One Fell Swoop by Allison McDonnell

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So close, yet so far.

To Greg Walman, those five words best described his current panicked state as he feared for the safety of Magus, the woman with whom he'd fallen hopelessly in love and would risk everything for, as well as for Danziger, one of his closest friends and mentor.

The crewman was practically jumping out of his skin due to his anxiety. For the moment, he could only helplessly sit in the back of the Dunerail as Alonzo who, despite the slippery conditions, pushed the vehicle to its very limits, breaking all speed records as the group rushed the relatively short distance to the mountain. No sooner had the rescue party pulled alongside the abandoned ATV at the base of the steep slope when they heard the echo of three gunshots in rapid succession originating from high above their heads. After exchanging horrified glances, the team flew out of their seats and quickly located the trail of Danziger and Magus' nearby muddied footsteps. With Walman taking the lead, followed closely by Devon, Cameron, Julia and Alonzo, they began to mimic the scouting team's original path up the sharp incline as closely as possible.

Due to most of the Edenites' general lack of climbing abilities, as well as the precarious slope of the hill and the unstable terrain caused by the downpour, their progress was much slower than it had been for their predecessors. It was often necessary for them to assist and, occasionally, hold onto one another as they struggled to find tree roots, rocks or anything else that could anchor their footing. Throughout the treacherous climb, Devon and Walman continued to try to raise their loved ones on gear without luck.

The halfway point of their journey was just about within their reach when, all of the sudden, the group's gearsets simultaneously began to sound off, causing them to abruptly halt.

"You have to come now. They're dead. They're all dead."

Walman was so surprised to hear Magus' voice that he nearly lost his foothold. He hastily punched at the gear's keypad situated above his ear to answer her.

"Magus, are you all right?" he asked, thrilled to hear her voice, but bewildered by her words, as well as by her unemotional delivery.

Several moments of tense silence passed, prompting all five Edenites to trade nervous looks with each other.

"Magus, are you and Danziger all right?" Walman again asked, his tone coming across as increasingly urgent.

The stillness stretched uncomfortably onward and it became glaringly apparent that for whatever reason Magus either wouldn't or, more likely, couldn't answer them. And that worried the crew greatly.

It was as if the entire group was suddenly shot out of a cannon as they swiftly propelled themselves forward and upward. Devon immediately resumed her attempts at reaching Danziger by switching to a secure channel which the two would use during emergencies and for whenever they wished to speak to one another in private. Meanwhile, Walman continued his efforts to reinitiate contact with Magus via the main audio channel.

"Magus, can you hear me? Come in. Magus? Laura? Please answer," he beckoned, becoming more and more out of breath as he scaled the mountain. "Please come in, Magus. Are you there?"

The closer the rescue party came to reaching the top, the more desperate their climb became. Personal safety was now a secondary concern as they purposely chose to veer from Danziger and Magus' established route in favor of a steeper, but shorter one which enabled them to gain ground more quickly. Each of them suffered several scratches and bruises as they roughly hoisted themselves up with the aid of low-hanging branches and sharp rocks. They literally clawed the final few feet to, at last, arrive at the threshold of the plateau.

Walman was the first to make it to the top and he hurriedly yanked Devon and then Cameron up onto solid ground. He then practically abandoned the other members of his team as he turned to initiate his search for Magus. It didn't take much of an effort to find her because the woman was only about thirty yards away, smack dab in the middle of the clearing, seated next to a small mound of supplies which were easily discernible as belonging to Eden Project.

Walman yelled out her name at the top of his lungs and took off in a dash to reach her, leaving Devon and Cameron to uplift Julia and Alonzo to safety. Magus showed no reaction whatsoever to his call, causing him to speculate that she was perhaps unconscious. Or worse.

He wasn't at all prepared for the sight that greeted him. She was sitting in the damp grass and mud, slouched forward with her legs straight out in front of her, her gearset still on her head, but in a completely off-centered position. Her sodden clothes had been torn to shreds and there were several razor-sharp thorns protruding throughout the fabric, as well as a generous amount of fresh blood stains. In fact, one ripped pant-leg was practically saturated in blood, conveying that she'd suffered some sort of a profound injury in that general area. Her skin appeared ashen, her feet were clad in filthy, threadbare socks and her boots were no where to be found.

There was no doubt in Walman's mind that Laura Magus had been the victim of a brutal beating. The right side of her face was badly swollen and the rest of her body sported dozens of cuts and contusions. Her one non-puffy eye was wide open, though it seemed as if she saw nothing as she stared blankly into space. To Walman, Magus resembled a battered marionette whose strings had been cut.

As much as Walman longed to pull the woman into his arms, he didn't dare try for fear of causing her further distress. Meanwhile, the other four members of the rescue team quickly caught up to him once they realized that Magus was close by. There was a chorus of gasps as soon as she came into clear view.

"Oh dear God," Cameron muttered, dumbstruck.

"Nobody touch her. She's in shock," Julia exclaimed, immediately transforming into doctor-mode.

The physician remained as calm as possible as she unslung the med-bag from her shoulder and set it on the ground. "Magus, can you hear me? Can you tell me where you're experiencing the most pain?"

As horrified as Devon was, she was equally, if not more concerned that Magus appeared to be all by herself. "Where's Danziger?" she asked the stoic crew-woman.

The leader's eyes frantically explored the terrain for John's presence and it wasn't long before her gaze fell upon a body lying only a few dozen yards away. She immediately rushed toward what was obviously a male form calling out John's name. When she arrived, she drew back in horror at the grotesque sight of Edmund Griggs' corpse. She averted her gaze toward the ground, spotting what she immediately recognized as Danziger's pistol. Devon instinctively retrieved it from the grass, and her face and her stomach simultaneously twisted themselves into contorted states as her hand came into contact with the layers of blood, hair, and skull fragments that thickly coated the handle. She threw the gun aside with a yelp as if it had burned her skin and was nearly nauseous as she futilely attempted to wipe her hand clean using her pants.

At the same time, Alonzo noticed a second person sprawled out in the wet grass much closer to the ledge and he sped toward it. However, as the pilot gained a closer perspective, it became clear that because of the body's slight build, there was no possibility that it could be Danziger lying there. There was also no doubt that the smaller, unidentified man had met a violent demise.

Alonzo examined the surrounding area and it wasn't long before he'd located a third body which sported what looked to be a lethal gunshot wound to the chest. Although larger in overall size, the newest corpse wore ill-fitting clothes and was extremely unkempt in overall appearance and could never be mistaken for Danziger. The pilot also found a trail of boot impressions in a multitude of sizes as well as several small puddles of blood mixed with rainfall, suggesting that some sort of a struggle had taken place. He followed the boot and blood tracks the short distance, leading him directly to the edge of the precipice. He gazed over the side and saw no additional clues as to what had become of those involved in the scuffle, though the answer seemed to be blatantly obvious.

Meanwhile, Julia, Cameron and Walman had remained with Magus, trying to assess her uncertain condition. The two men remained standing in the background while Julia, who had donned her Diaglove, squatted down beside the crew-woman and began to run the apparatus over her body. She was careful not to touch Magus as she confirmed that her vital statistics were weaker than normal, but thankfully, not quite low enough to pose an immediate threat to her health. The woman was covered in so much blood that it was necessary for Julia to depend upon the scanner to locate any broken bones or deep abrasions that needed attending to. When she waved the equipment over the lower section of Magus' right leg, she was taken aback to see that her friend sported a hole which extended from one side of the limb all the way through to the other.

"Magus, were you shot?" Julia asked, the alarm in her voice matching the anxiety displayed on Cameron and Walman's faces at hearing the news.

Magus was still in a trance-like state and made no attempt to answer as Julia dove into her med-bag to retrieve antiseptics and gauze to clean and dress the wound. Once they were located, the physician knew all too well that she couldn't put off physical contact any longer without further risking her patient's life.

She leaned in a bit closer, placing her hands next to Magus' impaired leg. "I'm just going to pull up your pant-leg a little bit, so I can get a closer look, okay?"

As soon as Julia extended her Diagloved hand, Magus let out a slight whimper and pulled the limb away, just out of the doctor's immediate reach.

"Magus, it's important that I examine the wound and stop the bleeding."

When the crew-woman showed no reaction and made no effort to return her foot to its prior position, Walman gently ushered Julia aside and knelt directly in front of her. Deep down, he knew that he was probably overstepping his bounds. From what he'd witnessed over the past few weeks, Cameron was the man with whom Magus had the closest connection and he would likely be best able to get through to her. But at that moment, Walman just needed to speak to her; to do something-- anything-- that might help bring her consciousness back to the world of the living. And he was thankful that, at least for the moment, Cameron appeared willing to let him try.

He attempted to mask his fears and infuse as much kindness into his voice as possible. "Hey there, Magus," Walman whispered, searching her eyes for any signs of recognition. "It's gonna be all right, okay? Whatever happened up here, it's over."

He could no longer resist the urge to touch her as he arched forward and began to gingerly stroke her non-swollen cheek with his fingertips. "You're safe now," he added, the emotion in his expression and tone continuing to amplify with each syllable.

To everyone's surprise and relief, Magus made no attempt to pull away from the caress. Interpreting this as a positive sign, Walman continued his gentle ministrations, whispering her name along with words of encouragement and the assurance of safety. At last, Magus began to blink and the fluttering of her lids ever-so-gradually increased in speed and intensity as her eyes came into focus.

As she slowly raised her chin to allow her now-cognizant gaze to meet Walman's, her mind was flooded with the images of recent events. Overwhelmed by grief, rage, despair and a dozen other feelings, her entire face and posture wilted, causing her to slump forward into Walman's awaiting arms. As he held her in his secure embrace, Magus' swelling emotions burst forth with the force of an erupting volcano and she broke into loud, uncontrollable sobs.

"S'alright, Babe. It's gonna be okay. You're safe now," Walman repeated over and over, tears forming in his own eyes as both tightened their grips, hanging onto one another for dear life.

As soon as Devon's ears had picked up Magus' anguished voice, she'd abandoned her search of the area and hurriedly returned to the crew-woman's side, hoping to gain any details that she could regarding Danziger's current whereabouts. Meanwhile, Walman continued to console a trembling Magus as she buried her head deeply into the crook of his neck. Eventually the woman's cries began to take the form of words, but the magnitude of her now-muffled sobs made it all but impossible for the rescue team to decipher what she was attempting to tell them. When Magus realized that no one had reacted to her declaration, she tried to compose herself as much as possible under the circumstances and tilted back her head to help them better understand her.

"I couldn't stop it! They murdered him!" she cried in between short-winded breaths. "They killed Danziger for no reason and there was nothing I could do! Then they tried to kill me, too!"

Hearing the heartbreaking news of Danziger's fate plummeted Devon into a mild shock of her own and her body was suddenly racked with shudders that rivaled Magus'. Unable to fully process or to willingly believe that such an incident had occurred to someone whom she'd considered to be an essential part of her life, as well as to the lives of the other members of Eden Advance, the leader crouched down next to Magus and laid a quivering hand on her shoulder.

"Please, Magus," she pleaded in desperation, trying to remain calm and failing miserably. "I really need you to tell me where John is."

Magus' sad eyes reluctantly met Devon's before she turned her head toward the cliff where Alonzo still stood; and the final place that she'd seen Danziger. She swallowed hard, unable to block the memory of her friend's terrified face and voice as he'd tumbled over the edge.

"He's gone," she whispered, her voice cracking as she unsuccessfully fought back more tears. "Oh God, Devon, I'm so sorry."

Devon's eyes followed Magus' line of sight and it became clear what had befallen Danziger. She rocketed to her feet and ran across the clearing to rejoin Alonzo at the ledge, shouting the mechanic's name almost the entire way. She cupped her hands around her mouth and continued to increase her volume until it became a frantic scream as she tried in vain to overpower the roar of the rapids.

The leader squinted as she scoured the landscape, scrutinizing every rock and tree branch along the river's banks for any hint of John's presence. She found none.

Her tone suddenly reverted to a whisper. "This can't be happening. He's not dead. He can't be dead," she began to mutter repeatedly.

She again donned her gearset and attempted to contact Danziger, but a soft beeping emanating from the nearby pile of supplies alerted them once and for all that the mechanic no longer had the device with him. Meanwhile, Alonzo was putting his jumpers to good use, conducting a thermal scan of the region.

"Devon, I might have something here," he informed her as the equipment centered on a faint heat source.

Devon whipped her entire body around to face Alonzo. "You found him?" she exclaimed, practically jumping for joy at the prospect.

The pilot tried to maintain his composure in an effort to keep from getting Devon's hopes up; or his, for that matter. "It's hard to tell. I found something. I mean, I'm getting a positive read on what looks to be a life form about two clicks away," he replied. "It could be Danziger."

He locked in the coordinates while inwardly cursing himself for not thinking to bring Zero's head in his backpack. The droid would no doubt have provided them with much more detailed information regarding the origin of the signal.

As Alonzo lowered the jumpers away from his face, he turned to speak to Devon, only to find an empty space where she'd been standing only moments before.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!" he heard the leader yell over her shoulder as she rushed toward the path down the mountain.

Alonzo followed her orders, but momentarily paused when he reached the other members of the group. Walman had his arm tightly around Magus. Julia, who had just administered a pain block, was finally being permitted to attend to Magus' gunshot wound.

"Is it Danziger?" Walman hesitantly asked as the five Edenites watched Devon disappear down the steep incline.

Alonzo wore a hardened expression, not sure what to make of this latest development. "Don't know. Maybe," he relayed, shaking his head.

He pivoted to Julia, understanding that Magus sported several serious injuries which required immediate treatment and there was absolutely no way that the doctor could leave the woman's side; especially when taking into consideration that, at this point, it was impossible to ascertain whether or not Danziger would be in need of medical care. Or if the heat signal was even Danziger at all.

However, those sobering factors didn't mean that Julia wasn't conflicted about her role in the situation. With that in mind, Alonzo tried to alleviate her guilt and put her slightly more at ease by issuing some orders of his own. "Stay with Magus, but we may need your help later."

He then addressed the others. "Keep your gear channels open. We'll let you know if and when we find anything."

"Need another hand?" Cameron piped up, fully understanding that Julia and Walman had the task of caring for Magus well under control.

Before Alonzo could answer in the affirmative, Magus turned to Cameron and nodded. "Do whatever you can," she tearfully told her friend.

She paused to take a breath. "Please," she added in a strained whisper, her mind now centered on the devastating effect that John's loss would have on True. "Please find him."

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