Chapter 15: Chapter Fifteen

Bexley

Asher gave Braxton something to anaesthetize the pain, and his breathing steadied. His hand found mine and our fingers entwined.

“Are you all right?” he asked, still concerned about me, even though he was the one who got shot.

“Yes, are you?” I returned, my eyes landing on the bloodstained gauze on his shoulder.

“I’ve had worse,” he mentioned. “It’s just another scar to add to the collection.”

Asher grunted with amusement. “One of these days, our luck is going to run out.”

“Don’t say that,” I snapped. The thought of one of them dying felt like a stab to the heart.

If tonight had taught me anything, it was how much they meant to me. Trust Asher to mention the unthinkable. Now it was all I could think about.

“Is my dad and Uncle Zane OK?” I inquired, fretting about everything.

Asher turned to answer, “They’re fine. The last we heard, they were heading to the Maldives.”

Well, that was a relief. At least they were safe — for now.

Maybe it was the shock, but I fell asleep listening to the chuffing sound of the rotary-wing. A firm shake was enough to wake me and I snatched a breath, not knowing where the hell I was.

“Wake up, gorgeous,” Dominic said as he loomed over me in the darkness. “You must put on a coat, it’s freezing outside.” He provided me with a thermal jacket with a drawstring hood.

Asher yanked the door back and an arctic blast greeted us square in the face, sending a snow flurry into the cabin. I thrust my arms through the sleeves, my teeth chattering and my limbs tensing in the arctic air.

“Fucking hell! Where are we, the North Pole?” I griped, dragging the zip to my chin.

I couldn’t identify where the earth ended, and the sky began. It was a haunting shade of glacial blue with minty streaks above us. As I scanned my surroundings, I could make out the twinkling stars and saw the gleaming moon appearing from behind a hazy cloud. Snow stretched across the uneven terrain like a glittering blanket, unblemished by footprints or tyre tracks. There would be no way to see this place from up above. The base poked out of the snow like it was raising its head from its bedsheets, ninety per cent camouflaged and only distinguishable from the ground.

“No,” Asher replied. “This is Svalbard. Dad worked out here for a while after our biological mother died. It’s illegal to die here and has been since the 1950s,” he made a light-hearted joke to lift the mood. “Corpses cannot decompose. It causes many problems,” he explained with a shrug. “People speak Norwegian here — not that we’re likely to run into any of the locals. It’s more probable we’ll see a polar bear or an arctic fox.”

“Do we have alcohol?” I shot him a pleading look, one that would make even the meanest person feel sorry for me. “Please, tell me we have some Brandy?”

“No . . . but we have enough tea to sink a battleship,” Asher answered. “We need to keep our wits about us, not get blind drunk.”

I crossed my arms across my chest, shivering. “So, there’s no alcohol; we have to endure sub-zero conditions, and we are fugitives who’re on the run from our government?”

“Pretty much,” Dominic replied in a breezy tone. “It sounds awful when you say it like that.”

I was too overwhelmed to dwell on that now; all I wanted to do was get inside and out of the blizzard.

Cruz and Asher helped Braxton walk to the base. He was weak and was drifting in and out of consciousness. The arduous task of trekking through the snowstorm was zapping up the last of his energy. He needed plenty of rest, clean water to keep hydrated, and antibiotics to avoid the risk of infection. The snow reached my knees, numbing my lower limbs and stinging my toes. The thin socks I wore weren't sufficient to stop the chill from seeping through. Dominic was the first to reach the base, clearing the frozen obstruction from the keypad on the door. Once inside, we stamped our boots and I let the boys lead the way. It was as bitter inside as it was outside; ice crystals clung to the interior windows like frosted glass. My breath billowed from my lips in a stream of white vapour. Asher and Dominic left to find the generator, so they could fire up the heating system and turn on the lights.

“Dad hasn’t been here for years,” Cruz mentioned as he searched a storage cupboard for blankets. “It’s stocked with medical supplies and survival packs. Do you remember those ration packs you used to make fun of whenever we went hiking?”

I rolled my eyes. “You mean, you went hiking. I travelled home after a day,” I recalled. “I didn’t know you could get an all-day breakfast out of a little silver packet. I would rather devour my shit than one of those.”

Cruz chortled as I shuddered with revulsion.

“You’ll eat anything if it keeps you alive. We may need to hunt if we run out of food,” he mentioned.

What was worse? Eating a polar bear or one of those rancid ration packs?

“Where’s Braxton?” I asked, changing the subject.

We had missed supper and my stomach was growling.

“He’s resting.” Cruz jerked his head in the direction for me to follow. “I’ll take you to him.”

I accompanied him into the military-style dormitory where Brax was sprawled out on a bed. The neutral room comprised six metal beds, each with basic mattresses and thin pillows that had been vacuum-packed to keep out the moisture. They had placed tall grey lockers at the side of each bed, and each had a small bedside table with a single drawer. I opened one of the vacuum-packs for myself. The generic blankets were scratchy and smelled of plastic. Uncle Zach wasn’t thinking of comfort when he kitted-out this place. This was just a base to lie low for a while.

“Put these on,” Cruz advised, tossing me a pair of insulated mittens. “You need to maintain warmth.”

I slid my stiff fingers inside the soft faux fur and felt the life creep into them again. It was painful to bear, like holding my hands over a naked flame. I had to move around to keep the blood flowing through my limbs. My toes were numb inside my boots. Cruz connected two single sleeping bags, making them into a double.

“It’s for you and Brax,” he mentioned. “It’s gonna take a while to reheat the place, so the next best thing is to share body warmth.”

Dominic strolled into the chamber with a hand-held thermostat. “The heating is on,” he announced. “We have power in the control room. Asher is talking to Dad, letting him know what happened.”

The thought of my dad panicking sent my heart racing. “I need to talk to my dad,” I told him, desperate to hear his voice.

Braxton toed off his boots and allowed Cruz to help him climb inside the sleeping bag. “Take her to the control room,” he insisted. “I’ll be fine. I just need to rest my eyes for a bit.”

Cruz returned with a medical kit and perched on Braxton’s bed. “Go ahead. I’ll stay here with him and I'll check his wound.”

"Will he be alright?" I asked, stroking the hair from Braxton's eyes.

Cruz huffed a smirk. "He'll be back on his feet by the morning, you'll see. We're used to this way of life, Bexley. It'll take more than a bullet to keep us down."

"I'll hold you to that," I returned, keeping my gaze on Brax.

Dominic nudged my side. "Come on . . . Let's give them some space."

I felt better knowing that he was going to be alright. Dominic walked at my side, escorting me through the industrial corridors that were lit with caged lighting.

"It's impossible to get lost inside here," he mentioned. "There are floor maps at the end of every corridor. Dad hid our Christmas presents here once. We didn't know it as Alpha One back then. We thought this was Santa's workshop."

I laughed out loud, remembering what they were all like as children. "Dad stashed mine in the loft, knowing that I could never get up there."

Dominic exhaled a soft chuckle. "Just think of the fun we could have with our kids." He threw me a side-glance to check my reaction. "Sorry . . . was that presumptuous of me?"

I linked arms with him as we walked. "Not at all," I replied, welcoming his positive outlook on life.