Love of two is one
Here but now they're gone
Came the last night of sadness
And it was clear she couldn't go on
Then the door was open and the wind appeared
The candles blew then disappeared
The curtains flew then he appeared...saying don't be afraid
Come on baby...and she had no fear
And she ran to him...then they started to fly
They looked backward and said goodbye...she had become like they are
She had taken his hand...she had become like they are
Come on baby...don't fear the reaper
- Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper
Snake crawled leaving a trail of blood. He'd been shot in the stomach and had nothing left to do but hide and hope for the best. Taylor was around but it was hard to say if he would ever find him. Maybe the trail of blood but then Snake had luck and almost never got shot. Maybe Taylor would pass it by.
Plissken bit back the pain as he struggled under the cover of a small ledge. His hand pressed tightly to the wound and still the blood oozed between his fingers. He couldn't tell if the blood was slowing or not but the pain was certainly getting worse. His breath was heavy and strained almost a gasp. Plissken worried. For the first time since the war he thought he might die. He remembered the darkness when he was shot in Siberia and that same haze was threatening his sight though only in one eye since the other had long been hidden from the world.
He fought to keep his eye open but cold and the lulling of some distant sound pulled him farther to darkness. The sound he finally recognized, wind over the wings of a glider on a silent spring day. It was a part of his soul that sound and he clung to it hoping it would pull him to life. He could see the dark world again and swore he saw rats scurrying through the trash. He hoped they were rats. If they were crazies he would die tonight because he didn't have the energy to run or the ammunition to fight.
Plissken tried to focus on the scurrying noise but his eye kept fluttering closed. Sleep was his enemy and he fought it with what little strength he had.
"Snake. Snake, baby."
The soft words startled him as he turned to face them.
"Snake, wake up. We're almost home."
The voice came so real that he felt warmth on his ear. The voice needed no recognition. It too was a part of his soul. The voice of the only thing he had ever loved more than taking flight. He fought to wake up for her but the dark wouldn't clear.
"Don't be afraid. I'll be here when you wake up."
Snake felt heavy. The weight was so great that he couldn't even open his eye.
"Baby?" Snake muttered the word feeling the cracked cold of his lips in the warm air of the Atlanta night. He broke the burden that seemed to hold him down.
"Come on Flyboy. You have to wake up and go home."
"Sophia." Snake couldn't find her in the dark. Panic set in driving him to scream.
"Snake. My God man what happened?" Taylor dropped down beside him but Snake didn't see the alley just dark.
"I'm coming Geisha."
"We need to get him help." Taylor and Fresno Bob picked Plissken up to carry him to the car.
"I'm tired baby." His voice came in short rasps and fell silent as he dropped so far into blackness it choked him.
Taylor gave Bob a worried look before climbing into the back with the man who was more a brother to Taylor than a real one might have been.
"There's a doctor Eastside who'll take care of him." Bob was already driving down the street.
"Hurry!" Taylor looked down at Snake and the blood soaking into most of his clothes. "Don't you dare go to her yet!"
It was all Taylor could say before he looked out at the streets careening by. Snake was the only person he trusted and Taylor was finding it hard to believe this might be the end of the road for that friendship.