Where Were You? -- Chapter 3: Elle (X5-164)

Disclaimer:  The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me.  No money is being made off of this fic.  I only own the original characters (Wayne/X5-369, etc.).

Notes:  Alec will be referred to by his designation in this fic since he wasn’t named until season 2. There also won’t be too much of Alec’s P.O.V. pre-escape because all of the serious drama leading up to the escape happens in Gillette. Don’t worry, he will be appearing later.

“164 to 452, no sign of any of the members of Team A yet,” I said quietly into my walkie-talkie. I knew perfectly well that Lydecker would be monitoring any and all of the transmissions we made with them, so I was definitely not going to be using names. I looked over to where Zane was perched in a tree, keeping a look out for any of the members of the other team. He shook his head again.

“Continue keeping watch with 205, 369, and 417,” Max ordered. “656, have you, 766, or 987 spotted any of Team A’s members yet?”

“No sign of them, 452,” Tinga reported. “The flag remains secure.”

“I copy,” Max said. “Report in if you see anything. 452 out.”

“Why do we have to be defense?” Wayne muttered from his spot. “I hate staying back.”

“That’s probably why Max assigned you to this group,” Zane said. “I’m sure that you could have asked her if you could have switched with Tinga, Eva, or Kenny and stayed back with the flag if you really wanted to.”

“Shut up. They’ll hear us if they’re nearby, which they probably are,” I hissed. “We’ve got to stay alert. How much do you want to bet that Zack is probably two feet from us and listening in to every word we’re saying?”

“She’s right,” Wayne said.

“More often than you are,” Zane observed.

"And if you hadn't pissed off Max this morning before breakfast, Zane, you could have been leading this part of our team," I pointed out.  When I heard Wayne snort, I glared at him.  "Did I mention how you could have been in charge of this group if you hadn't teamed up with Zane?"

“I guess we know who’s going to be the ones who will explain to Colonel Lydecker why our team lost Capture the Flag today,” Jack remarked.

I had to try really hard not to laugh out loud. “I guess so.” I suddenly heard a thump in the near distance and turned in that direction. I motioned for Wayne to come with me and I grabbed my walkie-talkie. “164 to 452, noises were heard in the area. I’m taking 369 with me to investigate them. Do I have your clearance to proceed?”

“Proceed,” Max said.

“164 out,” I said. Wayne and I carefully crept in the direction that the thump had come from. Only a moment later, we heard Zack’s and Ben’s voices.

“Try to hold her still,” Zack’s voice said.

“I’m trying. This is a bad one,” Ben said. He sounded really worried.

Wayne and I looked at each other and bolted in that direction. Sure enough, we came upon Zack and Ben sitting on the ground next to Gale, who was having a nasty seizure. “Oh, no,” Wayne said. He sat down next to Ben. “Gale, you’re going to be okay.”

“It came out of nowhere,” Zack said. “I never saw Gale getting shaky at all earlier today.”

I shook my head and took out my walkie-talkie again. “164 to 452, it turned out to be a gust of wind blowing some branches down.”

“I copy,” Max said. She knew that was one of our codes for one of us having a seizure when training and she sounded really worried. “You and 369 are to get back to 205 and 417 and resume your original assignments.”

“I copy. 164 out,” I said. I put it back away and looked down at Gale. “This is almost as bad as the seizure that Jack had last week. It’s going to stop, won’t it, Zack?”

“It better,” Zack said.

“I—it w—ill,” Gale managed to stutter.

“Don’t talk, Gale,” Ben said. “Just stay calm. It’ll pass. The Blue Lady will be watching out for you, you’ll see. She’s been there for all of us and she knows how much you mean to everybody. There’s no way that she won’t protect you.” He saw Zack gesturing to him and nodded and quickly made his own coded walkie-talkie transmission to the rest of his team to let them know what had happened.

“It will pass,” I said. I grabbed Gale’s hand and felt it shaking badly. “She’s getting worse, Zack.”

“We need to get her out of the snow entirely,” Zack said. He and Ben and Wayne and I looked around and we spotted some thick loose branches on the ground fairly close to us. Ben and I got up and quickly gathered the branches and piled and laid them out so that Gale could lie on them. Zack and Wayne carefully moved Gale onto the pile of branches.

“Th—ank y—y—ou,” Gale stuttered. “I’m sc—scared. I’m r—real—ly scared.”

“Just be quiet and rest and wait for the seizures to be over,” Zack said. “We’re here.” Gale tried to nod, but she could only close her eyes as her seizures became even worse.

“Zack, what’s wrong?” I asked. I was scared as hell that Gale was going to die. I didn’t want to lose my younger sister. “Why won’t these seizures stop?!”

“I don’t know,” Zack said. “Wayne, can you do anything?”

Wayne shook his head. “I know barely more about these seizures as I figure the doctors and lab technicians do. I don’t have a clue how to stop them. The only thing I can think of is to keep Gale calm and comfortable and hope that they’ll stop on their own.”

“Please protect Gale, Blue Lady,” Ben prayed quietly. “Please let her be okay. Please don’t let anything happen to her.”

“Be okay, Gale, be okay,” Zack said. Then, miraculously, Gale’s seizures started to slow down. After another few minutes, they stopped.

Gale opened her eyes and stared up at us. “That was so bad,” she said.

“Don’t try anything too fast,” Wayne said. He and Zack helped Gale sit up. “How do you feel?”

“Like I just participated in a five-on-one sparring session and I was on the short end,” Gale said. “I’ve got a nasty headache.”

“I’m glad that’s all you’ve got,” I said gratefully. I gave Gale a hug and then took my walkie-talkie back out. “164 to 452, the wind stopped gusting. Our hearing is no longer obscured.”

“That’s good, 164,” Max said. She sounded as relieved as the five of us. “Continue keeping an eye out with your group. 452 out.”

“This was too close,” I said. “That was the worst seizure any of us have had so far.”

“I know,” Zack said. “I wish there was something that we could do about them. The most we can do is continue to cover for each other when we need to and not say a word of this to Colonel Lydecker. Never say a word of this to Colonel Lydecker.”

“You know we will,” I said seriously. “We’d better get back to Jack and Zane. Let’s go, Wayne.” I gave Gale another hug. “Stay all right.”

“I will,” Gale promised. “Don’t worry. That won’t happen again.”