After jogging through the desert for hours, Tony had his shirt around his head. Biela, of course, had a head scarf as a part of her light, Afghan female clothes. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail.
The wind was starting to pick up and sand starting to blow. They had long become too tired for conversation. Tony took a slower pace for Biela's sake, due to her young age and relatively weak frame, due to spending more than a third of her life captive in a cave.
They reached the top of a sand dune when Biela tilted her head and said, "I hear something." A moment later, two helicopters flew up from behind them. They threw their hands in the air, waving and yelling, running towards them.
As the helicopters came down to land, Tony fell to his knees, holding a peace sign up in the air. Biela stopped and knelt beside him. "I can't go any further," she breathed, right before she passed out.
Tony put his peace sign down and laid a hand on her chest. She was still breathing, just exhausted. Five soldiers came running towards him. In the center was Rhodey. "How was the Funvee?" he asked. Tony just smiled as Rhodey knelt and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Next time you ride with me, okay?" Tony nodded weakly. Rhodey pulled him into a one armed hug.
Rhodey eyed Biela. "Who's she?" "She was a captive like me," Tony said. "She saved my life, and helped me escape. I had to bring her with me. She's only ten years old and she'd been there for four years." Rhodey nodded. "Time to go home, Tony."
Tony stood beside the hospital bed where Biela slept. The doctors at the base had told him that they wanted to keep her for a while longer to treat the bullet wound and the burns, as well as treating her for malnutrition and dehydration, both of which she was suffering from much worse than Tony.
Biela's breathing changed, and her eyes blinked open. "Tony?" she asked groggily. "Where am I?" "In the hospital on the Air Force base," he replied. "We escaped?" she gasped. Tony smiled. "We escaped," he confirmed.
Biela lay very still. "What will happen to me now?" "Well, the doctors want to keep you here a while longer, to make sure the burns and the bullet wound are healing alright. They also need to make sure that you've recovered from malnutrition and dehydration. I've got to go home now, confirm that I actually am alive and all that. Once you're better, the doctors are going to give me a call, and I'll get my private jet over here to bring you to the States, and I'll help you figure out what to do next."
Tears began welling in Biela's eyes. She leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you so much." "No," Tony said. "Thank you for saving me." Biela smiled as she laid back down and began to drift back off to sleep. "Don't waste your life, Tony. Don't waste it." With that, she was out.