I Am Spartacus

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or Spartacus. Rating: K Time: Sometime after Rick and Kate got together.

"Dad, I'm at the airport and I have a seat on the plane. Thank you so much. I'll be able to get to Phoenix before any of the others on the team."

"Glad I could help, Pumpkin. I'm sorry that your project got cancelled."

Alexis shrugged.

"It's just been postponed, but I'll have graduated by the next time they come to Arizona."

"Who'd have thought they'd have monsoons in Arizona?" Rick said.

"Well, they do and that means flash flooding where we were supposed to work."

"Miss Castle!" Called a voice. "We're ready to go. Hurry up or you'll be left behind."

"Gotta go, Dad. Love you."

"Love you too."

The airport was small, and the plane was a very small commuter plane. As she boarded, Alexis saw there were only three other passengers. One was a blonde wearing a short skirt and a tube top. Behind her was an overweight, balding businessman, already working on his laptop. The other passenger looked like a cowboy: High heeled boots; faded Levis; blue work shirt; leather jacket; mirrored sunglasses; and a Stetson tipped over his eyes. Alexis thought he might be asleep.

"Miss Castle, please get in your seat and buckle your seatbelt." The pilot said.

The one pilot took his seat and spoke over the intercom.

"Okay, folks. We're about to take off for Phoenix. Oh, wait a second. There's an airport truck headed for us and the driver's waving at me. There'll be a slight delay, I'm afraid."

The pilot opened the cabin door and two men in dirty jumpsuits got in.

"Get the hell out of the plane." One man said.

"I can't do that. I'm the pilot."

The first man pulled a pistol and struck the pilot on his head.

"No, I'm the pilot. Now get out." He grabbed the pilot and threw him out of the plane. When the pilot landed on the tarmac, the man shot him in the head.

A second man got in. He had two large duffel bags and two automatic weapons. The second man pointed a weapon at the passengers.

"Nobody try to be a hero, see? Just settle down and don't bother us."

None of the passengers said a word, although Alexis was sure they were all terrified.

They could hear the control tower demanding to know what was going on, but the first man ignored them. He got into the pilot's seat and started the plane towards the runway. The plane took off and after gaining altitude, began heading south.

Whoever these men were, Alexis decided they were going to Mexico. She quickly checked the other passengers. The businessman and the blonde looked terrified. She did notice that the blonde had let her skirt ride up a bit and was now showing more cleavage. The cowboy was alert and awake now, but with his sunglasses on, it was hard for her to tell how he was reacting.

They flew for several hours over desert country. Alexis knew there were cities and towns somewhere in that part of Mexico, but the men seemed to be avoiding them. Finally, they began to descend. Alexis peeked out the window but couldn't see any town at all. Then she did see several pickup trucks filled with men and what looked like a tanker truck. There didn't seem to be a real runway, just a flat section of desert. They landed and came to a halt. The tanker pulled up alongside of them and began refueling the plane.

The second man covered the passengers with his weapon.

"Okay, people. Blondie and Red can stay as they can be useful to us. You other two are just dead weight." He laughed at his pun.

Alexis heard two pops and saw the second man spin down, shot in the head. The pilot turned around in his seat and was also shot in the head.

The cowboy stood up and headed for the nearest man and shot him once more in the head. He then went to the pilot and shot him once more.

The cowboy looked out of the cockpit windows.

"Shit. The tanker took off as soon as they heard the shooting. Okay, people, help me toss these two out. They're the dead weight now."

Everyone just sat there, terrified.

The cowboy pointed his pistol at them.

"Anyone want to join them as dead weight?"

Alexis unbuckled her seat belt and went forward. It took a second or two, but the other two passengers joined her. The cowboy was busy taking wallets, weapons and ammo off the two dead men. They managed to push the dead men off the plane. The blonde began to throw the two duffel bags off, but the cowboy stopped her.

"Leave it. They don't weigh much, and we may need that." He turned to Alexis, "Red, you can be my copilot. Sit in the seat next to me."

"I don't know how to fly." Alexis said.

"Let's hope I don't have to teach you. Now sit."

She sat.

"Do you know how to fly?" The businessman demanded.

"We'll sure as hell find out."

"Couldn't we just stay here?" he asked.

The cowboy laughed.

"Sure. See them pickups? They're full of sicarios. Those are hitmen for Mexican drug cartels. And they're headed right for us. Want to stay and have a chat with them? Be my guest."

The cowboy started the engines, and the plane began moving down the runway. Regrettably, they were headed straight for the pickups.

"Hang on. The ride could be bumpy." The cowboy yelled.

As they shot past the pickups, there was a volley of gunfire, but the plane got past them and took off.

"Oh my god. Oh my god." Screamed the businessman.

The cowboy turned in his seat but couldn't see anything.

"Go back and see what happened, Red."

Alexis got up and walked back. The blonde had been hit in several times, including once in the head. There was blood and brains all over. Alexis promptly threw up. The businessman just kept screaming "Oh my God." Over and over.

"What the hell is it, Red?" The cowboy yelled.

Alexis staggered back to her seat.

"The blonde got hit. There's blood and brains all over the place. I haven't seen anything like it since…" Suddenly, Alexis remembered the failed bank robbery she'd been in and the man who'd killed a bank robber who was about to rape her. The man who'd called her Red.

"You're Ishmael." She said.

"Pardon? Who's Ishmael?'

"You are. You were with me in the bank in New York when it was robbed. You shot a man who was about to rape me, although you said you didn't mind him raping me. You shot him because he'd let us see his face."

"Not me."

"Yes. You called yourself Ishmael. You said, "Call me Ishmael." That's the opening line from Moby Dick by Herman Melville."

"I am Spartacus." He said.

"What?"

"My name is Spartacus. Alexander Nicopoulos Spartacus."

"Liar!" Alexis yelled.

"Settle down, Red. We have more important things to worry about. We didn't get fully refueled back there and I don't think we'll get back to the US on the fuel we have. Just relax and let me fly this thing, okay?"

They flew for several hours over the desert. This time they did see small towns and villages, but Spartacus kept flying.

"That's cartel country down there. We might survive a landing, but I'm not sure about whether we'd survive the reception we'd get."

Finally, with the fuel gauges getting close to empty, Spartacus began to descend.

"Keep an eye out for a nice, flat place for us to land, Red."

"I don't see one." Alexis replied. "There's too much scrub and cacti to tell what the terrain is like."

Spartacus laughed.

"Cacti? You use the plural Latin term for cactus?"

"I told you that I'm a student at Columbia." She shot back.

Spartacus made no response as just then the engines began sputtering and then died all together.

"Okay, everyone cinch your seatbelts up tight." He yelled. "Flat or not were landing."

For a hundred yards it looked like they were going to land on a nice, flat place. Then they hit a very small ridge. It may have been small, but it was enough to send them bouncing into the air and straight into a boulder. The impact tore the right wing off and sent the plane whirling around on the ground. The plane hit another boulder and stopped hard. Very hard.

"Everyone all right?" Spartacus asked.

Alexis checked herself out.

"I think I'm okay."

"Hey, businessman. You okay?" Spartacus yelled.

Getting no reply, he told Alexis to unbuckle herself and see how he was. When she got into the passenger section, Alexis tried to vomit again, although she had nothing left in her stomach.

"You okay, Red? How's the fat man?"

"We hit a boulder. Right where he's sitting. He's…he's…dead."

"Sounds like he's probably pretty messy, Red. Okay, we need to see what we have in the plane that we can use."

"What about the two dead people?"

"Nothing we can do for them now. Leave them."

"We can't just leave them!" Alexis yelled. "Animals will get to them."

"If you want to hold a service for them and dig some graves, be my guest. But I'm concentrating on staying alive. I suggest you do the same."

Spartacus unbuckled his seat belt and walked back to where Alexis was standing. He saw that she was crying. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Look, Red, there's nothing we can do for them, but plenty we can do for ourselves. We need to grab whatever we can and put some distance between us and the plane. People will have seen the plane and will come looking. You with me, Red?"

"My name is Alexis. Alexis Castle."

"Okay, Alexis Castle. I'm Spartacus. Are you with me?"

"Yes."

They rummaged around in the cabin and found where the airline kept things for the passengers.

"Good." Spartacus said. "They have blankets. We can use these. It gets cold in the desert at night, and we can use them to carry stuff. Assuming we find anything we can use."

"There's a box of energy bars here." Alexis said. "And water bottles."

"Good. We'll need water. How many?"

"A full case of twenty-four and three loose bottles."

"Thirteen and a half apiece. Anything else?"

"Pillows. An umbrella." Alexis grimaced. "Someone's dirty socks."

"I'm going back to the cockpit to see if the pilot had any maps." Spartacus. "Keep looking. Get all the luggage out and see if there's anything we can use." He looked Alexis over. "Do you have a long-sleeved shirt, better shoes and sunscreen?"

"With my complexion, I always have sunscreen and I have a long-sleeved shirt in my bag and climbing shoes."

"Put them on and lather yourself up with sunscreen." Spartacus said over his shoulder as he headed for the cockpit.

"The only maps the plane carries are for Arizona. Not much good for us. I think we're about south of New Mexico someplace, but that takes in a lot of territory."

Then he began opening the other passengers' luggage.

"What are you doing?"

"Seeing if they have anything useful to us."

"That's stealing."

Spartacus shrugged.

"They aren't likely to rat us out. The name of the game is survival, Alexis Castle. If you don't want to survive, you can stay here. And I've found something for you."

"What?" She asked.

"A baseball cap and a nice silk scarf the blonde had. I'll tuck the scarf into the cap, and you'll have a nice sun hat to wear. Just like the old Foreign Legion in the desert."

Alexis took the hat and put it on. She felt a little guilty, but she did want to live.

TBC