A cold autumn wind passed through the forest's trees in the remote Canadian Boreal Forest. The tree's leaves were starting to lose their summer green and falling into their fall colours. Fall was almost here, and winter will follow right behind it soon after.

As the sun was beginning to set, falling closer to the horizon, giving the sky an orange ting. Nineteen-year-old Alexandra Ryder sat on the porch of a small cabin, reading her book. The only sounds she could hear were a squirrel squeak off in the far-off distance, a wood peaker peaking on a tree close by, and wind rustling the autumn leaves on the trees around her. To listen, it was peace. She had become atoned to the loud noises of Halifax's downtown commotion with the sound of rushing people and cars and trucks honking at one another, but here, she could sit and read all day, soaking in all the nature she could get.

Alexandra or Alex, as she went by, was finishing up summer break. In the next few weeks, she will be starting her first year of architecture studies at Dalhousie University. Although Alex had gotten excellent grades all her life, she was still incredibly nervous about what to expect for her first university year. Like her books, it felt like a new chapter of her life was starting, but she was unsure if she was ready to start this one yet or even if she wanted to start this. Those problems were back in Halifax, and Alex was here, far away from those problems at the moment. All she had was the peaceful sounds of nature and her book.

As Alex turned to the next page in her book, she was interrupted by an unknown noise in the distance.

Swatch

Alex pokes up from her book, confused and unsure what or where that sound was. Some seconds went by, listening for it again but nothing, and she dismissed the noise and returned to reading when.

Swatch

There it was again, trying to focus on the sound. A minute went by when.

Swatch

Realizing it was the sound of someone chopping wood out behind the cabin, she folded the corner of the page she was on, closed her book and got up for her seat, heading off the porch and around the side of the cabin. The cabin was a small hunting shack built in the early 60ths. She was told when it was initially created. It was pretty much just a tiny shack in the middle of the woods. Over the years, it has seen some repairs, addition and modernization, such as electricity through rooftop solar panels and the addition of a propane stove. However, the cabin still maintained its rustic look with its ageing wood logged walls and rusting tin roof.

As she rounded the corner, she found twenty-three-year-old Colt preparing to chop through a log of wood with an axe. He wore a worn-out black faded baseball cap that hid most of his dark brown hair. His skin was slightly tanned, and his jeans and a red plaid shirt were covered in dirt and grim for working outside all day. Colt sliced through the log with his axe in one swing, sending the two pieces stumbling off the tree stump he was using a chopping block.

"You know, I was enjoying the peace and quietness until you started," She teased him in a joking matter, startling him a bit, unaware of her presents. Still, he quickly smiled at her with emerald green eyes as he grabbed the piece that he had just chopped in half and tossed it into the pile of firewood that was slowly growing in size next to him.

"Well, sorry, but do you want to freeze tonight," he responded at her as he stretched his back.

"What do you mean by freeze?" Alex asked, confused at what he meant.

"I check the weather report on my radio. From what I heard, the temperature is possibly going down to negative three tonight. I thought I would chop up some firewood just in case," Colt said as he grabbed another log and stood up onto the stump just like he did with the last one.

Colt had mentioned before how quickly the temperature can drop in northern Ontario, but she always thought he was exaggerating a bit. Last night, it was warm enough to have the window open to allow for a cool breeze to travel through the cabin. Now it was going to be below freezing tonight.

"It's better to be prepared than not to be." He added right before chopping the log in half, sending the piece tumbling off like before.

"You're always thinking ahead," Alex responded with a smile. That was the one thing she admired about him. He was always planning ahead and was great at solving problems. It was rare for him to find a problem he couldn't solve. She cannot even count the number of times she has gone to him with questions, and somehow, he always had an answer no matter what the problem was.

"Anyways, what have you been up to? I haven't seen you all day?" She asked him as she focused on his shirt and jeans covered in dirt and grim, "You look like you have pretty busy?"

"Here and there. Doing some last-minute repair and clean up before we leave tomorrow. Anyways, it's more than what you have been doing all day," he teased her.

"Hey, I've been doing stuff, and that is reading," she objected. It wasn't like there was much to do up here anyway. The cabin was in the middle of the woods, leaving nothing much to do. There wasn't even a lake close by for her to even go fishing. Alex wasn't the type to help out Colt in the workshop. Tools and her didn't mix well, almost like oil and water. Chance was if you put a hammer in her hands, she would somehow find a way to break it. Also, she was on vacation, and the last thing she was going to do was work.

"Sure. By the way, how is that book you are reading?" He asked as he inspected the sharpness of the axe's blade with his finger.

"It's okay, a little dry. In short, it's about two heroes who go on a quest to save their village from destruction, but unfortunately, one of the heroes gets corrupted by the demon, cause them to turn on each other," she gave him a very brief summary of the book she was reading. There was a lot more to the story, but that was the story's main plot.

"Wait," Colt gave her a confused look, "I thought you were reading a love story of some sort?"

"Oh, I was, but I just finished that one yesterday evening. Now I am on this book," Alex responded, holding up her book. The cover was nothing exciting, just a plain blue hardcover book with the book's title in gold letters thinking that Colt would notice the different body, but Colt just shook his head in disbelief, unable to keep track of what book she was on.

"So, how many does that make?" He dared ask her.

"Well, that makes it number ten," Alex gloated, a little proud of herself. She loved reading, but life and work slowed her down but here, with nothing else to do, she was flying through books like there was no tomorrow. Her favourite stories were adventure books. She always dreamed of going on her own adventure someday. Her dream was to buy a sailboat and sail through the Caribbean, looking for long lost pirate treasure.

"Ten books in two weeks, more than I read in a year," Colt joked with a smirk as he leaned the axe against the cabin's wall.

"You really should read more. It is the best way to learn," she insisted to him.

"No, the best way to learn is through experience," He said as he counted the logs he had chopped, "Anyways, we should have enough for a fire tonight. I have to do a few more things out. Are you able to get a fire going in the woodstove, well I finish up out here?"

"Yeah, for sure," Alex responded, "What do you still have to do out here?"

"Just some maintenance on the plane. I'll be in the hanger if you need me," Colt said as he began to walk away towards the path that led through the forest and to the hangar where the plane was stored. The cabin was so remote, and there were no roads for cars or trucks. The only way to reach the property was either by ATVs or by air. The property had its own dirt runway with a small hanger big enough for one single-prop plane. There was also a small workshop attached to the hanger. She thought it was pretty cool. Aircraft were the primary mode of transport up here, just like cars were the primary transportation back in the city.

"How long will you be," She called out to him.

"Oh, an hour or two, try not don't burn down the cabin well I'm gone," He hollered back at her without stopping or turning around, and before Alex could respond, Colt disappeared into the forest, heading down the path.

She gathered some of the logs that Colt had chopped and brought them inside the cabin, placing them next to the old rusting casted iron woodstove. The cabin was nothing fancy, with one main room, a bunk room and a bathroom. The main room had a small kitchen with a propane stove and fridge, a sink and a few draws and cabinets, which held the cutlery in a corner. In the middle of the room was an old worn oak wood table full of scratches stains with four matching chairs, and along the right was an old leather couch. From her best guess was it was from the earlies 90s.

At the back wall were two doors. One on the right led to the bedroom with three bunk beds, and the one on the left was the bathroom. To Alex's surprise, this place had running water and a flushable toilet and even hot water. Colt explained to her that the cabin had its own well and septic system, which made it almost one hundred percent self-sustainable with solar panels, with the only thing that needed to be flown in was fuel and food. In the back of her mind, she thought this would make a great bug-out shelter if the world went to hell one day, like in one of her books she finished earlier that week.

She turned the handle and opened the old rusting woodstove door, which was most likely as old as the cabin itself if she had to take a guess, and she began to build a fire, starting with birch bark and small kindling logs, lighting it with a BBQ lighter. The fire slow began to burn the birch bark and then the kindling. She took two of the logs that Colt chopped and placed them on top of the fire, careful not to smother it or burn herself. Before she knew it, the fire was burning away, and she closed the woodstove and took a seat on the couch, returning to her book from where she left off earlier with the warmth and smell of the fire burning away.

Colt sat there on his wooden work stool as he worked on his plane's engine. Tools and parts littered his workbench next to him, where he had an oil lantern burning way, giving off enough light to see what he was doing. The sun had set a while ago, making him resort to his lantern for light. Unfortunately, the hanger had not received the same modernization as the cabin had gotten over the years. Its primary power source was an old Honda gas-powered generator. It was exceptionally reliable for how old it was, but Colt made the stupid mistake of forgetting outside over winter, killing the generator last year. He could probably fix it, but it would make more sense to buy a new one at how old it was. He could salvage it for parts if he was lucky rather than scrap it altogether. Those old Honda engines haven't changed much over the two decades.

Just then, Colt felt a cold northern autumn night breeze hit his face. He had the main hanger door partly open to allow the fresh night air into the hanger. The temperature wasn't below zero yet, but he could tell it was starting to drop quickly.

A pack of wolves could be heard howling in the far distance. It was hard to tell how far they were, but they were many miles away. Grabbing a sip of his beer, he began to finish up the maintenance on the plane. He had already changed the oil and oil filter, filled the hydraulic fluid, and replaced the fuel filter. There was just one thing left, and that replaced the engine's six sparkplugs that gave the engine its life. Earlier that day, well, he was looking through the hanger, he found a brand new box of them. They were old, most likely at least ten years old judging by the packaging discoloration, but there were still sealed and in mint condition.

The plane was an old Cessna 182 Skylane built back in the 80s. It has been almost 40 years since the day it left the factory, but with proper maintenance and care over the year, it still flew just as it did when it left the factory.

He took his ratchet and began to replace each one of the six spark plugs. He was finishing up the fifth one when he heads footsteps walking along the dirt runway toward the hanger. For a second, he couldn't tell if it was a person walking or an animal, but as it got closer, a familiar voice called out to him.

"So, are you almost done out here?" Alex asked as she came into the light of the lantern, her long amber brown hair braid down the right side like she always kept it and her jade green eye glimmering in the lantern's light.

"Almost," he responded as he pulled a cigar out of his pocket and stuck it into his mouth. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his candy red Zippo lighter, and lit it. Taking a deep long puff of that sweet Cuban tobacco and then blowing out through his nose. Colt continued replacing the last spark plug well, clenching the cigar between his teeth.

"Drinking and smoking, those are two horrible habits that will kill you," Alex shot at him, disgusted by his cigar and beer habits.

Ignoring what she just said about his habits, Colt asked, "How long has it been?"

"Almost four hours," She responded, not too happy at being ignored.

Colt had failed to keep track of time, but he was a little shocked at how much time had gone by since he started. He thought at most, and an hour and a half went by. Just then, a cold breeze blew by, causing Alex to shiver a bit.

"Cold?" he asked her.

"Yeah, you were not kidding about the temperature going down so quickly."

He reached around the workbench and pulled another stool out from underneath it.

"Here, take a seat. It's much warming next to the lantern, then it is out there," Colt offered her. The lantern he had lit was giving off a fair amount of heat.

"Thanks," she accepted his offer and took a seat at the workbench, "How much longer are you going to be?"

"A few more minutes," He said as he continued to work.

"So more like half an hour," she teased him at his lack of time management skills.

"No, I mean a few more minutes. Just have to tighten this last one," Colt assured her.

"So, what time are we leaving tomorrow?" She asked as she started examining one of the old spark plugs plane's old spark plugs.

"Later in the day, probably closer to the evening. We have to close everything up, like taking the solar panels of the roof and board up the doors and window for winter so that there are no unwelcome guests," He responded to her question as he continued to work on the engine.

"Yeah, then you return next season," Alex added.

"Not next year, I will be out of the country, remember," he reminded her, looking over at her with a smile, but she turned away from him, trying to avoid eye contact with him, and there was a brief moment of silence.

"Yeah, sorry I forgot," Alex remembered, not too thrilled and placing the spark plug back onto the workbench.

"You're not happy I am going back," he asked her, finishing up the last spark plug and closing the hood of the plane.

Colt was part of the Canadian armed forces. For the past four years, Central America has been a complete mess. It started with border disputes between Costa Rica and Panama, and it quickly spiralled out of control and became a full-on war. Canada and the USA sent a joint task force down to help defend the city of Panama and keep the Panama Canal open, which was crucial to world trading. After three years, it finally looked like a truce between Costa Rica and Panama was about to happen until San José was firebombed earlier this year by an unknown attacker. Any sign of peace burned away with that, and the war raged on with no truce in sight.

"I don't understand why you have to go back. You did your tour. You did your time. Why do you have to go back? They aren't forcing you in back," She began, "I just don't understand why you are going back to that mess of the world."

Colt took a long puff on his cigar before exhaling the smoke through his nose.

"It's different," he began, "I got friends going back down there. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I just sat here well. They went back down, risking their lives well. I sat here safe."

"Yeah, but what about me? I don't need to worry about you dying down there."

Colt signed at her response. Alex acted the same way the first time he was deployed there last year. Worried about him not coming back, but she had every right. With war, there was always a chance of not returning.

"Most of the fight is in the jungle and small villages. I'm being deployed in Panama City for security duty, miles away from the action, just like last time. It was so calm, my gear started to collect dust, and I emailed you and called you every chance I got. Don't worry, and I am coming back," Colt ensured, but that was straight up lye. He and his unit were almost right in the middle of the conflict last time, and most likely, it will be the same this time, but he had no reason to let her know about that. That would only make her worry more than what she needs to at the moment.

"I know, I am just worried..." Alex began before being caught off by wolves howling close by. This pack was not the pack from earlier that was far off in the distance but was much more closer.

Alex gave a concerned look.

"Um, Colt?" Alex whispered with a sense of concern in her voice.

"Yeah, I know. I am done here. Let's head back to the cabin," Colt responded before finishing off his beer and putting his cigar out in an ashtray on the workbench.

"They are really close by," She said.

"I know they are close by, but they shouldn't harm us, but I rather not take the chance," he predicted as he grabbed his lantern. It was most likely that the wolves were passing by, but Colt knew wolves this close by could easily cause trouble if they wanted to, and he was not taking that chance. Not with Alex here. If Alex wasn't here, there was a chance he would probably keep working away and just let them pass by.

"Hey, can you grab that jug?" He asks Alex, pointing to a jug underneath the workbench.

"Yeah," she said as she picked it up, "What is it?"

"Old oil, I changed on the plane. There is an old oil heater in the cabin. Should be able to burn it overnight, which will make one less thing to bring back with us tomorrow, plus it will be another source of heat," Colt explained as he closed the main hanger door and latched it shut.

"Well, is it safe?" She questioned as they began walking back towards the cabin.

"Well, my uncle used to do all the time, so I am sure it is safe."

They made their way down the path toward the cabin. Colt kept a close eye on the woods, scanning for any signs of movement or pairs of eyes looking at them but nothing. He could see the cabin lights in the far of a distance. After 2 minutes of walking, they reached the cabin. Colt entered, and Alex followed closely behind. As he entered the cabin, he was met with warmth from a burning fire in the stove.

"Warm final," He heard Alex cry out in joy as the heat of the stove hit her frozen face too, "Where do you want this?"

"Place it there," he said told her, pointing to a spot next to the door. Alex placed the jug of old engine oil where Colt told her to put it and then wash the oil off her hands at the kitchen sink.

"Do wolves ever get that close?" She asked him.

"No, not really. Most packs keep their distance from humans, but an odd pack get curious will come in for a closer look." Colt explained as he hung up his work jacket on an old rusty nail sticking out of the wall.

"If they choose to stick around, I'll fire a couple of warning shots with my rifle. That should scare them off, but the chances are they are long gone by now," He assured Alex.

"I hope so. I can't stand dog," Alex said with a disgusted tone.

"What, you don't like man's best friend," He teased her, knowing full well she couldn't stand dogs whether they were big or small. Colt never figured out why, though. He remembered one of Alex's friends mentioning that she had hopped a fence back when she was younger, leading into a neighbour's yard only to be corned by an aggressive dog. Apparently, she had to climb a tree to get away from it but couldn't get down. The fire department had to be called to rescue her, but he never confirmed if the story was true or not, but it would explain her hatred towards dogs if it were.

"That's not man's best friend out there," She responded by pointing at the front door they just came through.

"Sure it is. They are just not your best friend," Colt continued to tease her.

Alex responded by taking a pillow off the couch and throwing it at Colt, hitting him in the face.

"Hey," he responded by taking the pillow and tossing back at her but just missed her.

"You missed," she mocked him as he headed over to the fridge.

"That was the plan," He said as he opened the fridge and took the last bottle of beer out and popped the cap off with a church key bottle opener and took a sip.

"So who is cooking dinner?" he asked her as he turned around to see Alex lying on the couch reading away at her book leave him to cook.

Author Notes

So this has always been in the back of my mind for the past few years. Gone through a few rewrites, and I have shelved the idea a few times over the last few years, but I always found myself coming back to it. I am not sure why it has stuck with me so long, but anyway, here is the first part of my prologue for my Silverwing fanfiction story. I hope you enjoyed it!

Last updated: Jan 3rd 2022