The key to improvisation is motion - you keep going forward, fearful or not, living from moment to moment. That's how life is. - Bobby McFerrin
BA checked the woods as he walked, checking behind him every few feet. He couldn't go too far from the others, but he had to find the right spot. When he'd gone as far as he dared, he turned, circling around them, still looking. Level ground, first and foremost. Then the trees. He had no false hopes about finding the perfect setting, but he'd make do with what he could find. Right now, time was more important. It would be dark soon, and damned if he'd try to move him through this country at night.
When he did find the spot, he cursed to himself. If he'd circled in the other direction, he would've found it within minutes. The only good thing was it was close enough so he could actually see the guys through the trees. But he'd need more than his two hands to beat the sunset.
Murdock hadn't done this sort of thing often, even in Nam. Mostly during survival training - and after they'd escaped Chow's camp. So he paid close attention to what BA told him, forcing himself to do the job and not think about the purple wobblies that were threatening.
He was now cutting low-hanging branches, ones with lots of leaves. It was hard, because he only had a knife, but he sawed at them until he could rip them down the rest of the way, then rushing back to BA.
BA had, in the meantime, been gathering deadwood, long and thick, creating a fan shaped lean-to against one of the larger trees. As Murdock brought his branches, they were laid carefully over the deadwood, creating a tight mesh-like covering. The two men cut more branches to lay on the ground inside. Finally BA told Murdock to gather wood for a fire and headed back to the remaining team members.
Murdock watched him for a moment before heading back into the woods, gathering several armloads of dry wood from the forest floor, hoping like hell Hannibal's lighter hadn't been lost.
"How you feel, kid?"
"Stupid."
Hannibal smiled. "Nobody expects you to be a mountain goat. Could've been any of us."
The look Face gave him clearly disagreed, but Hannibal was more concerned with how pale he looked. Face was on the ground, leaning heavily on one arm. It didn't look comfortable to the colonel, but apparently it was the only position that kept the pain manageable.
Hannibal hadn't lied to him. The terrain was steep and rough, and the recent rains hadn't helped. Any of them could have stepped on that rock and gone down. Face had twisted his back badly, but it could've been much worse. At least he could move everything, even if it was painful. Hannibal just hoped it stayed that way.
"Can you walk if we hold onto you?"
At the moment, Face didn't even want to breathe, but that wouldn't solve anything. "Yeah, I think so, BA. Just... slow, okay?"
"No problem, man. Let's get you up, okay?"
It took a moment for the face above him to come into focus. Not BA - Hannibal.
Hannibal?
"You back with us?"
Back? He hadn't gone any place. Had he?
"Face?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm here." He blinked, feeling the flame through his back. Oh yeah, he was definitely awake.
"Okay. Just lay still. BA's fixing a stretcher, then we'll get you to the shelter."
"I can - "
"No, you can't. I'm not taking a chance on making things worse, understood?"
Face gave a very slight nod. It hurt too much for anything more.
The guys were getting a reminder of what happens in the mountains when the sun starts going down. It didn't help that their heavy jackets were now between the poles of the makeshift stretcher, but at least they were able to move more quickly. Face was laying on his side, white knuckling the pole trying to keep the least painful position.
Murdock had run ahead to the shelter, trying to even out the branches on the 'floor' so Face wouldn't be laying on any lumps. He had a place at the front cleared away so as soon as Face was settled, he could get started on the fire.
Now he watched as BA and Hannibal maneuvered their way into the lean-to, trying not to hurt their own backs in the process. As soon as they were under the 'roof', he piled the twigs and branches, thanking the gods above Hannibal did, indeed, still have his lighter.
The three huddled as close to the fire as they could without blocking its heat from Face. He'd kept telling them he could lay on the branches just fine, they would need their coats, but he was ignored.
"So, you think he's going to be okay by tomorrow, Hannibal?"
"I doubt it. Probably worse, because those muscles are going to start stiffening up." He lit a cigar, staring over the trees to the more distant mountains.
They shouldn't be here. At all. It was supposed to be a simple vacation in the mountains, with nothing more arduous than walking down to the lake from their cabin. Far enough north of LA Hannibal figured no one would recognize them. He knew the county sheriff's office was miles away, but forgot about the forestry service. First mistake. Actually, the first mistake was leaving the van in LA and taking Hannibal's car. Sure, it was big, comfortable, and anonymous, but missing the 'amenities' that would've come in very handy after mistake number three - going for supplies as a group.
Between Murdock's antics and BA being BA, they might as well have hired the Goodyear blimp.
They were half-way back to the cabin when the flashing lights showed up. Next thing they knew, they were on a logging road - an abandoned logging road that dead-ended abruptly. They were lucky they only grazed one tree, even luckier the rangers knew what was coming and slowed down. It allowed the team time to disappear into the woods, albeit without any equipment except what they literally were wearing.
Realizing reinforcements would be called in, Hannibal spent little time putting distance between themselves and the rangers. He was more concerned about hiding their trail. Under normal circumstances, he knew four ex-special forces soldiers could easily disappear - but he didn't know the caliber of trackers that might be called in. It was, after all, a national park, and they were used to looking for lost hikers.
They'd climbed steadily for a couple hours, and the sun was directly overhead when Hannibal switched directions, moving horizontally. He was hoping they could get to the cabin before dark, or at least get close enough so they'd only have to spend one night on the mountain. Once at the cabin, he could call Amy and arrange a quick extraction. Even if the rangers found out about the cabin, they wouldn't waste too many men there.
It would've worked, too. He knew that. He just hadn't counted on Mother Nature playing nasty.
"Hannibal?"
He straightened abruptly. "I don't want to move him more than we have to. Nobody's going to be looking for us in the dark, and with all the false trails we left, they may just call it quits." He grinned. "After all, we do have a reputation for miraculous escapes."
BA shook his head. "Damn jazz..."
Murdock was not so easily assured. "But how are we going to get Face out of here?"
"Just a little adjustment to the original plan, Murdock. One of us will go to the cabin, and if the coast is clear, call Amy and have her meet us there. Then come and get us."
"And if the coast isn't clear?"
Hannibal sighed. "No choice - we'll just have to wait until it is. I'm not going traipse all over the country trying to find a safe place to meet her. I will not take a chance on screwing him up even more."
Murdock waited for a long time before approaching the cabin. He'd left their camp at the crack of dawn, closely watching the map and his compass. He might not be as adept as the others on the ground, but he could read coordinates better than most. Even so, it took almost two hours before he reached his target.
He circled the cabin slowly, staying back among the trees. No sign anyone was around. He thought there might be some extra tire tracks, but that would be a good sign in his opinion. Still, he was careful when he came up to the back of the building, listening for any sounds of people. Finally, he let himself in the back door.
Empty.
It was obvious the place had been searched, and he knew Hannibal wouldn't be happy to learn that the few weapons they'd left had been taken.
The question now was whether or not the law would be back.
Frowning, he sat down and immediately heard the crinkle of the map in his pocket. He pulled it out, finding the camp, then backtracking to where they'd stopped going up the mountain. Started looking at the terrain around that area, the roads, the towns...
Satisfied he was staying within reality, even for the "miraculous" A-Team, Murdock picked up the phone.
"Hey, there - is the mountie station?... Oh, sorry, rangers. Well, anyway, I was just calling from this cabin I rented, off Bluff Creek Road, and I saw these guys running through the woods up here and - yessir, there were four of them. Just looked kinda strange, y'know?... Uh, yeah, headed north... No, that's okay, just seemed strange to me... Well, thank you, sir!"
Smiling, Murdock hung up and called Amy. The show wasn't over yet, but he'd gained them some time, and as he headed back toward camp with snacks and a canteen of water, he was grinning.