The floor had long gone from comforting the fever that threatened to burn him alive, to an uncomfortable block of ice, but he hadn't found the strength to move. He hadn't passed out exactly, just kind of let his mind rest a bit before he tried to get up again. He wasn't sure how long he had stayed that way, a few centons, or a few centaurs. It was anybody's guess. He tried to justify it as saving his strength for when it really mattered, but, try as he might, he couldn't kid himself with that felgercarb. He was hurting and the pounding in his head was like Borelian laser bolls being flung at his back. Added to his misery was the fact that it was probably nothing compared to what Rene was experiencing. So, he was conserving his energy until she came back, and if she didn't, well there wasn't any point in moving then was there? Curled up on the floor, he stayed that way for Sagan knows how long, that is until the floor jumped under his cheek and he thought he heard a loud roar.
"You always were a little slow," he mumbled critically into the ice block below him before gruellingly pushing himself up. The ice block said nothing in return, accepting that his words were the truth. "Took your damn sweet time with that rescue, Apollo," he muttered, raising his aching head slowly. "When we get out of here, you're buying me a drink. Because you're late. Otherwise, I'd buy you a drink." He managed to get himself up onto one knee, wobbling in the process. "I don't even mind if the grog is warm. I can chill it down with just about any body part, but we won't get graphic. The kids, you know."
He was still struggling to his feet when the door to his cell slid open. He had a good jibe ready on his lips for his friend, but the centurion dropping Rene onto the floor of the cell chased it away. The door slid closed faster than he could move. He tripped over her body before he reached the portal just as the panels slid shut. Shouting, he slammed his fist into the door. At his shout, Rene whimpered and tried to scrambled away from him, backing into the wall.
"You gollmonging trash bins! Scared of me, aren't you? Cowards!" He pounded at the door again, but it didn't budge. He gave it another hard hit, regretting the action the moment he made contact. The door was solid and the last thing he needed to do was bring more attention to himself. The cylons were pretty good so far at keeping the pain and torture fair and equal. For once in his life he wasn't going to complain if he got less than he was due. An internal voice screamed at him to pull it together. Rene needed him here and alive. Succumbing to weakness or sickness was a luxury he just didn't have time for. He kneeled down to reach for his wife, but as he touched her, she cried out in fear and pain. She tried to back farther away in the small room, hands up in submission.
"Easy Rene, it's just me. Starbuck. Your husband." He slowly reached for her again, but she shouted something incomprehensible her eyes wild and unfocused. He backed up, letting her get her bearings. "You're okay. It's okay," he cooed to her but her hands remained up in defense and her eyes didn't clear. She was shaking and breathing hard. He didn't need to touch her to know her heart was beating fast, he could see her pulse throbbing in her neck. He tried again, calling her name softly, but she recoiled from the sound.
"Rene, it's me. It's just me." He moved slowly to touch her, but she flinched as if his fingers burned. He crouched down on the floor near her, but didn't reach for her again. If she felt even half as bad as he did, his touch might actually be painful. He looked to the door suddenly worried why she was back. Was it was because the bobbleheads thought she was about to expire? Plus, it was probably his turn for that interrogation they promised. He looked to the portal, waiting for what was to come next, but the cell door remained closed and Rene's gasping breaths echoed in the small room.
"One problem at a time," he said aloud before turning back to his wife. "Easy, slow down. Slow breaths, okay? Just like at home. Come on, slow it down. Deep breath in, come on, Pretty Lady."
Her eyes were wide and he was pretty sure she had no idea who he was. She kept her hands up to push him away, but she did take a deep breath that she let out in a shudder. "That's it. Try another." Her face was flushed and her eyes a cloudy gray against the bright red of her cheeks. "They hurt you? Anything permanent?"
The negative shake of her head looked more like a shiver than an answer. He tried reaching for her again, but she trembled as she tried to scurry away. There was nowhere to go in the small room. He held his own hands up to show her he wasn't a threat. "I'm not going to hurt you. You're okay." He reached out to her boot, needing to make some kind of contact with her, but she shifted it away as soon as his hand landed on it.
"Rene, it's me, Starbuck." Her eyes crinkled in confusion at his words, focusing on him for only a micron, before gazing away towards the door. "Come on, speak to me, Beautiful. Are you with me?"
She didn't answer him, instead scanning the room as if she had never been there before. He called to her with a bit more authority in his voice, trying a different tack, desperate to reach her. "Hey, talk to me, Lieutenant! What happened? What did they do? I need to know how to help and know what's in store for me." She met his eyes, but her brow furrowed like she was thinking hard. She opened her mouth to speak, but shook her head and shut it again. Her eyes slid away, and she kept her hands up to defend herself.
He felt the floor beneath them vibrate again and he knew there wasn't much time left. With a brief visual assessment, he could at least tell that Rene wasn't bleeding and he couldn't see any injuries that weren't there before. He decided to hades with it and reached out to pull her into his arms. She fought him but he wasn't going to let go because he knew the next time he left her, it might be for good. She wasn't as strong as she should be and he easily held on speaking soothingly to her until her resistance melted. Once she stopped struggling, she lay nearly limp in his arms which frightened him even more. He pulled back just a little to regard her, reaching to push her hair away from her face. Just by the color of her eyes he could tell that her walls were up. She had disappeared somewhere in her mind where she could find some safety. He decided it was best to leave her there as he wanted to assess the damage, or at least get an inkling of what he was soon to experience if Apollo didn't hurry the hades up.
"It's okay," he said, his voice thick with the knowledge they were as far from okay as the fleet was from Earth. "It doesn't matter if you don't know me, I know you. I made a vow." He reached a hand to her forehead, feeling the heat. "The least those bastards could do is fix that fever. The good news is, they probably only got gibberish out you."
Her lips moved and he barely heard the whisper, the word thick and slurred, "Couldn't."
It was just one word, but he knew what she meant. There was probably nothing even he could do to defend himself against a brain scan, and if it meant her death, well, he'd want her to tell them everything to stay alive. "It's okay," he said again wondering what he could do to get them out of here before they came for him. Not a damn thing he realized and settled for holding her in his arms, trying to offer what little comfort he could. "It's okay if you told them everything. They won't make sense of it, they're bucket heads."
He reached a hand down to her belly, hoping that maybe he could feel the baby, needing some reassurance that it was alright. She stiffened in his arms at the movement and began to struggle again.
"Easy, I'm on your side," he said, but loosened his grip afraid he might be hurting her. He felt the wall behind his back vibrate as he heard the clomping of a centurion coming down the corridor. His pulse quickened, afraid it might be his turn, and he did know things the enemy would want to hear. If he talked, he would be risking far more than just the family. The fleet was so much larger now. He suddenly understood the weight that Rene felt she carried trying to keep her whole family safe. If he had a weapon on him now, he might do more than stare down a muzzle to make sure the kids in the fleet would stay safe. He'd make sure he died before they even put him in that scanner.
"What about Rene and the baby?" This time the voice in his head sounded like his old buddy, calm and practical Boomer. Only was he that practical? It was because of him humoring Rene's crazy ideas they had landed here. But his voice was still echoing in his head, "You humored her too. What will she do if you die?" He shook his head to the question. Rene was not going to last long even with him here.
"No," he muttered aloud and Rene pushed away from the word. Despite her weak struggling, he pulled her close, knowing time was not a luxury he had anymore. He leaned down until his lips found her ear. He whispered urgently, gratified that she stilled in his arms. He hoped she was coherent enough to understand, "Don't give up. Don't you dare quit. You are tough, you always tell me that. You stay alive. Apollo will come for you. You tell my child I loved him, just the idea of him. Or her. I wanted to be a dad. I wanted to be there, I did. Tell him I'm sorry, but stay alive to say it, you understand?" He wasn't sure if she nodded in understanding or if it was a shiver that traveled up his spine shaking the both of them. "You tell my son that all those crazy stories about me are only half true, and you tell my daughter not to fall for guys like me. You live to tell my kid, you got that?"
This time he was sure she heard him as she stopped struggling and gripped his arm tight. The door slid open and he hastily whispered that he loved her before he pushed her away from him. He'd be fighting until the bitter end, but he wasn't going in that brain scan. He thought if he could knock the robot to the ground, he might be able to get into the corridor to find a weapon.
With all the energy he had left, he vaulted into the machine, counting on the element of surprise. Rather than crashing into cold metal, he collided with a warm body, knocking both of them back into the corridor. Sprawled on the floor, he felt arms reaching for him as he looked into a familiar face.
"Starbuck, you just ruined my entrance," Jake whispered, keeping a firm hold on him.
He had to be dreaming. That was it. He'd either passed out from the pain or the hypothermia had him hallucinating. "Jake? I thought you were dead!"
"Wishful thinking, Bucko? You don't get rid of me that easily." The young man's eyes scanned him quickly as the hands patted him down. "You're okay?"
"Never been so glad to see you, so you decide," Starbuck quipped, looking down the corridor, finding it empty. "What took you so long?"
"Trying to fix your fracked up rescue mission and avoiding a whole platoon of centurions that were in that transport kept my dance card full," Jake whispered, "Keep it down. We're trying to do this quiet. Are you able to run?"
"Depends on the motivation," he admitted, "where is everyone?" But Jake had dropped his arms, rolled Starbuck off of him, and climbed to his feet as he reached a hand to help the warrior up.
"Do you know where they're keeping Rene?" Jake asked. Starbuck pointed back into the cell. Jake pushed a blaster into his hands. "Cover me," he said before he rushed into the small room.
Starbuck scanned the corridor again, heard another loud pop in the distance, but he thought it was outside the building. Hopefully it was the distraction that was making this rescue possible. It's what he would do and the thought made him wonder if he was just making all this up in his head. Had he passed out holding Rene in his arms? Was this just a dream? Well, so far it was a good one so he decided to see how it played out. He checked out the corridor, deeming it safe for now and looked back to his cell.
Rene had her hands back up in defense and was trying to meld herself into the wall at her back. "Hey baby," Jake said but stopped short of reaching for her, looking back over his shoulder to Starbuck. "What did they do?"
Starbuck just stood in the doorway, thinking that Rene should have improved if this was a dream. He hesitated, afraid that if he entered the cell, the door would slam shut blocking out this illusion.
"Starbuck!" Jake hissed at him to get his attention.
"I don't know. She's confused. Brain scan I think and…" He trailed off as Jake shifted his attention back to Rene. "Jake, where is everyone? You're supposed to dead, aren't you?"
"I don't have time for this," Jake griped, ignoring Starbuck and reaching slowly for Rene. "Baby, it's okay. It's me. I'm a good guy." Rene's eyes focused on her old friend, her hands lowering a little.
The sound of footsteps down the corridor made Starbuck's head whip around far too fast. He groaned and slumped against the wall as the pounding in his head turned into a sledge hammer, then faded to an incessant drone that was approaching fast. They had to get out of here and he had no idea where he was in relation to an exit. For a brief moment he considered just shooting up at the ceiling and taking the fastest way out. Meanwhile, his imaginary dream-state friend was trying to reason with Rene who wasn't moving, and wasn't talking.
"Let's go!" Starbuck urged, hoping that if Rene at least recognized Jake, her friend could get her up and moving.
Jake looked at him not moving as fast as he would like, "She's not talking?"
"Not yet, no. Look, we can worry about that later. We need to go! If we don't get a move on, I'm going to wake up!" Starbuck said taking a quick look down the corridor in both directions. "What's the plan?"
Jake looked at him in concern before replying, "We slink out like rats. Apollo is working on taking out the enemy."
Starbuck wasn't sure if he heard him right. "I'm dreaming," he said aloud, turning back to Jake who was quietly trying to coax Rene to her feet. Illusion or not, he was going to see this through to a fantasy ending that had them out of here before time ran out. "What did Dante yell at you to get you moving?"
"We are going with quiet here. I am not yelling at her. Besides, I don't need to, do I, baby?" She recoiled as Jake reached for her.
Starbuck was unsure what he should do, afraid if he made a move in any direction, everyone would vanish into thin air. For a heroic dream rescue, so far it was disappointing. If he shouted at Rene to get to her feet the cylons might hear him, and if he went back into the cell and hauled her up, the door would close locking them in. "It's your fantasy," the voice in his head shouted, "You get to make it up." He was opting for pushing Jake aside even if it meant he had to go back in the cell, when his dream solidified into the form of Apollo coming down the corridor, a blaster in one hand and cylon pulse rifle in the other.
"Now that's more like it," he mumbled, not totally sure who he was talking to, himself, Lady Luck, or his new imaginary friends. Apollo gave him a cursory scan from head to toe, not speaking as if somehow words would break the mirage. Starbuck sighed in relief when Apollo brushed past him, giving him a reassuring clap on the shoulder with a hand that felt very real before his friend went into the cell pushing Jake aside and reaching down to haul Rene to her feet. Apollo finally spoke, but the words were hushed, "Starbuck, see to your wife. We are getting you out of here." He put Rene's unresisting hand into his, before going past him to the corridor again. Oh, thank the Lords for Apollo!
"Jake? You got them?" Apollo asked.
Jake's responding "Yes sir!" that sounded actually respectful and admiring had him wondering again at the validity of his senses.
"I must already be in that brain scan," Starbuck briefly pondered, but the fantasy felt real enough as Jake grabbed his arm and began to move out into the corridor. Starbuck decided to follow, pulling Rene along behind him. As they reached a juncture of the corridor and Apollo motioned for them to get back and be quiet, Starbuck looked into his wife's wide and much too passive eyes.
He leaned down to whisper to her, "I think I'm dead. It's not such a bad way to go. I'm in good company, and hey, at least we're out of the cell." Jake hissed at him to be quiet at the same time that he saw a glimmer in Rene's eyes at his banter. "Although, I'm wondering who's in charge of this dream. I could do without your old boyfriend coming along on this trip to heaven."
Jake chuckled while Apollo waved a hand for them all to be quiet. The young man couldn't resist rising to the bait. "Who says you're going to heaven?"
Starbuck waited until Apollo waved them around the corner before he answered, "Can't go to hell if you're already there."
"For Sagan's sake, Starbuck, shut up!" Apollo ordered, grabbing him by the sweater and giving him a shake. His eyes poured over his friend, taking in his high colour, the heat radiating off his skin, his slightly slurred speech, and his evident incoherence. "This is real, Starbuck. We're going to get you both out of here so you can build a life together, but I need you to listen to me. Crawl through that fog that's wrapped its way around your brain, and get back in the game, buddy! Can you do that for me? For Rene?"
Apollo's words broke the spell. This was no dream and he pulled Rene closer suddenly concerned that they would run into the IL with the box of pain. He nodded briefly, turning back towards Apollo. "I can do it, Buddy, but promise me if we suddenly drop to the ground, you'll haul me and Rene out of here no matter how much we scream." Apollo just gave him a quick concerned look before leading them farther down the corridor. There was a loud explosion that dropped them all to the ground.
"What the frack? I thought you were going for 'quiet'," Starbuck complained.
Apollo grinned at him. "You don't get to have all the fun, Bucko. Jake wanted me to even the odds. Let's go."
Just when he thought this might be real, the rebel grin had him wondering again. "So, since this is my fantasy, did you find me a viper and some four hundred yahren old ambrosia?"
"I told you, this is real. But since you mentioned it…" Apollo led them down the corridor, headed for a very sturdy door at the end. Apollo gave him another quick appraisal. "I found a viper, but we have a ways to go and they are hot on our trail. We're going to need to run for it and maybe take the long way to avoid the enemy. I don't have any ambrosia, but you've already got the pretty girl, so no heroics here, Bucko. We're following Jake's plan." He motioned for Jake to take the lead, but the young man looked over his shoulder back down the corridor, before looking down to Rene.
"Are you sure?" Jake said to her and she nodded vigorously. "Starbuck, did you see them?" he asked the warrior.
"I'm half delirious and you're actually asking me that question. See who?"
"Frack me, seriously?" Jake asked Rene again as Starbuck read the hand sign she was flashing, the one for "more".
Starbuck desperately wanted to go out that door, to taste the air of freedom and he was willing to hike through half of Caprica if it kept him out of a cell and away from a brain scan. But that one word, stuttered from Rene's lips was something he couldn't ignore.
"K..k..kids."
Starbuck felt as though he'd been punched in the gut as he realized there were more kids somewhere in this complex.
"Where?" Jake asked her, but she had turned away from her friend, looking to Starbuck instead as she pointed back down the corridor.
"Well, since there's still a good chance that none of this real, what the hades. I'll bet it all and let's hover with this. Back in a flash, Apollo; you guard the exit."
He heard his name as Apollo called to him, but he let a surprisingly nimble Rene lead him and Jake back down the corridor, back to their cell and farther into the building. The corridors were still empty and the ground shook under his feet at some point as a loud explosion boomed. Klaxons began wailing, and yet, there was no drone or clomp of a centurion. She led him to a door a few cells past their own. He hadn't known Jake believed in the Gods until that moment, when the prayer for protection slipped from his lips as he pulled out a tool of some kind and popped the controls for the door from the wall. It only took him a micron before the door slid open. Jake turned away to the door behind them, performing the same task.
In horror, Starbuck felt Rene pull away from his hand as she entered the cell. He followed, to find three young boys huddled together, looking up at him with a mixture of fear and awe. They looked to be about Boxey and Lara's age, but they were painfully thin, the clothes they wore in tatters.
"Can you walk?" he reached out a hand, and one of the boys moved to grab onto him. He hauled the child up, shifting the child's hand to have the kid grip his sweater as he reached for another. Rene had hold of the third one. Starbuck looked down to the first child he had grabbed, saw his clear blue eyes gazing at him. "What's your name?"
He had to ask him twice before the child answered softly, "Zion."
"Okay Zion, we're getting out of here. You hang on, okay? And hang onto your friends. Don't let go." He turned to Rene who seemed to be looking up at him with the same wide eyes. "Any more? Because as much as I'd like to save them all, if we don't get out of here now, ain't none of us getting out alive." She shook her head and he wasn't sure if it meant they had all the kids, or if she didn't know.
As Jake came out of the other cell with two young girls, one he held by the hand, the other he carried over his shoulder, both in as bad of shape as the three boys, Starbuck made one of the toughest decisions of his life. There were only so many you could carry, only so many you could save. The weight of that thought, the abrupt understanding of his Commander and the brutal decisions he had to make on the day of their destruction and beyond, almost dropped him to his knees.
"Jake, we have to go. We can't take anymore." He hoped the young man could understand, and wouldn't judge him too harshly for the choice to save themselves. Jake nodded, but he looked away and Starbuck shrugged off the apparent criticism. He didn't expect Jake to view him as the gold clusters hero everyone else did. He knew, no one could live up to the hero Jake had expected on destruction day. Dante had done the impossible for the rats, pulled them out of a cylon slave camp, but that was the extent of his heroic qualities. The Sewer Rat's heroes were all flawed and while Starbuck was no saint himself, he sure as hades wasn't as flawed as Dante.
Maybe in time Jake would realize that sometimes a guy had to make hard choices, shouldering the burden on his own. It wasn't a popularity contest; it was about doing the best you could in the situation, knowing you had to live with the consequences. It was about saving some lives, instead of losing them all. Starbuck was beginning to understand a bit better himself that those in charge had to make choices for the good of the whole, not the individual. For Sagan's sake, he thought he could even understand Dante's decisions a bit better. He hadn't meant to be a complete boray and just choose young pretty girls. He'd probably chosen some of the females because he was going to rebuild their race. He hadn't looked for pretty ones, he looked for ones that were healthier and stronger, and well, on that fateful day he arrived, they were probably the pretty ones. The Sewer Rats might see things from a different perspective, but they were alive for now. Starbuck could live with the young man's criticisms, because if they didn't get out of here, none of them were going to be living much longer.
"Jake, when we're safe, we'll come back for the rest. I swear."
The young man was unreadable when he met his eyes again and Starbuck found himself blurting out, "Look, I tried to save Ari. I didn't want her to shoot him. I would have hauled him out of there if I could. I didn't know about the trap. I tried to save him."
Jake blinked, the only tell in his pyramid face as he whispered, "I know," before turning away to head back down the corridor towards their exit.
Starbuck motioned for Rene to go before him, and he followed gratified to find the boys kept up and kept silent. Apollo met them at the juncture of the corridor before the exit, taking in the extra kids with a nod of his head. He knew his friend was adjusting his plan for the added individuals, and trusted that Apollo would make the plan work or die trying.
"Our way is still clear, but we are running out of time. We need to move fast and are going to have to go straight up the ridge rather than around if we want to avoid the inferno."
"Inferno?" Starbuck raised his eyebrows. While Apollo enjoyed employing a little mayhem now and then, infernos weren't normally part of his arsenal. An explosion or two, yeah, but not normally fire.
"Jake's idea to hide our heat signatures. Going to be a little warm out there. We set fire to the hillsides."
"You think of everything. How did you know we were cold?" Starbuck tried to joke, as the tattered and shivering children looked on wide-eyed and afraid, but clinging tighter trusting him. Apollo checking his chrono told him there might be other surprises in store for him. "And that viper?"
"Safe and sound with a rye shot waiting for you, along with a hot meal, and a warm bed. Jake, lead the way." Apollo reached for the child in the young man's arms, and took hold of the hand of the other.
Jake looked back once, meeting Starbuck's eyes again for a brief moment before he turned back to crack the door. Jake slunk out, before poking his head back in to give the all clear.
Outside, it was pandemonium with klaxons blaring and flames dancing all around. On top of it, rain was falling heavily. The drops were ice cold on his bare arm where his sleeve had been torn away. He shivered and felt the wires bounce against his skin reminding him again that this was all too real. He looked to Rene, just to verify that he hadn't imagined her here with him. She had pulled up the tattered hood of her sweater, disappearing into the meager shelter the cloth offered from the rain. She held the the boy in her hand close, trying to offer him some protection. Starbuck reached to do the same hampered by the child in one hand and the blaster that he had forgotten was in his other hand. He felt the small hand shake that was clinging to his sweater. None of them were prepared for this, but then again, no one was ever prepared for death by cylon torture either. He'd take his chances with a cold, wet demise in the open air with a chance of survival and hoped like hades that the hot meal and warm bed Apollo alluded to weren't just a part of a story he was telling.
Jake ignored all the chaos, keeping low as he wove between buildings until they were below the ridge that Rene had tumbled down. Jake motioned for the group to stay close to the building. He disappeared around the corner for a few moments before sliding back around. "The way is clear. How much time do we have?"
Apollo answered, "Six centons. We should wait for a few more."
"Wait for what, the enemy to catch up to us?" Starbuck asked.
"Are we doing this my way or your way?" Jake asked with a smirk on his face, but he didn't wait for an answer as he took off running, fading into the mist and rain like a phantom. Behind them Starbuck turned to see four centurions headed their way, a red caped IL behind them.
"Well, it was a nice dream while it lasted." But Rene's unexpected grip on his shoulder was tight and true as she came alive, pulling him after her as she followed her friend. She pushed at the child in her hand, encouraging the child to run on their own.
He looked to his own friend, but Apollo was shoving a child at him to take in his arms, while another latched onto his sweater. The blaster in his hand was useless as he was weighed down now with four kids. He dragged Zion to go before him as he tried to set down the child in his arms,. The kid wouldn't let go, his little arms wrapped around his neck nearly choking him. Apollo was laying down cover fire, and he knew he should join him, but his hand were full. Apollo shouted to him, "Go!" and he let Rene pull him towards the ridge. The kids hanging on to him kept up, one of them actually pushing at him to go faster. The pounding rain was loud in his ears after the quiet cell and he had to shake his head to get the water out of his eyes.
As they began to climb up the hill, he felt Apollo's hands pushing at him. "Go, go, go! Jake help them! It's going to go any moment!" It was hard to climb up the muddy, rocky cliff carrying and towing kids, but Rene's grip tugged at him to keep up. He pulled at the kids, propelling them onward. Then Rene's hand slid from his shoulder as Jake reappeared reaching for her.
"NO!" Starbuck shouted. He dropped Zion's hand reaching for her sweater pulling her back, fearful for some strange reason that once she took Jake's hand she would disappear forever.
"Starbuck!" Jake shouted in exasperation as the young man grabbed him next, hauling him up the ridge, grunting at the extra weight of the children he was towing. "For Sagan's sake, I'm on your side." Jake reached for the boy that had been in Starbuck's hand, pushing the child forward down the hill before reaching for Starbuck's shoulders, hauling him and the clinging children up over the ridge. Apollo helped to shove him and the kids the rest of the way before pulling himself over just as a loud roar exploded behind them.
He ducked down in the cover of the ridge with Apollo on one side doing the same. The children clung to him, the arms of the little one around his neck somehow becoming tighter. On the other side of him, in the bright orange glow Starbuck caught the grin on Rene's face as she turned to look over the ridge at the explosion. She seemed to move towards the flames, but he pulled at her arm, hauling her back down. The look of joy on her face was distressing and he wondered how scrambled her head might be. "Stay with me, Pretty Lady!" he shouted to her above the wind and the rain of debris and fire.
She nodded to him, but the smile remained. Before he could speak to her again, Apollo's hands were on him, hauling him up as Jake pulled at Rene, taking the child from her hand.
"Come on, Starbuck, there's a party waiting for us."
"Oh, why didn't you say so," he mumbled, looking to his wife who still seemed intent on wanting to go back over the ridge, not forward to safety. He reached to her with the hand that was once again holding a child's hand. He pushed at her shoulder. Thankfully she moved in the right direction, and Starbuck made to follow, almost forgetting for a moment the two kids hanging on to his sweater. The girl in his arms was shaking and Starbuck worried it might be from the cold or from shock. He looked to the three boys hanging on to him. Apollo came to his aid, shrugging off his jacket as he reached for one of the boys, sliding the jacket on the child. Apollo reached for the girl in his arms, gently prying the little arms from around his neck and letting her wrap herself around him.
"We need to go as far as we can as long as we can," he explained, but Starbuck already knew that piece of information as he wondered how long the range might be on those IL's sadistic switches. "Let me know when it's too much."
He nodded at his friend before he gently disentangled the boy that was still hanging on to his sweater, then slid the sweater over his head so he could slip it over the small boy. He crouched down to speak to Zion. "Keep a hold of your friend and I'll keep a hold of you. It's going to be okay." This time he felt he could pay the marker on those words as Apollo's hand gripped his shoulder helping him to move forward.