Something had gone wrong but it was more of the flavor of a cyclone matched with a badly timed wildfire and by then, it just wasn't worth trying to find the stupid communicator. It wouldn't do him any good against this place and it was probably more dangerous to go back and start looking around for it.
Going inside had been a bad choice, that wrecked his nerves the entire time but there was only so long that he'd been able to stay outside without... well, dying of exposure. So when the door finally reappeared, it was the best thing that Kirk had ever seen, and in that moment, that included Enterprise.
He stumbled out of there, nearly exhausted from never sleeping, dirty, covered in tiny scrapes, and kinda burned in some places (there was a solid patch of hair burnt off his head) but he was alive. When he saw Bones, his shoulders slumped a little, in something like relief, and he started limping towards him.
McCoy froze, staring. He almost couldn't process what he was seeing, because honestly, even exhausted and battered and filthy, he looked a lot better than the doctor had assumed he would.
"Jim!"
He was at his side in seconds, pitting a hand gently on his friend's back instead of immediately moving to drag one of his arm's around his shoulders, just in case Jim had broken a few ribs or hurt himself in a not immediately obvious way. "What the hell happened to you?" He wasn't just asking about the injuries, the lack of contact concerned the hell out of him too.
No broken ribs. Maybe a couple bruised ones but that was about it. He didn't even wince when McCoy touched him, so either he was actually glad to see him or he was too drained to care.
He shrugged a little. "... stuff. Lots of wind and fires and..." Jim gestured at the ground a little, because hell if he could explain the feeling that something was following him and going to break out at any moment. "I lost my communicator to a fire. I think."
Well, whatever, you emotionally stunted idiot, Bones was glad to see you in one piece.
"Come on, you need to get to the infirmary, when's the last time you had something to drink?" He put a supportive arm around Jim's back, trying to lead him away from the CES and back off the deck. It was kind of nice, being up here when the deck wasn't awful looking and without the feeling that they were going to get pulled over the edge. Maybe. Comparatively, anyway.
"I had water in my kit Martha gave me," Jim answered, slinging his arm around Bones in return, and leaning on him a little bit because walking hurt when your ankle was sprained.
He made a noise that was somewhere between an annoyed grunt and a sigh. "You need somewhere to crash for a couple hours. Don't try giving me the 'I'm fine' song and dance routine."
"Why do I have to crash in there? I have a perfectly good bed in my own quarters." No effort was made to pretend to be fine. He couldn't really summon the energy to do it.
That... was actually more an indicator of how bad he was than anything else, and McCoy immediately softened a little. "Alright. But I'm still giving you fluids and patching you back up."
"Me too," he admitted quietly. He felt like he hadn't stopped moving since shit had really started to hit the fan, and that meant no showers and no changing out of his slightly bloody and torn blue jersey, or the equally gross undershirt. It wasn't a huge thing, but as soon as Jim was taken care of, he really just wanted to pass the fuck out.
He was honestly a little annoyed that they weren't just taking the elevator, but knowing Jim would whine if he insisted on it. "C'mon, nice and easy."
While that was gross, it was better than continuous movement in the open grasslands, so adding mud and fire to that and you pretty much had Kirk. And he would only whine because at this point, they were on the stairs and he didn't feel like turning around to go walk over to the elevator when he could just walk down a couple flights of stairs instead.
"It's just a sprain," but that didn't stop him from wincing a little every time they hit a step.
"That the worst of it?" he asked, careful to let Jim establish the pace in which they were descending the stairs. He considered pointing out it would probably be easier to head to his room, since it was closer, but he assumed that after three days of hell, Jim really just wanted to crash in his own bed, and he could appreciate that. He'd need to make sure the other people who'd been stuck in the CES were getting proper care, too.
"It is." Not sleeping seemed to be the general theme of this weekend, aside from unspeakable horrors, which was why he wasn't bothering with coming up with something more creative.
Jim just laughed a little at that. A sad, tired laugh finished with a wince but at least he wasn't totally depressed. Or he was just still in shock. "I should shave it all off, I'll look so stupid with a bald spot."
"We can probably regrow it," he suggested sort of distantly, not really liking the sound of that laugh. He'd sort of lost count of how many flights of stairs they'd gone down and had to glance at the sign on the next landing to make sure they hadn't accidentally gone too far.
Going inside had been a bad choice, that wrecked his nerves the entire time but there was only so long that he'd been able to stay outside without... well, dying of exposure. So when the door finally reappeared, it was the best thing that Kirk had ever seen, and in that moment, that included Enterprise.
He stumbled out of there, nearly exhausted from never sleeping, dirty, covered in tiny scrapes, and kinda burned in some places (there was a solid patch of hair burnt off his head) but he was alive. When he saw Bones, his shoulders slumped a little, in something like relief, and he started limping towards him.
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"Jim!"
He was at his side in seconds, pitting a hand gently on his friend's back instead of immediately moving to drag one of his arm's around his shoulders, just in case Jim had broken a few ribs or hurt himself in a not immediately obvious way. "What the hell happened to you?" He wasn't just asking about the injuries, the lack of contact concerned the hell out of him too.
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He shrugged a little. "... stuff. Lots of wind and fires and..." Jim gestured at the ground a little, because hell if he could explain the feeling that something was following him and going to break out at any moment. "I lost my communicator to a fire. I think."
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"Come on, you need to get to the infirmary, when's the last time you had something to drink?" He put a supportive arm around Jim's back, trying to lead him away from the CES and back off the deck. It was kind of nice, being up here when the deck wasn't awful looking and without the feeling that they were going to get pulled over the edge. Maybe. Comparatively, anyway.
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"I'm fine. I don't need the infirmary."
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He made a noise that was somewhere between an annoyed grunt and a sigh. "You need somewhere to crash for a couple hours. Don't try giving me the 'I'm fine' song and dance routine."
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"I just want a shower."
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He was honestly a little annoyed that they weren't just taking the elevator, but knowing Jim would whine if he insisted on it. "C'mon, nice and easy."
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"It's just a sprain," but that didn't stop him from wincing a little every time they hit a step.
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"Besides not sleeping? Yeah. I think some of my hair's missing too."
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