Chapter 8

When Lee hung up after speaking with his father he put his head in his hands for a few moments to try and marshall his thoughts. How had the Cylons found them again? Just when things seemed to be coming together for the remaining people of the twelve colonies, everything fell apart again. He felt drained; drained and empty. He had seen some pretty awful things in his life, but nothing like this. He dared to take another look around the shelter. The air was heavy with the smell of copper: there was just so much blood, and he had to fight against a wave of nausea as his gaze swept across the mass of bodies slumped against each other. This was obviously where Zarek's men had rounded up the marines and other personnel of the base. Their hands and feet had been bound, giving them no chance of escaping. The Cylons had just shot them all where they sat.

Lee and Kara had known that they were too late as soon as they came near the camp. A plume of smoke was billowing from the burnt out shell of the Astral Queen. They had stopped the truck and hidden it behind some trees. Pulling out their weapons the pair of them had moved in silent formation towards the base. Everything had been much too quiet. The Cylons had obviously left; their job well and truly done. The first body that they had found had obviously been the man posted as a sentry. The look of surprised fear on his face told them that there had been little warning of the attack. He had been slashed across the chest and throat. From there on, as they moved through the base, all they found was a trail of bodies all the way to the main shelter. Some of Zarek's men had made it a little further, but they had been either shot or stabbed as they fled in terror. The man himself hadn't made it far out of the shelter; they had found him slumped near the entrance, shot multiple times in the head and chest. His chance at leading the remains of the human race had been very short lived. One of the things that worried them most was that, through all of this death and destruction, there wasn't a single dead centurion. The magazines of the few of the guns clutched by Zarek's men that they had examined were empty, but the ammunition had obviously been useless against the metal Cylons, making Lee and Kara concerned about how they could fight them if they came back.

Kara came back in to the shelter from checking the other tents and moved quietly to his side. She was struggling to hold back tears.

"I, er, found Tigh." He looked at her questioningly, but she just shook her head. "He was tied up in one of the storage tents. The Cylons must have just sprayed the tent with bullets. He took one in the back of the head. He was just sat there looking for all the world like he was going to get up and start yelling at me as usual." The tears had started to run down her cheeks. "I couldn't stand the stupid, drunken son of a bitch. Why am I crying because he's dead?"

"Because you know that no one deserves to die like this and because you're human. It's what makes us different from them."

"I can hardly believe this. There's a big difference between dropping a nuclear bomb from two miles up in space to this cold blooded face-to-face killing. I know this was the metal toasters but it's just so…so.. inhumane."

"That's exactly what it is, Kara, inhumane; because however much the Cylons might look like us they're not human." He paused for a few moments then pointed at the body of Ellen Tigh. "Looks like it was a pretty bad day all round for the XO. Seems like his wife was the one who was working with Zarek on the inside to help with his plan."

"How can you be sure that it was her?"

"She's the only one with no blood on her. She wasn't killed by the Cylons. She died of a broken neck. I bet she was already dead when the Cylons arrived."

"So much for honour amongst thieves."

Kara looked around for a few moments; breath coming in short bursts as she tried to control her emotions at the sight before her.

"When I was on Caprica there were no bodies; Helo said that the toasters had taken them all away for incineration. This is worse than how I imagined it." She turned and quickly ran outside; Lee could hear her retching from where he stood. He pulled all he needed from the dradis console and followed her, never wanting to go back into the shelter again. Kara was wiping her face with the sleeve of her shirt when he reached her.

"Hey, great day out, Adama. We must do this again sometime."

"Quit with the gallows humour Kara; it's not funny."

"It wasn't meant to be funny; it's just my way of coping."

"I know and I'm sorry. I'm not getting at you. It's just that I can't believe that they've found us again." He laid a hand on her shoulder then pulled her in for a brief hug. "Did you check on Alex?"

"Yeah. He's still asleep in the truck. I don't want him to see any of this. I know he's too young to understand it, but I just don't want him to see anything."

"No one should have to see something like this, Kara. Gods what a frakking waste." He kicked a nearby pile of metal containers viciously, snarling in frustration.

"Lee!" Kara admonished him. He just carried on giving the containers hell.

"This is my way of coping," he yelled over the noise.

"Apollo!" Kara shouted at him as she grabbed his arm to pull him away from the now thoroughly dented containers. "You need to get your head out of your ass and get us out of here. Let's just find the raptor and get the frak off this planet."

"I don't think that we can. I checked the raptor: the Cylons blasted it, and even if it is salvageable, the fleet had to jump away."

"Frak! Can't we jump after them?"

"Not unless you happen to know the emergency jump co-ordinates and you can also get a damaged raptor past the Cylon base star that's now sitting up there."

"Great! So we're stuck here? Alright then CAG what's the plan?"

"Umm….Load up the truck with as much survival gear, heavy duty ordinance and supplies as we can find and then get the frak away from here. I think that we should head west towards those mountains." He pointed to a mountain range in the distance. "We need to find Baltar and his team and that's where they were aiming for."

"Sounds like a plan. Should we even be taking the truck? Won't the Cylons be able to track us?"

"May be, but I sure as hell would rather have something with an engine to get me away from a Cylon centurion if they find us: leg power obviously isn't enough." He glanced down at one of the bodies caught fleeing from the shelter.

"I'm with you there. So, truck it is."

They scoured the various tents and storage areas and gathered together fuel, food and water and weapons. Once it was all loaded into the truck they made a makeshift grave for Tigh. They both agreed that they owed it to Lee's father to bury his friend with as much dignity as they could muster, little as it was. Kara, more familiar with the scriptures than Lee, said a prayer over the mound of earth once they had finished.

"Lords of Kobol hear our prayer. Take the souls of your sons and daughters lost today into your care. Many of them weren't the best of characters but they were still all your children. We especially ask you to guard the soul of Saul Tigh. May you grant him eternal rest."

"So say we all."

Lee put an arm around her shoulders and they stood in silent contemplation of the grave for a few moments before walking slowly back to the truck. They drove away with hardly a backward glance, glad to be away from the smell of death, but wary of what they were to face as they headed out towards the far mountains.