Against
All Odds
By
EdBeth
E-mail Author: stargatesg1971@aol.com
Summary: Macs car is forced off the road leaving him hurt, blind
and on the run from the bad guys.
Notes: This story on times features heavily on the two ladies
helping Mac.
Category: Angst, Hurt, Comfort, Action, Adventure and Friendship
Warnings: Moments of extreme physical and mental anguish
Rating: R
Disclaimer: MacGyver and its characters belong to Paramount Pictures and all the powers that be, not me. No copyright infringement intended. This story is written for fan entertainment only and no money has exchanged hands. The story is the property of the author and may not be posted anywhere without the authors consent.
Authors
Comments: This is our first combined story, we hope you’ll like it. It
often flits between first person perspective and POV.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“How can
you be sure he’s coming this way?” asked Harry as he stood shivering in the
cold night air as it began snowing again.
“He could have taken another road, why come along this one? I don’t get it.”
“That’s
because you’re stupid,” Stuart answered as he looked up the empty road. “This is the only road open at the
moment. The others are blocked by
snow. He has to come this way, so will you shut up moaning.”
“It’s all
right for you,” muttered Harry. “I hate
the cold and I really hate snow. You’re sure that ‘thing’ is going to work.
Shuts off his engine right?”
“That’s
right Harry, shuts off his engine, nothing permanent,” answered Stuart as the
man got in next to him. “The car just
stops where I want it to.”
“Then we
come along and offer to help and wham.
One dead witness, yes?” asked Harry as he tried to get warm. “You gonna shoot him or what?”
“No, I’m
not gonna shoot him. You know Harry,
I’m convinced that what little brain you were born with, if you were born with one, somehow leaked out
of your head over the years,” said Stuart as he glared at the man sitting next
to him.
“If you’d
woken up a few times, as we’ve been following this guy, you would have noticed
that we are driving through a mountain range that has a build up of snow at
certain points. Now I can’t be sure,
because I don’t know much about snow, but maybe, if I fire my gun, no silencer
see, the noise will bring the lot down.”
“So
you’re gonna bury him in an avalanche, great idea,” answered Harry happily.
“And how
do I do that exactly, how do I do that without bringing it down on us at the
same time?” asked Stuart sarcastically, throwing his hands in the air.
“So if
you ain’t gonna shoot him and you ain’t gonna bury him in snow. How are you get gonna rid of him?” Harry asked scratching his head.
“Well
first of all the car stops. I stop it
with this ‘thing’ as you call
it. Out he gets to find out what’s
wrong and then. Well then, in the dark,
because as you can see, it is still
quite dark, won’t be for long though.
Then in the dark, I knock him down.
If he goes your way, he’ll find you standing there with a gun pointing
at him. He won’t know you’re not going
to shoot because of the snow. He’ll just see the gun. If he runs that way,
he’ll fall off the cliff and he’ll know
that. He can’t get away over there
because it’s a sheer cliff face. The
only place he can go is towards me and by then it will be too late and wham, as you so rightly put it, I hit
him with the car and we get rid of the body around here somewhere.”
“You’re
sure he’ll run?” asked Harry.
“No,
he’ll just stand there and let you shoot him.
Course he’ll run idiot.”
“Sorry
Stuart, it’s this cold, clogs me brain. Then what do we do?” he asked.
“You
drive his car, I drive my car and we go back the other way to
some isolated spot. Dump his car. Mess up the engine a bit, make it look like
a natural breakdown so he took off to get help, and somehow got lost. No body, no tie in with the boss. Just a
missing person case. Now did you get that or would you like me to repeat it?”
“No I got
it,” Harry answered.
“Good. Now get out of the car and go stand where I
told you,” Stuart ordered.
“How’d
you know it’s his car coming along?
Could be some other guy’s who passed him up the road.” Harry asked as he got out and shivered.
“That’s
why you put that little itty bitty tracking device on it, while he was at that
eating place, remember? See it shows
his car moving,” Stuart said, indicating a moving dot on what looked like a
small TV screen stuck on the dashboard. “Now get over there, because according
to this, he’s on his way.”
“Stuart;
you’re a genius,” said Harry sounding impressed. “You think of everything.
Boy the boss is going to be pleased.
He’s been freaking all week since they brought the Trial forward. Lucky this guy didn’t take a train or a
plane,” he added as he walked away and stood further up the road watched by
Stuart parked on the edge of it facing him, and then leaving him in darkness as
he turned off the headlights.
“Snow
Harry, snow,” muttered Stuart through the window. “It stops trains and it stops planes as well. Just stand still and stop yakking,” he shouted
as car headlights came around the bend in the road.
“Oh
great, that’s all I need,” said MacGyver as his engine cut out and he coasted
to a stop. “First there’s too much snow
so I can’t get any skiing in, then I get recalled to the Phoenix Foundation
because they brought the murder trial forward by two months and now this. Brrrr,” he added as he got out of the car. “Um, that’s weird, I can’t see anything
wrong with the engine,” he said as he looked under the hood with the torch then
closed it again. “Maybe it’s just the
cold.” ‘Now that’s a bit of luck,’ he
thought to himself as he heard a car start up some way behind him. “Don’t remember passing a car back
there. Perhaps they could give me a
lift,” he said as he began walking towards it.
“What the?” he exclaimed as the headlights of the car came on lighting
up the road, blinding him as it headed straight for him, it’s wheels screeching. He turned to run back to his car and that’s
when he saw a dark figure pointing a gun blocking his path.
“What on
earth?” he said, as he looked around for another route out of the situation, as
he backed away straight into the path of the oncoming vehicle.
He turned
just before it hit but hardly felt any pain, just shock as it crashed into him
sending him flying through the air and slamming him against the rock face. All his mind took in was the white of the
headlights and the ground coming up to meet him, and then the inside of his head
filled with a thousand exploding stars.
“Hey he’s
still alive,” Harry said to Stuart as they stood over Mac’s unconscious body.
“Not for
long he isn’t,” answered Stuart. “Boy
did you see him fly. Straight into that
rock, a beautiful sight to see. Dam, I
hear a car coming,” he yelled at the sound of a distant engine. “Quick shove him onto the back seat of his
car and pretend to be trying to fix this one.”
“What?”
asked Harry dumbly as they slammed the door of Mac’s car.
“Just do
it,” Stuart shouted as he opened the hood of his own car as the vehicle came
around the bend and pulled slowly up behind them.
“Need any
help?” asked the driver as he rolled down his window. “Pretty bad night to breakdown.
I hear there’s a storm coming in that’s supposed to last for a week once
it hits, sun should be up any time now though.”
“Thanks
for the offer,” Stuart answered as he headed towards the man who was offering
to help before he had time to get out.
“I think we’ve got it pretty well sorted, just some wet plugs. My cousin here never looks after his
car. The times I’ve told him. It was lucky I was with him or he’d have
been in a real mess.”
“Well as
long as you’re sure,” answered the driver.
“Good luck.”
“Yeah
thanks,” said Stuart as he waved the man past.
“You too.”
“Phew
that was close,” said Harry as the car disappeared from sight and he closed the
hood as it began snowing heavily again.
“Right
let’s get this guy...What the hell?” he shouted as MacGyver’s car burst into
life and took off swerving across the road as it went.
“Don’t
just stand there you idiot, get in,” yelled Stuart as he jumped in the driver’s
seat and started the engine, sending the wheels spinning as he tore off up the
road after Mac.
‘Got to
get out of here,’ MacGyver’s mind was saying as he blinked and tried to clear
his vision as the car swerved back and forth across the mountain road as he
tried to keep control of it through the ever-increasing snowfall. ‘Got to get away, danger,’ his mind continued
as he fought to hold the steering wheel steady as his vision blurred and his
head began swimming and his chest hurt as blood from a cut in his hairline
started streaming down his face. Then
he saw the headlights of a car coming up fast and forcing its way onto his
inside as he failed to keep himself on the safe side of the road.
“Shove
him over!” Harry shouted as Stuart turned the wheel and crashed into MacGyver’s
car pushing him towards the edge and the drop below.
“Oh he’s
going, don’t you worry,” answered Stuart as he swerved again.
‘Oh God!’
said Mac to himself as his car crashed sideways through the barrier.
Through
the pain that now wracked his body and his increasingly confused mind MacGyver
managed to pull the seatbelt across himself and lock it in place as the car,
which had so far stayed upright as it slid sideways across the frozen and
freshly fallen snow hit something hard and turned onto its side, smashing the
side window as it did and sending large shards of glass flying around the
interior as he hung onto the steering wheel as the car rolled onto its roof and
then onto its other side, smashing that window and sending more glass towards
him. Then he felt something dig deep
into the back of his shoulder making him release his hold. As it reached the bottom of the cliff, the
car turned onto its roof, slid along the snow for a moment and then came to a
stop as the windshield shattered.
More out
of instinct than knowing what he was actually doing, MacGyver kicked out at the
shattered windshield, the impact punching a hole through it. Fumbling with the catch on the seatbelt he
realised his hands were covered in blood and for a moment was unable to release
himself. Then the belt came free and he
landed with a crunch on the inside of the roof. Kicking out once more at the windshield and ignoring the pain
from the tiny shreds of glass that stuck into his hands, he crawled his way
through the hole he’d managed to make.
As he tried to get to his feet, he slipped and fell. Struggling once more, he stood swaying for a
moment staring at the car and the smoke issuing from it.
‘Danger,’
his mind screamed. ‘Danger.’ Still he stood swaying and staring at the
car, his mind totally confused, no longer able to understand where he was or
what had happened. All he knew was he
was hurt. He was cold and hurt.
‘Best
find a phone,’ his confused mind told him as he staggered towards some nearby
trees.
(As sometimes
happens with accident victims the mind stops thinking rationally and focuses on
something trivial.)
‘My
ski’s, my best ski’s,’ he thought as he turned around and moved a few steps
back towards the car. As he did so it
exploded, the force of the explosion reaching him so that he felt the heat from
it on his face and sending him crashing backwards into the trees, where he
narrowly missed colliding with one, hit the ground and lay still. He didn’t hear the second explosion or see
the avalanche of snow that came crashing down from the cliff top high above the
road and carried on down towards his burning car, turning it upright, carrying
it past the trees where he was lying and leaving it half buried some yards away
from its original stopping position, the snow extinguishing the fire as it
went.
=====
As
Stuart’s car pushed MacGyver’s over the edge, it skidded and nearly went over
as well. Struggling to keep the vehicle
on the road as they swerved round the bend ahead, they continued to skid until
he managed to get control and brought the vehicle to a stop just as they heard
the first explosion. Getting out of the
car the two men headed towards the bend in the road as the second explosion
came, stopping them dead in their tracks.
Then they heard the rumble as the snow crashed down. As they moved on, as night turned to day,
they could hardly see a hand in front of their faces through the falling snow
and slipped and swore as they headed for the bend in the road, where they came
to an abrupt halt. They could go no
further. The road was completely
blocked by snow.
“Well I
think that takes care of him don’t you Stuart?” Harry said shivering.
“Now what
do we do? We can’t get back ourselves
now.”
“You
could be right Harry; for once you could be right.” Answered Stuart. “If that
explosion didn’t get him, the avalanche must have done.”
“So now
what?” Asked Harry shivering and
rubbing his arms.
“Get the
map out and head for the nearest town.
Can’t do a blasted thing until this blizzard lets up,” answered
Stuart. “Kill ourselves if we try
driving in this.”
=====
Francis’ Cabin
“Jo, wake
up,” said Amy Morgan shaking her friend who totally ignored her and turned
over. “Jo, wake up!” said Amy once
again shaking her harder this time.
“What
time is it?” asked a sleepy Jo. “Amy
what’s wrong?” she said as she looked up and saw her friend’s worried face.
“Explosion,”
answered Amy as she looked down at her.
“I heard an explosion, well two explosions, I heard two explosions.”
“Go back
to sleep,” said Jo as she turned over once more. “You’ve been having a nightmare, go back to sleep.”
“No I
haven’t, I’m telling you I heard two explosions. Get up Jo, you have to get up.”
“Oh for
crying out loud,” said Jo as she sat up, “It’s only just light out there, what
the hell do you expect me to do about it?”
“Well I
don’t know do I,” answered Amy as she headed for the bedroom door. “Go look I suppose.”
“Alright,
calm down,” Jo told her as she wearily pushed back the blankets. “What’s the weather doing?”
“It’s
snowing again,” answered Amy as she left the room. “Quite a lot actually.”
“Quite a
lot actually,” Jo muttered to herself imitating her friend as she looked at her
watch. “Oh man, it’s five o’clock in
the morning, she’s totally off her tiny mind if she thinks I’m going out at
five in the morning to look for goodness knows what, because she thinks she heard an explosion. Her John is right. She is losing it,” she thought as she began dressing. “Definitely losing it. Probably just heard
some small avalanche way off in the distance.
Explosion my eye. Best go and
look I suppose,” she muttered to herself as she finished dressing and ran the
comb through her unruly hair. “Never
hear the last of it if I don’t.”
Entering
the kitchen where her friend had just taken off the boiling kettle to make some
coffee she stood for a moment watching her.
Joanne James
The kettle was shaking in her hands and it
freaked me out. What had scared her so
much? Was this just about the explosion
or was something else bothering her? I
couldn’t imagine an explosion, we were in the middle of nowhere but she
believed it and that was good enough for me.
She was scared and I didn’t like seeing her like that. I walked over and sat down on one of the
chairs by the table, and stroked her pet Labrador, Tammy.
“So what did it sound like Amy?”
“An explosion. I told you that already! Don’t you believe me?”
“Course I do. I just meant how close do you think it was,
was it loud, quiet?”
“Oh, it sounded fairly close.”
I turned and looked out the window; the snow was coming
down heavily. I saw Amy approaching
from the side; she went and stood by the window, then turned to me.
“Will you go and have a look?”
“Yeah, will you come with me?”
She nodded and I was glad, because I didn’t want to leave
her there alone, not while she was so nervous.
“I’ll just go put my boots on then, I’ll be right back.”
I got up and touched her arm. I could feel her shaking.
“It’ll be ok Amy, don’t worry. If anyone’s out there we’ll find them.”
I looked down and ruffled the top of Tammy’s head
with my free hand.
“Won’t we girl?”
She wagged her tail, gave me those big
puppy dog eyes (which melt me every time) then walked over to her bed and
flopped down. I looked up at Amy and
smiled. As I left the room, I heard her
say ‘I know we will.’
MacGyver
opened his eyes and shivered. Although
the surrounding trees were protecting him slightly from the falling snow, he
was covered in a layer of it and was shivering violently.
“What’s wrong with my eyes?” he asked himself as he
realised he couldn’t see properly, the dark shapes around him, which he knew
must be trees blurred and moved, doubled and faded as he sat up and tried to
focus properly.
“Danger!” his
brain screamed at him.
Reacting to the command, he staggered to his feet and
stood wobbling for a moment. Blinking
and trying to clear his vision, he began moving, the instinct for survival once
more taking over his actions as adrenalin pumped itself through his system in
an attempt to get him moving urgently.
He saw the dark shape of a tree just before he collided with it and put
his hand out and yelled. There was
something digging into his shoulder, he could feel it. Touching the back of his
right shoulder with his left hand, he almost passed out with the pain. “Leave it,” he thought to himself as he
tried to move on and this time did
collide with a tree which knocked him backwards down onto the ground, sending
fresh waves of pain through his shoulder making him cry out in agony.
“Cold,” he said to himself and shivered, setting the pain
off once again. “Cold. Need to find cover, mustn’t sleep, but need
to find cover,” he thought as he tried to get to his feet once more and
failed. “Cold but mustn’t sleep,” his
mind warned as he crawled towards what he was sure was a bush and squeezed
himself underneath it. “Mustn’t sleep,
mustn’t sleep,” he repeated once more as he curled into a ball in a vain effort
to stop the pain and get warm, and a moment later passed out.
======
By the time they had almost reached the area, where Amy
was sure the sound of the explosion had come from, the snow had begun to ease a
little and they made better headway.
Even though Amy’s snowshoes were way to big for her and she kept
tripping over them all the time, she pressed on, a determined look on her face
as she kept a wary eye out as they went, something that had not gone unnoticed
by her friend.
“What’s wrong?” Jo asked as she stopped suddenly.
“Not sure,” answered Amy shivering as she did. “I can feel danger.”
“I do wish you wouldn’t do that,” Jo told her shivering
herself, not from the cold but from the shudder that had suddenly run down her
spine. “You really freak me out when
you talk like that. You can be so
weird.”
“Can’t help it, I just see danger where nobody else
does. If Carl had...” she stopped
talking and carried on walking, tripping on the snowshoes once more.
Jo didn’t push it.
Amy had been a passenger in their friend Carl’s car when it
crashed. She’d told him she felt danger
and perhaps they should take another road but he laughed and carried on going,
carried on going around the bend and straight into the back of a broken down
truck. Carl had died in Amy’s arms.
Jo followed quietly wishing she’d kept her mouth shut.
“Oh crap!” she said as they came through a small group of
trees and looked ahead and saw a half-buried, partially burnt, still slightly
smoking car. Although it was obvious
there had been an explosion, the windshield she saw with amazement, was still
intact, still in it’s place. “Stay here
Amy,” she told her friend sternly.
“Stay right there, don’t move, do you understand. Don’t move.”
Amy shuddered and nodded.
Joanne James
I looked up towards the roadside and could see there was still an
overhang of snow at the top, it didn’t look very safe to me, and I thought it
could come down at any second. I turned
and looked at Amy; she was scared stiff, I could tell. I started to approach the car.
“Jo, be careful.”
“Yeah I know, don’t worry, I will.”
I turned my head and gave her a small smile before I continued towards
the car. It was more or less covered;
only the hood and windshield were showing.
It looked as if the windshield had been smashed from the inside, out;
there was a hole big enough for a person to crawl through just off the center of it. I climbed carefully up
onto the hood and it snapped closed under my weight, the movement and sound
made me jump. After the initial shock,
I continued to pull myself along the hood.
“Don’t go in there, Jo!”
“I’m not. I’m just looking.”
“You’re not just looking, you’re climbing. Get off there NOW! It’s not safe.”
I ignored Amy and carefully edged my way further towards the
windshield. I froze momentarily,
dreading myself, what I might see.
“What the matter? Is there
someone inside?”
I turned to look at Amy. She had
fear in her eyes. I could just imagine
what was going through her mind, Carl and that fateful day.
“There’s no-one inside, whoever was in here must have crawled out. See they’ve punched a way through the
windshield.”
I pointed to the hole and she nodded.
“If there’s no-one in there will you please
get off the car?”
“Ok.”
I edged my way backwards and slipped, causing myself to slide off the
left hand side of the hood. I landed
with a thud on the ground, the height of the car shielding me from Amy’s view.
“JO!”
Still out of view, I shouted.
“Don’t you dare move Amy, stay
exactly where you are!”
I noticed Amy getting quieter and quieter as we trudged
along. She was starting to withdraw
into herself, I’d seen her do it so many times and it always made me
nervous. I never know how to react to
her when she does that, I never know how she’ll react to me. I took a deep breath.
“Amy.”
She didn’t look at me, didn’t
answer me, just carried on walking. I
grabbed her arm and pulled her to a complete stop so that she was facing me,
she was shaking like a leaf.
“You’re shaking, are you ok?”
“Yeah I’m just cold.”
“Are you sure that’s all it is?”
“Yes I’m sure.”
“And you’re sure it’s got
nothing to do with Carl?”
“I told you I’m just cold. I’m wet too. Freezing. We’re in a
blizzard Jo; we haven’t got time for a chat.”
“I’m just worried that’s
all. You’ve been quiet ever since we
saw the car; the explosion really freaked you out, you shouted at me when I got
up on the hood, and then went totally mental by the trees. I don’t think it’s the cold that’s making
you shake; I think it’s everything that’s happened, and I think we need to talk
about it. I don’t want you to do that
famous run that you’re so good at.”
“I don’t run!”
I could hear the temper rising
in her voice, but it didn’t stop me, I carried on.
“Yeah you do. Every time you don’t want to talk about
something off you go; up come the barriers and bye, bye the world.”
The shaking was more noticeable
and her breathing had become small sharp gulps of air. I looked into her eyes and could tell she
was on the verge of cracking. It must
have been taking all her strength, to stand there and not run.
Nice one Jo, you had to push
didn’t you; you had to go that one-step further. Annoyed with myself I stood to one side and she walked past
me. We continued our journey in
silence. As much as I wanted to say
something I knew better than to do that, space was what she needed right now,
and I wasn’t about to screw up again.
In theory, it should have taken
about 5-10 minutes to get back, but with the extreme weather conditions, it was
taking longer, thankfully, the cabin was now in sight. It was a welcoming
scene; we were cold, wet, dithering, but knew that within our grasp, was
warmth. I looked over to Amy and
thought I saw the slither of a smile appear on her lips. When we were close enough I headed for the
rear of the cabin.
“I’ll just grab some logs for
the fire, you go in and I’ll catch up.”
“Ok.”
I looked up and Amy was out of
sight, at least she’d answered me. I
gathered the logs and walked towards the cabin. The back door opened and Tammy headed for me like a steam train.
“Calm down girl.”
She kept coming, I changed
direction, and she did the same. Last
time she did that, I ended up on my back.
“Tammy calm down.”
It was no good; she was way too
excited. I threw the logs onto the side
and waited for her arrival. She pushed
herself hard into my body and I fussed her as if I hadn’t seen her for
months. She rolled onto her back
wanting more attention and kicked about in the snow, showering me with it as
she did. I saw Amy come to the door and
she smiled.
“What are you two up to then?”
“Oh nothing much, are we girl?”
I pulled away from her and Tammy
rolled over and got up. Her tail was
wagging frantically and she started running off here, there, and
everywhere. She ran towards the trees,
just as I was about to shout to her, Amy stopped me.
“Let her go Jo, she loves the
snow”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah she’ll come back, she knows
her way.”
I walked over to the logs,
picked them up, and followed Amy into the cabin.
=======
Cold, so Cold
By the time MacGyver woke up, he was so cold his body had
gone numb, taking away the pain that had been cursing through it since the
unknown car had slammed into him sending him crashing against the wall, but
still he couldn’t see properly. The
light from the snow hurt his eyes badly and he wanted desperately to hide in a
dark place to stop the pain. Crawling
out from under the bush, he found it had stopped snowing. Carefully feeling his way out of the trees
in order not to bump into any more of them, he tried to take in his
surroundings, which was impossible because his vision was still blurred and
doubled and fading in and out and the glare of the sun hurt them. It did occur to him that he could cover them
with his scarf and then realised he’d lost it and anyway he needed to be able
to see ‘something,’ if he was to get out of there.
‘Where’s the car?’ he thought
as he peered through the gloom and unwittingly looked straight towards the sun
and his eyes screamed in protest forcing him to raise his hands to shield
them. MacGyver knew he was in serious
trouble.
‘The road,’ he thought, ‘somehow I have to get to the
road.’
Arms
outstretched so he didn’t walk into anything unexpected he moved forwards,
slipped and fell. “Crap,” he said aloud
to himself.
“Mac my boy you are in real trouble here. That had to have been Boss Larry’s men in that car. Should have seen it coming. Could have been someone else I suppose, but I’d lay money on the fact it was Boss Larry’s men trying to stop me testifying!” His last word spoken loudly as a sharp pain ran through his right shoulder almost knocking him off his feet. “Got to find a road, snowing again. Boy my head hurts, and what the hell is wrong with my eyes? Why are they’re stinging? Hey it’s not so cold now,” he said as he stopped shivering. “That’s better, must be getting warm...” He got no further.
-----
The next thing he knew something was touching his face,
something wet and slimy, warm and smelly.
Opening his eyes his first thought was ‘wolf!’ The wet tongue
licked his face again as he tried to see through the blurring, sure there was a
wolf standing over him. As he tried to
push its head away, he felt a collar.
‘It’s a dog, not a wolf,’ he told himself as he struggled
to sit up and it carried on licking his face.
“Steady boy steady,” he told it as he felt for the collar again. “Dog, it’s a dog,” he repeated aloud as the
dog stopped licking his face and peered at him. “Hey don’t go,” MacGyver yelled as it moved away. “I need your help, come back, good
dog.” He saw an orange shape moving
swiftly then felt it brush itself against him and sit down. “Good boy,” said Mac as he used it as a
support to stand up. “Take me home dog; I’m hurt, do you understand you have to
take me to your home.” He felt the dog
get to its feet and stand patiently by him.
For a moment, MacGyver was unsure what to do next, then realised the
animal seemed aware he couldn’t see and was waiting for him to take hold of
it. “Smart dog, you are a smart
dog. Ok,” he said as he bent and took a
firm hold of the collar. “Take me home,
but slowly now. There are bits of me
that aren’t working too well. Slow now,
good boy, good dog.”
======
He lost count of how many times he fell as the dog led him
through the snow. Patiently waiting
each time he tripped as he got back on his feet. The exertion needed to walk through the snow, deep in some
places, exhausted him to the very bone and he began to doubt the dog really was
taking him to where it lived. His feet,
now numb from the cold caused him to trip and fall and each time he landed the
pain in his head and shoulder screamed in protest. Still the dog waited, walking slowly as Mac, who used his belt as
a leash, hung on tightly and headed through the haze and double vision, his
face and eyes stinging with the cold, his body begging him to lay down and
sleep. Each time he fell and didn’t
want to get up again, the dog licked his face until he did. It seemed like an eternity to him as he
trudged through the snow, shivering and slowing down with each step. Suddenly the dog began barking, making him
jump because he couldn’t see what it was barking at and assumed there was
danger nearby. Pulling him along as it
barked he fell flat on his face and the dog pulled away and left him. Feeling around for the belt MacGyver
realised the dog had gone. He could
hear it barking and could make out fuzzy movement and knew it must be the dog, but
he hadn’t the strength to get up. Back
it came again, licking his face until he got to his feet and then ran off
barking once more. He stood there now
too afraid to move. Back came the dog
and stood waiting for him to get hold of the belt. As soon as he managed to do so it moved forward again barking
excitedly as it went. There was
something up ahead; Mac could just make out the dark shape of a building. Figures, he thought he could see two
figures. Again, the dog dragged the
belt from Mac’s hand in its excitement and ran towards to the two blurred and
doubled figures as he stood rigid, afraid to move without the dog, as he saw
them heading quickly towards him.
“Look out!” said a female voice as his knees buckled and
he fell.
-----
“It’s Ok, I’ve got you,” said the voice again as he tried
to focus on the face looking down at him.
“Amy get his other arm, Tammy get out of the way for goodness sake, yes
you’re a good girl but we’ll look after him now. It’s alright,” the voice reassured him as he felt himself being
lifted up.
“Amy put his arm around your shoulder, that’s right, let’s
get him inside.”
He groaned as someone lifted his right arm and almost
passed out at the pain it caused to his shoulder.
Trying to focus on the two figures who were helping him
along towards the dark shape he knew must be a building, MacGyver tried to walk
as best he could, though his legs kept giving out under him. As they got him inside he felt the warmth of
the place snuggle around him like a soft blanket, then his strength gave out
and he collapsed.
=======
“Amy be careful, his back’s bleeding somewhere, there’s
blood all over his jacket. Easy now, easy,” the voice continued as he tried to
focus on the blurred face as he woke up and felt them gently taking his jacket
off as they propped him up.
“My eyes, there’s something wrong with my eyes,” he heard
himself say as they removed his shirt.
“Explosion, hurt my eyes, can’t see properly,” the figured dimmed before
he could say anything else and he lost consciousness again.
“Oh goodness Jo, there’s glass in his shoulder,” said
Amy. “How the hell are we supposed to
get that out, or should we even try, what if we make it worse?”
“Hold him still Amy,” answered Jo as they laid him down as
close to the back of the couch as they could so he couldn’t roll onto his back
and cause the glass to go in deeper.
Can you see to the cut on his head and hands while I radio Francis,
he’ll know what to do, he is a doctor after all and this is his cabin, perhaps
he has stuff here we can use. You
alright, looking after him I mean, or do you want to speak to Francis while I
look after him?” she asked as she saw her friend’s face.
Amy looked from MacGyver to her and avoided her eyes.
“I’ll talk to Francis, you look after him,” she answered
as Jo came back with a bowl and some towels.
“No Tammy, leave him alone, he’s hurt.
You’ve been a real good girl; just go lie down now, Jo will take care of
him for you.”
As Amy moved away, her friend watched her carefully and
shook her head. Once upon a time, she
would have been the first to try to take care of someone sick or hurt, even a
stranger. Now she fled from making new
friends as if she carried the plague, convinced she only brought bad luck to
those she came to care for, and those who cared for her.
=======
Amy Morgan
I could see her through the crack in the door as I sat
down at the radio in the other room and began fiddling with the knobs. She was so gentle with the stranger that it
bought a lump to my throat. I couldn’t
understand for the life of me why she stayed my friend. I’d tried everything I could over the past
three months, while I’d been at the cabin with her, to get her to row so I’d
have an excuse to leave and she’d be safe from my jinx, but no, every time I
got anywhere near to succeeding she made me laugh and I was back to square
one. Well I had my plans all set now
and once we were out of there I was gone.
She’d be safe, John would be safe and I’d be long gone.
“Ok, which one of you is just sitting there and not
speaking,” came Francis’ voice on the radio.
“Amy is that you, did you forget to push the switch down? Over.”
I jumped. “Oh
sorry Francis,” I said pressing the switch.
“We have a kind of emergency here and need your help. Over.”
“What kind of emergency? Over,” he asked as the radio
began to crackle.
“We found this guy.
Looks like his car went off the road and down the cliff. He said there was an explosion and his eyes
hurt. They’re all puffy. He has some bad bruising across his chest
and the most horrendous piece of glass embedded in the back of his
shoulder. The area around it looks
awful, red and awful. Jo wants to know
do we leave it there, or try to take it out.
Over.”
“Red and awful looking, good description Amy. How much is on the outside, is it possible
for you to gently remove it without doing any more damage? Over.”
“I told you, I’m not doing anything, Jo is. Yeah there is quite a bit sticking out of
the wound, if she’s careful she should be able to remove it,” I answered
angrily.
“What about his eyes, he says he can’t see properly?” I asked. “Over.”
“Sounds like flash burns to me,” Francis answered as I
watched Jo through the crack in the door as she began to see to his hands and I
heard him groan slightly.
“Is he seeing double, did he say he’s seeing double? Over.” Francis asked.
“He hasn’t said much at all,” I answered as I continued to
watch her. “He just said there was an
explosion, his eyes hurt and he can’t see properly. He passed out again before he could say anything else. Jo’s seeing to his hands, they have little
bits of glass stuck in them, must be from the windshield. Over”
“How’d he get to the cabin? Over.” Francis asked, his
voice fading once again.
“Oh yeah, he has a cut on his head,” I told him, and then
added loudly, in case I was fading. “Tammy found him, she brought him
here. Over.”
“Well he must be some kind of a man if she took to him
like that; it’s taken her ages just to let me stroke her. Over.”
I continued watching Jo.
“Amy!” his voice yelled at me and made me jump. “There are some medications and things in my
safe, take down the combination; you will need to give him some morphine for
the pain. It should knock him out long
enough for you to remove the glass.
There are also some sedative syringes in there. The dosage is set so you don’t need to worry
about how much to give him, if he needs it that is. Sounds like an infection has already started in the wound where
the glass is. In my desk drawer you
will find a pair of sunglasses, make sure he wears them all the time. You will need to protect his eyes from
further damage and from infection or he could lose his sight permanently. Over.
Amy!” he shouted again as I didn’t answer because I was watching Jo
finish taking care of the man and covering him over with a soft blanket,
sitting herself in a chair to watch over him.
“What?” I shouted back.
“I heard you, there’s no need to shout.
Over.”
“Did you get all that?” he asked. “Over.”
“Yeah I heard, over.” I answered, put out by his tone as I
watched Jo as she felt the man’s forehead and then put a damp cloth on it. I could see she was carefully trying to
avoid putting pressure on the bruise near the cut in his hairline.
“Amy, listen to me,” Francis continued. “You have to do everything I told you and get
him into Jo’s car and bring him here, before this snow gets any worse. The sooner you get him here the better his
chances are of keeping his sight. Amy,
you need to get him here like now.
Over.... Amy!”
“Will you stop shouting at me?” I told him angrily. “I may be a lot older than you and Jo but
I’m not deaf yet. I told you, she’s taking care of him. I’m trying to get the car going, that’s why
we’re still here. The darn thing won’t start.
Over.”
“Why aren’t you taking care of this man?” he asked his
voice fading. “You’ve nursed your
friends and your sister; you know more about this kind of thing than Jo
does. She’s an author, not a nurse. Over.”
“Oh yeah, great job I did on them. They died remember. I do know about cars though, I should do,
lived on a farm long enough. You tell her what to do. I’ve had enough of you shouting at me. He’d stand more of a chance getting better
with her than if I go anywhere near him.
You tell her what to do while I’ll get the things from your safe, just
leave me alone.”
I let go of the switch and before he could answer, walked
to the other room.
“Francis wants to talk to you. Where’s he keep his safe?” I asked as she got up and headed
towards me.
“In the bedroom I’m sleeping in,” she told me as she
walked past. “Keep an eye on him while
I’m chatting to Francis, let me know if he wakes up.”
“Ok,” I answered glaring at her. “After I get the things from the safe and put some water on to
boil. You talk to Francis; I’ve had
enough of him shouting at me. Should show
more respect for his elders. Doctors
think they can boss everyone around and he’s as bad as the rest of them.”
Jo walked away giving me a funny look as I went to the
main bedroom.
Joanne James
Oh great! Looks
like Francis must have upset Amy. I grabbed
the radio handset.
“Hi Francis.”
“Hi Jo, how’s the patient? And you forgot to say over.”
“No I didn’t. I
hate saying that….”
I stopped momentarily as I heard him snigger.
“He’s unconscious.
I’ve tried the best I can to make him comfortable but I’m not a
nurse. Did Amy explain his condition?
OVER!”
“Yeah she knows what to do. I told her where the sedatives, morphine etc are. She says he has a large piece of glass in
his shoulder, and thinks you can remove it without causing further damage. What do you think? Over.”
“She’s probably right; she knows more about this kind of
thing than me. Did she mention his
eyes, he can’t see? Over.”
“Yeah she did.
Look Jo, I don’t mean to scare you, but this guy sounds like he’s in a
bad way. From what you’re saying, an
infection could be setting into the wound in his shoulder. I don’t like the fact he’s losing
consciousness. His loss of vision is
probably something to do with the explosion Amy mentioned, it sounds like he
has flash burns that require medical attention as soon as possible, or he could
lose his sight. Under normal
circumstances I’d tell you not to
move him, it really is the safest option, BUT these aren’t normal
circumstances. The forecast is showing
the storm is set in for the week, the road was blocked hours ago, it’s been all
over the radio. Unfortunately, I can’t
send in a chopper they’ve all been grounded due to the weather. I can’t get to you, so the only option left,
is for you to bring him to me. Over.”
“How are we supposed to do that, the car won’t start? Over.”
“You’re a resourceful woman Jo, figure it out! With Amy helping, I’m sure you’ll come up
with something between the two of you.
I can’t stress enough how much he needs medical attention. Do you understand? Over”
“Yeah I understand.
Over.”
I placed the handset on its hook and stretched over to the
switch when the radio once again burst into life.
“Jo, be careful.
Don’t take any silly risks, got it!
Over.”
I picked up the radio handset.
“I don’t take risks.
You know, right now you sound just like Amy! Over.”
The radio clicked and I heard him laughing.
“We only say it coz we care. Over.”
“I know that. I’ll
be careful, how can I be anything else, I have Amy with me? Over.”
“That’s true. At
least I know she’ll look after you. I
don’t want anything to happen to the woman….”
I started clicking the button on the side of the handset.
“I…think…I’m…losing…you.
Over.”
“Oh very funny Jo.
One day you’ll stop avoiding that question and make me the happiest man
alive. Over.”
I laughed.
“Maybe, but not today.
What did you say to Amy anyway; she looked pretty mad when I last saw
her? Over.”
“I put my foot in it as usual. How’s she holding up?
Over.”
“She’s pretty edgy at the minute. I tried to get her to talk earlier, pushed
too hard and now she’s not really speaking to me. Over.”
“She’ll come round.
Over.”
“Yeah, I know. I’d
better go check on our patient, bye Francis.
Over and out.”
“Jo before you go just one thing. Over.”
“Oh what now?
Over.”
“Be careful, don’t try and be Super Girl, remember the
dog! Over.”
“The dog was not my fault, and I wasn’t trying to be Super
Girl, Wonder Woman maybe, but I haven’t got the figure for Super Girl or the
looks. Over.”
“I wouldn’t say that….”
I heard him sniggering quietly to himself; the muffled
snort was quite evident sitting as close to the radio as I was. I let him continue his windup, I was so
gonna get him back the next time I laid my eyes on him. He sniggered again.
“You know this guy could be in the wrong hands here, he
might be safer with someone else. You
two don’t have a very good track
record. Over.”
I heard a scuffling noise in the background; I turned to
see what it was; it was Amy. I could
tell by her face she was upset, she must have heard Francis joking around and
taken it the wrong way. I looked into
her eyes; they held so many emotions as she stood rigid on the spot, anger,
pain, hurt, fear, dejection and her all time favourite, self-blame.
“I gotta go Francis.
I’ll radio you when we’re leaving.
Over.”
“Ok bye. Over.”
“Bye. Over and
out.”
I got up, turned the radio off, and walked towards her;
she stood glaring at me.
“His name is MacGyver, I looked in his wallet.”
The tone of her voice was blank, without emotion, just as
it usually is when she’s upset and trying not to show it.
“He woke up just now and wasn’t making any sense. He says he’s in danger; we’re in danger and
he has to leave. He tried to get off
the couch but passed out and fell on his injured shoulder. Its all right, I checked, its not
bleeding. He’s running a high
temperature though. I’ve left Tammy
watching him, I told her to let you know if he wakes up. I’m going to see if I can get the car
started.”
With that, she turned on her heels and walked away
“Amy wait!”
I called after her as she left the room, but she ignored
me. ‘Oh thanks Francis thanks a bunch.’
I muttered as I went to check on our patient.
‘That’s all I needed. She was
doing great until this morning, now there’s the explosions, this guy MacGyver,
and Francis putting his flaming big mouth where it doesn’t belong. She’s had three months having the time of
her life while I’ve been working on my latest book, taking pictures, enjoying
the peace and quiet of the surroundings, no stress; she’d even been going into
town on her own and speaking to people, (or so I’ve been told) and in one day
it’s all gone, I know it has, I can see it in her eyes.’
“Well best get out there and see if I can repair the
damage. Keep an eye on him for me Tammy. Let me know if he wakes up.”
I told the dog who was half-asleep on the floor near the
couch, as I left the room.
“Any luck with the car,” Jo asked as she entered the
freezing cold garage.
“Nope,” answered Amy sharply.
“He didn’t mean anything,” Jo said as she came around to
see what she was doing. “Francis was
just joking and I need you to help me remove the glass.”
Amy shrugged and wiped the grease off her hands.
“Shouldn’t you be in there watching him? What if he wakes up?”
“Tammy’s watching him,” Jo replied as she gazed around the
garage and walked over to a tarpaulin and pulled it off revealing a large
sledge. “She’s really taken to him,
this MacGyver. Unusual for Tammy, she’s
normally as shy as you are with strangers.”
“Yeah well she’s missing John,” Amy answered as she
watched her friend.
“I expect you are as well,” Jo said as she inspected the
sledge. “He hasn’t been able to get
through on the phone since the lines went down.”
Amy shrugged. “She’ll be fine once you get her back to
him, she’s his dog really. What you
looking at that for?” she asked.
“Francis said we need to get Mr MacGyver into town as soon
as possible or he could lose his sight for good. I thought we’d take him overland. It’s not that far. I’ve
walked there loads of times, and you know the area pretty good, you should do,
you’ve taken enough photos of it,” Jo replied smiling.
“In the summer yeah, but there’s a storm on it’s way, or
so you keep telling me,” said Amy. Then
her face dropped.
“Oh no. No way! You are not getting me across that bridge
again. You go, take Tammy with you; she
can help pull the sledge. I’ll stay
here. As soon as the storm lets up you
can send a car for me, it can pick up your things at the same time, this old
wreck won’t get you home and I’m going by train. Couldn’t stand that long road journey again and you hate
trains. Hire a car, take Tammy back
with you; drop her off at the house on your way past.”
“It will take the both of us to get Mr MacGyver to town
Amy. Come on you crossed the bridge
once. You can do it again. I’ll help, honest I will.”
“Forget it!” shouted Amy as she headed for the door.
“Hold it right there!” Jo shouted back, as she came up
behind her. “What do you mean, I take
Tammy to John it’s his dog anyway? Why
don’t you take her with you? It would
be quicker.” Amy didn’t answer just
moved away.
“Amy stop!” shouted Jo as she caught her arm. “What are you playing at? You’re up to something. What the hell is going on in that head of
yours?”
“Let go of my arm Jo,” Amy answered quietly as she looked
down at her friend’s hand. “I said let
go of my arm.”
“Not until you tell me what you are up too. That’s the first time you mentioned anything
about a train. Tell me,” she said
hanging onto her arm even tighter.
“Tammy’s barking he must be awake. You’d best go take care of him,” Amy told
her, wrenching herself free.
“Amy what’s going on?”
Jo asked, only quieter this time.
“Certainly sounds like he’s awake, she wouldn’t be barking
like that for nothing.”
“Amy please tell me,” begged Jo. “We’re best friends remember.”
“Not any more we’re not,” she answered as she walked away.
=========
Joanne James
I
stood there for a few seconds stunned; I couldn’t believe what she’d just said
to me. I stared at the ground not
really knowing what to say or even how to react.
Amy was retreating into herself,
I’d seen her do it before and I wasn’t going let her do it again. I had to stop her, somehow; I didn’t know
how, but I had to find a way. I was
totally unaware that she was leaving the garage until I felt the chill of the
cold air hit my face. My head snapped
to attention and I saw the door closing behind her. I moved quickly and grabbed the door; she must have practically
run because as I opened it, I saw she was almost at the cabin.
“Amy come back, we’re not finished talking
yet,” I shouted.
She ignored me and carried on walking.
The Cabin
“Jo, for goodness sake come quickly,” Amy shouted as she
heard strange sounds coming from the cabin as she got nearer to it.
MacGyver
had come round and was on his feet and trying to find his shirt and jacket so
he could leave. Although still confused
and feeling extremely hot he knew he had to put as much distance between
himself and the two people helping him as he could, just in case Boss Larry’s
men were still around somewhere and came looking for him, which would place
them in great danger. Still not being
able to see properly he had knocked over a couple of chairs as he tried to
locate his clothing. His shoulder was
bleeding badly again and the bandage Jo had wrapped loosely around him was
covered in blood.
His
urgency to get his things and leave sent him crashing around the room sending
Tammy into a barking frenzy. Although
those that didn’t know the dog very well thought she was a little on the stupid
side, she was in fact extremely intelligent.
Every time he went near the front door, she stood in front of him
barking to stop him leaving. She
liked this human, had done from the moment she'd found him, he was sick, she
could sense it, and barking was the only way to let Amy and Jo know he was
awake. She had to make sure he stayed in the warm cabin
because he was
acting strange, like when he was out in the snow, and she didn’t want him out
there alone, she wanted him to be safe.
MacGyver felt the cold air rush in as Amy opened the door
and tried to locate where it was coming from.
“Where are my clothes?” he asked the dim figure he could
see standing in the doorway. “I have to
get out of here, there’s danger, where are my clothes?”
“You’re in no fit state to go anywhere,” Amy told him as
she turned and yelled once more for to Jo to hurry up.
“Look I appreciate what you’ve done for me, but I have to
leave,” he told her heading in her direction.
“They’ve already tried to kill me once, they won’t hesitate to try again
if they find out I’m still alive. Just
give me my things. I have to leave.”
“Oh I don’t think so,” said Jo as she came through the
door and closed it behind her. “If you
go out in that snow it will do ‘their’
job for them.”
“Give me my things,” Mac shouted as he stumbled and
crashed into the table. “What the hell
is wrong with my eyes?”
“Amy get a sedative,” Jo told her urgently as Mac advanced
in her direction.
“You don’t understand,” Mac said as he headed towards the
sound of the person speaking. “I have
to get out of here, just let me pass. I
appreciate your help, but I’m putting you in danger, I have to go.”
“Hurry up with that sedative,” Jo shouted, as Mac stumbled
towards her.
“I won’t hurt you,” MacGyver said as he stopped in front
of the blurry figure and swayed slightly.
“But I have to leave. You’re in
danger as long as I stay here. I have
to get away.”
“And how do you expect to do that?” Jo asked as Amy came
into the room.
“You can’t even see, and it’s snowing again.”
“It doesn’t matter, I’ll get to the road somehow,” he
answered as he reached for her and grabbed her shoulders trying to move her
gently to one side.
“Oh I think not,” she answered as the self defence and
karate lessons she had taken while researching one of her stories kicked in and
she brought her arms out and over the top of his, clasped her hands together as
they met in the middle just over the bends in his arms, pulled down quickly and
hard, forcing his legs to buckle bringing him to his knees, the surprise
showing on his face as he looked up at her as his shoulder screamed with pain
and he flinched.
“Now Amy, now!” she shouted as Amy rushed forward and
jabbed the pump action syringe into his arm.
For a split second, nothing happened, then his eyelids slowly closed,
his head dropped, and she and Amy caught him as he collapsed sideways.
========
As I regained consciousness, I pulled my arm up towards my head. I stopped instantly when I felt a stabbing pain in my shoulder; groaned and scrunched my eyes shut tight. I felt someone touch my arm and push it gently back down.
“Take it easy; try not to move too much.”
I moved slightly and the pain struck again. I gritted my teeth together and tensed
up.
“Try to relax.”
“It hurts.”
“I know.”
I felt something cool brush over my forehead and slowly
opened my eyes. I tried to focus on the
person in front of me, but it was difficult because my vision was blurred, I
could tell it was a woman by the voice.
I watched her wring something out before placing it on my forehead, and
then felt the coolness against my skin.
I moved my arm slightly and she spoke.
“Please don’t move around, it isn’t helping you. I’ve just removed a large piece of glass
that was embedded into your shoulder. I
think I got it all out, but I can’t be certain. Are you feeling any better?”
“Yeah.”
“Would you like a drink?”
I nodded. She
turned her head and told someone standing in what I thought was a doorway to
fetch some water and bring it to her. I
took a quick look around the room. I
could make out the outline of objects, but they were blurred.
“Here you go.”
I turned my attention back to the woman helping me and saw
from its shape, that she was holding a cup towards me. I attempted to grab it and nearly ended up
knocking it clear out of her hand.
“Sorry. I can’t
see very well.”
“Its ok. I should
have helped you in the first place, I wasn’t thinking properly.”
She sat down on the couch, and helped support me while I
took a drink. When I’d finished, she
gently lowered me onto the pillows, and moved back so that she was sitting at
my side.
“I spoke to Francis, a friend of mine over the radio, he’s
a doctor; he thinks that you’ve got flash burns, that’s why you can’t see
properly. He told me to cover your eyes
to help protect them. You can use these
sunglasses for now, until I can find something else that might give you better
protection.”
After some help, I took the glasses off her and put them
on. The stinging sensation in my eyes
lessened as the light was shielded from my view.
“That’s better, thanks.”
I could hardly see now with the dimmed light, the blur was
almost non-existent. I tried to pull
myself up into more of a sitting position and took a sharp intake of breath as the
pain struck me.
“I thought you were going to try and stay still Mr…...”
I smiled at her as I leaned back into the pillows
supporting me.
“MacGyver, my names MacGyver. And you are?”
“I’m Jo, and the one standing over there in the doorway is
my friend Amy. We already know your
name; we looked in your wallet. I hope
you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind; I’d have done exactly the same thing
myself. Thank you for helping me, both
of you.”
I smiled and gave a small wave. As I lowered my hand, I felt something cold and wet pushing
itself hard into it, and then felt a sloppy tongue licking at my fingers.
“Oh, and this is Tammy, but you’ve already met her, she’s
the one who brought you here.”
I attempted to stroke the dog fussing me, but she kept
raising her head making it difficult, so instead, I let her continue licking my
hand.
“Thanks Tammy.”
I lay there trying to piece together what had happened to
me, and why I was there. It was hard,
and I couldn’t really get a grip on my memories, everything was a jumbled
mess. I remembered crashing around a
room and a woman stopping me with some kind of martial arts move.
“Jo.”
“Yeah?”
“Did you or Amy use a martial arts move on me
earlier? I think it was Judo. I seem to recall someone doing that, or is
it my mind playing tricks on me?”
She laughed.
“No it was me, it was self defence actually. I had to stop you leaving the cabin. What were you trying to do, kill yourself?”
“No, I was trying to get away from here before…”
I stopped in mid sentence when I realised the danger I was
putting them in. I swung my legs off
the side of the couch, placing my feet on the floor and pulled myself up into a
sitting position. My body swayed and I
felt sick, I swallowed back the bile building up in my throat; then felt
someone supporting me from a height.
“What are you doing?
You have to stay still.”
“I have to leave.”
I attempted to push myself up.
“Oh no you don’t, you’re staying right there.”
She pushed me back down gently.
“I do know karate as well you know, and it’s not all as
friendly as what I used earlier, would you like me to demonstrate? If you make one more move, I swear, I will.”
I grabbed her hand and pulled her close.
“Please don’t do that.
I have to leave; every second I’m here, you’re in danger.”
“Why? What did you
do?”
“I didn’t do anything.
Please believe me, if they find me with you, they’ll kill you too. I can’t let that happen.”
I lessened my grip on her hand, and she pulled back from
me. I pushed myself up and at that
moment realised I wasn’t as strong as what I thought I was. My legs buckled, and I collapsed. I felt arms grabbing me before I hit the
floor.
“Amy help me, I can’t hold him on my own.”
I tried to help support myself but my body was screaming
in protest over my last manoeuvre, and I was finding it hard to
concentrate. I could tell my weight was
dragging Jo downwards as she fought hard to keep me upright. I heard running footsteps and then felt more
arms around me. I was lifted gently and
placed onto the couch in a sitting position.
I grunted and flung my head backwards on the backrest, as the pain from
my shoulder increased. I heard
footsteps walking away from me and assumed it was Amy returning to the doorway.
“Sorry.”
“Will you at least admit now that you’re not strong enough
to go anywhere?”
“Yeah.”
“You could have really hurt yourself then. Why do these guys want to kill you; what did
you do?”
I lifted my head off the backrest and looked in the
direction of the voice.
“I witnessed a murder…I didn’t do anything. I think Boss Larry, that’s the guy I saw
kill someone, must have put a contract out on me, or maybe he’s told some of
his men to make sure I can’t get back for the trial, either way, being around
me is dangerous.”
“What about witness protection, aren’t you in that?”
“No. I work for a
private organisation that works alongside the government. I didn’t think it was necessary, I thought I
could protect myself. Looks like I may
have been wrong.”
“We found your car burnt out and half buried under some
snow.”
“They ran me off the road and the car went down the cliff
edge. I don’t really remember much at
the moment, except an explosion, not being able to see properly, my eyes
hurting; and then your dog.”
I shifted on the couch and pain seared through my
shoulder. I broke out in a sweat and
felt my body quivering.
Jo wrapped a blanket around me; and I felt the coolness of
a cloth being placed across my forehead.
“Oh she’s not my dog, she’s Amy’s.”
“Thanks Jo and thank you Amy.”
I felt Tammy rub against my legs; the movement sent fresh
pain into my shoulder. I winced.
“You too Tammy, mustn’t forget you.”
Jo removed the cloth and placed her hand on my forehead.
“I think your temperature has come down, a bit.”
“I think you’re right.
Has your friend left the room?”
“No, why?”
“Oh…I just thought she’d gone, she’s so quiet. Doesn’t she talk?”
“Oh yeah, she talks alright, just a bit shy with strangers
that’s all. She hasn’t been very well
lately.”
I heard footsteps retreating and noticed that Jo lowered
her voice to a whisper as she spoke her next words.
“She’s
doesn’t say much anymore, gets upset easily, and Tammy here is just like her
mum. Its pretty amazing how she’s taken
to you though. Usually she growls at
strangers, especially men, and she can’t stand it if one goes anywhere near
Amy. But she seems to have taken a real
shine to you, maybe its love, are you love in girl?”
I heard
her laughing as I pulled my arm out from under the blanket. I let out a small moan as I let it drop to
my side.
“Are you
ok?”
“I’m
fine.”
“Francis
said we have to get you to the hospital as soon as possible, so we’re going to
start getting things ready. That means
that we have to leave you on your own; so don’t get any ideas of running off
again, you’re not up to it. All I want
you to do is sit here and rest. Tammy
will stay and keep an eye on you, just in case you try something stupid.”
“I
won’t.”
“Well I’m
not so sure after last time. Tammy keep
an eye on him, if he moves, bark first, then bite him.”
I flailed
my good arm around aimlessly in the air trying to find Tammy.
“You
wouldn’t do that girl, would you?”
I felt
her paw on my knees; and then her head being pushed into my hand, before she
started licking me. “Lick me to death, maybe, but I
don’t think you’d bite. Well I hope you
won’t.”
======
I left MacGyver under the watchful eye of Tammy and walked into the kitchen. I could see a couple of lamps on the table; Amy had obviously started gathering things ready to leave. I decided I’d go and prepare the sledge, and let Amy get the rest of the gear.
I opened the door and the cold air hit me immediately. I thought it’d be best to put a jacket on, so I closed the door and turned round. I saw Amy entering the room with her arms full of rolled up blankets.
“I’m just gonna grab my jacket, then go and get the sledge ready. Is that ok with you?”
“Whatever.”
“I can stop and help you if you want?”
“No it’s ok.”
I went into the hall and put an extra layer of clothing on, then headed out to the garage. As I pulled the sledge out fully I could see it was in good condition, and noticed it had some gear stashed inside it.
The shell was pretty light to handle, it was in a kind of fin design. About 93 inches long with a depth of roughly 7 inches and there were 3 nylons straps inside to help keep MacGyver secure. I didn’t think there’d be much room left once MacGyver was laid down in it, we’d have to find something else to carry the rest of the equipment in, or on. I put the sledge down and pulled all the gear out and placed it on the floor next to me. Then I turned the sledge slightly on its side so that I could see underneath. There were 2 aluminium strips on the bottom of it, which would help it glide over the snow; and make pulling it easier. I also noticed that at one end, there was a chain brake. I lowered the sledge and turned my attention to the gear on the floor.
I noticed a rope with an attachment on the end of it; it looked like it could be part of the sledge. I got up and began a closer inspection of both the rope and the sledge. I noticed some eyebolts at the same end as the chain brake, and attached the rope; I now had the option to drag something, the question was, what could I drag? I looked around the garage but nothing really sprang to mind, it was full of junk. I also noticed four 24” aluminium handles with handle loops, and some nylon straps. I got up again and went to the sledge. On inspection, I found that the handles could be attached to both the front and rear of the sledge. So not only could we drag the sledge, we had the option to lift it, not that I thought Amy and I would ever do that, but it was there if we needed it. I turned my attention back to the last remaining item on the floor; it was a backpack.
I picked it up and took a peak inside. I pulled out a leaflet that said it was a Neann First Aid Backpack and was suitable to meet the needs of a First-Responder to Paramedic. Francis thought of everything. I delved deep inside and found a pack of eye pads. I got up and went back to the cabin so I could tend to MacGyver.
When I walked in, I saw that the table was covered with more or less everything we needed. I turned to Amy.
“Wow, you’ve got almost everything.”
“Yes, just a few more things and I’m finished.”
“Ah…well I think we have a small problem.”
“Why?”
“The sledge is only big enough for MacGyver; we’ll have to find something else to carry the equipment in.”
“Like what?”
“Um…dunno…haven’t quite figured that out yet. I found these though.”
I held up the eye pads.
“Oh.”
“Do you want to sort him out, while I go and see if I can find something for the equipment?”
“No, you do it, he likes you more.”
“Don’t be silly.”
I laughed as I spoke, not a good move, Amy did not find it funny, instead she turned her back on me and busied herself with getting ready. I mentally kicked myself as I headed for the room with MacGyver. I walked in and saw that he was lying down. Tammy got up and came towards me, her tail wagging.
“There’s a good girl, have you been looking after him for me?”
She licked my empty hand as I made a fuss of her.
“Jo?” he said in a hushed voice.
“Yeah, don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
I signalled for Tammy to follow me and took her into the kitchen to Amy.
“Will you keep her in here, while I put the pads on him?”
“Sure.”
I dropped the pack of eye pads on the table and went to wash my hands. When I returned Amy was sat down drinking a cup of coffee, staring into space with Tammy laid at her side. In one sense it looked a nice peaceful scene but I knew something was going on with her, I just couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I walked over to the table and picked up the pads.
“Amy, is there a roll of medical tape anywhere?”
“In there.”
She pointed to a backpack on a chair at the side, so I picked it up.
“It’s in the left hand pocket at the top.”
“Thanks.”
I quickly retrieved the tape, set the backpack down and headed back to MacGyver. I stopped when I realised I never had anything with me to wash his eyes. I stuffed the pads and tape into my pocket, and then poured some of the recently boiled water into a bowl. I then ran some cold water into it until it became lukewarm. Then I picked up the bowl and a sponge off the side, and went into the other room.
MacGyver
I heard footsteps coming closer, and felt the weight on the couch shift as someone sat down.
“Is that you Jo?”
“Yeah. How are you feeling now, better?”
“A bit thanks. My eyes aren’t as painful and the shoulder isn’t throbbing as much as before.”
“Good I’m glad to hear that. I found some eye pads in a first aid kit; I think they’ll give you better protection, will you take the sunglasses off so I can put them on please?”
“Yeah sure.”
I removed the glasses without thinking and recoiled at the sudden brightness, screwing my eyes shut tight. Jo touched my arm.
“Are you ok?”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m just gonna wash your eyes before I put the pads on. I’ll be using a sponge to just drip the water over them, it won’t be from a height, and I will hold the sponge fairly close to you. I don’t want to do any further damage. This is the only way I can think to clean them without causing you any harm.”
“Ok.”
I heard the sloshing of water as it moved, then the plonking sound of water hitting water, and scrunched my eyes tight. Jo touched my hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
“Ready?”
“Yeah.”
I prepared myself and waited for the water to touch my eyes. It seemed forever before I felt the first drops on my skin; the water was lukewarm and ran freely over my eyelids. Jo repeated the process a couple of times and I began to relax, the tenseness left my body, as I let the water flow over my eyes.
“Ok I think that’s enough.”
For a second I was disappointed by her words. Initially it had caused discomfort but now the water was actually soothing. I heard the tearing of paper and assumed that she was ripping open the pack with the eye pads. I opened my eyes slightly and saw her blurred shape looking down at me.
“You should keep your eyes closed; you need to block the light out as much as possible before you damage them further.”
I closed my eyes immediately.
“You’re right, sorry! You know it’s a bad habit I’ve got, opening my eyes.”
I smirked and heard her giggle.
“I’m gonna put a pad on your left eye on the count of 3 ok?”
“You bet.”
“Ok then. 1, 2, 3.”
I felt the pad against my eyelid and noticed the difference immediately. I heard tape being pulled, then torn, and then felt it being placed just above my eyebrow, over the eye pad and finally onto my cheek. Again I heard tape being torn and felt another strip placed at a different point above my eyebrow, over the pad, and onto my cheek. The pad was now securely held in place by the extra strip of tape. She repeated the process with my right eye. I lay there in complete darkness; it was as if I was totally blind. The blur was no more, and my vision was now zero. I lay there in silence.
“MacGyver are you ok?”
“Yeah, its just a bit dark that’s all.”
“It’s ok, it’ll be alright.”
She trailed her hand gently down the side of my face as if to comfort me.
“I think you should still wear the sunglasses there’s no harm in being extra safe. Would you like me to put them on for you?”
“Yes please. I don’t think I could manage that now.”
I felt her push the glasses gently on, and heard her let out a big sigh.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.”
“That was a pretty big sigh for nothing.”
I heard her let out a breath and a small laugh at the same time.
“Its just typical of our luck that’s all.”
“What finding me? I’m sorry to be a pain; as soon as I can, I’ll leave.”
She touched my chest.
“No, oh no, I never meant that, I’m sorry, I should have thought before I spoke. Its just, I found a sledge in the garage but its only big enough for you, and we need something to carry the rest of the gear. There’s no way Amy and I could carry everything and drag the sledge. I found a tail rope to fit onto something but there’s nothing to drag behind, I’m sure I’ll find something, I only took a quick look.”
“Maybe I could help?”
“How? You can’t even see, besides you’re not up to it. You need to rest.”
“I’ve been resting for ages now. I’ve got some strength back, let me help.”
“There’s nothing you can do. The garage is full of junk; I’ll have to look somewhere else.”
“You’d be surprised what you can make out of junk, maybe I’ll see something you don’t.”
“You can’t even see, how can you say that?”
“You can see; you can be my eyes. Let me help you Jo, please.”
If she could have seen my eyes, she’d have known I was pleading. I hated sitting there helpless, while they ran about doing everything. I wanted to help; I needed to help. I started to push myself up and made sure that I didn’t show any signs that I was in pain. I knew the minute I did that I’d lose the battle.
“What are you doing?”
“Helping.”
“MacGyver this is stupid, you’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Only if you don’t get out the way.”
I heard her huff as she got up off the couch, obviously not impressed with me at all. I swung my legs round and placed them on the floor. I was about to get up when I felt her hand on my good shoulder, holding me down.
“Oh no you don’t, if you’re going anywhere its with assistance. Let me get Amy. Don’t move a muscle.”
I heard footsteps retreating and smiled to myself. This was one strong-minded woman; it would be more than my life’s worth to tangle with her at the moment. I sat there in silence for a few minutes before I heard them muttering between themselves as they entered the room.
I felt the couch shift and realised that both women were sitting either side of me.
I couldn’t resist it.
“Hello ladies.”
“Don’t be so fly. We’re going to go into the garage and look at the junk. There is nothing there, why you think there is I don’t know.”
“Like I said….”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Its surprising what you can do with junk, I heard you the first time.”
I felt my arms being lifted and stifled the moan wanting to escape my lips as the movement jarred my injured shoulder. It didn’t go unnoticed.
“MacGyver?”
“I’m ok.”
“No I think we should forget it, you’re hurt.”
“Jo please, let me do this. Its not like I can do anything else to help, let me try.”
She wanted me to lie down, to stay still, but she heard the urgency in my voice and relented.
“Ok. Lets take it slowly.”
They stood up in one motion, taking care not to make any sudden movement and cause more pain than was necessary. It must have been quite a sight seeing the three of us make our way to the garage. It seemed to take forever to get there. When we did, one of them opened the door, while the other stood supporting me. Then we became one again and entered the garage. I was gently lowered onto a seat and felt both women move back. Amy never spoke once, the whole time.
“Thanks. What am I sitting on?”
“It’s an old chair that Francis has in here.”
“That was convenient. So tell me what’s here?”
“Junk.”
“Jo, we didn’t come all the way out here for you to tell me it’s junk again, describe what you see.”
“A pile of junk.”
I couldn’t help but smirk, she was winding me up and I could tell by her voice she was on the verge of laughing.
“Jo.”
“Ok. It’s a room full of junk, but on the right, we have some shelving that has tins of paint, a few aerosols, oil, a drill and a hydraulic jack. Leaning against the rear wall there are 2 sheets of sheet metal, a few steel lengths, a rake, a snow shovel and an upright mower. Half way along the left wall there are more shelves with a saw, shears, box of nails, some screws, some drill bits in a container, a chuck key, a few lengths of rope, some chalk, a tape measure, some pens, a couple of permanent markers and more paint. There are also some wooden blocks, gas-welding equipment and a sheet of tarpaulin. As I said a big pile of junk.”
I laughed.
You say junk; I say we have something to move your gear.”
“What? I can’t see anything to do that.”
“That’s coz you’re not looking properly.”
“I think you’re losing it MacGyver, there is nothing in here.”
“Just gather these things together…..”
“What things?”
“The drill, one sheet of sheet metal, the gas welding equipment, the tarpaulin, two steel bars, 3 lengths of rope, a permanent marker, the container of drill bits, the chuck key, two wooden blocks, a piece of chalk, the tape measure and the hydraulic jack.”
“And what do you think that’s gonna do?”
“You’ll see.”
“Ok fine…I’ll play along. Amy can you grab some of the things please?”
“Yes,” she answered, speaking for the first time.
“Put them altogether in the center of the room.”
“Ok.”
I heard them moving around getting all the objects into one spot, and then silence. I shifted on the chair to get more comfortable and heard someone approach, and then I suddenly felt something being wrapped around me.
“What’s that?”
“My jacket, you have to keep warm. So what now?”
“We’re gonna build a sort of sledge.”
I heard her laughing as she walked away from me. She stopped and I assumed that she was back in the center of the room.
“You’re kidding right? You think we can build a sledge out of this?”
“No I’m not kidding and yes we will. Before we do anything else, is the width of the sheet metal small enough to fit under the door?”
“I think so”
“Can you try? Try and push it at least 12 inches under it.”
“Ok.”
I heard her dragging the sheet metal along the floor, past me, and then the noise stopped; she had to be by the door. After a while, I could tell she was losing her patience trying to get it to fit, because of the constant moaning at what a stupid idea I had. It went silent and she spoke.
“Ok its there now, and don’t you dare say I’ve gotta move it.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
“Well you have to move it, but not from under the door. Can you get the two blocks and the hydraulic jack next, and put them at the other end of the sheet metal, so that you’re standing opposite the door?”
“I can.”
I heard her walk away and then return dropping what I assumed was the two blocks on the floor with a thud, one of them must have bounced and hit the metal. I heard the metallic sound as it made contact. I felt a breeze as she walked past me, then she spoke.
“Ok I’m standing opposite the door, with the hydraulic jack in my hands, what do you want me to do now?”
“I want you to put it down on the floor and grab hold of the edge of the sheet metal, then push up against the bottom of the door. Bend down so you can get as much leverage as you can. It might be an idea if Amy helps, instead of you trying to do the block part too.”
“You think I’m gonna bend this metal? You do know I’m a woman right?”
“Of course I know you’re a woman. Trust me you can do this.”
I heard her take a big sigh.
“Bear with me here MacGyver; it’s just for me to know. I’m gonna bend this metal and Amy is gonna do what with these blocks?”
“While you’re holding the metal at an angle, Amy will place the blocks at both ends so that when you let go it doesn’t fall back down on the ground.”
“And the point of this is?”
“Jo just work with me; try not to be so negative. You’ll see where I’m coming from in a minute.”
Another big sigh.
“Amy can you come here please?”
“Ok.”
I heard footsteps and then heard the women talking amongst themselves. Amy wasn’t very impressed so far, and Jo was starting to get impatient.
“I’m gonna push up now. Amy, get ready.”
“Ok.”
Joanne James
I pushed up against the bottom of the door like MacGyver said, and the sheet metal bent upwards to a reasonable enough degree for Amy to get the blocks underneath it. When I saw her knock the second block securely into place I let go. The result was as MacGyver predicted, the sheet metal lay on top of the blocks.
“Ok, what now?”
“Put the hydraulic jack under the sheet metal, and push it into place so that the top of the jack touches the metal.”
“Ok.”
I knelt down, grabbed the jack, pushed it under the metal and along the ground until it could go no further.
“What next?”
“Pump the jack to its full reach.”
I started pumping the jack and saw the metal sheeting rise under the pressure. It lifted off the blocks and started to bend at angle. I could see where he was going now. He was using the door as a vice; the blocks and jack were going to give us the angle we needed. Ok I still couldn’t a sledge at the end of it, but at least I could see what he had in mind with the sheet metal. When it reached its limit, I shouted to Amy.
“Push the blocks under here now Amy.”
When the blocks were securely in place, I scooted back and took a quick look. It was bending nicely; it would probably take a few more attempts before we got the result we wanted. I stole a glance at MacGyver and saw him smirking.
“Ok MacGyver I admit, that was a good idea. Still can’t see the sledge, but I think maybe you’re not as crazy as I thought.”
He laughed.
“Once you’ve bent that end, you’ll need to repeat the process on the other side.”
“Ok.”
I repeated the process three more times before I was satisfied we had enough of an angle for a sledge. I told Amy to step back while I pushed the metal sheeting up against the door, and pulled it clear from under it.
I turned the metal around, and then dropped it back on the floor. I struggled more with it this time, trying to get it under the door, eventually I succeeded and we started the whole process of bending the metal all over again. It seemed to take ages doing this side, much longer than the other, but that was probably because I was starting to get tired, and so was Amy. Finally we finished and I again pulled the metal sheeting from under the door, and placed it flat on the floor. I stood back and looked at the result. What was once a flat sheet now had 2 ends bent upwards at an approximately 45% angle.
“What’s next?”
“Measure 2 inches from the base and 1 inch inwards of the sheet metal, then make a mark on it. It might be worth Amy helping you again. Once you have the location on both sides measure the distance between them and make a note of it. I need you to take the measurements from both the left, and the right hand side of the metal sheeting.”
“Ok.”
I nodded
to Amy and we knelt down next to the sheet metal.
I
measured 2 inches up and an inch across on one side, and made a mark by
it. Then I went over to the other side
and repeated the process. After that, I
extended the tape, and pushed it along the floor towards Amy. She grabbed hold of it and raised it so that
it rested on top of the mark we’d made seconds earlier. I waited for her to signal that it was ok
for me to pull the tape taut before I continued. She nodded and I pulled the tape down to my mark and took the
required measurement. We repeated the
process on the other side.
“That’s done, what now?”
“Ok now we need to measure the steel bars. They must to be the length you’ve just measured, if they’re not, you’ll have to cut them down to size.”
“How am I supposed to do that? And what if they’re too short, oh I suppose I could weld them together then, right?”
“Yeah, the welding equipment will both cut and weld.”
“Ok…I’m glad Francis showed me how to use that, otherwise we’d be stuck now.”
“We wouldn’t have been stuck, I’d have talked you through it, but its easier if you know how to work it.”
“I know how to weld, cutting is another thing.”
“Just use the burner.”
“Oh right, so you only use the rods when you weld?”
“Yeah.”
I picked up the tape measure, and a piece of chalk. Then I walked over to the steel bars to measure them, no big surprise they were too long. I marked out the length we needed with the chalk, and then took them a reasonable distance away from the welder, before placing them on the ground. I walked back to the welder, turned it on, picked up the welding gun, turned the switch on the side to allow the gas through and suddenly realised I didn’t have a match; I turned it back off quickly.
“Ah…anyone got a match?”
I saw MacGyver put his hand in his pocket and pull out a lighter.
“You can use this.”
Oh great. I really hated lighting this thing as it was, the thought of using a lighter didn’t make me feel any easier, but there wasn’t a choice.
“Amy can you get that for me please?”
Amy walked over to MacGyver and took the lighter from him, then gave it to me before stepping back. She hated this kind of thing, anything with a flame made her uneasy.
“Amy while I light this can you rest the edge of one of the steel lengths on top of a wooden block, so that the end I marked with chalk is over hanging it please?”
“Sure.”
I turned
the switch on the welding gun to allow the gas to come through; lit the
gun with the lighter; and stood there until Amy had put the steel bar into the position I asked. She stepped back and to the side, then I stepped forwards. I knelt down on the floor and then rested one knee on top of the steel bar, holding it securely in place. I was just about to start cutting when Amy shouted.
“Jo wait!”
I looked up.
“Don’t forget to use these.”
She handed me some goggles to protect my eyes. I smiled as I took them off her.
“Thanks. I forgot about them.”
“I never.”
I flushed with embarrassment. She hadn’t shouted at me, but she’d told me off in her own little way. I put the goggles on using one hand, and then lowered the welding gun so that the flame started cutting the bar. It took quite a while to cut through, and by the end of it the sweat was pouring off me. I repeated the process with the other bar, got up, and turned the welding gun off. The light extinguished almost immediately. I never turned the welding unit off at that point, coz I had the idea I’d be using it again.
“Ok that’s done. Do you want me to weld the bars inside the metal sheeting now?”
“Yeah, make sure you put them where you made the marks earlier.”
“I thought you were gonna say that.”
I put down the welding gun, picked up the two
steel bars; and then walked over to the metal sheeting. When I put them down, I strolled over to the wooden blocks
and picked one up. It was too big for
what I needed, so I measured the others scattered around on the floor. Amongst them I managed to find a couple
small enough to be supports for the steel bar, as I welded it to the surface of
the metal sheeting. It wasn’t long
before they were welded into place. As
I finished, I switched off the gun, the flame extinguished almost immediately. Then I got up, walked over to the welding
unit, and turned it off.
“Ok I’ve done that. What now? Put the tarpaulin inside the frame?”
“Almost.”
“Oh. What’s next then?”
“Take one length of rope and push it under the steel bar so that it rests on the base of the sheet metal, ensure that both ends of the rope drape over the edge. Repeat the process with the other 2 pieces of rope, leaving an equal space between them.”
“Ok I think I get it now. After that we put the tarpaulin on top of the ropes making sure its inside the frame of the sheet metal, then place what we want to carry inside it. When we’ve done that cover them up with the tarpaulin, then pull the ropes up against the side of the steel bar, and tie the two ends together so that they hold the things securely in place.”
“That’s
it.”
“I just have one problem with that.”
“What’s that?”
“How are we going to drag it along, there is nothing to tie the rope to?”
“Well that’s what the drills for.”
“Oh I forgot about that”
“Find a drill bit as close to the size you want and drill a hole. Do you know how to use a drill?”
“Yeah. You know, I’ll never moan at Francis for teaching me anything again. It’s proved quite useful today.”
I walked over towards the drill and heard MacGyver and Amy laughing. I bent down and picked it up. I pulled back on the trigger to make sure the battery still had some life in it, thankfully it did. I didn’t fancy looking round for the electrical hook up for it. I gathered the container with bits and put the chuck key in my pocket. Then I returned to our homemade sledge.
“Amy can you bring that other sledge over here please?”
She picked up the sledge and almost threw it across the garage (maybe I should have told her how light it was before she picked it up). I smirked. She turned and I saw a small smile appear on her face. My smirk turned into one huge big grin, I couldn’t help myself.
I knelt down, and then placed the drill bits and drill on the ground. Then I used the chuck key to remove the bit that had been left inside the drill. When Amy put the sledge down, I turned it round so that the rope I’d attached earlier was facing me.
I scattered the drill bits on the floor and chose the one closest to the size of the rope, then pushed the bit into the chuck and used the key to lock it securely into place. I left the drill and picked the sledge up, moving it so that the end with the rope was facing our homemade sledge.
“How high up should I make the hole?”
“About 5 inches.”
“Amy can you measure 5 inches please and make it central to the sledge?”
She walked over, picked up the tape and made the required measurement. I marked the spot with the marker, then picked up the drill and pulled back on the trigger. Amy got up and walked over to the door. The bit ate its way through the metal and once it was through, I moved the drill around to elongate the hole to the desired size. I pulled the drill out and tested the size of the hole before I took my finger off the trigger, and watched the bit slow down and come to a stop. I stood up, walked over to the shelves and placed the drill down on one of them.
“Almost done.”
I walked back to the homemade sledge, pushed the rope through the hole in the center, and then knotted it so that it was held securely in place.
“That’s it. I think we deserve a drink now. We can pack the sledge up after that.”
I looked at Amy and nodded towards MacGyver. She knew what I was getting at, and started walking towards him. We arrived at his side almost at the same time, bent down and pulled his arms up and over our shoulders. I heard him groan, and watched the color drain from his face.
“MacGyver we’re gonna go back to the cabin now. Are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
I saw him preparing himself ready for us to lift him, and noticed him swallow hard.
“Are you feeling ok?”
“I feel a bit sick, and giddy.”
“I think you’ve overdone it. You’ve been sat on that chair for nearly 3 hours now. You’ll feel better once we get you back inside, and you get some rest.”
“Yeah.”
“Ok on the count of 3 then, 1, 2, 3.”
On 3, Amy and I stood up taking it as slowly as we could, to try to avoid hurting him any more than he already was. He leant more heavily on me this time; I looked at Amy and could see that she was trying to take some of his weight off me. We more or less dragged him back to the cabin; he tried to help but it was as if all his energy had been sucked out of him.
Once inside we took him back to the couch, and gently lowered him down so that he was in a lying position. He was totally whacked, he didn’t even argue, the moment his head hit the pillows I saw his body go limp, and his arm flopped down by his side.
“MacGyver are you ok? Would you like a drink or anything?”
“No thanks. I just want to lie here, is that ok?”
His voice sounded really weak, as if he was fighting to keep awake. I looked up at Amy and could tell she was as worried as I was.
“Yeah, we’ll leave you alone to rest. I’ll check on you in about an hour.”
He seemed to sink deeper into the couch as I watched some of the tenseness leave his body. I grabbed a blanket off the side, and gently wrapped it around him. I thought I heard him say something and looked up. I could see he was trying to speak; he mouthed the word ‘thanks’ just before his head flopped to the side and he fell asleep.
Amy and I left the room, and went back into
the kitchen. Tammy was still curled up
in front of the stove, just as she was when we’d left her hours ago, not even
the chill of the air as we’d opened the door, had disturbed her. I sat down on a chair by the table, turned
to Amy, and pointed at Tammy.
“I wish I could sleep that well.”
She looked at where I was pointing and
laughed, then turned her attention back to the task she’d set herself, making
us a drink.
I looked around the kitchen at all the gear
scattered on the floor, and could tell that it would easily fit into our
homemade sledge. I was quite proud of
what we’d achieved; we’d literally made something out of nothing. How the heck MacGyver had come up with that,
I had no idea. He couldn’t even see,
he’d just listened to my description of the room, and gone from that. I was both amazed, and impressed by the
guy.
I looked back towards Amy; she was looking
out the window, deep in thought and if I knew her, unwilling to share
them. She was already starting to block
me out, not that I could blame her, after all, I’d done nothing but push and
say stupid things ever since she’d woken me up that morning. I lowered my head into my hands, and then
leant my elbows on the table.
I sat there thinking about the journey we
were going to take, the effect it would have on MacGyver, and how I was going
to get Amy across that bridge. The wafting aroma of coffee interrupted my
thoughts; I lifted my head out of my hands.
Amy’s eyes met mine.
“Jo, are you ok?”
I smiled at her as I picked up my mug of
coffee.
“Yeah, I’m fine, how about you?”
“I’m ok.”
I gave her a small smile.
“That’s good. Once I’ve finished this I’ll go check on MacGyver, and then pack
the gear into the sledge. Is it all
here now?”
“Yes I think so. I’ve probably missed something I usually do, John always moans
about me doing that, but I know I’ve packed up all the essentials.”
I laughed as I thought back to when we’d all
gone camping a few years ago, and Amy had been in charge of packing the
gear. Oh we’d got everything all right,
everything except one bag of pegs for the tents; tents aren’t much use without
them. I laughed out loud at the memory
of John’s face when he’d realised she’d forgotten them, and the constant
moaning until Francis had given us some of his, so we could put our tents up
and not have to go all the way back to town and buy some. One gust of wind and all the tents would
have gone down because there were only a few pegs holding each, all of them
placed strategically to enable them to stay upright. Amy’s voice brought me back to the present.
“What’s so funny Jo?”
“I was just thinking about the last time we
went camping.”
Her face broke out into a huge smile.
“Oh John had a field day with that one; I
think he must have moaned for at least an hour over me forgetting those pegs.”
“Yeah he went on a bit didn’t he?”
Amy’s laughter was short lived, and the room
was once again plunged into silence. I
glanced up and saw she was looking out the window.
“What’s it doing out there?”
“Its overcast, I think it’s going to snow.”
“I hope it doesn’t, its gonna be hard enough
without having another layer to contend with.”
She turned her attention back to me.
“Do you think we can pull him all that way?”
“I’m not gonna lie to you Amy, it isn’t
gonna be easy. The sledge has aluminium
strips on the bottom of it, so it should help glide it more easily over the
snow, but its gonna take a lot of muscle to move it, especially when we first
set off. Once it’s moving, it shouldn’t
be too bad. We’ll have to try to keep
to an even path, the rougher the terrain; the harder it’s going to be. But yes, I think we can pull him all the
way.”
“Do you think he’ll be ok?”
“It’s going to be tough on him.”
I saw a brief glimpse of remorse flit across
her face as she listened to me.
“The inside of the sledge is pretty deep so
it should offer him quite a bit of protection, plus we can strap him in, so at
least he’ll be safe, and won’t fall out.”
I got up and started to walk out of the
room.
“I’ll just go check on him before I start to
pack the gear up.”
“Ok.”
When I got to the room where he was, I could
see he was in the same position I’d left him in. He looked at peace, as if he was pain free, as he lay there
motionless. I turned on my heel and
left the room, leaving him to rest once again.
As I re-entered the kitchen, I could see Amy was still sat with her
hands cupped around her mug of coffee by the table; she turned to me.
“Was he ok?”
I smiled at her.
“Yeah he’s still sleeping. He has a nice smile, don’t you think?”
She slammed her mug down on the table
causing some of the coffee to spill.
“What do you mean he has a nice smile? What about Francis?”
I could tell she was angry, not only by the
mug being slammed down, but also by the tone of her voice. I hadn’t expected her to react like that;
after all, it was only a passing comment.
“Just what I said, that he has a nice
smile. Actually his smile reminds me of
Francis.”
I stopped speaking momentarily and smiled to
myself, as I saw an image of Francis in my mind’s eye, then I continued.
“But it’s not quite as cute, I don’t think
anyone’s will ever be as cute as his.”
“Then why did you mention his
smile? You shouldn’t even be thinking
about how nice another man looks, it’s being unfaithful to Francis.”
“I can’t believe you just said that, I’ve
never heard anything so stupid in all my life.
John has a nice smile too; does that mean I’m after him as well?”
“Of course it doesn’t! You know what I mean. Don’t try to deny that you don’t like him
Jo; I can tell you do, by the way you are with him! He’s very good looking and you’re attracted to him.”
“I am NOT attracted to him. I do like the guy, but not in the way you’re
implying. He seems like a caring man
and he reminds me of Francis. He’s just
like the brother I always wanted but never had.”
I stood up and collected a handful of
blankets, then looked at Amy.
“You know how much Francis means to me, its
insulting to think that you’d even imply a passing comment like that as being
unfaithful.”
I walked towards the door. Amy got up and started walking towards me.
“Where do you think you’re going this
conversation isn’t over yet?”
I turned to look at her as I opened the
door.
“Oh I think it is.”
With that, I walked out the door, not giving
her or me, the chance to say another word.
As I trudged through the snow towards the garage, I heard the door
slamming behind me.
I looked up into the sky, noticing
immediately the over hanging clouds threatening to send more snow down. I could tell that night was setting in, and
decided that there was no way we’d be leaving today, but, I was determined to
pack the sledge now, so that we could set off first thing in the morning.
It took me about 5 trips in total before
everything was loaded up and securely tied down. I looked at my watch; it was 7.34 pm the day had flown. As I walked back to the cabin I could tell
the temperature had dropped severely, I could see every breath I took lingering
in the atmosphere. There was going to
be a hard frost tonight.
I put my hand on the handle of the cabin
door and automatically looked inside.
Amy was playing with Tammy; it was such a wonderful sight to see, what
was left of my temper disappeared instantly.
I stood by the cabin door for a few minutes, not wanting to lose the
moment, not wanting to return to reality too soon. For that split second, I wanted an escape, and watching them was
my escape. It didn’t last long; Tammy
noticed me and started bounding towards the door, barking as if she hadn’t seen
me for years. I smiled, opened the door
and walked inside closing it behind me.
She was bursting with energy, running
towards me and then turning round on the spot, as she stood next to me. I ruffled the top of her head and she pushed
herself hard into my legs, I almost lost my balance as I stepped backwards into
the door.
“Calm down Tammy, there’s a good girl.”
I could tell Amy was about to call her, so I
put my hand up to stop her.
“Its ok, she’s just a bit excited that’s
all. Do you want to go out girl?”
She barked, wagged her tail frantically, and
then started jumping up and down. I
smiled as I opened the door, and she charged out as if she’d been fenced in for
years. I called after her.
“Don’t wander off.”
I watched her rolling about in the snow,
kicking it in the air, basically having the time of her life. Amy came and stood next to me, I saw her
smile.
“We’ll let her let burn some of that energy
off for a bit, watch a video or something and grab an early night. I’d like to get going as soon as we can tomorrow
is that ok with you?”
“Yes.
What time did you have in mind?”
“I thought about 6.00 am it should be pretty
light then.”
“Ok.”
We let Tammy play outside for about 15
minutes; she was a lot calmer when we let her in. Amy went into the bedroom and returned with a book. She sat down by the kitchen table and
started reading; Tammy curled herself up at her feet. I decided I’d have a bath to warm up. While I waited for the water to heat up, I checked on
MacGyver. He was fast asleep, the
blanket was a bit askew so I straightened it up, and tucked it around him
before I returned to the kitchen.
I grabbed a deck of cards off the side, and
had a couple of games of solitaire before the water was hot enough. I ran a bath and sank into the warm water, allowing
the aroma of lavender to relax me. By
the time I got out, I looked like a shrivelled prune, Francis was right; I
always stay in one too long. I pulled
on my night ware and went into the kitchen; Amy was still reading her book.
“Amy can you check on MacGyver please? I think I’m gonna hit the sack now.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, well I’m not exactly dressed for the
occasion, you don’t mind do you?”
She scowled at me, and for a split second I
thought she was gonna say, no.
“Ok.”
“Thanks.
I’ll see you in the morning.”
I turned and smiled to myself as I left the room. I climbed into bed and pulled the blankets
up around myself to keep the heat in.
I watched Jo walk out of the room in
silence. What I really wanted to do was
tell her to stop, that it was up to her to look after this MacGyver, not me. I’ll
give her, her due; she’d gone about it in such a way that I really had no
choice. If I’d said no, it would have
turned into another row, and it was too late for that, we were both tired and needed
our rest ready for tomorrow.
I dog-eared the corner of the page I was reading in my
book, closed it shut, and then placed it on the kitchen table. As I pushed the chair back, it made a
screeching sound that woke Tammy up from her slumber.
“Sorry girl.”
I got up and Tammy unravelled herself, and then slowly got
to her feet. I looked down at her.
“Are you coming with me to check on MacGyver?”
She looked up at me and started wagging her tail. I ruffled the top of her head, and then
walked to the room with MacGyver, Tammy close at my heels. When I got there, I saw that he was fast
asleep, snugly wrapped up in a blanket.
I quietly walked across the room so as not to disturb him, Tammy ran
ahead and then plunked herself down on the floor at the side of the couch. I was surprised at how quickly she’d taken
to him, she very rarely made a fuss of strangers and yet she’d let this man in
freely. What was it that made her trust
him? I sat down on a nearby chair, and
let my mind drift over what we had ahead of us.
I must have dozed off because the next thing I felt was
Tammy nudging me. I drowsily opened my
eyes and heard him groaning, the sound instantly waking me up completely. I looked over and could see that he was
becoming restless. His head was
flopping from side to side and he was mumbling. I couldn’t make out the words, but I could tell whatever he was
dreaming about was distressing him. I
sat there undecided about what to do, I wanted to help him, but at the same
time, I didn’t want too. What if I did,
and I hurt him? Everyone I’d touched
lately I’d hurt, I decided to stay were I was.
I watched him fighting the demons in his dream, his
movements becoming more erratic with each passing moment. Tammy started clawing at me, and every time
I looked at her, she’d walk back to MacGyver and sit down next to him, before
looking back at me.
“I can’t Tammy, I just can’t.”
She looked accusingly at me as if to say ‘how can you just
sit there while he needs your help’ it felt as if she’d taken over from Jo,
that she was trying to bring back the old Amy, the one who wasn’t afraid to
care, the one who didn’t have a jinx.
At that point, I thought I heard Jo, although I knew it was my mind
saying it to me, but it was so clear, ‘there is no jinx Amy, stop doing that to
yourself, what happened wasn’t your fault.’
I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, and saw him
move his injured shoulder; he let out a deep groan as the pain struck him, and
arched his back. He then lowered
himself back onto the pillows; I noticed his breathing alter as he tried to
control the pain. I couldn’t stand
watching him any longer; I got up and sat on the edge of the couch next to
him. He turned his head in my
direction.
“Jo?”
“No, it’s Amy.
Jo’s asleep. Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
I could almost hear the shock in his voice as he realised
it was me and not Jo. I got up and he
grabbed my hand.
“I’m sorry I sounded surprised, I just expected it to be
Jo.”
“I’ll go get her for you.”
“No, please don’t, there’s no need to disturb her.”
I pulled my hand away, and he let his arm drop onto the
couch. I picked up the bedraggled
blanket and wrapped it around him.
“Thanks Amy.”
“Its ok. Why don’t
you try and get some more sleep, we’ve got a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”
“Yeah I know. You
should get some sleep too; don’t worry about me, it’s you and Jo that need the
rest. You’re the ones that’ll be doing
all the work. I’ll just be lying there
like a lead weight that you’ve got to drag along.”
I could hear the regret in his voice, and I felt it pull
at my heart.
“Just get some sleep.”
“Ok.”
I bent down and stroked Tammy, then whispered quietly to
her.
“Stay here and keep an eye on him bark if he wakes up.”
I got to my feet and walked to the door, as I opened it, I
heard MacGyver speak.
“Night, Amy.”
I looked over my
shoulder and smiled.
“Night MacGyver, night Tammy.”
I saw him smile when I answered him, and Tammy wagged her
tail enthusiastically thumping it down hard on the floor, the noise made MacGyver
jump slightly. I was about to tell him
it was Tammy when I noticed him pulling his arm out from under the blanket,
allowing it hang down the side of the couch.
Tammy crawled along the floor until she was near him then nudged his
hand.
“Hey Tammy, are you staying here to look after me girl?”
She started licking his fingers the moment he said her
name. I smiled to myself as I shut the
door, and made my way to bed.
I must have gone into a deep sleep because
the next thing I knew, Amy was waking me up and it was morning.
I jumped out of bed as if I was late for an
important meeting. Amy of course was
all prepared and ready to go, while I rushed round like an idiot.
“Is he awake?”
“Yes.
I gave him a mug of coffee and some toast, that was all he said he could
stomach.
“Oh good.
So he’s ready to move then, you’re ready to move, it’s just me we’re
waiting for. What time is it?”
“6.00.”
“Oh, well we’re a bit behind, but nothing
major. Will you make me some toast or
something?”
I looked at her pleadingly and she smiled.
“Ok.”
“Thanks.”
I quickly got dressed then went into the
kitchen. There was a bowl of porridge
waiting for me, I hated that stuff, but it was probably the best thing to have
going out in these weather conditions.
I forced it down, ate a couple of rounds of toast Amy had made for me,
and drank a mug of warm coffee. I
looked up and saw her pushing a couple of flasks into each backpack. I pushed the chair back and she turned to
me.
“Don’t forget to tell Francis when we
leave.”
“I’ll go tell him now. We’ll be ready to leave in about half an
hour.”
“Ok.”
I rushed to the radio and sat myself down in
front of it, turned it on, and grabbed the handset. I clicked down on the button.
“Francis can you hear me? It’s Jo. Over. Come on Francis wake up.
Over.”
I released the button and waited for Francis
to respond. It seemed like hours but I
know it was merely minutes.
“Jo? What’s the matter is something wrong?
Over.”
“No we’re ok. We’re gonna start heading for town in about half an hour. So start counting down from then, I don’t
know how long we’ll be, but at least you can have an idea how long it’s taking
us. Over.”
“Ok.
How are you planning on bringing him in? Over.”
“I found your sledge in the garage; it’s
more than big enough for him but nothing else, so we made something to drag
behind it out of your junk. Over.”
“I forgot about that. What have you made? Over.”
“A homemade sledge, its big enough to carry
all the gear we need. Over.”
“Told you that you’d find a way, I knew you
would. Over.”
“It was MacGyver; he came up with the
idea. He also told us that there are
some men after him, that want to kill him; they ran him off the road. Over.”
“Kill him?
What the hell did he do? Over.”
“Yeah and they made a good attempt too. He didn’t do anything Francis, he witnessed
a murder and they’re trying to stop him getting to court to testify against
someone called Boss Larry. Over.”
“Be careful Jo; get here as fast as you
can. Are these men still after him?
Over.”
“He thinks so. Over.”
There was silence on the other end.
“Francis are you still there? Over.”
“Jo I don’t like the sound of this. Please be careful, these men sound dangerous
to me. MacGyver is in no condition to
protect you; I’m tempted to tell you to stay where you are. Over.”
“Don’t be silly Francis, you said yourself
MacGyver needs help as soon as possible, we’ll be ok, and we have Tammy with
us. Over.”
“I know he needs help, and I know Tammy will
protect you. I just want you and Amy to
be safe. Over.”
“We will.
Don’t worry; we’ll be ok. I’m
sure the men who tried to kill him think he’s dead, its just MacGyver
panicking. He’s hurt pretty bad and
really weak; oh and he’s still running a temperature so probably imaging
things. Over.”
“I hope so, be careful Jo. It sounds like he needs some heavy-duty
antibiotics to knock out that infection.
Keep a careful eye on his temperature.
Over.”
“I will.
See you soon. Over.”
“Ok.
Bye. Over and out.”
I put the handset back on the side of the
radio, switched it off and went into the room where MacGyver was.
MacGyver
I heard someone approach and gave a small
wave of my hand.
“Hi.”
“Hi MacGyver, how are we feeling today?”
I swung my legs to the side and pulled
myself up into a sitting position. I
felt pretty sick by the movement, and I couldn’t help but winch as the pain
struck me. I wasn’t about to let Jo
know that though.
“Pretty good after that sleep. How long was I out?”
“Almost 10 hours.”
“Wow.
I must have been tired.”
I shifted on the couch and knocked my
shoulder, I bit back the moan wanting to escape my lips. I grabbed hold of my arm as if to try to
ease the pain. Jo must have noticed.
“MacGyver, are you ok?”
I answered through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, it’ll pass, I’d just forgotten I’d
hurt it for a while there, its ok.”
I don’t think I convinced her. I didn’t convince myself, so I really didn’t
stand a chance with her.
“Would you like a sling for your arm? I should have thought of that before, it
would help support your shoulder.”
I could hear the regret in her voice because
she hadn’t thought of a sling.
“No its ok, it’ll restrict me too much. I’ll be alright.”
I felt the couch move as she sat next to me.
“I think you should have one, it’ll be safer
that way.”
I turned towards her voice.
“Please, don’t. I can’t do anything as it is, the sling will make it even
worse. When we came back from the
garage, I was no help. I was leaning on you a lot, and as much as I tried not
too, I just couldn’t stop myself.”
She touched my arm.
“That wasn’t your fault, you’re hurt.”
“I know that. But Amy was there; she helped you. If I’d had a sling, you’d have been on your own and I would have
pulled you down with me. I don’t want
to accidentally hurt you Jo. At least
with two arms free I can make an attempt to help.”
“But it’ll help your shoulder and you
obviously know you need the support because you just grabbed your arm
yourself.”
“Exactly.
I grabbed it because I know I needed to, and I can keep doing that. Lets make a deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
I smiled.
At least she gave me a chance, didn’t just tell me to shut up. I was at her mercy. I knew if she forced me
to wear one, there wasn’t much I could do about it, but she was giving me a
chance, and I was grateful for that.
“I don’t wear the sling…”
“You call that a deal?”
“You interrupted me before I got to the deal
part.”
“Sorry.”
I could tell she was embarrassed, I bet her
face was a picture.
“The deal is: if the shoulder wound reopens
because I’ve been moving round too much, I’ll put one on, until then I do
without. How’s that sound?”
“Well I’d prefer you to wear one, but I’ll
go along with that for now. Don’t want
you feeling like I have all the control do we?”
She had a knack of making me laugh.
“No we don’t. Thanks Jo.”
I felt the couch move as she got up.
“I’m gonna fetch Amy so we can set off. I’ll be right back.”
“Ok.”
Joanne James
I quickly left MacGyver and found Amy, she
was just about to put a backpack on.
“No Amy don’t do that yet, we need to get
MacGyver in the sledge first.”
“Ok calm down, I was just testing it for the
weight.”
“Oh right, yeah, sorry about that.”
As we went for MacGyver I looked at Amy, I
could see she was trying hard not to laugh, I nudged her and she started to
giggle. We entered the room and he
turned his head towards the door.
“Right then, let’s get you into the sledge.”
Amy and I sat down either side of him, and
pulled his arms as gently as possible over our shoulders. We told him on the count of 3 we’d get up,
just as we’d done the day before. I
watched him tense up and prepare himself as we reached 3. We got up slowly; in fact, we looked liked
experts. We raised ourselves with ease
and he hardly made a sound, just a small moan as he straightened up at the
end. We walked him slowly towards the
kitchen. When we got there, I nodded
from Amy to a nearby chair. She gently
pulled away from him and grabbed hold of it, bringing it closer towards
us. At the same time as she moved I
felt him tilt slightly to one side, pulling me unexpectedly downwards. I quickly managed to regain control, as he
helped shift his weight more onto me.
“Sorry I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Its ok I should have told you. I’m gonna sit you down on a chair for a
while, just until the sledge is ready for you, ok?”
“Yeah.”
I lowered him down until he was sitting on
the edge of the chair. I could feel he
was still running a high temperature through his shirtsleeve and indicated to
Amy about it. She nodded and looked
worried.
“Don’t lean back until I say you can.”
“Ok.”
I held him there while Amy draped a blanket
over the back of the chair, doubling it over, to ensure that it protected his
back. When she’d finished, I lowered
him backwards slowly onto the support of the backrest. He let out a small groan as the weight of
his body sank into the blanket.
“I won’t be long. Amy is going to put one of Francis’ jackets on you. Ok?”
“Ok.”
I left him with Amy and rushed out into the
garage. I flipped the sledge we were
going to put MacGyver into so that it was rested on top of our homemade one,
and then used the rope between the two sledges to pull them out of the
garage. The moment the homemade sledge
hit the snow I felt the difference, it was much easier to pull, and within
seconds, I had it in a good enough position to be able to manoeuvre MacGyver
into it, with a degree of ease. I
pulled the sledge off our homemade one and laid it on the ground, then went
inside for Amy and MacGyver.
I opened the door and told them we were
ready to go. Amy picked up the two
backpacks and passed them to me; I ran over to the sledges and put them
down. When I returned, Amy was standing
next to MacGyver waiting for me. I
nodded to her and we bent down onto our knees, either side of him.
“Ok MacGyver, get ready.”
We positioned ourselves under his armpits,
and then pushed ourselves up until we made contact with them, then holding his
arms we pulled ourselves up slowly, taking him with us. We stood for a moment while he composed
himself, and then made our way to the sledge.
The ground was scrunching under our feet, telling us that the ice still
formed a top layer as we walked along.
I was nervous of falling in case MacGyver got hurt, so we walked very
slowly and cautiously along. I hadn’t
really noticed the ice until that point.
I nodded to a stump that Francis used to chop logs on near the sledge,
and we made our way towards it. When we
were close enough I stopped, and almost instantly, Amy did the same.
“What’s going on Jo, why did we stop?” He was shivering badly.
“We’re going to put you in the sledge in a
moment, but first I want you to sit on a tree stump. Amy will support you; you won’t be on your own. I just want to check everything is ok before
we start to put you into it, is that alright?”
“Yeah.”
We lowered him down and I pulled away,
leaving him in the capable hands of Amy.
She didn’t look too impressed with what was going on, but she never
moaned, just did what I asked.
I ran over to the sledge and unclipped the
three nylon straps inside, opening them up fully and laying them over each side
of the sledge. Then I dug deep into one
of the backpacks and pulled out a couple of blankets, and laid them on the base
of the sledge, before returning to Amy and MacGyver.
“Ok we’re set now, are you ready?”
Amy nodded and MacGyver took a deep breath.
“Yeah.”
Again we pulled him carefully to his feet
and then walked slowly to the sledge.
When he got by the side of it I asked him to lean against Amy more, and
pushed his body gently in her direction.
She took up his weight the best she could. I asked him to step inside the sledge and he raised his foot, I
grabbed hold of it and carefully guided it over the edge of the sledge and
downwards. As his foot lowered, his
weight shifted and he started to topple over in my direction. I quickly grabbed him, supporting him as I
did and he regained his footing. He now
stood with one foot inside the sledge, and one outside.
I signalled for Amy to move around to the
other side of the sledge so she could take his weight, while I helped him bring
his second foot inside. I pulled him
towards me as Amy came round to my side, then we repeated the process with his
other foot, and within a few seconds, he was standing fully inside the
sledge. We helped lower him down so
that he was sitting upright with his knees bent, and feet on the base of the
sledge.
“MacGyver we’re gonna lower you down. We’re gonna try and not jolt your shoulder,
but I can’t guarantee that won’t happen.”
“Ok.
If you want me to do anything just say.”
“Just relax; it’ll make it easier on us.”
“I’ll try.”
I unbent his knees and straightened his legs
out in front of him, as Amy supported his back. His feet were quite a few inches away from the bottom, so I
tugged hard on the blanket until he’d moved down the sledge enough to enable
him to lie down easily. Then I ran to
the opposite side of Amy. I put my arm
gently on the front of his shoulder blade; Amy did the same.
“I need you to lie back now. We’re going to lower you down.”
As we lowered him, I could see he was
straining to try to hold some of his body weight, to try to help us.
“Stop helping MacGyver, just relax, and let
us take your weight. You’ll just end up
hurting yourself; you don’t want that sling on do you?”
I saw him smiling at my last statement, and
felt more weight on my arms as he relaxed.
Within a few seconds he was laid flat inside the sledge, he winced
slightly as his shoulder hit the base.
“Are you ok?”
“Yeah.”
Despite the fact he was sweating, he was shivering badly.
I delved deep into the other backpack and
pulled out a couple more blankets, then laid them over the top of him, pushing
them down the sides around him to make sure he was completely covered. Then I grabbed one of the nylon straps and
signalled for Amy to pass me the one on her end. She gave it to me, and I snapped the two ends together, and then
pulled the strap taut until it was holding MacGyver securely in place. I repeated the process on the other two
straps until he was more or less immobilised.
I stepped back.
“How’s that feel MacGyver? Are they too tight?”
“Nope, they’re fine. I feel as snug, as a bug, in a rug.”
I smiled down at him and then went back into
the garage. As I re-emerged, I noticed
that Amy had put one of the backpacks on, and was refastening the other one. As
I attached the two aluminium handles to the front of the sledge Amy looked
horrified.
“What’s the matter Amy?”
“We have to pull it using those handles?”
I looked at the handles and could imagine
that after a while, it would be difficult.
Our hands would most probably be hurting and we’d want to stop. I went back inside the garage again, and
came out carrying more nylon straps. I
bent down and pushed them inside my backpack.
“We’ll take these with us.”
“And what will they do?”
“We’ll make them into shoulder straps.”
“Ok I like the sound of that. I don’t think I want to drag this sledge for
too long. This bad elbow of mine just
won’t last long and I’ll need both arms to drag it.”
“Yeah, I know. I think that’s it, we’re ready to go, right?”
“Almost.”
“Almost?”
“Yeah.
I’ll just go get Tammy, lock up, and we can go.”
“Ok.
Hey Amy, bring your wrist strap.
It’ll help support it when you pull. ”
I watched her walking up to the cabin, picked
up my backpack, and put it on.
MacGyver
I heard Amy and Jo talking as they got the
final preparations ready before we left.
I felt totally helpless. I
couldn’t move, not even if I wanted too, Jo had strapped me in pretty
well. I felt the sledge move as they
pulled it to get some momentum. After a
few attempts, one big jerk finally got them moving, the movement sent a jolt of
pain through my shoulder, and I couldn’t help but moan.
“MacGyver are you ok?”
“Yeah.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Its ok.”
We were moving at a fair pace, I could tell
by the gush of wind against my face. I
hated lying there knowing they were struggling to pull me, slipping while they
tried to keep their balance. I could
tell it was taking its toll on them, their breathing altered and the sledge
moved much slower. I heard someone
slipping a lot too, the thud as they hit the snow became more noticeable after
a few times. I was pretty sure it was
Jo this time, it sounded like her moaning.
“Jo is that you slipping?”
“No.”
“Yes it is Jo, don’t lie to him.”
“Well I’m not the only one slipping on the
ice, am I Amy?”
“It wasn’t me who slipped that time Jo, it
was you!”
I could tell by Jo’s voice she was getting
tired and frustrated, Amy didn’t sound like she was far behind. It wasn’t surprising considering the
physical exertion they were demanding of themselves.
“I’m sorry Amy. I’m just tired.”
I never heard Amy reply but felt the sudden
jerk as the sledge was pulled from the left hand side; it took me all my
restraint not to shout out.
“Hang on Amy.”
I felt someone touch my forehead.
“MacGyver, are you ok?”
“Yeah.”
“Really?
Coz you know, you look a little pale to me, for a moment I thought you’d
disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“Yeah with all this snow, you need to keep
those cheeks rosy red so we know where you are, we don’t want to lose you,
after going to all this effort.”
“That bad huh?”
“If you go any whiter we might mistake you
for a lump of ice.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“There you go, that’s better, I can see you
now.”
I felt the sledge move simultaneously this
time, and we set off again. I didn’t
hear any of them slip after that, whether it was because they took more care,
or whether it was because the snow was melting under the heat of the sun, I didn’t
know. They continued to pull me in
silence, the odd word spoken only between Jo and myself. If I hadn’t known Amy was with us, I might
have thought it was only the two of us.
After a while we suddenly stopped.
“What’s the matter? Why did we stop?”
“Oh nothing much, just a little drop that’s
all. I’m sure we’ll be ok.”
I could tell by her tone she wasn’t
convinced.
“What do you mean a little drop?”
“I mean a small descent, a downward slope,
the opposite to up, a…..”
“I think I got your point Jo. What’s the gradient of it?”
“I’m not sure, I’m not good with that kind
of stuff; let’s just say it’s really steep.”
I heard her fiddling with something,
mumbling under her breath.
“What are you doing Jo?”
“I’m just moving the handles to the back of
the sledge. We’re going to have to
lower it downwards, if we try to go down the slope forwards, we’ll lose control
and I hate to think where you’d end up.
You’re lucky you can’t see what’s in front of you.”
“Are you going to uncouple the other sledge
and do them one at a time?”
“I wasn’t going to, do you think we should?”
“Yeah.
It’ll be less weight for you to hold on to, hopefully it won’t drag you
down as much, and you should have more control.”
“Yeah you’re right. Oh well, I guess I need to lose a few pounds
anyway.”
“What?”
“I was thinking about the long climb back
up, as I said, its pretty steep.”
“Are you able to get back up safely?”
“Yeah, it’ll just take us a while that’s
all. I was trying to avoid that, but
you’re right, separately is the safest way.”
I heard her trudging past me and attach the
handles at the opposite end of the sledge, and then I heard a loud thud.
“Jo?”
“What?”
“Are you alright? What was that noise, it
sounded like you fell over.”
“No it was just me dumping my backpack on
the ground, sorry.”
“Oh.”
I heard her rummaging round and talking
quietly to Amy. I felt the sledge
moving up and down slightly.
“What are you doing?”
“We’ve just looped a couple of nylon straps
through each handle and made a shoulder strap for ourselves. It should help us when we’re lowering the
sledge down, hopefully give us more leverage.”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
“Ok we’re gonna start making our way down
now. We’ll try not to jerk the sledge
around too much.”
“Ok.”
“Tammy you stay here, don’t follow us, stay
here!”
I was glad Jo had told Tammy to stay at the
top. It would have been unwise to let
her run ahead of us, she could have got in the way accidentally. I felt the sledge move and then suddenly
drop backwards. The shock of the
descent made me catch my breath.
“I thought you said a small descent, a
downward slope, it feels like a 50% angle to me.”
I heard Jo laughing.
“Yeah well I did also say it was steep.”
“If I wasn’t strapped in here I’d be feeling
pretty unsafe right now.”
“Oh don’t worry we won’t let anything happen
to you.”
Just as she said that, the sledge seemed to
slide quite freely downwards. I could
hear her shouting to Amy to dig in, to get a grip, to pull on the straps, and
to push as hard as she could against the snow to try to slow them down.
My heart was pounding hard in my chest, and
I could feel the blood rushing through my veins, I broke out in a cold
sweat. I wanted to get out, I wanted
to get out right there and then, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t move an inch, Jo had made sure of that, she’d made
absolute sure there was no way I could fall out.
Just like there was no way I could get
out. I felt ever ridge in the bank as
the sledge slid downwards, my shoulder was screaming out, but I ignored the
pain and tried hard to listen to Jo.
“Amy we have to stop it before we lose
control, pull, pull hard now.”
“I’m trying.”
“I know you are we’ve almost got it, just
once more Amy, pull.”
I felt the sledge slowing down and then it
came to an abrupt stop. I wasn’t sure
if we were at the bottom, half way down, or only just at the top.
“Jo, were are we?”
“Still on the slope.”
“How far?
How far did we go down?”
“Ah….about three quarters of the way. We’re almost there, don’t worry, you’re
going to be ok.”
“I’m trussed up like I’m some turkey waiting
to go in the oven for thanksgiving, and I can’t see. I’ll try not to worry but it’s easier said than done.”
“You know what Macgyver; I think I’m rubbing
off on you.”
“Huh?”
“You’re becoming more sarcastic by the
second, hang on we’re gonna try again.”
I felt the sledge move as they released
their tight grip on it, and it began its descent down the slope again. They definitely had it under control this
time, it glided down at a nice steady pace, and as we neared the bottom, I
could feel the sledge becoming straighter.
When it came to a stop, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.
“That wasn’t so bad was it?”
“No, it was just like being on a ride in
Disney World.”
“See we saved you a fortune, the thrill of a
lifetime, for free.”
“I think I could have lived without that
thrill, thank you very much.”
I felt the sledge being dragged to the left,
to the right, then it came to a stop.
Once again, I felt the sledge moving up and
down.
“Jo?”
“We’re going up for the other sledge
now. We’ve just unhooked the shoulder
straps from the sledge, and moved you away from the bottom of the slope, just
in case we can’t hold our homemade sledge back and we lose control. This way you’re safe no matter what, if we
lose it, it will just smash into the trees at the bottom. Once we get to the top we’ll send Tammy down
to you.”
“Jo, are you and Amy going to be ok with the
other sledge? Maybe you should leave it
behind.”
“Can’t, we need the gear on it, don’t worry we’ll
be ok.”
I heard them leaving and lay there waiting
for them to return.
It wasn’t long before I felt the long,
sloppy tongue of Tammy across my face.
“Good girl, they won’t be long.”
I laid there for what seemed like
hours. I could hear them getting closer
because Jo was screaming at Amy to stop.
I wasn’t sure if they’d lost control or not, it was hard to tell, as I
lay there scared out of my mind. What
if they got hurt?
I couldn’t even go and help them. I was trapped. As Jo’s voice got closer, I was sure they’d lost control, she
sounded frantic. I couldn’t hear Amy at
all.
“Amy dig in, dig in now!”
Still no sound from Amy, but Jo’s panic was
starting to seep into me, she was always in control, why was she
panicking? I could hear the whooshing
noise of the sledge and by the sound of it; it was travelling pretty fast.
“Amy, I can’t hold it on my own much
longer. Help me!”
I could hear the muffled sound of someone
trying to talk and realised it was Amy, it sounded like she was tumbling along
with the sledge. She must have lost her
footing and Jo from what I could gather was the only one stopping the sledge
from sliding completely down the bank.
“Amy!”
I heard the whoosh suddenly stop and I
waited to hear the impact of the sledge hitting the trees at the bottom. Nothing happened, the next thing I heard was
Jo.
“I thought you were going to tumble all the
way to the bottom then. Are you ok?”
“Yeah I’m ok, sorry about that Jo. You did really good, if it hadn’t been for
you the whole thing would have gone.”
I could hear the pride in Amy’s voice as she
spoke, giving her friend the praise she deserved, and assuring her that she was
all right.
“Lets take it slow Amy, we’re almost there.”
“Ok.”
I heard them continue their descent; the
strain on them was obvious by their ragged breathing. I could tell they’d arrived at the bottom and were coming towards
me, by Tammy’s reaction.
“See I told we’d be ok MacGyver.”
“Sounded like a bit of a rough ride down,
from here.”
“Well it wasn’t as easy as bringing you
down, the other sledge was heavier and we only had the one hole in the centre
to put the straps into, so the weight was uneven. Amy lost her footing as we lowered it over the edge, but we
managed in the end.”
I
heard them dragging the other sledge round, and felt someone fiddling near my
feet, then heard the sound of the straps being pulled through the hole. I felt someone knock my calves as the two
sledges were hooked back together, then movement as the handles, and straps
were put back into place, so I assumed Jo was hooking the two sledges back
together.
“Ok lets go, hopefully we won’t find anymore
slopes like that.”
They pulled at the
sledge and we started moving again.
The Hotel
“So you’re saying they’re going to try and bring this guy
into town on a sledge?” said Graham the receptionist at the hotel, his voice
showing his surprise.
“That’s what she said,” answered Francis. “Sounds like he’s hurt pretty bad and has
something wrong with his eyes. Now in
which room did you say this guest was who wasn’t feeling too good?”
“Oh yeah, Room 24,” answered Graham. “He was going to come along to your office,
but he looked a little grey to me. You
don’t mind do you?”
“No that’s fine.
It will take my mind off Jo and Amy bringing this MacGyver through the
snow. She said they’re just about to
start and that track is the only way in and out now. If the roads hadn’t been blocked, I’d have sent an ambulance. A chopper would have been the best thing,
but they’re all grounded. They’ve 24 hours
before this storm really hits. Should
be enough time. Both of them know that
bit of country pretty good and there’s that other cabin if they need to wait
out the night somewhere. They’ll be
fine.”
“So if they can bring him here, why can’t you get to
them?” asked Graham as he handed his waiting guest his key. “Surely it works both ways.”
“You’d think so wouldn’t you,” answered Francis. “And I did think of that at first, but there
have been so many accidents on the roads and two of the doctors at the hospital
are stuck in LA and can’t get a flight so we’re short handed and I’m needed
here as much as they need me. I could
send someone else I suppose, but he needs specialised treatment so they’d still
have to bring him. It sounds like flash
burns to me. Best thing is usually to
keep the person still, but they have no choice, the sooner he gets hospital
treatment the better.
“Pretty gutsy to do that,” said Graham. “Hey when are you going to get Jo to marry
you?” he asked laughing as Francis headed for the escalator.
“When I hog tie her and carry her up the aisle by the
looks of it,” Francis answered as he pressed the button. “She says she’s ‘thinking on it’.”
“They’re an odd couple,” said Graham as he watched
him. “That Amy’s so quiet and Jo, well Jo
will take on anybody if she’s rattled enough.”
“Yeah well life has bashed Amy around a bit over the last
few years, knocked all the fight out of her, but don’t count her out. She’s still the woman she was. She’s just hiding inside, licking her wounds
so to speak. She lost four close friends and a sister all within six months,
that’s enough to defeat anyone.”
“Wow, I didn’t know that,” answered Graham as the
escalator doors opened.
“Room 24, right,” said Francis as the doors slowly closed.
“Did you hear that?” Harry asked Stuart as he handed him
the key to their room and they headed for the stairs. “He’s alive, he’s actually alive.”
“Will you keep your voice down,” Stuart told him as they
reached their room, entered and shut the door.
“Now what do we do?” asked Harry as he looked out of the
window.
“We go after him, that’s what we do,” answered Stuart.
“You’re joking right?
Out there, in this? We’ll never
find him,” said Harry in horror as he watched the snow.
“You heard the guy, only one way in and one way out. All we need is the right gear and a
map. Either that or you tell the boss
we let him get away. It’s your choice,”
Stuart told him as he took his gun from where he’d hidden it.
“Yeah, but what do you know about tracking in snow?” Harry
asked as he followed quickly.
“Just the same as tracking without snow, you just look for
the signs. Remember last year, that
hiker. No trouble finding him and he
knew what he was doing. These are two
women bringing him in by the sounds of it.
Shame they’ll all get lost in a blizzard. It happens all the time.
Now let’s find a shop and get geared up,” Stuart told him as they got
outside.
“But I
hate snow Stuart; I told you I hate the snow.
It makes me bad tempered.” “You’re always bad tempered Harry, the snow
just makes you worse,” Stuart replied as he walked away. “The snow makes you vicious.”
The Journey
“He’s
shivering again,” said Amy as she looked back at MacGyver.
“Yeah I
noticed,” replied Jo as they struggled through the heavily falling snow.
“How far
away did you say this cave was?” she asked.
“Not far
now, just beyond these trees. Why
doesn’t he say something? I’ve not
heard him complain once since we started out and he doesn’t look at all well,”
Amy said as she looked back at him again.
“Well I
don’t know do I? Why do you always
think I know the answers to all your questions?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth Jo regretted them, she
saw Amy withdraw back into her shell and could have kicked herself. They’d been the first words she’d spoken for
an hour and she’d come back with a smart aleck reply, it was a bad habit and one
she had to start learning to control.
“Sorry
Amy, I’m just cold that’s all,” she apologised looking at her friend.
Amy
shrugged.
Jo hated
it when she did that, it meant she’d put the barriers back up and wasn’t going
to talk any more.
“Here
Tammy, here girl,” she called to the dog as it began to wander. “You keep an eye on your new friend and stop
running off, we don’t want to lose you.”
Looking
up at Jo the dog turned and began to walk alongside the sledge, nuzzling
MacGyver so he knew she was there.
“Good dog, good girl,” he said his voice shaking with the cold as he
did.
“There it
is, just as you said. I can see the
cave from here,” Jo told her as they headed towards the dark opening. “I sure hope there aren’t any bears in
there,” she added trying to make her friend smile. Amy didn’t answer, didn’t even indicate she’d heard her.
As they
set up camp inside the cave for the night because they were exhausted, glad
they’d brought lamps and stoves with them just in case they had had to stop at
the old cabin, Jo saw Amy keep touching her shoulder.
“What’s
wrong with your shoulder?” she asked as she came up to her as she helped
MacGyver sit down on the blankets she’d placed near the stove for him to get
warm.
“Nothing,”
came back Amy’s quiet reply.
“Let me
look Amy,” said Jo as she reached out to her.
“It’s
nothing, leave me alone Jo,” she said moving away from her outstretched hand.
“Let her
look Amy,” said MacGyver as he got to his feet and tried to find where they
were standing.
“Please
sit back down,” Amy told him as she caught his arm, “you’ll knock the stove
over and burn yourself.” He didn’t
move.
“Ok,
stand or sit. I don’t care,” she told
him angrily.
“Show Jo
your shoulder,” Mac told her kindly.
“Amy, show her your shoulder.”
“It’s
just sore that’s all,” she answered as she uncovered it for her to see.
“Just
sore! Amy it’s bleeding, why didn’t you
say something?” Jo asked horrified.
“It’s the
straps for the sledge, I bet your shoulder is hurting as well,” she answered as
she made MacGyver sit down by pulling on his sleeve.
“Well if
it was bleeding I wouldn’t be such a martyr...”
It was
too late; the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them again.
“Shouldn’t
you make sure our tracks are hidden so they can’t find us?” Amy said as she
covered her shoulder as if Jo hadn’t spoken.
“I’ll get a fire going; they won’t be able to see the smoke because it’s
getting dark now. He needs to get warm. Don’t take Tammy with you; she’ll just leave
more tracks. Tammy stay.”
“Amy
I’m...” It was too late; she knew it was too late
“Oh Jo,
you and you’re big mouth,” she said to herself as she left the cave.
Amy Morgan
I watched
her out of the corner of my eye as she left the cave, scared to my very marrow
that something would happen to her out there and fighting back the panic. I knew she was regretting the things she’d
said, that it was just her way and once upon a time I would probably have come
back with a remark or two of my own.
Still that was once upon a time, not now. Everything I touched, everyone I touched... I stopped my brain
going any further in that direction. I
had to get away, leave John and leave her before something... I pushed the thoughts
away again. There was no time for that
now. MacGyver was huddled in a ball
shivering and I had work to do. I lit
both the stoves, hoping that before long the cave, which wasn’t very big and
had a nice outcrop that should shield prying eyes from the fact that we were
inside, was freezing. I toyed with the
idea of making a campfire, but although it was dark and his enemies wouldn’t be
able to see it, it would just fill the cave with smoke if I made it inside, so
I gave up on the idea. Collecting some
fresh snow from outside I filled two containers and placed one on each stove,
lighting up two more lamps as it got darker and took every blanket we had and
covered him with them. He didn’t look
right to me. Although he was shivering
violently I could see he was sweating.
I knew it had to be the shoulder.
He agreed to let me take a look at it, but I could see he was also
dreading me doing so. As I got Francis’
jacket off him, grateful for the fact that it was a winter jacket he’d left in
the cabin, MacGyver jumped. By the time
I took off the bandage from the wound he was shivering uncontrollably, and I
got scared. Perhaps I should leave it
alone and wait for Jo. No. I was sick of the world of fear I was living
in and pushed my mind away from it. I
was right it was the shoulder. It was
red raw and puffy. As I touched it, he
flinched but never made a sound. I
cleaned it as best I could and then put on a new dressing. By the time we got his things back on, he
could hardly sit up. I propped him
against the wall and covered him over. I wanted him to get back in the sledge,
or at least lie down, but he refused and when I tried to get him to drink some
warm water he just pushed my hand away, said he felt sick. I could feel the panic growing inside
again. ‘Flaming hell,’ I thought to
myself. ‘Is there nothing I touch that
I don’t mess up?’ Once more nudging the
thoughts to the back of my head, I went to the front of the cave and looked
out. No sign of Jo. For a moment, I wondered if she was deliberately
taking her time to teach me a lesson.
To make me worry, prove to her that I still cared. No, she wouldn’t do that I knew she
wouldn’t. I really loved that
girl. Loved her like my own
sister...back came the thoughts. I
pushed them away as I became aware that Tammy was nuzzling my hand and
whimpering. “What’s wrong?” I asked,
“Don’t worry, Jo will be fine. You know
Jo.” She whimpered again and walked
back towards MacGyver and then looked at me.
He was still shivering violently.
She wanted me to do something I could see it in her eyes. “I can’t
Tammy, I just can’t,” I told her as she sat next to him and he didn’t cuddle
her as he normally did when she was that near.
I wasn’t sure if he was asleep or unconscious with his eyes covered and
those glasses, but something was definitely wrong. “No Tammy, I can’t,” I told her as she looked at me
accusingly.
I knew
what she wanted me to do. If Jo had
been there, we could have put him back in the sledge and he’d be warmer, but
now he didn’t respond when I spoke to him and I got scared. Tammy whimpered
again. I had no choice. I couldn’t just stand there. ‘Where the hell is Jo?’ my mind screamed as
I sat down
“It’s
Ok,” I told him. “It’s me, Amy.” Then, carefully putting my arm around him
and trying not to hurt his shoulder I pulled him slowly so his head was resting
on my shoulder and covered him with the blankets once more.
“Cold, so
cold,” he groaned and crumpled against me and I realised he was barely
conscious. “Tammy come,” I told her and indicated she should lay across his
outstretched legs to help get him warm.
She knew exactly what I wanted her to do and gazed up at me
trustingly. “I can only try girl,” I
told her as she watched me. For a
moment the shivering became less but then started up again and he groaned once
more as I held him tight.
I
released my grip, realising I was hurting, not holding. It was then it happened. As I looked at him, it was no longer
MacGyver I saw. I was once more holding
my friend Carl who was dying right in front of me and I could do nothing to
stop it. I heard Tammy whimper. “It’s all right,” I told her as I tried to
push the image away only to have it replaced by the face of my sister
Paula.
I jumped
and MacGyver moaned as my grip tightened around him again.
‘What the
hell are you trying to do to me?’ I screamed at God in my head. ‘If you hate me that much, hurt me, stop
hurting those around me. Leave him
alone, he’s nothing to do with me. Stop
hurting everyone I care for. I don’t
like him; you don’t have to hurt
him. I’m only helping because Jo’s not
here. Leave him alone. I’m sorry if I did something bad and you
feel you must punish me for it. But
punish me; leave my family and friends alone.’
Suddenly the image of Paula disappeared and I was looking at MacGyver
again. ‘Sorry God,’ I said quietly
inside my head. ‘I know it’s not you,
it’s just me feeling sorry for myself.
I know you don’t do things like that, but please can’t you help
him? He seems really nice. I promise I’ll
go away when we get back so I don’t hurt anyone else, but please help him,
because I don’t know what else to do.’
Tammy whimpered again and I smiled at her. She needed to be safe from my jinx too, I was going to miss her
terribly, but she’d be ok with John, he loved her as much as I did.
How long
I sat there with my arm around this stranger, I had no idea, it seemed like
ages. I closed my eyes and begged Jo to
hurry up and return. I was so scared
she’d get lost out there that I was willing her safely back to the cave. I felt his shivering slowly start to
diminish as I dozed off to sleep.
======
Jo was tired when she came quietly back into the cave,
glad of the warmth that now filled it and stopped dead in her tracks barely
able to believe her eyes as she saw Amy, sound asleep, her arm around the
injured man, and Tammy lying across his legs, obviously in an effort to get him
warm, but nonetheless, still a sight that filled her heart with hope. Tammy wagged her tail furiously but stayed
where she was as Jo put down her things.
“Stay Tammy, stay,” she whispered as she saw the tin of
melted ice and put it on a stove to heat up, trying her best not to wake Amy or
MacGyver but failing as Tammy wagged her tail even harder and Amy opened her
eyes. On seeing her, she smiled, pleased to see her safe. Then as MacGyver began to move, a look of
panic replaced the smile and carefully, but quickly, she laid him gently down.
“Where have you been?” she demanded of her friend in a
whisper. “I’ve been worried sick.”
“I had a good look round,” Jo whispered back. “How’s he been?”
“Cold,” answered Amy as she pulled Jo away from where he
was. “You should have come back
sooner. I’ve had to deal with him
myself.”
“And doing a pretty good job of it too,” Jo answered
proudly. “Lucky John didn’t walk in on
you though. Might have got the wrong
idea.” She spoke with amusement in her
voice but Amy was not amused.
“I was just trying to get him warm. Tammy was helping. Do you understand Jo? I thought he was going to die...You should
have come back sooner. What were you
trying to do, scare the living daylights out of me?”
“I told you, I was having a good look around, you’ve been
doing fine. He looks better than he did
when I left.”
“That’s not the point,” said Amy, her voice getting
louder.
“Amy?” came MacGyver’s voice as he awoke and struggled to
sit upright. “Amy where are you?” he
asked, as he felt around trying to locate her.
“Jo’s back,” she answered, as her friend grinned happily
at her.
“You should have come back sooner. I thought something had happened to you,”
she whispered angrily.
“So what do you care?” Jo asked loudly in retaliation,
remembering the garage.
“I don’t,
you’re right there. I don’t,” she
answered just as loudly as she headed for the front of the cave. “I don’t care. I don’t give a dam.”
Joanne James
I was glad we’d left the other sledge by the cave, there was no way I could have dragged both of them on my own, it was awkward enough with just one. I almost cheered aloud in relief when I saw that the cabin was, at last, in sight. I was totally shattered, my arms felt like they were gonna drop off. I’d been dragging the sledge on my own for nearly a mile now, and boy was I gonna pay for it later. I should have known better than to try to get Amy across the bridge. Why the hell I’d tried to force her I don’t know, I should have known it was just asking for trouble. I looked behind me, and past MacGyver; there was still no sign of her. I thought she might have caught up considering how long it had taken us to get here, obviously not. I was glad I told Amy we’d wait for her at the Old Cabin. It had taken us out of our way a bit, but at least I could be sure she would join us, and not sneak off somewhere, somewhere I couldn’t find her. As I pulled to a stop, MacGyver spoke.
“Are we at the cabin?”
“Yeah. Still no sign of Amy though.”
“I’m sure she’ll be here soon. She can look after herself, and she’s got Tammy with her for company.”
“I know that. Its just…I worry about her. She’s up too something. She made a weird comment in the garage, said I should take you to town with Tammy, and send a car when the storm lets up for her. That it could collect my things at the same time, not our things, my things. Why just my things? She’s up to something, I know she is, and it’s worrying the heck out of me.”
“I can see that, well ok I can’t see, but you know what I mean, right?”
His remark broke the tension in the air, and we both laughed.
“So that’s why you told her to meet us here, she said it was out of our way and stupid for us to make the stop, it seemed to make her pretty mad that you insisted. Maybe she intended going to town another way. How do you know she’ll come here?”
“Because I know Amy, her conscience won’t let her leave me waiting for her. Ok, I think it’s about time we got you out of there. Are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
I knelt down at the side of the sledge, removed the straps securing him, and then pulled him gently into a sitting position. Using one hand, I supported his back and with the other, I pulled his legs over the edge of the sledge and towards me, then placed his feet on the ground, to enable him to support himself.
He immediately bent his knees and placed his elbows on top of them, before resting his head in his hands. I touched his uninjured shoulder.
“MacGyver are you ok? Did I move you too fast?”
“Maybe a bit. I feel a little dizzy.”
“Oh…I’m sorry. I’ll try to be more careful next time. Give me a minute to figure out the best way to get you out of there.”
“It’s ok. I think I can get up on my own.”
Before I had a chance to stop him, he pushed himself up and his legs gave way. He flopped back down hitting the edge of the sledge as he did so, his body weight causing the opposite end to turn upwards and towards his body. I quickly grabbed the edge of the sledge before it hit his back, then manoeuvred him back inside it, so that he was once again, in a sitting position with his feet placed solidly on the ground, outside the sledge.
“That was rather silly of you. What on earth made you try that?”
“I’m sick of lying here while you and Amy do everything for me. I wanted to help, I know you’re on your own, and getting me out of here would be difficult.”
“Difficult but not impossible. I know you want to move around more, but you’ve been immobilized in the sledge for almost 3 hours, you’re probably feeling a bit unsteady as a result, now really isn’t the time to try something like that.”
“I think you’re right.”
He raised both
arms waiting for me to help lift him, and I pushed them gently back down.
“I don’t think I’m
strong enough to lift you up and out of the sledge like that, we’ll have to
think of another way.”
I stood up and
stepped back, so that I could evaluate what our options were. I stood there for a few moments deep in
thought, each plan being scrubbed as I saw the possible dangers for MacGyver.
“Have you thought
of another way yet?”
“No.”
“Well I have.”
I looked down at
him.
“Really? What?”
“This.”
He leant forwards
and again the sledge moved under his weight.
The opposite side to where I was standing suddenly turned upwards and
came at a speed towards his back, I tried to stop it, but it was too late, it
hit him with a thud. The shock of it
caused him to arch his back slightly, and he let out a small groan.
“Are you ok?”
“Yeah.”
I noticed that he
was sitting on the edge of the sledge, half inside it, and half outside. I made a quick decision and decided to run
with it, knowing now that putting him back inside the sledge wasn’t going to help
me at all. I grabbed both of his
ankles.
“Jo, what are you
doing?”
“I’m getting you
out of the sledge, it’s your own fault, you made the first move, and now I’m
running with it.”
I tugged gently at
his ankles, he moved slightly forwards, nothing much, just enough for him to
get a clue as to what I had in mind.
“Oh I see you’re
going to drag me out of the sledge.”
“Yeah, get ready
coz next time I’m gonna tug pretty hard.
I’m gonna pull you until I see the sledge hit the ground, it’ll probably
drag itself down your back but its very light so it shouldn’t hurt you, just be
prepared for it. Try and keep yourself
upright as much as possible, as I pull.”
“Ok.”
“Just one more
thing, make sure you support your shoulder with your arm during the whole process,
I don’t want it to cause you any more pain than necessary. On the count of 3 then….1, 2, 3.”
When I said 3, I
pulled back really hard. MacGyver slid
out of the sledge and across the ground.
The top part of his body jerked and for a moment I thought he was going
to fall backwards, but he quickly composed himself. I continued to pull him along the ground, and watched the sledge
drag its way down his back until it landed upside down on the ground, and then I
came to a complete stop.
“MacGyver, are you
ok?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
I walked
past him to the sledge, flipped it over, took off my backpack and placed it
carefully inside, then pushed it out of the way. I stole a quick glance in the direction I expected Amy to
approach from, but still there was no sign of her.
“Jo?”
“Yeah?”
“What are
you doing?”
“I’m just
moving the sledge out of the way. We
need to get you higher than ground level before I can attempt to pull you to
your feet, so I thought that we’d pack some snow behind you and raise you
gradually. Once you’re high enough
we’ll try and stand up, you ok with that?”
“Yeah.”
I knelt
down and gathered a pile of snow into a heap, then pushed it behind
MacGyver. I tried to make it form a
small gradient behind his back, ensuring that it wasn’t too high and that with
my help, he’d be able to wriggle himself up it. Then I got up, walked to his feet, and tapped them. He jumped slightly.
“What?”
“Dig your
heels into the ground as if you were pushing yourself up the mound behind you.”
He dug his
heels down, and pushed back slightly.
“Stop,
that’s enough.”
He
stopped immediately. I bent down and
packed snow under the soles of his feet, to try to help give him more leverage,
to move up the mound of snow behind him.
When I was happy there was enough snow under his feet, I straightened up
and went and stood by the side of him, so that I could support him as he moved.
I knelt
down at his side; then wrapped my left arm across his chest and under both
armpits, to help get a good grip to both pull him back, and support him at the
same time. I let my right hand rest on
the center of his back.
“Ok, I
think that’s it. Are you ready to try
and edge your way up the snow?”
“I think
so.”
As he
finished speaking he pushed his feet against the snow, and we made our first
move up the mould, it was difficult, but at least we made progress. We stopped for a quick breath before he
pulled his knees up and dug his heels back into the ground; at the same time,
he pushed and I pulled, and once again, he moved higher up the mound.
I made
him stop momentarily for a breather, as I packed more snow behind him. We
repeated the previous motions a couple more times before stopping again, for me
to repack the snow, and for him to have a breather.
Once
more, he pushed and I pulled, as we made our way up the mound behind him. I noticed he was starting to run out of
legroom, as his feet got closer to the mound.
“Just a
couple more and I think we’re there.”
“Good,
coz my butts starting to freeze here.”
I laughed
as I flattened the top of the mound ready for him to use as a seat. He pushed hard with his legs, and I could
see that he wasn’t far away from the top; I decided that with one big heave
we’d easily reach it. I wrapped my
right arm around his back and intertwined my fingers, locking both hands into a
clenched fist. Then I heaved him up the
last bit of the mound, ensuring that I took most of his weight on my left arm,
to avoid jarring his shoulder any more than necessary. Once I made sure he was sitting steadily on
top of the snow I stepped back, he was about 12 inches off the ground, with his
knees bent.
“We’re
there!”
“Great.”
“Ready to
get up?”
“You
bet.”
I moved so that I was kneeling to his right hand side. I put his right arm over my shoulder, and felt him cringe; then I circled my left arm around his body, and grabbed hold of his belt.
“Ok, on the count of 3 we’re gonna stand up….1, 2, 3.”
When I reached 3, I stood up and pushed my shoulder up and into his armpit to try to give me more leverage. He started to lean heavily on me, and I could tell I was going to lose my balance.
I grabbed more securely onto his belt and tugged hard on it, to try and pull him off me. He realized what was going on and managed to steady himself, taking most of his weight off me. I took the advantage and stood up fully.
“Sorry.”
“Its ok…you couldn’t help it.”
We staggered towards the cabin, helping each other with each stride. As we got closer, I thought I saw a movement inside. I stopped.
“What’s the matter?”
“I thought I saw something.”
We made our way up the steps to the cabin and I sat MacGyver down on the floor, leaning him against the wall of the cabin.
“I’m gonna take a look inside. Stay here.”
He waved his hand around in the air aimlessly; I grabbed hold of it.
“Be careful Jo.”
“Some good advice there MacGyver. It’s a shame it’s too late to do her, or you, any good.”
I spun round and saw two men, both had guns, one was pointed at MacGyver, and the other at me. They waved their guns towards the cabin.
“Inside. NOW!”
MacGyver pushed himself to his feet and started staggering around, shouting at them.
“This has nothing to do with her, leave her out of it!”
“It’s too late now MacGyver. You should have thought of that before you got her involved.”
The one
doing all the talking rushed towards us with his gun pointed directly at
MacGyver, while the other one kept his aimed at me.
MacGyver
moved himself in the direction of the voice, and I grabbed hold of him. He pulled away from me and put his hand up
as if to stop me from interfering further, then he tentatively ventured
forwards.
“Let her go. You can do what you want to me, just don’t hurt her, she doesn’t know anything.”
“She knows what we look like and that’s too much already. Enough of the small talk MacGyver. Inside. NOW.”
Again the gun was waved at us and towards the cabin. I walked behind MacGyver and put my arm around his waist, he lifted his good arm up, put it around my shoulders, and I led him inside the cabin.
We walked inside and were faced with a row of chairs set out in the center of the room; they’d obviously been expecting us.
“Take a seat.”
I took MacGyver to a chair and helped him sit down. One of them quickly ran behind him, and tied his hands behind his back, he groaned at the pain the movement caused him.
I sat down on the chair next to him. I felt someone grab my wrists and pull my arms behind my back, and then I felt the rope against my skin as my hands were tied together. I glared at the man holding the gun on us, and he walked towards me.
He grabbed my hair, yanked my head back, and shoved the barrel of the gun under my jaw line.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
I squealed and he laughed. I thought he was going to kill me; I thought I was dead; he pulled back on the trigger.
MacGyver’s head spun round at the sound of it, and he went crazy. He started pulling at the ropes restraining him, kicking out blindly in all directions. What was a few minutes ago, a weakened man; now had the strength of an ox, the adrenalin surging through his body. He managed to pull himself free and lunged towards the man with the gun. The guy stepped to one side and I could tell MacGyver was going to charge straight past him.
“More to left, he’s moved.”
MacGyver changed direction the same time the guy did; I shouted instructions to him to try to help. The guy became annoyed and shouted to his partner.
“Harry. Shut her up!”
“With what Stuart?”
“Use that cloth; hurry up, before I hurt MacGyver. We need it to look like an accident. Just shut her up!”
“Ok.”
“Look out MacGyver he’s going to…”
Before I
had a chance to finish my sentence, Harry shoved what felt like a
knotted cloth inside my mouth, he pulled both ends of the cloth back ensuring I
could no longer speak, before tying it securely behind my head. I sat there unable to do anything, except
watch MacGyver crash to the floor.
He tried to get up again, but Stuart unknowingly, put his foot on his injured shoulder and pushed him back down. MacGyver rolled himself onto his back and grabbed his shoulder.
“Aaarrrggghhhh.”
He was hauled to his feet and man handled over to the chair next to me. I could see blood on the floor where he had laid seconds earlier, and knew they’d reopened the wound in his shoulder.
They plunked him down on one of the chairs and he groaned. They tied his hands once more behind his back. Stuart came and stood in front of us.
“Where’s the other one MacGyver?”
“What other one? There’s only us.”
“Don’t give me that, I know there are 3 of you! Now where is she?”
Oh crap, they meant Amy; they wanted to know where Amy was. I panicked when I realized she could turn up at any second. I prayed that she’d take her time; that her temper would make her walk slower; keep her away, keep her safe.
“There’s just the two of us.”
Stuart was getting impatient; he was pacing backwards and forwards, throwing his fists in the air in frustration. He stopped directly in front of MacGyver and bent down close to his face as he spoke his next words.
“Tell me where this Amy is MacGyver, tell me now!”
My heart hit the floor when he mentioned her name, and I saw MacGyver’s body tense up, I wasn’t the only one who noticed.
“Yes MacGyver you see I know all about you and your friends. So cut the crap and tell me where she is.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about. I don’t know anyone called Amy.”
He was getting angrier; every time MacGyver answered, I could see his temper rise.
“Yes you do. Tell me where she is. Tell me now!”
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know. Ask me something I do.”
He grabbed hold of MacGyver by the scruff of his jacket and pulled him slightly forwards, the restraints stopping him from being dragged totally off the chair. The sudden movement took MacGyver by surprise and his head lolled backwards by the force of it, making him look like a rag doll in the hands of his captor.
“Don’t play with me MacGyver. I want to know where she is!”
“I’m not playing with you; I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
He let go of MacGyver, flinging him backwards into the chair, it rocked slightly on its legs for a few seconds before it settled back solidly onto the floor.
Stuart stepped back from him, narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists, then looked accusingly at me; I avoided his eyes. He came and stood in front of me.
“Is MacGyver telling the truth?”
I nodded.
He
pointed the gun straight at me.
“I’ll ask
you again and think carefully before you nod or shake your head.
I know
there was an Amy with you because in the hotel in town, a doctor mentioned the
fact that 2 women had found an injured man.
A woman called Jo; and another one called Amy. Two women.”
He prodded me in the shoulder as he spoke his next words.
“You’re obviously one, so where’s the other?”
He raised his hand towards my face and I pulled away from him as far as the chair would allow, he smirked and then removed my gag.
“I said. Where is she?”
I never answered him. Infuriated, he raised his hand and pulled it back ready to strike.
“Still don’t know Jo? I know your name is Jo, I heard him call you it.”
Again, I didn’t answer. He pulled his hand down with a speed, and struck me across the head. The force of the blow pushed me into MacGyver as the chair went on 2 legs, then fell forwards onto the floor. I landed hard on the ground and ended up looking at his feet. I heard MacGyver shifting on his chair, trying to get free, and then I heard a muffled noise.
My chair was pulled back up and placed onto its 4 legs in front of Stuart. I turned my head to look at MacGyver to see if he was ok; his head was turned to the right as if he’d just been struck. Harry’s fist was still held up in the air.
“Harry, bring him here. I want to try a different technique. Now remember MacGyver, we have the girl so don’t try anything clever, or I might be forced to kill her.”
He pointed his gun at me, while Harry bent down and cut the ropes restraining MacGyver. As his arms became free they hung lifelessly at his side, and I knew he was unconscious. Harry didn’t notice and pulled him roughly to his feet, then pushed him forwards towards Stuart; he fell in a crumpled heap on the floor. Stuart starting pacing back and forth ranting to himself and then suddenly spun round, pointed at MacGyver and started yelling at me.
“Now see what you made us do.”
He pointed to MacGyver, then grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him.
“You better tell me now where she is or we’ll kill him.”
He nodded to Harry who promptly pushed his gun into MacGyver’s back.
“Tell me.”
I sat there in silence. There was no way I was going to tell them where she was. I prayed they didn’t kill him, I prayed Amy didn’t walk in the door at that moment; I prayed we’d all live through this.
Stuart was getting impatient, I could tell.
“I’ve had enough of this. If you don’t tell me by the time I count to 3 you’re gonna be sorry…..1, 2, 3.”
I never said a word. I closed my eyes at the count of 2 and waited for whatever Stuart had in mind, to happen. As I heard him reach 3, I felt the chair being pushed backwards, my eyes automatically flew open. My head hit the floor with a thud and I scrunched my eyes shut tight; I opened them to find Stuart glaring down at me. His eyes were full of hate and I could tell that anger was now fuelling him.
He walked around to the side of me and I watched his foot
pull back and then swing forwards. I
moved my head to the right to try to avoid it, but it hit me in the side of the
jaw, I tasted the blood in my mouth almost instantly. The force of his kick caused the chair to lift slightly off the
floor; he hooked his foot under it and flipped it over, so that I was face
first on the floor, then he stamped down on top of it. I felt the chair dig into my back as I was
crushed under his weight and pain shot through me.
He lifted his foot off the chair and I gasped for air. I leant to the left and fell onto my side on the floor. I noticed his feet approaching me again and tried to shift out of his way but it was difficult, especially when Harry pushed his foot into the back of the chair, so I couldn’t move anywhere. Stuart kicked me in the stomach and I hunched forwards as much as the restraints would allow, then started coughing and spluttering. I lifted my head slightly, and he pushed it down sharply with his foot, it hit the ground with a thud, everything started to phase in and out and voices became hazed as I fought to keep awake. I could feel the blood running down the side of my face, across my eyes and over my lips. My eyes became heavier and heavier as they slowly closed, and I drifted into unconsciousness.
======
“You lost your temper there Stuart,” Harry told him as he bent down and checked for Jo’s pulse. “Could have killed her, we’re never make this look like an accident, especially stamping on her like that. I thought we were going to make it look like the women had got lost in the snowstorm with him?”
“I realize that you moron,” answered Stuart angrily. “I just can’t stand it when women don’t do as I tell them, makes me see red. Always has done.”
“Yeah, so I see, but you’ve made a right mess of her. Can’t let them find her like that. If they suspect she wasn’t just lost in the snowstorm with MacGyver and the other one, they’ll come to the right conclusion. They’ll know the boss had something to do with it, even if they can’t prove it,” replied Harry. “It’s cold in here.”
“Shut up about the dam cold,” Stuart answered as he paced up and down. “She shouldn’t have made me lose my temper like that. It was her own fault. When he wakes up I want you to take off those pads and shine your torch in his eyes, that should hurt him enough to tell you where the other one went,” said Stuart as he walked towards the door.
“And you call me evil and vicious, shame we didn’t think of that in the first place,” answered Harry rubbing his arms and glaring at him. “Where you going?”
“To find the other one, this Amy. She can’t be that far behind,” replied Stuart as he buttoned up his jacket. “Boy his back is bleeding pretty bad. Must have happened when the car went over the cliff. Bit of luck them turning up here though. Saved us finding and bringing them. Yep definitely a bit of luck.”
“Any idea which way to look?” asked Harry as he stamped his cold feet.
“Well I don’t think she was coming the same way as these two or she would be with them,” answered Stuart as he looked out the window, the snow had stopped and he smiled as he looked back at him.
“What?” asked Harry, wondering why he was grinning.
“I saw another track on the map that leads up the back there. Perhaps she is coming that way. Couldn’t make out where it went too, it was called The Road to Nowhere or something like that. I’ll look there. You keep an eye on these two, and talking of eyes. If he wakes up before I get back.”
“Yeah I know,” answered Harry as he left. “Mess with his eyes.”
AMY MORGAN
Why the
hell did she do that I asked Tammy as she walked alongside, keeping close to
me. She knows I hate bridges, she knows
why as well. I don’t fear anything I
haven’t been given good reason too. She
knows John and I were stopped during an earthquake in LA and the bridge in
front of us collapsed with all those cars on it. Yet she still tries to make me do things that scare me. I’ve already crossed her dam bridge once and
I shook for an hour afterwards. I don’t
cope well with heights, get giddy, and that bridge is old and made of wood and
moves when you walk across it. I never
make her touch snakes and she hates snakes.
They never bother me. She knows
I’m up to something, I know she does that’s why she said I was to meet her at
the Old Cabin. Don’t need to go
anywhere near the cabin to get to town.
Ok, change of plan here, I said as I looked down at Tammy as we strolled
along through the snow. What do I do
with you girl? I know; I’ll pop you
into the hotel foyer when that guy who runs the place is out back
somewhere. His daughter likes you a lot
and he knows you. Should do, we’ve been
in there enough with Jo while she’s been plaguing him with questions about
running a hotel for her latest book.
Bet it’s a best seller like her other ones. Even if you growl at him as you usually do, he’ll keep you there
thinking one of us will eventually locate you, that you’d wandered off. She’ll never think to look for me at that skiing
hotel I booked myself into on the other side of town while I wait for my
coach. That red herring about the train
was a good idea. She’ll be looking for
me at the station. Never skied in my
life. Nope she’ll never look
there. Plans back to normal. I’ll disappear once we hit town. No problem.
What’s she doing being friends with someone nearly 12 years older than
she is anyway? I stopped walking. A shudder ran down my back then was
gone. Oh well we did get on good, like
sisters really, from the day when my boys were small and we found ourselves in
the same hospital room, her with appendicitis and me getting kicked by that
horse. Should have had more sense than
to walk behind a horse. Didn’t do her
stitches or the pain in my chest much good the way we kept laughing. Mind you, I told Tammy, it’s about time she
was married with babies of her own. I’m
always telling her that. Drives her
absolutely bonkers. Francis she should
marry Francis, I can see how much he loves her. I think she loves him too but her and her blasted career.
Suddenly
I realised I’d walked across Boulder Crossing without even knowing it, so caught up in my thoughts I hadn’t slipped
once. I stopped. A shiver ran down my back and Tammy
growled. I walked on. There it was again. Danger, I could sense danger. Tammy growled and sniffed the ground and
growled again as we got nearer to the cabin.
I gave her the signal to be quiet, as I gave her in lambing season when
the baby lambs were being born so she didn’t disturb the ewe’s. John hated lambing season, he was worse than
an expectant father hovering around, getting in my way. He loved the little things. Wasn’t over keen on them when they grew up,
but he loved lambs. She obeyed my
command instantly. She was a good dog. There it was again. Danger screamed my senses. Ok, danger I thought. But where?
I couldn’t see anything dangerous, but Tammy still wasn’t happy. She’d stopped growling as I’d instructed but
each time she lifted her head she was showing her teeth. Whatever scent she’d picked up she didn’t
like it, but there were no tracks, or none that I could see. What was wrong with the pair of us? It did cross my mind that Jo and Mac. I stopped.
It was stronger now. The Old
Cabin was just up ahead. I could see
the tracks of the sledge and Jo’s footprints.
What the hell was wrong? I thought to myself as we walked quietly and
stood in the trees where we could see the cabin, Tammy still showing her teeth
and my senses screaming at me to run. I
spotted the sledge outside. Then I saw
him. A tall dark haired man come out of
the cabin and walk away towards The Road to Nowhere. What was he going there for I asked myself. That leads absolutely nowhere, that’s why
the name. I shuddered again and despite
herself, as he disappeared from our view, Tammy growled low.
She
looked up at me and I saw the same thing in her eyes as I felt. Something was wrong, something was
dreadfully wrong.
I didn’t
like the man I had just seen on sight and I had never known Tammy disobey a
‘quiet order’ before. Waiting for a
moment to be absolutely sure he’d gone, I signalled to Tammy to ‘be quiet’
again and we moved forward, keeping down low and making no noise, even though
every step I took in the snow sent my nerves jangling as it made a slight
crunching noise. If that man was one of
those who had tried to kill MacGyver, the other one had to be somewhere
near.
I knew
before I saw him through the window that he’d be in the cabin. I just didn’t expect what else I saw in
there.
The
windows were dirty and I couldn’t see exactly, but there was no mistaking the
figure of MacGyver lying on the floor, or the figure of a man standing over him
with a gun. There were other things on
the floor but the lower part of the window was really dirty and I couldn’t make
out what they were. Clothing of some
sort. Where was Jo, I thought and
panicked. Must be in another room, I
wished, rather than knew. I’d
photographed this cabin many times and been inside a few times as well. I signalled to Tammy to scratch the
door. It was something she used to do
if she couldn’t get in to let me know she was back from her wanderings on the
farm. She was wagging her tail at the
door; she knew MacGyver was in there. I
signalled again that she was to stay quiet and scratch at the door. She gave me a funny look but did as she was
told. She didn’t win Obedience Dog of
the Year at the County Show for three years for nothing. It was just the male judges that upset
her. She was great with the female
ones. As she started to scratch at the
bottom of the door, I went around the back.
======
Quietly
creeping around the back of the cabin Amy tried to control the danger feelings
rushing through her body. She
couldn’t see much through the windows round there either because they were so
dirty as it hadn’t been used all summer, and it was only fully furnished when
there were visitors.
She did know one thing though. There
was a faulty catch on the back bedroom window and she opened it carefully,
holding her breath as she did and climbed in, shutting it quietly so it didn’t
alert the man guarding MacGyver by a sudden inrush of cold air. She could hear Tammy scratching at the door
and hear the man swearing.
“Wolf,
that has got to be a wolf, probably smells the blood. Great, now what do I do?” He swore loudly. “If I never see snow again it’ll be too soon,” he muttered as he
knelt down next to Jo to check on her.
“Still alive,” Amy heard him say and wished she could see what he was
doing. “Took that beating pretty good.”
Beating. Her heart skipped. What beating? “He’s a real psycho that Stuart.
I hate it when the boss makes me work with him. Yeah a real psycho.” She could see him now
through the crack in the door as he checked on MacGyver, keeping a wary eye on the
door where the scratching continued and he could hear the beast sniffing. “He put up a pretty good fight, considering
he can’t see. If he’d just answered the
question. Well too late now, but if he
thinks I’m killing women he can think again.
I’ll deal with this guy, but the women are his.” He looked worriedly towards the door. “I suppose I could shoot it,” he said to
himself. “Nah, best wait til Stuart
returns. He’ll see it and...” he turned
because he thought he heard something in the cabin. As he turned back, he realised MacGyver was coming around
slightly. He shoved him with his
foot.
“Not
quite awake yet,” he said to himself as he went and looked out the window on
the other side of the room in the direction Stuart had gone. As he turned back, he saw MacGyver trying to
pull himself towards the door.
Mac knew
it was Tammy out there, had to be. He
had to stop Amy coming in. The world
was spinning madly and every movement sent pain screaming through his shoulder
but he had to stop her. He tried
calling out but nothing happened.
“Oh no
you don’t,” shouted Harry as he moved towards him and swung down with the butt
of his gun. MacGyver lay still.
In the
next moment, the lights went out for him too, from the chair, that Amy slammed
across his head and back. He’d been so
concerned at MacGyver moving he didn’t, not even for a moment, see her rush
into the room and pick up the chair.
She threw
it to one side and quickly opened the door to let the dog in then shut it
again. Tammy rushed in and then stopped
dead in her tracks and whimpered.
“Guard,”
Amy yelled at her and pointed to the man on the floor. Tammy just stood there. “Guard Tammy, guard,” she repeated as she
made for the prone form of MacGyver.
Tammy walked slowly over to Harry and whimpered.
“It’s
alright girl, I’ll look after him,” she told the dog not realising it was the
unconscious figure of Jo that Tammy was looking at. She whimpered again looking at her, pleading her to turn around.
“Oh no!”
she exclaimed as she saw the blood soaking through Francis’ jacket.
“Slowly
now, slowly,” she said to herself as she turned him gently onto his back,
cringing as she did, hoping and praying she wasn’t hurting him even more. Tammy whimpered. Taking off her backpack, she took out some dressings and other
things and wondered what to do next. She tried sitting him up but he was too
heavy. She needed him awake so she
could get his jacket off. “Tammy stay!”
she shouted at the dog as she remembered the sledge and made for the door. Tammy just whimpered once more. “It’s ok girl, just getting the blankets
from off the sledge. You keep your eye
on that guy, if he moves, bite him,” she told her angrily.
Grabbing
the blankets from the sledge she rushed back inside and as the light from outside
flooded into the cabin realised what the bundle of clothes on the floor
was. It was Jo. She couldn’t see her properly, as the chair
was turned away from her, just her boots sticking out. She stopped and slowly close the door. Tammy looked at her, then at Jo and
whimpered. The man on the floor
moved. Grabbing her knapsack and
watching her friend at the same time, she pulled out one of the sedation
syringes they’d brought with them, just in case they were needed and jammed it
into Harry’s arm. He lay still.
“Come
girl,” she called to Tammy, “no need to watch him now.” She walked over to MacGyver and turned him
into the recovery position. Covered him
with some blankets, rolling a couple and placing them under his head as a
pillow. “Look after him,” she told the
dog indicating MacGyver. Tammy lay down
next to him and placed her head on his side, watching her every move as she
went to Jo.
She was
terrified at what she was going to see.
There was no movement, nothing coming from her friend lying tied to the
chair to indicate that she was even alive.
Bending down she undid Jo’s hands releasing her from her prison. There seemed to be blood everywhere. It was running down her face, which was
already bruising up quite badly and she was hunched in a ball. Removing the chair carefully and slinging it
across the room she felt for a pulse.
“Thank
goodness!” she exclaimed as she felt a slight, but steady one in her neck. Still afraid to move her friend too much in
case she had internal injuries of any kind, a strange look began to cross her
face. Bending down to cover her with
some blankets, she sat next to her on the floor and gently, being as careful as
she could, lifted her friend so that she was holding her. She placed a piece of dressing on the cut on
Jo’s head, and then tried to wipe the blood from her mouth. Jo coughed and more blood came out. She wiped it away and gently rocked her back
and forth, as if she was a child as she watched Tammy and MacGyver. Tammy whimpered. She’d never seen that look on her much beloved mistresses face
before.
She was
still sitting there rocking her when Jo woke up, jumped for a moment then
realised who it was looking down at her humming slightly to herself as she
rocked her gently.
“Amy,”
she said, in little more than a hushed whisper.
“I’m
here, I’m right here Jo,” Amy replied her face strangely blank and staring as
she smiled at her.
“Mac...MacGyver,”
Jo said as she tried to get up and nearly threw up.
“He’s
over there,” Amy replied her voice monotone, no emotion, just words.
“Tammy’s
watching him. I can’t help him til he
wakes up. He’s too heavy I can’t lift
him. His shoulder is bleeding. You should stay still, your hurt Jo, hurt.”
“Amy,”
said Jo, “sit me up, you have to sit me up, I’m going to be sick.”
“It just
blood, you have blood in your mouth Jo.
They hurt you bad,” she answered in the strange tone of voice again.
“Yeah I
know,” replied Jo. “Please help me sit
up, I want to see MacGyver.”
“I told
you he’s over there. You should marry
Francis he loves you a lot. That
MacGyver, well he’s nice, but you marry Francis.”
Jo looked
at her and a kind of fear, as she had never known, not even when she thought
she was going to die, rushed through her.
“I’ll
think about,” she answered, “please sit me up Amy. I can’t do it on my own.”
“Ok,”
answered Amy, “but you will tell me to stop if it hurts won’t you?” She asked.
Jo nodded and the room spun. As
she lifted Jo into a sitting position, she began coughing and Amy just in time
put some tissue in front of her mouth as she spat out a large amount of
blood. Amy looked at it and looked at
her.
“It’s
from a cut in my mouth. He kicked me in
the face,” she told Amy as she wiped her mouth.
“Who
kicked you, who kicked you in your face?” asked Amy in the same monotone
voice. “Him, did he kick you?” she
asked indicating Harry lying across the room.
“Did
you? Did you do that?” Jo asked as she
saw him. Amy nodded.
“Did he
hurt you like this?” Amy asked again as Jo’s eyes rolled.
“No not
him, the other one. The other one,” she
replied as she slumped backwards as she passed out.
=======
Amy was
still sitting rocking Jo gently when MacGyver came round and realised Tammy had
her head on him.
“Good
girl, good dog,” he said as he felt for her, giving her a pat.
“Jo! Amy!” he shouted and wished he hadn’t as he
struggled to sit up.
“I’m over
here,” Amy answered and he wasn’t sure it was her, because she sounded
strange. “They hurt Jo, she’s here with
me. I can’t wake her up.”
Pulling
himself into a sitting position and then using Tammy as a support, he got to
his feet and made towards where the sound of her voice had come from. She took his outstretched hand as he reached
her and he knelt down on the floor next to her and felt for Jo, almost toppling
over as his head spun, but ignoring it.
“Your
back is bleeding,” she told him as he located her lying in Amy’s arms.
“Yes I
know, what injuries can you see Amy?” he asked. “What injuries. How long
has she been like this?” He felt the
adrenalin pulse through his body.
“Her head
keeps bleeding and she’s been spitting out blood. She said there is a cut in her mouth. Then she went to sleep and I can’t wake her up,” she answered her
voice barely a whisper.
“How
long?” asked MacGyver as he tried to find a pulse and sighed with relief when
he did. “How long has she been asleep?”
Despite feeling giddy himself, he knew he had to take charge. The women needed him. The adrenalin flowed.
“I’m not
sure. A long time. There’s a new bruise on your cheek.”
“I’m ok,”
he said as he tried to work out what was going on because she sounded
strange. “Amy, what’s her color, tell
me what’s her colors like,” he asked kindly.
“She’s
really pale; there was so much blood on her face. Can you hold her for me please?” she asked quietly. “I need to get up, will you hold her?”
“If I
can,” he answered as he sat down and she gently laid Jo in his arms.
“Where
are you going?” he asked as he felt the cold air on his face.
“He hurt
Jo, the other one, he hurt Jo. I gave
this one an injection. He won’t wake up
for a long time. “Ah, here’s his gun. Tell Jo I’ve gone to get the one who hurt
her. When she wakes up, tell her where
I’ve gone, so she doesn’t worry.”
The Road To Nowhere
Amy
didn’t feel the cold as she closed the cabin door behind her stopping Tammy
following. In fact, Amy didn’t really
feel anything, except anger. An anger
that was growing from deep within, building and growing with every step. She knew she should have got away from Jo
earlier than this, and then her jinx wouldn’t have been able to hurt her like
that. Her mind ran through things
quietly.
She never
saw her grown up sons or their families anymore. They understood. John
went to see them, but she didn’t and wouldn’t allow them to visit her either. She had to keep them safe.
Carl had
died because he came to pick her up when her car broke down and she couldn’t
get in touch with John. If he hadn’t,
they wouldn’t have been on that road.
John never went on that road and Carl would have been safe, he only took
it to get her home quickly because she wasn’t feeling well.
Paula her
sister had needed her sooner. Then
she’d have noticed something was wrong and made her go to the doctors, before it was too late to do anything
about it, but she’d been too busy with her own life.
Maureen,
she hadn’t seen Maureen for nearly 8 years.
She should have said no when she contacted her and asked her to go to
lunch. 2 days later, she had been
knocked down when crossing the road to meet her at the restaurant.
She
pushed the thoughts of her other two friends from her mind. She had something to do and these thoughts
were slowing her down.
Carefully
walking through the snow, she followed the footprints left by the tall dark
haired man who had hurt Jo so badly.
She knew the track so well, even covered in deep snow it still showed as
it cut it’s way through the trees. She
had been down it many times. A great
place to take pictures, but it really didn’t go anywhere and she knew it, he
obviously didn’t. It had once. Long ago, it had led down into the valley
below along a narrow winding trail and had been used by loggers. That was before the side of the cliff
collapsed, taking the first bit of the trail with it. Now there was nothing except a small path that suddenly came to a
stop, in one direction. Straight
down. He couldn’t have known or he
wouldn’t have gone that way. No reason
too, nothing there but the drop to the valley floor. Checking the gun, she found a full clip of bullets. ‘Should be enough,’ her mind told her as she
walked along smiling in a strange way as she saw where he’d fallen several
times, where the snow had turned to ice.
‘I’ll
hear him if he’s already started back,’ she told herself as she continued
on. ‘But I expect he’s trying the other
small trails that he thinks may lead to somewhere. Probably looking for me.
Bet he’s looking for me. Well
he’s going to find me alright,’ she smiled again. ‘He is most certainly
going to find me.’
‘Should
have gone away sooner. Knew it was a
mistake to stay so long,’ her mind told her as she continued on her way,
smiling each time she saw where he’d slipped and fell, seeing by the way he’d
kicked the snow here and there that he was getting angrier each time he
did.
‘Angry,’
she thought, ‘he doesn’t know what angry is yet. But he will,’ she told herself as the anger inside deepened until
it blotted out everything else.
Then she
heard him, up ahead somewhere, swearing as he tried to find the trail
back. Not having the sense to follow
his own footsteps, trying to find a quicker way and failing. She heard him swear again and as the sound
of his feet crunching in the snow began to recede, knew he had turned back to
the cliff face again. Heading right
where she wanted him to go.
“You
can’t get down that way,” she told him making him jump as she came up silently
behind him as he looked for another way down.
“You could if you jumped I suppose.
Be a bit painful, but a lot quicker.”
He spun
around and glared at her for a moment.
Then smiled.
“You
Amy?” he asked grinning at her. She
nodded and grinned back.
“I’ve
been looking for you,” he told her trying to make his voice sound
friendly. “You’re friends are waiting
for you at the cabin back there. I was
helping them out; they thought you’d got lost out here.”
“Yes I
know,” she answered as she watched him carefully, the smile disappearing from
her face. “I saw how you helped. I found them.” He jumped at her unexpected remark and reached quickly towards
his jacket pocket.
“Oh I
wouldn’t do that,” she told him menacingly, pointing the gun she had been
holding behind her back. “This might go
off you see, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want that to happen, now would you?”
He
froze. The look on her face told him
she wasn’t kidding. In fact, the look
on her face sent the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.
“Am I
supposed to believe you’d actually shoot me with that thing?” he asked
condescendingly. “Probably blow your
own foot off.”
“I doubt
it,” she answered as she watched the look of fear cross his face.
“Brought
up on a farm, married a farmer. Guns
and me we go back a long way. My
brother taught me how to use them.
Rifles, pistols the lot. I ended
up better at shooting them than he is, won first prize once. Now let me see,” she added tauntingly. “Which part of you shall I shoot first?”
He looked
behind himself, seeing if there was a way out he hadn’t noticed and turned back
towards her.
“Jump if
you want,” she told him smiling. “Long
way down. It will hurt, but I’m sure
the ground will break your fall. Go ahead jump!”
He felt a
shiver run down his spine.
“You’re
off you head,” he told her as he glared at her, his eyes full of hate.
“Was
getting there,” she answered grinning once more. “Yep was getting there. You just helped get me there
quicker. Go on, JUMP!” she shouted angrily.
He swore.
“Language,”
she told him. “Remember there is a lady
present. Just watch you’re language.”
He swore
again.
“Goodness
me,” she said her voice strange and low.
“Didn’t your mother teach you any manners at all? Course she didn’t,” she added her voice
getting louder.
“Or she
would have told you how wrong it is to hurt people, and how definitely wrong it
is to hurt women. Only cowardly men
hurt women. Especially women tied to a
chair. Perhaps she did tell you and you
forgot. Did you forget not to hurt
women?” she asked her voice stranger by the minute.
“No, I
think she told you alright,” she said as she saw his reaction. “You just enjoy hurting people don’t
you? You enjoyed hurting MacGyver,
probably laughed as you shoved his car off the cliff. Was probably laughing when you hurt him in the cabin. Made you feel big did it?” she asked as he
smirked at what she said. “Hurting a
man who couldn’t see, couldn’t defend himself.
Hurting Jo.”
“If you
don’t shut your mouth,” he warned taking a step towards her, “I’ll.”
“You’ll
what?” she asked motioning he should stay still. “Shoot me, is that what you were going to say?” He stopped moving.
“I
suppose you could try,” she added as he watched her finger edge towards the
trigger. “But then you see we haven’t
finished yet. Now take your jacket off
and sling it over here. Don’t try
anything. I have a very shaky hand as
you may have noticed and, well you get my drift.”
He
hesitated for a moment and she knew what he was thinking. Was she near enough for him to jump her and
get the gun? Realising she was too far
away he begrudgingly did as she told him, the jacket landing a few feet from her.
“Ok, now
turn round,” she told him, the menace in her voice obvious.
“Why?” he asked nervously.
“Oh don’t
worry,” she told him. “Only people like
you shoot someone in the back. Now turn
around.”
He did as
he was told and the moment he turned, she moved forward and picked up the
jacket.
“You can
turn back now,” she told him after she removed the gun and threw the jacket
back. “Put it on. Don’t want you freezing to death. Mind you, might be interesting to watch. Not a bad thought,” she told him as he did
so.
“Now let
me see,” she said, as he stood there glaring.
“Shoulder first, I think.” she fired the gun before he had a chance to
move and hit him in his left shoulder.
“That’s for MacGyver. For the
glass in his shoulder. Hurts does it?”
she asked as he reeled back trying not to fall off the edge. “Now let me see,” she said her finger
returning to the trigger.
“Now I
can’t shoot you in the face, like you kicked Jo, probably blow your head off at
this range, so I think,” she fired again and hit him in the left hand as it
hung uselessly by his side. “That will
do nicely. The way you hurt my friend
is going to be nothing to the way I hurt you.”
“You’re
crazy!” he yelled as he held his hand, hatred for her on his face.
“You have
no idea how crazy,” she replied quietly, “and all thanks to you.”
“What the
hell did I do?” he asked watching her carefully, hoping she’d move just a few
steps nearer so he could grab her.
“Hurt that MacGyver guy. What’s
he to you?”
“What did
you do?” she asked incredulously as she moved back and to the left of him. “What did you do? You hurt my friend Jo.
You hurt her bad. Now I’m going
to hurt you. I was only a little crazy
until you did that. You, you sent me
all the way. Therefore, I warn you
now. If you don’t do everything I tell
you too, when I tell you, I will empty this gun into you. Every single bullet left in it. Do you understand me?” she asked her eyes
narrowing and her face pale.
“I’ll
kill you the first chance I get,” he answered as she indicated he should move
ahead of her.
“I
couldn’t care less,” she answered as he moved back along the track and she
followed at a safe distance. “That’s
the difference between us you see. You
want to live, but to me, death would be a way of getting some peace. I welcome it, but first, you are going to
pay for what you did to my Jo. So I say
again. You can try to get me, perhaps
you’ll succeed, you don’t know, perhaps you will
reach me, but I can guarantee it won’t be before I empty this gun into you.”
“Why
wouldn’t I try?” he asked as he kept moving, looking for a chance to
escape. “You’re going to kill me
anyway, might as well go down fighting as get taken out by mad woman.”
“Who said
I was going to kill you?” she asked as she walked along behind. Her senses alive to every move he made. “I’m not meaning to kill you. I’m not like you to see. I’m just warning you that if you try
anything I will.”
“Then
what are you up too you crazy bitch?” he asked mockingly. “If you’re not going to kill me, what’d you
shoot me for? And if you’re not going
to kill me, then maybe I will have a go at you,” he told her as he stopped
moving and turned towards her.
She
stopped and looked at him, her face taking on a strange look as she smiled.
“Let’s
put it this way,” she told him as she stood watching. “I don’t intend to kill
you, that would be murder, wouldn’t it.
However, if I have too, I will.
What I intend to do is hurt you. Hurt you a lot, so you’ll see what it’s like. Shoot you in the knees if I have too and
make you crawl to the cabin. It’s up to
you,” she added indicating he should start walking again. “It’s quite possible you’ll get the gun off
me, somehow, sooner or later. But, I
tell you now and I tell you for the last time,” she fired the gun as he turned
and the bullet grazed the side of his face as it went past him. “Stop again and I will empty this into you.
All in one place, if that’s what you want, or in different places, but
empty it I will. You see, you keep
forgetting something,” she told him.
“Yeah and
what’s that?” he asked as he wiped the blood from his face.
“I’m
crazy, remember? And as I said, you’ve
no idea how crazy,” she answered.
Trying to Help
“Steady
Jo, steady,” Macgyver told her as he felt her move.
“Amy,
where’s Amy?” she asked her voice almost a whisper as she realised who was
holding her. “Amy where are you?” she
called, trying to locate her.
“She’s
not here,” he told her quietly. “She
left.”
“What do
you mean left?” she asked struggling to sit up and failing badly.
Tammy
whimpered, came to her side and nuzzled her face.
“I don’t
understand,” she said as she tried to lift her hand to stroke the dog and
couldn’t find the strength to do so.
“Where’s Amy?” her eyes closed and she lay still. Tammy whimpered again and touched MacGyver’s
arm with her paw.
“It’s
going to be alright old girl,” he told the dog as he gently laid Jo down and
struggled to his feet. “I’ll look after
her I promise, but you are going to have to help me, do you understand Tammy,
you are going to have to help. Tammy
brushed against him.
“Right
first I’m going to bring the sledge in here.
We need to put her in the sledge; we have to keep her warm. Like Amy did with me in the cave, remember?”
he told the dog as he caught her by the collar. “I need to find the sledge, take me to the sledge Tammy,” he said
as she began walking slowly forwards, growling at the prone body of Harry as
she got to it, then took him to the door.
“Good
girl,” he told her as he realised where he was and opened it, the cold rushing
in on him like a sheet of ice.
Twice he
slipped as he made his way to the sledge, but with the help of the dog reached
it and began dragging it back towards the cabin door. By the time he’d pulled the sledge inside, tripping as he did, he
was exhausted. “Right let’s tie him up
first,” he told the dog as he grabbed her collar again. Finding the body of Harry, he tied him hand
and foot with some rope from the sledge. “Where’s the other backpack?” he said
aloud as went through the one Amy had left.
The next moment he could hardly believe what he felt as Tammy dragged it
over from where Harry had thrown it when he’d pulled it off Jo as they entered
the cabin. “Good girl. You are the best girl in the world,” he told
her as he patted her head. “Right, now
I have to get her into the sledge. Wish
I could light a fire or something,” he said to the dog as she returned to sit
by Jo. “Probably burn the place down if I tried that. Best not too, not yet.”
Dragging
the sledge behind him, he moved towards where he thought he’d left her lying
and then, making it as comfortable as he could, tried to lift her into it. It was then he found he wasn’t in any
condition to lift her. His head kept
spinning, his shoulder hurt like crazy and he knew it was bleeding badly. As he tried to lift her the second time, she
suddenly came around and he felt her jump.
“Amy!” she shouted as she looked wildly around. “MacGyver, where’s Amy?”
“Don’t
you remember?” he said as he held her as she struggled to get away from
him. “She left, she went after Stuart.”
“Then go
after her,” she told him trying to push him away.
“I will,”
he answered quietly, “but first I need to get you into the sledge so you can
get warm, but my shoulder Jo, I can’t do it on my own. I need your help.”
For a
moment, she didn’t say anything, just looked at him.
“I’ll
try,” she replied as she struggled to get up and finally, with his help, got
into the sledge and he gently covered her over. “Amy, I need to find Amy,” she said quietly and he knew she was
going to pass out again as her eyes were rolling.
“Jo
listen to me,” he said as he turned her face towards him. “Which one of these is the sedatives you
used on me? I want to make sure he
stays put,” he told her as he waved his hand towards where he knew Harry was.
“The ones
with the silver band,” she answered her voice getting quieter. “My head hurts, why’s everything
spinning? Where’s Amy? Mac... where’s Amy?”
“I’m not
sure,” he answered as he tried to make her comfortable.
“Wish I
could see this silver band,” he muttered as he shivered with the cold. “Oh what the heck,” he said struggling to
his feet. “This one will do.”
After
making sure that Harry was going to be of no further trouble by injecting him
with what he thought was a sedative, Mac pushed him to a corner of the room,
removed the man’s belt from around his pants and called to Tammy. Then as he’d done before, he used it as a
leash so she could guide him around.
“I need
to make a fire, where the hell is the fireplace, there has to be one here,
always are in these place,” he said aloud to himself as he began to feel around
the walls of the cabin. “I’ve had
enough of this,” he shouted making Tammy stop dead in her tracks. “Surely my eyes are better now.” Taking off the glasses that had begun to
annoy him, Mac lifted the padding over one eye carefully, but the pain as the light
came flooding in made him replace it immediately. “Was worth a try.” He said to Tammy as he stroked her gently and
continued with his search. Finally, he
came across the fireplace, more by tripping over the hearth than by touching it
and realised it was not far from where he’d placed the sledge and that it was
all made up with logs and kindling ready to be lit. “Now there’s a bit of luck,” he told the dog who was waiting for
his next command. “About time we had
some luck, don’t you think so. Backpack
Tammy,” he told her as he let her go and in the next moment felt her place it
on his feet.
“Best dog in the world,” he said scratching
her ear and sitting down.
Six
matches later, he managed to ignite some of the kindling and felt the heat from
it as it began to burn. Then pulling
the sledge to one side he yelled as his shoulder screamed. Checking Jo, he realised her skin felt
clammy and cold.
“Wish I
could see,” he said as he felt a cut on her head and she moaned and pushed his
hand away. “It’s Ok Jo,” he told her as she began struggling to get out of the
sledge. “But you must stay still, you
probably have concussion and I’ve no idea if you’ve any internal injuries. Do you hurt badly anywhere?”
“Get away
from me MacGyver,” she said loudly, as she tried once more to get up. “I’m going to find Amy. Tammy will help me.”
He held
her back and she groaned again and hunched forwards.
“What’s
wrong with your stomach?” he asked realising she was hugging herself.
“It just
hurts that’s all,” she told him angrily, “Stuart kicked me. Now let me get up. I want to go and find Amy.”
“Jo what
injuries do you have? Remember I can’t
see. Tell me exactly what injuries you
have. If you do,” he told her gently. “I’ll go find Amy for you.”
“Men are
such liars,” she replied. “But first,
can you put something behind me so I can stay sitting up slightly? Lying down flat is making me feel
sick.”
He agreed
and after locating the other backpack emptied it, filled it with blankets and
placed it behind her so she could lay back comfortably.
“I’ve a
cut on my head,” she continued. “I feel
sick, very sick and I’m cold, but I see you managed to make a fire. Lucky they always leave those things ready
for the next visitor. My face feels
swollen and I have a bad cut inside my mouth which, thankfully, has stopped
bleeding. My stomach and back hurt the
most,” she added. “He stamped down on
me when I was in that chair.” She saw
him shudder. “It’s Ok,” she told him,
“I don’t think I’ve got any broken ribs, I broke a couple once before and this
doesn’t feel like that but there is something wrong inside somewhere, because
every now and then it sends a wave of pain through me. My visions not right either,” she added, her
voice getting quieter. “Sort of blurry
sometimes and I feel fuzzy...” she stopped speaking and he realised she’d
passed out again. Tammy brushed against
him for comfort.
“Yeah I
know,” he told her, stroking her gently.
“But don’t worry I’ll think of something. I could make a harness for you and perhaps we could get her to
town that way but it sounds like she has some internal injuries, if she has, I
could make her worse. No, I have to do
something. I’ll fix this dam shoulder
and see about a harness. Then it will
be down to you to find the way to town.
Sure hope you know the way.” The
dog brushed against him as if to confirm she did as he rummaged in the backpack
for some bandages, something to use on his shoulder and was extremely angry
with Amy for leaving them to go find Stuart.
Jo needed her. He needed
her. By the time he got his things off,
he was shivering violently and glad of the fire which was now warming the room
up nicely.
Bringing him back
“Move,”
Amy told Stuart as he tried to slow down as they saw the cabin.
“Why
didn’t you just wait here for me to return?” Stuart asked as he tried to stop
his hand bleeding, feeling sure it must be attracting wolves.
“Good
question,” Amy replied as she followed.
“Oh, ok, then. I was going to kill you,” she
laughed. “I knew you couldn’t go
anywhere along this track. They call it
‘The Road to Nowhere’ and I was going to shove you off it, the cliff I
mean. That was my intention at first.
However, as I was following your tracks I changed my mind. Thought I’d let Jo decide what happens to
you in the end. The very end. Anyway, shoving you off that cliff was too
easy and I wanted you to suffer.
Shooting you was just to slow you down so you didn’t get any bright
ideas. Show you I was serious. Now move!”
-----------
MacGyver
jumped as Tammy suddenly got up and moved away from him. He could hear her sniffing at the cabin door
and then she began growling. As he got
to his feet she came back and nearly knocked him over. He could tell she was excited about
something. Then the door opened and the cold air rushed in and he grabbed one
of the logs he’d place near the fire, ready to fight, even though he couldn’t
see, but thinking Stuart had returned.
“It’s
alright MacGyver,” came Amy’s voice.
“It’s me, Amy. How’s Jo? She
asked her voice still strange and distant as she indicated to Stuart that he
should sit down on the chair on the other side of the room and gesturing to
Tammy to watch him as he crossed the room.
He
watched her nervously. The dog looked as mad as the woman.
“Not so
good,” MacGyver answered. “Where have
you been? Jo needed you here. I
needed you here. What kind of fool idea
was it to go looking for that Stuart?” he asked angrily as he followed her
voice as she came towards him. “Who’s
that with you?” he asked as he realised he’d heard two sets of footsteps and
jumped nervously.
“Just
Stuart,” she answered as she knelt down next to her friend and touched her
swollen face. “Don’t worry Tammy’s
keeping guard on him. He’s no threat,”
she told him. “He’s not exactly in the
condition he was in when he left. He’s
hurting more than you and Jo are right now, much more,” she whispered.
“Why? What happened?” MacGyver asked as he felt
her move next to him.
“I shot
him,” she answered her voice sounding amused.
“A couple of times actually,” she said, in the way that always annoyed
Jo so much. “He’s much quieter
now. How are you?” she asked, as she
straightened his clothing where he been trying to stop his shoulder bleeding,
as if he was a young child. “Your
shoulders bleeding again,” she said as she tried to see to it and he pulled
away.
“Slow
down Amy,” he told her as he caught her hand to stop her. “What do you mean, you shot him?” he asked.
“Oh you
know,” she answered smiling strangely to herself, as she saw her friend’s eyes
open. “Bang, bang. The usual way. How you feeling Jo?” she asked as she bent down next to her. “Look!
I brought you a present.”
“Amy,”
said Jo quietly. “You’re safe. Thank goodness.”
“Course
I’m safe silly,” Amy answered as she caught her as she flopped sideways. “Do you like your present?”
“What?”
Asked Jo as she tried to steady herself.
“What present? Where?”
“Over
there,” Amy answered as she pointed towards Stuart. “He’s all yours. You tell
me what you want done to him and I’ll take care of it for you.”
“What
happened to him?” Jo asked in astonishment as she saw his wounds.
“You’re
going to regret asking that,” MacGyver told her as he wobbled slightly.
“I shot
him,” Amy replied.
“You shot
him,” said Jo, her voice showing her disbelief. “YOU shot him.”
“Yeah,
you know bang, bang,” answered Amy, an innocent look on her face as she grinned
at her.
“Want me
to shoot him some more?” she asked sweetly, pointing the gun.
“No
trouble. I’ve got loads of bullets
left.”
“Amy,”
said Jo in total disbelief at her friends words as she struggled to stay
awake. “Stop pointing that gun, it
could go off, you may kill him next time.”
“You’re
being silly again,” answered Amy as she grinned mischievously at her. “I’m a crack shot remember. If I do shoot him, it will be because I want
too. Like I’ve already done. I wanted to shoot him and I did.”
“But it’s
wrong Amy, it’s wrong. You know that,”
replied Jo as she watched her as she glared angrily at Stuart.
“Why?”
Asked Amy as she tried to see to Mac’s shoulder and he pushed her hand away
again.
“Because
it is. It just is,” she answered as she
saw her friend’s reaction.
“You go
to sleep now Jo,” said Amy ignoring her words as she gently laid her back
against the support. “You don’t look
right to me. I’ll punish him for you.”
“Like you did Harry?” asked Stuart as he
looked across to the room to where his colleague lay. “Shoot him did you?
Probably in the back. You’re
crazy enough.”
“He’s not
been shot,” answered Amy as she stood up and glared. “He didn’t hurt Jo, you did. Not shot, just asleep. Now shut up before I get really, really
mad.”
“Oh,
you’re already that,” replied Stuart as he moved slightly and Tammy growled and
slunk closer towards him. “Like this
blasted dog. Yours is it?”
“I’d be
careful what I said if I were you,” MacGyver told him.
“I may
not be able to see, but even I can tell she’s not very happy with you and I bet
you a million bucks she’s taught this dog to attack.”
“Not me,”
answered Amy smiling strangely and looking at her friend. “Jo, she taught her, didn’t you Jo? A couple of years ago when John had to go
away on farm business and I was left on my own. She taught her good. So
you should listen to MacGyver you evil, evil...I swear I’ll shoot you if you
say another word,” she told him as she got to her feet. “Or better yet, set her on you.”
“Amy
don’t,” begged Jo as she pulled her to make her bend down. “Please don’t talk like that. It’s not you, I don’t like it you’re scaring
me.”
“Your
face is all swollen and different
colors,” Amy said gently touching it as if she hadn’t spoken. “Boy is Francis going to be mad when he sees
your face.”
She
paused for a moment then stood up and pointed the gun at Stuart.
“Think
I’ll shoot him again. Maybe in the leg
this time, cause he hurt your face.”
As Stuart
began to get to his feet at her threat, Tammy growled low and long and he sat
down again quickly.
“No Amy,
no!” said Jo as she pulled on the leg of her jeans to make her bend down
again. “Please stop, please no more
shooting, no more hurting.”
“Why?”
asked Amy, her voice sounding like a small child asking a question.
“Amy. Give MacGyver the gun,” said Jo kindly, but
sternly. “Give him the gun.”
“Why?”
she asked puzzled, the child’s tone still in her voice.
“Because
I ask you,” said Jo. “For me. Just for me. Give him the gun.”
“I don’t
want too,” she replied, and then whispered in her ear. “He
doesn’t like me. I don’t want to
give him the gun. It’s mine; I want to
keep it so I can look after you. You’ve
always looked after me and now I’m going to look after you.”
“Of
course he likes you,” said Jo as she looked towards MacGyver who was standing
quietly listening to them. “Why do you
think he doesn’t like you?”
“Because
he won’t let me help him. He won’t let
me look after his shoulder or do anything
to help him. I’m not giving him the gun.
I’ll take care of you. He can’t
protect you, he’s hurt too. What’s the
point of giving him the gun?”
“For me
Amy, for me,” replied Jo, her voice sounding desperate. “Give him the gun, please.”
“Nope! He doesn’t like me, I’m not giving him the
gun,” she answered.
“Does it
matter if he doesn’t like you?” Jo asked as she beckoned for Amy to come
closer. “I thought you didn’t like
him. Have you changed your mind?”
Amy
grinned and looked at MacGyver.
“Amy
Morgan, what would John say?” laughed Jo and began coughing.
“Don’t be
silly,” said Amy standing upright. “Not
in that way. Ok, I’ll give him the
gun. If you promise to be good. But you have to promise.” Jo nodded.
“Seems
stupid to me,” she muttered as she slammed the gun into MacGyver’s chest
knocking him backwards because he wasn’t expecting it. “Giving a gun to a blind man. Really stupid.”
“Thank
you Amy,” said Jo as she tried to get comfortable. “It’s for the best, you’ll see.”
“What are
you doing?” Amy asked as she watched Mac feeling around for something on the
floor.
“I don’t
like guns,” he replied. “Have nothing
to do with them. I’m looking for the
backpack. I was sure it was around here
somewhere. I thought I’d stow this away
in it. Out of harms way.”
“Well
you’re not getting this one,” Amy answered as she removed the second gun from
her jacket pocket. “It’s nice and warm
in here for you now Jo.”
“Oh Amy,” said Jo, her voice sounding
defeated. “You didn’t say anything
about having another gun.
“It’s
his,” she answered pointing to Stuart.
“And I’m keeping it. You be good
now, I gave MacGyver the gun and you promised you’d be good if I did.”
“But it’s
wrong to hurt people,” Jo told her, her head spinning as she watched her friend
in fear. “You know that.”
“Not
wrong to hurt him,” said Amy as she
looked out the window and added matter of factly. “You make a good fire, I’ll say that for you,” she told Mac. “Mind you, it’s a wonder you didn’t catch yourself
alight. I don’t think that storm’s
coming at all. It’s not even snowing
any more and the sky is clearing up. As
soon as you’ve rested a bit Jo, I’ll take you to town.”
“I don’t
think that’s a good idea,” MacGyver told her as he felt around for the
backpack. “Where the hell is it,” he
asked her.
“Oh
talking to me now are you,” muttered Amy as she came back to the fire and moved
it away from him so he couldn’t find it, grinning mischievously as she did.
“Amy!”
said Jo loudly as she watched her friend’s behaviour.
“What?”
Asked Amy just as loudly. “Why do you
keep saying ‘Amy’ like that?”
“If I
have to tell you, then you really are ill...”
Too late, it was too late; the words were out.
“I’m
taking Jo to town and you’re not going to stop me,” she informed Mac, her voice
now showing the hurt Jo’s words had given as she handed him the pack and
watched as he put the gun away. “I’ll
sort him out before I go,” she added
pointing at Stuart. “You’re not well
enough to pull the sledge and I can’t pull it with both of you on it, I’m too
tired, so it’s best you stay here and I’ll send help.”
“It’s not
a good idea for you to be bouncing Jo across the snow in the sledge at the
moment,” Mac answered as he pulled out two syringes and began to try and work
out which one had the morphine in and which the sedative, because he could hear
from Jo’s voice that she was in a lot of pain.
“Why
not?” Asked Amy as she came to his side.
“What’d you want those for?”
“I think
Jo’s in pain,” he whispered as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “But I think she’s pretending not to
be. I was going to give her some
morphine, you said before we left there was morphine in some of these things.”
“It’s
this one,” she told him taking the other one from his hand. “She won’t let you give it to her
though. She hates injections, and
unless you give me a good reason why not, I’m taking her to town,” she added
quietly as she guided him towards Jo, then moved away and stood watching
Stuart.
“Bite
him, bite him good if he so much as moves one inch,” she lent over and whispered
in Tammy’s ear, but loud enough for him to hear and Tammy replied with a deep
growl, showing her teeth.
“Get away
from me you mad bitch,” shouted Stuart as he fidgeted in the chair. “Hey MacGyver get this crazy woman out of my
face.”
“Don’t
tell me you’re scared of her,” said Mac.
“What me, scared of a woman. That’ll be the day,” answered Stuart
angrily. “But she’s crazy, look at her,
anyone can see that. Look at the way
she’s staring at me.”
“Wish I could
look,” answered MacGyver as Jo pushed the syringe away so he couldn’t give her
an injection. “Just wish I could. I’d love to see you cringing at the way
she’s looking at you.”
“I’m not
cringing,” answered Stuart angrily. “I
just don’t trust her. Her setting that
dog on me is what worries me. If she tries anything, I’ll tear her
apart.”
“Big talk
for a little man,” answered Amy as she moved across to her friend. “Very little man and I don’t mean your
height. Little inside. Like a worm. Slithering about, making everything slimy.”
“See what
I mean,” shouted Stuart as he fidgeted and Tammy growled. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You
think you’re so smart, you figure it out,” said Mac as he smiled. “She’s right though, she’s so right. What a great way to describe someone like
you.”
“Why
don’t you let me give you some morphine?” Amy asked Jo as she knelt next to her
and saw how much pain she was in before she had time to hide it.
“You know
I don’t like injections,” Jo answered pushing her hand away.
“Doesn’t
stop you making me do things I don’t like, you’re always...” she stopped
speaking as she saw Jo wince and her face go pale.
“Please
Jo, please let me help stop the pain,” Amy begged, her eyes filling with tears.
“I didn’t mean what I said in the garage or at the cave. You are my best friend and I do care. You just get me angry and I lash out.”
“Oh Amy
don’t cry, you know it makes your eyes all puffy,” Jo told her. “I know you care. Maybe later, when you take me to town. Is that Ok?”
“You
promise?” she asked.
“I
promise,” answered Jo.
“Oh this
is all very touching,” muttered Stuart as he fidgeted and Tammy growled
deep. “But you don’t honestly think
you’re going to get away do you MacGyver?
You’re in big trouble and so are they.”
“I think
not,” answered Mac as he looked towards where he knew he was sitting. “If you took up a contract on me then you’ve
failed and we both know what it means if you fail to fulfil a contract don’t
we. If not and you’re one of Boss
Larry’s thugs then he won’t be very
happy with you either. So it seems to
me that you’re the one in big trouble.”
“Nah I’m
not worried,” answered Stuart as he watched them carefully hoping that for one
moment the dog would take it’s eyes off him.
“By the looks of you lot, you’re in more trouble than I am. I doubt very much if she’s going to last much longer and you, well you’re not in tiptop
condition, the eyes and all. And this
crazy woman, I think she’ll go wandering off before long. Not in her right
mind.”
“If she
wasn’t in her right mind,” said Jo speaking to him for the first time. “You’d be dead by now. She’s the best shot ever, with a rifle or a
handgun, but she is hanging by a
thread, thanks to you, even I can see that.
You keep dragging on it, it’s liable to snap. So if I were you I’d leave her alone.”
“Yeah, be
quiet Stuart,” MacGyver told him angrily but knowing he was probably
right. He himself was only on his feet
due to the adrenalin pumping though his system because of the danger they were
in. He was hot, his shoulder was
burning, and his head kept swimming.
Unless they got help soon, unless Jo got help soon... he stopped the
negative thought before it could take hold.
He also knew they couldn’t keep Harry unconscious indefinitely, not
without the risk of killing him, and then there would be two of them to be
dealt with.
“Amy,” he
said indicating she should move towards him.
“You need to go to town and get help.
I hate to say it, but he’s right.
Neither Jo nor I are in any condition to go traipsing through the
snow. You need to take Tammy and go to
town and get help. Bring help
here. Amy do you understand?” he asked,
as she didn’t respond to his question.
“Of
course I understand, I’m not stupid,” she answered as she touched his arm
reassuringly. “I’ll take care of both
of you, but I’m not leaving Jo.”
“You have
too Amy, you have no choice. She’s hurt
bad. She needs help.”
“How did
she get hurt so bad?” Amy asked quietly.
“And you look sick again.”
“She’s
just hurt, that’s all,” he said afraid to tell her the truth. “I’ll be fine. As long as you get help, we’ll both be fine. But you have to go now.”
“I don’t
suppose anyone is bothered by the fact that I’m bleeding to death here,” muttered
Stuart clutching his hand.
“Oh
you’re not hurt that bad,” answered Amy.
“I just winged you. You’re not
even bleeding much, now shut up.” Her
eyes narrowed as she watched him. He’s
was up to something, she knew he was, she could feel it. Her danger senses were working overtime
telling her he was planning something.
“How
about a drink of water then?” he asked smirking.
“Talking
of water,” said Amy as she bent down next to her friend. “Would you like a drink Jo? I’ll melt some snow for you. Have a nice fresh drink.”
“No
thanks Amy,” replied Jo her face white as a sheet. “I feel a bit sick at the moment. You have one and get MacGyver one too. He’s been on his feet for ages.”
As she finished speaking, she cringed, doubled over and began coughing
violently.
“Jo
what’s wrong?” asked Amy as she watched in horror. “MacGyver, something’s wrong with Jo.”
“Take it
easy,” he told her as he gently moved her to one side. “Jo what’s wrong?” he asked as he bent
alongside her as she continued to cough.
“Feel
sick,” she whispered. “Stomach hurts
and I feel sick.” As she stopped
talking, he could smell blood and knew for certain that she was bleeding
inside.
“Sorry
Jo, it’s my fault,” Amy told her as she bent down and gave her a gentle hug as
the coughing subsided. If you hadn’t
decided to wait for me here, you’d probably be in town by now.”
“It’s not
your fault Amy, stop blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong,” Jo told
her, as she laid back against the support utterly exhausted.
“We were
already looking for you,” butted in Stuart, smirking again. “Sooner or later
we’d have...Knocked old Harry out pretty good haven’t you? You sure he’s not dead? I haven’t seen him move once.”
“Amy you
have to go get help,” Jo gasped and doubled over again. “Oh hell, my stomach,” she cried as she
tried to hug the pain away.
“What’s
wrong with your stomach?” Amy asked her
voice frantic. “Jo what’s wrong with
your stomach?”
“Nothing,”
she replied as she straightened up and tried to smile. “It’s ok, it’s gone now.”
“Easy
Jo,” said Mac as she sat back. “Try not
to move around too much.”
“What
happened to your stomach?” Amy asked, but louder this time. “Did he do something to your stomach?”
“No, I’m
fine. Don’t worry so much,” said Jo as
she realised MacGyver was sweating and looked as ill as she felt.
“WHAT DID
YOU DO TO HER STOMACH?” Amy shouted
loudly at Stuart as she moved away and stood menacingly in front of him, making
Tammy growl because it was obvious he was making her angry. “The other one didn’t do anything. You did, didn’t you? What did you do?” she asked once more, her
voice cold and threatening as she returned and knelt down by Jo as she began
coughing again.
“Gave her
a good kicking, that’s what,” he answered mockingly. “Shame the chair stopped me breaking every bone in her body. So what?
She deserved it.”
“You’re a
bloody fool,” MacGyver told him as he placed a steadying hand on Amy’s shoulder
and felt her shaking. “What the hell
did you tell her that for?”
For a
moment Amy didn’t move, didn’t even look and then, her face showing her shock
and horror at his words got shakily to her feet. Jo grabbed her hand as she did to stop her moving away and felt
it go cold.
“Amy,
it’s alright, I’m Ok, don’t listen to him.
He’s trying to hurt you, trying to get back at you for beating him. For being the person he can never be, for
being kind and gentle and nice. Amy
please, please listen to me! Don’t let
him win.
I need
you so much. MacGyver needs you,” Jo
told her.
She could
feel Amy shaking, her hand getting colder and colder as she bent down, seeing,
but not seeing, not registering her presence. Then an icy cold hand reached out
and gently touched her battered face, and she knew, as she looked into her
friends eyes, that she’d lost her.
Slowly Amy
got to her feet then looked down, seeing her friend as if from a distance as
she cringed under the pain brought by the evil man sitting on the chair,
knowing she had to try to find a way to help her, and to help MacGyver, this
stranger in their lives who had found his way into her heart, despite all her
attempts to keep him out. Down, down,
down, she went, looking for the knowledge that could help them, looking for
something that would make her strong, strong enough to stop the same thing
happening to them that had happened to the others in her life. It was there somewhere; she knew it was it
had to be. She’d already felt it stir.
It was there when she followed Stuart through the snow as she sought for a way
to protect Jo from him, pushing her fears away so she could become strong
again, and when she climbed through the window of the cabin and attacked Harry,
it had been there, helping her, urging her on, taking away the fear so she
could do what was needed to stop the man hurting MacGyver lying unconscious on
the floor.
------
Then he
was gone and Jo was gone. All that was
left now was the voice of Stuart as it pursued her, swirling around and around
inside her head like an evil smelling mist, taunting her, mocking her as she
looked for strength.
------
Jo
couldn’t see the battle going on inside her friend, or her desperate search for
the strength and knowledge to help. All
she could see was Amy’s face getting blanker and blanker as she stood beside
her, her hand ice cold, her body trembling with shock, shuddering every now and
then as if something terrible was taking place inside her head. Then a look of shock and horror crossed her
features and Jo knew she’d lost her battle, that she couldn’t cope, that her
mind, struggling to deal with what Stuart said he’d done to her, had
withdrawn.
------
As a
single tear rolled down Amy’s cheek, the shaking stopped. She pulled her hand from Jo’s and shrugged
Mac’s off her shoulder. The look of shock and horror faded, and, like the face
of a marble statue, hers went blank, blind and unseeing. Slowly, deliberately, she removed the gun
from her jacket pocket and aimed it at Stuart.
He was so pleased with the effect his statement had on her he didn’t
even notice the gun until Jo shouted.
“No Amy,
don’t!”
------
She
hardly heard her friend’s frantic plea.
Her mind, seeking the strength to deal with the situation had lost its
battle as Stuart’s words caught up with her, blotting out her search, tearing
into her like a sharp knife, ripping away like a crazed animal. On and on came his words, echoing like the
sound of distant footsteps inside a tunnel forcing her mind to protect itself.
“What’s happening?” came MacGyver’s voice
from a long way off, barely reaching her as the words continued to echo inside
her head.
‘Gave her a good kicking.’ Amy shuddered.
“She’s
going to shoot him, stop her MacGyver please stop her. She’s right here next to you. Something’s wrong, something’s terribly
wrong. Please stop her.”
Jo’s
voice pushed its way into her thoughts and were brushed aside by Stuart’s
repeated, ‘Gave her a good kicking.’ Amy shuddered once more. She could see him, grinning, smirking at her
through the wall that her mind had set up to protect her from the outside
world. She felt the gun and her finger
moved towards the trigger.
“No Amy,
he’s not worth it. You’ll never forgive
yourself,” came MacGyver’s voice as he placed his hand over the top of hers in
an attempt to take the gun.
‘Stopped me breaking every bone in her body’,
echoed Stuart’s voice.
“Amy listen
to me,” came Mac’s voice through the horror.
“Don’t do this. Jo needs you to
go to town to get her help,” she felt his hand tighten as he tried to take the
gun from her grasp without causing her to pull the trigger. ‘Gave her a good kicking, she deserved it,’
came Stuart’s echo again and she felt her mind go deeper, trying to block out
what he was saying, trying to bury the visions in her head, the visions of him
hurting her friend.
“Amy,
give me the gun,” came Mac’s voice again.
“Jo’s hurt bad, needs help.”
‘Good kicking good kicking,’ repeated
the words that shocked her to the core.
She
shuddered and felt sick.
“Amy help
me, please help me!” she heard Jo’s pain filled voice enter her mind as her
friend doubled over in pain. She
blinked as it reached where she was hiding. Then she blinked again as she began
to fight her way through the echo, back towards reality, back towards Jo. MacGyver felt her shudder.
“Amy? Can you hear me?” he asked as she shuddered
once more.
“Your
hand’s hot, you’re sick again,” she said as she turned her face towards him,
her features still strange and unmoving but now vaguely aware of where she was.
“I know,
I know,” he answered. “Give me the gun
Amy. Please give me the gun.” She looked at his hand held tightly over
hers which was pointed at Stuart, whose white face showed he knew he’d pushed
her too far.
“He hurt
Jo bad,” Amy said quietly. “How could anyone do that to her, I don’t
understand,” she told MacGyver as she continued to hold on tight to the gun.
“I know you
don’t Amy,” MacGyver said and wished he could see if his words were having any
affect. “That’s because you’re kind and
gentle and he’s just like you said. A
worm, slithering about making everything slimy.”
He
couldn’t see the hand she raised towards his face and jumped at how cold it was
as it touched his cheek.
“You’re
bad sick again. You’d best sit before
you fall down. Let go of my hand I want
to look after Jo.” Her voice sounded
weird and he wasn’t sure if she was going too, or just wanted him to let go of
her hand so she could shoot.
“I will,
if you give me the gun,” he told her gently.
“Let me take the gun for you. It
scares Jo; you don’t want to scare her do you?
She needs you.”
For a
moment she didn’t move, and then he felt her hand relax.
“He’s a
bad man,” she told him as she turned her hand inside his so he could take the
gun. “A very bad man. Hurting Jo like that and her tied to a
chair. Wicked, just plain wicked. I’ll send Francis back; he’ll know what to
do. You sit down, you’re sick again and
Jo needs some morphine. She promised to
let me help. You sit down now, and keep
away from that man. He’s bad,” she told
him as if he was small child.
“I will,”
answered Mac with relief as he felt her bend down. “I will. Later.”
------
“No Amy,
you know I don’t like injections and I hate morphine,” Jo told her as she
pushed her hand away. “Aren’t you
coming back with Francis?” She asked.
“No, I
don’t like it here. I’ll send him and you promised,” answered Amy. “You’re in pain and you promised you’d let
me help.”
“I know I
did and you can, before you leave, but only if you promise me you’ll
stay in town, that you won’t go anywhere til I get there. Before we talk.”
Amy
shrugged, put the syringe in her pocket, picked up a bowl and went outside.
“Had that
before I take it,” said Mac with amusement in his voice.
“You
could say that,” she answered. “Had it
once and once was enough.”
“How’s
Amy doing?” Mac asked before she returned.
“She sounds really strange.”
“If you
think she sounds strange you should see her face. She’s not right, she’s not right at all and I’m worried
sick. Did you notice she wouldn’t
promise?” Jo asked. “Amy always tries
her best to keep any promises she makes.”
“Then do
you think she should go to town, if she’s not right I mean?” He said as he bent
down next to her, speaking quietly as he did.
“Well at
the moment I think she’s on autopilot.
You know, just doing what needs to be done and well, let’s face it, we
have no other choice. You look as bad
as I feel. You really should sit down
for a while,” she told him.
“That
bad?” he asked.
“Yeah,
that bad,” she answered. “As to what
will happen with Amy when she’s done what she needs to do to get us help, I
dread to think. She paused and looked
towards the cabin door, listening carefully for any sound of Amy’s return
before she continued speaking.
“She
withdrew completely for a while when she was holding the gun. I’ve seen
her do it
before, but not like that. This time
there was something different about it.
Amy actually pulled her friend Carl from a burning car, burnt her hands
badly? He was trapped inside. She did everything she could to save him,
but he was too badly hurt. She spent
six weeks in hospital, shattered elbow, broken wrist, internal injuries, but it
didn’t stop her getting him out of the car.
She went on autopilot for a while; didn’t speak a word for two
weeks. This time it’s worse, I saw it
on her face. When this all comes
crashing down on her we could lose her for good.” She cringed as she finished speaking and he heard her sharp
intake of breath.
“I think
you should have the morphine,” he told her as Amy came back in.
“Don’t
know why you don’t like it,” said Amy as she placed the bowl near the fire so
the snow would melt and busied herself with putting things in the backpack,
deliberately keeping her eyes away from Stuart. “That’s how you met Francis.”
“Yeah,
well that was stupid,” answered Jo blushing, glad he couldn’t see her.
“Come on
tell,” he said as he stood up and listened to Amy’s movements, and knowing each
time Stuart moved because of Tammy’s growling.
“Oh some
stupid dog fell over a cliff around here, when I was researching one of my
books, and I tried to reach it. The
ground gave way and I needed rescuing as well.
Broke my leg in two places.
Francis was on Mountain Rescue duty and they lowered him down to me so
he could assess my injuries. Gave me
morphine for the pain. It made me
stupid. Some of the things he told me I
said to him.”
“He was
winding you up, like he always does,” said Amy, though her voice showed no
amusement at what she said as she laid the bowl down in front of Tammy so she
could have a drink. “I should know, I
was there remember. John told you to
wait for a rescue team to get the dog, but you had to be the hero. Always the hero. Super Girl.”
MacGyver
knew that Jo was right, he couldn’t see her but it was still obvious to him
that Amy was on autopilot, she spoke, but the words were flat, worse than the
first time it happened, before she went after Stuart. “Francis calls her Super Girl,” Amy continued. “She should marry
him and have lots of lovely babies.”
“Surely
that dog wants to go outside?” butted in Stuart and wished he hadn’t because it
brought Amy’s face straight in his direction and the look she gave him made him
shrivel inside, forcing him to be quiet.
“Well
that’s my things ready,” she said as she turned away. “There’s a lovely blue sky out there. Francis will be here in no time.
Now what shall I do with you?” she said looking towards Stuart, the look
of hate back on her face. “Oh I know
just the thing. It’s night, night time
for you,” she said as she rummaged in the backpack and brought out a syringe.
“Just the
very thing. When I throw you’d better catch it, or else.”
“You
don’t seriously think I am going to inject myself with that do you?” Stuart
asked as she stood looking at him.
“You are crazy and if you so
much as come near me I swear I’ll...
MacGyver get her away from me will you.”
“Oh
what’s she doing now?” Mac asked as he looked towards where he knew Stuart was
sitting. “Leave her alone.”
“She
wants me to give myself an injection, that’s what she’s doing now. Probably contains poison,” answered Stuart
and MacGyver heard Tammy growl long and deep and he knew he’d moved.
“What do
you have in mind Amy?” Mac asked as he held out his hand as he tried to locate
her and felt her cold hand reach his.
“He needs
to go to sleep. I’m not going anywhere
with him awake. Did you think I was
going to take Tammy with me and leave him sitting there?”
MacGyver
smiled. He had to admit he hadn’t
thought about it. She was right. He
himself was beginning to have trouble standing. It was only Tammy that was holding Stuart in the chair. Despite his own injuries, Stuart was still a
danger. If he for one moment suspected
how ill Mac felt. But she couldn’t go
to town alone.
“Well as
far as I can see it, not that I can see anything,” MacGyver told him as he
stood next to Amy. “You have two
choices. Either you inject yourself
with this stuff, or she sets the dog on you.
Your choice.”
“Three
choices,” Amy said as she watched him as he fidgeted once more and knew he was
planning something. “Three choices.”
“What
three choices?” Jo asked as she saw her friend’s blank expression.
“Well he
can either inject himself. I set Tammy
on him, or and the one I like best of all.
I shoot him.” Amy’s answer was
unexpected and Jo saw Stuart jump.
“Yeah and
how you gonna do that?” asked Stuart mockingly. “You gave both guns to MacGyver here. He has this rep about guns.
Never uses them. I’m pretty darn
sure he’s not going to give you one so you can shoot me, are you MacGyver? One of your weaknesses guns, so I was
told. You gonna give her a gun to shoot
me?” He eyed the dog nervously as it
growled at him.
“He doesn’t
have too,” Amy told him as she picked up the backpack at her feet and moved
slightly away from Mac.
“He put
one in here didn’t he? You saw
him. Yeah I like shooting the
best. Just enough to slow you down some
more. The knee I think, like they do in
films.”
“Amy no!”
shouted Jo as she pulled herself up out of the sledge and took a step towards
her, collapsing before she took another.
“Why’d
you do that?” Amy asked as she moved to help her friend up.
“You know
why, you know why I did it,” Jo answered as she tried to stand and her legs
gave way again and her face screwed up as a fresh wave of pain came.
“MacGyver
can you give me a hand over here?” Amy asked.
“What’s
wrong?” he asked, as he made his way towards her voice.
“Oh Jo’s
been silly and tried to stand up,” she told him as she reached for him. “Help me get her back into the sledge. Silly, really silly,” she said as if she
were a child, as they put her carefully back in.
“What’d
you go and do that for? Why do you keep
stopping me? I don’t understand you
anymore,” Amy told her as she covered her over.
“Yeah,
well I don’t understand you either,” answered Jo gasping for breath. “You weren’t really going to shoot him in
the knee were you? Please tell me you
weren’t,” she asked, as she looked up pleadingly, hoping to see some emotion,
then grabbed a tissue as she began coughing violently and brought up blood.
“You
really don’t want me to shoot him?”
Amy asked staring blankly at the blood but trying not to see it. Jo shook her head and coughed again.
“If you
don’t want me too, then I won’t. Unless
he gives me no choice of course,” Amy told her as she glared at Stuart. “So
it’s the injection then. And don’t try
anything funny, because if you do I will shoot
you,” she told him as she pulled MacGyver with her as she moved away from the
sledge.
“Get that
dog away from me first.” Stuart told her.
“I don’t want that mutt going for me as I try to catch it. Better still, get it out of the way and roll
the darn thing. I don’t trust that dog
of yours not to go for me when I move.”
“Oh I
wish you would be quiet,” Amy told him as she watched him carefully.
“I know
you’re up to something so just sit there and be quiet.”
“Up to
something. Up to something,” he
laughed. “In the condition I’m in? You shot me twice remember. I’m pretty sure there’s an infection in my
shoulder and my hand’s gone numb. I’m
dying of thirst and my back’s hurting from sitting here all this time and you
think I’m up to something. I’m pretty sure that when I’ve used that
stuff I’ll probably fall of this chair and hurt myself even more. Up to something. Yeah, course I am.”
“Pretty
long speech for a man who claims he’s not feeling well,” said MacGyver as he
heard him shifting around and Tammy growled.
“Yeah, up
to something,” repeated Amy as she continued to watch Jo, aware she was having
trouble staying awake, staying conscious, and also becoming aware of something
else. Something happening to
herself.
-------
Though
she’d shut her mind off from everything, but the task of getting to town and
sending Jo help, deep within there was something growing. She was tired and it was an overwhelming
tiredness. After taking care of Jo and
Mac, all she wanted to do was to close her eyes and go to sleep. No more stress, no more fighting, just
sleep. Dreamless, peaceful sleep and
the feeling was beginning to
build and
drain the hate from her. Her hate for
Stuart, and hate for herself. Hate for
failing those she loved. It was all
beginning to fade. In fact, as she
stared at the man responsible for the horror they had been through, she began
to feel sorry for him. ‘What kind of
life had he led that left him so pitiless?’ she asked herself as she watched
his angry white face staring at MacGyver and realised that he was blaming him
for his situation. Not her, but
MacGyver.
“Stop
staring at him like that!” she told Stuart.
“If you don’t stop staring at him like that, I’ll make Tammy bite
you. Do you hear me?” she shouted,
making them all jump at her sudden burst of emotion.
“Should have
killed you on the road,” Stuart muttered to MacGyver. “Crushed the life out of you there and then. You’ve been a thorn in the side of the Boss
for months and now it’s through you I’m here being threatened by this, by this
woman whose sick in the head. I’m
amazed she doesn’t shoot you instead
of me. If you hadn’t come into their
lives, these two wouldn’t be here.
Wouldn’t be hurt. I don’t go
much for women normally, always found them a pain in neck, more trouble than
they’re worth. Still I have to say
it. These two have my admiration. Pretty gutsy ladies helping you MacGyver,
yeah pretty gutsy ladies. Shame they’ve
had to pay for it. Especially this
one. Told me I’d made her crazy when I
hurt her friend. Yep, shame, real shame.”
“You
pushed him off the road!” yelled Amy and then went to help Jo as she began
coughing violently again. “You started
it, and then you hurt Joe!”
“Easy
there,” MacGyver told her as he wondered how Stuart was looking at him.
“It’s
alright Jo,” Amy told her as she tried to make her comfortable as she stopped
coughing. “I’m here. I’ll take care of you. Just rest.
I’ll try not to fail you again.
I swear I’ll send Francis, but you have to rest now. I won’t let him hurt you anymore.” She moved to the fire and put some more logs on it.
“Amy
you’ve never failed me, where did you get that idea from? Did I make you feel you’d failed me? I’m sorry if I did, I didn’t mean too,” Jo
answered quietly.
“Rest
now,” Amy told her as she tucked the blankets around her. “You’re always strong. You’ve always taken
care of me. I just keep failing you
that’s all. I’m sure you want me the
way I used to be,” she added as she stood up.
“But I don’t think I can be Jo, I think the old Amy died back there with
Carl. This guy just buried her. By hurting you, he buried the old Amy. Buried me.
You just rest now. I’ll make
sure he can’t hurt you anymore and then I’ll go get Francis.”
“Please
don’t talk like that,” Jo told her as she grabbed her hand and wondered why it
was so cold as the room was nice and warm now.
“I need you as much as you’ve needed me. You’re my strength Amy, my reassurance that there is good in this
world. Please don’t talk about being
dead. I need you.”
Amy
smiled down at her friend and removed her hand.
“You’ll’’
be better off without me,” she said as she moved away from the sledge.
Joanna James
My head
was spinning and things were beginning to fade as I tried to take in Amy’s last
statement and found myself looking at Stuart.
I jumped. She was right, he was up to something. I could see it on his face as he watched her
walk back to MacGyver. I opened my
mouth to call and nothing happened. No
sound, not even her name said in a whisper.
I tried again. I thought the
name, but nothing about me responded to my command to speak, to warn, to get
up.
‘I have
to get Amy’s attention’ I told myself as darkness began closing in and my arms
wouldn’t move. ‘I have to warn Amy,’ my
brain continued to scream, but still nothing happened. No movement, nothing. My body refused to obey my commands because
it was beginning to shut down. Slowly,
and inevitably, from the shock and loss of blood, it was failing, and I knew
it. The blankets that Amy had tucked in
so tightly felt like they were made of lead as I began losing consciousness,
but fought with every last ounce of strength as everything started going
dark. No, no, not now, please not now,
I shouted angrily at myself as Amy’s words rang in my head. ‘You’ll be better off without me.
Then I
found myself staring at Stuart. I could
see him smirking as he’d done before, when he knew he was going to hurt me, but
this time he was looking at MacGyver.
Whatever it was he had in mind for him, he was enjoying the
thought. Vainly I tried to push against
the blankets and they continued to defy my efforts as my mind screamed in
desperation.
‘Amy look
at me, listen to me. You’re in danger,
please look at me!’
“I want
you to roll the syringe to him,” Amy told MacGyver as she reached his side and
touched his hand so he was aware she was there.
“How am I
supposed to do that?” I heard him ask and knew he wasn’t going to be able to
stay on his feet much longer because he was exhausted.
Amy saw
me watching them and shook her head at me.
-----
“You roll
it and I’ll keep the gun on him. I
don’t trust him he’s up to something. I
don’t know what. I just feel it. I feel danger,” she told Mac as she rummaged
through the backpack at her feet and pulled out the gun and a syringe.
“I’ll
guide you. Tammy here girl, here,” she
called and the dog obeyed, though she continued to watch Stuart as she came to
her side.
-----
I could
see Tammy didn’t like this stranger at all, as she sat next to Amy her tail
thumping madly, waiting for her instructions.
She seemed to know that it was Stuart who was making her mistress sad,
and growled menacingly at him.
-----
“Can’t
you put that mutt outside?” Stuart asked as he realised the dog was still
watching him closely.
“I may be
crazy,” Amy answered looking down at the dog and patting her head, “but I’m not
stupid. Now when this reaches you, you
pick it up and no tricks. You move wrong and I swear I’ll shoot.”
-----
As she
spoke, she looked across at me and saw I was trying to push the blankets
off. “No Jo, you’ll get cold,” she told
me gently, emotion back in her voice.
“Leave the blankets alone.”
Then,
standing MacGyver directly in front of Stuart Amy made him bend slowly so he
could place the syringe on the floor and roll it. As it left his hand, he stood up and Stuart reached down for it.
I could see Amy watching him like a hawk.
It was as he went to straighten up I saw his hand move quickly and knew,
without even seeing it properly, what had been strapped to his right calf.
Something small and silvery. A
Derringer. As he straightened up, he
pointed it straight at MacGyver. Amy
saw it too and reacted instinctively.
What
happened next seemed to me to be happening in slow motion as I watched
helplessly as she grabbed Mac by the arm, and began pushing him away as the
first shot rang out. I saw her reaction
as the bullet slammed into her shoulder nearly knocking her off her feet. It wasn’t a look of pain or shock but a look
of anger as she turned and threw herself bodily at MacGyver, taking him
completely by surprise as she desperately tried to get him out of harms
way. Then came the sound of a second
shot and they crashed to the floor together and both lay still.
At that
moment, my vocal cords and my body at last obeyed my commands and I yelled
loudly and pointed weakly towards Stuart.
“Tammy
guard! Tammy guard!”
For what
to me seemed like an eternity, nobody moved.
Stuart was back in his chair as Tammy, lying low now and snarling
angrily towards him, held him firmly in the seat as he glared back and saw the
gun that Amy had dropped lying a few feet from her, but still way out of his
reach with the dog threatening to attack him every time he so much as
moved. I could see him cursing himself
for not moving quicker, for not having a gun that had more than two bullets in
it strapped to his leg.
Then he
smiled to himself and looked towards me as I gradually began to extricate
myself from the blankets and I knew what he was thinking. All he had to do was wait. Wait for Harry to wake up. He knew, as I did, that he wouldn’t be
asleep for much longer as he was beginning to stir already. He also knew the damage he’d inflicted on me
was taking it’s toll and I couldn’t last much longer without help. He smirked once more as he looked towards
the two still figures on the floor and I knew he was convinced he’d hit both of
them.
He
grinned evilly back at me, and Tammy growled as I saw MacGyver struggling to
sit up. Adrenalin or whatever it is
that surges through the body at times like these pulsed through mine as I
hauled myself out of the sledge and hit the floor.
I heard
Stuart laugh as I crawled slowly and painfully towards Mac and Amy.
-----
“Amy?”
said MacGyver as he struggled to sit up and realised it must be her lying
across his legs. “Amy, you
alright? What happened?” he asked, as
she didn’t move. His hand reached out
and he felt something wet as he touched her.
“Amy?” he called again and still she didn’t move as he gently began to
lift her off his legs. “Oh no,” he said
as he realised he could smell blood and now knew why his hand was wet. “What the hell?” he asked as he felt more
blood.
-----
“Let me
take her,” I said as I reached them. He
didn’t respond just turned her gently onto her back and laid her carefully
down.
“MacGyver,
she’s been shot,” I told him, as he turned towards me. “Stuart shot her and she’s bleeding badly,
let me look at her.”
For a
moment he hesitated, but then must have realised, that without being able to
see there wasn’t much he could do to help and moved to one side so I
could. Kneeling next to her, I lent
over to locate where she’d been shot and doubled up as my stomach lurched in
pain and I coughed up blood.
“Jo you
alright?” MacGyver asked as I wiped my mouth.
Again I
tried to lean towards Amy, and the same thing happened; only this time I thought
I was going to pass out as my head swam crazily.
“Jo,
what’s wrong?” came MacGyver’s desperate question as he reached out and touched
my arm.
“I can’t
bend over,” I said as I tried again.
“My stomach, it keeps cramping up every time I bend over and I’m
coughing up blood. You’ll have to help
get her into my lap;” I told him as I sat on the floor. “I’ll to see to her wounds that way. I have to stop the bleeding,” I said as I
watched him feel for her and then gently lift her slightly from the floor and I
took her, “she’s bleeding badly.”
“Why’d
you shoot her?” Mac yelled as Stuart as I reached for the backpack lying nearby
and began searching for the first aid kit.
“I wasn’t
shooting at her,” came his mocking
reply. “I was shooting at you. If she hadn’t pushed you... You’re one lucky
son of a bitch MacGyver.”
“Amy wake
up,” I begged, as I tried to stop the bleeding from the bullet wound in her
back. “Please wake up.”
“Where’s
she hit?” MacGyver asked as he sat in front of me and touched my arm.
“Twice,
she was hit twice,” I told him as I choked back the tears. “Once in the shoulder, when he first fired
and in the lower back. Must have been
when she pushed you. That’s bleeding
the worst. It won’t stop bleeding.”
“Let me
help,” he asked as he reached for Amy.
“No! You get your hands off her!” I yelled,
glaring at him for a moment and then wished I hadn’t spoken that way as I saw
his hurt reaction.
“Sorry
MacGyver. I didn’t mean to shout like
that,” I told him as I reassuringly touched his sleeve. “I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear.”
“Jo, let
me help,” he asked, causing a lump to come into my throat as I heard, and saw
how upset and exhausted he was. “Please
let me help.”
“Can you
put pressure on the back wound while I see to her shoulder?” I asked as I
handed him a wad of dressings and guided his hand. “The shoulder isn’t too bad, but the wound in her back is, and I
can’t wake her up.”
“This is
all my fault,” I heard him say as he did as I asked. “If it wasn’t...”
“Shush,”
I told him in the way Amy always did with me when she was trying to tell me not
to get upset. “Not your fault. In fact, I think you’ve helped her. She cares for you MacGyver, and it’s the
first time I’ve seen her let anyone new get near her for a long, long time.” He grinned, but I could see he didn’t
believe me.
“Jo,”
came Amy’s voice as she began to come round and tried to remove my hand from
her shoulder. “You’re hurting me
Jo. Let me go.”
“Sorry
Amy,” I answered as I smiled down at her.
“Over enthusiastic. You know
me. Heavy handed...” My voice died out as I choked back the
tears.
“MacGyver? Is MacGyver all right? Did I hurt him?” she asked as she tried to
see, but stopped and cringed in pain, her voice trailing off into a whisper.
“I’m
fine, I’m right here,” he answered quietly as he continued to put pressure on
the wound as she cringed once more and her eyes began rolling, closing again.
“Amy
don’t die, please don’t die,” I begged in panic. “Promise me you won’t.”
“Can’t
promise,” she said smiling slightly, the blank look gone. “I promise I’ll try, but I hurt, and I’m so tired. Oh no Jo, don’t cry, don’t cry,” she told me as she raised her
good arm and touched my face. “You know
it makes your face go puffy. I
promise...try...” She gasped as pain shot through her again and her arm flopped
back down. Then her eyes closed and I
felt her body go limp and heavy.
“Amy?” I
said shaking her slightly to make her open her eyes. “Amy wake up.”
No
response. I lifted her so her face was
close to mine and couldn’t feel her breath and my hand was shaking so much I
couldn’t locate a pulse. Placing it on
her chest, I waited for the rise and fall as she breathed. There was nothing. My mind reeled as I tried to deal with what it meant.
“No Amy,
no!” I sobbed as I clasped her in my arms trying to squeeze life back into
her. She didn’t move.
“Jo
what’s wrong?” MacGyver asked as I pushed his hand away and drew back.
“Let me
look,” he told me as he reached out and I moved away again.
“Amy,
please wake up,” I ordered her quietly as I looked down. My mind reeled once more as I heard Tammy
growl and knew Stuart had tried to move.
I looked up at him as he sat smirking at me, but the smirk soon
disappeared from his face as he saw the look that had been on Amy’s face was
now on mine. I understood now for the
first time what had been happening to her since this all began. She hadn’t changed, hadn’t become someone
hurtful. She’d just been trying to look
after me, fighting evil the only way she could. Bad for bad, like for like but it wasn’t already inside her. Everything he did, she responded to in kind,
even then not like him at all, or he’d most certainly be dead by now. I realised the conflict it must have caused
in her usually gentle nature as she fought this man, and what it must have cost
her to protect us. Coldly and without
conscience, I raised my arm, pointed at him and said quietly and sternly.
“Tammy
protect, protect Amy!”
----
Instinctively
and immediately, the Labrador obeyed her instructions. Stuart didn’t see the dog move as Jo’s words
echoed around the room as she sat glaring at him. All he saw was the blur of orangey yellow as she obeyed and leapt
at him, sending him and the chair backwards under her weight. He did feel pain though, the pain as he hit
the floor and the awful pain as she sank her teeth into his good arm as he used
it to try to cover and protect his face.
He yelled and felt the teeth sink deeper in as she angrily began pawing
at his arm so she could reach his throat, and then he felt the cold air as he
disappeared underneath her onslaught as the cabin door flew open.
------
MacGyver
had felt Amy go limp and knew she was unconscious, but didn’t know why Jo had
pushed his hand away wouldn’t let him help any more. He could hear Tammy attacking Stuart, but Jo wouldn’t answer when
he asked what was happening. Then he
felt the cold air as the door opened and struggled to his feet and placed
himself between the two women and whoever had entered the cabin.
“If you
lay hands on them I swear I’ll...” he wobbled and nearly fell.
“It’s ok
MacGyver,” said Jo as she looked up.
“It’s Francis and John. It’s
ok.”
“What the
hell has been going on here?” Amy’s husband asked as he moved quickly towards
them and caught MacGyver as he fell.
“Easy, easy, I’ve got you,” he told him as he sat him against the
nearest wall and turned towards his wife and her friend and bent down. Jo pulled back holding Amy tightly.
“Jo, let
me see her,” came Francis’ voice through the haze threatening to engulf her as
Stuart yelled for help as Tammy continued to hold tight to his arm.
“Leave
Tammy, leave,” John told her as he looked at his wife, desperately wanting to
touch her, check on her. “Tammy come,
here girl, here,” he called as he reached out for Amy and Jo backed away again
shaking her head, as one of the three officers who had entered with them held
his gun on Stuart and ordered him to get up, slowly, and another officer made
his way towards Harry.
“Jo,”
came Francis’ quiet voice again through the mist as he lifted her face so she
could see him and grimaced as he saw the bruising and swelling and how pale she
was. “Jo, do you have any other
injuries. Do you hurt anywhere else?”
“She’s
bleeding internally,” answered MacGyver, as Tammy came to his side and licked
his face and he put his arm around her and felt the animal shaking.
“Ok Jo,
let me check Amy first then...” began Francis as he watched her.
“No!” she yelled, “get away! You’re too
late. She’s dead; can’t you see she’s
dead? He killed her. You’re too late. Leave her alone, leave us
alone.”
“She’s
not dead Jo, I can see her breathing,” he told her as looked towards John
nodding and saw the relief on his face as he knelt, not knowing how to help,
but wanting to do something, wanting to hold his wife.
Jo looked
at Francis and he saw her intake of breath as she tried to stifle a sob.
“But she is hurt bad and I need to help. Will you let me take her?” he asked gently
as he touched her arm. “Get a chopper
here immediately,” he told the officers as Jo shook her head. “Tell them we have three badly injured
people and we’ll need to winch them out, there’s no place to land at the
moment.”
“Four,”
came Stuart’s voice. “Four people.”
“Quiet,”
the officer told him, as Harry began to stir.
“You’re
lying,” Jo whispered as she hung on tight.
“She’s dead I know she is.”
“Now why
would I lie to the woman I love?” Francis asked as he once again reached for
Amy. “Please let me look after her for
you.”
“You
won’t let her die will you?” she asked him as she released her hold.
“Do my
best,” he answered as he lay Amy gently down.
“Do my very best.”
“Steady
Jo, steady,” John told her as moved quickly too her side as she toppled
backwards. “Lay down,” he added
quietly. “Before you fall down.”
She shook
her head. “How did you get here John?” she asked, as she watched Francis
looking after Amy, as he cuddled her carefully and felt her shivering.
“Pretty
simple really,” he replied as he too watched, his heart dying inside him. “The last two conversations I had with Amy
she sounded really strange. She was up
to something I knew it. It’s taken me
four days just to get into town and when I did I found Francis here about to
leave.”
“But how
did you know to bring the police?” Jo asked as her voice began to slur as the
room began swimming. “How did you
know?”
“I
checked,” answered Francis as he continued to administer medical aid to the
still unconscious Amy. “What you told
me over the radio, before you left, got me worried, so I went to the police
station and checked. The storm was no
longer coming our way and we managed to send out wires. Back came the information about MacGyver
here being missing, and the trial he was due to be a witness at. Back also came a couple of mug shots,
cohorts of this Boss Larry who is due to stand trial for murder. I recognised these two from the hotel lobby
and around town. Graham told me they’d
been staying at the hotel and had left after buying loads of equipment from the
supply store. I put two and two
together and knew where they were
going. Just before we left John turned
up in the first snowplough to get through.
Gave me the surprise of my life.”
He
stopped talking for a moment and got up to retrieve some of the blankets from
the sledge, covering Amy over with a couple and smiling at them.
“Is she
going to be alright?” John asked his voice barely a whisper as he reached out
and took his wife’s hand.
“Well
she’s holding her own at the moment John, but she’s lost a lot of blood and is
very weak. The sooner we get her to hospital
the better her chances. Now how about
you young lady,” he said smiling at Jo as he bent down in front of her. “You going to let me look at you?”
“No,” she
answered to his great surprise.
“MacGyver first, look after MacGyver.”
“But Jo,”
said Mac as he continued to cuddle the shaking dog. “You’re hurt worse than I am.
Let him help you first.”
“No!” she
shouted and wished she hadn’t because it made her start coughing and her head
swim. “You first. You first.”
“Best not
argue with her when she’s in this mood,” Francis told him as he came to his
side. “Just makes her worse.”
“Yeah I
noticed,” answered MacGyver trying to smile as Francis began to examine him,
cringing as he touched his shoulder.
“Strong willed lady you’ve got yourself there,” he added, as he felt an
injection go into his arm.
“I know,”
said Francis. “If she ever agrees to
marry me, life won’t be dull.”
“You can
say that again,” answered Mac as his strength finally gave out and he flopped
sideways. Francis laid him down gently
and covered him.
“This
place looks like a scene from a horror movie,” he added as he watched surprised
as Tammy lay down alongside MacGyver, her head resting on him.
“She’s in
love,” Jo told them as she saw his and John’s reaction to the dog.
“Well she’s
not the only one,” Francis said as he came to her side and John left her with
him and sat close to his wife, holding tightly onto her hand.
“So now
for you. Where do you hurt? Beside your poor face,” he asked.
“My
stomach,” she answered white as a sheet.
“But it’s nothing to worry about.”
“Hey I’m
the doctor around here,” he said as he knelt in front of her and carefully
pressed her stomach and saw the pain on her face as she pulled away from
him. “Sorry Jo, I didn’t mean to hurt
you. Why don’t you lie down for a
while, until the chopper gets here? Let
me take a proper look at you,” he asked gently.
“I don’t
want too,” she answered as she looked first at him, then at Amy.
“John’s
taking care of her now. You rest and
let me look after you,” he told her as he heard the
distant sound of a chopper heading their way.
“No, I
don’t want to lie down, I told you,” she answered as she swayed in front of
him. “I have to look after Amy, she’s
my best friend, and I love her.
Francis, she saved both our lives, Mac’s and mine. Please help me take care of her.”
“Ok, ok,
I won’t force you,” he told her smiling.
“But will you let me put a blanket around you, you’re shivering? I’ll be careful, I promise.” Jo nodded and smiled.
“I can’t
take my eyes off you for five minutes can I,” he said as he wrapped her in the
blanket. “What am I going to do with
you, my Super Girl?”
“You
could marry me!” she whispered as her eyes closed and he caught her as she
toppled sideways.
“I
thought you’d never ask,” he said, his face showing his concern and love as the
sound of the rescue chopper droned overhead.
Later, much later.
“Amy wake
up, you promised me you wouldn’t die, that you’d try. Don’t break your promise.
You never break promises, so wake up!
Please wake up,” came Jo’s desperate voice through the dark.
-----
Amy
didn’t want to wake up. She liked it
where she was; it was dark, warm, and comfortable. No stress, no trying to keep up with other peoples expectations
of her. She moved away from the voice
and further into the darkness.
-----
“Please
Amy, I love you. I need you,” came
John’s voice as she felt him squeeze her hand.
-----
“Yeah,
like the Titanic needed the iceberg,” her mind said as she pushed away his
voice and kept heading towards the darkness. “Why can’t they leave me alone?”
-----
“Amy
Beth Morgan! If you die I will
never speak to you again!” came Jo’s agitated voice.
-----
Somewhere
deep inside her Amy laughed and step back from the dark.
-----
The heart
monitor jump slightly then began showing a stronger beat and Francis smiled and
indicated they should carry on talking to her.
“Besides,”
came John’s voice once more. “It will
be lambing time soon. You know what a
mess I get into at lambing time.”
-----
She
laughed again and step back further. He
felt her hand move in his.
-----
“And I
need you to be my Matron of Honour when I marry Francis,” came Jo again. “I wonder if you get a discount with the
bill when having babies, if your husband is a doctor. What do you reckon Amy, three or four babies?”
-----
The
darkness was beginning to turn grey.
-----
“Talking
of babies,” came John’s voice. “Fancy
letting Tammy run around on her own like that.
Trust her to find a male friend somewhere. What the hell am I going to do with all those puppies when they
arrive?”
-----
Amy
laughed, way, way down deep and the grey became lighter, almost white.
They
could see her returning to them.
-----
“Come on
Amy,” came MacGyver’s voice for the first time. “I dread to think of it.
If they take after their mum, I’ll
be licked to death. I’ll be lucky
if I have any skin left on my face.”
-----
She
opened her eyes and smiled as she saw him looking down at her.
“Your
eyes look better,” she whispered through the mask on her face. “Do you feel any better?” she asked as she
squeezed John’s hand and grinned at Jo.
“Not
really,” he answered. “Pretty rough
actually,” he said imitating her.
“Me too,”
she replied, and he smiled again.
-----
‘Jo’s
right,’ she thought to herself. ‘He
does have a nice smile. Nice eyes too,
now they’re not all red and puffy.
Really, really nice eyes.’
THE END