Chapter 7
brIAR
Once the tarps are up, it doesn’t take long before BuK starts pacing inside the small area we are now temporarily calling home.
His eyes are constantly scanning the area outside the main viewer.
Especially when the snow started since we haven’t even seen rain yet, I thought that was odd, but I swear I can feel the temperature drop with every flake that lands.
If it had been under different conditions, watching the once-vibrant, beautiful green landscape turn white might have been picturesque.
For a while, I walk behind BuK, but when I can no longer feel my feet, I decide to get off the floor.
Since then, I’ve curled up in the chair, my arms tightly wrapped around my drawn-up legs.
My body’s so stiff that I’m hurting all over.
My lips are chapping, and my fingers and toes are so cold that it’s starting to hurt to move them.
Conversation has become nonexistent as breathing in the frigid air seems to make me cough.
When I hear BuK growl, I glance up at him. “Something has to have happened. I know MeK would have sent that cargo bot by now.”
“You can’t go out there, BuK.”
He turns his head toward me, as if now realizing how tightly I’m curled into myself. Instantly, he lifts me, settling me onto his lap, and I swear the heat from his body actually hurts mine. Thankfully, after a little bit, the heat he’s able to share with me starts loosening my joints up a bit.
“You should have told me you were already this cold, Briar.”
When I tuck my nose into his neck, he hisses. “Sorry, I didn’t want to worry you worse than you already are.”
“Frack Briar, you are the reason I am so worried. I will not deny this cold is affecting me too, but you are my main priority right now.”
“You are just as important, BuK. I don’t want to be in this world without you in it.”
He pulls me close, and I swear I feel him kiss the top of my head, and that’s something he’s never done before, but to be fair, this is our first snuggle session too.
But even with him holding me, I’m still shivering uncontrollably.
Suddenly exhausted, I close my eyes and I must have dozed off, because I jerk awake feeling him raise up with me still in his arms.
“What?”
“I thought I saw movement out there for just a tic.”
Even though he’s still holding me in his arms, I can feel his body shivering now as well. Then I see it … a blinking red light. “I think I see something.”
“Where?”
“Just past that last tree, something is blinking. There it did it again.”
“Frack, I wonder how long it’s been there, stuck in the snow?”
“BuK, what are we going to do now? We need those supplies.”
“I am going to go out and get that crate.”
“The hell you are! You won’t last two damn minutes out there. At least the wind is being blocked inside the pod, but out there, you’ll be subjected to all the elements.”
When he starts to set me down on the small, what we would’ve called a daybed, I refuse to let go of him. “BuK, there is nothing you can do.”
“I will not sit here and watch you die when I might have been able to save you.”
“So, you think solving this problem means sacrificing yourself?”
“Neither of us will survive the next few risings without the gear inside that crate, and you know it, Briar. I wish there were another way, but there is not.” He unwinds my arms from around his neck and walks away before I can say another word.
The next thing I know, he’s loosened the side of one of the tarps and is ducking under it.
“Shit, damn, hell!! I really wish the cosmos would stop trying to kill me!”
Gritting my teeth, I force myself to get up, making my stiff legs move.
I hadn’t realized how much cold the tarps were holding back until I stepped to the other side.
The entire interior of the pod is covered in a thin layer of frost, making it easy for me to clearly see BuK’s footprints leading down the stairs to the lower level.
Because I don’t trust my footing, and I’m a little scared that if I fall I might shatter like glass, it takes me slightly longer to maneuver down the stairs, only to find him tearing apart a panel next to the main cargo door with his bare hands.
“BuK, whattt arrre you doinggg?” My words stutter as my entire body shakes uncontrollably.
“MeK was trying to tell me how to override this door when we lost communications. He said something about a blue wire, but I do not know what I was supposed to do with it.”
“Well, it’s nottt a bomm, so just cccut the damn thinggg and see what happpenns.”
The second he cuts the wire, we hear a whine, and the door starts opening.
I have to turn away and close my eyes because it feels like the cold is trying to freeze the inside of my head.
BuK is out the door before I can say another word.
Forcing myself back up the stairs, I head to the viewer.
My heart lurches in my chest when I see him struggling to get through the knee-high snow, his bare arms up, trying to block the wind from his face as he slowly pushes forward.
He falls several times, and I’ve never felt so helpless. Finally, BuK makes his way to the cargo bot, but the crate seems to be stuck. I see him kick at the machine’s main lifting arms, and I wonder how he even has the strength to lift his leg, let alone try to force the arms to release the crate.
Several kicks later the crate falls, and I see BuK struggle to lift it onto his shoulder.
His steps slow as he gets closer to the pod.
Just as I’m about to head back down the stairs, a gust of wind hits him, turning him around completely and forcing him into a complete whiteout.
Suddenly, I realize he has lost all visual context and can’t see.
Forcing my legs to work, I push myself down the now snow-covered steps as fast as I can.
The moment I get to the door, I scream. B U K!
Crap, I can’t see five feet in front of me.
Glancing around, I notice a long piece of wire lying on a shelf.
Pulling it down, it takes me a moment to get the stiff wire to move, but I need something to anchor me to the pod or both of us will be wandering around in the wrong direction.
I tie one end to the handrail and the other around my waist. Then I do my best to hold my breath as I step out into the frigid Arctic-like air that is trying to freeze my lungs from the inside out.
Several times, I try to scream out his name, but it’s like my voice is going nowhere.
Stopping to look around, out of nowhere he suddenly appears.
His pink skin is red and blistered from the intense temperatures and I grab his arm, pulling him toward the pod as the wind pushes him and the crate in every direction.
Completely focused on each step, I forget the cold and wind.
I’m determined to get him back to the pod and then we’ll deal with what’s next if we survive this.
The second we step into the pod, the crate falls from his now freely bleeding arms. He points toward the open cargo door before lifting me so that I can grab onto the bottom rail.
His arms are shaking so hard it takes me a second to grip it before BuK starts lowering me back down.
He must’ve seen that I was about to lose my grip on the bar, because he jumps up, grabbing it right before I let go.
With one arm he lowers me back to the ground, then slams the door closed behind me, cutting off the wind that felt like it was cutting both of us in half.
My fingers are so numb, I fight to get the wire untied and off of me.
Suddenly, I feel hot all over, and that’s when it dawns on me that I’m in the last stages of hypothermia. “BuuuK, we have to ggget warm or wwe’rrre gggoing to die.” My words are slurred, and I feel like I’m moving in slow motion.
I can see he’s barely functioning as he nods.
He looks around, almost like he’s as confused as I am.
I know I look horrible, but he’s a damn mess.
Dark blue blood drips from his fingertips, and his arms are cut up from trying to hold on to the crate.
His eyelashes and all of his hair are covered in little ice crystals.
Reaching up, I grasp his face. “BuKKK honeeey, we ggott to gggget the cccrate upstairs. Cccan you help meee or isss it eassierrr to ddo it dddown here?”
He blinks a few times before bending down to pick the crate back up. I don’t think he even knows what he’s doing right now; he’s simply following instructions. I get behind him when he starts up the stairs and I can tell he’s forcing himself to climb them as he sways slightly with each step.
Holding my hand against his back, I try my best to encourage him to keep going. “You kkknow wwhennn this overrr, we’rre gggoingg to lllaugh, and cccome up with a mmmillion ttthinggs we cccould have dddone.”
He stops on the last few steps and I blink my eyes, trying to focus on what needs to be done.
Onnccce we ggget the cccrate upstairs, wwe’ll hhope a fffeast is inssside, then we cccan sssnuggle on the littttle beddd you fffound.
Only a fffew mmore sssteps, and you’rre thherre.
All tthiss pppain iss worth it ifff all we neeed isss in tthatt boxxx. ”
I’m not sure who’s more relieved, BuK or me, when he steps into the main room.
Reaching back, I seal the main door shut just in case the wind blows the cargo bay door back open now that the lock is broken.
Then I push myself around BuK to hold the tarp out of the way so that he can get by.
The moment he’s through, I follow, tucking the tarp closed.