They arrived at Winterhome in the afternoon
The city was a sore sight, just thinking about what happened there seemed to make the atmosphere heavier.
First thing they did was signal the city confirming their arrival and next steps, the answer however wasn´t what they were expecting, but anyways they should continue with the first part of the plan.
They made count for each building that could be used and every possible resource point that could be established, in the midst of their exploration they would occasionally find froze bodies trying to find shelter in corners, some of them without parts, and by the looks, purposely removed, not consequence of any injury.
It was a scene that scouts learned to withstand, but not one they liked to see.
With Mina conducting their search they ran the town at least twice to make sure the report was the most detailed as possible and all before sunset.
With the sun setting they found the building in best shape to take shelter, a gathering outpost, still with all walls, windows, and roof standing without holes.
They parked the snowmobiles outside. The bags, leftover cloth, and any other things inside were used to improvise some makeshift beds in a corner.
Their personal generators all piled up making an artificial bonfire. The rations and canteens put close to the heat outlets so to warm it enough for consumption.
Blake moved boxes around while Jory made sure that the windows were all boarded, meanwhile Mina was checking the report once more to make sure no data was amiss.
The two finally finished and made themselves comfortable around the welcoming heat of the machines.
"See, that´s why I don´t like you being in charge, I have to work my ass off" Jory complained taking off his boots and gloves to warm himself.
"And thanks to that we can leave first thing in the morning" She answered without lifting her eyes from the papers in her hands.
"Consider we may need to find our boss, it´s good we manage to catch up with our little delay" Blake added siting on a chair at a long table where they left most of the gear.
"Why am I never in charge to organize things?"
"Because you can´t keep your own room organized" Blake said taking his right glove off and extending his hand to the heat source.
Mina chuckled at the comment.
Jory frowned and directed his gaze to Mina "So as the second in charge, I think you should break boss the good news"
This time she dropped the paper, glaring at him.
"You´re a mischievous one you know?"
He shrugged. They went through the list one more time, on Mina´s insistence, Blake following with his observations and Jory complaining.
After that they made a recount of their stock and organized everything. Before they could start to eat, noise came from outside the building.
Lights making shadows through the boarded windows, then the noise died to silence.
Blake was the first one to get up, picking his revolver from the table, he quietly stood beside the door.
The other two also got their weapons ready from their corner of the room.
There was silence, footsteps crunching the snow that were almost inaudible against the night winds. They stopped.
"If any of you even think about shooting me. I WILL have your ass dragged back to the city tied by your feet!"
"It´s boss" Blake said lowering his gun, the others nodded with a smile of relief on their faces and lowered the weapons.
Blake stepped forward opening the door, a gust of cold air instantly lowered the room temperature as their boss marched in.
Her cheeks and nose red, something on her hand and bags over her shoulders.
She shoved the object in Blake´s chest "Tell me what you think"
He grunted an"ouch" and grabbed the object; it was a black revolver "Where did you get a gun? And a nice one like this"
She went past him throwing the bags over Jory "Make inventory"
He screamed and rolled to the side as to not get smashed by the bags "Hey…Where did you get so much stuff?!" His mood instantly improved as he dug through the stuff.
She went past all of them back outside and got back with two more bags and a body over her shoulder, she gave a nod to Blake and he closed the door, the temperature started rising again.
She laid the body on one of the makeshift beds, the one she assumed that was her own.
A blonde girl, unconscious, bright skin, her cheeks, and nose reddish, but what caught attention was the purple coloration under her right eye and a small lump on her forehead.
Alice then looked to Mina, her face sparked as a puppy who had brought back a prize, the other girl raised her hands in defeat "You know what? I´m not going to ask"
To that she frowned a little.
"So, what you got us into this time?" Jory was the first to ask while carefully going through the bags and organizing its contents in front of him.
She seated at the table with two other bags and a satchel "First, don't mess with the girl things, let´s at least keep her privacy"
"Did you find her at the cave?" Mina raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yes"
"Just her?" Jory asked mentioning to the bags, he had quickly finished going through them, displaying their contents in front of him.
There was another gun like the one Blake was holding, canned rations for at least more three days, two personal generators as well as fuel cells for them, ammunition and everyday exploration gear such as ice pickaxes, ropes, compasses and the basics for first aid.
"No" Her face became dark, her eyes fixed on the girl "Two more men, I was in the middle of something I shouldn´t know, she ordered them to dispose of me, they wanted to have some fun first"
"Are they alive yet?" Jory asked.
"What do you think?"
"So why is she alive?"
"She needed to get to Winterhome, so urgently that she asked me to take her…after she saw me dealing with them"
Mina leaned forward studying the girl "If you found them in that cave there is no chance that they were traveling for too long, no one would be that healthy" She pointed at the girl, her skin was fine, she enough mass in her face, no signs of malnutrition "traveling that far, but we don´t know any other city close to here, and if she wanted to come here, she didn't know?"
"Probably not, and not even Andras knew about other cities so close to us, or if he did knew, he didn't told us" Alice frowned at the thought "And for his sake I hope he will be as lost as we are here…But anyways, what can you guys can tell me?"
"Well" Blake was the first to talk "The guns are of a high-grade metal, basically some sort of reinforced iron, we need to take it to the scientists, the bullets" He put two bullets side to side one of them thinner but longer "This one is theirs, lower caliber but a bigger capsule, packs more gunpowder, a longer barrel and you have something like a longish range handgun"
"As for the supplies" Jory followed right after "Bags and clothes, by what I can see, are from a very good material made of various layers, good insulation, everything looks brand new, food for some days, basic gear for exploration" He took one of the fuel cells in hand, a metal tube with a cut of reinforced glass that showed the dark content inside "The personal generators are the catch here, standard project yes, but from some years ago, ours have been modified since we tinkered with the fuel cells"
"Can we use them?" Alice asked.
"Sure but…" He scratched his head with the cell "Ah…it will give less heat and probably less burn time, make it a thirty percent drop on efficiency" He wrinkled his nose to the statement.
"Six years since we are here, great materials for clothing, equipment and guns, but the most important ant thing around here is given less attention" Mina spoke.
"Yeah, unless that wasn´t your major concern" Alice lowered her forehead between her legs rubbing it with her hands "Her name is Emily by the way"
"Great, when she gets a gun pointed at us, we can say 'Emily please no!' you got more useful information?" Jory said, trying his best a personification of their boss voice.
"I will never understand why you have to be such a downer" Mina frowned at him, Blake and Alice chuckled at the comment.
"Tell you this, I don´t give ten minutes after she wakes up, to have a gun pointed at any of us"
"What now boss?" Blake interrupted the rambling.
"Wake her up"