Cassidy was just opening his mouth in protest, but then the words stuck in his throat.
There was a knock on the door.
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Everyone froze, and they could only stare at the door. There was another knock, louder this time, and then there was a sound:
"Hello?"
Then the door opened, and Olivia wanted to burst into tears, because the spark of hope that had flamed in her heart suffocated immediately. She collapsed to sit on the ground and buried her face in her hands.
"Brown?" Cassidy's voice was dismayed. "You're alive!"
"Barely," Brown grimaced. "You don't seem to be doing very well either."
"How can you be alive?" Cassidy tried to stand up, but at the same time the color escaped his face and he sat back down.
"And where's Elliot?" There was Olivia's desperate voice next to the wall. Cassidy glanced at her.
"I haven't seen Elliot since the crash," Brown looked at Olivia apologetically. "It was almost dark when I woke up. I tried to look for you for a moment but I couldn't find anyone and no one answered my calls, so I had to leave and seek shelter. I found a big pile of snow a short distance away, as the snow had accumulated into drifts against the rock wall. I dug a cave in the snow, found dead branches around the pile, and miraculously managed to set them fire. In the morning I set off and finally found the wreck of the plane and the wires you had tied to the trees. Pretty good idea, thanks for that," he glanced at the others.
"It was Olivia's idea," Fin looked at her proudly. Brown nodded and then dug his phone out of his pocket.
"This useless thing could not find the signal and after a while the battery died in the frost," he snorted and threw his phone on the cottage table. Then he let his gaze go around the cottage. "You guys found an luxury accommodation."
"Again, thanks to Olivia," Fin gave laugh. Brown lifted his eyebrows.
"You've had a really good fairy godmother here, I can say."
"Yeah, without Liv, I'd be a goner," Cassidy looked at her warmly and put his hand on her shoulder. However, she shook it off.
"Everyone else seems to be alive," Brown looked at them in turn.
"That's true, and I'd like to know how it's possible," Fin asked with an almost demanding voice. "What happened in the cockpit before the crash?"
Brown sighed. "If only I remembered. The crash apparently caused some memory loss, as my memories are very fragile after we found the dead pilots. Apparently, however, we managed to land in some other way than vertically."
"Do you remember the direction you woke up?" Olivia asked suddenly. Brown turned his gaze to her and she heard Cassidy snorting with frustration.
"Not exactly, but I think my tracks are still visible."
When Olivia heard this, she stood up and hurried to take off her coat from the hanger. However, before she had time to open the cottage door, Fin stepped in front of her.
"Liv, it's already dark outside. You haven't eaten anything in over a day, and you won't see Brown's tracks in the dark."
"But…"
"No objections. You stay here, we'll go look for him again in the morning."
Olivia reluctantly hung her jacket back on the hanger and sat on the floor. Even though she didn't want to admit it, Fin was right. She was so exhausted both mentally and physically that she just wanted to curl up on the ground and cry from the bottom of her heart. She sat quietly and motionlessly until Munch handed her a jar of dry meat.
"Eat, and you'll feel better," his eyes were full of warmth. Olivia took the jar in her hand and began to eat slowly. Even though her body was praying for food, she had to force the pieces down her throat.
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Olivia woke up startled from her restless sleep. There was pitch-dark around her, and she had to think for a moment where she was. The feverish Cassidy glowed beside her like a radiator, and had wrapped his arms around her. She suddenly felt herself anxious and cautiously got out of bed. She sat down next to the fireplace, added a couple of firewood Munch had found during the day, and watched the cottage in the light of the flames. Munch and Brown slept on a blanket on the floor, Fin sat in front of the door and snoozed. A faint smile popped on Olivia's face as she looked at her friend. Fin had clearly decided to watch that she did not leave to wander into the night despite the prohibitions. She sighed and leaned her chin on her knees. She let her thoughts wander, and suddenly Rednex's "Wish You Were Here" started to play in her head.
I miss your laugh, I miss your smile
I miss everything about you
Every seconds like a minute
Every minute's like a day
When you're far away
She felt like her heart was choking, and she wrapped her arms tighter around her. Suddenly the silence was broken by Munch's muffled voice:
"Oh Lorraine, my chosen one," he muttered in his sleep and sighed deeply. For the first time in two days, Olivia felt a laugh bubble inside her for a moment.
"Elliot would have been overjoyed if he had heard that," she thought, and the thought made tears well up in her eyes.
Wish you were here
The storm is getting colder, baby
I wish you were here
Wish you were here
A battlefield of love and fear
And I wish you were here
Olivia felt how tears started to roll down her cheeks, but she didn't care. She had to bite her lip so she wouldn't start sobbing out loud.
I've got feelings for you, baby
From the first time I laid my eyes on you
The feelings Olivia had locked in her heart a long time ago, flooded like a tsunami to every cell of her body. She closed her eyes and buried her soaked face in her hands.
"If I could see Elliot one more time," she thought, "I would never need anything else anymore."
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"Liv," Fin shook Olivia's shoulder gently and she opened her eyes. The dawning morning created a dim light inside the cottage, and Olivia stretched her stiff limbs with moan. "I know, sitting is not a best position to sleep and it's no longer a good idea at this age, especially after crashing on a plane," Fin grinned. Olivia scrambled up to her feet slowly and grabbed her jacket from the hanger.
"Are you coming with me?"
"Why are you even asking?" Fin asked briefly. "I'll wake up Munch, he wanted to come with us."
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After about a half an hour, they arrived at the plane wreck again. The snowfall had subsided a bit, but the wind was still strong and Olivia pulled the collar of her jacket higher.
"Let's scatter and look for Brown's tracks. He has only traveled in one direction alone, so we should find them quickly," Fin instructed, and they all went in different directions. They heard Munch's call soon:
"Over here!"
Fin and Olivia waded quickly over to him, and they started to follow Brown's tracks together. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the place where Brown had apparently resuscitated. In addition to the tracks, there was also scrap of the plane. They glanced at the place for a moment, but saw nothing but scrap.
"We'll probably have to look more closely around this place because it has snowed so much that we may miss something if we only look at it…" The words got stuck in Fin's throat and the knot in Olivia's stomach tightened even more. However, she forced her legs in motion, and her heart skipped a beat as she heard Munch's voice.
"Guys, come and see what I found!"
Holding her breath, Olivia waded over to them, staring anxiously around her. Then Munch showed tracks in the snow that were almost covered in snow.
"Brown has walked here on the night of the accident, but he returned here along the same tracks yesterday. These tracks, instead… They go only in one direction, and because they are almost covered in snow, they are not as fresh as Brown's yesterday's tracks."
Olivia, Munch, and Fin looked at each other and could think about only one thing. If Brown hadn't walked there, then…
At the same moment, Olivia saw the movement in the corner of her eye, and when she turned to look, she felt her heart stop and her breath block. Suddenly her whole body felt numb, and she thought for a moment that she was hallucinating. A short distance away was a figure that Olivia could have recognized even in the pitch-dark.
"Elliot."
