The car's tires slid against the growing blanket of snow on the tarmac as Julie hit the brakes hard, coming to a sliding stop by the plane. Snow blew around her wildly, thick flakes that deadened the sound of her footsteps as she rushed out and up the stairs. Her heart was pounding with worry. She never should have left him here, no matter how much she'd been hurt by what he'd said.

She'd actually gone as far as the old wall line of the city before she'd turned around, unable to handle the fact that she'd just left R behind, and worried about the worsening snow. It was building to something fierce, and she was worried they might not be able to drive in it much longer.

Julie hesitated at the open doorway. Something felt wrong. Not just the lingering hurt from their fight, but something about the plane, the door yawning open, the snow drifting over the grey carpet inside.

It felt... empty. Abandoned.

"Rowan?" she said, her voice sounding strange in the enclosed space as she leaned in. "I'm sorry I left... I just... the storm's getting really bad, we need to..."

The cabin was empty.

"R?" she asked, and stepped in, then poked her head into the cockpit. It was empty, lit with a dim, even light from the layer of snow covering the windows. She could hear the wind whistling past the cracks in the seals.

Turning around, she stared at the back of the plane, then quickly moved down the aisle, checking each bathroom along the way.

He wasn't here.

Oh god.

With rising panic, Julie rushed back to the open door, and the snow blew into her face, her hair, as she stared out over the tarmac to the terminal. It was hard to make out the shape of the building in the driving snow, but she couldn't see anyone moving out there. The only footsteps on the tarmac were hers.

"R!" she yelled, and her voice seemed to stop dead against the wall of shifting white surrounding her.

She heard nothing in return but her own breath and the wind buffeting against her eardrums.

Oh my god. I never should have left him...

Dread swamped her. Where the hell was he? Why would he leave the plane? Jesus, was he trying to walk back? Her mind pictured him stumbling through the whitewash out there, getting lost... getting hurt.

No... stop thinking that, that doesn't help!

How the hell was she going to find him? She turned back to the plane, looking for some clue that might help her understand what he'd been thinking... why he'd wandered into a storm...

The remnants of the dead surrounded her. R had called them trophies. It was a cruel word, and she knew in her heart that he'd used it to shock her. No matter what he said, she knew he hadn't taken these things from people he'd killed out of pride or a need to show off. She felt - believed - that he'd done it as a way to connect to his own humanity. To what he'd lost.

Even from the beginning, he'd been so different.

Julie froze.

From the beginning...

The bear.

He'd given it to her, before he told the story. The first story, of the girl. His first... kill.

She'd been holding it, then he said those terrible things, and then wouldn't stop... and then said the worst thing...

And she'd dropped it as she'd run out.

Julie scanned the floor, then the piles nearby, then searched the plane.

The bear was gone.

He must have taken it with him. Julie stared down at her hands, trying to remember what he'd said while she'd held it.

Something about a park... he'd killed some poor girl in a park he'd wandered to from the airport.

She looked towards the open door. Where was it though? Which direction?

Julie's heart sank. She had no idea. She might start off in one direction and it could be completely wrong. And meanwhile R would be freezing his ass off...

Or worse... she had to find him.

Wait, if she had a map... did R hoard maps? Julie spun in place, then darted through a few piles of books and magazines randomly scattered about the cabin.

Time ticked by and she gave up. This was pointless. The storm was getting worse and colder by the minute. She was just going to have to go out there and try her best. Hopefully the car would hold up in the thick stuff.

Julie rushed back to the door and stared out at the world of white surrounding the place. The car was already covered in a blanket of snow, and she had serious doubts she was going to be able to drive in it for much longer.

But she had to try.

Pulling her jacket tightly around herself, she ran down the stairs and took a last look out across the tarmac.

There was a car coming, something big, a dark shape against the snow, moving quickly. As it neared she realized it was one of the patrol cars her dad used as a mobile base on raids.

She waved her arms as it neared, and it pulled to a quick stop beside her.

As she saw who was driving, she felt a terrible twist of guilt in her gut. It was Mark, Rowan's dad.

He looked out at her, rugged up in thick winter gear. As his brown eyes caught hers, she could see the worry in them, even though his smile was big and warm.

"Hey, thought I might find you out here," he said, and glanced at the convertible. "This storm's getting pretty fierce, I wouldn't recommend driving the convertible."

Julie shook her head, following his gaze, "No..."

"I'll get you both back home," he added, then peeked up at the 747, "Rowan in the plane?"

Her heart sank. "Mark... I don't know where he is."

Mark blinked. "What?"

Julie felt the panic rise again, bringing with it a well of tears. As the snow whirled around her, she tried to hold it in, "We had a fight, I left, came back, and he was gone."

"What?!" Mark stammered, "Where'd he go?!"

"I don't know, I mean, I have an idea, but I don't know where it is," she started to shiver and hugged her jacket close.

"Get in, tell me what's going on," Mark said, leaning over to open the passenger door.

She rushed around the front of the car and climbed in, shaking the snow off herself before thrusting her hands at the heaters. "I never meant for this to happen... I was angry and really hurt. I had no idea he'd just leave."

Mark sighed. "He's been having a hard time dealing with stuff Julie. It wasn't your fault. Just tell me where you think he is."

Julie's throat closed up as the tears threatened again, "He talked about a park. He told me he'd walked to it from the airport, just after he'd turned. He... killed a girl there..."

Mark looked surprised. "He told you that?"

She nodded, "Do you know where the park is?"

He shook his head. "There are a bunch of parks around here Julie, it'd take time to check each one - did he say anything else?"

Something had struck her very vividly about what he'd said... something about dead things. Sitting with dead things.

"He said something about a burnt tree and a car? Or was it the car that was burnt? Something like that?"

Mark frowned, and shrugged. "Doesn't really help, though I guess we'll know it when we see it." He put the car into gear and they pulled away from the plane as the snow whirled wildly around them. "How long has he been out there?"

She swallowed. How long had it been? "God... I'm not sure. When I left, he was here, but that was almost two hours ago now. I have no idea when he left the plane."

"Goddammit..." Mark scowled as he steered the car to the airport exit. "That's a long time to be out in this crap. We need to find him soon."

Julie stared out the window as they drove over the tarmac, desperately searching for any sign of life through the blowing snow.

We're coming R... please be okay...

Thanks for the review Guest, appreciate you taking the time to leave one. It would have been great if they could have made up before this happened. But they didn't. Things would have turned out very differently indeed. I'll leave you with this though - R and Julie do not stay separated for long.

The story is about to turn quite dark. Well, darker, as the last chapter wasn't exactly bright and chirpy. One of the most confronting characters I've ever written is about to show up, and we're going to spend some time in their head. It's not a nice place, though perhaps not as horrible as I'm hinting at here. I had some real issues writing from their perspective though...