crossing_lostrp | Over Hill, over Dale.. (overland crew)

The Doctor had converted Blaise and Daniel's communicaters. They looked a bit silly, but they worked.

The Doctor kept Blaise's, as he couldn't speak Aramaic so that simple code excluded the marine.

The Doctor saw Chris take Jack to the camp he was to help guard, and waited for the young man’s return to be sure the trip went well, then he took off in the direction Damon and Scott had marked on a crude map.

At six foot two the Doctor had long strides, and found himself cutting back just a bit, because losing his volunteers would not help the mission.

They didn’t follow a trail, except the one he broke in as they shoved through underbrush and grasses. If it weren’t for the rough map and the occasional sight of the far off whisp of smoke, getting lost would seem an easy thing.

They ate up ground at a stride that had most of them getting a stitch in their sides and a burn in their lungs long before the first ‘break’. It had been hours of walking over uneven ground, through brush and trees and pressed upon by tropical heat. The water was a godsend. The terrain would have been beautiful if they were able to pause and appreciate it.

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Staring after the two brothers for a moment, Jon decided that they looked paranoid enough to complete a decent sweep of the area.. for now. Blaise was sure to take a look around too, and Faith and May were in the trees, so he could do his own sweep later, but there was a distinct risk that spending the night here placed them exactly where the Others (or not-Others) wanted them, regardless.

Jon thanked the Doctor with a pat to the leg and set off towards the source of the trap. He wanted to know whether it was new or old, and whether skittling a line of people was all it did. Had it been set in the last few days as some kind of early warning system, or was it an older defence? Did whoever built it simply want whoever tripped it to be injured, or was there a sequel - either in person or as part of a second physical trap?

Jon heard rustling and looked into the trees, watching as May carefully released the remainder of the cable. It was commercially produced rope rather than an island-woven equivalent, chemically treated against rot but already stained green. That suggested that the trap had been set a while ago, but the fact that he could unpick some of the knots (admittedly with the aid of bamboo) told him that they weren't tight enough to have been settling in for long. Two weeks? Two months? It was hard to tell, and there was nothing to say how well the trap's status was monitored.

"So, do we think it was Them or The Crazy French Lady that set that trap?"

Faith's voice floated over from Scott's mini-clinic, causing Jon to look back towards the main body of the group.

"Does it matter? And what say we don't stop here for the night?" he suggested bluntly. "This was a trap, same as how we've been catching dinner most nights. I really don't think we should be hanging around."

"But the Doct-" someone protested.

Jon cut the voice off sharply. "The Doctor doesn't need his shoulder to walk and we're travelling light. He probably saved my life there so I'm more than happy to carry his bag, but letting 'Them' pick our campsite is stupid."

With the spiked log finally taken care of, May eased down to the ground slowly and carefully, keeping an eye out for further traps. Nothing set off her senses, though, and she made it down with no trouble. "I can make it a little longer, and I don't like being herded into one place for the night. But at least we know that the immediate area is trap-free, and who's to say that we won't make it another half-mile only to run into something worse?"

"What, you just want to stick around for whoever set the traps to come see what they caught?" Jon asked.

"Well, I don't want to camp out right under the Porcupine Log of Death, if that's what you mean. But this might not be the only set of traps. I'm game with either option, and I can scout ahead a bit if we decide to keep moving. What about everyone else?"

Scott considered their options. Jon and May had good points. It really depended on the Doctor, since he was badly wounded. (For a human, anyway.) He wasn't going to put the Time Lord on the spot, though.

"I think we should scout ahead and go a bit further if it's safe," Scott spoke up. "Considering the work that went into these traps, I'd be surprised if there are any more close by."

Faith shifted impatiently. Either they were going to stay or they weren't. In her professional opinion, if the trap had been laid and sprung, either the setter or setters knew they were there and were closing in, or hadn't a single clue and weren't going to come dashing in. If there were Jungle Psychos coming then moving on wasn't going to make that much difference.

"Makes no diff to me, but from what I can see, it makes no diff at all," Faith declared. "Either someone set it for us and will be coming, in which case we're sitting ducks one way or another. Those Jungle Fruit Fucking Loops know this area a whole helluva lot better than we do, and have an advantage. Whether we camp down here or push ahead another mile or ten ain't that gonna make that much difference.

"And a trap like that? It's meant to kill or maim, not to give splinters," Faith glanced apologetically at the Doctor, "Not that I'm slightin' your wound or nothin'. I don't think that they set up another one anywhere near. Personally, if we stop here, we got the power of defense behind us. We'll be alert and ready for 'em if anyone comes.

"But," Faith leaned against the nearest tree, "It's not my call and not my show. Scott and Doc are the ones with the most to lose, so it should be their call. If we want to move on, I'll scout. If we want to stay put, I'm sure the Brothers Extraordinaire, Spidey-Gal, J, Mol and me can play nice and get some serious defense set up."

Now that the spinter was gone, and Scott had done an excellent job of stepping the worst damage, the injury was easier to work around for a while.

Jon had a point. They all did.

"If someone's comming not being exactly where they expect us will help. But I'm not going to be able to go more than a mile, maybe two. I can stave off shock for that long. And I kinda used up a good deal of energy as well, so exhaustion on top of that, is gonna make me unsteady to say the least." He hated being pretty much depnedant for the moment. Scott had saved him from dealing with excessive blood loss on top of the rest, for which he was grateful. "Plus, as a group we're leaving an easy to follow trail. I don't know if we can move forward without leaving a tangible one now. So we press on a bit more. One hour guard rotations. It's been a hard haul and longer than that will mean people being less than alert."

The jumper was a gonner. But the jacket could be cleaned down and repaired at another time. He felt more naked without that than without the shirt. His blood was darker than humans, and more a reddish orange than a true red. It didn't smell coppery either. Hopefully that would confuse any preditory animals.

The Doctor stood, a bit shakily, and retrieved both the jumper as well as the jacket, tucking the bit of bloodied wood into the ruined jumper. No need to over-advertise the trap had scored a hit.

"When we do stop, I'm going to look and seem dead. I won't be, and I'd appriciate skipping any sort of premature burial, ta. My temperature will plummet, and I might even get a bit frosty. Don't try to wake me, cause you won't be able to. I'm gonna pretty much be helpless while healing up."

Nope, not happy bout that at all, not with three unknowns in the group. But it couldn't be helped now.

Scott's eyebrows rose higher and higher as the Doctor described the outward indications of his healing trance. ("Frosty?" His healing processes are that endothermic?) Scott managed to hold his curiosity at bay for the moment. "I'll stay with you. If we hike any further and when we camp," he told the Doctor. That was a no-brainer. He wanted to study how the trance worked.

The Doctor's statement that he could walk another mile was all Dean needed to hear. Standing around burning daylight wasn't helping their situation any. He raised his voice so all could hear. "Doc says he's up to it, so let's get a move on. May, scout ahead. I'll take point. Sammy, you stick near Doc since you're even ganglier than him. Blaise has our six. Everyone else keep doing what you were doin'." Without waiting for agreement Dean strode to the front of the line. The sooner they put some distance between them and the traps and found a defensible area to camp, the better.

Over Hill, over Dale.. (overland crew)

[Jon] Stepping your foot in it (tag open)

[Mayday] Stepping your foot in it (tag open)

[Scott] Options (tag open)

[Faith] Options (tag open)

[Doctor] Options (tag open)

[Scott] Frosty? (tag Doctor, open)

[Dean] Move 'em out! (tag open)