Chapter 4
Maddie awoke to find her face in the snow. Fortunately, her warm breath had carved out a pocket for her to breathe, or she might not be waking up at all. Looking up, she resisted the urge to raise into a crouching position. She had passed out but had not forgotten where she was or what had happened. She could smell burning plastics and hear faint voices. She was still near the edge of the carved trench entrance and crept up to have a look.
She was too worried about being spotted to use the binoculars, and her goggles were hanging around her neck, which also might reflect light that revealed her presence, even from this distance. She mentally patted herself on the back for watching so many war and crime movies, else she would have never thought about things like that. Not bad for a girl, she mentally congratulated herself again.
Then, just as her mind started to wander even further, she snapped herself back to reality, remembering the seriousness of the situation developing. It still didn't seem that real to her, even though she had watched Tim die, and then the memory of the sniper came to her, which brought a chill that had nothing to do with temperature. It just hadn't set in yet.
As she squinted against the white, she could tell right away that she was more than close enough to be seen with the naked eye, if she were to move around. This fact had an immediate sobering effect, superseding the cold and her borderline shock. She could almost make out what was being said, though it became all too apparent what was happening, even without dialect.
Groups of armed men dressed in white winter gear, and with a lot of equipment, were clearing the camp of everything. Some of the material and furnishings were taken to the bunk area, while the majority of it went into the large pile of burning debris that was, at one point in time, the maintenance building. It dawned on her that this must have been the low-pitched noise she heard and felt through the ground; the building had exploded and was now burning away to nothing.
Movement from the edge of the smoke caught her eye, and much to her shock and dismay, three station members were being led forward by armed guards, their hands bound behind their backs. It looked like the Chief Meteorologist, Jon something or other, and two people that had just come in three weeks prior.
Maddie didn't even know their names yet... and didn't know anyone's last name, only what they did and why they were there. No one talked to her outside of research matters, and she offered no conversation in return. It seemed wrong of her now, and she felt very guilty.
The trio was being led toward the entrance of the trench and her current location. Maddie had the grim thought of their executions next to the breathing hole. Hoping that she was wrong, she began asking herself questions, trying to make up reasons why they wouldn't kill them. They had taken the time to capture and restrain them, what danger where they now? They would be wasting bullets and making unwanted noise, wouldn't they?
Then there was no doubt, as they were, in turn, forced into kneeling positions, one next to another in the unmistakable pose of the execution-style killing. As the tears started to flow down her cheeks, two new individuals approached. One was instantly recognized as the sniper that had killed Tim, rifle still slung over his shoulder. The other was a tall, well-built man, with distinct silver hair blowing in the wind; it was well-groomed and not the silver of an old man. Just from his stance and the way he carried himself, she could tell that he was either in charge, or very close to it.
The two stopped just about ten feet from the three researchers on the ground, the sniper looking to the tall man, the tall man nodding slightly. The sniper walked up to the first researcher from behind, the guards must have moved out of the way while she was watching them, and raised a pistol she had just noticed in his hand. He shot Jon something or other in the back of the head.
His head pitched up and forward and a pink mist sprayed out in a fine pattern in front of him, like he had laughed with a mouth full of Kool-Aid, then he slumped face-down on the snow. Before she could comprehend what had just happened, the process was repeated with the next in line, without any hesitation or ceremony. The last was a woman, Maddie could hear the higher pitch of her voice, and while she could not make out the exact words, she knew that she was pleading for her life.
Her head was shaking in a 'no' fashion, when the sniper unexpectedly grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her head back. Thank God... Maddie thought, He's not going to kill her.
She almost gagged out loud when he put the gun to the back of her neck and fired. The amount of blood that erupted was staggering, even from a distance. It was almost like a bad special effect for a B-movie, but it sprayed out in a rhythmic pulse that reduced in distance each time until her body went limp, dangling from the handful of hair the sniper still held. Her last motion was the twitching of one leg, then that too receded and stopped altogether. He let her body drop just as carelessly as he had killed her, and walked away toward the bunk house.
At this point, she realized that there were several other bodies scattered around the entrances and exits, with one in particular lying face-down, a dark brown stain spreading out from the mid-section and a smaller one on the small of the back. Whoever it was had been shot trying to get away, shot in the back, while trying to escape.
She couldn't take any more, and even though she couldn't feel it, she knew that she was very cold. She had to get moving and hope that she could find a hunting shack, abandoned mine or oil station to shelter in for the night. She knew that if she stayed, she would certainly die, and a night in the open in this climate was a sure death as well, but she opted to take her chances on the move.
Sliding backwards on her belly until she was almost to the edge of the sea ice, Maddie was finally comfortable enough to stand and begin walking briskly, mindful for the first time during her stay here of sweating in the cold. She was nervous and shivering but eager to put distance between her and the camp. After what seemed like thirty-minute intervals, she would stop and scan her previous path for any pursuers.
The stress of the events and the brutal cold were taking their tolls, Maddie knew at this point, even if she spotted a shelter, she would not have the strength to get to it. “I'm not just giving up and I'm not getting eaten by anything!” she defiantly yelled out loud and gripped her pistol as tight as she could. She took note that it was cocked and ready to fire, even though she couldn't feel her hands, feet or face, and her exhaustion was complete.
Maddie sat down and propped herself up against a sheet of ice protruding from the pack, gun in one hand, binoculars in the other, and resigned to close her eyes for just a minute or two. The shivering had stopped, and she wasn't even that cold now. She was almost comfortable, and while closing her eyes felt so good that she smiled a little, she knew very well that she would not be waking up this time.
Mythical Page 4
