"Leftenant, why would Andy hide out here so far away from the town when he must know the Head can only be back there?"
Abbie pursed her lips, trying to ignore the fact that she had her doubts as well about the situation. Still, she had wired for backup which should be on its way. She and Ichabod could at least asses the situation, and (here her hands tightened on the steering wheel) if Andy seemed caught unawares then she had no problem going in after him herself.
She glanced sideways as their car sped over the winding New England roads outside of town and could tell that Ichabod was slightly uncomfortable holding the gun she'd given him.
"What's wrong with it?" she asked.
Ichabod sighed through his nose.
"I was a teacher, you know, before I joined the Americans. I'm still not overjoyed to see weapons, but I shall of course do my best to "get your back", as you put it."
Abbie smiled slightly to herself. Ichabod could be annoying, but for all his picky ways he was a great partner and perhaps even friend.
They drove off-road for a couple miles before slowing outside a rickety cabin that looked abandoned.
"This is where Andy's wireless is broadcasting from." Abbie said to Ichabod. The cabin looked deserted, but he could also easily be hiding.
They got out of the car and Abbie advanced on the cabin, gun held in front of her and Ichabod manning the large flashlight. If things get too hairy, we just get out, ok? she thought to herself. She was fairly sure Ichabod could handle himself in a firefight but she didn't want it to get to that point.
"Are the other officers still on their way?" Ichabod whispered from behind her.
"They should be, we had a pretty big head start though."
BANG
A gunshot rang out from behind them. Abbie threw herself into a crouch and motioned for Ichabod to do the same. His eyes were wide, and he held the gun straight out in front of him. Together they half ran-half scuttled their way around the cabin so that there was a solid log wall between themselves and the shooter. Abbie could hear footsteps approaching, heavy dragging ones. Andy?
"Miss Mills, I'll shoot first, you take up the rear." Ichabod whispered, his breath tickling the loose hair over her ear.
"Not a chance, Crane!" she snapped back. "Not letting you go in front, not when this was my stupid idea." Abbie blinked sweat from her eye and took a quick peek around the corner.
It was Andy, advancing on them jerkily. He held a big ugly rifle in his hands.
"Ok, move back, let's go." Abbie whispered. She and Ichabod ran back around the house and made for the door. If they could get inside then shooting Andy from a window would be advantageous.
Opening the cabin door, Abbie slipped inside with Ichabod close behind.
"You cover the door, I'll take the window."
Ichabod nodded his agreement and held his gun ready. Abbie went to the window and waited for Andy to walk by.
"Kind of rude, just letting yourselves in."
Abbie whipped around, staring in horror as Andy's face appeared through a hole in the roof above her. Ichabod fired quickly, letting loose a shot just as Andy pulled himself back and instead let something else drop through.
A short stick of explosive.
Abbie watched almost in slow motion as the stick fell down. The only thing she could do was throw herself out the window she was standing next to and pray that Ichabod had done the same through the door.
When the dust had more or less cleared, Abbie got up and made her way around cautiously. She fought back a cough.
"Hold it right there."
Abbie stopped in her tracks, her eyes going wide at the scene before her. Andy had gotten Ichabod in a tight headlock, a jagged splinter from the shattered wall pressed hard against his neck. Ichabod kept struggling, but his wiry strength was no match for the demon power that coursed through Andy. The splinters were coming off in Andy's hand but he seemed not to notice.
Abbie wet her lips, trying to trust her voice not to shake.
"Ok, Andy, ok. I'm putting the gun down, see?"
Andy watched her bend down with burning eyes, holding tight onto Ichabod as he kept trying to break free.
"Slide it over."
When she placed the gun on the floor and slid it, he suddenly gripped Ichabod tight by the hair and slammed his head against the wall to his side. Ichabod cried out and fell to his knees, Abbie racing forward but not before Andy snatched up the gun and dug it into Ichabod's neck.
"Leftenant, get out of here!" Ichabod yelled, his face mashed against the wooden wall and blood now trickling from his hair.
Abbie was paralyzed. She forced herself to speak, anything to distract Andy from hurting Ichabod again.
"What you want, Andy? We can help you. . ."
Andy worked his own tie free with one hand as he watched Abbie fumble for words.
"Very simple, Abbie. I need the Head, and I know you got it."
Abbie swallowed, her mind trying to focus on what Andy was saying while Ichabod struggled on the ground.
"Ok, let's talk Andy. We can work something out here."
"No talking. Just Head-getting."
He slid the tie off and in one rough motion whipped it around Ichabod's neck and pulled him up. Ichabod gasped as the tie grew taut against his throat. Abbie took an unconscious step forward but Andy looked her dead in the eye and she knew that he would crush Ichabod's windpipe in a heartbeat if she didn't do as he said.
"I know you two stashed the Head back in town, now it's just a simple thing to go get it for me."
Abbie hesitated, aware of the stakes of what he was asking.
Andy snapped the tie tighter against Ichabod's throat, ignoring his thrashing and struggling.
"Abbie, this isn't personal I'm just under a lot of pressure here." Andy ground out. "Where is the Horseman's head?"
Ichabod's breath was coming short now, he tried twisting his head to the side to relieve the pressure on his windpipe but it made no difference.
Abbie kept her lips pressed tightly together, but she knew that couldn't last.
Andy yelled with frustration at her silence.
"Do you understand what the Horseman will do to me, to us, if he doesn't get his head back?"
As if to release his fear he gave a particularly vicious tug on the tie around Ichabod's neck, cutting his breath off entirely.
Abbie took a step forward, convinced that she could contain the situation still, but Andy stepped back two paces, dragging Ichabod with him. Ichabod's eyes were wide, a strange expression in them.
"Please, please no, ok we'll tell you but you gotta let him go first," Abbie rushed.
Ichabod's eyes went wider and Abbie realized; he'd been trying to get her to leave him there and run. She set her jaw and ignored him. Stupid time-traveling Englishman, as if.
Andy hesitated.
"No, the location first," he said, terrible victory on his face.
"It's in the police annex, I'll get it for you!" Abby's voice broke.
Andy looked at her with calculating eyes.
"Come on, let him go!" Abbie yelled.
Andy sighed deeply, his bid on life extended now that he could offer the Horseman his head back. He let Ichabod slump to the floor, coughing. Abbie rushed in and propped him up against the wall, checking his pupils and heart rate. His breath wheezed in and out but some color was coming back to his face. He gripped Abbie's wrist painfully hard and rasped out,
"We can't let him get it!"
Abbie pried Ichabod's hand off her and looked him dead in the eye.
"We don't have a choice right now." she said firmly.
"Ok, Abbie, time to go." Andy was behind her now. Abbie flinched to see him so close, and tried to avert her eyes from the awful way his neck crumpled. She made to help Ichabod stand up.
"No, he stays." said Andy, bending down to pull her away. Instead he settled himself down next to Ichabod.
"What, why?" she asked angrily shooting a fierce look at Andy.
"Incentive. You offered to get me the head" he rasped, "Come on, I'm waiting."
Abbie hesitated, her hands still on Ichabod's prone frame.
"Now! Back over to the door, if either of you tries anything, he gets it."
Andy pulled a set of cuffs from his pocket and clasped one loop tightly around Ichabod's wrist while keeping the gun trained on Abbie. The other end he passed around a support beam and locked on the other wrist. Ichabod was unable to offer much resistance, but his eyes were fixed on Abbie. She looked calm enough, but Ichabod didn't want to let her go with Andy all by herself.
"Leftenant . . .," he didn't want to speak too plainly in front of Andy but Ichabod needed to get his point across. "Leftenant don't come back here." he gushed out.
Abbie opened her mouth to retort but before she could, Andy's hand snaked out towards Ichabod. It held a jagged piece of metal, and as his face twisted into an ugly sneer, Andy cut deeply into Ichabod's upper arm.
Ichabod let out a yell and tried to clap a hand over the bleeding but he couldn't reach, his wrists being cuffed the way they were.
Andy grinned insanely, his head tilting as Abbie's face grew furious.
"The sooner you leave, Abbie, the sooner you can come back to you precious time-traveler." he said, surveying Ichabod dispassionately. "And maybe if you hurry I won't have cut him to ribbons before you get back."
Ichabod was trying to reign in his groans and gritted his teeth.
Abbie looked straight at Ichabod, ignoring Andy.
"I'm coming back, you got that? Just hang on."
Abbie raced for her car, the angry tears she hadn't let herself shed back in the cabin finally catching up with her. Dammit, she was supposed to be taking care of Ichabod now he was locked up with a crazy demon. . . ex-cop. Just the fact that those words were now in her vocabulary made her miserable. She shoved the key in the ignition and gunned it towards the police station, and heaven help any obstacles or jaywalkers in her way.
Andy watched Ichabod out of the corner of his eye, rubbing his own rumpled neck impatiently. Ichabod tugged at the cuffs but only earned himself a blow across the face for his efforts. His lungs still hurt from not being able to breathe for so long. Ignoring the blood trickling down his face however, he fixed his eyes on Andy and raised an eyebrow.
"If the Leftenant returns I expect you to let her be. No going back on your word."
Andy squatted down next to Ichabod and twirled the jagged metal strip idly in his hands.
"Yeah, yeah," he said, eyes scanning Ichabod's frame. "Whatever."
With rough speed, Andy plunged the metal strip into Ichabod's thigh, smiling vacantly as Ichabod cried out and tried to shift his long legs out of Andy's reach. Andy withdrew the metal and turned away, pacing to the far corner of the room so he could look out the window.
"She's taking a long time." he murmured.
Ichabod's breath was short as he watched his own blood seeping out of his leg.
"If you hurt her-" he threatened breathlessly.
Andy turned away from the window and approached Ichabod slowly now.
"What? You'll do what, English guy?"
When he finally loomed over Ichabod again, he meticulously cleaned the red blade and knelt down behind Ichabod. He reached around the thinner man's body in a bear hug, and with a grunt of purpose, began cutting into Ichabod's chest while he tugged at his chained hands and tried so hard not to scream.
"I'm here, I've got it!" Abbie knocked briefly before surging inside. The sight that greeted her almost made her drop the tank with the head in it.
Ichabod was still cuffed to the wooden support beam, but now she could tell his clothes were stained with blood. Andy had pinned Ichabod face-first into the beam with his forearm against the back of his neck and was twisting the metal blade into his hip. Ichabod was struggling weakly, the blood loss clearly affecting him. His trousers had many more dark stains on them, all left by Andy's knife.
"Oh my god, Andy, stop!" Abbie screamed, "here, take it!" She dragged the head over and dumped it on the ground in front of Andy.
He looked up slowly, then withdrew his arm from Ichabod's neck and stopped cutting into him. Abbie immediately knelt down next to Ichabod, her hands surprisingly steady despite the white noise in her head. Ichabod was breathing hard, and when she leaned him back she blanched at the sight of his shirt front stained with blood. Andy had cut an X mark deeply across his chest.
His eyes fluttered unsteadily, but he managed to mumble out: "Told you. . . . to leave. . . Leften-" his head fell back, supported only by Abbie's hand.
"You are one stubborn, time-travelling, annoying man, Crane," she ground out in reply, trying to hide the relief on her face that he was still at least able to talk.
Across the room, Andy lifted the Horseman's head. He moaned in relief, the Horseman wouldn't be angry anymore he thought, surely.
"I'm going now, Abbie." he said, his face ragged with intense purpose. "The Horseman's waiting for me."
"Where, in the town? What's he going to do all the way over there?" Abbie shot at him.
"Yeah, the town." Andy frowned. "That's like five miles out." He put down the head and strode quickly towards Abbie, grabbing her hair before she could put distance between them.
"Keys, now. I'm not walking."
Ichabod tried kicking Andy but the effort wasn't strong enough and Andy just kicked him in the stomach in return. Abbie reached quickly for her pocket for the car keys as Ichabod doubled over.
"Knock yourself out." she said, placing them in his hand.
Andy grinned and picked up the head.
"Thanks, Lieutenant. Knew I could count on a friend."
Abbie watched him go with narrowed eyes.
As soon as Andy left the cabin, Abbie dropped to her knees and began picking the cuff around Ichabod's wrists. Getting back to the town would be a challenge now and she needed to stop the bleeding that sluggishly pumped from Ichabod's wounds.
"He's getting away," mumbled Ichabod, his eyes only half-open. "Can't. . ."
"Just hold on there, Crane, we're gonna be ok."
She looked towards the door.
"Can't say the same for Andy."
BOOM
Ichabod jerked in surprise.
"What. . what was that?"
Abbie's eyes seemed far away. "I just rigged a little basic explosive to go off when the car door was opened. No biggie."
Ichabod gaped at her.
Then he smiled widely. "Leftenant, you are truly the most resourceful person I believe I have ever met."
"I only wish I didn't have to use that resourcefulness to blow up an old friend."
Abbie flashed him a sad smile and ran to the door to check the scene. The twisted remains of the car were still on fire and there was no sign of Andy. The Horseman's head lay among the wreckage, abandoned. Goodbye, Andy, she thought.
Abbie helped Ichabod stumble out of the cabin and onto the porch. She checked her pockets, knowing however that her phone had been with Andy when he went into the car. She bit her lip worriedly, looking at Ichabod. He was holding up fairly well, but the blood loss and pain were getting to him. She had at least wrapped up the cuts so they didn't bleed anymore.
"How far back to the town?" he asked.
"'Bout five miles."
Ichabod gave a slightly desperate laugh.
"Better get started."
Abbie held up a hand to stop him. "Wait, Crane, one thing first."
She buried the Horseman's head behind the cabin. They could come back for it later, but right now lugging the heavy tank through the woods was not an option. Ichabod tried to help and kept getting his bandages messed up until Abbie yelled at him to sit down and let her do her job. He was quiet for awhile after that.
They tramped through the woods for what seemed like hours before Ichabod's legs gave out. He had been limping badly the whole way, courtesy of Andy's knife cuts in his thighs, but had tried to keep up with Abbie nonetheless. She had propped herself under Ichabod's arm without question, and tried to support as much weight as she could. Their extreme height difference meant that Abbie wasn't so much really helping as being encouraging, but Ichabod appreciated the gesture nonetheless. When they reached what Abbie estimated the three mile or so mark, however, Ichabod ground to a halt.
"Leftenant," he mumbled, his voice somewhat embarrassed, "I think I need to sit dow-"
Then his legs buckled under him and he dropped, squeezing his eyes shut in pain. Abbie backtracked slightly and knelt down next to him.
"Crane, you ok?" she asked, trying to keep some confidence in her voice.
Ichabod's eyes were only half open and he was holding his hands over the cuts in his thighs which seemed to have opened up again despite the makeshift bandages that Abbie had instructed him to wrap. He was breathing harder than Abbie was comfortable with. She realized that she couldn't push him any further until he'd rested.
"Ok, obviously we are gonna be enjoying hotel Mother Nature tonight." she told him briskly. Abbie began rooting in their immediate area for some dry twigs or branches, and came up with enough to get a small fire going. Ichabod stayed slumped where he was. Abbie could tell that he was in bad shape and tried to keep her face free of worry.
An hour later they had a small, smoky fire going. Ichabod had stirred for long enough to help with the kindling since he'd had more experience with that sort of thing. Now he was huddled close to the orange flames, his coat wrapped tight around him but still shivering. Abbie wasn't doing much better, she was hungry and cold. If they could wait it out till morning then find their way back to the road they'd be fine, but morning seemed to be a ways off still.
"Leftenant," Ichabod broke the silence, "I must thank you for returning to find me." He seemed awkward, and his dark eyebrows were raised in their usual dignified expression. Abbie bit back a laugh.
"No problem, Crane. Never leave a man behind, that's what I say." her face softened. "Besides, it's my impatience that got us into this mess." Abbie tucked her face away from Ichabod for a second. "If I hadn't been so angry then maybe none of this would have happened."
Ichabod wrapped his coat tighter around himself.
"Nonsense. I was just as eager for the battle. You have proven yourself an excellent comrade-in-arms today, Miss Mills." he said, giving a small smile.
A tiny, tiny part of Abbie still wondered if Ichabod was for real. That same part of her was deathly afraid that at some point Ichabod would shout "ha! got you!" and she would feel so. . . betrayed? Let down?
She would feel utterly alone.
But another look at Ichabod, the firelight glinting on his brown hair and his raggy old Revolutionary war clothes made her believe in him. More than that, it was the fact that he had said "thank you."
"We should try and get some rest." Abbie said, a few minutes later.
Ichabod nodded, but by now he was shivering hard. He looked more tired than ever. Abbie poked the fire and added a few more twigs so that it would burn longer. Ichabod had lain down on his side, face towards the flames.
"Move over, Crane, come on."
Ichabod looked up in surprise. Abbie was apparently attempting to lay down back to back with him. He had a moment's panic at the indiscretion, but realized that he didn't care. Abbie was quickly becoming the best friend he'd ever had.
"Night, Crane." she yawned. "I guess we better take you clothes shopping tomorrow or you'll have to go to the station in . . . that."
Ichabod let a smile spread over his face and closed his eyes. He could feel Abbie, warm against his back and knew that he would be able to sleep now.
"Goodnight, Leftenant."
"-An adventure for another day though." Abbie grinned.