stood up from behind the jeep, brushing the dirt off his clothes. "You ok, Scott?" Gordon asked. "Eh?" Scott returned cupping his ears. "My ears are still ringing from the blast." Gordon got a worried look on his face. "Gordo, I'm kidding, I can hear you fine, I just have a little ringing in my ears. Let's go see how John and the kids are doing." He said as he shook his head sending dust and dirt flying from his hair.
They headed to the steps leading down to the basement doors that Scott and John had previously cut away. John already had two more kids out. They were coming out in a hurry from panic after the mortar attack. John looked to Scott, "I don't think you will have to continue cutting the concrete, these kids are pouring out so fast that by the time you start up your laser cutter, they will all be out." Since the army soldiers that were helping the kids being removed left during the attack, there was no one around to rein them in once they got out. Gordon took it upon himself to lasso them in and give them comfort. As another would pop out of the hole, he rounded them up as well.
Scott was about to go over and check on Virgil. He looked up and saw that the grabs were still attached to the wall and assumed that Virgil was back at the controls. As he headed towards where he thought Virgil was, the captain came over to Scott. "I'm am sorry senor. The rebels, they sneak into the area after our preliminary search of the grounds. She won't happen again. Most of those rebels died, and we have captured most all of the rest. I think that maybe two have gotten away. One particularly nasty hombre, his name is Jorge Sanches, he usually is responsible for such terrible attacks. I did not see him among the dead or captured. But I suspect he is behind this. Once again Senor Scott, you have my sincerest apologies."
Since he was in the military himself, Scott definitely understood, "Don't worry captain. I know you tried your best to have this area secured." Before Scott could say anything more, John called over. "Scott, we have two injured kids that need help getting out and one of the adults is injured." Before Scott left to go help with the rescue inside, the captain spoke up again, "One more favor Senor, por favour." Scott answered, "sure, go ahead." Captain Rojo waved his arm fanning across the village, as you can see, the village is deserted. These children are orphans, and hid in the church during the last round of attacks. They were heading for an orphanage several kilometers away. Would you please be allowed to take these children and the wounded to the next down in your great machine here?" Scott didn't hesitate for a moment. "Sure thing, it would take but minutes for us to do that. As soon as we get the remaining people out of the basement we'll go." Scott turned to Gordon, "Gordon, put all the kids into TB2, they are hitching a rid to the orphanage in the next town. We have to take the wounded there anyway to the hospital. Make sure they are strapped in and comfy. We will pick up the grabber after we have dropped off the kids."
"FAB, Scott."
As Gordon started to round up the kids into Thunderbird 2, Scott went over to help John retrieve the last of the injured. John being of a slimmer build was able to squeeze through the hole he had made. He was able to get the children out from under the rubble and through the hole. He then stabilized the broken arm on the one adult so that she could crawl through the hole too. As John crawled back out of the hole, he found Scott standing there. "John, Gordon and I are going to take the people from here to the next village where they have a hospital and orphanage. I will leave the pod so that you and Virgil can load up the grabber. We will be gone just a few minutes and come back to pick you two up and head home. Don't get your head shot off while we're gone!"
Scott, sitting in the pilot seat of TB2, called to Gordon in the back room with the children and adults and told him "Ok, Gords, tell the kids they are going for a ride,… here we go." And he hit TB2 thrusters and headed her for the next village. Meanwhile John after watching TB2 depart realized that Virgil probably didn't know that they had finished the rescue. He called into his watch, but received no answer. His watch looked ok, just a bit dusty, but maybe some dust got inside. So he trotted over only to find the abandoned grabber. He scanned the area quickly, and called out, "Virgil, Virgil where are you?" When he received no response, he called Captain Rojo over and asked, "Have you seen the person who was operating this machine? He has a blue uniform like this but his sash is yellow." The captain replied, "I am sorry Senor, but I have not seen anyone like who you describe. I know two left in the great machine with the children but I do not believe either wore a yellow sash. If you find he is missing, I will give you several of my men to help look for him."
Trying not to panic John said, "I will give a quick look around first and if I don't find any signs of him, I will take you up on your offer." Then as an afterthought to himself, "He had better be taking a leak somewhere if he isn't here!" He looked to his watch and hailed Scott. When Scott answered, John knew that his watch was not broken and that there was something on Virgil's end that wasn't right. He sure hoped it was his watch and nothing more. "Scott, Virgil isn't with you per chance, is he?"
Scott did not like the sound of that. "John, why are you asking that? Virgil should be with you."
"Scott, he is not anywhere in the near vicinity, the grabber is abandoned. I was hoping maybe he headed into TB2 to use the head or maybe get some first aid for a wound or something like that." John answered, panic bubbling just below the surface.
"Gordon, is Virgil with you in sickbay?" Scott called over the intercom.
"Uh, no Scott, isn't he supposed to be with John back at the church?" Gordon responded.
"John said he's not around and thought maybe he came into TB2 when we weren't looking. I'm going to send a shipwide call to see if he is here anywhere." Scott turned on the intercom that would reach throughout the massive ship. "Virgil, please contact the bridge immediately." Scott held his breath as he waited for the reply that never came.
"John, Virgil did not answer the ship wide com, better start searching the area. As soon as I return we will use the thermal imager and look for him. Don't worry, he's gotta be close by."
Virgil let out a low moan and tried to push himself off the ground, but his left arm was not responding. It had gone numb in the cold water. He just let it follow his shoulder as he twisted his body over onto his back. Using his right arm he sat up. He brushed the twigs and thorn branches out of his hair. He looked down at himself and noted that he was pretty badly cut up. He looked up and realized that he fell down from whatever was up there. He saw that he was wearing what was probably once a blue shirt, but it was so badly torn, it just hung ragged on him. He took off what was left. His white undershirt was in slightly better condition so he left that on. He saw, but didn't feel, the severe gash in his left forearm, it was still numb. So he decided to take what was left of the blue shirt and wrap it up. That proved a bit difficult trying to tie a bandage around a numb arm with one hand and a mouth. After a few trying minutes he finished and looked up again at the heavy forestation that he seemed to have fallen into, from out of the sky. At least he felt like he fell from the sky. He ached all over. He slowly turned over onto his hand and knees, his left arm still limp, and crept up into a standing position. His right knee was hurting. He didn't know if it worked or not. Since he didn't know what direction he came from he decided to start walking downstream. He remembered that for some reason, some survival information that he remember, that you should follow water downstream. A few faltering steps told him he should find a stick, a walking stick, to help him. No way was he going to be able to walk unassisted. He stumbled a few yards before finding what looked like a suitable support for him to use. There was a forked end to it, and found he could use it as a crutch. He got started on his trek following the stream. His mind was so fogged up that he didn't even realize that he didn't remember what happened to him.