Disclaimer: Like I said before, I don't own these characters.

"Marguerite's Struggle"

Chapter 3

While Marguerite set off through the jungle, alone and at night, things were quiet at the Treehouse. Veronica was setting the table for dinner when she heard a loud crash coming from the common room. Malone also heard the noise and came rushing out. Roxton was furiously filling his pack and doing it carelessly. The noise that had vibrated through the Treehouse was Roxton angrily slamming his rifle down on the table in frustration.

Veronica saw the vexed hunter and approached warily. "Roxton? Dinner's ready. Why don't you come and join us?" Roxton looked up at her with a scowl on his face that startled Veronica.

"I don't know why I listened to you! I should have gone out there looking for them this afternoon! I wasted precious time that I could have been using to find them! God help me if anything happened to them!" Roxton's frustration and guilt were emerging as anger and were being directed at Veronica. He ignored her and grabbed his pack and rifle and headed for the elevator. Veronica ran and cut him off. "Hold on a second, Roxton!"

Veronica immediately took a deep breath before speaking. "Roxton, calm down and keep your voice down. Summerlee's sleeping. I know you're worried and want to go look for them, but I'm sure they're fine. They probably fell behind a little bit and stopped to make camp. There's no reason to suspect otherwise. Besides, even if something did happen to them, it's already dark outside and you can't go stomping through the jungle at night. How are you going to help them if you go and get yourself killed? You know the dangers of the jungle, you're the one who made the rules regarding safety. Rule number one: Don't go into the jungle alone. Rule number two: Don't go into the jungle at night. You can't go out looking for them now, it's too dangerous." She looked up and saw that he was debating the issue and still wanted to go look for them. "You know I'm right. Look, I'll make you a deal. Tomorrow morning, if they haven't come back yet, you and Malone can go look for them while I look after Summerlee. Ok?"

Unable to argue with Veronica's logic, Roxton relented. He slammed his rifle down on the table and walked over to the balcony. "Fine! But first thing in the morning, I'm leaving so you better be ready Malone!"

Malone walked over to Roxton and patted him on the back and gave him a reassuring smile. "Come on Roxton, you know they'll be fine. If anyone can survive on this plateau it would be those two. With Challenger's genius and Marguerite's cunning and instinct for self-preservation, those two could survive anything." His small attempt to lighten the mood only got a faint smile from the hunter. Roxton walked over to a seat on the balcony feeling defeated and guilty. He sat and stared in the jungle, with little hope, that the two missing explorers would come bounding through the jungle any minute.

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It was nearing two in the morning and Marguerite was still journeying through the jungle towards the Treehouse. The last three miles of their journey was taking longer than she expected. Traveling through the dark night with no torch and dragging Challenger was no easy task. Unable to see where she was going, she constantly stumbled and fell. The strain of picking herself back up, along with Challenger, was draining the little strength she had left in her body. In a couple of hours, the sun would come up and she would have light but she still had about a mile and a half left before they could both get the help they desperately needed.

Marguerite, once again, tripped on a broken branch on the jungle floor, and came crashing to the ground. "Damn it! How am I supposed to get anywhere if I keep falling flat on my face! This is taking too long!" Marguerite slowly climbed to her feet and checked on Challenger. His wounds had started bleeding again but she had no bandages left and her clothes were already completely soaked in her own blood. She couldn't help Challenger right now. His only help lay at the Treehouse and it was up to her to make sure he got it. "I hate to say it Challenger, but you don't look too good. I have to get you to the Treehouse right away! Just hold on, George. Just a little bit longer. Don't prove me wrong."

Marguerite gathered her strength and took a deep breath. "Roxton will kill me when he finds out I traveled through the jungle at night, especially with no torch and no real chance to defend myself. Huh, I actually wish he was here to yell at me. Anything would beat the quiet of this jungle at night. Well, let's get moving. Oh don't bother getting up Challenger." With a last bit of humor to ease her nerves, Marguerite picked up the stretcher and pushed on to reach her destination.

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Dawn settled on the plateau and the two explorers had still not returned to the Treehouse. After keeping vigil on the balcony all night, Roxton got tired of waiting and was packed and ready to go before sunrise. He quickly grew impatient and burst into Malone's room and woke him up so they could set out on their rescue mission. "Malone! Hurry and get ready! I'm leaving in 5 minutes, with or without you!" shouted Roxton as he stormed into his room to get his hat and rifle.

He was pacing in the common room when Malone and Veronica came in. Veronica asked, "Do you want to get some breakfast before you go?"

Roxton practically shouted, "We've wasted enough time! Let's go Malone!" As he was heading to the elevator, he heard a gunshot. "Did you hear that?! That was a gunshot! I knew they were in trouble! Hurry, let's go Malone!" Roxton and Malone grabbed their weapons and packs and jumped into the elevator.

Traveling towards the sound of the shot, they heard two more shots. They arrived in time to see Marguerite shoot and kill the third and final raptor. At first glance, nobody would believe that the sight of the person in front of them was the beautiful Miss Krux. Her normally beautiful curly hair was highly disheveled and padded with leaves and clumps of mud. Her face had multiple cuts and bruises, along with her arms and chest, from traveling blind in the night and multiple tumbles to the ground. The beautiful white silk camisole she took so much pride in was soaked in blood along with her trousers. Her olive complexion was a ghostly white and her body was drenched in sweat and she was shaking from exhaustion. Her eyes were slightly dilated and could barely make out the two figures before her. It was taking all the strength she had left just to remain standing. She secured her pistol and walked over to the stretcher and joined Roxton and Malone.

Roxton's face immediately paled when he saw the state Marguerite was in. "Oh my God, Marguerite! What happened to you?! How badly are you hurt?!"

Marguerite saw the shocked and grief stricken looks on both Roxton and Malone's faces. She could barely speak since she hadn't had any water in at least two days butmanaged toanyway. She knew Challenger needed to be taken care of first so she did what she always did. She lied. "Thanks," she replied sarcastically, "but I've been a little busy and didn't have the time to take my usual morning bath." She saw that her little attempt at humor didn't relieve their worry, so she tried sincerity. "It's not as bad as it looks. Challenger is much worse off than I am. Hurry and get him to Summerlee. He's lost a lot of blood. He started bleeding again last night but I couldn't stop to stop the bleeding. We were attacked two days ago, I tried to get him here as fast as I could."

After Roxton and Malone made a crude bandage for Challenger, they prepared to leave. Reassured that Marguerite wasn't badly injured, he quickly took the lead. He turned his attention to getting their patient back to the Treehouse as quickly as possible. "Can you make it to the Treehouse?" Marguerite nodded. "Ok, Malone, you and I will each grab an end and, Marguerite, you walk next to us. Can you carry a rifle? Our hands will be full with Challenger and all this blood will surely attract more raptors." Marguerite nodded again. "Ok then, let's get moving."

The three explorers walked back the remaining half-mile to the Treehouse in a half-hour without any trouble. As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, they quickly yelled for Summerlee to come and help Challenger.

Summerlee who was still recovering, ran as quick as he could to the common room and was in shock with the sight of Challenger. The bandages on his chest were already soaked with blood and hadn't stopped bleeding. "Oh my goodness! Challenger! What happened?!"

Marguerite walked in and after assuring Summerlee she was fine, briefly told him about the attack two days ago and the extent of his chest injuries and how he regained consciousness once, despite his major concussion. Summerlee started examining Challenger and sent the rest of the explorers to get the supplies he needed.

While everyone was working on helping Challenger, Marguerite was standing in the corner and out of the way of the helping hands. Summerlee wanted her to go and rest, but she insisted on staying until Challenger was all right. After several hours, they had cleaned and treated his wounds and was left to rest. Challenger was officially in the clear and on the road to recovery.

In all this time, Marguerite had not budged from the doorway. After checking over Challenger's bandages one last time, Summerlee got up and noticed that Marguerite had still not moved from the doorway. "Are you all right, my dear?"

Marguerite sensed his concern and changed the subject to Challenger's condition. "I'm fine. Help Challenger." Luckily, his condition wasn't too bad thanks to Marguerite's quick thinking and care. Summerlee replied, "He lost a lot of blood, but with a little bed rest, he will recover and be back in his lab and his experiments."

She was gripping hardly on the doorway, so hard her knuckles were white and her hands had lost all feeling. She was leaning heavily on the doorway. In fact, it was the only thing keeping her from toppling over. Darkness was on the horizon and quickly approaching but she didn't want to let go until she was sure Challenger was fine. She had to make sure. "Summerlee, are you sure Challenger is going to be ok?"

"Yes, my dear, thanks to you. You saved his life. If he had stayed out there any longer, he might not have made it."

With Summerlee's news, Marguerite relaxed and loosened her death grip on the wood of the doorway. "That's good news...Marguerite Krux never...goes back...on her word." As soon as the last word left her mouth, she gave into the darkness and collapsed not hearing Summerlee's anguished cries...