I tried to find a perfect soundtrack for the end of this chapter, but I couldn't decide. So here's a couple of suggestions:
-The Water Cycle – Panu Aaltio (I know, I know, this is the second time but I'm seriously in love with this song, it's so full of emotions. And I highly recommend you to listen to it anyway.)
-Together or Not at All – Murray Gold (This is a soundtrack from Doctor Who but I think it's very beautiful).
The scene of the wreck looked as if it had been turned upside down. Traces in the snow revealed that the snow had been dug systematically, and Olivia and Elliot glanced at each other in concern.
"Someone's been here," Elliot said quietly. "And that someone's been looking for something feverishly."
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"Did you find anything suspicious?" Elliot asked when Olivia returned to him. They had scanned the rummaged scene, trying to find out what had been searched for so insanely, by whoever had been there. However, she shook her head.
"I didn't see anything," she sighed. "You?"
Elliot shook his head and looked at the scene with concern. "Whether someone found what they were looking for or not, but he clearly knew what to look for."
"Should we go back and tell the others? Olivia suggested anxiously and he nodded.
"We'll go back as soon as we have made the sign. Thanks to someone who has dug here because the wreck of the plane has exposed from the snow at the same time.
Then they looked around and Olivia gave a laugh. "What kind of sign are we going to make? We have almost no materials."
"It's a very good question," he sighed, but suddenly his gaze hit something and he started to limp towards the wreck of the plane.
"What's in there?" She asked in surprise, but then Elliot pulled a red tarpaulin out of nowhere and her jaw dropped. "What's the probability that we find a brightly colored tarpaulin?"
He gave a laugh and tugged a few wires off the inside of the wreck. With the pieces of copper wire peeking out the wire, he was able to make holes in the corners of the tarpaulin, and then he handed the other edge of the tarpaulin and two wires to his partner. "Let's tie this to the trees with these wires."
Olivia nodded. They found a small gap between the trees and they managed to tie the tarpaulin to the trees. Satisfied with the outcome, they set out to walk back towards the cottage, when suddenly Elliot took her hand in passing, and looked closely in front of him. She felt like a teenager again, because she blushed lightly and was glad he wasn't looking at her. They continued their walk hand in hand in silence. The snow crunched under their feet, and just when as she was sighing pleased, he stopped abruptly.
"What?" Olivia asked and felt her heart rate rise as Elliot glanced nervously around them and his whole body tensed.
"I… I think I heard something," he replied quietly. She listened attentively, but heard nothing but the quiet hum of the trees.
"I don't hear anyt…" She replied, but the words got stuck in her throat, because at the same time they heard the branch break not far away in front of them. She instinctively moved closer to her partner and squeezed his hand. "Is it Brown?" She whispered. Then something flashed between the trees and Elliot gulped.
"I don't think Brown would lurk us behind the trees," he replied hoarsely. "I've lost my gun, do you have yours?"
"No, I lost it too," Olivia replied, and they saw movement between the trees again. They slowly set off to back away, but then a large, gray-furry wolf appeared behind the trees. It stopped a few meters away and growled threateningly. They noticed that there were also more wolves, and it blocked her breath. She felt Elliot's hand on her stomach, and he began to push her back slowly.
"Don't… Run…" He muttered and they slowly began to take steps backwards. Her feet felt like jelly, so she had to force them to move. They managed to back a little further away from the wolves and Olivia made her voice heard again:
"Do we have a plan?" She asked in a stifled voice. Elliot's expression was determined as he stared ahead.
"I count to three, and you'll run. I'll distract them," he replied. Hearing this, her guts turned into a knot. When she had last heard this, she had almost lost Elliot, and she had no intention of experiencing it again.
"No."
"What did you say?"
"No," Olivia could barely keep her voice steady.
"But Liv, we have no chance if the wolves attack. There are five of them, maybe more, and we have nothing we could defend with," Elliot's voice was desperate.
"Then you'll run, I'll distract them."
"But…"
"El, I have already thought once I lost you, and I have no intention of experiencing it again," Olivia's eyes filled with tears. "If one of us has to die, it has to be me. You have five kids, you have to survive for them."
"I'm not going to leave you here,", Elliot said in a stifled voice. "I…I…"
"Go," Olivia whispered as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Tell Fin and Munch that I had to do this and I love you all."
They had almost returned at the wreck of the plane when she squeezed his hand tightly and hissed: "Go!"
When Elliot didn't make a move to leave, she tugged her hand away. "GO ELLIOT!" She exclaimed in despair. Their gazes met, and tears rolled down his cheeks too as he finally swallowed and took a groping step back.
"I love you," he sobbed.
That's when the wolves started running towards them, and Olivia only had time to shout for the last time: "GO!"
Elliot turned on his heels and started to run at the same time she grabbed a branch from the ground and prepared to fight until her last breath. She shouted furiously and raised her arms to look as big as possible. It worked for a moment as the wolves seemed to be confused and they slowed down. Then, however, the first wolf attacked and Olivia hit it with the branch on the head with all her strength. The wolf yelped and backed away, but the next bit the back of her coat, and she banged it with the end of the branch while kicking the wolf which attacked from the front. She managed, like a miracle, to fight against them about a couple of minutes, but then she felt her body, exhausted by hunger, give up and she fell to the ground when one wolf jumped against her. She felt the teeth of one wolf grab her shoe, and it set off dragging her as the other wolves tried to bit her upper body.
"This is it," Olivia thought, surprised when she was almost amused. "If I had ever been asked to guess the way I would die, the wolf attack might not have occurred to me."
But then something unexpected happened.
There was a furious roar behind her, and the wolves turned to look in the direction of the voice. She saw something bright in the corner of her eye, and then Elliot rushed towards her, waving a burning cloth and shouting madly. The wolves detached their grip on her and, after a moment of hesitating, they found it wise to made off. They disappeared into the woods one after another, and for a little moment the unreal silence descended around them. Then Elliot turned, dropped the burning cloth to the ground, and fell to his knees next to Olivia, who was so astonished she just lied on the ground. She couldn't believe she didn't die.
"Liv?!" Elliot's voice was panicked instead. "Say something!"
"I'm fine," she barely managed to say. However, his gaze was not convinced, so she got up to sit. "Seriously, I'm fine."
"But how…" Elliot's voice was hoarse, and Olivia shook her head slowly as she looked him in the eye.
"I really don't know."
They looked at each other in silence, but then tears welled up in Elliot's eyes and a laugh of relief escaped his lips. This also made Olivia's eyes fill with tears, and she sobbed in disbelief as a smile spread across her face.
Then Elliot leaned towards her, put his hand gently on the back her head, and pressed his lips to hers. Olivia breathed in astonishment, but then she closed her eyes and answered the kiss. Everything else disappeared around them, and she felt like everything made sense for the first time in her entire world, like she would have come home for the first time in her life. She wrapped her hands behind Elliot's neck and tears rolled down her cheeks. She couldn't remember how many times she had imagined this moment in her mind, but she knew she had never been able to imagine it would really feel like this. It was different than she had imagined, but at the same time it was much, much better.
After a time that felt like a small eternity, they finally detached from each other and Olivia faced Elliot's blue eyes, which glittered with tears but were so full of warmth that she had to swallow not to start sobbing again. He gently moved his hand to her cheek, wiping away a lone tear. Olivia raised her hand and gently touched his lips with her thumb before pressing her lips back to Elliot's and whispered softly:
"I love you too."
