18 Safety First

"Did you get anything from Karen?"

Dana and Alex had retreated upstairs to their hideout. After the recent events it felt almost strange to be back, digging through files and folders to find information about the things Alex had seemingly forgotten about. Dana was concerned about that specific part. It looked too real for him to be faking it, but it freaked her out a little. She'd asked him about what had happened, but he really didn't seem to have a clue. It had crossed her mind a few times that what if she were the one to lose her memory. If she didn't remember her past, what would happen to her? What would she do? Would she remember that Alex was her brother? Would she even remember her own name? It was surreal to think about.

Dana turned in her chair to look at her brother. A few things ran through her mind at that moment. One thing was the harshness of his eyes, the other was the state Manhattan was in. She hadn't seen all too much, but enough to know something was incredibly fucked up and just wrong on so many levels. She also knew that if something wasn't done about it, a lot of bad things could happen. Very bad.

"No" he responded. He had yet again placed himself in the sofa, but instead of leaning back and looking relatively relaxed, he was now sitting with his elbows resting on his knees, glaring at the floor. Though it wasn't a rare sight to see him upset, angry or in deep thought, Dana couldn't help but frown when he was. She wanted to help him more than those times he asked for it. Wanted, but he probably wouldn't let her. And she couldn't exactly go out there and punch on some marines with just her hands for no apparent reason. No, they'd just pick her up like some doll and use her to get to Alex. She couldn't risk that.

"Where is she now?"

"Safe" he said, getting up from his seat and flicking off some invisible dirt from his jacket. "Will you stay here?"

His cold gaze seemed to look right through her. A shiver trailed down her spine, but she nodded. Alex exhaled before turning to head out. Again without a word of what he was thinking, and Dana scowled. After these two days with no rush, he was intent in resuming whatever mad manhunt he had going for himself. Maybe he was stressed after all, and she'd just made it worse by being complicated. She sighed. Let him run off to do his thing and she'd stay here by her lonesome and watch time slowly tick by. Or that's what she would've done a few days ago. Now she had a walkie with her and could contact Rebecca if she got bored. Which-...

"Hey Dana, you there?" came a voice from the little device placed beside the laptop on her desk. She spun around in the chair and picked it up.

"What's up? Need me to massage your feet?"

Rebecca gave off a short laugh from the other end of the line. "Now that would be awesome, but no" she said, becoming serious. "Desmond ain't looking too good. Lucy want a real doctor to look at him, but we don't have any access to the internet to look for one. We thought maybe you had any ideas"

"Yea, let me check" Dana responded and put the walkie down. She was quite certain she'd seen something among the files stored on the laptop. It was the one Alex had sent her before seemingly disappearing from the face of earth. She wondered for a moment what he'd been doing during that time. And what could possibly have happened to put him at the top of the militia's wanted list? Not to mention, how was he able to stalk around the city with that status? It seemed like there were men in military uniforms around every other corner. She couldn't know, and unless he told her she doubted that she'd ever find out.

"Alright, I found something" she announced through the walkie. It took a few seconds before anyone responded. She guessed they were busy taking care of Desmond and each other. It surprised her a little to hear Lucy's voice.

"What did you find?"

"Blackwatch has been keeping an eye on this doctor after he quit his work at Gentek. His name is Bradley Ragland. He should be at the St. Paul's Hospital until nine tonight."

"That's on the other side of Manhattan. We can't move him right now, not that far"

Dana exhaled softly and dragged her hands over her face. If it was that bad, maybe she should go down to help. She didn't know much, but enough to be able to figure out what he might be needing next. She heard Shaun's voice in the background, but the sound quality wasn't exactly great in these walkies. She'd have to go down or ask him to come closer if she wanted to hear him properly.

She turned down the volume and got back to what she was reading on the laptop. There was more information about Dr. Ragland, but none which she was particularly interested in right now. She kept scrolling through files - audio, video and text documents. One thing caught her interest. An audio file which she understood was a recorded phone call. There wasn't anything specific about this file, it just seemed ... interesting. Her eyes widened when she heard the voice of her brother.

"She wasn't infected naturally. She was a damn test subject!". He sounded angry; threatened perhaps. By the things she'd gathered about this whole thing, Gentek was up to something. Alex had asked her to look them up, but was apparently also looking into things for himself. That was probably one of the reasons why the militia wanted him so bad.

A voice she didn't recognize answered him;"We don't know that"

"This whole thing stinks. We're being set up"

There was a bit of flicker in the audio, so she couldn't quite hear what they said to each other until the other guy spoke again, a little louder this time; "What are you gonna do?".

Alex was most definitely enraged when he responded; "Whatever I have to!"

Dana covered her face with her hands as the audio stopped. Alex, what did you do? What in the world happened to you? She wished she could ask him, but wasn't sure if he'd remember. With the recent amnesia he'd acquired, she couldn't be sure of what he remembered and not. Did he remember anything at all? From their childhood, their mom, how he basically raised her with his own two hands? The thought almost made her sick. If he didn't remember, how did he know that she was his sister? Did he even do that, or was it all just a big, fat lie?

'Stop thinking about this, Dana' she told herself. Either he did or not, he'd been there for her, and that counted for something. He'd cared for her when she needed it, and he'd cared even when she hadn't asked and didn't want it. If she knew anything about her brother, it was that he didn't particularly care about things he didn't deem important. And there wasn't a lot of things he would deem important. If she knew her brother, which she hoped she did, he still cared because he remembered.

"Dana?"

She flinched when the walkie sparked and projected Rebecca's voice. She exhaled with a hand on her chest while picking it up and pushed down the button. "Yeah?" she responded.

"Lucy wants to give Desmond something for his fever, but we're out of supplies. Do you know where we can get some? I checked the store when I was outside yesterday, but they didn't have much"

Dana ran her fingers over the keyboard in search for anything that could be related to a pharmacy, but no such luck. She bit her lip while thinking. Perhaps there was something on the other end of Times Square? She turned her head to look at the map of Manhattan that was hung up on the wall. Let's see... 'Think Dana' she prompted.

"There might be..."

"Might?"

"There should be a pharmacy three blocks south of Times Square. It's been ages since I was there, so I don't know if it's still open but-"

"If it isn't, we'll bust it. This fucking city is doomed anyway" came the snarky response from Shaun. Dana's eyebrows shot up to her forehead, and she could hear Rebecca shout in the background. "Dana, come downstairs. We'll discuss the details"

And then the line was broken with a spark. Dana took a moment to stare at the walkie. She had an idea that the Brit was explosive at times, but this was going a little over the line, wasn't it? Doomed or not, it was still wrong to break into a store... right..? She sighed softly. Well, they apparently needed her, so she better get her feet moving.

- - - - - LINE BREAK - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Good luck you two, and be careful" Dana prompted as Shaun and Rebecca was getting ready to leave the basement a few minutes later. They'd gone over the details of their excursion at least twice. Dana still didn't like it, but someone had to go. Desmond wasn't about to get better from just sleeping, and they didn't have enough resources down here to help him. Lucy had been quite clear about that earlier on, telling them to get what they needed whatever the cost. It had sounded almost like she blamed it on them.

Dana looked over them both to assure that they were as ready as they could be for what was to come. None of them knew for certain how the situation was in central Manhattan. They all had read about it in one way or another, but they hadn't actually been out there - hadn't seen it in reality. Alex had, and Dana almost didn't recognize him. She could only imagine the things he'd been through, and to think that it had changed him so much was frightening. What if the same thing would happen to them?

"Hey, Dana" Rebecca chimed in, breaking off further thoughts and grabbing Dana gently by the shoulders. Their eyes met, and she could see a hesitancy in that endless ocean of steely gray. "We'll be alright. Promise". The smile she fired off almost hurt.

"Do you also promise to be careful?"

Becca chuckled, but nodded in agreement. "I promise" she said. Dana forced a rise in the corners of her mouth. She had a bad feeling about this. Like her brother had phrased it in the audio file she'd listened to earlier - 'this whole thing stinks'. She didn't want them to leave with all of this shit going on outside. At the very least, she wanted to come with them. They'd agreed that it would be better for her to stay though. They needed her to keep an eye on the map of Manhattan so she could guide them if they needed to. Her memory of the city was still somewhat fresh, and she could connect the dots between where they were and where they should go. Rebecca and Shaun also made a decent team out on the field, so to speak. Lucy needed to stay in order to keep an eye on Desmond.

So without Alex, this was the only reasonable solution. Dana still worried over him. What was he doing outside, and why? He should be hiding like the rest of them - wait until this whole thing was over. At least she hoped it could be over. They'd find a cure for whatever was ravaging around the heart of Manhattan. They had to. But then the question remained; who were 'they'?

"Dana, do you hear us?" came a sudden voice in her left ear, causing her to almost jump out of her own skin. Right, the earpiece. The three of them had picked one each to make sure they would be able to keep contact. A crucial detail in a mission like this, where multiple lives were possibly on the line.

Dana tapped the earpiece with her index finger while walking toward the seat where Rebecca would normally sit. "I hear you, Rebecca. Shaun?" she responded, waiting for an answer from the Brit. It came as an acknowledging grunt. She exhaled while sitting down and ran her fingers over the keyboard to find the correct files. "Alright, you need to round the building to get to Times Square. Once you see the big signs, follow the road southward"

"And keep to the alleys" Lucy said from where she was bent over Desmond. Yea, right. They'd have to keep to the shadows in order not to be captured - again..

"Keep to the alleys" Dana reminded them, echoing what Lucy had said. "Keep out of sight"