==Hi, everyone! I'm sorry for posting this so late. I've had to walk away from my laptop a few times throughout the day because I wasn't able to produce the content that I wanted sufficiently, but I did it! I'm afraid that I can only update one more time after this before I leave for my trip, and I more than likely won't have time to really write while I'm gone. I hope you all can understand :) Please enjoy!==

Helicopter Showdown - "Great Escape" feat. Messinian

I'm now the great escape when everything falls apart.

Haunted: Collapse into Caliginosity

Chapter 50:

Hope Runs Deep

I haven't been in such a cold environment since I was recruited by Sensei Wu. Back in my old village, I was reliable in the worst of storms. I was known for being able to withstand the extreme cold and continue to do various jobs. It was how I earned money for a short time.

The constant blindness of snow flurries was what sharpened my sixth sense in the past, but when I tried using it at this very moment, there was nothing to detect. My mind drifted as the wind scratched my eardrums. I attempted to concentrate harder, to sense the presence of Lloyd Garmadon, but there was still nothing. I was only surrounded by snow and cold air. There wasn't a beating heart near me.

"Zane?" Nya's voice sounded in my ear.

"I cannot sense him," I replied, gazing up through the frozen precipitation to see the spotlight.

"Just keep moving. He's got to be around there somewhere. If Hannah was near where Macca was, surely he is, too."

"I know, but…maybe I'm missing something."

"Well, try to figure it out quickly. He won't last much longer out there. He may be a pain in the neck, but he's still Sensei's nephew."

With that in mind, I pulled my mask over my face and covered my head with my coat's hood to relieve slight aches in my ears. Then I treaded farther through the snow, trying to connect dots inside the predicament.

My first obstacle was not being present when Macca and the children were cast out into the storm. If I had known their positioning and trajectory, it's possible I could've located Lloyd by now. There was also the chance of Lloyd being unconscious and buried alive like Macca was. Hannah was lucky to have been moving when we found Macca; I was able to sense her and get her to safety before bad frostbite set in. My fears about Lloyd revolved around him losing an appendage as a result of being exposed to the temperatures for too long. His chances of survival were dwindling by the second.

"Cole, are you there?" I asked, not slowing down.

"Yeah. Need something?" he replied.

"Give me details about the incident; how were each of them positioned and how high did they go?"

"Macca and the kids? Uh…"

"It's important."

"I know, I know. Let me think."

"Hey, Macca," Kai said, "do you want to talk to Zane? He needs help with something."

There was some rustling from earpieces being swapped, but a smile came to my hidden lips when her voice came through.

"Can you hear me?" her small, weak question came through.

"I can," I assured her. "I'm sorry I can't be there at the moment, but do you think you could help me?"

"Depends."

"Do you remember how all three of you were sitting before you were thrown away?"

"Um...I was facing the mountain...Lloyd and Hannah were behind me."

"Cole, can you at least tell me how high Lloyd went?"

"He went the highest," he reminisced. "I remember he was the darkest of the three."

"Nya, how far away was Macca from the launch site?"

"I'd say she was just short of half a mile," she calculated.

I stopped treading through the snow and thought for a moment. "How far have I traveled from her location?"

"A quarter of a mile."

"Have I continued to travel at a one-hundred-eighty degree angle?"

"Sort of. You've drifted a little bit to the left."

I stepped a few steps to the right and tried sensing again. "He has to be near."

"Zane!" Jay's voice rang out, hurting me from its loudness.

"Argh!" everyone responded.

"What, Jay?" I asked.

"I think I know a way to help you out! I'll be right back."

"We don't have much time," I reminded him, rubbing my temple with my fingertips. "Everyone be quiet for a moment."

As silence ensued, I shut my eyes and concentrated again. All around me, there was snow. It moved and found a place to stop. It got picked back up and tossed with help from the wind. The thick cloud above made this place a dark and miserable environment for those who failed to prepare to be in it. It was a noisy place because of the storm, but if the mind were to wonder and detach from the body, it became calm - to an extent. The coldness no longer affected the body; the body found comfort in a false reality.

In the past, I thought this way in order to persevere through duties and get the job done. I also used it to meditate in my times of distress. Although my sixth sense was a gift from my birth, I couldn't help but think it was a special part about me. Right now, I was using it to find Lloyd when nobody else can on their own. Somewhere in the snow lied a disturbance in the layout. My sixth sense just had to find it.

But I wasn't trying hard enough. I could detect everything in my surroundings, from the permafrost under the snow to the sunshine above the clouds, but a body wasn't one of those things. Frustration set in. For once, I felt useless. I was going to fail, and Lloyd was going to die.

"I can't find him," I confessed. "I can't. There's nothing here."

"You're putting too much pressure on yourself," Macca stated, her voice but a breath of air. "You can do it. I believe in you."

"But if there was a heartbeat, I could sense it by now."

"Sometimes we have to look beyond what we're used to. Try to sense brain waves or something like that. If you can restart my heart, you can do the same for Lloyd. Just relax. Freaking out will only make it all worse."

I exhaled a breath and closed my eyes to try again. There was snow everywhere, with soil below and a sun above. It was cold, dark, and miserable. The precipitation collected on top of many layers of snow. It grew taller after minutes of continuous snowfall. Sometimes the wind affected the height, as well, but the pattern should remain at least be similar to every other layer and mound.

My senses expanded even further. I searched and searched for a body. Just something that seemed odd could alert my senses. It could be anything. I was in the correct vicinity of his impact. Surely my own calculations couldn't be wrong. They never were.

The spotlight above me suddenly got brighter. I opened my eyes and gazed around to see the edges of the artificial illumination shifting outward without the center being moved. It was dilating to a larger size to cover more ground.

"See if that helps, Zane," Jay commented.

I frantically gazed around the irregular terrain, sensing harder than before, but ended up stopping because of a weak heartbeat coming from a pile of snow.

"Nya! The anchor!" I called, running to the spot and digging.

"On its way down."

I panted as I scooped masses of snow to move it out of the way. Black clothing became visible to my eyes. I reached around his torso and pulled him up. The sight bestowed upon me wasn't promising, because he had been exposed for too long. Hearing the anchor settle into the snow made me act quickly. I opened up my coat and pulled him into it. Then I closed it back up and got onto a metal leg.

No warmth emitted from his body whatsoever as I tried stimulating him with my hands. Like Macca, his hair was frozen, his eyes were closed, and his lips were blue. The only difference was that he had a pulse and shallow breathing. Reviving him was a fragile option, but it was risky. If we did it too quickly, his body could negatively react. The best way to help him would be to surround him with as much warmth as possible, like blankets and body heat. Anything hot would be too much because of the ice crystals that have formed in his skin.

Jay and Sensei Wu were waiting on the upper deck by the time the anchor pulled me up all the way. Snow was attached to their clothes, but only Jay seemed bothered by it, considering he was shivering. Both of them helped me board the Bountyand noticed how I had Lloyd bundled up in my coat like an infant. "Where are the others being kept?" I asked.

"In Nya's room," Jay answered. "Come on."

We hurried below deck to a room that was as hot and humid as a tropical island. I was genuinely surprised that there wasn't steam hovering above our heads. Macca and Kai sat on the edge of the lilac bed wrapped in a thick blanket. The slickness of Macca's hair told me someone warmed her up with hot water. Kai kept his promise of keeping her warm by holding her close to him. Cole sat on the floor next to the bed because Hannah was sleeping under many thin blankets. Everything seemed under control until I entered with Lloyd.

"I'll get the water," Jay offered, stepping toward the connecting bathroom.

"No," I stopped him, "he just needs blankets. Many of them."

He seemed reluctant at first, but did as I advised and left the room to retrieve extra blankets.

I held Lloyd as I stripped off my winter apparel. Knowing the snow on his clothes wouldn't help him, I went ahead and undressed him to his undergarments for his own wellbeing. Kai handed me a blanket that was next to him so I could begin to warm the boy. My only fear at the moment was that my skin was too cold to actually do anything useful.

I took a seat on the bed next to Macca with Lloyd cradled in my lap. "I told you you could do it," she weakly exhaled toward me.

I smiled at her. "Yes. Thank you for that."

She rested the side of her face against my arm, finding contentment in my presence. Nobody exchanged anymore words as we realized how fatigued the past couple of hours had made us while beads of sweat dripped down faces and people began dosing off.

Thanks for reading!