They had no time to react and the corrugated iron slammed into them, knocking them both flying. Hiccup rolled over the top of Astrid as he took the brunt of the hit. He had no control over his actions, except to note the extremely sharp pain coming from his left leg.
Hiccup yelled, and Astrid screamed as they became tangled in the iron, both dragged along relentlessly by the unforgiving metal. He was thrown to the ground with a solid thump, his back taking the impact and knocking the wind from his lungs. He coughed, tasting blood in his mouth. Astrid was half over the top of him, and he grabbed hold of her, but it was of no use. The metal spun them again, the rope around their waists entangling them and it together. The iron acted like a huge deadly sail, pulling them along the ground, bouncing them through the mud and off each other. The pain in Hiccup's leg was searing, and he was almost ready to pass out from it. He didn't know what damage he had received, but he was going to bet it wasn't good.
Neither of the pair could do anything to protect themselves or each other, and the tidal wave of pain that descended over them both was incredible. Hiccup could feel the blood spraying from his wounds, making it even harder to get a grip on the rain slicked metal. They tumbled over again, till the iron suddenly jolted and stopped. It had crashed against something hard, but Hiccup wasn't waiting to find out what it was. He had landed over Astrid, and his weight was making it difficult for her to breathe.
He shifted, but the throbbing in his leg flared fiercely him making him shout in agony. Astrid shuffled out from her position, and she hovered anxiously over him looking for the source of his discomfit. What she saw made her pale and muddied face even paler. "Oh Hiccup…your leg…your leg," she stuttered anxiously, as she desperately thought about what to do.
For the moment, they were covered by the twisted iron and slightly protected from the wind and rain. It rocked, pulling on the rope tied to them both and reminding them they were still at its mercy. "Cut the rope…cut the rope," Hiccup yelled frantically, scrabbling for a handhold to stop himself moving.
"How?" she screamed back, wildly searching for anything useful.
"Use the edge of the iron," he shouted, sucking in deep breaths against the tremendous stinging.
Astrid clambered over him to get closer to a sharp edge, yanking on the closest part of the rope. She had to shuffle out into the rain but she sawed the rope against the iron with as much frantic energy as she could muster, aware that every tug was hurting him. Hiccup groaned and gritted his teeth through the agony, hoping that Astrid would achieve her goal soon.
"I'm almost there," she yelled to a relieved Hiccup, but there was no time to celebrate as the iron shifted and bounced against its restraint. The rope was still attached, and it yanked on Hiccup making him shout with the searing hot burning sensation shooting up his leg. Astrid could only watch helplessly while she vigorously renewed her efforts to cut the rope, chanting to herself, "Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on," as she willed the rope to hurry up and break.
Thankfully….it finally did, and Hiccup let his head fall back to the ground in relief. 'One hurdle down…a million more to go,' he thought grimly to himself. Astrid rapidly untangled the two rope ends from the iron, tucking hers around her waist. Dripping wet, she crawled back up to Hiccup, and shoved his shirt up his torso to reach the coiled threads that had slipped under the material ages ago. She gasped at the bruising and rope burns on his skin, but didn't stop as she tried to use her frozen fingers to untie the rope from his waist. It was proving a difficult task as the fibers had swollen with the water and it was practically impossible to shift. Bending forward, she used her teeth on the knot to give herself some grip, spitting out loose threads as she went.
Hiccup lay back, half aware of Astrid on his stomach, and trying to get his mind to focus. But the deep throbbing in his calf kept stealing his attention and it was all he could do not to yell uncontrollably. As it was, tears slid off his cheeks to be swallowed up by the earth, while he huffed and panted heavily. He could feel the blood dripping from the wound in his leg, and wondered if he was going to bleed to death out here.
Astrid growled as she became more and more frustrated. The stubborn knot simply refused to budge. She brought her teeth to the fibers once more, tickling Hiccup's stomach with her breathe, and she tugged as hard as she dared. She paused as she felt something move. Sitting back, she examined the knot again in the low light, the wind rushing through and blowing her hair across her face. The lump of twisted cord felt a little softer. Astrid put her teeth to it again…and this time it really moved. A grin stretched across her face as she sat up a little to rapidly untie it the rest of the way. "Yes!" she crowed, as the rope slithered out from around his raw skin. But she didn't stop to celebrate, instead shuffling down to Hiccup's leg with her prize.
Her grin instantly sobered as she looked at the mess that was Hiccup's left leg. The metal had cut through his heavy jeans and into the side of his leg, leaving a long jagged gash, and exposing flesh and sinew. There was a large pool of blood congealing under him, with a generous coating of red sprayed over the inside of the corrugated iron from when they had been rolling around. Astrid herself was also coated with it, and the metallic blood smell mixed unpleasantly with the smell of their iron cage.
Looking at Hiccup's wound, Astrid found herself starting to panic, but she forced her fear down and concentrated on him. She needed to stop the bleeding and somehow hold it all together so they could get out of here. Their metal shelter had been rocking enthusiastically the entire time and even now, was threatening to lift and fly away. Gingerly, she reached down to force the uneven wound edges together, before rearranging the shredded jeans material over the deep cut, then lashing it all together with the rope. Her hands were covered in his blood as Hiccup grunted, his teeth grinding together as she worked, but she refused to look at him. Once she had finished, she crawled back up to stare anxiously into his face.
"Do you think you can move, Hiccup?" she asked, her eyes round and her loosened hair flying freely across her face.
He stared back at her with reddened eyes. "I'm not gonna like it, but I'm gonna have to," he answered through clenched teeth.
"You can use me as a crutch," she told him, helping him to sit up. Hiccup groaned at the movement, and tentatively reached down to feel around Astrid's patch job. "I'm sure there's a good joke in there somewhere," he joked feebly, even as he hissed in pain. "Good job, by the way. I may have to keep you around…to keep patching me up," he teased through his jagged breaths. A watery smile flitted across her pale features, and she gave him a gentle backhand against his chest. "If you'd just stop putting yourself in danger you wouldn't need my help," she reprimanded him loudly. It was hard to hear over the freight train volume of the wind and the rain. Astrid worriedly glanced out at the weather they soon would be exposed to. "How about we save this conversation for later, hey?" she asked, turning back to Hiccup. "We gotta move."
He nodded his agreement. Turning over to get up on his hands and knees, he bit his lip to prevent from crying out, as the movement felt like it had ripped his wound apart. He slowly crawled out with Astrid by his side, but nearly fell over as the wind whooshed fiercely and shoved at him, the rain instantly driving into his exposed flesh making him suck his breath in sharply. The cyclone had hit full force, and it was going to be a long and dangerous haul to get anywhere. He reached out to wrap an arm around Astrid's huddled shoulders to keep her close, and she didn't resist.
Hiccup squinted hard against the stinging rain, trying to gauge which direction they needed to go. The dark night made it difficult to see anything, but dim flashes of light through the sky showed him just how far they had been blown off course. But he could still see the house, although they would have to approach it from the opposite side…and would need to aim directly into the wind to get there.
The curled up iron behind them bounced again, now that it was free from the heavy weights that had tied it down, and it spun sideways. Hiccup swiveled his neck round to look behind him and saw it coming. He pushed Astrid flat to the ground and threw himself over her back in an effort to protect her, but the corrugated metal landed on them both anyway. The considerable weight of it caused them to lose their breath as it rolled over, pushing them even further into the mud. Hiccup shouted ferociously and Astrid coughed. Fortunately, it was only for a moment, as the wind snatched it away to play with it some more…and it was gone.
The two struggled to get back on their knees. Hiccup yelled in her ear, "You okay?" She nodded, and he breathed a sigh of relief, even as he fought against the fresh surge of pain. He pointed towards the house, and she nodded again, her wet hair plastered to her skull. They were both saturated to the bone, and freezing cold. They desperately needed to get out of the wind and rain soon, because if the elements didn't get to them, then the hypothermia would.
They couldn't stand up for the breeze was too strong, so there was nothing for it, except to begin the long, slow crawl in the mud and wind. So they squared their shoulders, squeezed their eyes almost shut, hung their heads low and kept moving. Astrid stuck close to Hiccup's side, to keep an eye on him. He was in a lot of pain, but he kept persisting. Hiccup was also watching her, and doing his best to shield her from the direct force of the tempest aiming straight at them, despite the deep ache in his leg. It hurt with every single movement, but he dare not stop. He did not have that luxury.
Painfully, slowly, they kept their bodies as low to the ground as possible, digging their muddied and frozen fingers into the soft ground to inch themselves along. The constant rain made the earth slippery, and filled their eyes and ears to the brim, no matter how many times they attempted to wipe their faces clear. The angry tempest whirled and roared around them, pushing them back, forcing them to lock arms around each other to stay together. They endured the countless sticks, leaves and the bullet like effect of the rain to keep moving, always aiming for the safety of the house. It loomed out at them, teasing them with the safety it provided….if only they could reach it.
The pair were completely exhausted, they had been enduring in the extreme conditions for hours. Both of them only wanted to curl up and sleep forever, but they couldn't. The cold seeped into their bones, and they had stopped shivering a while ago...a sure sign that their core temperature had dropped dangerously low. They stumbled and fell over more times than they could count. But each time, they got up and kept moving, always moving. It seemed for both of them, their hazy thoughts were locked on to one thing only...one more step, one more step, one more step, keep going till we make it, keep going, keep going...
Until finally...they made it.