This is another long-ish one for you guys! It sorta got away from me when I was writing it.
My usual thanks go out to Captain America, johnnyreag, Burt00, TVDFan4Ever, Halle Alexis, Confidential Brunette, , HalaA, Shaneaadialevesque, GabrieleyLuvrrr, Kong Liu, LovingMuldhart4ever, dontstopthelove15, 3 and guest for the reviews, and also to those that review earlier chapters as well. And muchas gracias for all the new favourites and follows!
Please review and let me know, as per usual, if you have any ideas!
Snow Flake
Gabriel and Riley had been sent to take out an illegal satellite facility hidden deep in a state park. It was supposed to be a pretty straightforward mission, except a massive blizzard hit while Riley and Gabriel were outside. It wouldn't've been so bad, except that they were now in the middle of a state park, and they were being chased. Gabriel led Riley down a frozen over path, ducking under stray bullets and branches, ignoring the snow creeping down their socks and necks. Stumbling over a frozen tree trunk, Riley heard Gabriel swear from ahead of her.
"Gabriel?" She caught up to him, and crouched when he waved for her to do so.
"They've got snow bikes up ahead," he muttered. "And they're only about a half mile behind us." Riley glanced over her shoulder.
"The snow should cover our tracks from behind," She looked around for any other options. "But we need to find somewhere to hide." Gabriel nodded in agreement.
"And we have to get off this path soon or our tracks won't be covered." Gabriel looked down the slope they were sitting on the edge of. "Looks like we're going down." Gabriel stood up and began working his way down the slope, careful not to slip. Glancing over her shoulder again, Riley followed. Soon they had made it to the bottom of the slope, and looked around.
"Now where?" Gabriel spotted a fallen log that was almost hidden by the snow.
"That log looks like it could be hollow." He started walking quickly, and after adjusting her hood, she followed. Gabriel inspected the log and waved Riley over.
"It's hollow," he called. "But we'd better get in quickly, they're pretty close now." Riley jogged, as best she could through the shin deep snow, and Gabriel pulled her up into the log. It was dark and smelt rancid, but it was better than nothing.
Reaching for his pack, Gabriel pulled out the satellite phone and a blanket, placing the latter down on the floor. As he dialled the sat phone, Riley pulled her own pack off and pulled out the sleeping bag.
"Sat phone's not working," Gabriel put the phone back in the pack. "Must be too much interference from the storm."
"Well, we may as well wait here until we have somewhere to go," Riley said, unzipping the sleeping bag and laying down on the blanket. "And at least it's warm." She held up one side of the sleeping bag and gestured for Gabriel to move under it. He kicked off his wet boots, as Riley had done earlier, and crawled under the sleeping bag, instantly enjoying the warmth. "Can you tell where they are now?" Riley asked. Gabriel shook his head.
"No. The satellite's moved now, so we're on our own."
They fell into a comfortable silence, listening to the wind and the snow thudding into the log, and desperately hoping they didn't hear any other human life. A few times they heard shouts from above them, at the top of the slope they had come down, and Gabriel and Riley looked at each other, panic spread across their face. But the voices faded, and after a full hour of silence, they felt like they were safe for now. Gabriel slid out from under the sleeping bag, and a rush of cold air rolled in. Riley shivered and pulled her knees up to her chest.
"Gabriel, what are you doing?" She rolled to her side to get a better look. Gabriel was kneeling at the end of the log, peering cautiously around.
"It's almost dark out," he said as he crawled back, shivering. "If we try and move now, we'll get lost." He pulled himself back under the sleeping bag, craving the warmth.
"I have some energy bars in my bag." Riley mumbled. While Gabriel had returned to the sleeping bag, it was suddenly colder than before. The pair settled under the sleeping bag, side by side, arms and legs touching. "I think I have a little water left, too." Gabriel nodded.
"I have a few MRE's," he shivered. "But I'm not desperate enough for those yet." Riley laughed, teeth chattering as she did. They fell into another silence that was filled with teeth chattering and shivering.
It was a bitterly cold night, and eventually Gabriel and Riley ended up huddled together against it, making as much bodily contact as possible. Sometime during the night, they drifted off to sleep, the cold still biting at their extremities.
When Gabriel woke, the sun had just risen and he could see the snow that had built up overnight. He groaned when he twitched his nose and found most of his face numb, his nose more so than the rest. He gently shook Riley awake, careful not to roll out from under the warmth of the blankets.
"Riley, we gotta move. We can't stay in here all day." Riley blinked a few times before waking up completely, slightly taken aback by the closeness of their bodies. They separated quickly, reaching for boots and repacking packs so they could head off. Riley pulled a pair of socks from her pack, hurriedly putting them on after removing the original pair.
They were soon packed, and Gabriel crawled forward first, checking for anyone around them. He signalled they were clear, so they clambered out of the log, pushing snow out of the way.
"Gabriel, is that satellite back in range? We've got to find somewhere better for an exfil." Gabriel shook his head.
"I'll see if I can get a message through to Nelson. We're just going to have to find a road and follow it." Riley nodded.
"Well, the main road we came on to get here was to the west, so maybe we head that way and see what we can find?" Gabriel nodded and gestured for her to start.
"After you, m'lady." RIley rolled her eyes and hiked her pack higher over her shoulders and started walking west.
They had been walking for just over two hours when Gabriel suggested they stop. Their pace had been slowing down significantly, so he suggested they have something to eat and rest for a few minutes. When Riley dropped to the log he was sat on, he turned to look at her.
"Riley, your lips are blue."
"That's because it's cold," she shot back. "Your's are too." Gabriel lifted his water bottle to his lips. They needed to get out of here soon. After a ten minute break, the two agents filled their bottles with snow, stowed them in the packs and began walking again.
Less than ten minutes after they'd started off again, Gabriel heard voices in the distance.
"Riley, they're on our trail, we need to move." They began running as fast as they could through the snow, stumbling over hidden rocks and tree stumps. The shouts were getting closer, and Riley could swear she heard the sound of bullets whizzing past their heads. Riley heard a shout of pain from Gabriel and she turned to see what had happened. Blood was rapidly staining the sleeve of his jacket and his arm hung uselessly at his side, but he waved her on.
"I'm fine," he caught up to Riley. "Keep moving." Riley just nodded and turned back to watch where she was going.
"Gabriel, there's a road up ahead. Call in that exfil!" Gabriel nodded.
They made it onto the road and could hear the approaching helicopter, and Riley dropped her pack to search for a flare. She dug it out and activated the flare, and just as she did, a burst of pain went through her shoulder, and she dropped to the ground.
"Riley!" She heard Gabriel call out and saw him moving towards her before he too grunted and dropped. The helicopter was right above them now, and Riley watched from underneath as four agents in tactical gear dropped out of the helicopter and efficiently took out all enemies in sight. Riley let her head flop back onto the ground as she pressed harder onto the wound in her shoulder.
"Gabriel," she called. "Are you alright?" A grunt somewhere to her left told her he was at least still alive.
"I'm fine," he replied, "but being shot sucks." Riley just laughed as two of the agents approached her and helped her up into the helicopter. She didn't fight them when they pushed her onto the bed in the makeshift medbay at the back of the helicopter, just groaning and clenching her fist when they applied more pressure to the wound. She could hear Gabriel groaning as well, and she could only assume he was being given the same treatment.
"I told you," Riley said as a nurse retied her hospital gown after changing the dressings. "I'm fine." The nurse just gave her an exasperated look. "Can I go now?" The nurse sighed.
"Ma'am, you had surgery to repair torn muscle in your shoulder and remove a bullet. You're staying here, and in this bed until the Doctors clear you from that and your hypothermia." Riley sighed. "And you'd better keep that sling on." She sighed again and leaned back into the pillows.
"How long 'till I can lose the sling?" The nurse winked and checked something at the door of the room.
"Looks like you'll be getting a new roommate soon," she smiled at Riley. "A friend of yours. He's in recovery from surgery, then he'll be moved here." The nurse replaced the charts at the foot of Riley's bed and patted her foot.
"Thank you," Riley called as she left. The nurse smiled again over her shoulder and continued out of the room. Riley leant back into her pillows again, closing her eyes as she felt the painkillers kicking in again. She was really tired after all…
"Sir, really, I'm fine." The doctor at the end of Gabriel's bed peered at Gabriel over the rims of his glasses.
"Mr Vaughn, you've just had surgery for two bullet wounds, and you're still recovering from some severe hypothermia. You are far from fine." Gabriel groaned.
"I've had worse," he argued. "Can I please go?" The Doctor shook his head.
"No, you may not. The bullet in your thigh came awfully close to nicking an artery, and I don't want to have to do an emergency surgery if you open your stitches and bleed everywhere again." Gabriel threw his good arm over his eyes as a nurse came in and spoke to the Doctor. "Stay in this bed for a few days and I'll let you go home," the Doctor said, passing the charts to the nurse and walking away.
"Thank you, Doc," Gabriel called after him.
"Sir, we're moving you into another room now," the nurse glanced over his charts. "We'll give you some morphine and a meal when we get you settled in there." Gabriel nodded and relaxed into the bed as another nurse walked in and begun manoeuvring the bed down the hallways.
Riley woke to the sound of wheels being locked into place, and she looked around the room, the morphine leaving her a little disoriented. She finally focused on the person in the bed that had just been moved in, and smiled a little.
"Gabriel!" He looked over the edge of the railing of the bed and grinned.
"Long time, no see," he joked. "How'd you pull up?" Riley shrugged with one arm.
"Bullet through the shoulder, had surgery to get it out. Mild dose of hypothermia. I've had worse. What about you?"
"Tiny bout of hypothermia, a bullet nicked my thigh and just missed an artery. Another one in my arm they had to dig out." Riley looked mildly impressed.
"Well at least the mission was a success," Riley grinned at the exasperated expression on Gabriel's face.
"We got shot, Riley. You do realise how much that sucks, don't you?" She rolled her eyes and leaned back into the pillows again.
"You know I've been shot more times working with you than I have in my entire career?" It was Gabriel's turn to grin.
"It's a talent."