Apocalypse by SLynn
Summary: Three years have passed since the explosion and life has drastically changed for everyone. This isn't the world they imagined they'd be saving.
Spoilers: Up to 'Fallout'
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing and will return them all when I'm done, virtually untouched.
Chapter 7: Caged
Niki had finally pulled over when she was certain they were not being followed, a good sixty miles from where they'd been ambushed.
Spotting a deserted looking auto repair shop in a town that had certainly seen better days, she pulled the car over so that they could decide what to do next.
"We need to go back," was the first thing out of Hiro's mouth. "We can't leave them back there."
"Yes," Ando added. "We have to go back. They wouldn't have…"
"We don't know what they would or wouldn't have done," Niki interrupted harshly. "They're not here."
"Niki," D.L. urged, "please. Let's not do this now. Let's just work out a plan…"
"The plan is what it has always been," she continued. "We've always agreed that if any one of us ever got caught, that was it. They were on their own until they could make their way back. End of story."
"Well," D.L. said, "until now it's all been talk. It's a different thing…"
"No," she said forcefully, "it's not. It's not a different thing. What are we supposed to do? Go back and what exactly? Rescue them?"
No one answered.
"There are five of us," Niki said plaintively. "Five against how many? An army? No, I'm sorry. Not me. Not my son."
"Mom," Micah started.
"No," Niki said sharply, wheeling round on him.
"They could have gotten away," D.L. said half-heartedly.
"Even if they did, how are they supposed to find us? Or call us," Micah asked, undeterred by his mother's stern gaze. "I'm the one that made the phones work. They can't do that. They'll have no way…"
"Enough," Niki said. "That's… that's enough. I liked Matt and Claire as much as the rest of you, but there is nothing we can do for them now."
Hiro and Ando exchanged a brief, dark look.
"Nothing," Niki repeated quietly.
The first time they stopped it was brief. Nothing more than to fill up the trucks they were being transported in and give the men guarding them a break.
Once they were alone Claire had started to speak but Matt just shook his head at her before nodding significantly at the back of the truck. She understood, they might be listening. They couldn't risk it.
Still, she had to say something. He looked sick and she was worried.
"Are you okay?" she whispered.
"I'm fine," he managed, pressing his head into his hands. "It's just a headache."
Claire didn't say anymore, she knew how bad they could get. Instead, she did the only thing she could do for him, she tried to clear her mind. The less noise the better.
After another hour on the road they stopped again. This time a guard stayed with them and when the others returned they had three more prisoners.
Two men and one woman.
One of the men wasn't going quietly. He was ranting and raving about his rights. That he wasn't even one of them. Everything he could think of he was trying.
None of it made a difference.
Claire didn't make eye contact with them, but as soon as the truck started moving again the woman began to stare at her in an attempt to get her attention. Claire just ignored her.
"Hey," the man who had put up the fight said loudly, "I think that guy is sick. Hey, you. Henderson, isn't it? That guy is sick. Aren't you going to do something?"
"We'll be there in half an hour."
"In thirty minutes he might be dead," the man argued. "I bet your tests won't work on him if he's dead."
"Shut up, Jacobs," the guard shouted. "No one is falling for it."
"Sir," the other guard piped up, "I think he's right. That guy, he doesn't…"
"Enough," the third and obviously most senior guard said. "We'll be there soon. So what if he dies. Saves us the trouble."
Claire glared at the man before turning again to Matt to see just how bad it was.
"I'm fine. It's just so loud," he said in a near whisper.
Words she was certain he had meant just for her.
The woman who was now sitting next to Matt heard it as well, causing her to stare now not just at Claire but at Matt as well.
"Move," Claire said loudly, wobbling to her feet in the still moving truck.
"What are you doing?" the guard named Henderson asked as he raised his gun.
"I'm trading seats," Claire shot back, motioning with her head for the woman to get out of her way.
"Sit down," Henderson yelled a little too late.
The woman had already moved willingly and Claire was in her spot in half a second.
"Take it easy," she whispered to Matt. "Just lean on me, okay? It'll be over soon."
He obliged, mumbling something she couldn't make out.
"What's wrong with him?" the woman leaned in and whispered to her.
"What do you think is wrong with him?" the man they'd called Jacobs answered for her. "We're all being held without reason or cause. It's a travesty. It's enough to turn anyone's stomach."
Claire heard Matt let out a low chuckle and felt relieved.
"So," Jacobs continued, addressing himself to the guards once more. "Where to this time?"
No one answered him.
"Now, let's not be rude," Jacobs continued to prod. "Certainly you can tell us that much."
The guards were still resolutely ignoring him.
"Testing? Interment? Doesn't matter," Jacobs said with an air of indifference. "I'll be out before sundown."
"Not this time," Henderson answered.
Claire watched the exchange with some interest. Jacobs wasn't a tall man, probably in his mid-fifties, extremely wiry looking and almost completely bald. But despite being handcuffed and obviously at a disadvantage, he looked at perfect ease.
"Haven't made a jail that can hold me yet," Jacobs chided.
"But we still keep catching you."
"Only because I like the game," the older man returned, giving Claire a wink as he noticed her watching.
The truck finally rolled to a stop and the guards began hustling them out into a large fenced in yard.
Claire got out easily enough, even handcuffed, but Matt was another story.
Still weak from the exertion of the day, he stumbled not once, but twice, finally landing on his knees and squinting from the still harsh daylight.
"Come on," Claire said, kneeling beside him and doing her best to help him up.
It wasn't enough. Claire just wasn't strong enough to do it alone, not handcuffed and not as weak as Matt suddenly seemed. And the guards wouldn't help, refused to do anything but either look the other way or laugh.
"Here," Jacobs said, pulling Matt to his feet from the other side, "just take it easy. Don't want to get left behind. You'll miss all the fun."
The fun turned out to be anything but.
The men were first separated from the women. Claire had reluctantly gone along with it. Matt seemed a little better but she felt a sense of dread, like she might not see him again. Jacobs reassured her some that this was all routine and that they'd all be back together shortly, but she was still uneasy.
And she wasn't the only one. The other woman, Anne, got nearly hysterical and started yelling for Lionel, the other man they had picked up. Finally, she let out a blood curling scream that shattered four light bulbs before a man in a lab coat gave her an injection of something which seemed to calm her down quite a bit.
After Anne was moving again, much slower than before, the handcuffs were removed and they were taken to a set of showers and given five minutes to clean up and get dressed again into a pair of orange jumpsuits.
Next it was photographs and fingerprinting followed by a blood test.
The blood test worried Claire the most. Apparently the tech either didn't notice or didn't care that the needle didn't seem to be able to break her skin. It was only after he had to practically stab her with it that he was able to get any blood at all. She was healed again before he even got her bandaged up. Claire thought that was it, that they had to know now, but he only gave her a strange look before applying the bandage anyway.
Finally they were led into a large room that had probably once been a gymnasium and was now filled with cots and people.
Claire scanned the room, relieved when she spotted Matt who was already making his way towards her.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," she assured him. "But shouldn't I be asking you that? I was really worried, you looked…"
"I'm fine. It got better once I got away from them," Matt returned, but wouldn't elaborate.
"Do you know where we are?" she asked.
"That guy, Jacobs, says we're in New Jersey," Matt answered. "An old college the Order uses as a testing site. He's been here before, says it's fairly low security. But, we've got another problem."
"What? What's wrong?"
"Didn't they take your fingerprints?"
"Yeah, so?"
"So," Matt returned, "I'm in the system. I worked for the FBI, Claire. They're going to know who I am. Soon. And if they know who I am, they're going to have a good idea as to who you are."
"That's it then? This… this is it?" Claire asked fearfully.
"No," Matt said firmly. "No, I think we can get out of here."