Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Wilderness ❯ Winged Rat ( Chapter 17 )

 

Wilderness

By Dentelle_Noir

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, duh. Don't you find this as redundant as I? I hope so.

 

Warning: Eventual yaoi. Man bashing.

 

NOTE: I'm giving Wilderness a bit of a re-haul and edit! Mostly from the middle on arethelarger changes, but the earlier chapters have more format and minor wording changes. Look for new chapters soon, though!

 

 

Chapter 17: Winged Rat

 

Quatre couldn't figure out why Heero thought they needed a whole hour to search the cave he had found, but then he saw Trowa take one step into the huge cave and seem to just stare at the roof for a whole five minutes, then take two steps left, and do it again.

 

Quatre leaned over to Trowa, holding his shoulder to get as close as possible so they could talk and not upset the bats. Honesty, that was why. Really. Had nothing to do with feeling that coiled muscle under his shirt that molded to every contour of Trowa's very good looking body. Or the fact that he was close enough to feel his heat and smell Trowa's scent. Really. “What exactly are we looking for? I can look too.” Quatre whispered.

 

Although to Trowa it sounded more like a purr. God! He was going to melt if Quatre got any closer. The boy was too damn adorably hot! “The bat has unusually large ears, and when they are sleeping, the ears just hang straight down. They are small little things, no bigger than your fist. So often, they sleep really close, ten seem like only three. If we look too quickly and not thoroughly enough we miss the one bat we need. Take an incredibly good look. Than another to be sure.”

 

Quatre nodded, and stepped gently away, although in the dark, the bats moving the only sound he could hear, he was very reluctant to let Trowa go. But he did.

 

He stepped over, and looked straight up. Something was falling right towards him! He gasped, and shot away, crashing right into Trowa in his haste (he had only been two steps away to begin with) and unable to see a damn thing in the darkness.

 

Trowa chuckled, and gently pushed him back to his spot. “Bat Guano. Poop.” He explained quietly, and grabbed Quatre's hand. “Just stay close. Hold on so I know where you are.” Quatre could feel his stomach clench in excitement; Trowa was holding his hand!

 

THINK QUATRE! He had to find this bat. He told himself he'd do his best. And gloating over Trowa's proximity was not a good use of their limited time.

 

He started to follow Trowa's lead. Starring at the ceiling he began his count: short ears, short ears, short ears. Oh, one was hiding! Short ears.

 

They had been at if for over twenty minutes, and that was just the ones on the side walls. No one was even looking at the middle of the roof. It was so high that they probably wouldn't be able to ID one anyway. It was quite disheartening, actually. There were just so many bats and so few of them. And so few they could even see. And these were probably the same damn bats they had seen before. It was so tedious! He understood why they were all getting so discouraged.

 

Just the fact that they had found a cave they didn't know about helped kick up their spirit, but just the sheer amount of these damn creatures! Quatre was feeling the fatigue, and he had only been with them three days doing this!

 

Forty minutes passed. He thought he had seen one. But no. It was just a regular one that had been sleeping lower than the others.

 

They had made it barely half the wall they were assigned to, Wufei and Treize (well the moving blobs with a flashlight he assumed were Wufei and Treize) were just a bit ahead of them. Treize trusted Wufei enough to not double check the area's Wufei had searched like Trowa was to Quatre. But Trowa, thankfully, was discrete about it and Quatre didn't want to admit it made him feel more secure, knowing if he had missed something, Trowa probably hadn't.

 

On the other side of the cave Quatre heard something. The flashlight across the huge span of cave moved excitedly. Or frightened. Quatre squeezed hard, just to keep his own fear in line, and saw Trowa turn to watch as well. Treize and Wufei were practically scrunched as one against the wall, the flashlight reflecting off the floor to give them enough light to see, but not enough to scare the bats.

 

“Something is going on over there.” Trowa said quietly. He dug his foot deep into the dirt and other stuff on the floor, making a distinctive circle to mark their spot then tugged Quatre across the cave to investigate.

 

As they got closer, Quatre could make out their shapes, defiantly Wufei and Treize, pressed hard up against the wall and starring up, their bodies tensed and jittery.

 

“Trey?” Trowa whispered so damn quiet, Quatre was sure they didn't hear him. About to say it himself, he was proved wrong. Treize, not turning from whatever captured his interest so, motioned for them to come closer with his arm.

 

“There is a little nook up there. It goes into the wall about a foot. Wufei thinks he saw some big ears up there. We're trying to get a better look. But it's too high, and these damn creatures keep shifting!” Treize's voice was so quiet, Quatre only hear him because he was practically plastered to his side.

 

Wufei shifted back, huffing a stray lock of hair away from his forehead in annoyance. He tried to back up and get a different perspective of the niche, but there were just too many other bats in the way.

 

Trowa starred, his eyes darting around formulating a plan. “Cat, How are you with balance?”

 

Quatre froze wide eyed.

 

Treize caught on to Trowa's plan. “Good idea. But Wufei and I are taller. Wufei, could you sit on my shoulders and I'll lift you up to get a better look?”

 

Wufei just nodded sharply. Grabbing the man he formerly `wasn't talking to' around the neck, he let Treize bend, then climbed up onto his shoulders, grasping Treize's raised arms to keep from falling then wrapping his shins under Treize's arms to hold tight to his back. It looked awfully tippy and high to Quatre. He was damn glad Trowa hadn't asked. He wouldn't want to chicken out when it was so important. But that was damn high!

 

Treize stepped, extremely slowly and smooth, toward the wall. Wufei, now almost four feet higher than before, starred straight ahead and grasped Treize's hand confidently.

 

Wufei bristled, his whole body tensing and froze. Treize stopped as well, sensing Wufei's changed state.

 

Quatre bit his nails, worried Wufei was going to fall. He had to remind himself to breathe!

 

Then Wufei grinned. An exuberant, overjoyed, unbelieving grin. He was having trouble himself, breathing!

 

“Get me the carrier. And get me closer.” He breathed, so quiet if everyone hadn't been waiting on a pin drop it wouldn't have been heard.

 

Trowa raced to his side and unhooked a cage, about the size square of a pocket book with a hanging perch and slatted holes instead of bars. There was nothing bigger than a bug getting through those holes!

 

He unhooked all three locking mechanisms, (two obviously added to the top and bottom since they were silver and rest of the cage and middle lock were black) and opened the door. Again, as quiet as the grave, he handed it up to Wufei.

 

Everyone waited with bated breath as Treize walked closer to the wall, Wufei's eyes trained to one spot. He just needed to be close enough to reach out and grab the bat and stuff it into the cage before it flew. Once it was grabbed, it would scream and the cave would descend on top of them again. He had to get it.

 

Just centimeters from the wall now, Wufei held his breath, his face practically next to some other bat. Letting go of Treize's steadying hands, he positioned himself to grab, one hand poised, the other holding the open cage and only his legs and his balance keeping him on Treize's shoulders. Trowa took a spot right behind Wufei and grabbed his waist, adding the extra support.

 

Wufei inhaled.

 

His hand shot out into the wall, and flew back out as a scream wailed. The bats all around them opened their black eyes and screamed in response, taking frantic flight from their perches.

 

The one right in front of Wufei's face flew straight past him, knocking his cheek like a punch as it collided. But he gripped his prize, flung it into the cage and closed the door violently, slamming the middle lock before he began to tip backwards.

 

The black mass of frantic bats circled around them all, battering them like stones as they made for the hole in the next cave over.

 

Wufei was thrown around like a rag doll, being so much higher, the hundreds of bats slammed one after the other and in groups into him, each little hit sending him swaying precariously.

 

From the other cave, they could hear footsteps running towards their location. It must have been Heero and Duo coming to help.

 

But it was too late for Wufei. One more bat slammed into him, and that was it. He tumbled backwards; his shoulder glancing off Trowa's chest, out of his arms, as Wufei twisted awkwardly off Treize's shoulders and tried not to take any of them with him.

 

A sickening slam and grunt flew from Wufei as he collided to the unforgiving rock below. The cave was filled with screeches of so many bats that nothing else could be heard.

 

Except the distinctive metallic snap behind them.

 

Trowa whirled around to see three figures, large and bulky standing coldly at the exit to the center cave.

 

The light glanced off a gun.

 

It was pointing directly at the four of them as the owner pulled. The explosion momentarily deafened the shrieks of bats. Trowa slammed down on top of Quatre as the shot rang. Then three more in quick succession. A howling scream came from the exit.

 

The last three shots weren't aimed at them.

 

“RUN!” Duo voice screamed as two more shots rang out into the center cave. They didn't wait to listen as Wufei peeled himself off the floor like a Nascar tire and Trowa grabbed Quatre's collar and bolted, the blonde being half dragged behind the much faster runner, only getting in one step to Trowa's two strides.

 

Treize screamed from the end of the procession, “LEFT” and Wufei spun, Trowa following and Quatre, now enough adrenaline pumping through his veins to keep up to Trowa's pace, all flew down a passage they hadn't noticed before.

 

They continued to fly through the cave, unsure where they were going and hoping to hell it wasn't a dead end. They turned and turned again, Trowa setting the direction from the front since screaming out their choices seemed awful stupid when they could hear their pursuers hot behind them. They took a fork that circled right back how they had come. God, they hoped their pursuers had taken the same first fork they had and weren't running into them head on from the new passage.

 

Trowa flew straight through the first hall into another passage. There were three openings. Two going deeper into the cave and one that twisted around to the opposite way.

 

Trowa went towards the fourth Quatre hadn't even noticed. A little archway no taller than Quatre's knees sitting just off the ground. “Get in and see if we can hide in there. Stay if you can.” Trowa ordered Quatre as he pushed him down to his knees towards the hole.

 

Quatre shut up the voice screaming about the squirrel eating foxes in the other hole and plunged in to the pitch darkness on all fours. It opened up after a few lengths and he was able to stand and even open his arms wide.

 

“All you, IN.” Quatre called from out of the hole.

 

Wufei was pushed through, falling down the slight drop from floor to opening, almost dropping the cage, and Quatre grabbed him and hauled him out of the way of the next person shoved through. Treize fell with an incredibly pained grunt, then came Trowa, his flashlight slammed off once he entered the rock.

 

Treize hissed through his teeth, but shut himself up as quickly as it had sounded as they all held their breath.

 

Footsteps. Running towards them.

 

The god damned bat was shrieking like a fire alarm!

 

Trowa grabbed the cage from Wufei and rolled his body around it, hunching over himself onto the ground with the cage completely covered, shushing the screams to a dull cat-like yowl every once in a while.

 

At least it sounded like some other animal, certainly not a bat. Trowa crossed his fingers and hoped like heck that their pursuers were stupid enough to think it was some animal den they did not want to mess with.

 

The footsteps crashed into their passage, and halted.

 

“Wing?” that was defiantly Heero's growl. And their code word.

 

Trowa and Treize both growled back, “WING!” And Wufei stuck out of the hole, grabbing Duo's leg and pulling the two in roughly at the same time.

 

Heero was still half hanging into the hole when the passage lit up again and more footsteps burst in.

 

“Shit! Which one?” Trowa recognized that voice as Alex. Damned idiot had the devil's luck. He was the one who kicked the tree over he had hid in when he first had the bat.

 

Thankfully, his luck was less this time. “Spilt up. There are three tunnels, each take one.” That was the leader, Nichol.

 

“DAMN IT!” Alex hissed, slamming his hand into the wall right behind their heads.

 

Trowa's Deja-vu was going off, and he gripped the bat around his middle tighter in response. This time, though, it was the cave that gave them away!

 

The wall gave out a sickening crack, and a pebble hit his head. Everyone looked up to the roof. Slow as a horror film, dreading what they would find.

 

A crack of light shone down upon them. Then it got larger and larger as more loose rock fell. This little pocket's wall was directly facing outside. But the light made the bottom hole glow like a lighthouse in the pitch black cave.

 

“SHIT! There's another hole!” Alex bellowed.

 

He cocked his gun and opened fire into the archway. All six of them threw themselves away from the entrance as the bullets ricocheted around the enclosed space.

 

Luckily, no one grunted in pain and one hit beside the crack, and more rocks fell, almost hitting Wufei. But the one crack, now an opening of light, shone like a floodlight to safety.

 

Taking initiative, Heero grabbed the entrance and, clearing debris as he went, he heaved himself out of the slim opening and found a hold outside.

 

He threw his arms down, gesturing for someone else to follow.

 

“Trowa, GO. You've got the BAT!” Wufei ordered, pushing Trowa's hands to Heero's and slamming against the sides to widen the hole for Trowa's broad shoulders. Heero grasped his wrists, and before Trowa could protest, (and protest he was!) Heero was pulling him out of the hole, the bat dangling from his belt and under his jacket.

 

Once Trowa's legs were out of sight seconds later, Heero's hands were reaching down again, grasping Duo's wrist and hauling him out.

 

“They're in here! I can hear `EM!” Alex shouted. He positioned his gun, and shot out another wave of bullets. Thankfully Duo was yanked away in time before they pierced his legs. Alex was aiming for the light!

 

Treize took the few seconds it took for Alex to reload to slam his foot into the side of the hole like a rocket. The rocks shook, and a few little pebbles moved. They had another second, and Wufei helped. Couching and pistoning his foot into the left side as Treize nailed the right, they hammered into the side of that slim opening.

 

Another metallic click, and they ducked for the edges. Another round flew into the enclosed space. They could hear Alex's friends yelling “GO IN!”

 

But that last round of bullets made the last of the stubborn rocks crash down, the hole wider than two of them across.

 

Obviously that had been Treize's plan as two sets of hands flew down over the light, Heero and Trowa's greatly muscled arms hung and beckoned. Quatre and Wufei grabbed and the moment flesh hit flesh they were flung out.

 

He was flying. Quatre stomach dropped to his feet. There was nothing to anchor him to reality except strong, fingerless-leather incased hands that flung him like a rag doll up onto some grassed ground.

 

Quatre's head swam just starring at the painfully bright blue sky and incredibly thankful for the firm ground under him.

 

They had flung him out into open air just like that! Quatre knew in his guts how high they were. Dear GOD! He was hyperventilating just thinking about what could have--

 

One gloved hand appeared over the ledge, and both Heero and Trowa grabbed that one arm and hauled him up, working together to swing him over the side and rolling painfully onto the grass.

 

That pained hiss reminded Quatre of in the cave. Treize had hurt himself getting into their hiding spot, or before.

 

“TREY!” Wufei gasped in horror.

 

There was no way he had been hurt like that getting into the cave! There was a patch of blood covering his entire front from a bullet sized hole in his left shoulder. Treize looked sickening white and was trembling as pain shot through his system.

 

Not bothering to remember he was mad, Wufei grasped him around the neck and pushed hard on the bullet hole trying to stifle the bleeding, he did a quick search and found that, thankfully, it was a clean shot, but it was still bleeding like a hose.

 

Wufei reached into the small medical carrying pack Treize brought and pulled out some bandages and antiseptic, looking panicked and helpless at the sight of all the blood not coating his hand.

 

Heero swooped down, lying their injured comrade onto the grassy ledge that they found themselves on and stated to treat Treize with the efficiency a triage nurse would be proud of.

 

Beneath them, they could hear Alex, Muller, and Nichol calling to each other and hanging out from the hole just a few feet from their legs. Heero grabbed the wrap and began to mummify Treize's left shoulder, holding the bandage in place as securely and quickly as he could.

 

If the three were smart down there, they'd just point upwards and open fire. That was the idiot brothers' style, from what the group had seen of them. They had to move as quickly as possible. They had to get to their boats and get the hell going. They had the bat. Now it was a race to get back to base before it was too late and hope to hell the three stooges didn't catch them.

 

Taking a good look around, Quatre saw they weren't that far from where he had fell in. As the bird flew, that was. There was a huge freaking gap between them and the place they had been hiking. They just happened to be on an outcropping connected to the side of the damn cliff with only two ways off! Up and Down! HOW IN THE HELL HAD THEY GOTTEN INTO THIS!

 

Quatre clung to the side of the cliff, the furthest he could possible reach and began to pray.

 

“We're going to descend over this side.” Heero ordered quietly.

 

No. No. No. Too high. Far to GOD DAMNED high! Quatre couldn't even make it UP these things, let along down. And he got a little glimpse of the trees below. It was like looking at the ground from the top of his sister Sal's penthouse balcony: 15 Stories! He had been little then, and he still looked up to his big cousin. His cousin had noticed how his little cousin `Quatwa' as he so politely said (the boy was 10, Quatre was 5. hello, bully, much!) was afraid of heights. He decided the best was to get over it was to dangle Quatre by his legs over the side. His other sister, Iria, ran out, grabbed Quatre back and gave his cousin a good swap for it. But Quatre never forgot that. The trees beneath him had been pinpricks. Just like this damn cliff. They could even see the river clearly from their vantage point, and that was miles away!

 

“We can't descend, Heero. We don't have the gear for that kind of climb.” Trowa, the resident climbing authority, said.

 

A resounding ring of bullets answered that question. Duo had to shimmy back from the side to avoid being hit.

 

“Treize will need help. We have one rope. We can't just belay down. I want Treize tied to the front. Wufei following on his right, Heero to his left. Duo and Quatre you go over next, I'll bring up the rear.” Trowa quickly spread out the positions.

 

“Negative.” Heero was cold and concrete. “Trowa, you go down first, set it as a lead rope. You have the bat and you are the expert climber. Some of us won't make it down without the guide rope, no matter the extra time it will take to get us all over. I want you down with the bat then hauling ass to the boats. We'll take different routes back to the boats so they won't follow and meet there.” Heero instructed while securing a protesting Treize.

 

“I can make it without all this bullshit! It's just a little scratch. I can still climb. And I can still climb bareback!” Treize was outraged. But pale and really not well looking. His bandage had shown red before Heero began to wrap him. Quatre was no doctor, but he knew that meant he was still bleeding, therefore loosing more blood.

 

“You stupid, Proud, Ass!” Wufei bellowed, “Your injured, just let yourself heal, Trey! Please. Let's get off this cliff, down to our boats and far and away. Then we can treat your injury properly. You'll just make it worse if you strain yourself. You're white, baby! Please!”

 

Another shower of bullets rained down beside them, and Wufei dove over Treize to protect him.

 

Seeing the pain in his lover's face, Treize gave a curt nod, pulling the rope Heero had snaked around him tight and stepping towards the cliff edge. “Let's do this. Trowa, you and I will go down at the same time. You bare while I guide the rope. You can be there to help if anyone needs it if you're mobile. Yuy, Take up the rear and make sure those guys don't come over the top.”

 

Heero was already grinning, a sleek handgun in his grip and pointing over the side the when second the bullet shower stopped. He opened fire himself, his bullets actually hitting the rock and flying through the opening.

 

Treize, Trowa, and Wufei were already over the side and gone. Then Duo disappeared over the edge of the cliff. Still, Quatre was frozen in place. He couldn't. He just-- not that high. He couldn't.

 

Heero was running back from the other side of the cliff where he had been firing seconds earlier. “MOVE WINNER!” he bellowed.

 

Heero's eyes widened when he saw the stark terror in the blonde's eyes. Shit. This was not good. He was panicking. Shit. Shit!

 

“Winner!” Heero screamed and yanked his arm with him to the side. Quatre took two steps closer and collapsed to the ground, his breath hard and unnatural. He was hyperventilating, Heero recognized with a start. This was a lot more than just reluctance.

 

They didn't have time for this! “They are coming over that wall. They will be here in seconds and we have to be down on the ground before that happens.” Just to buy a few more precious seconds, Heero ran over to where he could see two heavy arms searching for grips outside the cave. He let off three shots, one he knew hit his mark because of the howl of pain and crimson blossoming from one of the arms. They shot back into the safety of the cave and tried to determine if it was safe or not.

 

Quatre still hadn't moved. Yelling wasn't helping.

 

Heero grabbed Quatre by the shoulders and looked straight in to his terrified eyes. “You will be shot if you stay here. You have no choice but to go down.”

 

“I can't! I can't! I- oh GOD! Go, Heero! Just go without me! Get the hell out of here, and save your mother's forest. If they find me here, maybe I can distract them to give you more time. Go Heero!” Quatre said, his entire body numb. Heero was in shock; Quatre wasn't kidding.

 

The sound of rocks tumbling underneath them reminded Heero damn quickly how precious time was. “I will not leave a friend behind.” He said coldly. He grabbed Quatre's arm and pulled his unresponsive body toward the edge. Quatre was like a rag doll. He wasn't even fighting back.

 

“Take this rope and tie onto it.” Heero ordered. Tears were flowing down Quatre's cheeks but he didn't move. Heero tied him to it, and then slid himself over the side, grabbing the rocks tight in his experienced hands. He didn't trust Quatre not to freeze on the way down; he would go down right beside him.

 

“Quatre. NOW!” he ordered. A bullet flew through the air over them. Heero was grateful; the trajectory meant that the three were still trying to make their way out of that opening. It was small for them. Long, but thin. And if Alex and Muller were one thing, it certainly wasn't thin. They were nothing but bulky muscle a football player would be envious of.

 

It was time for desperate measures. Heero, knowing Quatre was tied to the rope, grabbed his friend, apologizing as he did it, and wrenched him off the edge and over the side.

 

TBC