[MD1, 10:10PM, in the woods]
>Newt started to move closer wanting to get a closer look at what
>was going on. The sounds of a motor were clear .. standard diesel
>engine associated with some type of generator. The sounds of
>digging were also becoming clearing. "Are there large mineral
>deposits in this area?" he turned to ask.
Kate nodded. "Coal."
>He didn't ear an answer as a bright light shown in his face and a
>horrible screech sounded in his ears .. then everything went black.
The sound was unbearable. Kate clasped her hands over her ears, but that only muffled the sound slightly, and did nothing to ease the discomfort it caused. She tried to look for the rest of the team, but the light was too bright. She couldn’t keep her eyes open long enough to focus on anyone. Calling out to them was out of the question - her voice would only have been lost in the din. All she could think to do was move behind a tree so that at least part of the light was blocked, and trust everyone else to fend for themselves.
The next thing she was aware of was Flynn’s face. "You all right," he asked.
The sound and the light were gone. Kate was sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree. She looked around, saw Sharlyn kneeling next to Newt, who was slowly coming to, and Dinah, standing nearby, bracing herself against a tree trunk with one hand and rubbing her temples with the other.
"What the hell happened," Kate asked.
Flynn shook his head, extended a hand and helped her to her feet. "I’m not exactly sure," he said. "Whatever it was, it seems to have gone away. For now."
Kate nodded. She moved away from him, toward Dinah and then Newt to make sure they were all right. That done, she stared into the darkness. "The light seemed to come from that direction," she said, pointing in a general direction that was, as far as she could tell, in the opposite direction from the cabins, but she couldn’t be quite sure - whatever had just happened to them had shaken her confidence in her usually impeccable sense of direction. She pulled her little compass out of her pocket and consulted it by flashlight, confirming their location and direction. She was about to put the compass away when the needle suddenly shifted about ninety degrees, now pointing in the direction she had just pointed out, stayed there for three or four seconds, then shifted back. She frowned. She looked up when she realized that Dinah was staring at her. Well, something between staring and glaring.
"Something on your mind," Kate asked, smiling. Dinah’s style might at times be slightly.. abrasive, but she was a voice of reason, a good asset for the team.
"You’re planning to go off searching for whatever that was, aren’t you?"
"That was the general idea. Of course, if you want to head back to the cabin, that’s fine." With her tone, Kate turned that statement into a challenge. She was very aware that the rest of the team was watching the minor power struggle between two very strong personalities with great interest.
"It could wait until morning," Dinah suggested.
"Yes, it could. On the other hand, whatever is out there now could be gone my morning."
Finally, Dinah shrugged. Turning to lead the team further into the woods, Kate allowed herself a soft chuckle, though she hoped that the rest of the team wouldn’t notice it. She was well aware of her impulsive nature, and that such was not necessarily an asset in a leader. But neither was too much caution. A balance was called for, and if she could draw some balance from the rest of the group, they would do just fine.
Urging the others ahead before they had gone more than a few steps, Kate fell back and walked beside Newt, who it seemed had taken the brunt of whatever had hit them.
"You’re sure that you’re okay," she asked.
Newt nodded. "A little bit groggy, I guess, but okay."
"If you want to sit this out or go back to the cabin, no one’s going to think anything of it. We’ve all had a rough day." Just because her way of dealing with stress was to throw herself deeper into her work, Kate thought, that didn’t mean that it was the best method for everyone.
"No, that’s all right. Fresh air’s supposed to be good for clearing the head," Newt said, adjusting his glasses for perhaps the sixth time since he’d regained consciousness.
They had gone less than a hundred yards when Flynn and Sharlyn, who were in the lead, came to a dead stop, nearly causing the rest of the team to run into them. Kate came up along side them, followed by Dinah and Newt, all eyes following the beam of Sharlyn’s flashlight into a small clearing where the light was focused on a crumpled form with a vaguely human shape.
Sharlyn was the first to step forward, and one by one, the rest of them followed into the clearing. She and Kate cautiously approached the form, which on closer inspection turned out to be a man of about fifty, barefoot and dressed in a light weight, pale green robe, while the others checked the perimeter of the clearing. The man on the ground appeared dead, but as they stepped closer, they could hear the sound of very faint snoring.
Kate knelt down beside him and touched his shoulder, waking him and causing him to shift lazily. He looked up at her with an almost serene expression on his face.
Sharlyn gasped, instantly recognizing him from the photograph in the case file. "That’s.."
"Agent Cohen," Kate said, "are you all right?"
Cohen laughed with child-like merriment. He sat up, cross-legged, and picked up a handful of dry leaves, which he began to arrange carefully into a bouquet.
"Agent Cohen, do you know where you are?"
He looked at her for a moment, then shifted his eyes to Sharlyn and her flashlight, and pointed at her. "Pretty light," he said in a childish voice, and giggled.
"Come on," Kate said, addressing the team, "we better get him back to the cabins."
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