I'll Save You - Spirk

Chapter Seventeen

*Jim's POV*

I snuck looks at Spock's passive face while he prepared some more Plomeek soup, my back against the wall as I kept watch, which appeared to be unnecessary.

This was our sixth day on this planet, and it had been three days since I had seen Spock's scars, a fact that he had been avoiding discussing.

I brought it up once, and he promptly dismissed it, deciding that discussing survival tactics were much more important.

We were due to be picked up tomorrow - assuming nothing went wrong of course, but as the days wore on a sense of unease was growing within me.

I don't know if it is because of Spock or just because of the assignment, which appears to be going very wrong.

I haven't discussed it with Spock but being half Vulcan I assume he has noticed the mistakes.

For starters the planet was supposed to be uninhabited, yet there were these strange, humanoid beings walking around. Another thing was when we tumbled down that hill the other day I had been battered enough to trigger the electrical currents in my body, yet there was no ships coming for us, leading me to believe the signals were faulty.

Faulty, or deliberately tampered with another part of my brain whispered ominously, and my gut feeling said that that was the case.

I looked over to Spock again, my heart lifting at his unconcerned face.

I undoubtedly had feelings for the cute, troubled half-Vulcan. I still don't know how he got those scars but I fully intend to find out and help him, if I can.

Spock looked up and met my gaze, his eyes guarded. "I thought after consuming this food we could explore again" he suggested, removing the soup from the fire and putting it out.

"Sure, we just have to be careful" I replied, to which he threw me a look clearly stating why would we not be?

He nodded regardless and handed me some soup, ever careful not to let our skin touch.

..............

We were further north-west then we had been before, the terrain was flattening out a bit and there were a number of what appeared to be small animal burrows in the dry ground.

At one point I actually got in one, just for fun, curling up and laughing slightly at Spock through the light covering of green plant material. Spock looked incredibly confused as to what I was doing, but cast an appreciative eye over the small hollow structure.

"It would make an adequate hiding place, they are small and many enough not to be checked by pursuers, and the plants provide some screening" he commented thoughtfully after I got out, brushing the dirt from my clothes.

I chuckled at him "I will keep that in mind if we are ever getting chased, but seriously, relax! It's a beautiful day!" I gestured to the clear blue sky, but was looking at him.

His silky hair gleamed in the sun and his eyes caught the light and sparkled in a way that made my heart melt as he looked up, before meeting my eyes with his 'illogical human' look "this a serious assignment, and we must be careful"

"Hey, what if those things we saw the other day are a test? Ha, of course, and to think I was actually worried" I laughed, feeling a little foolish. Spocks gaze moved to over my shoulder and I took the opportunity to subtly check him out.

"I highly doubt they are a test" Spock said calmly, but with an urgent tone that made my eyes swing back up to his face immediately. "Especially considering they are currently running towards us with spears pointed in our direction"

I swung around to see that he was right "Run!" I told him, incredulous that he wasn't reacting. I started running with him close behind me "it's no use" he informed me as we sprinted flat out "they are much faster, we have almost zero chance of outrunning them"

"So we have some chance then?" I puffed. "Almost zero chance" he repeated, ducking just in time to dodge a spear which when flying over his head.

I put my arm on his back to indicate we should run closer to the ground, which we managed for several minutes before the spears began flying so thickly we had to separate.

The last thing I saw was Spock rolling to the right, then a severe pain in my abdomen before everything went dark.