AN: Sorry it took me a few days to update. I got a MAJOR virus on my computer that pretty much destroyed everything...lots of panic, tears, screaming, and hair pulling. It took two days straight of work, but I finally got all my files back. *whew*
Anyway, thanks for the great reviews! I wanted to reply to some directly, but I don't have time to do it right now. I just wanted to finish typing up this chapter before I had to go to work, and I have about five minutes to spare. :)
Hope you enjoy this-I know I really enjoyed writing it. Finally some action, but probably not the kind you really want. ;)
Lucas' face settled on fury, but his voice was a deadly calm, "What do you mean you aren't sorry?"
Skye didn't look away or let any emotion show on her face; she would not appear weak in front of him.
"I mean that I would do it again," she said coldly.
"Really?" Lucas said, pulling the gun out from behind his back. "I'd like to see that."
To Skye's astonishment, he handed her the gun and stepped back with his hands stretched out wide.
"Go ahead," he said, his lip curling. "Shoot me."
Skye fumbled with the piece of machinery, her hands shaking. She didn't know what to do—she should kill him, she knew that. He had killed over twenty people in Terra Nova, and probably countless more that she didn't know about. Then again, he hadn't killed them directly, it was the Phoenix group that did that, who he had allowed to invade Terra Nova.
Skye raised the gun, her hands shaking unbearably. Why did it have to be so hard? She had shot him twice already, thinking she would kill him, so why was this time so impossible? Perhaps it was because he was defenseless, just standing there daring her to shoot him.
She should kill him. It would be protecting Terra Nova and the future of her friends and family. She steeled herself for the ricochet of the gun—but she couldn't do it. She couldn't kill him while he was merely standing there watching her, watching her with eyes that showed complete trust in the girl standing in front of him.
She lowered the gun, hating herself as she threw it on the ground.
"I can't do it," she whispered, the back of her throat constricting tightly.
He smiled at her and lowered his hands. "I didn't think so."
It wasn't mean or contemptuous, just a statement of fact, but Skye felt so disappointed in herself. She had a chance to make everything better, but she couldn't do it. She wasn't strong like Commander Taylor. She looked down at her shoes, trying to hold back tears. How could she go back to the colony and face them now?
"Skye, look at me," he said softly.
She shook her head. "I'm leaving now."
She turned to go and heard a noise right above her head. It was the sound of rustling of wings against tree branches. She looked up just in time to a great pterosaur rapidly descending towards her. She had barely registered Lucas' warning shout when the pterosaur reached her and suddenly its bottom feet claws into her shoulder. She was ripped up about a foot off the ground, held up like a coat on a rack.
She gasped in surprise and pain. She could feel the claws sticking out her back, but she was frozen in fear. She heard Lucas shouting behind her, probably telling her to try to break free, but she just stood there, helpless. The pterosaur lifted its wings to take flight, probably taking her somewhere to feed her to its young, but there was a loud noise from behind Skye and the pterosaur was flung back with an angry screech. Skye fell forward with it, but the claws slid from her shoulder and she collapsed to the ground.
There was another shot and the bird took flight with an angry screech. Skye looked over at Lucas to see him holding the gun, aimed towards the pterosaur. He saw Skye lying on the ground and rushed to her, examining her wounds.
"You're going to be ok," he said anxiously, more to himself than to her. "I don't think it punctured anything important. Do you feel alright?"
He was staring down at her with wide eyes full of fear. She just blinked up at him, still in shock.
"I don't know," she said truthfully. The irony that she had been impaled in the same exact spot she had shot Lucas wasn't lost on her. She could feel the blood soaking through her shirt. That seemed to ground her and she snapped into medic mode.
"We need to stop the bleeding," she told Lucas. "Or I could bleed out. Do you still have those medical supplies I brought you?"
He nodded his head and ran out of her vision. She desperately hoped he would return and not just leave her as a meal for whichever dinosaur that came next. How did that pterosaur even fit through the trees, she wondered idly.
Skye wasn't sure how much time had passed when Lucas came back with what looked like a handmade bag. He looked more calm and composed now, for which Skye was thankful. She didn't want an unstable Lucas tending to her injuries. Not that she would have really minded at that moment anyway, since everything was beginning to look blurry and way too bright.
"I don't have any more of the sealant," he said evenly, wiping at her shoulder with the disinfectant. Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered that the medicine stung.
"That's ok," she mumbled drowsily.
Lucas shifted his gaze from her shoulder to her face, "Don't pass out."
She laid her head on the ground away from her shoulder and sighed, "Karma's a bitch."
He pulled her face back to his just as everything was fading in her vision, "Skye, look at me…"
She passed out.
She drifted in and out of consciousness lazily, never actually waking. She was aware that she was moving, slowly and gently, but she couldn't bring herself to ever open her eyes. Sometimes she felt someone holding her face or whispering to her, telling her she would be ok soon, just wait a bit longer. She was pretty sure she even felt lips pressing against her forehead once.
When she wasn't conscious, dreams full of craziness and insanity plagued her. If she was thinking properly, she would have known that they were brought by the fever, but the thought never occurred to her. Most of the dreams included Lucas in some fashion, and some would later bring a blush to her face when she thought of them, but in most he was sweet and kind. He wasn't the dangerous psychopath she had come to know in any of the dreams, though.
She woke up coughing, her throat dry and painful.
Lucas was at her side with a cup, "Drink this."
She took it immediately without thought. It was cool and refreshing, but almost excruciating as it relieved her throat of the dryness. She coughed more and each breath brought a wave of pain from her shoulder.
"How are you feeling?"
She looked up at a concerned Lucas, "I've been better."
Her voice didn't sound like her at all. It was rough and hoarse, like she had swallowed sand and coated her entire throat with it.
His expression didn't change. He reached behind him and Skye became aware of their surroundings: they weren't in the clearing anymore, but what looked like a rough treehouse, similar to what the Sixers had used.
"Where are we?" she asked hoarsely, looking around. It wasn't very big, or nicely constructed, but it had a floor and walls made of tree limbs and a piece of material as a roof. It wrapped around the trunk of a very smooth looking tree.
"One of my homes," he said absentmindedly, turning back to her with a bowl of a thick, green paste. He put it against her shoulder and she winced. The coolness of the mixture was a shock against the hot, feverish skin. She looked down at her shoulder and her stomach turned. It didn't look pretty, much worse than Lucas' wounds had been even. Probably because a bullet was much cleaner than the talons of a pterosaur.
"Have you disinfected it enough?" she asked, inspecting the swelling around the three holes.
"I used up what you gave me," he said a little defensively. "I made a tincture that will work a lot better."
She looked away from the wounds. The mixture seemed to be helping in relieving some of the pain, to her great surprise.
"Where are we?" she asked again.
"I told you," he said irritably. "One of the outposts I made."
"I realize that—I mean, where are we in relation to Terra Nova?"
Lucas took a deep breath, now dressing her shoulder, "Far away, that's all that matters."
"Are we in the Badlands?" she asked, trying to remain calm.
He jerked his head up and pulled the gauze a little too tightly, "How do you know about the Badlands?"
"Commander Taylor told me that was where the Phoenix group went," she said.
Lucas' eyes darkened when she mentioned his father, as always. Skye nearly rolled her eyes. Why couldn't the boy just forgive his father already? Commander Taylor had forgiven Lucas for so much more.
Lucas shook his head, "No, we aren't in the Badlands."
"How long have I been out?" Skye asked, trying to get an idea of how long they had travelled.
"Four days," he told her, finishing the wrapping of her shoulder.
Her eyes widened, "Four days?"
"I gave you something to knock you out," he said casually.
"What?" she demanded angrily.
"You were in a lot of pain," he said harshly. "It was better for you if you could sleep until the healing began."
"So you drugged me and kidnapped me?" she asked incredulously.
He immediately turned angry, throwing the rest of the gauze against the wall and jumping up.
"I helped you and carried you for four days until I could find this plant," he yelled, throwing a handful of leaves at her.
She flinched, which brought a fresh wave of pain from her shoulder.
He rubbed his eyebrow with his finger and then pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Why can't you just appreciate what I did for you?"
"Thank you," Skye said grudgingly. While she did appreciate that he saved her life, and there was no doubt that she would have died without his help, it was his fault that she was attacked in the first place. Besides, he owed her for her helping to heal him first.
Lucas sat back down after a few seconds and leaned over her. Skye suddenly realized that she was only wearing her bra, with one strap pulled down. Thankfully she had a rough blanket covering the majority of her chest. She pulled it up to her chin, covering all exposed flesh.
"How'd you even get me up a tree?" she asked abruptly.