Chapter 6
He waved his arm at her and slurred, "Ok, ok. I'm awake."
"Hey, I got something for you, hold out your hand."
He extended his opened palm to her and she placed his glasses in there.
Enclosing his fingers around them, he smiled weakly, "Great. Thanks Jube. Where did you find them?"
"Just about a million yards in the opposite direction from where I found you."
"Well, at least I'm not blind anymore, just broken and sick."
She helped him into a sitting position, "Don't talk like that Scott. Maybe there are antibiotics in the first aid kit. Would you know if you saw any?"
He nodded as he unwrapped his eyes. Putting on his glasses, he looked around, "That's better. Now Jube, all you have to do is perform surgery to pin my leg and remove the bullet, and I'll be all set."
She just smiled at his weak attempt at humor. Grabbing the first aid kit on the floor next to them, she opened it up. "Anything good to eat in here?"
He shuffled around the contents of the kit, "Aspirin, anti-acids, vitamins…nothing prescription Jube. No antibiotics."
"Well there's aspirin for the pain. It's not much, but could take the edge off."
Looking down at the red stained bandage, "I don't think I should take any."
"Why not!"
"I'm still bleeding. Aspirin makes bleeding worse. Stops the blood from clotting. I can't risk it out here."
"Well, at least keep your strength up." She jumped up and rummaged around for another food pack. She followed the directions and handed the pack to Scott, "You have to wait 5 minutes, then the scrambled eggs will be ready. Eat."
"What about you?"
"I'm going out to see if there is something that would make a suitable sled for me to pile the supplies on. I can't carry it all and you can't carry anything but yourself." She held back saying that it might also be for him.
"Be careful. I worry about you when you leave."
"Cyclops, I'll be fine, just worry about yourself."
After she left, he got the first good look at the demolished ship and the window he flew through during the crash. Looking beyond the broken glass he saw her coat in the distance. Astonished, he said, "Gee, I can't believe I survived."
He looked down at himself, first at the broken leg and admired how well she put the boot on. But he was more concerned about the wound in his side. The bandages were soaked through. He slowly rolled himself off the floor and into a standing position. Grabbing the first aid kid, he sat down on the closest chair and started to remove his dressing.
The injury was an angry red, and he knew there was an infection brewing. He rebandaged himself with fresh gauze and wrap, then rummaged once again through the kit for antibiotics. He was just as disappointed after the second search and decided to bring this up next time they all meet. Maybe have a more inclusive first aid kit on each of the vehicles. A smile crept across his face, 'It must be a good sign that I'm thinking so far ahead.' He fingered the aspirin bottle toying seriously with taking some even with the risks. But he shook his head and put them back. It would be too much on Jubilee if he started bleeding profusely. He'll just have to deal with the pain.
After eating, he planned to get up and put the necessary supplies all in one place for Jubilee. But his eyelids became very heavy and he drifted off into a fitful sleep instead.
He dreamt of fighting off a team of mutants but his powers were gone. As he fought, each of the strange, unknown faces he was combating changed into one of the X-Men. His fellow teammates, his friends. But they were attacking him. Trying to kill him. As they swarmed over him, he flailed against their attacks…
"Scott? You ok?"
Cyclops awoke as Jubilee carefully climbed in through the window.
"You were swinging your arms wildly and seemed distressed. Nightmare?"
He nodded.
"Hey, I found a long piece of hard plastic. Lightweight. It'll make a perfect sled. Give me a few minutes to load the stuff onto it, then we'll head for the rocks."
"I can help…"
"Sit. Stay!" she commanded. "I want you as rested as possible. You have a long walk ahead of you."
"Yes, Sir," and he saluted her.
Within minutes, she had the sled loaded and was helping Scott climb outside. She took advantage of the seatbelts in the plane and rigged up a harness to pull the sled behind her. This freed up her hands to help Scott if he needed it. "You ready, Cyc?"
Leaning on his crutch, he nodded, "Lead on."
Scott had trouble early on as the open-ended pipe dug fairly deep into the soft sand in spots. They remedied the situation by stuffing the pipe with whatever they could, closing off the end, then capping it with a rag. It was slow going since he really wasn't able to walk, just hop, but thankfully the crutch worked fine now.
Her sled worked remarkably well. It was light and slid easily over the rough surface. Only periodically did she have to go back and pick up items that fell out.
At the halfway point, she suggested that they sit and rest. "The water in the canteen that sat outside all night is still pretty cool. Why not take a sip?"
Scott didn't refuse. Even though the day was young, it was already proving to be a scorcher.
Jubilee could see that Scott was struggling, but she didn't want to ask how he was doing. She didn't want to draw his attention to his injuries if she didn't have to. Besides, she didn't want to hear him say he was having problems. She tried to keep upbeat and forward. She glanced at their destination; it still looked so far away. "I think we should be there in less than an hour. Ready?"
Without saying anything, he stood up. He wavered a moment then started his now familiar hitch-hop gait.
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The X-men were in the Black Bird already en route to New Mexico. Hank had narrowed down the location to the Southwest. Xavier told them to start out since it would still take several hours to get there. By the time they reached the general vicinity, the Professor would be back at the mansion extracting the information from Cerebro.
"Has the Professor gotten home yet?" growled Wolverine.
"He's landing now, my friend. I would think that we should have the information we need within a few minutes."
As the crew listened in silence waiting for Charles to get back to them, Rogue turned to Remy, "Hey, Swamp-rat. You been quiet. Haven't said a word the entire flight."
"Gambit just worried, t'all."
"Hey, Ah know, we'll all find 'em safe and sound. Probly roastin' marshmallows over an open fire, just awaitin' for us t'show up."
The light chatter in the Black Bird plunged into silence as Charles' voice came across the airwaves, "Hank, I was able to get the area narrowed down to within a 50 mile radius. I see them in the middle of a desert. The feedback I received from Cyclops's essence is significantly weaker than it should be. But, I feel that they are both still alive."
"That is good news, Professor. I have set the coordinates into the autopilot, we should be there in a little over an hour."
"Good luck, Hank, and keep me informed."
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"C'mon Scott. It's not much further. Do you want to ride in the sled?"
He shook his head, leaning into the wind that had picked up.
Jubilee looked towards the west where a windstorm was brewing. Sand, dirt and tumbleweeds swirled around them, making travel harder than it already was. "Just our luck. If the wind blows any harder, we aren't going to be able to see where we're going. We could end up walking right past the cavern."
She turned around suddenly at the sound of a food packet flying off the litter. She dropped the rope and ran after it. After capturing the renegade food, and depositing it back where it belonged, she realized that as the wind picked up she was going to lose more items.
"Scott, I know you want to walk, but we're going to lose our supplies in the wind. How about you sitting on them to keep 'em from flying away?"
He knew all too well that she won't be able to pull his weight even on a light-weight plastic sled, "Stop a minute." He fell on his good knee beside the supplies and pulled out a blanket. It flapped viciously in the wind as he unfolded it. Ripping each corner he fed it through holes he burned into the plastic and tied it on. When finished, their supplies were secured.
He groaned as he got up off his knee, "There try that."
"That was not the idea, Scott. I wanted you to rest, while I pulled you the rest of the way."
His throat scratchy from the dust, he yelled into the wind, "Jube, there is no way you can pull this thing with my dead weight. You just can't. You aren't that strong. Now let's get going. The sooner we get there, the sooner we get out of this mess."
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"We're here."
Scott could barely see a foot in front of him from the storm. "You sure?"
"Actually, no."
He looked at her, "What do you mean, no?"
"Hey look Scott, you see how bad this storm is. I can't see any further than you can. Without a compass, once the rock formation got lost in the visibility I couldn't tell any more than you could if we were walking a straight line. I'm sorry. But that's the fact. Now if you want to sit here a minute while I go find the crevice, I can tell you exactly where to blast the entrance."
Scott was grateful for a chance to sit, even in the midst of sand storm.
Jubilee walked the base of the rock structure using her hand to find the crack in the limited visibility. Her stomach felt like a net full of butterflies worrying if this is the right place or not. She didn't know what they would do if this was the wrong outcropping. Her despair was mounting with each unsuccessful step. She knew she had gone almost the entire circumference without finding what she wanted. Scott would be just around the next bend, what would she tell him? That's when her fingers slipped into the two inch crack that lead up to a watermelon sized window.
"Yippee! I found it."
Scott appeared through the swirling dirt within a minute. A smirk broke through his stern face, "Took you long enough. Won't it have been easier if you went in this direction first? You're less than ten feet away from where you dumped me."
Hollering to be heard above the wind, "Ok, ok. Point taken. Now if you'd like to get out of this mess, how about blowing a hole just about here?" She pointed to an area just to the right of the crack.
He hobbled back several yards. "Stand clear, Jube."
A bright flash of red laser easily blasted a hole in the precise location indicated by Jubilee. She grabbed the ropes of the sled and went into the cave. It was just as perfect as it looked from above. Aside from the small amount of sand trickling in from the window, they were well protected from the environment. It was even several degrees cooler inside and no wind. She watched Scott hobble into the room and she quickly set out blankets for him to lie on. That was her first priority. The next was light. She had remembered a lantern after they had been walking only 10 minutes. She told Scott to continue on while she ran back for it. She still caught up to him easily upon returning with the light.
After it was lit, she looked over at her friend. He was sitting on the blanket, leaning against the wall. He looked terrible. There seemed to be no living energy emanating from his body. It didn't help that he was covered with a layer of dust from the storm either. "Are you still awake?"
He nodded.
She took a piece of cloth and dampened it. Kneeling down beside him, she wiped his face. He startled at the touch, "That's a waste of precious water."
"There's not that much on this cloth to make a difference between life and death, Scott. Now let me at least wipe your face clean. Close your eyes, I'm taking your glasses off."
Too weak to object, he rested his head back against the wall. He enjoyed the cool moist fabric across his face.