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"I DO NOT NEED YOU!" Jim screamed, shoving Spock with all his strength. He made a disgusted noise when Spock did not move even an inch. The bastard did not have even that much decency.

In fact, it seemed as if Spock had frozen after hearing his declaration.

"I do not need you," he repeated in a low, hoarse voice; his eyes warring with Spock's. "I'll go and search for the scientists on my own. I wouldn't want to risk the two of you any longer. See you and Bones at the portal."

Before Spock or Bones could even react, he turned on his heels and took off running; not knowing where he was going or how he was going to search for the scientists in this forest. Not knowing and not caring.

He just wanted to get away from Spock.

"Jim, STOP," Bones shouted out, but to his dismay it was too late as Jim had already sprinted off to God-knows-where. The kid could be damn fast when he wanted to be.

He growled in frustration and glared at the hobgoblin. Seriously, if Spock was not a Vulcan who hated physical contact of any kind, he would have tried knocking some sense into him in the literal way. The fact that Spock was about three times stronger and a master of martial arts was not stopping him in the least. Yeah, that's right. He was simply culturally sensitive like that.

As for Jim, he couldn't wait to get his hands on that idiot. But of course, he had to catch him first.

Bones walked past Spock, seething quietly, and had gone quite a distance when he noticed that Spock was not following him. Spock was still standing where he had left him, staring unseeingly towards where Jim had run off to.

Irritated to his core, Bones barked at Spock, "What the hell are you waiting for now? An engraved invitation? Come on, let's go. He mustn't have gone very far."

Bones scowled when Spock hesitated instead of coming along at once.

After a moment though, Spock seemed to have arrived at a decision. "You'll have to continue on your own, Doctor," Spock declined in a firm voice. "You must have heard his proclamation of not requiring my assistance."

Bones stilled and stared unblinkingly at Spock for a moment before bursting into raucous laughter. "God… only… Jim can… do it… I swear," he managed to gasp out in between his bursts of laughter.

Spock narrowed his eyes dangerously and stated in a flat voice, "I am unable to understand the reason behind your amusement, Doctor. You were present when he loudly proclaimed that."

Bones sobered up then. Shaking his head in exasperation, he explained, "What I meant to say was that only Jim can take logic out of a Vulcan. Look at you, where the hell is that famous Vulcan logic of yours? What happens to it whenever Jim is involved?"

Spock looked away clenching his teeth and Bones looked towards the heaven. 'Lord grant me the patience for dealing with imbeciles,' he prayed.

He had so not signed up for this.

Heaving a sigh, he asked, "Look Spock, do you really think that Jim is incompetent and not fit to lead?"

Yeah, the question was blunt and tactless; so what? He was doctor, not a goddamn diplomat.

Spock turned towards him then, surprise evident in his eyes. "Negative. Wherever did you acquire that ridiculous notion?" he asked in a cold, clipped voice.

Evidently, it was a day full of surprises and it was Bones' turn to be surprised.

"You are asking me where I got that ridiculous notion! You? The one who implied it?" Bones asked in an incredulous voice.

"Need I remind you then? My pleasure," – he plunged the knife in hard – "What could you have done if I or the Doctor were not here? Those were your exact words. And you even brought up his father. Really, Spock? What were you thinking? Or were you even thinking at all?"

Bones did not feel any remorse over pointing out the cold, hard facts. Hell, the hobgoblin deserved it and he took great satisfaction in watching Spock struggling to maintain his composure.

Bones pitilessly twisted the knife in even deeper by commenting, "So you do realize how much you've hurt Jim. Vindictiveness is not a Vulcan quality, is it?"

Spock flinched and Bones finally relented. "Jim simply lashed out in response, Spock. You know him; he is probably beating himself up for mentioning your mother just like you are for mentioning George Kirk."

Bones efforts were rewarded when Spock gave him a curt nod and spoke, "Let us proceed."

"Spock," Bones had one last thing to add, "tell him why you did it." All the while he wondered what the world was coming to when he was the one handing out relationship advises.

!

Jim ran for as long as he could before having to stop because his lungs were screaming for air; one of the reasons being the low atmospheric oxygen content of the planet. He took in huge gulps of air and waited for his breathing to return to normal. As he waited, the haze of hurt and anger surrounding him ebbed a bit.

To tell the truth, his own behaviour made him cringe a little. Running away like that had been pathetic. But those words from Spock aka the Vulcan brute had hurt like a bitch and he hadn't able to think clearly at that time. Spock shouldn't have brought up his father. Just like I shouldn't have brought up his mother.

Jim sighed and he decided to wait for Bones and the brute to catch up to him. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that they would follow him.

And so he made sure that his communicator was on, it would help the other two to pinpoint his location. In the interim looked for a relatively safe place to rest. He chose the low hanging branches of a nearby tree after making sure that no painful looking pointy vines were around.

In this way he could be safe from predators, well most of them, and would also get a better vantage point.

Settling in, he took the time to finally reflect upon what had happened.

"And died, Captain. You were dead. And you could have died again today." Spock's voice echoed in his mind. At that time he had been too angry to take notice of the myriad of emotions in Spock's voice. But now he could easily separate the fear from all the underlying anger and irritation Spock's voice had portrayed.

Fear... for him.

"Spock," the name slipped out softly from his parted lips.

!

The boy ran through the forest almost gracefully, twisting and turning… skilfully evading the ravenous jaws of the three legged beasts chasing after him.

Though it was illogical to harbour a strong dislike towards one's physical attributes, the boy had never really liked his petite build. But now, he was extremely grateful for it as it helped him to maneuver easily through the thick foliage as he ran for his life.

A multitude of scratches and small cuts now adorned the exposed areas of his body, but it was better than being mauled to death. Although strictly speaking, anything would be better than that.

However, he had been running for quite a while now and was quickly tiring. But those creatures after him still seemed to be dead set on making him their next meal.

One of those creatures came too close for his comfort and he willfully tamped down his rising fear.

"Fear is illogical… Fear accomplishes nothing… Fear is an obstacle… Fear clouds logic…," the boy muttered under his breath like a mantra.

His mind was busy analyzing the situation in order to find a solution even as his legs pumped forwards to the best of their waning abilities.

'I need to escape these animals soon.'

He went over all the possibilities in his mind and decided that the best option would be to jump and catch hold of some of the low hanging branches of trees.

But unfortunately, all his plans went awry when his foot snagged on some tree roots. He fell flat on his face, the fall jarring his very bones, and moaned loudly from the pain radiating throughout his body.

However, he didn't have the time to get back the wind which had been knocked out of him by the fall as the creatures had him surrounded by then… jaws snapping and growling… giddy at the prospect of a kill.

The boy then came to realize that he wouldn't live to see another day. Illogical, but he wanted his mum to hug him one more time and his dad to ruffle his hair like he always did. He wanted to know that they were safe.

Fear and despair overwhelmed him.

Just then one of those creatures leapt for him and its jaw closed around his left leg – tearing a scream out of his mouth…

!

"Did you find him? Please tell me that his communicator is on and we can track him," Bones implored, swatting aside another fern irritably. Why, oh why, did they have to land in a freaking jungle of all things, he did not know.

"Affirmative. I have located his signal; and it is stationary at the moment," Spock replied, passing his tricorder to Bones to take a look at the readings.

"Stationary? He wouldn't dare to throw it away, would he?" Bones hissed out and Spock tensed.

"It would be presumptuous of us to assume so," Spock said in reply. But after witnessing the raised brow on Bones' face, he amended, "You are correct, he wouldn't dare... if he knows what's good for him."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Bones muttered and then stiffened when Spock's entire countenance altered in the blink of an eye.

Spock plucked the tricorder out of Bones' hand and simultaneously pulled out his phaser in one seamless motion. After muttering a short command for Bones to follow him, he took off running in the direction of Jim's signal.

Bones rushed to catch him and had to shout his question out. "What's the damn hurry?"

"I heard a scream, definitely humanoid," Spock answered without breaking his stride

"Jim," Bones whispered in an uneven tone.

!

Jim was startled out of his musings when he heard some kind of a commotion going on somewhere near. He could distinctly hear growling and also some other sounds.

'A group of predators must be chasing a prey,' he thought, going on alert.

He strained his ears hoping to catch any other sound; but at that instant, irritated because of all the disturbances going on, several birds shrieked in warning before settling down once again.

Though Jim could swear that he heard a moan.

'Could it be one of the scientists?' he wondered. But before he could decide what to do next, a horrifying scream ripped through the air.

Jim pulled out his phaser and jumped down the tree…

… to be continued.

tanseynz - I was unable to PM you, and therefore would like to thank you here for your kind words.:)