Note: Dear reviewers, I am overwhelmed by the response to this story. I didn't get a chance to reply to all of you individually, but I just want you guys to know how grateful I am for anyone taking the time to read and/or review/story alert/etc. Thank you so much! So I thought I'd be nice and give you the second chapter today. :)
Here comes the nitty gritty. Some major whumping ahead!
Two
For the next day and a half, Jack spent his time bonding with his brother. They went ice fishing, and played hockey on the frozen lake. They did a little hiking in the snowy woods and had home cooked meals in the cabin, reminiscing about their youth and telling stories of Grandpa Harry. Jack didn't have any nightmares the second night, and he was glad Mac didn't bring up the episode again. He wasn't being forced to talk about what happened, and he didn't care to.
After packing up the cabin on the morning of their last day, Mac had stored away Harry's pick-up in the garage he'd built a year earlier and then called Marshall Gentry from the old corner store for a ride to the bus stop. The bus ride took them to the train station, and before noon Jack and Mac were on the train for the two-and-a-half hour ride to Colorado Springs.
"So, how's my sister-in-law?" Mac brought up semi-casually while they were in the dining car having sandwiches for lunch.
Jack stopped eating and gave his brother an odd look. Had he thought something was wrong between them? "Fiiine," he answered slowly and suspiciously.
"Just checking, relax." Mac rolled his eyes. "I guess I'm just kinda surprised she let you come all the way out here on your own."
"Things are fine between us, Angus," he growled pointedly, using his twin's despised given name in retaliation.
"Hey, hey, watch it with that, will ya?" Shaking his head, Mac gave him a serious look. "Sam didn't get hurt on that last mission where you…" he trailed off, waving a hand in the air vaguely. "Right?"
"No, no, she's fine," Jack answered quickly, shaking his head. He ducked his head then, a little sheepish. "She was worried about me, actually. Wanted to come along." He shrugged. "She got stuck doin' work stuff that she couldn't put off." Jack looked up at his brother again and decided it was the perfect time to change the subject. "What about you and Nikki? Still together?"
Mac's face lit up with a genuine smile. "Yeah, we're still together and things are good. It's just hard, you know? We both work a lot and it's difficult finding time to actually be together."
"Hmph." Jack reached for his can of Coke. "Yeah, I hear you." He knew he and his brother had both had their share of heartaches in love and life, but Jack knew that—at least for him—he had finally found his perfect match. Sam was the balm to his damaged soul; being with her just felt right, which is why he'd married her. Jack just hoped that Nikki was the same for Mac, and he had a feeling she was. His brother seemed to finally be losing that itch that wouldn't let him settle down, that fear of commitment.
"Hey, but at least you get to be with Sam for Christmas, right?"
"Huh?" Jack shook his head to focus, brows furrowed. "Wait, Nikki's not meeting you in the 'Springs? You coulda brought her along ya know."
"I know." Mac nodded and sighed, picking at the crust on the last little piece of his sandwich. "She's on a long assignment. She said she'd try and catch a flight this way if she got done in time but she wasn't sure."
"I'm sure she'll try her best to make it," Jack offered encouragingly. "More than a week before Christmas is plenty of time." The moment he'd met Nikki he'd liked her instantly. She'd reminded him of Sam, as she wasn't afraid to go toe to toe with Mac. Jack knew deep down in his gut that she was the right person for his brother. He really hoped she'd be able to join them all for Christmas at his place.
.
While leaving the dining car on the way back to where they'd been sitting, Mac flung an arm out toward an empty seat as the train jolted slightly. A few steps ahead of him, Jack did the same, then glanced backwards to check he was okay. "I'm fine," Mac assured him. "We'd better get back to our seats."
Jack nodded and turned around again, then opened the sliding door between train cars. Mac always hated this part; it made him nervous.
As his brother slid open the second door leading to their car, the train lurched violently and jolted. Mac dove forward, shoving both Jack and himself through the door. They landed hard in a heap, sprawled in the middle of the aisle. He heard Jack mutter a curse, and then there was an unsettling screech of metal as the train car jolted again, and they were both left tumbling, banging against each other and the inside of the car as they were viciously tossed about like ragdolls.
Mac realized he must have fallen unconscious at some point when he opened his eyes to a blinding headache and a crooked world that smelled like heated metal. Choking on the dust, he struggled to orient himself and discovered he'd been inches away from getting his head crushed by a bent panel of the train car. Struggling out from the cramped space, a sharp stabbing pain accompanied by excruciating agony raced through his left arm and he fell back for a moment, breathing hard.
Quickly coming to the conclusion that his arm was definitely broken, MacGyver decided to do an inventory of the rest of his body before attempting to move again. The sounds of creaking, moving metal was still in the air, and he couldn't hear much else. Worry about his brother crept into his thoughts and he quickly hurried on with discovering how badly he was injured. He felt what he knew to be blood dripping at his forehead and reached up with his good hand to probe at the wound. It seemed like a pretty decent gash at his hairline, and judging by the way his head felt, Mac was almost certain he had a decent concussion.
"Jack?" he called out, despite the throbbing it caused in his aching head. From his position on the tipped side of the train car, there was too much twisted metal and busted seats for him to really get a good look around.
Mac felt pretty banged up allover, but nothing worse than his head or left arm. He managed to drag himself out from the claustrophobic rubble within crushing distance of his head and achingly got to his feet. There hadn't been anyone in the train car beside him and his brother at the time of the crash, so when Mac caught sight of a body half hidden by debris, he knew it was Jack.
Since the bashed up train car was lying on its side, Mac had to navigate around and over awkward pieces of broken seats and windows as well as panels that had completely been ripped away from the inner car.
When Mac got closer and managed to shove off most of the debris on top of Jack, he found himself being incredibly grateful that his brother was unconscious at the moment. Jack's lower right leg was gone, smashed into a bloody pulp and lying mere inches from where it should've been attached just under his knee. There was a mess of blood and shattered bone, and the gory sight combined with the nausea from his head injury had Mac diving off to the side and retching violently.
"Oh god, oh god," he gasped, leaning against what had either been the floor or the ceiling and trying to regain his breath. The shock of his brother's so obvious injury had him reeling, and for that moment he felt so powerless and lost, his mind a blank. Mac didn't know what to do.
Struggling to pull himself together for Jack's sake, MacGyver dragged himself back to his injured brother's side and knelt down. It took some effort to get his jacket off and dig out his pocket knife one handed, but he managed. Cutting part of the liner out of his jacket, Mac used a long strip to fashion a tourniquet. His stomach churned again as he was faced with the bloody stump below his brother's right knee, then forcibly detached himself as he tied it off awkwardly with one hand. He cut up more of the inside of his jacket and part of the cotton t-shirt under his sweater to make a pressure bandage that he then wrapped around the end of Jack's leg.
Relieved that he could see his brother's chest rising and falling—albeit shallowly—Mac ran his hand over Jack's other leg, torso, arms, chest, neck, and head to check for other injuries. He found a few cuts, but nothing very deep, and he didn't find anything else. Mac just hoped there weren't internal injuries that he couldn't detect.
Afraid to wake Jack, knowing his brother would be in unbearable pain, Mac got up again to find something to use to splint his own arm with. He found a piece of an armrest and figured it was perfect for the job. The only problem he was going to have was actually strapping his arm. Mac grimaced at the thought. Wrapping someone else's…injury one handed was one thing, but doing his own arm that was another matter altogether. Damn, but he needed Jack's hands for this.
As if on cue, Jack made a groaning noise low in his throat as he started to come around. His face immediately twisted in pain as his dark eyes flicked open.
Acting quickly, Mac pulled a metal panel over the smashed, severed remains of his brother's lower leg so Jack wouldn't see it. He knew if Jack sat up he was going to see the bandaged stump, though, and didn't know what to do. Kneeling at Jack's side to try and retain his focus as much as possible, Mac put his good hand on his brother's chest in an attempt to prevent him from moving too much right away. "Jack? Jack, buddy, look at me."
"Agh! Shit!" Jack cried out in pain as he shifted his legs slightly and then grabbed for the hand on his chest. "Shit!" he cursed again, gasping, then struggled to focus on his twin's face. "Mac?" his voice barely a whisper, "What happened?"
"I—I think the train derailed or something. There was a crash." Mac's head thumped mercilessly and he realized there was still blood dripping down his face. His brother's eyes were staring up at him, alarmed. "It's alright, it's not that bad," Mac insisted, grabbing for another piece of shredded cloth from his jacket and holding it to the head wound.
"What...what else?" Jack wanted to know, eyeing him with concern. "You…hurt. Where?"
Mac grimaced, his face tight with pain and the anxiety of knowing that Jack would realize something was very wrong with his leg soon enough. "Right arm's broken pretty bad."
Jack's eyes flicked to the arm Mac was holding close to his side. His brow furrowed momentarily, and then he started to move again and grit his teeth in agony, tears springing to his eyes as he clenched his brother's good hand hard. "Mac."
"Yeah?" He gulped, figuring he knew what was coming.
Swallowing audibly, Jack breathed hard, his eyes flashing with desperation. "What's wrong with…my leg?"
Mac's jaw clenched and his gaze absently shot to the missing limb. He pulled his eyes shut and his chin trembled as he fought the sob that was clawing its way out of his throat.
"Mac," Jack pleaded, gripping his hand tighter.
Shaking his head, the sob broke free as he choked out his words. "Your lower right leg…it—it's gone, Jack. I'm sorry."
"What?!" Jack gasped in disbelief, struggling up on his elbows to see for himself. Mac knew the moment his brother had realized, his dark brown eyes widening in absolute horror. "No, no, no, no," he muttered in denial, shaking his head and dropping back down. "NO! SHIT!"
MacGyver felt tears streaking down his cheeks, his brother holding his good hand so tightly that he couldn't pull back to wipe them away. His head pounded harder, making black spots dance in his vision, but he knew he had to rein Jack in and calm him down despite his own shock. "Jack," he called out pleadingly. "Jack, listen to me. It's gonna be okay, alright? We're gonna get out of here and get some help, but I need your hands for a moment, first. Please Jack, I need you to focus."
Jack banged his head on the floor (technically the wall) a few times before a stony military mask shuttered down over his face. He met Mac's eyes and nodded mutely.
"I need to sit you up, okay?" Mac said gently. When Jack allowed him to help get him sitting upright, leaning against part of a seat, he handed his brother a wide expanse of his ripped jacket and then the broken off armrest he planned to use as a splint. "You gotta wrap my arm for me, Jack. I can't do it myself."
With hands shaking from shock, Jack placed Mac's broken arm against the flat part of the arm rest and began securing it tightly with the cloth, straightening it out first.
Mac hissed and flinched as pain shot up to his shoulder, biting on his lower lip to keep himself from crying out. His brother had just lost a leg and all he had was a little headache and a broken arm. MacGyver didn't feel like he had the right to cry out in pain right now.
.
Jack swallowed the lump in his throat as he leaned back after splinting his brother's badly disfigured arm. He felt shaky and cold, and knew it was from the shock. What was left of his leg was screaming in pain so badly that it made him sick to his stomach, but he forced the nausea back. Jack needed something to focus on besides the loss of his leg or he'd never get through this.
That's it Jack, me boyo. Concentrate, he thought determinedly. Focus on the objective. Keep Mac safe, get out, get help.
He heard his brother moving around the twisted wreck of the train car and turned his head.
"The door's blocked." Mac looked up. "We'll have to climb out one of the windows."
Jack grunted. "No, you'll hafta climb out." He heaved a sigh. "I don't think I'm goin' anywhere right now."
Mac glared at him. "I'm not leaving without you, Jack."
"Yes you are," Jack said determinedly. He suddenly felt lightheaded and shook his head to clear it. His heart was hammering away in his chest, his body struggling to compete with the massive amounts of blood loss.
"How am I supposed to climb up there with one arm?" Mac shot back stubbornly.
"You'll…figure it out. You're resourceful that way." He knew his brother was just making excuses not to leave him.
MacGyver frowned then staggered sideways and reached out to steady himself.
Jack studied him warily. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Mac straightened up and looked around the train car, presumably for something to climb up on if he had to. He staggered again and put a hand over his head where he'd wrapped a makeshift bandage around the gash at his hairline.
"Angus," Jack growled.
His brother heaved a resigned sigh. "My head hurts."
Alarmed at the admission, especially considering that scary looking head wound, Jack asked seriously, "How bad?"
Mac looked away. "Bad."
.
It took hours for MacGyver to move enough debris to be able to climb toward one of the train car windows that was now on the ceiling. Jack figured it shouldn't have taken so long, but Mac was hindered with his one arm and the head injury had made him tired and dizzy. Jack kept telling his twin to slow down and take breaks, despite his own desperation to get the hell out of there.
As Mac worked on climbing out, they finally heard sirens in the distance, and Jack stole another glance at the bloody, bandaged stump below his right knee. There was a lot of blood pooled under the injury and Jack caught himself drifting off and on. He felt colder than before, despite the winter coat he had on, and knew he and his brother were running out of time. He couldn't stop shaking and he felt sick.
The blare of sirens soon sounded like they were right on top of them, and as Mac broke through the window and poked his head out, Jack could hear his twin's pained, desperate shouts for help before consciousness left him.
.