Dimension arc continues!
Gambit walks along the beach at dawn. As the sun comes over the horizon, Gam takes off his jacket and his t-shirt. He holds his arms out and upward as the sun's rays fall upon him. He stands like that for a few moments, and exhales sharply. He hated to admit it, but an island paradise was not exactly the worst place to be stranded... he turned around and looked at the makeshift shelter that he and lieutenant Myers had organized and pretty much built together. It had kept them out of the rain, the sun, and had done well in reflecting the heat off of the signal fire. The fire had burnt down to coals, which is exactly what Gam had wanted...
A few others had already started to wake up when Gam started rakiing the coals into a pile. A few other survivors started gathering around and watching him, wondering what he could be doing. Gam walked over to the pile of debris that Myers and the others had collected. There was some scrap metal of various shapes that Gam had already set aside. There was also, luckily enough, a hammer in a tool kit that had washed ashore. The rest of the tool kit was rather useless in everyone else's eyes. But Gam knew how to make the most of poor situations. All the tools could prove useful, given their situation, if one could see the proper way to use them. Gam took a large hunk of metal that had been embedded in the side of a crate, and set it down on the sand near the fire. Myers walked up, stretching, and said, "Anything you need sir?"
"It's Thomas, Myers, I was never military. But yeah, take some of those empty water bottles down the shore and fill them up and bring them back here. Once you've done that, keep bringing them and pouring them in the hole I dig, okay."
"Yes, si- Yeah, okay Thomas."
As Myers jogged down the beach, Gam started digging a hole in the sand, next to the large scrap of metal he had set down. When the hole was three feet cubed. Myers began pouring the water in as Gam reached into the toolbox and took out a pair of pliers. Myers kept filling the hole with water, as Gam used the pliers to put another scrap piece of metal into the coals. He cringed as the heat burnt his hand. As the metal sat in the coals, Gam took the duct tape from his jacket pocket and attached some long green sticks to the handles of the pliers. Makeshift tongs. Not exactly what he had at the forge back at the smithy, but it's what he had here, and he'd forged in worse.
When he saw that the scrap metal had reached the right temperature, he used his makeshift tongs to take it out and hold it on his makeshift anvil. He started hammering it into shape. Myers finished filling the hole just as Gam stopped hammering since the heat left the scrap. "Myers, take that branch and rake the coals up around the this scrap, okay." Myers started raking as Gam wiped the sweat from his forehead. Kate walked up as Gam was waiting for the metal to heat back up.
"Thomas, what are you doing with all this hammering? I just got to sleep!"
"Kate, don't lie to me. I've got a watch you know, and I haven't been to sleep yet. It's six a.m. and you've been out since 2. I know four hours doesn't seem like much, but it's all you've got to work with. Nathanial, the unconscious man with the wound that's going septic, he's getting worse. You go help him."
"Alright Thomas. But I'm going to need some supplies, and I've got nothing here."
"I'm on that here in a minute, that's one reason why I'm doing what I'm doing. Just go do what you can do, okay."
Kate walked off towards the beach as Gam started hammering again.
Two hours later, and Gam had managed to produce an axe, a shovel, and something resembling a bowl.
He kept working, and as he worked, he felt no fear. His instinct carried him well. His training and education carried him even better. A lot of stuff, however, he just made up as he went along. So he rolled with it. That's what he'd always done, and it had kept him alive long enough.
An hour later, he approached Kate with his makeshift bowl, and a piece of rotting bark.
"So what have you brought me, Boy Wonder?"
"What did you call me?"
"Boy wonder... as in it's a wonder that you know how to do everything you do. I'm sorry, should I not have said that?" Kate asked, a little embarrassed.
"No Kate, it's fine, it's just that some of my friends used to call me that back home. Anyways, I brought you a disinfectant, kind of."
"What is it?"
"Well, it's sea water."
"Thomas, sea water is full of bacteria."
"Yes it is Kate, but it's also full of salt. So if you remove the bacteria, you have a disinfectant. Not exactly rubbing alcohol, but it's something."
"Okay, Mr. Know-it-all, how did you remove the bacteria."
"First you run it through a charcoal filter, which I made out of some leaves and what was leftover from the fire. The you superheat it as quickly as possible. Then just to be sure, you repeat the process a few times. It's not perfect, but it's better than what you've got."
Kate took the bowl and set it down on a makeshift table she had made. "It's a wonderful gift, Thomas. But I've got to ask, why are you carrying that piece of wood around? And please don't tell me that's another gift."
"Actually Kate, it is. This wood has, uh, maggots on it. It was under one of the dead."
"Okay, that's kind of sick. Why are you bringing me this?"
"Medieval doctors used maggots to remove rotting and septic flesh from wounded patients."
"That's barbaric!"
"Maybe it was Kate, but fact of the matter is that it worked. That man is going to die unless his dying flesh is removed. Short of amputation this is the only way to do so. There will be some muscle damage, but that would be better than loss of a limb, I believe. Just make sure that you keep an eye on them, don't let them take root and dig in. You'll do fine. Oh, and something else-" Gam pulled a bottle of water from his jacket pocket, which was filled with a cloudy liquid- "this will help reduce his fever, and take away some of the pain as well."
"What is it?"
"It's a tea that I made. Willow bark is the main source of asprin, and luckily there's a tree here that's similar to the Willow tree. Not an exact match, but similar."
"How do you know that it will work, or that it isn't poisonous?"
"Tested it on myself. Had a headache. Want a smoke?"
"I'd love one."
Gam and Kate walked down the beach a little way, smoking cigarettes. Talking. Mostly about their past, which was not an easy subject to discuss. How exactly do you tell someone that you're a super-hero from an alternate dimension?"
"So where are you from Tom?"
"Well, Kate, I'm from a small-town. A small map dot. I loved it there, but my destiny took me to a city... A very bad city. I try to help people there."
"Okay, I was thinking something more specific like say, I'm from England."
"Kate, you're a bad liar. You're from Wales, not England."
"How could you tell?" Kate asked shocked, "Not many people from the states know the difference."
"Subtle difference in the accent Kate. What were you doing on the boat anyways?"
"Going to a research facility. I was working on a new surgical procedure for tumors, and bollocks, here I am."
"Well, damn. Nice going. Why the boat, why not a plane?"
"I hate to fly, I'm petrified of heights! Why were you sailing for Australia?"
"No real reason that I know of. I guess... I guess I just needed to get away."
"I guess you succeeded in that."
"Guess I did."
Some hours later finds Gam sitting on the beach, dozing off. It had been awhile since he slept, and as Myers ran up to him, yelling, he was startled awake and to his feet in a moment.
"What is it Myers?!?"
"The water's almost gone, and there's three men in a brawl over it! I tried to stop it, but I can't stop them all!"
"I'm on it!"
The two men ran towards the camp, and Myers was surprised by the fact that 'Thomas' easily outran him. Gam arrived at the fight and stopped to watch for a few moments. When Myers caught up, he started to jump into the fray, but Gam held him back.
"Wait for it Myers. Might as well let them tire out for a few moments while witing for the right opportunity."
Gam kept scanning over the three men. Then, like a master chess player, he saw the moves in advance.
"Myers when I jump in, you move to the right and take the blond-headed guy."
"But he's all the way on the left!"
"He won't be, right about.... NOW!" And as Gam said it, he leapt forward, just as the blond-headed man was thrown far to Gam and Myer's right hand side. Myers ran forward and tried to pin him down, but he was having some difficulty. Gam, in one smooth motion, swept the feet out from under one guy and pinned the other guy's arm painfully behind his back. As the man on the ground started to get up, Gam pinned his neck to the ground with his foot.
"So what the hell is going on here?" Gam asked quietly.
"This guys's been drinking all of the water, and he's trying to take the last of it, we were just stopping him!"
The guy Myers was holding down shouted back, "That's not true, I've barely drank any at all, I was just-"
"ENOUGH!" Gam yelled. "You guys don't seem to get it, do you!" Gam threw the guy who's arm he had pinned down, and stepped off of the other guy's throat. "We have no idea when help is coming, and you guys are fighting. That's just wonderful! Here's something interesting, I bet I can take any one of you! Anybody care to try."
The guy who Gam had just thrown stood up and pulled a six inch single bladed knife from his back.
"I'd like to mate."
Gam turned to him.
"An Aussie. Southern Australia. Not the city. Probably spent some time with the aboriginees, right?"
"How'd you know that mate?"
"I spent some time with them myself."
"Quit stalling."
"I'm not."
The two men stared at each other, and in an instant, the man with the knife lunged at Gam, but in a fluid motion, Gam locked the man's elbow, bending his arm back towards him, placing the knife against the man's throat. The man stopped instantly, and did not object as Gam took the knife from his hand.
Gam released the man. "What's your name?" he asked of him, "Michael, mate."
"You okay, Michael?"
"Yeah. Could use a change of pants I think, but I'm not hurt."
Gam looked around at everyone.
"We need to work together, everyone. No more fighting. We have enough battles to deal with here on this island. We have to find water, build a more permanent shelter, and find a way to take care of ourselves. We can't do that if we're fighting each other. So here's the deal, alright. We're a team. I know most of us don't know each other, and that makes things rough, but we have to work together! Now I'm going to go find water on this island. There's lots of vegetation, so there has to be fresh water. We will find it, but while we're looking everyone needs to contribute, okay?"
Gam looked around as people nodded.
"Myers, organize, and then get ready. Pack the empty water bottles in some kind of bag. We're going to get water."
Gam walked off towards where his shoes and jacket were still lying on the beach. He put them on and started walking back towards the camp. Michael jogged up to him.
"I'm sorry mate," he said as he got closer, "you were right back there. I'm just a little stir crazy, and started getting, I don't know."
"It's alright Michael." Gam held the knife out towards him, handle first. "This is yours."
"Thanks mate... So you're sure you can find water out there?"
Gam nodded. "Yeah. There has to be a source of it out there somewhere. If not, it has to rain on a regular basis, and it's already rained once since we've been here. If not, I'll just have to make a desalinator."
"You can do that?"
"Maybe... I'm not sure. But I don't think it will come to that."
"Well, I have spent some time in the bush. I think I can help."
"Good. You're coming with."
Michael resheathed his knife as the two men walked back towards the encampment. As they approached, Myers tossed a bag of bottles towards Gam.
"Ready to go Thomas?" Myers asked.
"Yeah, but you're staying here Myers. I need someone who can organize. You're the one who is best able. Make it happen."
"You got it man."
"I like that a lot better than sir, Myers."
"Alright Michael, you ready?"
Michael pulled a cowboy hat off of a low tree-limb, tucked it onto his head. "Ready as I'll ever be, mate."
"Let's do this."
And the two men walked into the jungle.
Kate walked up the beach and found Myers. "Myers, hey!"
"Yeah Kate?"
"Has Thomas told you what he does?"
"No, but I don't suppose I've asked. Why?"
"You're military right?"
"Yeah, Ranger."
"Have you ever seen anyone take down two men like that?"
"No, I don't suppose I have. Do you think we should be worried about him?"
"I don't think so Myers, he seems to be a good guy... But don't you wonder? I mean he can fight, he knows medicine fairly well, he forged a bloody shovel and axe for heaven's sake! I mean, who is this guy?"
"I don't know Kate... But he knows what to do better than I do, and I've been special ops for five years, so I feel safe in his hands. Do you not trust him?"
"He saved my life, and he's been trying to keep everyone here alive... It's just. There's something strange about him. Like he's been preparing for this situation. He's too perfect."
"I'm not sure I follow Kate..."
"I'm not sure where I'm going Myers, just thinking out loud."
Meanwhile, in the jungle.
"Thomas, do you know where we are?"
"Not exactly Michael."
"How are we going to get back?"
"We'll walk."
"But we're lost Thomas!"
"Michael, I can't believe the aboriginees didn't teach you the most important thing about surviving in the bush."
"Oh yeah, mate, what's that?"
"Just because you don't know where you are, doesn't mean you're lost."
A few others had already started to wake up when Gam started rakiing the coals into a pile. A few other survivors started gathering around and watching him, wondering what he could be doing. Gam walked over to the pile of debris that Myers and the others had collected. There was some scrap metal of various shapes that Gam had already set aside. There was also, luckily enough, a hammer in a tool kit that had washed ashore. The rest of the tool kit was rather useless in everyone else's eyes. But Gam knew how to make the most of poor situations. All the tools could prove useful, given their situation, if one could see the proper way to use them. Gam took a large hunk of metal that had been embedded in the side of a crate, and set it down on the sand near the fire. Myers walked up, stretching, and said, "Anything you need sir?"
"It's Thomas, Myers, I was never military. But yeah, take some of those empty water bottles down the shore and fill them up and bring them back here. Once you've done that, keep bringing them and pouring them in the hole I dig, okay."
"Yes, si- Yeah, okay Thomas."
As Myers jogged down the beach, Gam started digging a hole in the sand, next to the large scrap of metal he had set down. When the hole was three feet cubed. Myers began pouring the water in as Gam reached into the toolbox and took out a pair of pliers. Myers kept filling the hole with water, as Gam used the pliers to put another scrap piece of metal into the coals. He cringed as the heat burnt his hand. As the metal sat in the coals, Gam took the duct tape from his jacket pocket and attached some long green sticks to the handles of the pliers. Makeshift tongs. Not exactly what he had at the forge back at the smithy, but it's what he had here, and he'd forged in worse.
When he saw that the scrap metal had reached the right temperature, he used his makeshift tongs to take it out and hold it on his makeshift anvil. He started hammering it into shape. Myers finished filling the hole just as Gam stopped hammering since the heat left the scrap. "Myers, take that branch and rake the coals up around the this scrap, okay." Myers started raking as Gam wiped the sweat from his forehead. Kate walked up as Gam was waiting for the metal to heat back up.
"Thomas, what are you doing with all this hammering? I just got to sleep!"
"Kate, don't lie to me. I've got a watch you know, and I haven't been to sleep yet. It's six a.m. and you've been out since 2. I know four hours doesn't seem like much, but it's all you've got to work with. Nathanial, the unconscious man with the wound that's going septic, he's getting worse. You go help him."
"Alright Thomas. But I'm going to need some supplies, and I've got nothing here."
"I'm on that here in a minute, that's one reason why I'm doing what I'm doing. Just go do what you can do, okay."
Kate walked off towards the beach as Gam started hammering again.
Two hours later, and Gam had managed to produce an axe, a shovel, and something resembling a bowl.
He kept working, and as he worked, he felt no fear. His instinct carried him well. His training and education carried him even better. A lot of stuff, however, he just made up as he went along. So he rolled with it. That's what he'd always done, and it had kept him alive long enough.
An hour later, he approached Kate with his makeshift bowl, and a piece of rotting bark.
"So what have you brought me, Boy Wonder?"
"What did you call me?"
"Boy wonder... as in it's a wonder that you know how to do everything you do. I'm sorry, should I not have said that?" Kate asked, a little embarrassed.
"No Kate, it's fine, it's just that some of my friends used to call me that back home. Anyways, I brought you a disinfectant, kind of."
"What is it?"
"Well, it's sea water."
"Thomas, sea water is full of bacteria."
"Yes it is Kate, but it's also full of salt. So if you remove the bacteria, you have a disinfectant. Not exactly rubbing alcohol, but it's something."
"Okay, Mr. Know-it-all, how did you remove the bacteria."
"First you run it through a charcoal filter, which I made out of some leaves and what was leftover from the fire. The you superheat it as quickly as possible. Then just to be sure, you repeat the process a few times. It's not perfect, but it's better than what you've got."
Kate took the bowl and set it down on a makeshift table she had made. "It's a wonderful gift, Thomas. But I've got to ask, why are you carrying that piece of wood around? And please don't tell me that's another gift."
"Actually Kate, it is. This wood has, uh, maggots on it. It was under one of the dead."
"Okay, that's kind of sick. Why are you bringing me this?"
"Medieval doctors used maggots to remove rotting and septic flesh from wounded patients."
"That's barbaric!"
"Maybe it was Kate, but fact of the matter is that it worked. That man is going to die unless his dying flesh is removed. Short of amputation this is the only way to do so. There will be some muscle damage, but that would be better than loss of a limb, I believe. Just make sure that you keep an eye on them, don't let them take root and dig in. You'll do fine. Oh, and something else-" Gam pulled a bottle of water from his jacket pocket, which was filled with a cloudy liquid- "this will help reduce his fever, and take away some of the pain as well."
"What is it?"
"It's a tea that I made. Willow bark is the main source of asprin, and luckily there's a tree here that's similar to the Willow tree. Not an exact match, but similar."
"How do you know that it will work, or that it isn't poisonous?"
"Tested it on myself. Had a headache. Want a smoke?"
"I'd love one."
Gam and Kate walked down the beach a little way, smoking cigarettes. Talking. Mostly about their past, which was not an easy subject to discuss. How exactly do you tell someone that you're a super-hero from an alternate dimension?"
"So where are you from Tom?"
"Well, Kate, I'm from a small-town. A small map dot. I loved it there, but my destiny took me to a city... A very bad city. I try to help people there."
"Okay, I was thinking something more specific like say, I'm from England."
"Kate, you're a bad liar. You're from Wales, not England."
"How could you tell?" Kate asked shocked, "Not many people from the states know the difference."
"Subtle difference in the accent Kate. What were you doing on the boat anyways?"
"Going to a research facility. I was working on a new surgical procedure for tumors, and bollocks, here I am."
"Well, damn. Nice going. Why the boat, why not a plane?"
"I hate to fly, I'm petrified of heights! Why were you sailing for Australia?"
"No real reason that I know of. I guess... I guess I just needed to get away."
"I guess you succeeded in that."
"Guess I did."
Some hours later finds Gam sitting on the beach, dozing off. It had been awhile since he slept, and as Myers ran up to him, yelling, he was startled awake and to his feet in a moment.
"What is it Myers?!?"
"The water's almost gone, and there's three men in a brawl over it! I tried to stop it, but I can't stop them all!"
"I'm on it!"
The two men ran towards the camp, and Myers was surprised by the fact that 'Thomas' easily outran him. Gam arrived at the fight and stopped to watch for a few moments. When Myers caught up, he started to jump into the fray, but Gam held him back.
"Wait for it Myers. Might as well let them tire out for a few moments while witing for the right opportunity."
Gam kept scanning over the three men. Then, like a master chess player, he saw the moves in advance.
"Myers when I jump in, you move to the right and take the blond-headed guy."
"But he's all the way on the left!"
"He won't be, right about.... NOW!" And as Gam said it, he leapt forward, just as the blond-headed man was thrown far to Gam and Myer's right hand side. Myers ran forward and tried to pin him down, but he was having some difficulty. Gam, in one smooth motion, swept the feet out from under one guy and pinned the other guy's arm painfully behind his back. As the man on the ground started to get up, Gam pinned his neck to the ground with his foot.
"So what the hell is going on here?" Gam asked quietly.
"This guys's been drinking all of the water, and he's trying to take the last of it, we were just stopping him!"
The guy Myers was holding down shouted back, "That's not true, I've barely drank any at all, I was just-"
"ENOUGH!" Gam yelled. "You guys don't seem to get it, do you!" Gam threw the guy who's arm he had pinned down, and stepped off of the other guy's throat. "We have no idea when help is coming, and you guys are fighting. That's just wonderful! Here's something interesting, I bet I can take any one of you! Anybody care to try."
The guy who Gam had just thrown stood up and pulled a six inch single bladed knife from his back.
"I'd like to mate."
Gam turned to him.
"An Aussie. Southern Australia. Not the city. Probably spent some time with the aboriginees, right?"
"How'd you know that mate?"
"I spent some time with them myself."
"Quit stalling."
"I'm not."
The two men stared at each other, and in an instant, the man with the knife lunged at Gam, but in a fluid motion, Gam locked the man's elbow, bending his arm back towards him, placing the knife against the man's throat. The man stopped instantly, and did not object as Gam took the knife from his hand.
Gam released the man. "What's your name?" he asked of him, "Michael, mate."
"You okay, Michael?"
"Yeah. Could use a change of pants I think, but I'm not hurt."
Gam looked around at everyone.
"We need to work together, everyone. No more fighting. We have enough battles to deal with here on this island. We have to find water, build a more permanent shelter, and find a way to take care of ourselves. We can't do that if we're fighting each other. So here's the deal, alright. We're a team. I know most of us don't know each other, and that makes things rough, but we have to work together! Now I'm going to go find water on this island. There's lots of vegetation, so there has to be fresh water. We will find it, but while we're looking everyone needs to contribute, okay?"
Gam looked around as people nodded.
"Myers, organize, and then get ready. Pack the empty water bottles in some kind of bag. We're going to get water."
Gam walked off towards where his shoes and jacket were still lying on the beach. He put them on and started walking back towards the camp. Michael jogged up to him.
"I'm sorry mate," he said as he got closer, "you were right back there. I'm just a little stir crazy, and started getting, I don't know."
"It's alright Michael." Gam held the knife out towards him, handle first. "This is yours."
"Thanks mate... So you're sure you can find water out there?"
Gam nodded. "Yeah. There has to be a source of it out there somewhere. If not, it has to rain on a regular basis, and it's already rained once since we've been here. If not, I'll just have to make a desalinator."
"You can do that?"
"Maybe... I'm not sure. But I don't think it will come to that."
"Well, I have spent some time in the bush. I think I can help."
"Good. You're coming with."
Michael resheathed his knife as the two men walked back towards the encampment. As they approached, Myers tossed a bag of bottles towards Gam.
"Ready to go Thomas?" Myers asked.
"Yeah, but you're staying here Myers. I need someone who can organize. You're the one who is best able. Make it happen."
"You got it man."
"I like that a lot better than sir, Myers."
"Alright Michael, you ready?"
Michael pulled a cowboy hat off of a low tree-limb, tucked it onto his head. "Ready as I'll ever be, mate."
"Let's do this."
And the two men walked into the jungle.
Kate walked up the beach and found Myers. "Myers, hey!"
"Yeah Kate?"
"Has Thomas told you what he does?"
"No, but I don't suppose I've asked. Why?"
"You're military right?"
"Yeah, Ranger."
"Have you ever seen anyone take down two men like that?"
"No, I don't suppose I have. Do you think we should be worried about him?"
"I don't think so Myers, he seems to be a good guy... But don't you wonder? I mean he can fight, he knows medicine fairly well, he forged a bloody shovel and axe for heaven's sake! I mean, who is this guy?"
"I don't know Kate... But he knows what to do better than I do, and I've been special ops for five years, so I feel safe in his hands. Do you not trust him?"
"He saved my life, and he's been trying to keep everyone here alive... It's just. There's something strange about him. Like he's been preparing for this situation. He's too perfect."
"I'm not sure I follow Kate..."
"I'm not sure where I'm going Myers, just thinking out loud."
Meanwhile, in the jungle.
"Thomas, do you know where we are?"
"Not exactly Michael."
"How are we going to get back?"
"We'll walk."
"But we're lost Thomas!"
"Michael, I can't believe the aboriginees didn't teach you the most important thing about surviving in the bush."
"Oh yeah, mate, what's that?"
"Just because you don't know where you are, doesn't mean you're lost."