Chapter Two – Night one
By: recon228

When Kim woke-up a short time later, she had no idea where she was or what had happened. The last conscious memory she had was of her scolding Ron for insulting Lieutenant Steeves' aircraft. After that… she couldn't remember anything!

The first noise she heard as she came out of unconsciousness was what sounded like heavy sheets being ruffled behind her. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up at the sky, noting that the reddish hues of late evening were quickly giving way to the harsh black of night. The North Star was already visible in the sky and, with a gentle breeze blowing over her, Kim knew that it was about to get very cold. After a few minutes of staring at the late-evening sky, the post-ejection shock began to wear-off and she remembered what had happened.

Kim tried to call for her friend, but her mouth was so dry that no words came out. After a few attempts, she finally managed to force out a hoarse "Ron", but got no reply.

Fearing for Ron's safety, Kim tried to sit up and look around, but something was holding her in place. Glancing over her shoulder, she discovered that she was still strapped to her friend's chest. Both of them were lying on their sides as the orange-and-white parachute attached to Ron's harness twisted in the wind behind them, partially tangled in a small cluster of lodgepole pines.

Releasing her harness, Kim turned around and kneeled to check on her partner. She made sure to remove his helmet as gently as possible and placed it on the ground next to him. Although she didn't see any obvious injuries, she had no way of knowing for sure if he had any broken bones or internal bleeding. She didn't even know for sure if Ron was breathing!

Trying to remember the ABCs of her Health Class CPR training, Kim leaned in and placed her ear near Ron's open mouth to listen for breathing. She let out a relieved sigh as she felt the warmth of her friend's steady breath against her cheek.

Having ascertained Ron's immediate condition, Kim took a moment to check herself for injuries. As far as she could see and feel, there was no visible damage. Her entire body ached like she had spent a week at the gym, but there were no cuts or broken bones that she was aware of.

With both Ron and her health confirmed, Kim moved on to the next critical issue – rescue. They had to let everyone know that they were still alive and to send help. Kim could think of only one person for the job…

"…Wade."

Wade Load, Team Possible's tech guru, she had to contact him, let him know they were alive and to send help. Kim reached into her jumpsuit pocket to retrieve her Kimmunicator, but her hand came out empty. Kim looked around frantically for the blue device, but she couldn't locate it anywhere. Then she remembered where it was…

…shortly after takeoff Ron had complained about it digging into his thigh, so she had handed it up to Lt. Steeves to carry.

"The Kimmunicator is with Lt. Steeves," Kim muttered to herself. "Lt. Steeves is in the plane, and the plane…" she looked around the granite-strewn hillside for any signs of wreckage, but found none, "the plane is… gone!"

"Kim… Kim!" Behind her, Ron bolted upright and began shouting her name.

"Over here, Ron," she called out, stumbling back over to her partner. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," the blond replied, looking around at their surrounding. "How long was I out?"

"I don't know, I just woke up myself."

Ron reached down to unbuckle his harness when Kim noticed for the first time a yellow nylon cord attached to the bottom of it. It was about one inch thick and was leading downhill toward an old rotting log.

"What's this?" she asked as she reached down and began reeling it in.

About five feet downhill the sound of metal dragging across rocks could be heard and a large olive container came into view. As she pulled it over to the two of them, they saw that it was approximately 30-by-14-by-6 inches and had the words ESCAPE AND SURVIVAL KIT printed across it.

"Should we… open it?" Ron asked weakly.

Kim noticed that he was starting to pale slightly, and it dawned on her that Ron suffered from altitude sickness. "I don't see why not," she replied, silently praying that the kit contained something to combat his altitude sickness. "I kinda doubt they'll find us until the morning."

Ron nodded slowly as his brow began to sweat slightly, despite the quickly dropping temperature around them.

Kim opened the container and found it to contain several neatly packed and organized items. She rummaged through the out-dated contents until she found the two items she was looking for; a packet of motion sickness pills––not perfect, but good enough considering––and a reversible survival blanket which was camouflaged on one side for hiding from the enemy and reflective silver on the other for signaling overhead aircraft. She removed the items and returned to where Ron had propped himself against a fallen tree.

"Here, take these," she ordered, holding out the packet of pills. "They'll help with the altitude sickness."

"Thanks, KP," Ron replied, tearing the package and swallowing the two pills inside. "Did you… contact Wade yet?"

Kim shook her head. "I gave the Kimmunicator to Lt. Steeves, remember?"

Ron's face actually seemed to pale even more.

"Don't worry," she tried to reassure him, "if they're not here first thing in the morning we can hike to the crash site and–"

Ron shook his head slowly. "I was awake for a while after we ejected, Kim," he said. His voice was filled with despair. "I saw where it went down."

"Yeah, where?" Kim asked nervously, not quite sure she wanted to hear the answer.

Ron raised his arm and pointed to one of the countless snow-covered peaks surrounding them. "It spun into a small lake… in the valley… on the other side of that mountain."

Kim's hopes followed it in…

"Well, let's not worry about that now," she said as she sat down next to him and began to unfold the blanket over them both.

"It's so cold…" Ron muttered, somehow managing to shiver and sweat at the same time.

"Come here," Kim commanded, pulling her partner up against her.

"I don't wanna wrestle…" Ron mumbled as the redhead laid him down in her lap and pulled the emergency blanket over their bodies, making sure the reflective silver was facing out just in case.

She watched protectively as her best friend's trembling gradually subsided and his breathing became slow and rhythmic before allowing her own eyes to shut and sleep to envelop her as well.

To be continued...