McG's POV

I had been hovering near the bathroom door for a while now. I know I had told her to take her time but it had been almost forty minutes. The sound of movement inside was the only thing that prevented me from going in to check on her. When she called out for me she sounded so weak that I rushed to get to her. Unfortunately, rushing inside almost caused another injury, as I barely prevented myself from taking a header over her. I hadn't expected her to be sitting on the floor right beyond the bathroom door. I crouched next to her and took her weight as she leaned her left side into me.

"Time to go," I told her in my no nonsense medic voice before I picked her up.

She was asleep in my arms before we even made it back out the bathroom door. Top trailed behind us, guarding our backs, while we headed back to the concealed root cellar. I tapped my foot on the door and Preach opened it to admit us.

Once I got Jaz settled back on the cot I checked her over. The incision seemed okay after her excursion but she was warm to my touch. I wouldn't be surprised if she fell ill. She had so many open wounds that it was a challenge keeping all of them clean. I had already started antibiotics but was well aware she might need something stronger. I looked up and noticed Preach and Top were both watching me as I covered her with the blankets.

"She's sleeping again. She probably only woke up due to the urgency of her need to use the bathroom. I think she discovered just how weak she was in the process of doing what needed to be done. She was more than happy to be carried back."

"McG, I saw some worry on your face. We might as well hear the problem now rather than later."

Top was right to ask since Jaz's condition could affect our entire exit plan.

"She's starting to get warm even with the antibiotics. She may need something stronger and I've got her on the strongest medication I have to offer."

Top ran his hand over his face. I understood his frustration. Just when we thought things were going our way there was another hit to knock us back. He was clearly trying to adapt our plan to her needs.

"Okay. I think we need to increase our tempo getting her home. McG, it's going to come down to time to rest her versus speed getting her to a place with more medical supplies. You need to tell us our best option."

I knew she really needed rest periods. The end leg of our trip was on foot and I still wasn't sure how she was going to manage. Speeding up the process meant she would have to be up and walking sooner rather than later. But the risk of overwhelming infection was significant.

"Speed. If she can manage it. I don't know that she can."

"Understood. The best we can do is try. I'm going to update Command. They'll need someone on the other side of that border by the day after tomorrow."

Top walked away to do just that and I looked at my reluctant patient. I had no doubt her mind would push her body forward with our plan until her body couldn't go on. It would be a fine line between encouraging her to push herself and reigning her in before she killed herself to keep up. But that was a concern for later. For now we all needed to get some sleep because this would probably be the last solid rest we had until we were back to Base.