Chapter 3
Catching her breath, Sophia crouched down and faced the base. She did a double take. Mechas were flying around in a whirlwind of action, orders were being given and soldiers were trying to stay in formation as they ran in circles picking up various equipment from their living barracks.
"What the…"
She picked up her binoculars as quickly as she could, crawling to the edge of the hill in the process. As Sophia’s mouth hung open in awe at the sight of the base, her feet came in contact with a bunch of, what seemed to be, tree branches. Peering at the trees above her, she noticed that all the branches seemed to be still attached. That could only mean…
"QUATRE!"
She didn’t care if anyone heard her cry his name. Sophia furiously dug out his legs, which were completely still and freezing to the touch. Her voice caught as she cleared the rest of his body out of his entombment. Tentatively, she placed her hand on his cheek, wiping some snow off his angelic features. She could feel shallow breathing coming out through his blue lips.
"Good…he’s alive."
Hefting him over her shoulder, Sophia felt a deep rumbling coming up from the ground. She knew better to presume it was an earthquake, so she turned her face towards the base.
The roof of the Mariemaia’s military fortress was opening outward into the blue-gray sky. The nose of a very large space shuttle could be seen inching its way up the sky. It shot through the air suddenly, leaving the atmosphere so quickly it was almost as if it never existed.
Sophia stood there gaping at the end of the shuttle, reading the letters and numbers on the side ‘X18999’. After a few minutes, Quatre’s weight on her shoulders began to hurt.
"Shimatta!" she screamed, for no one but herself. "We’ve wasted 3 days watching this place only to have them leave like bats outta hell!"
She shifted Quatre’s weight slightly and began running, as safely as she could, down the hill. With no person for a 20 mile radius other than the boys, she began screaming for them as loud as she could. She hit the bottom of the hill at a weird angle and almost tripped over her feet.
Righting herself before face-planting into the snow, Sophia looked up to see Duo and Wufei coming out of the hole leading to the cabin below. They took one look at her and Quatre and ran to meet her. An audible ‘fuck’ could be heard from Duo.
Stopping at the 2 boys, Sophia passed Quatre into Wufei’s arms. He carried the boy like a baby to the ladder. Sophia slid herself down quickly and ran inside, calling for Heero and hot water packs. Duo also slid down, but he and Wufei helped each other get the blond down the ladder.
"What the hell was he doing outside?" Duo grunted holding himself up and supporting Quatre for a moment as Wufei jumped to the bottom of the hole. Duo gingerly passed him the unconscious boy and jumped down himself.
Wufei brushed at Quatre’s clothes and then stared at Duo. "It looks as if he was buried under the snow. It’s possible that he fell asleep."
Duo’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Quatre’s face. "He’s got bags under his eyes. Must have been sleeping badly lately. That could be a factor."
"Maxwell, shut up for now and help me with our friend, okay?"
Duo nodded, helping Wufei carry Quatre in through the open front door. They walked over to Quatre’s cot and lay him down. Sophia looked over from her spot boiling a massive amount of water.
"Take off his wet clothes and change him into something dry and warm."
Wufei raised an eyebrow at this. "Onna, do I look like your personal maid?"
"Yes, goddammit, you do! Now, strip him!"
Wufei’s eyes opened wide as he struggled with Quatre’s clothes. He took off the boys’ soaking wet coat and shirt and began tugging at his pants. Once he had Quatre naked, Sophia poured hot water into hot bags. She then wrapped the cold boy in a blanket and stuck the hot bags next to his body and one on his forehead. The 5 of them tucked him into his comforter and sat around him in chairs.
"What do we do now?" Duo asked. He stared at his hands and tried to stop his body from shaking. One of his only friends was lying frozen, looking like a corpse, only feet away.
"We have to get him back to headquarters," Trowa stated. "But we can’t, not with all the activity at the base."
"Speaking of which, why were you running and screaming when the base could hear you. You could be putting us all in danger!" Heero yelled at Sophia.
"Not when there’s no one there!" she screamed back.
All activity stopped in the cabin, except for Quatre’s ragged breathing. The boys stared at her in disbelief and Trowa scooted forward in his chair and turned toward Sophia.
"What do you mean no one’s there? They were there a few hours ago when you were watching the base."
Sophia looked at him and shook her head in an affirmative. "Yeah, I know they were there then. But when I went to get Quatre and pulled him out, every person piled into a shuttle and went into space." She looked at all the disbelieving faces around her. "I swear. There was writing on the shuttle too. ‘X18999.’ What does that mean?"
Heero stood up. "It means they went home." He looked at his partners and started toward the computer. "And so do we."