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She could see the stars.
That was the first clue that things weren’t going well. Clarice was a smart woman, with book smarts - you didn’t get a doctorate by mistake - and a healthy dose of common sense to boot. She knew that even with all the distance that Rachel had forced them to cover had not been enough to get them to the surface again. It was simple logic.
And yet Clarice stared up into the void of darkness around them and saw thousands of pinpricks of light which could only be one thing. Her breath caught in her throat, and she wanted to say that it was from the beauty of it all.
Clarice reached a hand up to her neck and scrambled against the wriggling she could feel underneath the pads of her fingertips. Pressure coiled and held. She dragged a mouthful of air through her windpipe before the pressure seized again, cutting off airflow again. Wordlessly she blinked and fought to at least mouth the words even if she couldn’t speak them - help. Help me.
At least there wasn’t pain, though the stars were blurring. Clarice blinked and dropped to her knees. Maybe her brain was shutting down, sending her nonsense signals as it was starved of oxygen from whatever was running through her system. A toxin, probably. Or something more horrific. She wasn’t certain that the flexing and shuddering under her skin was real or imagined.
She might not trust her eyes or apparently even her own skin but Clarice thought maybe she could trust her ears when she heard the panicked quarreling around her give way to a murmured voice next to her. “Clarice, Clarice calm down. This is gonna hurt but it should help,” someone said.
“Don’t get any closer to her!” For all her help earlier, Rachel’s tune had changed fairly quickly.
“Eric, seriously man.” Clarice couldn’t place which of the marines that was but her money would be on Nick.
The stars flared brighter when she felt something jab into her thigh. She might have maligned the sudden return of awareness of pain but Clarice was too busy gasping for air once more. Her throat was still tight but at least something was passing through.
“Next part might not be so nice,” Eric warned. Spots were still swarming through Clarice’s vision but at least she was starting to see the familiar rusty sandstone around her though them.
“Wait,” she managed to rasp. Her heart was thundering in her chest even more so than before. It only exacerbated the knee-jerk feedback loop as she caught glimpses of the other’s expressions around her. Fear, distrust, disgust dominated the room. And everyone had their firearms out. Even Eric was uncertain as he put a hand on her chest. “Wait!”
Maybe the stars had been better after all.
Eric’s weight bore down on her, keeping Clarice pinned to the ground. She tried to flail, adrenaline spiking now that she wasn’t actively asphyxiating. One hand got around Eric’s wrist but she didn’t have enough leverage to pry him away.
“She needs to shut up. We’re sitting ducks and those things have gotta be right on our asses,” Nick maligned.
“Eyes forward, man,” Jason snapped.
Clarice was keening, trying to plead and not being able to form the words to convince Eric to stop whatever the hell he was doing. Why would he give her epinephrine just to shoot her now?
But it wasn’t a sidearm that he pulled out now. Instead he held the ultraviolet light baton, passing it over her chest in rough, haphazard motions.
Splitting, agonizing pain shot through Clarice’s head. She shrieked again, hands moving from Eric’s body to clench her skull that surely was about to split in two. She couldn’t breathe, either. Not with Eric on her chest and certainly not with the seizing she couldn’t control.
“Let her up! It’s coming out her throat!”
Clarice rolled onto her side as Eric’s weight vanished, gasping once more for air and finding no relief. The pain once again skipped into overwhelming as she retched.
“Oh my god. Oh my god,” Rachel repeated.
One final heave brought up a horrific, skittering thing followed by blood, bile, and tears as Clarice continued to retch. Her entire existence boiled down in the next minute to shuddering on the stoney ground praying that if this was what was going to take her out that it would just be over with finally. Yet she managed another inhale, another rasping exhale, and continued on.
There wasn’t any time for recuperation, though, and Clarice was yanked to her feet. “Up and at’em,” Eric grumbled in her ear. He probably thought it was terribly encouraging. Clarice attempted to keep her feet moving at the same pace as his, but he definitely was dragging her along.
Gunfire rained behind them as Nick and Rachel covered their retreat. Clarice leaned still on Eric and dazedly thought how she might still get a chance to see the night sky again thanks to them all.