The air blasted out of Lucas' lungs when he landed on his back. He sucked in oxygen frantically, hoping he hadn't broken ribs bad enough to puncture a lung. Because he was dealing with the blinding pain of his body screaming for air, as well as the stunning impact, it took him a moment to realize they were still moving, albeit slower.
Although the sharp, and snow covered incline of the mountain probably saved them from instant death, it was now sending them tumbling through trees and brush. A pine tree took a stinging swipe at his face, blinding him momentarily, not that there was much to see other than snow in the dim light. Lucas reached out wildly, and was rewarded when one arm hooked around a thin trunk, jerking him to a stop. He felt a hand grab his foot, tearing his tenuous grip free. He finally came to a stop after rolling another few yards, and smacking into a tree, chest first.
When his breathing finally caught up with his hammering heart, he sat up. Pain tore through him, but he didn't think anything was broken severely. Lucas tried to wipe away some of the blood he felt trickling down his chin, but quickly abandoned the act. His slices on his palms were fully open, oozing through the bandages. He saw Nathan laying several feet away, coated in a thin layer of his own blood. "Captain? Are you ok?"
Nathan groaned, "I think I hit a rock right after landing. My shoulder is pretty bad." Lucas failed to disguise the horrified expression that crossed his face when he saw Nathan's lumpy and awkwardly angled upper arm. "Does it look that bad?"
"Um, I'd be more worried about your face. Next time you go snowboarding, don't use your skull for a board." He tried smirking to lighten the severity of the situation, but ended up flinching as a particularly bad shock went through his brain.
Nathan reached up and touched his bloody cheek. He grimaced, "I didn't even feel that yet. What about you, Kiddo?"
"A tree made a grab at me, and I'm pretty sure I have a few cracked ribs. Oh, and bruises," he scrunched up his face, "lots of bruises. But I'll live."
Slowly, and very painfully, Lucas stood. He spied the remaining blanket caught up in a tree above them. "Stay still, I'll be back." Holding one hand to his ribs, he fetched the only piece of survival gear they had left. The food and water was long gone, torn from his pockets during the fall.
"Here," he carefully draped the blanket around Nathan's shoulders.
The Captain nodded his thanks, staring up the mountain. "Did you see if Kristin jumped?" The question was quiet and laced with ache.
Lucas shook his head, the fall and fighting to stay alive had banished the sight of Kristin slumping to the ground out of his mind. Now it came rushing back. "I… I'm sure she's ok."
Nathan continued to look past him, "we have to leave her there. We can't fight like this, we can't save her by ourselves." His voice was hollow and cracked as he spoke.
"There has to be a village or something close, we'll get help." Lucas tried to encourage him. "Come on, stand up. You can't stay in the snow without shoes on." He was very concerned by the expression on Nathan's face. It was nearing defeat, something he had never seen written there before. He held out his hand and pulled the older man up. He had to keep them moving if they had any chance of saving themselves or Kristin.
Nathan turned away from the mountain and started to walk with him, after only a few steps, he stopped and looked back. "What? Please Captain we have to…"
A raised hand cut him off, Nathan cocked his head to one side, then looked up sharply. Lucas followed his gaze. Streaked with the light of the rising run, a cloud of what looked like thick white smoke was filling the air where they had started their fall. "Oh god," Nathan breathed.
The crew hit the ground when they heard the explosion. They were only a few hundred yards up the narrow path, slowed by the snow drifts. Both Tim and Chief Crocker covered Bishal for a few seconds longer than needed, causing irritated curses to erupt from the child.
"What the hell?" Crocker yelled, standing and looking the direction of the sound. "What kind of weapon is that?"
"It wasn't aimed at us, it might be Captain Bridger." Ford reasoned, "we need to go around to the front of the cliff."
Katie was already spinning Probie around to surge ahead in the snow. The crew followed as quickly as they could. She was concentrating so deeply on the screen in her glasses, Ben held onto her torso from behind with both hands after she stumbled a couple of times. It took much less time to go down the path than it had to climb, and after only minutes, they were at the mouth.
"Can you see anything, Katie?" Ford asked.
She shook her head, "no the snow is too thick this low on the cliff face. There's broken glass and some rock there, but that's all I…"
"Dios mío," Miguel hissed and pointed up. Everyone could see the two bodies flying through the air, occasionally hidden in the white out conditions. They hit with a sickening thump, and completely disappeared from view.
"What did you see?" Tim asked quietly, hoping his own vision deceived him in the early morning light.
"Blonde hair and silver." Ben answered, closing his eyes tightly and turning his head away. Everyone was silent, trying to digest what they had seen.
Bishal started to chatter loudly, and pull on Tim's hand towards the area the bodies landed. "What is he saying?" Ford demanded, he was trying to decide between continuing the invasion on the buildings, and checking to see if they bodies were who they feared. He had dealt with plenty of death in his career, but this was very different.
"What?" Tim was staring at Bishal incredulously, "what do you mean, 'for fun?'" He looked from the cliff face back to the child several times, before explaining. "He says the snow is soft enough, they are probably alive. The kids here… they, uh, jump off roofs into snow banks all the time."
The crew started to run to the place they thought Nathan and Lucas had vanished. "Jumping off roofs… These kids need some videogames or something," Crocker growled.
Before they were even close, a rumble started above them. They skidded to a stop, Bishal started to scream, pulling Tim back the way they came. "Bhagnu hosh! Sawadhan!"
"What? Why do we need to run?" Tim asked him, bewildered.
The child let go and scrambled through the underbrush, moving diagonally up the mountain. He finally spun around and yelled one word, "avalanche!"
Before Kristin could fully grasp what happened, Zellar was kneeling beside her. She gasped in pain as he carefully probed her thigh. "Oh god, I'm sorry Kristin... I didn't mean to... I just didn't want you to leave."
She jerked away from him, "you stupid bastard. How you still not get I don't want to be here. I am not interested in your bloody great plan. I do not want to rule anything with you!" She snapped, trying to check the injury.
Zellar fell back on his heels, "but I thought you understood." He stared at her with a wild light in his eyes. "You were helping me..." He tucked his pistol into the back of pants, looking at her apologetically as he did so.
"I was trying to keep us alive! Don't you dare mistake that for agreeing with you." She turned away and reached for the blanket that was meant for her jump.
Seeing that she couldn't get it without standing, Zellar leaped to his feet and fetched it. "What do you need? Please let me help."
Kristin sighed, "the last of the gauze and medical tape is in there. We need to stop the bleeding."
He opened the pack and removed the supplies, quickly wrapping her leg. "The bullet went straight through," he said hopefully. "And your artery wasn't hit, you probably won't need stitches."
"Great," she snarled, "I still have a hole in my leg though."
Zellar looked hurt by her tone, and sullenly finished the dressing. The door burst open, revealing Sam. "Sir! I was down with the test subjects... What happened?" He stared down at Wendell's body in horror.
"A minor escape attempt." Zellar informed him, "we lost the two males."
"Do you want me to go after them?"
Kristin glared at him, "leave them be."
He nodded, "I doubt they survived the fall. And even if they..." Zellar looked out the window suddenly and then ran to it. Kristin could hear a distinct roar far below them. She crawled on her hands and knees to look.
"There, my dear," Zellar turned to her with a manic smile. "Now you don't have to worry about them anymore. Avalanches are so helpful to sweep a mountain side clean of all debris."