The late afternoon shadows were already starting to dip down the walls and Dee couldn't help but pace the floor harder. Sleep had been elusive, in spite of Gaeta's exhortation that she get as much of it as possible and now she was near panic as the day neared its close. He'd warned her about the dangers of this place, she'd seen them firsthand, but surely he'd be protected somewhat as Baltar's aide.
Or maybe there something going on that he still hadn't shared with her.
Which was stupid of him, she thought, her jaw tight. They had always been friends and yes, perhaps she hadn't shown herself as the most trustworthy of persons, with hiding Roslin's and Lee's duplicity from him at some points, but this was different and gods, this staying here and doing nothing was going to drive her insane.
Just at the moment she thought she couldn't take another second of waiting, the door opened and Dee jumped when an obviously injured Gaeta fell forward leaning on the arm of ...
Gaius Baltar. Actually that was President Gaius Baltar and Dee's eyes grew huge. She quickly reached for Felix, trying to avoid Baltar's gaze as much as possible, but the man wasn't only drunk, he was drunk and leaning in far too close and it took every ounce of willpower she had left not to just shove him out of the way.
"Are you Babylonia?" he slurred, peering at her through eyes that were smaller than slits.
What in hells was he blabbering about, Dee thought, helping Gaeta sit down, gasping at the sight of dried blood around his ears and nose. "Oh gods," she said, brushing blood-sticky hair from Felix's forehead. "I'll get a wet rag."
"He'll need more than that," Baltar interjected. He sat down heavily on the only other available chair. "And I must say, you look rather familiar, Babylonia. Did you used to work on the Galactica by any chance?"
The water ran cold over Dee's hands as she squeezed a clean dishtowel through it. Part of her was terrified -- why in Hades did Felix bring Baltar here? -- part of her was as irritated as ever with Baltar, a man who'd seen her at least a hundred times aboard the Galactica and he still didn't know who she was.
He's crazy as ever she thought, coming back with the cloth and gently pressing it to Felix's wounds. They didn't seem deep, but his eyes were glazed and the ear bleeding, gods, that must be a head injury.
"Because I must say, you look very familiar. Have we met under, er, other circumstances, maybe?"
Which was probably why he brought Baltar back with him. He barely knew what he was doing. "Who did this to you?" she whispered to Gaeta, ignoring Baltar's continued blabbering. "Did he do this?"
"Me? My dear, Felix is a very good friend of mine. I came here to assist. But of course I can always leave."
"That would be great," she snapped. She turned back to Felix who kept blinking, as if the dim indoor lighting hurt to look at. "It's okay. Just tell me what you need."
"He could probably use someone who is a bit less of a bitch," Baltar grumbled, before peering again at her closely. A light bulb went off somewhere behind his bleary eyes. "Wait a minute, I know you! You're ... Cee ... no, wait ... Bea? Hold on ... I know you now, I just need to think of your name. You're ..."
"Dee!" she growled. "My name is Anastasia Dualla, Dr. Baltar and you've known me for years, except that you're too damned crazy to remember the simplest things. And I swear to the gods, if you did this to him, I will go into that kitchen, grab the biggest knife in there and ..."
"He was helping, Dee," Felix murmured, holding tightly onto her hand. "The Cylons did this and we need to go. I ... I'm just so tired."
"Then rest," she murmured soothingly. "Don't worry about anything right now."
"Ooooh, Dee, of course," interjected Baltar, leaning back in the chair with a disinterested air. Fumbling through his pockets, he found a cigarette and lit it with attempted aplomb, the matchstick shaking in his unsteady hand. "I'd say it's good to see you, but haven't you heard that there are no trespassing orders on this planet, especially from current military personnel? And by the way, how have you been getting around here?" He blew out a thin ring of smoke. "Curiouser and curiouser. Are you here for any particular reason? Did you bring anything? Because I could certainly use a bit more of my medication ..."
Shaking with rage and more than a little fear, Dee rose and hauled Baltar up by the collar. She smiled sweetly at a still-dazed Gaeta before bodily dragging the President into the kitchen.
"Listen to me," she hissed, backing him up against the stove with a hard shove. "It doesn't matter to you why I'm here. In fact, you don't know I'm here, I was never here and if you want me to testify favorably at your trail for treason some day down the line, you'll forget you ever saw me."
"Trial for treason?" Baltar tried to laugh, but there was real fear lurking beneath the chuckle. "I saved the human race, young lady." He made a few ineffectual brushes at her hands, trying to loosen her grip on him, but failed. "And remember who you are talking to. I'm the President of the Colonies, as if you don't already know."
"I know who I'm talking to all right. The man who surrendered to the Cylons without blinking, who sold us out to the cruelest, sickest creatures in the universe, who let them kill the few of us that are left, who turned unwilling women into baby-factories ..."
"They aren't all unwilling," he interrupted weakly, gagging when Dee's stranglehold on his collar tightened.
"You are the slime of the universe and I swear you'll get yours someday, but if you don't want that to be right now, you'll shut up and tell me what happened to Felix," she ground out from between grit teeth. "Is he in danger?"
Baltar finally squirmed free from her choke-hold and tried to feebly straighten his jacket. "Depends on who else knows about you being here. Depends if they suspect something, which I'm now thinking they might. They were quite vicious with him, but the one who did this is unstable on a good day, so it's hard to tell. They seem divided on the issue, but if you must know, I'm a great friend to that young man in there; out of all the people on this rotten world or on that rotten ship, he's one of the few whose company I actually appreciate."
"I'm sure he's returned that appreciation a hundred times over. He's probably been keeping this place running single-handedly."
"That's not very fair," Baltar complained, attempting to take another puff of his cigarette but the flame had faded out. "I'm doing my best under the circumstances. Life here is ..." He paused, sniffling slightly. "Very hard. Why, I haven't had a good night's sleep in quite some time if you must know. Weeks, maybe."
Dee rolled her eyes. "Remind me to cry for you later." She glanced back into the living room, where Felix sat with his eyes closed, his face twisted in pain. "Now you're going to get out of here and forget everything you heard and saw. If you do that, I'll be able to say someday that no, you weren't colluding with the Cylons as far as I could tell. I think that would be a very helpful thing for you in the long run. A very helpful thing."
Baltar seemed to consider this. "All right, I'll keep your little secret. But I still think your accusations are way out of line."
"Noted."
Baltar turned to leave through the kitchen door, but paused. "Do me favor. When Felix is a little less under the weather tell him that I truly appreciated his work and that ... that I care for him more than I might have shown. Anyone would be lucky to have him by their side as an aide or a friend. Tell him I said that, will you?"
Slowly, Dee nodded. "I'll tell him."
He left then and Dee made sure to turn every lock on the door, double checking to make sure it was bolted shut. Running back to Felix, she knelt in front of him and took both his hands up in hers, trying desperately to get him to focus. "We need to leave here," she said slowly and deliberately. "Right away. Tell me what I need to do so we can get the frak out of here."
Felix gazed at her dimly for a moment, then shook his head as if trying to clear it. "I .. I already packed your bag. It's in the back of the main closet. You just need to grab it and go."
"Where are your things?"
"My things." He grimaced, then shook his head again. "No. There are no my things, Dee. I'm staying here. They need me here, I can't leave the people here on their own, without anyone to turn to. It wouldn't be fair."
"I think you've done all that could reasonably be expected of you," she replied carefully. She rubbed his hand, trying to will warmth back into his fingers which were ice cold. "Now it's time for you to get out of here and be needed somewhere else. We can't lose you." Dee hesitated. "I can't lose you. So please, come with me out of this hellhole. Do it for me, Felix, please."
He blinked at this, color infusing his pale cheeks. "You really want me to come with you? Are you sure?"
"I need you to come with me." To punctuate her point, Dee lifted his hand and placed a small kiss on his fingers, using her best kitten-eyed look on him, praying that this wouldn't be the one and only time she'd failed to make a man do what she wanted him to. "Please?"
Gaeta looked at her a moment, his throat working. Finally, with a groan, he rose from the couch and limped to the closet. "If that's the case, I think I have a couple more weapons we can take. Maybe some more food ..."
Dee bit her lip, her heart soaring with hope. "We're going to do this thing, Felix. We're really going to get out of here and get people back to the Galactica, I just know it."
Grimly, he started to pack a small backpack with extra supplies. "I hope you're right," he said quietly, as through the window, the sun died down beneath the horizon and night fell heavily over New Caprica.
0o0o0o0o0
He could barely think around the pain. His head throbbed unmercifully and it was all he could do to throw a few items of clothing into his bag. The guns… where did I put the guns, he thought as he looked through his closet. He had several guns, ones that he hadn't turned in, and one or two that he kept on hand to slip out when someone ran. He just… couldn't seem to remember where he put them. Or why Dualla was rushing around him, taking his few photos of his past life out of their meager frames and wrapping them in plastic. She was putting them in her pack, the bag he had filled for her to take with her on the escape, and he didn't understand why. She was also as frantic as he had ever seen her, shoving more of his things into her pack as he put the guns and ammo and some of the more portable food rations into his pack.
He didn't mention the photos. He didn't understand it, but he hurt too much to ask her why she wanted the last few photographs he had, or why she was rifling through his few keepsakes. Or why she was acting increasingly frenzied. " Calm down," he said as he watched her rush about. " We… we'll have to go while people still might be out. You can't… be so upset. I look beat up… people are going to stare anyway but if you're upset…They might not believe my story if you're upset."
After a long moment, she visibly took a deep breath and seemed to calm down. " Felix, you need to tell me what the story is. I need to know how we're getting out of here."
He wanted to smile, despite how much his face hurt. She was looking every inch of the officer she was trying so hard to be and asking exactly the right question. That question wasn't coming from his friend, but from the fleet officer who had a mission. An important mission, more important than getting him out to the resistance. Dualla had to get out, not just because he wanted her to, but because someone had to get the military people back to the fleet. It convinced him that she wasn't going to be stupid about the escape. If only one of them could get away, and he was pretty certain that he wasn't going to physically make it to the rally point Starbuck had chosen, then Dee would do the hard thing. For the mission.
" There's a map in your bag," he said quickly. "We have to change the plan a little, but it's still usable. You and I are going to walk to the gate. I have a pass to leave the town whenever I have business at the punishment camp. I… I forged President Baltar's name on some papers and if you're with me, they'll just assume you're my assistant. The punishment camp is a half mile away and I don't rate a vehicle unless its an emergency. The road is heavily wooded and patrolled…. I was going to take you out from under the fence but that only works if you go alone." And he didn't think that he could convince her to do that, not yet. "But we can slip into the woods at the half way point. We have to go through a swamp about five miles to a series of caves and then… we wait for pick up." He fumbled through his bookshelf and came up with a small hand held computer. " I downloaded all of our surveys of the planet into this. You take it… I know them."
"We're just going to casually trot off the road into the woods? That's… actually not bad. How heavily patrolled is the road?" As she spoke she directed him over to the chair and had him sit down. Or maybe he almost fell. He was definitely feeling dizzy. Dee tapped his face. " The road, Felix, how heavily patrolled is it?"
" The road… There's a guard change over every hour… I wanted us to go later at night… more of the guards are off, but if we time it just right, we have a window of…. Of fifteen minutes." It just hurt so much to think. " We should go soon though…. It's not safe…"
Dualla nodded. " I'll finish packing your bag, ok? I think you need to rest up for as long as you can."
He wanted to protest but the headache was just unbearable.
0o0o0o0o0
There was no way, Dualla thought worriedly, that Felix was going to walk five miles through a swamp. He was injured, not catastrophically, but just enough that escape was going to be next to impossible. She had a feeling he wasn't even connecting all the dots to what she was doing. If anything, he was trying his best to think of ways to keep her alive while completely ignoring himself. They couldn't leave until full darkness was on, and she had quickly taken over packing his bag when he got diverted by looking for the guns.
She had already found the guns, earlier in the day while waiting for him to get back. They were under the floor boards, in the bathroom, with a lot of extra ammunition. That Felix was hiding five service pistols… He wasn't just obeying and trying to survive. Add in the beating he had suffered, and she had a pretty good feeling that Felix Gaeta hadn't been the collaborator she had originally thought.
It didn't change the situation, but it made her feel better. It meant things wouldn't be difficult once they got back. If they got back.
His plan was good, and if he wasn't beaten into a pulp, it would work. As it was, Dualla was afraid that he simply wasn't going to be able to walk to the town gate, let alone a half mile further. Five miles through a swamp… It scared her.
She forced those thoughts away as she put Felix's few photographs in her bag. He had hardly any personal items, just the photos and some books. He wasn't paying attention to packing. She was pretty certain that she could have filled his bag with rocks and he would have numbly accepted it. What he needed was rest and a doctor.
At the same time, there was no way she was going to leave him. She had no doubt at all that he was in trouble, and if she left him, he would be killed. Plus, despite his assurances about a map, she needed him. He knew the area and she didn't. And… she wasn't leaving him.
She grabbed what remained of the first aid things in the bathroom. Felix actually had mild painkillers, something she hadn't seen in years, and she knew she could get him to take a few. She also filled some plastic bottles with water. She had grown up near a wetlands zone on Sagitarra. Drinking swamp water was a great way to get very sick. Water, food, guns, ammunition, extra clothes, she thought in a rush. What else do we need that won't look suspicious, Dualla thought. Felix had a warm jacket and gloves and she pulled on one of his shirts and then a sweater that she found in the closet. He needs another shirt, she decided, picking a heavy sweatshirt for him to wear. She had been careful to fill his bag with civilian clothes. There were plenty of uniforms on the ships, and a colonial uniform was too suspicious to pack. Still, when she found his rank pins and medals neatly stored in his rolled up dress uniform sash, she took it and stuffed it into the small bag.
" Ok," she said as she handed him the sweatshirt, " I've got you packed. Put that on, and I want you to take some of these painkillers." She got him a glass of water as she spoke. He looked pretty bad, she thought critically, but better. The bleeding had stopped and she had washed most of the blood off. His skin was already darkening with bruises but with the blood gone, he just looked a little rough. It wouldn't last for long, it was just luck that his complexion covered it well. He was moving stiffly, like he hurt, but as she watched him don the sweater and his jacket, he didn't look bad. It might work.
As long as he didn't pass out or worse. He blinked at her as she handed him the knapsack. "Where are the guns?" He put a hand to his head. " What are we doing again?" He winced and she took his arm to steady him.
" We're getting out of here," she said forcefully. " You're going to help me escape and we're going to get back to the Galactica. And then you're going to plot jumps for us so we can get to Earth. We need you." She hesitated. " I need you, Felix." She let her fingers entwine around his. " So let's get out of here and get home."
0o0o0o0o0o0
It wasn't as bad as she thought. Felix was walking stiffly, but not limping or swaying and the waning twilight made the bruising harder to see. He seemed to get more mentally alert as they walked to the gate. She hoped that was a good sign. The guards at the gate were human but they were used to seeing Gaeta from what she could see. They were also used to seeing him look beat up, judging by their amused comments.
" Sure am glad I'm not on the president's staff," one of them scoffed as she looked over the paperwork Gaeta handed her. " At least out here, all we have to worry about is keeping warm."
" Every job has its good and bad side," Gaeta said easily. He smiled slightly. Dualla marveled. She could tell he was nervous only because she knew him so well. The slightly narrowed eyes, the pursed lips… It wasn't much different from his more typical, faintly haughty look of disapproval that he used liberally with underlings, but she knew the difference.
The female guard handed the papers back with a smile. " What's going on out at the camp?"
The male guard, a hulking fellow, looked both of them over suspiciously. "You're going out pretty late." He eyed their small bags.
" I'm… spending the night." Gaeta frowned darkly. "There are some things to finish up… from the execution today, and I have to get an early start tomorrow." To the woman, he lowered his voice and took on a somehow contrite stance. " If we don't get things taken care of… I'll be on worse trouble than this." He gestured to his face.
The male guard glared but the female nodded. " Back off, Steve," she said to her companion. To Gaeta she said, " You know the rules. Don't get cute with the guards, and you better check in after a half hour." She glanced over to Dualla. " Your little friend is new to the procedure. I trust she doesn't need any encouragement to stay on the road but I'm required, for everyone's safety, let you both know that leaving the road without a Cylon present is a capitol offense. You got that?"
That was directed to her, and Dualla nodded vigorously. She took Felix by the arm and they walked off. She waited until they were out of earshot before she asked, " That Steve… he was on the Astral Queen wasn't he?"
Gaeta nodded. " Murder, attempted murder… not a nice man." His eyes suddenly glittered with concern, and he squeezed her hand sharply when she began to speak again. " I know it's concerning but many former criminals have found really worthwhile work as security guards for the Cylons. It's good to see them learn how to be productive." His voice seemed unnaturally loud to her, but after a moment she realized it was intentional. He continued. " Don't be afraid of being outside the town wall. It's not like the Centurions wouldn't protect us. They could hear us yell for help. You remember what happened to that guy that tried to rob someone, don't you?"
"Yes," she said after a moment. She understood completely. People like Steve were given jobs that no one else would take because they were distasteful, violent jobs. People like Steve probably enjoyed their new jobs a great deal. And Gaeta was right, there were Centurions walking towards them in the dim light, their red eyes bobbing. They certainly could hear a call for help, or two people talking about things that they shouldn't be talking about if they were loyal members of the regime. And if the Centurions did get suspicious, the two of them would be dead in seconds.
And then they were quiet as the two Centurions passed them. Gaeta picked up the speed of their walking. She knew as they were getting close to the break point. Gaeta was getting nervous, looking back and then forward. Suddenly he pulled her to the side of the road. The brush was thick and the woods were dark.
" There's no fence," he said breathlessly. " They don't need one. The swamp… I helped do a survey of the life forms. We have to move as fast as we can. The Cylons will be alerted in twenty minutes…"
" Let's go," she said firmly. I have to do this, she thought as she pulled Gaeta into the woods. She could see in his eyes that he was reaching the limit of his strength. He'd been sick, and not eating well for months, she had thought so as soon as she had seen him. It was just a few days ago, and it felt like forever. Something had been going on, something that had made the Cylons suspicious of him and it wasn't just her presence. He was sick and frightened, and had been so for months and the bruises on his face just made the problem more obvious.
It was her job to get him back to the fleet, her duty. More than that, he was her friend… her lover… and she wasn't going to leave a man that she loved behind. Not when it had been made clear to her that he loved her almost beyond reason. Had she asked him to stay behind, to cover her escape, she knew he'd do it. " We should run, if you can."
He nodded, but she could see the blank, glazed look settling into his eyes. " I'm all right," he said after a moment. " Once we're into the swamp… they won't follow us."
There was unspoken dread in his voice but she ignored it. "Lets run then."
0o0o0o0o0
For a few terrifying moments, they ran at full speed straight into the gloom, Dualla's neck tingling with the sensation that they were being chased, when she knew full well there was no one behind them. Yet.
But it wouldn't hurt getting a good head start. Fallen branches crunched beneath their boots and she could hear Gaeta's labored breathing rasping through the damp air. Dee forced herself to ignore it and keep the initial burst going, at least until they reached an area that looked dense enough to discourage pursuers. Slowing to a fast stride, Dee turned around to make sure Felix was all right.
He was still upright, but not exactly what she'd call 'all right.' His eyes were huge with distress and his face was moon pale, frightening her. "Take my hand," she ordered, grasping onto his cold fingers tightly when he obeyed. "Now, we just need to find this swamp of yours ..."
Felix pointed toward a nearby patch of what looked like fog. "It's over there. It has a haze surrounding it, probably ambient gases. They're non-toxic, well, at least they won't kill you the minute you breathe them in." Wincing with pain, probably from a stitch in his ribs, he nodded to her waistpack. "There's a knife in there. You might want to take it out now, just in case."
"In case of what?" she asked, her nose wrinkling against the heavy swamp smell thickening through the air around them.
"Vine tangles, inaccessible paths ... " Felix paused. "Other stuff."
"Great," she muttered. Out of nowhere, something slithered over the toe of her boot. It was gone before she could see what it was and Dee was rather proud of herself for not shrieking and leaping into Felix's tired arms. "What kind of 'other stuff'?"
Felix sighed as he limped along beside her. "Let's just say that a few of the surveyors we sent out here, didn't come back."
With a shudder, Dualla pulled the knife out from her belt pack, clipping its sheath onto her waistband. She was no great expert using a knife in combat situations, not like some of the pilots were, most of whom were trained to use anything and everything as a weapon, but if something popped out, having a sharp object ready in hand was better than nothing. She knew that Felix's only experience with a knife was to cut errant wires out from the CIC's consoles and besides, he was barely in good enough shape to make it to the other side of the swampland, without any hindrances.
Maybe a prayer to the goddess to keep all things, great and small, slimy and furry far away from them would be the best bet of all. She clung even more tightly to Felix's hand, trying not to trip over anything sticking up from the unstable ground. The mud made sucking sounds with every pull of her boots as something above them hooted. A sharp pinch to her neck and Dee's slapped at it with annoyance, hoping that the biting bugs here were no more than a simple nuisance, like they'd been at home.
The swamp's methane odor turned oppressive, filling her mouth with an unpleasant taste, making her head ache. She fought against the urge to spit, knowing it wouldn't do any good. Besides, she didn't have fluid to waste, as it had taken them nearly half an hour to go half a mile, at least according to the small handheld geographical locater Felix had smartly instructed her to sneak into her bra before they'd left. That was the one item that couldn't have been afforded to be found on their persons, as it held secret maps and surveys of the entire area, another important type of information the Cylons were intent on controlling, as knowledge the terrain was the lifeblood of the rebellion.
It would also be useful in case the Admiral decided to mount an invasion, she thought, holding onto it tightly. It's digital LED display gave off enough dull light to provide them with enough illumination to see a couple of feet ahead, but not enough to give them away, at least from a distance. It's spooky out here, she had to admit silently, clutching Felix's hand a little more tightly. All right, more than a little spooky, with all the noises and slimy ground and awful smells and slithery, splashing, scratching ...
"I can't feel my fingers anymore, Dee." Gently, and he wiggled them as Dee loosened her grip. "How far have we gone?"
She squinted at the reader. "Three-quarters of a mile. It says we're getting closer to a body of water. But I can't see ..." She stopped, as her foot sunk up to the ankle in wetness. She looked down and saw the lapping edge of something that wasn't exactly a puddle. "Okay. We're at the water."
"This is where it gets fun," Felix said, grimacing with pain as he bent close to check out the reader. "We need to get around this, but the path hasn't been mapped precisely. Guess no one figured it was worth it, as the Cylons weren't going to let anyone onto the other side. However ... there is a way around this. A secret way."
Dee looked at him in askance. "A secret way?"
Felix nodded, clutching at his side, as he pulled a small flashlight from his pocket and bent at the waist to examine the nearby trees. "The rebels carved markers into the trees and rocks, giving directions along the path. We just have to find them and figure them out. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure we're not going to get arrows with "THIS WAY" written beneath them."
She regarded him curiously. "How do you know this?"
He glanced up at her, his mouth tight. "It was my job to know these things. It's always been my job ... to know." Playing the light over the surrounding foliage, he pointed to a seemingly innocuous swirl of ash on a high piece of gray slate. "That's the first one. We head due north from here, one mile."
"Okay," Dee replied, squinting at what appeared to be nothing but some sticky dirt on a rock. "Where do you see that?"
"It's a crude DRADIS graph, leveled straight up. There's no 'north' in space, but I'm assuming they don't mean for us to flap our arms and start flying. The 'one' is upside down underneath ... ancient Picon numerics."
Dualla gaped. Slowly, the marker became clearer and she'd be damned if he wasn't right. Gods, she would have died in this place if left to her own devices because while she knew DRADIS enough to get by in a pinch, her ancient Picon numerals had been long ignored in favor of the cute boy sitting at the next desk in middle school. And that's assuming she would have seen the marker in the first place, which, somehow, she doubted.
Glancing back, Felix tugged at her arm. He looked worse, pained winces with every step, but he kept pulling her forward through the brush, the water's edge just to their left. It wasn't exactly a lake, not even a skim of a puddle from the looks of it, but Dualla knew that swamps could be deceptive. One false step and you'd be in up to your waist, warm bait for whatever hungry things were waiting for the first foolish creature to cross into their territory. Or, worse, over your head and stuck thigh deep in glue-like mud, with no chance of escape.
The darkness didn't help matters. She was getting used to the smell, but now there were things hitting them on every side, plants with sharp-edged leaves, scratching at any exposed bit of skin, snagging on her sweater, the knit one she'd stupidly worn. After a more than a dozen catches, she shucked it off with a frustrated noise, leaving it hanging on a giant thorn.
"You might want that later," Gaeta warned. "It can get bitterly cold here at night."
"I don't plan on being here longer than tonight, thank you," she grumbled, hoping her face wasn't getting scratched beyond recognition.
They kept trudging forward and after a while, Dee couldn't tell if they were going forward or in circles, as their entire world seemed an endless struggle through mud and harsh foliage, the animal noises echoing in maddening repetition, croaks and screeches, low moans and yelps, warning them away. Dee felt more claustrophobic than she'd ever felt in her life, even after years spent aboard a spaceship. It was oppressive and she found herself wandering a little away from the straight path Felix was intent on forging for them, the locator held tightly in his slightly trembling hand.
It wasn't much, just a little bit to her left ...
But it was enough. With a shriek, Dualla suddenly found herself flailing and sinking into something that not only wasn't stable, it was pulling her down, like a vacuum outside an airlock. Perhaps not that fast, but fast enough as she was already up to her chest and ...
"Stop struggling!" Gaeta screamed at her. "Float!"
"Felix ... I can't!" she gulped, trying to obey, but it wasn't working.
"Yes, you can, Ensign. That's a frakkin' order!" he cried furiously, as sounds of ripping foliage echoed around her.
Something reflexive in her brain snapped at the order, forcing her to stop moving her arms and keep them still, even when a few seconds later, a mouthful of grit nearly choked her. Float. Relax. Float. she chanted inwardly, willing her body to relax with superhuman effort. Suddenly, her sinking slowed to a crawl and she felt herself bob up, just enough to keep her head above the suffocating dirt.
"I'm throwing this over your shoulder and pulling it toward me. Grab it when it hits your hand," Felix commanded hoarsely. "Then hold on and don't let go."
Dee wanted to gasp at him that it was too dark, she was too far down, it was too late ... but when she felt the scratching vine whiz over her shoulder, she forced herself to pay attention and grabbed at it with everything she possessed. The leaves were jagged and she felt them ripping into her palm, but she grit her teeth and held on. It was slow going at first, faster when her other arm was freed and she tried not to quail at Gaeta's terrible struggling noises as he pulled her out.
Finally, the last grip on her was released and she tumbled forward, into his arms, knocking them both over. Dualla was crying and laughing all at once, as beneath her Gaeta wheezed for breath, his shaking arms slowly wrapping around her. "You never did watch were you were going, did you?" he gasped, holding onto her tightly.
"Nope," she replied, sniffling and trembling in the embrace. "I never did."
0o0o0o0o0
The next two miles were easier in some ways, even if Gaeta was starting to stumble every few steps from exhaustion, made worse by the exertion spent in pulling her out of the swamp pit. Dualla felt the night chill seeping straight into her bones after her wet dip and she regretted the loss of her sweater, but that didn't matter now that they were getting close.
They had to be getting close, she prayed, wondering if the Cylons had twigged onto their escape by now and were already beginning the hunt. On two occasions she thought she heard the drone of a Raider skimming overhead, its lights off, but she shook that thought away as paranoid fancy. Even if they knew they'd made a run for it, would they really be that concerned? They were two nobodies ... all right, she was a nobody, but they didn't seem to like or trust Gaeta that much so would it really be all that important if he'd taken a run into the supposedly deadly swamp? Would they really care?
Dualla tried to keep this cheerful deceit in mind, until she remembered Cally and all thoughts of an easy escape disappeared.
"We have to move faster," Gaeta rasped. He was clutching his side, bent awkwardly over his ribs and she wondered if he'd been hurt internally. "Once sunrise hits, the resistance fighters will go back into their retreat, no matter what. They can't risk daytime maneuvers."
"We're almost there, aren't we?" Dualla grasped his arm and pulled it over her shoulder, in an effort to help him. He was sagging and heavy and she heard that drone again, this time unmistakable. There were Raiders on the hunt and the hairs on the back of her neck stood straight on end. She unconsciously pulled Gaeta forward a step faster, pausing when he groaned sharply. "Do you want to rest?"
He closed his eyes. "I don't want to, but I have to. I'm sorry, Dee. You know ... you can go on ahead and I can meet you there. It's really not that far."
"You've got to be kidding. I'm not leaving you here." She lowered her voice to an urgent whisper as gingerly, she lowered him to the ground, helping him to lean his back against a sturdy tree. "Did you hear that Raider? I think they're looking for us."
Gaeta's throat worked harshly. He doesn't look well at all, she thought, rubbing his cold hand between her only-slightly warmer ones. "I hope they aren't equipped with the same kind of life-form sensors ours are. That'll give our little adventure a very unhappy ending."
Sensors. She hadn't even thought of that, but then again ... "The Cylons concept of exactly what 'living' entails is pretty shaky. I doubt they'd put sensors like that in a sentient Cylon ship."
He raised an eyebrow at her. For the first time all night, a grin crossed his face. "I dare say, Lieutenant, that's a very logical assumption. Did they teach you this mode of thinking in those officer training classes aboard the Pegasus?"
"What officer training classes?" she scoffed. "I got a used uniform and a new headset. That was my 'training'." She sighed, glancing up at the patches of sky visible above the swaying trees. It wasn't light yet, no, but it was starting to take on that slightly lighter gloss of blackness heralding very early morning. And if the Resistance didn't come out to play during the daylight ... "I think you were right, Felix. We should get a move on. Can you stand?"
For a long moment, he looked searchingly at her. Something was mulling over inside his brain and Dee didn't want to know, didn't want to hear about any more self-sacrifice so she did the only thing she could do ... she took his face between both her hands and kissed him, hard. She waited and didn't stop kissing him until his mouth opened beneath hers, until there was little else but that kiss and she allowed herself to get lost in it, just for a moment.
Finally, he pulled away, breathless. "Yeah ... I can stand," he said, his eyes shining with a renewed determination. "And walk."
She smiled, touching her forehead to his. "I thought you'd say that." With a groan, she straightened out her cramped legs and hauled Felix up to his feet. He rose gingerly, but eventually, he was standing on his own.
The sky was definitely starting to lighten but Felix wobbled onward beside her. We're going to make it," she thought, with a joy verging on hysteria. "We're going ...
It was then the world around them exploded. A low-flying Raider, spraying indiscriminate shots through the middle of the swamp, set a swath of foliage on blazing fire in a circle around them. Flash of almost unbearable heat and the breath-taking shock of Felix throwing himself atop her to shield her was the last thing Dee felt before the world went dark, her eyes closed against the mud.
More Raiders, screaming low and firing into the greenery and just as Dee was certain they were going to die, the firing stopped. It must have been a 'get lucky' strike, she thought, trembling and coughing with every inhale of smoky air. When she dared to open her eyes, she could see the fire crackling all around them, already dying out from the natural wetness that covered everything in the swamp. They weren't going to be burned alive and that was a relief, but if those Raiders came back ...
"Felix," she said, struggling to sit up, the weight of him pinning her there, until she was able to roll him off, praying he hadn't been hit by a Raider blast. She wiped the mud away from her eyes and mouth before attending to him, noticing with relief that he appeared uninjured by the blast. He was lying flat on his back, staring at the treetops, silent, but blinking, obviously in shock. She scrambled to her feet and held her hand out to him. "We have to get out of here. We're not that far, I know we're not. Come on ... please ... get up."
There was something not right. He was horribly white, the nerves of his face twitching randomly. Again, she motioned for him to take her hand, but when he did she could see the blood running down his wrist. It wasn't a lot and when she knelt down to examine it, wiping away the blood and mud ... she saw it.
A bite mark. Just two small holes, hardly anything to look at, but she knew right away what it was. A snake bite. Probably from a terrified reptile lashing out at the first thing that it came into contact with as the Raiders attacked and she stared at him in horror. From the looks of it, the bite was likely poisonous. "Felix?"
His mouth was moving, but there was no sound coming out.
"Felix!" she cried, her panic rising as she thought about all the ways -- and how quickly -- one could die from a poisonous bite. "You can't do this. Please, we are so close ..." No answer, it was too late and she started to cry, even after she swore she wouldn't. She couldn't, but ... "Do not do this to me," she said thickly, choking on the words. "Don't you dare leave me here like this. Do you hear me? Don't you dare." Dee's hands flailed against his chest. "Please ..."
While all around them, there was silence.
Except ...
