"Snake!"

The urgency in her voice caused Plissken to stop in the calf deep snow and look over his shoulder. Brazen was pale standing in the swirling snow. Her cracked lips were starting to share the same blue hue as the clear mountain sky. They were both starving and freezing but Snake had been here before, Russia, Leningrad, and Siberia, the icy cold but his companion he couldn't be so sure about. The pass should have been clear but the snows had come almost two weeks early. Now they had to make the best of the unexpected weather.

"I can't" She wavered and toppled into the snow face first.

"Brazen" Snake watched her for a moment but she remained prone and motionless. Plissken trudged through the snow to her. Bending down he pulled her limp body from the sea of white. Snake knew she was dying or would die very soon if he didn't find a way out of this mess. Quickly, his eye took in the surroundings as he pulled her back to her feet. A dead car caught his attention as he encouraged her to walk.

"Come on just a little further then you can rest baby."

She tried to move her legs but they refused. Nearly a month together, she was a good shot and willing to learn. Snake had become accustom to the companionship again and now he wasn't as willing to give it up as he had been in all those years since Taylor's death. Plissken knew this situation from the war and something in his head kicked in. She wasn't just a companion. Suddenly, It was different. She was a squadron member and the war came rushing back. Reaching the driver's side Plissken brushed away the snow and threw open the door. It would be some cover from the wind at least.

She woke when he laid her back in the driver's seat. She was weak and listless but it was the way she mumbled that brought the most despair for her situation. She acted as though she was in a dream and that didn't bode well for a person with exposure. There was nothing he could do for her without finding some food and water. Plissken backed away intent on closing the door.

"Snnanake... pr-pr-p-p-promise me." He stopped looking in on the woman shivering and stuttering. Snake noticed the way her amber-brown eyes seemed hazy and unfocused. Everything about her condition was dire.

"Pr-r—promise me you'll come back." The look in Brazen's eyes as she spoke had that hypnotizing effect on Snake. There was so much pain in them. She shivered again mumbling as she drifted back into near unconsciousness. Plissken was worried about someone other then himself for the first time in a long. He hadn't felt like this since, he couldn't remember when.

Snake stripped off the long trench coat they'd given him back in LA. Instantly the bitter wind whipped over his bare shoulders. He hardly noticed. The war had taught him to ignore even the fiercest winds and freezing temperatures. He spread the coat over her body tucking it tightly around her.

"As soon as I can." Plissken whispered before closing the door. Standing for just a moment he stared in through the window. The wind was biting. Snow stung his exposed skin but Plissken kept on task relenting to the survival skills. He trusted them to keep him alive.

It was another ten minutes before Snake arrived at his destination. Excruciating pain burned over most of his body by the time he made it to the site of the crash. It was a USPF transport. Not what he'd hoped for but maybe there'd be something to eat. If there wasn't enough for both at least maybe something for Brazen.

Plissken slid through the gapping hole in the side of the fuselage and into the darkness. Without the wind and whipping snow the sub-zero weather was almost bearable. He couldn't wait for his eye to adjust to the shadows. Shuffling, he began to search. The first thing he contacted was a frozen body. Plissken didn't even flinch as he wrestled the coat off and pulled it on. This was about survival and these people didn't need their supplies anymore.

His eye finally adjusted to the dark and he hurried to collect anything useful. Heat pouches, bullets, a knife but still no food. His eye settled on the body he'd stripped of the coat. They needed food and if it came down to it… Plissken turned away from the body and his thoughts continuing to look. He was warmer now and moving faster. A pack of cigarettes was a welcome surprise but he almost tossed them aside too hungry to worry about addiction.

Plissken's methodical search of the plane from cockpit to tail finally bore fruit, in the most literal sense when he opened the side panel near the wing. There were quite a few kits of USPF rations. Canned peaches, pound cake and the world's most inedible beef or well now chicken stew but at the moment even thoughts of that bland mush caused Plissken to salivate. The rations came with sterile water. This would due. Snake grabbed a blanket he found. It was enough.

Plissken already felt like he had left Brazen too long. The trip back was swift pushed by fear. Snake found himself jogging back to the Junker through the brutal and ever deepening snow. He brushed the snow from the passenger side before climbing in, tossing the box on to the back seat as he pulled the door closed against the howling winds.

"Brazen?" She didn't move and Plissken felt a cold lump rising in his chest. He was troubled, fearing he'd left her too long.

"Brazen!" He shook her this time but her expression still remained calm and eerily peaceful.

"Susan!" Snake yelled shaking her violently. To his relief her body jumped at the sound of her name. She'd never told Plissken but Snake never left secrets lie. He had picked her pockets while she slept one evening, now he was glad for not trusting her.

She mumbled a name. Snake shook his head. "Snake. It's Snake."

Her brow knitted for a moment but then a smile struggled to appear. "You...you came back."

"Yeah and I got some food." That brought clarity back to her eyes. Snake pulled one of the ration kits up front along with the extra blanket.

"Come here baby." Snake opened his coat knowing that she needed to get warm or eating would do her no good. Brazen floundered as she tried to move. It brought one more surge of worry as Plissken pulled her into the passenger seat. Snake was freezing but she felt colder still. He muffled the blanket around her leaving only her face exposed to the cold air. Plissken took a moment to vigorously rub her shoulders both for warmth and to wake her up some. Brazen held tight to him shivering against his warmer body. Even through his shirt her hands were almost painfully icy. Mentally, he had even more apprehension concerning her feet. His eye fell to her wet boots and with intense resolve removed them and the damp socks beneath. They were bright red and swelling. Everything about her condition seemed to bring more concern but it also strengthened his determination. As gingerly as he could Snake adjusted her position on his lap and lifted her feet up near his body under the coat. She whimpered and tears streamed down her cheeks when the warmth began to build around them. Plissken felt his nerves stringing out from Brazen's state. Immediately, he changed tasks. If he didn't keep a cool, clear head they might both die up here.

Fishing in the box with his free hand he pulled out the can of peaches. It brought a welcome yet very quiet giggle from under the blanket. Plissken's brow arched in curiosity thinking the cold and pain had made her crazy.

"The p-p-papers… were r-r-r-right." She smiled even though blood pricked up on her cracked lips.

"What papers?" Snake asked with genuine curiosity as he popped open the tin.

"They... you…the... the peaches." Her voice was quiet but he made out enough to smile.

"Yeah. I really do like them." Snake smiled and fished a slice out with his fingers.

"You want one?" She was already grabbing for the can and he reluctantly gave it over. The hunger was a good sign even if her fingers were still cold and fumbling. Snake helped Brazen as much as he could while she ate but soon she was back to sleep. Plissken let her rest deciding once she warmed she might eat more. It would be a long night of watch in the dark car, clearing snow and monitoring her health. It was like the war all over again. Really everything always had been.
Why change that now?