THE CHUTE (P/T Version)

BTW, this is written in B’Elanna’s POV

**********************************
“New prisoner! New prisoner!” the shouts cried out. I blinked a few times,
and tried to figure out where I was. Let’s see. I had gone on shore leave
with Tom, and…Tom! Where was he? Oh, god, why wasn’t he here? I stood up,
slowly, and looked
at my surroundings. It was dark, and there were men all around me, shouting.
I tried to make a run for it, and was blocked every way I tried. Suddenly, in
a break in the crowd, I 
saw Tom, looked ragged and tired. He was staring at me, looking concerned,
trying to get 
to me. I broke through the barrier, and ran to him. 
“Tom!” I cried out, not realizing how hoarse I sounded. 
He didn’t say anything, but he reached his arm out,  and punched me in the
stomach. 
I collapsed to the ground, in pain, physically, and emotionally.
He began telling the people a story, one I didn’t like very much.
“She’s mine. No one else will go near her. She was supposed to be my partner.
We had
successfully completed the bombing, no one had even caught us, and then she
confesses!
This worthless piece of scum that was, at one time, my friend, has now ruined
my life. So, 
I’m telling you, she’s mine.” he finished his story, and then picked me up
off the floor, and dragged me off, his hands shaking and sweaty.
**********************************
        I woke up in a small room, to see Tom sitting beside me, grinning. That
jerk.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked him.
“Look, I didn’t mean anything I said back there. You can’t be soft around
here. Trust me, I’ve been here for the past two days.” he told me, as he
helped me to a sitting position. He then made sure I was alright, and took
his hand away from me, and began scratching the back of his head wildly. 
“What’s wrong?” I asked him, concerned.
“It’s the clamp.” he explained to me. 
“The what?” I wondered.
“This.” he told me, turning around, showing me a computer chip type piece on
the back of his head, “It’s sort of controlling my nervous system. I’ve been
really jumpy ever since I got it. It also itches like crazy.” he told me,
grinning a bit.
“Can’t we remove it?” I asked as I reached back to my clamp. He grabbed my
arm, and looked straight into my eyes.
“I saw someone try that. It killed him.” he told me, seeming more concerned
for me than he’d ever been.
I looked into his blue eyes for a moment, and realized how caring he was.
That he didn’t want to see anything happen to me, no matter what.
“FOOD!” some prisoners yelled from the main room.
“Join me for dinner?” he asked me, standing up, with his arm outstretched,
ready to lock his hand into mine.
*********************************************
I will never forget what happened there, as the food was sent down through
that chute. The man, trying to eat something, as another man came up behind
him, slit his throat, and took the food. That scene will never be erased from
my memory as long as I live. Here, in this prison, I was starting to believe
that my life would not go on much longer. Tom had gone off, wandering through
the prison, in search of food. He’d been gone a long time, but my entire
judgement of time had been lost, so I wasn’t really sure of how long it had
been. To me, waiting for him to come back, was agony.
“Sorry, no luck.” he called out from behind me.
“What took you so long?” I screamed at him.
“It’s getting to you, too. The clamp. It only gets worse. Just focus on
something positive.” he explained to me, showing the same compassion as
earlier.
“How about dinner?” I suggested eagerly.
“Now that’s the B’Elanna I know and love!” he exclaimed, putting his arm
around my shoulder.
I smiled, and then realized something. I was starting to have feelings for
him. Strong feelings. Deep feelings. Romantic feelings.
*B’Elanna, he’s your best friend. You are not going to fall in love with
him.* I told myself, but I could tell it was too late.
*********************************************
I’d found a piece of pipe, that I hoped could get us out of here. I figured
that if  I could find some loose wires, I could rig up something to get rid
of the forcefield, and allow Tom and I to climb through the chute, and out to
freedom. The clamp was making me jittery, and I was having trouble
concentrating. Tom kept encouraging me, and I didn’t want to let him down. I
heard noises, the usual shouting from the prison, but they were getting
closer. I hid the pipe under my shirt, as the prisoners came in to find out
what Tom and I were doing. Tom stood in front of me, as if to protect me from
the others.
“What’s going on in here?” one of them asked us.
“Nothing. Go away.” Tom yelled at them.
“What are you hiding?” another one asked me, stepping closer.
“Nothing!” Tom screamed, pushing the man away.
I ran closer to the group circling around Tom and the man. I stood on the
side, waiting for a moment to jump in. The man pulled a knife out from under
the shirt. I knew that was the cue for me to join, to save the man I’d grown
to love.
I was too late. The prisoner took the knife, and stabbed Tom in the stomach.
I took the pipe out from under my shirt, and waved it around wildly,
screaming at the people surrounding me. They took that as a clue to leave,
and I ran to Tom, who was still standing, staring off in shock. I grabbed
him, and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and walked off to our room,
supporting his entire weight, and trying not to break down and cry. 
*************************************
Some inmates had taken our room, so I had to work out a trade with a neighbor
of ours, so Tom could have a place to lie down, and, hopefully, recover. The
only thing that the neighbor would accept was for him to get out of here,
too, when we did. I agreed. I would have agreed to anything, as long as Tom
would live. 
I rested him down on a pile of blankets, and sat down beside him, out of
breath. Tom wasn’t in good shape, to say the least. He was getting extremely
pale, and he was in excruciating pain. He looked over at me, and caught my
gaze. He flashed a weak grin at me, and I smiled back, hiding the fear in my
mind. 
“How are you doing?” I asked him, knowing that was a stupid question.
His face turned serious, and he grabbed my arm.
“B’Elanna, if you find a way out of here, just go and leave me here. I’ll
only slow you down.” he told me. 
I shrugged that demand off, and told him that the clamp was affecting him.
“I’m serious. Just leave me here.” he commanded me.
“Tom, I won’t leave without you. I can’t just leave you here. Where ever I
go, you go, too.” I explained to him, “I’ve got to go work on a way out of
here. Get some rest.”
*************************************
Working was hard with that idiotic clamp. It was making me jittery, and
unable to think straight. The man who loaned us some space, Zio, was there
with me, looking to be in a meditative state. He told me to use the clamp for
good, use it to help me, but that was impossible. I finally broke free of the
energy field, and told Zio. We crawled up the tube, which wasn’t that easy,
considering how steep and slick it was. When I got to the top, there was a
circle-shaped window, covered in dust. I wiped it off with my hand, until I
got a clear view of…space. This prison was supposed to be three hundred
meters underground, not floating through the stars. Now, I knew, there was no
way out. 
**************************************
I walked back to our little corner to find Tom waking up. He turned his head
slowly and smiled when he saw it was me. 
“Did you find a way out?” he asked, eagerly.
I hesitated for a moment, deciding what I should tell him.
“No, not yet, but close. Probably just a few more days.” I lied.
He seemed disapointed, and layed back down. I grabbed a bandage from on the
floor, and walked over to him. As I took the old bandage off, he sat up, and
looked at the wound, confused.
“Wh-what happened?” he asked, scared.
“You got stabbed, remember?”
“Who did it?” 
“One of the prisoners. Don’t you remember any of this?” I asked, concerned.
“It wasn’t one of them. It was you!” he screamed, and lunged at me, ready to
strangle me.
That was it. I was sick of putting up with him, and these mood changes. I
grabbed his arm, and began slamming him against the wall. He screamed in
agony, but I didn’t care. I then stopped, and picked up the pipe, which was
sitting on the floor next to me. I raised it over my head, and prepared to
hit him with it. As I looked down at him, I noted a look on his face, one of
worry, anxiety and fear. Fear of me. Fear that I was going to kill him. I put
the pipe down, and ran off before Tom could see me shed a tear.
*****************************************
Tom was fading fast. The prisoners were getting ready for him to die, but I
was not going to let that happen. Not ever. He had lost consciousness about
two hours ago, and I didn’t even know if he was alive.
*This is what you get for not taking medical classes, B’Elanna* I lectured
myself, knowing that it would do no good.
Some of the prisoners had begun standing around me and Tom, asking for his
shoes, his clothing, everything. I tried to keep them away, but there were at
least thirty of them, and only one of me. One of them stepped closer to Tom,
who was lying on the floor, oblivious to what was going on around him. I
jumped in front of the man, showing that I wasn’t about to let anyone go
anywhere near Tom. 
“Stay away!” I commanded, “I love this man. No one touches him.”
Just then, the prisoners began backing away, going towards the familiar calls
of ‘new prisoner’. Finally, I could rest. As I went to sit down next to Tom,
I heard a phaser being fired. I jumped to attention, and ran to where the
action was. There, I saw two people I never thought I’d see again. Captain
Janeway and Tuvok.
***************************************
We had gotten back to Voyager on Neelix’s shuttle, and were beamed directly
to sickbay. While Kes and the Doctor healed Tom, I told the captain
everything that had happened. Just then, the doctor told us that Tom was free
to leave. He looked at me and smiled.
“Join me for dinner, B’Elanna?” he asked with that grin of his.
“Sure.” I replied, half-heartedly.
We walked out of sickbay, and Tom began ranting on about what we could eat
for dinner. I tried to call his name a few times, but he paid no attention.
“TOM!” I shouted, and stopped to turn to him.
“What is it?”
“I…back there, I almost killed you.” I managed to say.
“What?”
“Don’t you remember? I just about hit you with that pipe?”
“No. What I remember is someone saying ‘I love this man, no one touches him’.
That’s something I’ll never forget.” he told me, and then leaned down to kiss
me.

THE END

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