The low murmur of voices brought Kay out of the darkness. She heard soft sounds of clinking metal and the slam of a door that made her head throb with pain. When she tried to open her eyes, she was surprised at how weak she felt. She tried to speak, but all she could manage was a low groan. The voices hushed until a man spoke up.
"I think this one's alive," he said. "I'm surprised she hasn't frozen to death by now."
Kay slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry at first, but slowly became clearer as she focused on the place she was in. It wasn't Heaven, she decided, nor did it appear to be Hell. She was in a lab of some sort, the roof low and the walls covered with papers and charts. She looked up at who had spoken and saw it was a man of about fifty. The wrinkles on his forehead deepened as he peered closely at her. His glasses slid a little down his nose.
"Ma'am, can you hear me?" he asked.
Kay nodded, trying to decipher where she was. She looked around the room and saw five scruffy looking men gawking back at her. They were all dressed like they worked along an oil pipeline in Alaska: thermal shirts, thick pants, snow boots. Some of them had untrimmed beards and hair poking out at odd angles. One kind of reminded her of Denny…
"Can she talk?" asked a man with headphones around his neck. "Ask her, Blair."
"Can you speak, ma'am?" the man named Blair asked.
Kay swallowed the lump in her throat and asked the first thing that came to mind. "W-Where's Denny?" she asked weakly. "Is he alright?"
Blair frowned, silently looking past her. Kay followed his gaze and saw a long metal table next to her. On it was a body covered by a white sheet. One side of the sheet was stained with blood.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," Blair said. "When MacReady found you two, your friend was barely holding on. Copper tried to stop his bleeding but…his wounds were deep."
"Denny…"Kay choked back a sob. "He…He was talking. He was talking before…"
"Miss Kennedy, we need to ask you some questions," said another aging man standing by Denny's body.
"Garry, she just woke up," said a man wearing glasses. "Give her a minute to come to."
"We have to report this, Fuchs. MacReady and Copper went to find where she came from, so we need to tell someone about this A.S.A.P. Give her some food and water and see how she feels in half an hour." The man named Garry left the room.
"Are you hungry, ma'am?" Blair asked. "We have some chili."
"Best you'll find in this part of the world," joked the headphone man.
"You're hilarious, Palmer," said a sarcastic dark skinned man. He was rocking back and forth on roller skates.
"Um, I'd actually really love some water…" Kay said, trying to sit up. They had covered her with a white sheet as well. In case I died like Denny, she thought sadly.
Blair helped her sit up. "Slowly," he said. "Don't stress yourself out too much."
Kay rubbed her forehead. "I'm fine, just…tired."
"Hypothermia does that to a person," Palmer joked. "You were lucky. Wish I could say the same for what's his name."
"His name is Denny," Kay said, anger flaring up inside. "He has a name, he's my friend, he's every bit as important as me, he's…oh, God." She felt a dull pain in her chest as she tried to breathe. She suddenly felt dizzy as she looked around the room. "Oh, God, I don't feel well…"
"Lie back down. Nauls, get some blankets. She's going through rewarming collapse," Blair set her down and started warming her arms. "Ma'am just relax, everything's going to be fine. Just breathe…"