Chapter 3 - Survival
Maria woke to the sounds of crunching, tearing metal. The ship bucked and shook, tossing her mercilessly about within the tube, which felt like she was trapped in a tumbling clothes dryer.
"Loki!" she screamed.
He made a distressed growl.
"What's happening?"
"We're crashing!"
A series of loud bangs and hard jolts followed this revelation. Then with a final BAM that sent a shock wave through the ship, all went still and quiet.
Maria took stock of the pains throughout her body. She moved her arms and legs, testing them for serious injury and decided she had no broken bones. Though, with all the erratic movement the staff had struck her in the face and split her lip.
Loki released a low groan that ended in a wince.
"Hill?"
"I'm battered, but I'll make it. Can you let me out of here?"
The storage doors screeched as they parted, allowing an abundance of snow to fall in on her before stalling completely. Maria squeezed through the gap, pulling herself on top of the mangled mess buried nose-first in a dense snow bank.
The cockpit cover also got stuck trying to open, so Maria crawled forward to clear the snow and give the metal a hard pull. As it lifted, her gaze dropped to find Loki pinned to his seat by the control panel.
"Oh God, Loki! How bad are you hurt?"
He grimaced with pain, admitting, "Don't know yet."
Loki nudged the heavy panel inch by inch off of him to reveal a puncture in his abdomen that bled freely.
Maria lowered the end of the staff, hooking it under the console and applying weight to act as a lever. With their combined efforts, Loki pulled himself out of the seat.
Unfortunately, his legs had also sustained punctures and cuts. They proved unwilling to hold his weight. He fell, rolling off the side of the ship before Maria could grab him. In the short time it took her to get down to him, the crisp white snow became dotted with spreading spots of blood.
"The bow collapsed," Loki explained as she helped sit him up. "Makes sense, I suppose, as the piercers are designed for scouting, not landing."
Maria surveyed the wintry forest landscape while she wiped blood from her split lip. The sun sat high in the sky, just past center. The temperature felt warmer than freezing, but could only go lower as night neared. She tucked her chilled hands under her arms, shivering in the thin, wet jumpsuit. Her exposed flesh stung in the biting air.
Loki paid little attention to his injuries, reaching instead for the staff and began tweaking its settings.
"We have to destroy the ship and both bracers before they're tracked. It will take a couple minutes to overcharge the power source."
When it was ready, Maria took the weapon from Loki. She climbed up the bank and across the ship's crushed nose to reach the cockpit where she tossed Byrzon's bracer in with the other then added the pulsing staff.
"Let's head down the hill," she decided, jumping free and being careful to land on her good foot. "Make gravity work for us."
She put her arm around him, ignoring his deepening frown as they pushed to their feet.
"Hold on to me."
"I think I can manage," he insisted and tried to pull away, only to have his legs buckle.
Maria grabbed and held him close, bracing with her legs and straining her back and sore ankle to keep them both upright.
"Dammit, Loki. Cooperate."
"I think you have me confused with my brother."
She wasn't in the mood for his lip or stubbornness.
"Shut up and walk!" Maria demanded, the forceful words marking his cheek with bloody spittle.
They found their balance, making sluggish steps forward in the cumbersome snow and managed to take cover at a nearby outcrop moments before the ship blew. With the wreckage located in a clearing, the explosion didn't catch any trees on fire.
Maria leaned over to inspect the cuts and punctures in Loki's legs and lower abdomen. He was losing too much blood for her liking.
"Maybe I should pack these with snow. The pressure and cold should help with the bleeding."
He pushed her hands from his wounds.
"Just leave me."
"No."
"The cold doesn't bother me as much as you."
Maria wasn't certain of his meaning. Was he saying that she would be more affected by the cold than him, or that he was more annoyed by her than the cold?
She gathered up handfuls of the snow, compressing them into hard clumps and, despite his objections and winces of discomfort, pushed them through the holes in his armor and into the wounds. Then, removing the borrowed belt, Maria threaded it under Loki's outer coat and around his middle, buckling it tight to put pressure on the abdominal wound. She unwrapped the scarf from her hand next, using a sharp rock to help abrade and rip the material into almost-equal halves, which she tied around the packed wounds in his upper thighs.
Loki shook his head, not appearing at all impressed with her efforts.
"You'll move faster alone," he continued to argue.
"Yeah, but what if I run into a bear or something?"
"I'm not fighting a bear for you."
"Oh, I figured. I just need someone who'll run slower than me."
He stared, somewhat aghast before breaking into soft laughter.
"I suppose," he said once he'd calmed, "I should get you somewhere safe before I leave."
With that comment, Maria realized that the terms of their agreement were complete. Loki could depart anytime he wanted without further obligation. So, perhaps his suggestion of finding somewhere safe wasn't just for her benefit. He was in bad shape.
She stood, putting his arm across her shoulders and lifting him onto his feet. Battling their injuries, Maria and Loki trudged through the cold and wet. The trickster got heavier with each step as the chill sapped Maria's strength. Every motion and attempt to speak became more difficult. Maria caught herself leaning into Loki as if for warmth, but realized his armor kept him from sharing much body heat.
"I can't," she said eventually, stopping to rest against a tree. "I just can't."
She hated to say those words after all they'd been through to get this far.
Loki slipped from her grip to sit on the ground. He looked down at himself, poking and pulling at the ties. He released the belt, dug the bloody snow out of his abdominal wound with his finger, then clamped his hand over it. A dim yellow light leaked out from the edges of his palm as he focused.
"You can heal yourself?" Maria asked with amazement.
His pained features distorted into a look of annoyance.
"Only a little at a time since I'm not at my best. Should stem most of the bleeding in that spot."
He also applied light healing to the punctures in his thighs before rising into a crouched position in front of her.
"Climb on," he said, peeking over his shoulder at her. "I'll carry you."
"Really?"
"Hurry before I come to my senses."
The horns on his helmet were a bit in the way. Maria grasped and pulled the chilled headgear off before wrapping her left arm around him. He stood, helping to hook her legs at his waist, then he started forward with a little more strength and determination to his stride.
"You'll come to regret doing this," Maria teased as she shuddered against his back and buried her wind-burned face against his neck.
"Of course," he agreed.
She reached down to tap at his chest.
"Should I tell everyone there's some decency inside there?"
"That would be a mistake."
The minutes dragged on with their wandering, and Maria drifted further into lethargy. Her vision gave up on her, the landscape smearing into a palette of neutral, shapeless colors.
"Hill?"
Maria heard him, but as if from a distance. Loki continued to speak, the words meshing together into one long blabber of sounds without meaning. Listening was too difficult. Her body felt so heavy and weak; her mind muddled and the desire to sleep screamed from every fiber of her being. So, she allowed the cutting wind to carry her away.
Loki wasn't letting her go anywhere. Maria found herself on the ground with the trickster tapping at her stinging cheeks.
"Hill," he said with firm authority, "wake up. You cannot sleep yet."
She knew he was right, but felt too cold and irked. She batted at his hand with an exhausted growl.
"There's some sort of structure down there."
Maria strained to get a look in the direction he pointed. Blinking her blurred eyes, a log cabin came into focus, partly concealed by the trees.
"Come on," he said, pulling on his helmet first then Maria onto her feet. "At least it's shelter and appears to have a chimney."
Excitement helped carry them down into the small valley. They could see no vehicles or sign of people as they approached the cabin. Though, a small outhouse stood a few yards back. They climbed the stairs onto the covered porch, both in disrepair. Maria tried the door, finding it locked. Loki nudged her aside, then with a powerful twist and shove of his shoulder, broke the lock so the door swung open.
A quick inspection revealed the cabin had only two rooms, the main one with a small table, two chairs and big fireplace with a pile of wood stacked to the side. The other, much smaller room, had a twin-sized bed and deep metal trunk packed with colorful blankets.
"No food," Maria mentioned.
"The place looks abandoned."
Loki moved to the fireplace, opening the flue and pulling wood from the pile to stack within before setting it ablaze with a wave of his hand. When he slipped into the bedroom, Maria crowded close to the fire, eager to soak up its warmth.
He soon emerged, dropping a thick, circular-patterned quilt of various green and brown shades beside her.
"Take off the wet clothes," he ordered, then stepped away, using the bed's dusty spread to seal up the gaps around the outer door.
Maria covered up in the blanket as she shed the scratchy jumpsuit and awkward, too-big boots. Every part of her ached as she curled up in front of the strengthening blaze.