For the next few miles, both detectives fell quiet, each one dealing with the situation in their own way, as the Galaxy quietly rode along the fairly well-maintained two-track. The lush mountainside to his right was slowly growing steeper and from what little he could see of the ravine to the left, a certain unease was beginning to spread in his gut.
"I think we're rising in elevation, Mike."
It was Steve's quiet, emotionless voice that confirmed his own worries.
The cold coming in through the shattered rear window served as a reminder that their escape was far from successful and Mike was beginning to shiver against the chilling temps.
"I think you're right…slow down for a minute, let me look at the map, maybe there's another cross road…"
Falling strangely quiet, Steve slowed the Galaxy to a complete stop and shifted it in park, allowing for Mike to carefully reach for the dome light. Many of the contents of the dashboard had been thrown all over the place by their hectic escape, some of the files having gotten stuck near the air vent by the windshield, the maps and bandaging material scattered all over the floorboard.
Mike leaned down to reach for them, turning the heat on full blast along the way, hoping it would give both of them a small measure of comfort in their dire state.
"Let's see where in the world we are…", he breathed when he got done gathering everything that had fallen, before slowly sitting upright again, swallowing against the dizziness and bile rising from the pain, "Hopefully all roads lead back to the campground eventually…"
When his lighthearted comment didn't receive an answer, Mike glanced over at his partner, only to see that Steve had collapsed against the bench seat, eyes closed, his head tilted backward.
"Oh no, no, you won't. Not now."
Scooting across the seat and noting his partner's rapid and shallow breathing with growing unease, Mike reached for Steve's cheek, only to find it cold and clammy to the touch.
"Stay awake, you hear me? I need you to stay awake. We're not done here yet."
Using his thumb to gently brush over his partner's cold skin seemed to do the job, when Steve slowly turned his head the other way, trying to move away from him.
"Damnit, come on! Fight this!", Mike urged, before grabbing the young Inspector's chin, turning his face toward him. Much to his relief, he watched his partner's eyelids slowly flutter open, the green eyes beneath staring at him in confusion.
"That's it. Just stay awake. We're not going to give up now, you hear me? We're not done here."
Biting his lip against the pain coming from his own injuries, Mike sighed in frustration, when he watched Steve's eyes threaten to roll to the back of his head again.
"Stay with me, damnit!", he urged and gently shook his partner, "Come on, stay awake. Here, let's get you patched up. Open your shirt."
"…beg y'r pardon?", came the confused answer, before the young Inspector obediently reached for the button on his collar, trying to open it with trembling hands.
"You're losing too much blood. We can't have you keep losing blood like this…"
Summoning all his remaining energy, Mike reached for the packaged wrapping materials they'd taken from the house, cringing against the smell of copper that was beginning to fill the air with each button his partner managed to open.
"That's it…here, let me help."
Carefully brushing Steve's hand aside, he pulled both, his beige sport coat and black dress coat off to the left, before finishing unbuttoning the shirt and pulling it out of his pants.
"S…cold…"
"I know it is, I promise to ru-"
The words got stuck in Mike's throat at the extent of the blood that made the entire side of the dress shirt stick to his partner's chest. Drawing in a deep breath, he quickly located both, the short and deep wound on his collar bone, and the long cut on his side, that was still seeping blood and reaching from his back along the side of his ribcage, then down across his stomach.
"Well, you're making a hell of a fuss over a little scratch like that…"
Mike tried to keep his voice steady as he glanced down at the small square gauze pieces that would hardly begin to cover the large wound.
By now, even he was beginning to doubt that backup would ever arrive.