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Gabriel let out an irritated breath. "Your suggestions will be considered. Now why don't we both go and respectively get some rest before dawn comes? Tomorrow may be the day when this ridiculous chase finally comes to an end, and we'll have to be in top form if that's the case."
Michael gave a neutral humm, but knew when to let a matter rest. "Let's just hope we catch her before she gets all the way back to where she started," was her last comment before retreating down the hill to the troops, leaving Gabriel to stand and contemplate.
Gabriel watched her go, then shook his head and turned to watch the last light fade from the sky.
((back to the others now?))
(Yep! ^^)
Bee had long since fallen silent. Her leg was in agony, and with every step she swore she could feel it shift slightly. She had stopped trying to walk on her own either, leaning heavily on Indy, Boss leading the way and muttering to himself.
Indy was getting tired as well. She could keep walking for hours in normal conditions, but not when she was half-dragging a full-grown woman along with her. And the increasing volume of her rumbling stomach didn't help things either.
"Hey Boss," she called after a minute. "We might have to stop and rest for a bit. See any good camping spots up ahead, by chance?"
"Uh, sure," Boss said, stopping on another hill and scanning the horizon. "We could go down there," he suggested. "It looks like something that we could take shelter in."
He gestured down the hill and across on old, barely recognizable road towards a tangle of tall grass, trees and solid wooden fencing.
"It's a little ways away, but I think it's our best bet."
Bee's heart sank as she saw how far she would have to walk, but she didn't say a word. She wasn't about to complain.
"Aight. Just gimme a sec to breathe here." Indy straightened up with a wince, rolling the stiffness out of her shoulders and resting for a minute before glancing back at Bee. "Okay, ready?"
Bee nodded determinedly. She straightened as best she could and set off without Indy, no longer even trying to disguise her limp, staggering down the hill. Boss hovered beside her, scared she would fall.
Indy sighed and trudged after them. "Hey Bee, you don't happen to have any food on you, by chance?"
"No," came the brusque answer. Bee didn't want to expend any more focus than she had to, it was getting hard enough to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Boss glanced back at Indy with a gesture of helpless uncertainty, making all sorts of subtle movements that could eventually be read to say Help. Help. Help. Injured person. Scary injured person. Help.
Indy rolled her eyes and caught up to them, giving Boss a quick hug before slinging Bee's arm over her shoulder. "C'mon, we're almost there. We can find something to eat in the morning if we have to."
(What time is it lol How long has it been since Gabe to now? I'm imagining that by the time he caught up with her, it'd been a few hours, and then maybe it's about midday?)
They made it to the tangle of long grasses eventually. Bee collapsed as soon as she could, trying to catch her breath and closing her eyes, trying to ignore the throbbing in her leg.
"Do we have any food left over at all?" Boss muttered to Indy, digging through his bag. "Any emergency rations? She really needs something."
(lol I was actually thinking it might be twilight-ish atm, and Boss/Indy/Bee are finding shelter at about the same time as Gabe and Michael are talking?? But in much different locations. Idk, is that what you were asking?)
"I've always got something," Indy reminded him, checking the dark ground for rock or rusty metal before she sat down. Taking off her backpack, she rummaged in a side pocket and pulled out a tightly-wrapped bundle of cloth. "There's a dry soup mix in here. It's pretty basic, but filling. Think we can risk a fire? If not, I think we could eat this stuff raw, but it wouldn't be very pleasant."
(well, that's what I was thinking, until I remembered it was literally first thing in the morning for Indy/Boss when they found Bee? And Gabe's bois weren't too far behind her, which is why she was so frantic to get out, AND I don't think she could physically walk that long on a broken leg w/out a rest lol But yeah, this sheler finding should be about the same time as Gabe and Micheal were talking.)
(Okay fair point XD I guess it's high noon then, like you suggested heh)
(Perfecto~)
"It's still light out," Boss pointed out. "I don't think it would be spotted as long as we kept the smoke down. As long as it doesn't burn down this place, this wood and grass are darn dry."
"Mm-hmm. Let's try and clear a spot near here and get cracking, I'm starved." Indy glanced at Bee and offered a smile. "How ya doing, fam? Gonna be okay?"
Boss went about setting up a fire, and Bee slowly drew herself up into a sitting position, nodding mutley. She rolled up her pant leg and grimaced as she examined her injury.
Indy started industriously weeding away the tall dead grass around them to reduce the risk of the fire spreading and catching them all ablaze. "We've got a real toughie on our hands here, Boss. This lady writes her own rules and won't take 'no' for an answer, wouldn't you say? S'always nice to travel with somebody who can take a hit or two without fallin' over."
"Sure thing," Boss agreed, vigorously building a fire space. He ignored Nick's mutters about how he hoped they set themselves all on fire and died.
Bee wasn't one to get emotional about compliments, as it turned out. She leaned back against an old rotting fence and watched them with a flat expression.
"We need to make a plan," she said, voice dull from pain. "Gab - The people after me are smart, they're going to figure out what happened sooner rather than later, and they'll try to cut us off. I clearly can't walk that fast, so they might have a reasonable chance of doing just that."
Assuming they don't just jump us where we sit, she thought grimly, not entirely convinced b Boss's supposed powers.
"Yeah," Indy agreed, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "What we need is a way to go faster, first and foremost." After a moment she reached into a smaller pocket of her backpack and pulled out a folded map, which turned out to be quite large when spread out. Indy expertly refolded it to show the area they were now in, studying the heavily edited and note-ridden landscape with a frown. "It looks like if we adjust our course a little further north when we head out, we could hit a decent-sized trade route in a few miles. There'll be little towns and gas stops all along that, and we might be able to find a good-looking traveling group–one heading east, obviously–and hitch a ride with them. Maybe we could even find some truckers, they go really speedy." She glanced at Boss. "Not really our style, I know, but it could save us a lot of hassle."
"Hey, I'm all for hassle saving," Boss said. "Especially if the hassle we're saving is a huge battle and potential death or something."
Bee scooted closer to Indy, leaning over and studying the map closely. She narrowed her eyes, squinting to read the tiny notes, then finally nodded shortly.
"That could work. Assuming we make it that far. We'll have to go soon, though. We can't ris them catching up with us."
"For sure. You need to rest though, and eat. Make the most of this little break, and we can go farther without having to take another one." Flopping onto her back, Indy let the map fall over her face to block the sun. "Almost done with that soup, Boss-man?"
"Getting there, no thanks to you," he said light-heartedly. "Will be ready in no time. I hope you packed bowls of something Indy, or we'll have to eat outta the pot."
"You know exactly what I've got packed," Indy accused teasingly, pulling out a set of small, dented metal bowls. "Here. I've only got two though, so somebody will have to go bachelor-style until we can find a spare container. Oh, have spoons too."