Chapter Seven;
A Better Place To Be?

Time since Bomber's kidnapping: 13 hours, 10 minutes

Caesar's stomach growled and he chuckled. "Woah, that was a big one." He glanced up in the darkness at the figure of Bomber. "What's cooking chef?"

Bomber didn't move and Caesar sat up quickly. "Bomb?" She shifted a little and Caesar realized something was very wrong with the girl. "Bomb, say something to me girl." He moved closer to her in the darkness. "Rebecca?" He said, worried about the Able Seaman.

"I think I'm cooking." She managed with a chuckle. Caesar lifted a hand to her forehead. Her temperature was high. Too high. Over the last hour Bomber had been getting steadily sicker, getting weaker and weaker. Now her forehead was on fire and Caesar was sure there were other things going on that she hadn't said yet.

"Oh god Bomber, what have they given you?" He checked her pulse. It was fast. Very fast. High temperature, fast pulse, and she was sweating even though the temperature in the room was quite mild. He frowned. She was the medic, not him. Could she help herself?

"I don't know. Sleeping drugs or something. Knocked me out for 11 hours." She rasped out the words. It was clear her throat had gone dry and probably cracked. He could sense that every word hurt. He ran what he knew about certain drugs over in his head, but nothing could have this effect. Nothing Western anyway. They were likely dealing with something neither of them knew.Caesar caught himself before he allowed the panic to reach his voice.

"Try not to go to sleep Bomb. I don't know what might happen if you do." He crossed the arm he'd been holding over her stomach and stood up, walking to the big door he'd been thrown in. Since joining Bomber in there, Caesar had been keeping his eyes on the direction of the door, barely moving. Now, the direction and distance seemingly ingrained in his mind, he found it easily despite the darkness. He raised his fists to the door and hammered. "Open up. Open up now." No one responded. He tried again. "Open up, she's sick."

Bomber's voice came from the ground. "Ouvrez elle, est malade." She said softly.

Caesar rushed over to her, thinking she'd succumb to gibberish. "What is it Bomb?"

"Ouvrez elle, est malade. Open up, she's sick. They're French." She managed.

Caesar nodded and smiled. "You're smarter than me my girl." He hurriedly remembered what she said and went back to the door. "Ouvrez elle, est malade." He repeated, his French horrible. A few minutes later, however, the door opened.

"Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas?" The lead one asked. Caesar guessed what he'd said and motioned to Bomber.

"Malade." He guessed that meant sick. Seemed to as the lead man turned to the others. Caesar heard them mention a doctor. He sighed with relief. "Doctor?" He asked.

They nodded. He smiled. "Thank you. Merci." That was the extent of his French. Soon two men burst through the door, one dressed in a weird tribal outfit and covered in war paint. Caesar frowned. "Doctor?"

The lead man who had stayed with him nodded. "Il est le meilleur docteur d'esprit dans Libertile."

Bomber spoke again. "It's a native witch doctor Caesar." She managed.

Caesar shook his head. "No, no. You have the French behind you. Where are their doctors? Real doctors? Western doctors." The islander didn't understand and just pointed at the witch doctor every time Caesar mentioned a doctor. "What did you give her?" He mimed a needle in an arm. Tying a tourniquet. Eventually they got it and smiled.

"Potion de sommeil locale." He smiled, looking rather proud of himself. He motioned to Bomber. "Elle dort bien?"

Caesar gaped. A witch doctor and… Bomber spoke again. "Local sleep potion. An island drug. Caesar, it could have anything in it." He sensed her move. "Antidote?" She asked, Caesar guessing the word was the same in French and English.

The doctor smiled. "Aucun antidote, juste long sommeil." No antidote, just long sleep.

Caesar frowned, his eyes darting between the islander men and Bomber. "Let us out of here. She needs a doctor or she's going to die." Still confused. He slid his finger across his throat then pointed to Bomber. "Die."

The islanders frowned. "Non, elle juste assoiffé. Eau d'effort." One of the three ran off and came back quickly with a bottle of something Caesar guessed to be water. "Boisson." He said with a smile. They left.

Caesar looked back at Bomber. "Bomb?"

"Just give me the water Caesar. I'm dying of thirst over here."

Eventually she gave up and fell asleep. Caesar had warned her not to, but Bomber knew that if she didn't sleep soon she'd feel worse. Of course there was the risk she wouldn't wake up, but she took it. She hurt so much. Every bone in her body ached and she silently cursed the island men for their potion. Clearly they hadn't predicted she may react badly to it. Now it was just her, dying slowly, and an injured Caesar. Escape didn't seem likely.

Something swam in front of her eyes, diverting her attention from her thoughts. It was a face. A familiar face. "Jessie?" She said aloud, her voice raspy. Her sister crouched down in front of her and Bomber smiled. "What are you doing here Jessie?" She panicked. "Please don't tell me you were caught too."

Jessie didn't speak, just stood up and pointed back to a spot behind her. There stood RO and Spider. She frowned as RO gave her a smile and walked over, pushing her hair off her forehead. "Are you alright Bomb? I think you had a bad dream." His voice was so soft, so comforting.

Bomber smiled. "Yeah, must have. Where am i?"

Spider chuckled. "Idiot, you're at home." Jessie reappeared holding baby Alex. "Must've been an interesting dream."

Bomber frowned. "We were on Libertile. There were insurgents."

Spider laughed. "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore Toto." He mocked.

RO turned and glared at him. "Ignore him, he was worried sick. You were yelling in French. It was scary."

"Worried sick eh?" Bomber said with a smiling, looking past RO to Spider. The man just shrugged. Bomber laughed softly then held her hands out to take baby Alex. "How's my favourite little bloke been?" She asked him.

Though his mouth didn't move she heard a voice familiar but not one belonging to the people near her. "Bomber, Bomber are you alright?"

Her eyes snapped open. It was still dark. "What? What happened? What time is it? Where is everyone?"

Caesar's hand touched hers. "Bomb, you were talking your sleep. Are you alright?"

Bomber breathed deeply. "I don't… I… it seemed so real. My sister was there, her baby boy, RO and Spider. I was at home, this was all a dream." She realized what she was saying and stopped, shuffling uncomfortably. "What time is it?"

"I'd say about midnight. Are you okay? Do you need another drink?" She felt him push the waterbottle into her hand.

Bomber sighed, taking a quick mouthful of water. She wiped her mouth with the back of her shaking hand. "I don't know I just…" She felt tears start to well in her eyes. "What if we don't get out of here? What if we get back and people have been killed trying to find us? I don't…"

Caesar shushed her. "You're tired and sick. It's understandable you'd be emotional." He placed his cold hand on hers. It felt comforting. "C'mon, you get some more sleep. It'll be morning before you know it." With that in mind Bomber lay her head back and fell asleep, the images from before playing over in her mind. She missed everyone in that dream terribly.