"Hey! Come on, wake up!"
Someone was shaking her. Katy rolled over sleepily to try and get away. The someone snorted in her ear. Suddenly a hand prodded her roughly in the back.
"Ouch! Okay, I'm awake!" she muttered. She opened her eyes and blinked in the dim light of the bedside lamp. MacGyver smiled down at her.
"You know, you're kinda cute first thing in the morning."
She groaned.
"What time is it?"
"Four AM. The sun will be rising soon, so we'd better hurry." He looked at her for a long minute, a strange smile on his face, before leaning down to give her a long soft kiss. As they broke apart, Katy grinned.
"I could get to like waking up with you!"
"Me too," he replied, almost whispering.
"We've got to go," she told him.
"I know." He was still leaning over her. Then he sighed and rolled away from her, towards the edge of the bed. Katy climbed out the other side of the bed and grabbed some clothes from the wardrobe, while MacGyver dressed behind her.
"Right. Which way is Ben's house?" he asked her, when they were both ready. Katy was stuffing a few bars of chocolate into her pocket, and gestured up the street with her head.
"Just a few minutes that way. This place isn't very big."
*****
Ben could see Dr. Marks and her friend coming down the street and hesitated. He knew his brother had told him that she was evil and her ways were evil. His brother had told him things about her that he had a hard time believing, about how she had tried to stop their plan, and about how she was trying to destroy their god in the eyes of his people. But then he knew her. He had spent months learning about new things with her. She knew lots of things and she had promised to teach him more. She couldn't really be evil, could she? She was trying to protect the animals, trying to help the forest.
In the end, the belief that he should do what was right for his people won out, and he turned and ran away from them, ducking down behind a fence to hide.
"Ben!" he heard her shouting. There were running footsteps coming towards him, and then they slowed and stopped. He peered out of his hiding place to see the doctor and her friend standing outside his house.
"Damn it, MacGyver, he got away!"
"I thought you said he was your friend?"
"Yeah, I thought he was. Who knows what his family's told him to make him think he can't trust me! I bet it was that scheming brother of his. I bet he's told him we're evil people and we're going to hurt him! It would be just the sort of thing he'd do!"
"I take it he doesn't like you much, huh?"
"No, we never really got on. He thought I was interfering. Another one of those religious things, I guess."
"So Ben might not want to be found. This could be a problem."
Katy chuckled,
"Yeah, understatement!"
MacGyver stuck his hands in his pockets and frowned as he thought carefully.
"Okay, we need to keep an eye out. Sunrise starts in twenty minutes. Do we know which direction he'll be going?"
"The same way we came up yesterday. I know it has to be somewhere to the north west of here."
"How do you know that?"
"Because that's where all the other children were heading."
Then he surprised her by taking her hand as they walked back down the street to the north. Katy glanced up briefly at his face as they walked. He looked serious and very concerned. Sensing her eyes upon him, he smiled down at her and squeezed her hand affectionately.
"Don't worry about it. I'm not going to let anything happen, to you or Ben. We will stop this."
She nodded; reassured that at least she wasn't alone.
They reached the edge of the village, where the large overhang of granite rock allowed them to see out over the landscape. MacGyver patted her on the shoulder, pointing to the horizon.
"Here it comes." The edge of the sky was lit in a deep yellow orange and it slowly began to spread upwards in a flood of red and gold.
"Now, we know he has to come through this way. It's too steep to get down the hill any other way. I'm going to stand over on the other side of the rock. Keep watching."
Katy stared out at the beautiful colours of the sunrise. She loved getting up in the morning just to see this fascinating sight.
MacGyver looked down the hill at her from his position above the large rock. Her face was in profile to him, and he could see the vibrant colours in the sky reflected across her skin. Her hair flowed back in the breeze, tinted with golden highlights as the first ray of pure sunlight crept over the horizon. In that frozen moment, she looking so beautiful, a natural beauty that made MacGyver drawn in a long shaky breath. He found himself thinking,
'Even if nothing else good comes of this, at least I've found her. I'm not letting her go without a fight. I wonder if she'd come back to LA with me…'
Suddenly a shout from below shook him out of his musings, and he realised his daydreaming had made him blind to his surroundings. Katy was shouting to him, even as young Ben raced down the hill in an attempt to make it to the relative safety of the trees. MacGyver leapt off the edge of the granite rock and slid down the loose dirt beneath it. He knew he'd have to go at a dead run to have any chance of catching up with the boy. Some distance behind, he could hear Katy running after him, although the roaring of the wind in his ears made it difficult to tell how far behind. He mentally swore when Ben got to the tree line a few hundred yards in front of him.
Stopping for a few seconds to catch his breath, Katy caught up.
"Which way'd he go?" she panted. MacGyver gestured over to the north. The undergrowth had been disturbed and there were broken branches and twigs scattering the forest floor.
"Let's go," was all he said in return. Setting off again at a run, he hoped that they weren't too late.
'God, I hope I can get to Ben before… well, you know. Please, please don't let me screw this up!' he prayed silently.
The trail they were following led right passed the bank MacGyver had found Katy at the previous day. He knew they had to be close behind; the water was still rippling from where he had slipped into the stream. MacGyver doubled his efforts, pushing himself into a sprint even though his legs were beginning to feel really tired. Eventually, he caught sight of Ben ahead of him, and with a bit of extra energy, he reached out and grabbed him, tackling him to the ground.
Ben struggled, fighting back against MacGyver as he tried to keep him from escaping.
"Ben! Benny!" Katy dropped to her knees next to them. The boy gave up and let MacGyver hold him, concentrating on his scientist friend instead.
"Dr. Katy, please! I did not do anything wrong! My brother… he said you wanted to hurt me. Please!"
Katy looked shocked. MacGyver relaxed his grip a little, still slightly out of breath.
"No, Ben, no! I'd never hurt you, trust me! We want to help your people, but your brother thinks I'm getting in the way. That's why he lied to you. Please believe me!"
"Then let me go." Katy looked at MacGyver, who nodded and sighed. Slowly he released him and stood up. Ben didn't try to run again, but he moved as far away from MacGyver as he could get. Katy tried again,
"Ben, you have to listen to me. What the elders have asked you to do is wrong. You remember what I told you about how some people in the world like to kill the animals in forests for fun?" At his hesitant nod, she continued, "Well, it's the same here. The elders think that by setting off those bombs, they're doing everyone a favour, but its just murder. They're going to kill everyone and everything on the planet."
Ben's eyes widened and he stared at Katy in shock.
"No… my people wouldn't do that…"
MacGyver interrupted,
"It's true, Ben. It's a horrible truth but we wouldn't lie to you. We need your help to stop this. It's up to you. You can help us save the world or you can be a part of the problem."
Ben was silent for a minute, and then he nodded, a sad expression on his face.
"Yes, Dr. Katy, I will help you. But my family will be very angry with me."
Katy smiled and ruffled his hair playfully.
"It's okay, we'll take care of you. Believe me, you never have to see them again if you don't want to."
He reached out and hugged her impulsively. Katy relaxed and when she looked over at MacGyver, the relief in her eyes was obvious. He watched her and was glad that he'd taken her advice about confronting him with the problem, instead of deceiving him. He was a clever child and he seemed to understand the consequences of what he was about to do. MacGyver prayed that it wasn't too late. If the villagers got any wind of what they were about to do… or if someone else tried to set off the bombs… He shook his head to clear it of these thoughts. He had made a promise to Katy and a promise to Ben, and he was not going to let them down. Even if it meant sacrifice.