Chapter 11
"Serenity."
I feel something nudging my arm.
"It's time for us to leave."
I crack open my eyes and see Bane looming over me. He moves back and I stand up to put my boots on. It takes me a second to steady myself, I'm still a little drowsy. My back aches as a result of sleeping on that torturous bed. Maybe I should have risked sleeping on the floor, but it's to late to worry about that now.
He grabs the bags and swings them onto his shoulders. He motions for me to follow and we walk to the door. He opens it slowly, to try to keep it from squeaking, and we silently move down the hallway . Bane holds his hand out in front of me and we stop in front of a pantry in the main room. The fire's still going even though no one is in here. Although, it doesn't give off much warmth and I still have the chills, it does give off just enough light for us to see what we're doing.
He takes a bag off of his shoulder and opens it. He then opens the pantry and starts grabbing random things and shoving them in the bag. I feel slightly guilty about stealing from the man who gave us a place to stay, but there's no room for guilt in this lifestyle. I don't think he gave us shelter out of the goodness of his heart anyways. He closes the bag and returns it to his shoulder. We quietly go out the door and start trekking down the rest of the mountain. The moon is out tonight and the snow is reflecting the light, so it's not hard for us to see where we are going. Once we're a safe distance away from the village and out of ear shot of any villagers I ask him what we are going to do now.
He replies,"We're going to continue south, down to India."
…...
We've been walking for quite some time and the sun is just beginning to rise. The sky is a blend of pink, yellow, and red and creates a beautiful image. Suddenly Bane stops and grunts in pain. He takes one of the bags off of his shoulder and rips it open with shaky fingers. He pulls out a vial and starts to unscrew his mask. His fingers begin to shake rapidly and he drops the vial. I can hear him curse, which would be amusing if it weren't for the circumstances.
I hurry to his side and unscrew the tube the rest of the way . I can't look in his eyes because I don't want to see the expression of pain that I know has to be there. I dig around in the stupid snow for his vial and after a few agonizing seconds I clutch it. I pull the empty vial out of the tube and insert the new one. I screw the tubes on his mask back together and Bane takes a deep breath. His shoulders relax and I finally look up to his face. His eyes are closed, but, as if he felt my gaze, they snap open.
"Thank you," he says breathlessly.
I nod at him and he readjusts his bag and we continue our downward march.
"There's been a change of plans."
I look at him, "And what are they?"
"We need to find a scientist."
"For your mask?"
"Yes."
I hope we make it to India and find a scientist before Bane runs out of his fancy pain killers. I don't know what we would do if he didn't have any and I don't want to find out either.
…...
We have to set up camp in the snow tonight. I can barely see the next village from where we are right now. We found three boulders that are close enough together for us to make shelter. We put one of the blankets over the top of the boulders and weigh it down with some of the rocks that are lying around everywhere. We put another thick blanket over the snow for us to lay on. Bane places the bags in the furthest part of our makeshift cave. The sun has already set, but the moon's light makes it easy to see our surroundings.
I grab one of the bags and look for some food. I find two biscuits and toss one to Bane. He sits down beside me and removes his mask. He can go without his mask for a few minutes, but it is painful. Earlier today he hadn't realized that the vial in his mask was empty and that's why he was suddenly in so much pain.
I pull my mask down under my chin and bite into the stale biscuit. I never thought I would say this, but I really miss the bland food from back at the base. At least it was edible. Once none of the disgusting biscuit remains I pull my mask back up. Bane already has his mask back on and is lounging across the blanket. I lay down beside him and pull another blanket out of our bags and throw it over both of us.
My shivering doesn't go unnoticed by Bane and I soon feel an arm wrapped around me and I'm pulled back into a solid warm chest. I move around and get comfortable, snuggling against his arm that is now acting as my pillow. I sigh in content. Sleep soon overtakes me as the sound of Bane's mechanical breathing lulls me to sleep.
Author's Note: I've recently done some research because I want this story to be as factual as possible and the next chapter will be up shortly.