It was a strange night. Rain came down in sheets, soaking anyone brave enough to go outside of their base instantly. The Reds had locked themselves tight into their base; the air had warmed up enough for them to be comfortable. Sadly the Blues could not say the same. Church had been missing ever since the storm had started and Caboose had been sent to find him while Tex and Tucker stayed inside the base trying to fix a rather large leak that had sprung up when a bolt of lighting had hit the side of the base.

Caboose was a little more than scared. The lighting made him jump and the thunder sent him cowering. Only a strong fondness of Church allowed him to continue his search. His legs had started to hurt when he heard it, the sound of someone in pain. It was so low that Caboose almost missed it. Luckily he had just wandered under a small group of trees that acted like a sound barer against the sound of the rain. He quickly found the source of the soft sound. Someone had crawled under a bush, seeking protection from the rain.

His heart beating quickly, Caboose called out, "Church?"

Another soft moan. "Caboose..? Is that you?"

It was Church alright. But something was wrong. Something was very wrong. When Caboose ducked under the branches, he didn't find Church scowling up at him as he had excepted. What he found was Church without his armor looking cold, wet, and… there was something wrong with his eyes. They were out of focus. It was then Caboose noticed blood seeping out of a deep gash on Church's forehead.

In an instant, Caboose was at Church's side. "Church! What happened?"

"Please, not so loud… My head hurts…" Church looked down and Caboose forced him to look back up.

"Do you have a concussion?"

"Maybe."

"Can you walk?"

Church tore his head out of Caboose's hands. "Sort of. I need some thing to lean on."

Caboose bit his lip. "Church? How did this happen?"

"What happen?"

Caboose reached out and ran a hand over Church's arm; he felt a shiver run through Church's body. He could feel the smoothly toned muscle of Church's arm even through the armor incasing his fingers. "This… Church, you died. You left…"

Church shivered again and for the first time Caboose noticed that his lips were slightly blue. "I know. I-I.. I don't know what happened…" He suddenly doubled over, groaning, and clutched his stomach.

"Church!" Caboose grabbed Church and hauled him up to a standing position. "I'll get you to the base. Don't worry…"

Caboose headed back slowly; Church was clearly hurt and Caboose didn't want to hurt him any more. Church was putting all his weight on Caboose to support. They move through the under brush until something hurled itself at the two to them, throwing Caboose to the ground and sending Church flying.

Whatever it was reared up and, with more speed than Caboose would have thought possible from a creature so large, lunged at him. He barely had time to roll out of the way. When it landed the ground shattered. The thing reared up again and Caboose reached for his gun… only to find it missing. He looked back up at what could be his death and swallowed hard. What ever it was roared, but before it could smash Caboose into oblivion, it was jerked back. Blood suddenly obscured Caboose's vision and a thud shook his bones. It took him a while to realize that he was still alive. Slowly he sat up and looked over at the creature. It was dead; one shot to the head. He quickly looked over to where Church had gone flying off to.

Church was leaning against a tree with Caboose's gun in his hand. Caboose watched as he swallowed and said, "You okay?"

Caboose nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Church." Carefully stepping over the body that now was slowly oozing blood, he made his way over to Church, who handed the gun over to him. "Come on, we need to get you to the base."

This time when they made their way back to the base, nothing attacked them. The weather made up for any wild animals however. The rain was coming down more fiercely than ever and it made walking difficult at best, almost impossible at worst. But some how, they got to the Blue Base in one piece. Caboose had been forced to carry Church in his arms about half way to the base when the man's legs had giving out.

Once Caboose was in the base, he took his charge to his room and lay him on the bed. "Just stay here, Church. I'll get Tex."

Church sighed softly; it sounded like it pained him. "Thanks Caboose." And he closed his eyes. Caboose knew that he had fallen asleep. He had a quick thought of Church's concussion but decided to let him sleep.

Tex and Tucker had been fixing a leak that a bolt of lighting had ripped into the side of the base when Caboose had left to find Church and they were still there, cursing and threatening to kill the other. Caboose stood there just inside the doorway and watched them bicker. At one point Tex hit Tucker with a wrench they had been using to seal the hole. Tucker's shields flickered and faded from the blow. Caboose coughed softly before Tex could hit him again.

"What!" Tex turned around on Caboose and he flinched, fearing her wrath. When she saw it was him she asked, "Did you find Church?"

"Yes. But there is a problem." Caboose was running the image of Church with blue lips shivering and bleeding from that nasty gash, eyes out of focus through his head.

"What?"

Before Caboose could explain, Tucker interrupted, his shields had finished recharging. "How could there be a problem? He's a ghost."

Caboose sighed. "That's part of the problem."

Tex was silent for a bit. "You brought him back?" Caboose nodded. "Where is he?"

"I put him in my room."

Tex nodded slowly. "Okay. Let me see what the problem is. Lead the way." And Caboose did.

They reached Caboose's door and he hesitated. "What?"

Caboose turned to Tex and opened his mouth to speak, but then changed his mind; it would be easier just to show her. And he opened the door.

The room was mostly empty, which Tex found a little surprising. She had excepted to find it over cluttered. But none of this really mattered right then. All that did was the person on the bed.

"… My god… Church?"

Caboose looked down at his feet. "Yeah, that's the problem."

"How did…?"

"I asked him that. He doesn't know."

Tex walked over to the bed and knelt down. She reached out a hand and touched Church's face. Even through her gloves she could feel the chill that had set in. If it had not been for the soft motion of his chest and quiet whisper of his breathe, she would have thought he was a corpse.

"Tex? I think he has a concussion…"

She nodded as she took in this observation. "He's chilled. We have to warm him up. Get some blankets and start boiling some water."

Caboose nodded and left to get what Tex had told him too. Not because Tex was his superior, which she wasn't, or because he was scared of her, which he was, but because she seemed to know how to help Church… and that was all that mattered then.

He set water to boil and got some blankets and was back at his door when Tucker showed up. "What is going on? I need Tex to help me fix this thing!" He looked Caboose up and down. Caboose was wet. Very, very wet. So wet in fact that there was a pool of water that was forming were he stood. "What happened to you?"

"Have you been outside?"

"No. It's poring out there!"

"I know."

There was a pause as Tucker put two and two together. Before he was able to collect his thoughts, Tex stuck her head out of the room. Tucker looked at her then back to Caboose and his blankets. "I know I've missed something."

"Tucker, you have missed a lot of things," Tex said coolly. "Come on, Caboose." And she ducked back into the room with Caboose on her heels. Tucker blinked and turned the way he had come. When he reached the leak, it was only to find that all the work that he and Tex had done had been reversed. He cursed silently before he started working on it again.