Sorry, I am again the only oen to beta this chapter, but if you ask me, it may not be perfect, it's legible.
The Forsaken
Chapter Six
So halfway through the next day they were still sitting in the tree, three of the wolves had left but two had yet to give up on this easy meal. Duo's stomach growled, louder than the wolves did. He hugged himself in an attempt to fight the hunger but he felt faint and feared that he would lose his balance and fall to his death any moment.
'How much longer?' he complained.
'If I remember correctly, you were the one to say: Let's just stay calm and wait, how long could it take?'
He glared at the chinese man 'Damn, don't you ever forget anything!'
WuFei stuck his tongue out in his general direction.
Duo snorted 'Oh yeah, very mature FeiFei.' but he couldn't help but stick out his tongue as well. He cast a sideway glance at Heero who hadn't said a word since last night, apparently content listening to Duo and WuFei bicker.
The day went by so slowly it felt longer than the entire week had. Before they new it, darkness fell once again and soon all Duo could listen to was Heero's wheezing and WuFei's soft snores. 'How can those guys sleep at a time like this?' He asked himself.
'I'm not sleeping.'
'Jesus, Heero, you scared the hell out of me!'
'I apologise.'
'You'd better... So, how long do you think we'll be up here?'
'Very long.' Was all the answer he got.
'Gee, thanks, hadn't figured that out myself by now...' He replied sarcastically.
'What answer did you expect?' Heero asked, though not expecting an answer as he turned away to look down at the wolves, which were nothing more than barely distinguishable shadows on the forest floor.
'Heero, I want to ask you a question, but only if you promise to answer me seriously.' Duo stated after a long while of following Heero's gaze.
Heero nodded, a silent promise.
Taking satisfaction in his silent agreement he asked: 'Tell me Heero... You must have already done the math. How long? How long do you estimate we have?'
'What do you mean? I already told you I don't know how long we'll be up here.' He replied softly.
Duo sighed. 'That's not what I mean... I mean, how long do we have to live? How much longer can we last with our injuries?' He tried to look Heero in the eyes but the Japanese pilot refused to make eyecontact as he kept staring down.
'-'
Before Heero could speak Duo warned: 'No, don't lie. Give me the truth, I can handle it. Well, probably not but you're gonna hafta tell me the truth anyway.'
Heero turned to face him, the corners of his mouth turned upwards in a sad smile. 'You want my estimation?'
'It's not so much a matter of wanting, it's a matter of needing. I need it. I need to know,'
'Hn.'
Heero remained silent and Duo was starting to get the idea he wasn't going to answer him, till he spoke up softly.
'Fysically WuFei is in the best state. He's fine except for dehydration and malnutrition. I give him... a week, a little longer at most. Trowa... another case of dehydration and malnutrition. If we go on like this, he'll collapse, though he's strong and probably too stubborn to admit defeat. Considering that, I estimate he'll last about six days. Your foot is broken and I think also infected, which causes the swell. If we keep on walking it's only going to get worse, the skin might even break due to swelling. With the infection you won't walk more than four days...'
Duo nodded, not knowing how else to respond.
'Me...' he paused 'Many ribs are broken and are almost puncturing my lungs, atop of that I fear a lung infection. I don't give myself more than three days without medical attention.'
Duo swallowed 'And Quatre?'
'Quatre?' Heero gazes to the other tree at said, unconscious boy. 'I estimated he'd be dead yesterday...'
Duo sucked in some air to try and silence himself. Trying to remain calm and rational he asked: 'So... what do we need to do?'
'We all need antibiotics, warm clothes, water and food.'
'If we had all that... how long would we last then?' Duo wondered out loud, trying to find a spark of hope.
'With one decent meal, antibiotics and a good fresh drink... I think we'll all be able to last five days longer than my initial estimation. At most.'
'... How far is the nearest city?' Trowa joined in after carefully listening to their conversation.
With no hostility apparent on Heero's face he did a short calculation in his head, his mouth moving in silent words. After a few moments of silence he looked at them with cold and detached eyes, as if it would hurt him if his heart and mind would actually be involved in the answer. 'If I'm right about our current location and considering our slow progress...' He paused again as he was obviously struggling to gently put the bad news 'We're a good week away.'
'Oh god...' Trowa let out and he rubbed his temples and forehead as he tried to process what Heero just told him.
At dawn the green eyes of pilot 03 hardened with determination, it was a quick decision to make. Carefully and as silently as possible he grabbed Quatre, he stopped and held his breath as he snapped a twig. Reassured that he went unheard he climbed down the tree, all the while keeping his eyes on the one wolf left on the ground, sleeping quietly with it's head facing the tree where the others resided. Praying that his limited stealth skills would be enough, he tiptoed away, wincing each time the leaves rustles a little harder than he had estimated. He disregarded soldier lesson number one and he looked back. The wolf was still sleeping, as were the other pilots. He looked at them with a pained expression, leaving them behind made him feel like the worst person in the world but he had no other option, he had to get Quatre to a hospital and if he woke the others, he risked waking the wolf as well and Duo's slow pace would only slow him down. He knew they'd be fine, somehow, he had faith in their abilities. Still he couldn't help but feeling like a guilty murderer as he kept on walking and soon the tree they had spent two days in was out of sight.
He walked for a good two hours, his legs weak, but his determination won over his exhaustion and he was able to press on. A week, Heero had said. A week away. But he knew that despite his hunger and despite his exhaustion he had been the fastest of the group. From now on he had to force hismelf to eat no matter how guilty it made him feel. That way he was confident they would make it in time.
He walked and walked, all the while waiting till he would finally see a tree that carried fruit or a bush with berries, but no such luck came so he saw no use in stopping for a rest.
Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks as he heard a rustle behind him. His blood boiled with fear, maybe the wolf had followed him afterall? He picked up his pace, afraid that leaving the tree, what had seemed like a good idea in the beginning, would soon turn into a mistake, he was stopped however by a firm voice.
'Put Quatre down.'
With a frown he turned and saw Heero standing six meters behind him. Behind the stoic Japanese boy stood an uncertain American and a Chinese with shifting eyes, trying to understand what was going on around him.
'Heero.'
'Put. Quatre. Down.' Heero repeated with a dangerous tone.
Not knowing why, he obliged and gently lay Quatre in the bed of leaves. Once done he straightened and asked: 'Why?' Before the word even left his lips Heero pounced onto him and send them both tumbling to the ground where they rolled, struggling to come out on top. Instincts kicking in he used Heero's weakness against him and roughly punched his chest.
With all the air knocked out of him Heero found himself being topped and pinned down by Trowa while he was painfully gasping for air.
'Guys! Stop it!' Duo pleaded with angry tone, bu he made no move to come between them while they were this angry.
'Why did you attack me!' Trowa demanded, sitting down on the bruised chest.
Heero's only reply was a groan that turned into a growl. With an unsuspected display of power he pushed Trowa off him and it was his turn to sit on top, pinning Trowa's hands above his head. 'Why did you leave, huh? You coward!' The emotions running across Heero's face were as unexpected as his sudden strength.
It left Trowa feeling powerless as the adrenaline, that had powered his body for a short few moments, abandoned him. He was left feeling drained and guilty, looking at the expressions on the faces of the comrades he left behind. 'You don't understand, I had to get Quatre to safety!'
'What do you think we have been doing for the past WEEK!' This came from Duo who stepped in closer. After a while watching the enraged Heero pinning the tall pilot down he stepped forward and grabbed Heero's arms, pulling him back.
Anger and adrenaline seemed to abandon Heero as well and he turned back into his calm and composed self.
'Why did you leave without us?'
'If I had to wake you guys I couldn't have left silently.' A frown appeared on his face. 'How did you escape and how did you find me?'
'Heero saw you leave, so we went after you.'
'You've been stalking me for two hours!'
'We had to be sure we were far away from the wolves.'
'Oh.'
Duo put his hands on his hips. 'Listen Trowa, I'm not gonna pretend any longer that I don't see you are not yourself and I'm not gonna be the joker again and pretending I don't know why. I don't like the way your acting and it's surely not doing us any good. So can we please all just get along!' He turned to look at Heero also.
Heero surpressed the childish need to point his finger at Trowa and call: 'He started it!'. Instead, he just nodded.
Duo turned to Trowa.
He nodded too, even though he didn't even know what he had done wrong.
'Okay, with that settled... let's rest.' He plopped down onto the ground in exhaustion.
The others sat down as well, in total silence.
Until:
'Jesus...' Wufei commented, scrunching up his face 'What is that god awful smell?'
Three other chins lifted and noses sniffed the air.
'It's coming form that direction.' Heero said, pointing into the direction the wind was coming from.
Curiosity made all of them rise and follow their noses, though it was without a doubt a very unpleasant smell one might never consider following. Duo couldn't help but notice it was also unpleasantly familiar.
Five minutes later they stood on the edge of a crater in the middle of the forest. They looked down and swallowed loudly.
A crater, full of bodies. Like Duo thought, very unpleasantly familiar.
'Another body pit...' Trowa softly commented.
'No.' Heero said sternly and fixed a deadly glare on Trowa.
'What do you mean?' Duo looked at Heero and then back down at the hundreds of bodies that were rotting there.
'It's the same body pit. We've been walking in a circle!'
Three sets of eyes widened.
'How do you know?'
'I recognise some of their clothing... Too much of a coincidence, it's the same pit. Look.' He pointed a long finger to the other side of the crater and Duo groaned as he saw their own footprints in the mud from the week before.
'Now guys... please, don't freak out...' Duo couldn't even finish his sentence or the two were already accusing each other.
'This is all your fault!' Trowa said.
Heero's eyes widened. 'How can this possibly be my fault! You've been walking up front all the time!'
'You said last night that you knew where we were, a week away from the nearest city!'
'Yeah, well I calculated the distance to the city with the distance between city and crash site, minus the distance I estimated we had walked!'
'SHUT UP!' WuFei yelled, very out of character. 'Do you really think you fighting all the time helps? I'm sick and tired of hearing you two ranting all the time! That's probably the reason why were lost in the first place! We need to be a team! There is a reason why there are five Gundam pilots and not one, because we need to work as a team in order to succeed! Dammit, why can't that sink into your thick skulls! Stop being so competitive all the time! Even I, being blind and everything, would be a better leader than either of you if you keep this up!'
Everyone just stared as Wufei's face turned red with anger.
'Heero, where's the city?'
'To the north...'
'Where's north?'
He looked around and concluded: 'That way.' He pointed in a direction.
'Well Trowa, can you live with that or do you have to wrestle about it?'
'Yes.' Trowa hesitantly answered. 'I can live with that.' He clarified.
Wufei sighed dramatically and looked away. '... like working with children...' He commented to himself.
'Now kiss and make up.' Duo joked but raised his hands in surrender and placated: 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry.' as he was on the receiving end of two deadly glares.
The two 'rivals' faced each other and firmly shook each others hand.
Trowa, WuFei and Duo started walking but after a few steps the American noticed Heero was not following. Turning he saw the Japanese pilot staring at the ground, which seemed to thoroughly fascinate him. Frowning he walked up to him and lay a hand on his shoulder. He gave a small smile as he noticed Heero didn't flinch away, but then again, he didn't even seem to notice his presence. With eyebrows raised in question he followed Heero's stare to the muddy ground and his eyes narrows as he caught sight of what Heero had discovered.
'Tire tracks...' He said with a dark expression.
'They're fresh.' Heero concluded after crouching down and touching them.
'Guys!' WuFei called 'Come on! North, remember!'
'Come on Heero... let's go.' He pulled the pilot away from the lead he had found.
Duo forced himself not to worry as they caught of with the others. These people down there were normal people, women and children. They were trained Gundam pilots, he was sure that when it came to the crunch they were able to defend themselves despite their weak state.
They headed North with, for the first time, Heero once again up front and WuFei closing the pack, muttering something about injustice under his breath. Duo couldn't help but smile as the team fell back in formation and, not wanting to be the one to send the domino stone stumbling again, he started chattering. Wufei's initial response was a suffering groan. But Duo smiled as he saw the corners of the chinese man's lips curl upwards. The 05 pilot had more in him than injustice-rants than they gave him credit for...
Yes, more indeed. I hope you all liked it.
C.W.