Sorry about going like a week without updating. Hopefully this bit of a longer chapter will be worth it/will make up for the wait! There will be one more after this one.
"If we don't find them in a couple miles, we won't be able to get back."
"So we ditch the truck and walk."
Toby knew that Happy knew he wasn't seriously suggesting turning back. "Just stating a fact," he said. "It's what Walter would do."
"Let's let Walter be Walter," Happy said. "You be Toby."
"I'm continuing to talk when I probably shouldn't be," he pointed out. "That's pretty Toby to me."
He was pleased to see her smirk, appreciating his efforts even in a situation like this. Her lips pressed together nervously as she watched the gas gauge. They'd used up about half of what was left.
Then Toby jumped in his seat. "What's that?"
"Oh my god." Happy eased the truck around a drift, putting on the breaks. The truck skidded. "Of course this thing wouldn't have antilock brakes."
She and Toby threw off their seatbelts and exited the truck. "Good God, that's Walter," Toby said, rushing to his friend's side. "Walter! Walter!"
He stopped, looking at Happy, then back to the unconscious man in the snow. "He has a bra on his head, oh buddy, what were you guys doing?"
"Looks like he's injured," Happy said, sliding the bra to the side. "Must have happened a while ago, if they bandaged it." She placed her hand against Walter's neck, putting her head on his chest and listening. "There's a heartbeat."
Toby looked inside the front of the van. "Paige isn't in here." He ran back around to where Happy was taking Walter's pulse, looking inside the back. "Oh my God." He crawled inside, placing his own hand and head where Happy had on Walter. "She's got a pulse too!" He put a hand next to her nose and mouth. "She's breathing." He slid his arms around her and began to creep backward. "Paige, can you hear me?"
No respone.
"Ugh, I can't lift him!" Happy said, half of Walter's body in her arms off the ground, his legs sagging to the snow. Her knees buckled, she hunched over in an attempt to not drop him. She staggered forward, half carrying, half dragging Walter toward the truck.
Toby gathered Paige up, making his way behind Happy and Walter, though the snow, back to the truck. They managed to get both of them into the front; Happy was way on the left side of the driver's seat, Toby squeezed against the doorway of the passenger side, the two unconscious forms wedged between them. Happy had to have both hands on the steering wheel, but Toby wrapped his arms around his friends as best he could as the mechanic slowly began to turn the truck around, careful to avoid drifts.
"We've got you guys," Toby said. He remembered it was best, when people may or may not be able to hear, to make it clear who he was talking to. "Walter. It's going to be okay, Walter. We're going to warm you up. Paige, you too, you're going to be okay."
"We might not be, though," Happy said. "We're running out of gas."
"Should we stop driving and just let the car run for the heat?"
They both considered it for a moment, then simultaneously shook their heads. It was more important to get close to the cabin and get them inside. They could carry them there if need be.
The truck sputtered to a stop slightly more than three eighths of a mile from the cabin. "Get Paige inside first," Happy said, "because we'll need the two of us to carry Walter and if we're going to leave one of them alone, I want them to be inside."
"Good plan." Toby exited the truck, careful to not let Paige topple out after him until Happy got around to his side. She helped shift Paige into Toby's arms, and he staggered backward in the uneven snow, turning and starting to jog, albeit slowly, toward the outpost.
Happy wanted to take Walter's hands and rub them, get heat into them, they were still so cold, but she knew that wasn't smart. Walter and Paige needed their core body temperatures to warm. She pulled her friend close to her, huddling against him. "It's Happy, Walter," she said. "Your fellow former robot. We've gotten through a lot of crazy stuff doing what little she could until Toby returned and they could both haul him into the cabin.
Toby lowered Paige as delicately as he could – admittedly, it was possible to do a better job – onto the couch, and tugged off her clothes. Thankfully, she wasn't locked in the fetal position; he didn't have to cut them away. He could put them by the fire to dry them out. She groaned again as her limbs moved against her will. "I'm sorry," Toby said, moving over to the stove and resting her clothes beneath it. He took off his jacket and laid it over her. Paige stirred again, still barely conscious, but this time her eyes focused on him.
"Toby."
As his name escaped her barely parted lips, Toby felt his heart leap. She knew who he was. She was cold, she was hypothermic, she still might not make it out without permanent damage, but she knew who he was, which meant her body temperature was, at worse, eighty seven degrees. People have been revived at eighty degrees. She had a good chance.
"Paige, I gotta go back and get Walter," Toby said, speaking slowly, unsure if she understood him but wanting to give her every chance. "Happy has Walter in the truck, it's about a half mile from here, I'll be back in a half hour, you have to hang on, okay? Don't give up. We're going to take care of you guys."
"Toby."
Toby grabbed a blanket from behind the couch, silently thanking the him and Happy of earlier in the day for not using it, and put it over her, tucking it into the cushions, securing her. "Paige, I can't put you by the stove because if you warm up too fast you'll go into shock. I'm going to get Walter. It's going to be okay, just rest." He found a pot on one of the shelves, filled it with water from the emergency supply, and set it on the stove.
He pulled her hair away from her face; it was cold and wet and she didn't need it plastered against her skin. Then he turned and exited the room, securing the door and breaking into a run.
"When they wake up I want to know why Paige decided to use her bra to stop the bleeding on his forehead," Toby said.
"Well, it worked, didn't it?" Happy said, stopping and frowning.
"You need a break?" Toby asked.
She adjusted her grip on Walter. "No. But I left the radio in the truck. We can't go back for it," she added, moving forward again. "Cabe and Sylvester know where we are, we have to get him inside."
"Cabin is right up there," Toby said, stating the obvious yes, but assurance had gotten all of them this far. "We're almost there, Walt, hang on."
Upon getting Walter inside the cabin, they lowered him to the ground in front of the couch. Happy leaned over to check on Paige. "Her heart rate is improving," she announced. "Get that water you boiled and set it where it can cool enough to use."
"Yes boss," Toby said, wrapping his hand in Paige's shirt and using it as a mitt. He set the pan out of the way. "I have a bag we can use."
"Good." Happy was pulling Walter's pants down his legs. "Put these where Paige's were, they're in worse shape right now. Is there another blanket?"
"Uh..." Toby glances around. "I wish I could say yes, but this place isn't exactly equipped for a rescue operation."
"Okay you guys," Happy said. "It's time to learn about sharing." She eased the blanket off of Paige's upper body, removing the coat Toby had slung over her, then replacing the blanket. She removed Walter's coat, pleased to find out that his undershirt had stayed dry. She left it on, putting his arms as best she could through the sleeves. She then grabbed Paige's jeans, warm from the fire as well as from the pot, and laid them over Walter's legs.
"Come on, guys," Toby said, realizing he must have been clenching his jaw, because it hurt. "You can do this."
"You said Paige was conscious when you left her?" Happy asked.
"Barely. But she knew who I was."
"She's just resting then. She'll wake up in a couple of hours. Happy didn't realize until now how badly she was shivering, and Toby too, from their – brief compared to Walter and Paige – exposure to the elements. "Walt, buddy, come on, you gotta give us something."
"He's probably still in afterdrop," Toby said. "He'll start to warm up soon."
"He's worse off than her, now," Happy said. "Being outside when we found him."
"My guess is he gave most of that water they had to her, too," Toby said. "Come on, Walter." He dropped to his knees, rubbing his friend's back. "If you won't fight this for yourself, do it for her. She's right here. She's going to be fine, but you need to be fine too. Come on, Walter, stay strong." He dipped his elbow in the pot of water. "Almost cool enough to put in the bags."
"Let's start tying them up then."
By the time Happy and Toby had finished preparing the large garbage bags, triple layering them in case there were small leaks, the water was cool enough to not damage the integrity of the plastic. Toby tipped the pot, filling the garbage bag with water. "I wish we had more water," he lamented. "We could do this easier with more surface area." He went to the door, opening it, scooping snow up into the pot, heaping it, and setting it by the stove. "We can add more in twenty minutes, I suppose."
Happy slid Walter a few feet away from the couch, then eased Paige off of it to lay next to him. She took the makeshift hot water bottle and lay it over them, then covering their forms and the bag with the blanket. "This shouldn't overheat them."
"They've been out of the elements for a while at this point," Toby agreed, running to get more snow with his hands when the snow in the pot melted and took up less room. "Don't they do stuff like this in hospitals, too, though? I swear I remember reading something about it, though admittedly, extreme cold was never my focus."
Happy's voice was small. "I just want them to wake up."
Since they'd begun their relationship, Toby had gotten used to seeing her falter. He'd seen her emotionally vulnerable and he was glad to be the person that she trusted enough to show that side to.
But when she got like this, quiet and unsure, it scared him. Or so he was realizing now.
He'd never seen her like this before.
Paige had never felt such a complete unwillingness to move.
No one was asking her to move, but if she knew one thing and one thing only, it was that she didn't want to. She ached. She felt stiff, she was exhausted, she did not want to move.
She heard someone saying her name. It sounded like Happy. She vaguely remembered Toby saying something to her a few minutes ago – or was it longer than that? She realized she had no idea.
She tried to think back. There was snow. There was a van. There was this feeling of unbearable cold – a chill that she realized she was still feeling now. Her hands hurt; she opened her eyes and tried to see them. She couldn't. She didn't want to move.
"Paige."
That was definitely someone saying her name. She wanted to ask what was going on, but her entire body protested at the first word, so her voice trailed off. "What..."
"It's Happy. Hang in there, Dineen. Help is coming. Cabe and Sylvester will send help as soon as the weather cleared."
"What..." Why couldn't she get more than that out? Suddenly Paige wondered if she could move, if she wanted to. That made her want to. She tipped her head to the side, opening her eyes. The brightness around her made her want to close them again.
There was a stove, and a desk, and various materials strung around the room. She couldn't make them out. Walter was in the way.
Walter.
He was lying next to her, his eyes closed, his body still. She remembered him being hit with the van door. She remembered him in the snow, his blood on her hands. She felt weak, dizzy, panic stricken. Her eyes closed again.
"Hey. Hey, Paige, calm down." It was Toby's voice this time. She focused on it. "He'll be fine. We're just warming him up, just like we are you. Just relax. Help will be here soon."
She moved her hand, painfully, across the floor between them, searching for his under the blanket, hoping it was in her line of motion because she didn't think she could shift her position anymore. She was met with resistance, cold resistance, the feeling in her fingers still almost nonexistent. She thought it was his hand.
"Look," came Happy's voice. Paige deduced she must be talking to Toby. She heard him respond, affirming he saw what she saw. Then Paige felt something take hold of her wrist, move it over, and rest it on top of something else.
"There you go," Happy said. "You've got his hand. Now relax. We're going to give you a little more heat now. Just rest. They'll be here soon."
Paige took that to mean she could fall asleep again. They were usually right.
