[Neil & Danny - Second island]

[plantfood]

The small pack on his back has water, food and sunscreen, enough of the first two to sustain him for a full week if necessary. It won't be, Mathias knows this, but even with all the work he's done on going into the jungle, he can't completely shake the fear that something terrible will happen. Something will keep him there, even if Neil and Danny get to leave and it's entirely irrational, but the extra food and water make him feel better. They calm the heavy pound of his heart.

Lucy knows where they're going and how long they'll be gone for, something else he's learned the hard way. In Mexico, no one had known where they were, but he's made sure that's covered here, and he's not worried about that. If they don't return by this evening, someone will come for them.

There's no reason to think they won't return. It's a simple trip to the second island. The restlessness that has been growing in Mathias for weeks has been almost overwhelming since Veronica's disappearance. Without her, he feels less grounded, scattered, like there's nothing to keep him from disappearing himself, though he knows that isn't true. He has Sam to look after, and it's because of her that he hasn't gone sooner.

Now, though, he's standing on the west beach with Danny and Neil, early morning sunlight turning the waves pink. There are two canoes in the sand, ready for them to push off and he doesn't feel good. There's not even the smallest part of him that feels close to good, but he doesn't feel terrible either. And that's something.

"Who wants to row on their own?" he asks with a small smile, gesturing at the two canoes.

Comments

[little_moons]

"Danny?" I call, sitting back on my haunches, both hands scrubbing down across my face as I heave out a calming breath.

"I think I'm gonna have to go get somebody. How bad's he hurt?" I need to know what to tell them when I get there, but there's no way I'm getting down there. Even if I could, I don't see how the two of us'd get Mathias out without ropes or somethin'.

[haolehothead]

"He's definitely broken something," Danny says, glancing at his own arm and wincing. "I cut my arm somewhere, but I'm in okay shape, nothing is broken! If we get some help, maybe we can lift him out of here!" He turns back to Mathias, still gripping onto his shoulders. "Deep breaths. You're here with me and I'm not gonna let anything hurt you. I'm a cop, Mattie-boy, it's what I do."

[plantfood]

At that, Mathias laughs, unable to stop himself, because it doesn't matter who or what someone might be. The vines certainly didn't care before and they won't care now. They'll only use it against Danny, and Mathias waits, listening for the sound of them mocking him.

He wants to ask Neil not to go, but there's no logic in that, so he forces himself to stay quiet, focusing on breathing, like Danny has said. His leg hurts less with each passing moment, but he notices he's shaking and wonders if he's going into some kind of shock. "I need to get out," he mutters finally, his hands touching his legs, looking for vines that may have looped around them.

[little_moons]

"You got your packs, right?" I call out, already getting to my feet and shifting the weight of my own pack on my shoulders. I can hear them murmuring to each other, but I can't make out what they're saying. Anyway, I'm already figuring how long it'll take me to get back, how long it'll take me to get help, and how long it'll take us to get back here.

I gotta get movin'.

[haolehothead]

"Yeah, I've got some food!" Danny shouts up at the top of his lungs -- which has been an impressive feat, but one that he's been capable of since he was a younger boy. Give a boy four siblings and he has to shout to stand out, especially when he's right in the middle. "Okay, Mathias, okay, let's talk," Danny says, adjusting to get comfortable.

"Tell me what you think is happening."

[plantfood]

"Ruins, a mineshaft," Mathias murmurs, looking up for Neil, although he thinks maybe he's already gone. That he can leave at all is good. It's a good sign. He only hopes there isn't anyone waiting for him in the jungle, standing guard with a rifle or a bow and arrow. As he thinks about it, his heart starts to hammer again, loud in his ears.

"It's like before. Like Mexico," he says, touching his legs again, his fingers groping and finding plants that weren't there moments ago. Tearing them out of the ground, he throws them into the darkness and he's almost sure he hears something skitter away in response. The vines, of course, moving away from what he's just throw at them. "They're out there. Can't you hear them?"

[haolehothead]

Danny scampers over to his side, closer, rubbing a hand over the midpoint of his back to try and soothe him, even though he's not sure he can do that when Mathias is in this kind of a state. "All I hear is you and me, Mattie-boy," he assures, hushing him softly. "It's you and me down a well and I think maybe you hurt yourself."

[plantfood]

"My leg is broken," Mathias agrees, but it's almost absent. It doesn't hurt as much as he thought it might, though he's never broken a bone before. Henrich was always the one doing dangerous things and ending up in a cast or a splint. He'd even had a concussion once, but Mathias has always been careful. Even in his spirited adventures, he's been cautious. Until Mexico. Until the ruins.

Until now.

"It smells down here," he says. "When Pablo fell down the mineshaft, he broke his back. It smelled, we could all smell that he'd shit himself."

[haolehothead]

"Okay, well, Neil's gone to get help," Danny explains, always a big fan of telling a person exactly what's going on with the situation. Better to keep him appraised than to make him worry. "And I can smell things, but it definitely doesn't smell like shit. You've got some dignity left, buddy."

[plantfood]

"Not me," he murmurs, because he knows his back isn't broken. That isn't what he's worried about. That Pablo will start to scream soon, that the fact that it's his fault -- and it is, he's the one who's brought them here again -- will come out and everyone will know. He's the villain.

They'll leave him here in the dark with the vines and he'll never go home again.

"They called me a Nazi," he says, speaking in German again. "Eric and the vines. I know I was the bad guy, but I didn't mean to bring anyone here. I never meant for anyone to die.."

[haolehothead]

Danny has never known any German worth a damn and that's not exactly helping him out in this situation. He sighs heavily and keeps rubbing his palm over Mathias' shoulders with constancy to give him the relief that at least someone is there with him. "English," he says, off-hand, like he's speaking to someone else.

His cut is still sluggishly bleeding, but it's nothing compared to Mathias. "There'll be help soon enough, okay? I need you to focus on that. Focus on me being here and help on the way."

[plantfood]

Mathias falls silent for a long time, nodding his agreement to Danny, but still feeling trapped and anxious. He wants to scream for help, but he knows that won't get them anywhere. Neil has gone to get someone to rescue them, that's what he has to keep telling himself. Neil has gone and he'll come back with someone who can get them out and everything will be fine.

From across the small clearing they've fallen into, he can still hear the vines whispering and as the minutes drag by, he becomes more and more convinced they're going to wait until Neil returns with help. Then they'll strike, making sure he and Danny never see the surface again.

It's a long time before he hears movement above, but eventually he does hear it and he reaches out in the dark, groping for Danny's hand. It's childish, to need someone to hold onto, but he doesn't care. He wouldn't care in the light of day and he doesn't care down here in the dark.

[little_moons]

It takes too fucking long to get back.

By the time I do, sweating and aching all over, sick with worry and hollow-eyed in the boat on the way back, Tom and Danny's unsurprisingly hot boyfriend in tow.

When we dock on the shores of the second island, I have a moment of stupid paranoia, that I won't be able to find the place where Mathias and Danny fell, but it's easy enough to retrace our steps.

"Right down here," I say, hurrying up the gentle slope leading up to the rotted wood hatch they both fell through.

[newkindofcop]

Steve only has to see the look on Neil's face to know there's a problem.

He already knows where Danny's been, had even been the one to see him off before his camping trip, but Neil's back too soon, too early for him to assume that something hasn't gone wrong, and he barely hears the news before he's packing some things into a bag, changing into clothes meant for trekking in the jungle before heading out. Someone else joins them too - Tom, a familiar face from ITF - and the three of them set off in no time at all.

He's got a rope in his pack, and he takes it out as they reach the slope, crouching down by the opening of the hatch and leaning out to look over once he's got his footing.

"How's it going, Danno?" he calls out, trying not to let his nerves seep into his voice.

[out-of-realm.livejournal.com]

Tom is tired, keyed up, and hanging too close to Neil, touching the small of his back as they retrace his steps. It's stupid, selfish, but Neil was okay, okay enough to make it all the way home and back out here insanely fast. Little blessings, he thought, swinging his pack down, a few coils of rope, a canteen.

"You guys need water?" he asked, peering down the jagged hole in the ground. He's already tying the canteen to a rope, lowering it down, lest he toss it in blind and give someone a concussion on top of everything else.