1Disclaimer: I do not own Walker, but I wouldn't mind if Jared belonged to me. :) Gen is a lucky woman!
Author's Note: This is my very first Walker fic. I love the series, but I need to rewatch it to make sure everything is fresh in my mind. Enjoy!
Survival Skills
Chapter 1
Walker parked his Ford truck next and grinned through the windshield at his partner. Micki sat at a picnic table at the foot of the hiking trail dressed in a green t-shirt, jeans, and hiking boots. Her long dark hair was pulled back from her face in a pony tail. She waved and tucked a water bottle into her backpack and stood up from the picnic bench as Walker climbed out of his truck.
"You ready for a day of hiking, Floriana?" Walker asked cheekily as he hefted his backpack onto his back and adjusted the hoodie he was wearing.
Micki grinned back at him. "Just try to keep up, Beauregard."
Walker rolled his eyes as she chuckled. "Come on. First one to the other end of the trail buys lunch today," he challenged.
"Deal!" Micki agreed, starting off down the trail with Walker hot on her heels.
Micki breathed in deeply and tried to let the stress seep out of her body. The last few weeks had been rough and she was looking forward to spending some time out in nature with her partner. Trey was out with friends for the day, so Walker decided that they should have some "partner bonding time." Micki had shaken her head, but had easily gone along with Walker's idea. She enjoyed spending time with him away from the stress of the job. He had become someone she could trust; she knew he had her back and she would always have his. Walker looked at her as an equal despite the fact that she was a woman in what many still considered a man's world.
"So what are you buying us for lunch today?" Walker teased as he watched his partner make her way around some large rocks on the trail.
"I think you're treating today, Agent Walker. You're lagging behind back there."
He shook his head with a laugh. "I'm saving my energy for a fast push at the end. Maybe you can buy us some tacos."
Micki laughed. "Nothing with beans! Not if I have to be around you," she warned. Then, turning the discussion to a more serious subject she asked, "So how are things going with Stella?"
Before he could answer, a loud pop sounded from the forest around them and Walker instinctually ducked at the sound of the gunshot as Micki made a small grunt beside him. He looked at her, his eyes widening as red bloomed across the front of her green t-shirt. "Micki?" Walker watched in horror as her legs gave out from under her and she slumped toward the ground. He caught her and lowered her gently to the dirt trail as his heart pounded in his chest, his body instantly on alert for the source of the bullet.
Micki pressed her hands to her stomach and pulled them away, staring at the bright red blood staining them. She panted as fear and pain spiraled through her. Pain like she had never know seared across her belly and there was blood, so much blood. Was she dying? She didn't want to die. She couldn't leave Trey. Her eyelids felt so heavy, and she struggled to keep them open.
"Hey, stay with me," Walker encouraged her. He looked in the direction where he thought the shot came from, trying to decide where to move Micki for cover from the assailant. Instead of someone bent on attacking them, he saw a hunter staring through the trees wearing his bright orange vest and carrying a rifle. The man stared back at him, horrified.
Turning his attention back to Micki, Walker snatched his phone out of his pocket and tried calling for help. There was no signal. He tried again. Still no signal. Frustration tried to overwhelm him, but he tamped it down and forced himself to focus. Shoving the phone back into his pants pocket, he reached for Micki's hand. He was shaking, his mind immediately going to the thought of Emily's dead body covered in blood. He shook his head as if to clear it and focused back on his partner.
Micki gripped Walker's hand tightly as another wave of pain rolled over her. She bit her bottom lip until she tasted blood. Walker's hand tightened around hers, and Micki realized at some point she has lost the battle to keep her eyes open. She forced her lids up so she could stare into her partner's multicolored eyes.
"You've got this, Floriana," he encouraged, using his other hand to carefully brush hair that had escaped her ponytail away from the clammy sweat that dripped down her face.
Micki attempted to swallow, but her mouth was as dry as cotton and her tongue clung to the roof of her mouth. "'Course I do," she panted, wincing as pain rippled across her torso.
"I need to check your wound," Walker warned her, giving her hand a gentle squeeze before releasing it. He grasped her bloody shirt and looked up to meet her pain-filled dark brown eyes.
Micki's hands scrabbled at the dusty ground beneath her, grasping for purchase. She clenched her teeth together tightly and ground out, "Go ahead."
Walker swallowed and tore his eyes away from hers. She watched his Adam's apple bob as emotion seeped from his eyes. She knew causing her pain would hurt him just as much as it was hurting her. "Go ahead," she choked out again. "I'm okay."
Walker nodded and grasped the fabric of her ruined t-shirt, ripping it open.
Micki barely managed to stifle a scream as he jostled her wound, but a pained groan that ended as a whimper escaped her lips. She clenched her eyes shut as white-hot pain flared through her mid-section.
"Hey, hey," Walker soothed. "I'm going to take care of you and get you some help," he assured her.
Walker swallowed back his nausea as blood leaked from the gunshot wound in Micki's stomach. He shrugged out of his sweatshirt and pressed it against the wound, attempting to staunch the flow of blood. He couldn't allow himself to think of Emily in this kind of pain and all alone; the thought made him want to curl up and die. But Micki needed him; he would deal with his own emotions later.
This time Micki could not suppress a scream as her partner pressed against her wound. Her vision blacked out for a moment and she felt tears leak from her eyes.
"I'm sorry; I'm so sorry," Walker murmured, "but you're losing too much blood."
Footsteps pounded up the trail in their direction. Walker knew it had to be the hunter that had fired at them, so he kept his attention on his partner.
A hunter in an orange vest dropped to the ground next to them. "I thought she was an animal," he panted. "Is she okay? How bad is it?" The man's voice was shaking with nerves. His eyes widened at the sight of the blood staining Walker's hands and Micki's torso. He looked green as if he was going to throw up.
"Is she dead? There's no way anyone can live losing that much blood," the man panicked, arms flailing as he leapt to his feet. "I killed someone!"
"SHUT UP!" Walker snarled at the man before her turned a gentle expression to his partner, cupping her cheek with the free hand not pressing the hoodie to her stomach. "You're not dying, Micki," he assured her. "I won't let you die."
Micki forced a nod, in too much pain to force words past her throat, even though she knew this was a promise Walker really couldn't keep.
"I called for help, but I can't get a signal," Walker informed the still panicked hunter. "We need to get her down the trail."
The hunter pulled his phone out of a vest pocket with trembling hands and pressed a few buttons. "No signal," he shook his head, his breathing fast and erratic. "How are we going to get her back to help?"
Walker set his jaw in determination, knowing he was going to cause his partner pain and hating it. "I'll carry her." Carefully, he brushed a hand over MIcki's forehead while murmuring some reassuring words.
The hunter shook his head. "She'll never make it."
"Then I'll get you for manslaughter," Walker snarled. "What the hell were you doing hunting in this area?" He studied the location of Micki's wound, trying to decide the best way to lift her.
The man shook his head. "I got turned around," he defended. "It was an accident. I didn't realize where I was. This wasn't my fault." He eyes were huge in a pale, anxious face.
Walker ignored him to concentrate fully on his partner. Time was not in Micki's favor. "Can you keep pressure on this?" he asked her, using his free hand to take hers and press it on the shirt covering her wound.
Micki bit her lip so hard it began bleeding once again. She forced her fingers to grip the cloth beneath her hand as a whimper escaped her lips.
"Don't pass out on me now, Floriana," Walker encouraged softly, terror flooding him at how pale she'd become in the last minute.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Micki choked out through bloody lips.
"I'll be as gentle as I can," Walker told her, sucking in a deep, fortifying breath.
"Just do what you have to," Micki mumbled, exhaustion tugging at her as her blood seeped from her body.
"You keep your eyes open, Micki," Walker ordered her as he slid his arms beneath her as carefully as he could. He winced when his partner cried out in pain. "Keep trying to call for help," he told the hunter as he carried his partner back down the path they had hiked earlier in the day.
Micki was dead weight in his arms, fighting to stay awake to hold the hoodie against her wound. He was losing her, and he didn't know what he would do if that happened.