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Chapter 4

The carnage was gruesome. The smell of death and decay had greeted them long before their rovers came to a stop along the path the Phoenix Group had travelled. There were probably a good dozen dead bodies, though it was hard to tell considering no single body was fully intact. Jim Shannon looked across the field, disgusted and sad at the immense loss of life, yet he couldn't help feel these soldiers had deserved it. After all, the Phoenix Group had killed 26 Terra Novans in their attack. 27 if he counted Wash, but Jim did not. He preferred to hold onto the most outlandish possibility someone could survive a point blank shot to the head.

"Sir, we've searched the truck they left behind. Nothing but empty cargo containers."

Jim looked at Corporal Reilly and nodded. It would have been too easy had the Phoenix soldiers left behind a map with an X marked at their destination. He lifted his radio to his face, eyes still focused on the dead bodies.

"Commander," he said into the radio, waiting for a response.

"Go ahead, Shannon."

"Looks like the Phoenix Group got attacked by a less-friendly variety of dinosaur. Probably Slashers or Carnos. The bodies are at least a day old. They left behind a truck, but there's nothing to be found." Jim's eyes moved to the abandoned vehicle. A thought suddenly struck him and he began walking towards it.

Commander Taylor was silent for a few moments. "Alright, return to the colony." If there was nothing to be gained from their enemies he saw no need to leave his people OTG, in potential danger. Perhaps if he'd been out there himself he would have pushed on, but the doctor had explicitly prohibited him from going OTG while he healed.

"Should we just…leave the bodies?" asked Shannon, throwing another wary glance at the dead littering the ground. He heaved himself into the back of the truck, where two Terra Nova soldiers were still picking through the empty containers.

"They're not our concern. They're far enough from the colony to not present any danger from scavengers," said Taylor, cutting the link as soon as Shannon confirmed the order.

Jim made his way past the containers to the back of the truck and was struck with a sort of terrified excitement at what he saw. A heavy chain with two shackles was attacked to a metal ring in the floor. Littering the ground next to the shackles were some bloody dressings and bandages, as well as a discarded syringe. He bent down and pulled a plastic bag from his jacket, carefully stowing the discarded items in it without touching them. He may have no longer been a cop needing to follow strict evidentiary procedures, but Jim wanted to be damn sure not to mess up a potential proof Wash was still alive.

He tucked the sealed bag back into his jacket and stood. He waved the soldiers to follow and made his way swiftly back to their rovers. Jim was anxious to return to the colony and have the blood tested.

xxxxx

She could see the dense foliage whizz by through the slats in the transport, allowing her something to focus on to cling to consciousness. It was incredibly humid in the back of the transport, enough to make her feel like she couldn't take a proper breath, especially with the swelling and bruising in her face. At least they had not chained her to the floor this time, but merely tied her hands and feet, connecting them through a piece of rope long enough for her to walk without having to bend. She'd somehow managed to climb into the transport mostly under her own power and collapsed against its side and some containers next to her. Stitching up Lucas had robbed her off what little strength she'd had. It was a struggle now for her to simply remain conscious, but she wanted to know everything that was going on.

"Wash."

Tearing her eyes from the jungle rushing by she looked at the soldier sitting across from her. Wash wanted to hate the Sergeant who seemingly had so readily abandoned old loyalties for cash and self-interest, but the woman was her best, and probably only, chance of surviving whatever Lucas had planned. Sgt. Black sat across from her in the transport, having yet to leave her side since Wash had first woken up. The Sergeant had taken off her armor and uniform jacket due to the oppressive heat. She reached into a container by her side and glanced to the front of the transport. Mira was driving, leading the convoy this time, while Lucas was passed out from painkillers and exhaustion in the passenger seat.

Black leaned forward and held out two small, rectangular packages. Wash reached for them with her bound hands, immediately recognizing the brown packaging of Meal-Ready-to-Eat components. She looked at the Sergeant, confused.

"You need to eat something, you've gotten really pale. I doubt you can chew, but this is better than nothing. It's just MRE jelly and peanut butter."

Wash realized the last time she had eaten anything must have been the night she got shot. She hadn't felt particularly hungry, even now, but knew the Sergeant was right. Wash took the two packages with still shaky hands and attempted to tear them open. She stood little chance in her current condition against the notoriously difficult to open MREs and their components and suddenly Sgt. Black was squeezing into the small space right next to her, taking the packages.

Black opened the packages, with a bit of difficulty of her own, a wistful grin on her face as she handed them back to her prisoner. "You remember Jubaland, in 35?"

Wash figured no response was required, none of their unit would ever be able to forget Somalia, and brought the two packages to her mouth. She squeezed the packages' contents into her mouth, grimacing at the taste. Even the simple act of swallowing was excruciating, but she needed the nourishment too badly to give up.

"My first real battle, you know. Man, I was shaking so bad after I couldn't open that damn MRE for the life of me and then there you were, tearing that sucker open like it was no big deal. I was seriously in awe of you, did you know that?"

Wash looked at the Sergeant, remembering the wide-eyed, fresh from Basic Private assigned to their unit in 2135. "I did know that. It's still not too late to get out of here, Jody."

"Hey, you remembered my nickname," said Black, grinning, thinking of times long past. "No one calls me that now. Not much use for cadence in a mercenary army apparently." She'd earned the moniker Jody from her insistence on calling out the military cadence songs, or 'Jodies', while the weary unit marched.

Not getting the response she wanted, Wash decided to focus on something else. "Do you know where they're taking me?"

Black threw another glance at the front of the transport, but the sounds of the engine and the jungle rushing by were much too loud for Mira to hear them. She looked back at Wash. "Some place called the Badlands. All I know is that it's south of the colony. And dangerous."

"What's in the Badlands?"

Black gave her an incredulous look. "You're the one who lives in this godforsaken place. I have no idea what's out there, but that archaeologist is here for a reason. He's an expert on ancient cultures. Whatever is out there, the way Sgt. Hooper made it sound there may be another way for us to get back to 2149. Another portal."

Wash raised an eyebrow in surprise then became confused. "Why do you need another portal?"

"Your people blew up Hope Plaza. If this thing in the Badlands doesn't pan out, we'll be stuck in this crappy, dinosaur infested jungle."

Wash smiled, realizing Taylor had followed her advice and blown the bridge. It also meant the Shannon family had successfully escaped. All in all, Wash figured she'd been pretty successful, even if she had messed up dying. She squeezed the last of the peanut butter and jelly out of the packets, not even bothered anymore by the pain as she swallowed.

xxxx

"Jim, would you please stop that? You are making me anxious."

Jim schooled his face into a mask of innocence as he looked at his wife. He'd been drumming his fingers on the table as he sat waiting for her to finish, but stopped immediately at the dark look she threw his way. He sighed and tried to peer sideways at the screen she was working on. He still felt the urge to tap his fingers. Elizabeth threw him another look, as if to tell him to be patient.

He had rushed the bloody bandages to the infirmary as soon as they'd returned from OTG. Jim knew in his gut that blood belonged to Wash and with this as evidence they could finally tell Taylor. They could finally do something to get the Lieutenant back. Something beeped on the screen and Jim shot up. Elizabeth waved him away, the look on her face dashing his hopes.

"It's not Lt. Washington's blood, Jim."

Jim's face fell, disappointment flooding through him. He'd been absolutely sure. Perhaps the test was wrong and he was about to say so, when Elizabeth threw him another look.

"The test is very accurate. I'm sorry, Jim. You know I want to find Alicia alive just as much as you," said Elizabeth, her voice colored by the sorrow over the Lieutenant's sacrifice.

Sighing again Jim rubbed his face tiredly. They'd all been working so much to rebuild the colony and he'd taken on additional duties trying to find any evidence to prove Wash was alive. He felt weary, but he still had a job to do. "Do we know whose blood it is?"

Elizabeth watched him, slight worry in her eyes. She wanted to tell him to get some rest, but knew it would be futile. She nodded slowly. "Yes. The blood belongs to Lucas Taylor."

"Lucas?" Jim suddenly felt no longer tired. "Taylor says Lucas was shot right before he got away. You think that's what these bandages are from?"

"Could be," Elizabeth shrugged.

Someone entered the lab with the type of urgency that made both of their heads turn. 'Elizabeth, you need to see this."

Malcolm rushed over to her then noticed Jim sitting on a stool at the desk. He barely managed to hide his grimace. "Jim."

"Malcolm."

Malcolm turned back to Elizabeth, holding up a tiny chip. He inserted it into the unit on the desk. "I managed to fix the bio-scanner's chip. Most of the data was corrupted, but there is this."

He moved his fingers across the holo screen until data appeared. Jim stood, trying to get a closer look at what Malcolm had found. Most of the screen was taken up by digital static, as if the information had been corrupted, but a few sections remained intact. There were numbers primarily and Jim was at a loss to what they meant.

Elizabeth's eyes scanned over the scant information quickly. She gasped and looked at Malcolm, whose face was grim. "You are sure this is correct? This data wasn't corrupted somehow?"

"No, I'm very sure this data is correct. It's all I managed to salvage as the chip was quite damaged, but it is accurate, as hard as it is to believe," said Malcolm, focused entirely on Elizabeth.

Jim was getting impatient. "Is someone going to fill me in here?"

Elizabeth turned to her husband and motioned at the data on the screen. "These are vital signs, Jim."

"Vital signs," repeated Jim, still waiting for the exciting part.

"Lt. Washington's vital signs," said Elizabeth. She pointed at some of the numbers. "Blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate."

"Which means?"

Elizabeth finally managed a small smile. "It means you were right, Jim. Lt. Washington survived being shot."

A sudden wave of hope and despair washed over him simultaneously and Jim sat heavily back on his stool. He'd held onto his belief that Wash had survived so steadfastly, but having it confirmed took the air right out of him.

"The timestamp survived thankfully. This scan occurred several hours after she was shot."

"Can you tell from this if it's possible Wash is still alive now?" asked Jim, hoping desperately for the impossible.

Elizabeth glanced at Malcolm as if asking his opinion. He merely inclined his head, as if it were answer enough. Elizabeth looked back at Jim. "These vitals are worrisome. If she had been brought to the infirmary I have no doubt I would have been able to save her life, but we do not know what type of treatment, if any, she received. I'd like to be able to say she survived, but I cannot do so with any certainty."

Jim nodded, already lost in thought. He was convinced that if Wash had managed to survive being shot in the head initially, she would not merely give in and die later. Jim was more certain than ever – Wash was still alive.

"I think for now we should keep this between us three. I want to get some more evidence, proof that Wash is still alive. Don't tell anyone else about what we found," said Jim, standing up. He was already trying to think of how they would get the Lieutenant back.

"I don't like to be nosy, Shannon, but I have a feeling I want to hear whatever you are trying to hide."

All three turned towards the new voice, such shock written on their faces they would not be able to explain away Jim's words even if they tried. Commander Taylor stood in the doorway, arms crossed, a look on his face that left no room for argument.

to be continued