Chapter 3: You shoe

The noise led Sniper to another pile of broken steel and branches, but something seemed different.

After scrutinizing the mess, all his alarm bells suddenly rang as he spotted an arm sticking out from below the steel wing. Intuitively he started to push a heavy branch off the top, then he proceeded to heave the massive steel wing, revealing a prone form underneath.

"Pilot!"

Snippy dropped the large wing near the aviator and knelt down beside him to search for injuries, fearing the worst. After coughing a few times, Pilot shifted slowly and groaned.

"Hey man, are you alright?" Charles checked with his comrade, and helped him turn over so he could sit against the side of the wing.

"My leg... It hurts so much... and my left shoulder is- aaauugh!" the aviator suddenly cried.

It seemed that Snippy had touched a sore spot in his ministrations, and instantly pulled his hand back by reaction. Pilot didn't stop clutching his hurting arm.

"It feels like it's gonna fall off... I don't want my arm to fall off!" he whimpered, trembling with every heavy breath.

"It won't, and I think I might be able to fix your shoulder. In fact I'm very positive about it. But let me take a look at your leg first."

"Don't touch it!" Pilot warned him and flinched in fear of more pain.

"Just let me take a look at it," Charles suggested in a slow, soothing tone. "I promise, I won't touch anything. I just want to see how bad it is... Is that okay?"

The flames flickered around them, covering the two of them in a soft orange. In that moment Snippy realized that the clothes of his fellow survivor were completely scratched up, and so was his face gear.

"...Okay," Pilot finally uttered, and gulped. "But if you dare to touch me, I swear I'll punch you in the face."

For a second Snippy froze, though he shook it off with a smirk, realizing that by all means he couldn't find Pilot very intimidating right now.

What little light they had allowed him to see a red shimmer on Pilot's left leg, but as the flames around them flared up a bit brighter for a second, they revealed some very ugly, deep gashes in the side of his tight. Luckily they weren't bleeding too much, but the wounds would need stitches, Snippy was certain of that. He would have to treat them soon, because they were literally waiting to become infected.

"We'll have to take care of these," he told him, and stood up. "But before we can start I'm gonna need some more light. I won't be gone for long, so be good and don't touch your leg until I'm back, okay?"

Pilot nodded and looked after his fellow as he left to collect some of the scattered wood in order to make a little campfire.

Snippy should have been thinking about how he would patch up his injured crew mate, but he had an idea that might work even better. After making sure he was out of hearing range, he tugged on his scarf, repeatedly whispering "Wake up!"

Red dots glowed up all over the dark red tissue of the alien's body.

"Okay Biomatrix, I'm gonna have to ask you for one more favor," the sniper muttered quietly.

"No," the voice said flatly.

"What? I didn't even-"

"I know. I can read your mind," the alien explained. "You want me to fix your fellow. And no, I won't."

"Please... You have to heal him, like you did with me!" Snippy pleaded.

"I most certainly didn't do it because I like you. You know the reason for my actions very well," the Biomatrix reasoned, and as it continued speaking, Snippy felt all his hopes sink. "I trust I don't have to remind you of our agreement. Healing the unit that is highly obsessed with protecting my target, 'Zee Captain', would have a very counter-productive effect on our current state of progress, don't you think?"

Charles remained silent. By now he felt a deep emptiness inside, as if a big patch of his soul had been ripped out. How could he have been so naive, thinking that Cancer would actually agree to help? Firmly he grabbed the scarf with both hands, staring down at it and gritted his teeth in frustration. He wanted to choke it; tear it off himself, but he knew that wasn't possible.

"I highly advise against trying to get rid of me by force, as I am still connected to your spine. It would be very painful for you, with death as a highly likely side effect," the demonic head reminded him.

"You know what... I don't give a fuck," Snippy snorted. "I'll patch Pilot back up, regardless if you help or not, and we'll get on the way and we will make it back together. He will see Captain again. And do you know why?" he uttered, grabbing the biomatrix by its 'neck'. "I'm not letting people die if I still have the possibility to save them... no matter if I like them or not!"

"You are a fool, Charles," the red deer skull laughed, fierce red eyes staring down at him. "One day you will get to see the consequences for your unwise actions."

Fed up with the Biomatrix' bollocks, Snippy simply didn't want to respond anymore. Hoping that it would eventually shut up, he continued collecting wood, trying hard to ignore the voice that kept talking to him in his head.

"There is no point in taking him with you. He will only slow you down," the now loose scarf uttered.

The sniper remained silent and continued doing his job, unperturbed by the alien's attempts to budge him.

"I think you should kill him. Having double your current organs could bring you so much closer to reaching your goals."

The mere thought of killing an injured crew member appalled Snippy, even if it's the one he probably hated most.

"Hmm..." Captain grumbled. "My minions have been away for quite a long time now. I wonder what is taking them so long to return to their sexy Captain?"

Dr. Gromov sighed, unsure about the Captain's mental capability of understanding the ramifications of a plane crash.

"Captain... it is highly presumable that their airplane crashed," he explained slowly and paused. "Do you know what happens to people who are involved in a plane crash?"

The commander ran his hand over where his chin would be under his respirator mask and pondered for a while, finally shrugging his shoulders.

"They die," the scientist said flatly. "Or they get hurt so badly that they eventually succumb to their injuries, or worse: they get eaten by mutated animals."

The horrific mental images visibly sent shivers down Engie's spine.

"But they're probably already dead by now, anyways," he added in mutters, shook his head and looked down in regret. "There is no hope for them now, and I don't think they will ever return to us again."

Captain was quiet, and Engie tried to figure him out from the corner of his eye.

"Oh... If it is true, that's a real bummer," the commander said sadly. "Looks like I'm gonna have to send you on Snippy's and Pilot's missions from now on, then. But I guess that won't be a problem. I'm sure you can handle them just fine. Right, Mr. Engie?"

"W-w-what...?!" the scientist stuttered with surprise and felt a sweat drop run down his forehead. "No! Y-you misunderstood me! They are, uhm... There's a high chance that they are still alive!"

"What was that?" Captain smirked, positioning his flat hand behind his ear. "Is that optimism that I'm hearing?"

"We... We have to get them back!" Alexander shouted, clenching his hands to fists. "Absolutely no matter the cost!"

"Yes! That's the spirit!" the taller man chuckled and pulled the engineer along. "Now let's get to work, mein juicy minion! We need to find the most trendy and economical way of transport the world has ever seen! And I've already got an idea."

On his way to pick up another branch, Snippy was startled awake from his thoughts by a scream in the distance.

"Damn it, Pilot..." he uttered as he recognized the man's voice, and started running.

Picturing the worst possible scenarios in his mind, Snippy hurried back to the broken wing, dropped the firewood once he reached it and hastily scanned the area for his fellow. Worries plagued him as he was nowhere in sight, but then he spotted the tip of Pilot's boot pointing out from a niche in the debris. Sighing with relief, the sniper shortly glanced around to make sure the area was clear before approaching him.

Snippy noticed that Pilot was completely churned up and trembling from head to toe. He was just laying there on the ground, curled up to a ball and protectively covering his head with his right arm, making the impression of a person who had just seen a ghost.

Without a word, the puzzled sniper knelt down beside his crew mate and descended his hand on the aviator's shoulder. However, he wasn't expecting the hell of a reaction he was about to receive. It seemed like the touch came so sudden that it put the pilot into a state of sheer panic and caused him to immediately jerk away from the sniper. Without even looking, he started trashing around, until Snippy gained the upper hand, pinned him to the ground with his leg and at last got hold of the man's wrist.

"Calm down Pilot, it's just me!" the blue eyed man enlightened him, which finally got the screwball to stop flailing.

Only after hearing the familiar voice, the confused man finally dared to lift his head and blankly stared at his fellow survivor.

"...Are you alright?" the sniper inquired upon getting no response from him.

"Snippy...! It is you! For a moment I thought you were one of those creepy monsters that just passed by!" Pilot uttered nervously, completely ignoring his question.

The sniper helped him sit up against the wing and descended beside him.

"What monsters?" he wanted to know, raising an eyebrow.

"Those terrifying snake shark thingies with lots of teeth and scaly thorns all over their bodies! One of them even tried to eat me, but I kicked it in the face and it ran away."

"I've never seen anything like that before. Are you sure you're not talking about some sort of crawler worms, like Photoshop?"

"Hell, no! They aren't anywhere near as cute as my little baby worm! How dare you compare those... monstrosities with her!" Pilot spluttered, giving him an angry look through his green goggles.

"Oh calm down, I didn't mean to offend you!" the now pissed sniper snorted and got up.

There was work to be done, and Snippy continued by collecting the firewood he'd dropped before, stacking them up nicely within a circle of stones. Pilot watched interestedly as his fellow built a small campfire in front of him and lit it with one of the many burning branches that lay scattered all around them.

"This is a lot better," said the man with the vibrant blue eyes, proud about his work.

Then he swung the backpack off his shoulder, rested it against the steel wing and squat down beside Pilot.

"So... let's start by fixing your shoulder, shall we? From what you told me it looks like you dislocated it," the ex tour guide explained. "I never had a chance to try this before, but I know how to reset it."

"Is it... going to hurt?"

"Only for short. You'll barely register it," Snippy lied. "Turn your back to me."

This was the first time the green eyed aviator ever had to undergo this sort of treatment, so he had no idea what to expect. He was scared... but Snippy said that he could fix his shoulder, and he felt like he should trust the shoe because he was the only one around who was probably able to help him. And so Pilot did as he was told.

"Do you want to hear a story about the funniest thing Captain ever did while I was traveling with him?" Charles asked him, and instantly got his full attention.

"Oh yes, tell me! What did he do?" Pilot inquired, allowing Snippy to get hold of his terribly hurting shoulder.

"Well..." the tour guide began, and readied himself. "We were fighting against some really mean alien guys, and one of them was exceptionally rude. So Captain took his pants and..." he continued speaking as he relocated Pilot's shoulder with a swift jolt, making the aviator groan in pain. "...and then he used the pants as a parachute."

Behind his mask Pilot contorted his face, and tightly held his smarting arm for a moment.

"How does it feel now?" the sniper curiously asked him from the side.

"You... you shoe! You tricked me!" Pilot shouted at his blue-eyed sly fellow and gave him an angry glare, but the man didn't seem to be bothered by it.

"Quite frankly, I did," Charles Snippy confessed. "But the idea was to distract you from the pain."

Upon that, Pilot loosened his grasp, lifted his arm carefully and slowly brought it back down on his lap, looking at it in such amazement as if he'd never seen it before.

After a moment of silence, he spoke in a low murmur. "It seems like my arm is working again. Still hurts a lot, though."

"It will go away," the sniper just said flatly, produced a bottle of water from his backpack and took a big gulp. "So... 'You ready for the leg, or do you need a break?"

Pilot sighed, started to take his gas mask off and finally wiped the sweat from his forehead. The cold air felt refreshing against his damp skin.

"Can I... have a swig from your water first?" he uttered under his breath, looking up at his fellow survivor from his hunched position.

"Sure," Snippy chuckled, and handed him the bottle.