"The Message"

"The Message"

By Ross7

Hunkered down in a leaky, log lean-to on the slippery slope of a mountain is no place to be in an electrical storm.

Yet, that is precisely where Amy and Hannibal found themselves.

Cut off from their colleagues, the pair had spent the past three days dodging DeBruin's militia. Only by plunging into the densest of wilderness, did the duo finally manage to elude their tenacious pursuers. Unable to reach a road, and tired of traipsing through the trees, the two had begun climbing.

So, now, there they were, cowering in the middle of a maelstrom, on an exposed peak of one of the San Gabriels.

Amy pressed herself deeper into their hastily erected shelter and trembled, more out of fear than from being half-frozen—which she was.

Hannibal wrapped a comforting arm about her shaking shoulders. "Don't worry, kid!" he shouted, to be heard over the roar of the wind. "We'll be okay!"

Amy couldn't help but smile. The air around them was exploding with a zillion volts of electricity…they were seconds away from being flushed down the mountainside…and Hannibal was expecting her NOT to worry?

Fifteen terrifying minutes later, the tempest finally subsided. The sun broke through the clouds and 'peace and serenity' returned to their precarious mountaintop position.

Amy stepped out of the remains of their shelter to watch the storm depart. A calm came over the reporter as she recalled a poem that she had penned back in junior high. "The Message," she quietly began quoting. "God sent it with a Storm…and Lightning flashed it across the sky! Mighty Thunder read it…and clapped it savagely in reply! The Wind roared it through the Trees…and the Trees whispered it back to the Rain. The Rain splattered it to the ground…and pounded it against my windowpane. Then, calm…as The Message went…unanswered."

"Ni-ice!" the Colonel critiqued. Another 'air disturbance' suddenly caught his attention and his slight smile broadened into a grin. "Speaking of messages…Sounds like Murdock must a' seen ours."

The two turned in the 'chop-chop-chopping' sound's direction.

The approaching aircraft zeroed in on the enormous 'A' the two of them had managed to form by piling up loose boulders—of which there was an abundant supply.

A rope ladder was lowered from the hovering helicopter and The A-Team's two missing members were retrieved.

"'Bout time you guys showed up!" Hannibal shouted, to be heard over the chopper's whirling rotors. "I'm all out of cigars!"

The Lieutenant rolled his eyes and quickly passed the complaining Colonel a smoke.

Murdock shot the disheveled Amy an anxious glance. She 'looked' none the worse for wear. He flashed her a warm, reassuring smile and then turned to Face, as he reclaimed his co-pilot's seat.

The two of them breathed a couple silent sighs of relief, before breaking into broad grins.

They loved it when their team came together.