Jack and Walter reached the old campsite where the lost expedition was left behind. Thanks to their new snowshoes, they were able to travel much faster without dragging their feet through the deep snow. Tired, but relieved, Walter looks at the sky still visible with sunlight breaking through the gaps between the clouds.
"Well, that was much faster than expected. We're back at the old campsite and we still got tons of daylight to spare. Good progress, now, according to the map. The observatory should be that way. Just over that hill and keep heading north." Walter looks at his map and slowly plans their next move. Pointing his finger at roughly the right direction of where they were supposed to go.
Jack takes a look around the campsite and finds a small doll just barely sticking out of the snow. He kneels down and picks up the doll, wiping the snow off of it to get a better look. He turns to Walter and shows him the doll, "Hey, Walter. I found a doll; you think it might belong to one of the kids with the lost expedition?" Jack asked.
Walter takes a quick glance at the doll and speaks, "Maybe, keep it with you for now. Bring it back with us just in case."
Jack nods and finds a nice spot to secure the doll in his pack, "Maybe we should ask the engineers to work on some toys for the kids. Might help them keep the boredom out of their work all day." Jack suggested.
Making toys would be the last thing the engineers should do when New London has yet to be a fully developed city. Walter gave it a thought and weighed their options, "The engineers might not have the time to spare to make toys. But it's not a bad idea. Let's focus back on the mission and we'll continue this conversation for later, okay?" Walter said.
Jack nods, "Yeah, sure thing. Should we get going then? There's not much for us to see around here. Which way did you say it was for that observatory?"
Walter shows him the map and points outwards, "It should be over those hills, this map is a lot more accurate than the one I lost. We should see the building on the horizon once we make it over. We're not too far from it."
"If the blizzard doesn't go crazy again. I kind of like seeing the blue sky a little bit longer." Jack points out.
"Not the first time, Jack. But we can do this. Stay behind me, and don't lag behind. And give me a shout if you need a break." Walter said, turning his back and continuing to walk forward to their destination.
"You seem more chipper than before, Walter." Jack said, "Why is that?"
"I'm just happy about the progress we're making. Once we check this observatory out, Winterhome would be next. And honestly, I was a little worried when we found the generator. It was empty and there was no one there waiting for us. Maybe after reading Winterhome, they can help us out, form an alliance or something." Walter said, sounding optimistic for the first time in Jack's ears.
"Well, at least you're in a good mood." Jack said, sounding a little concerned about something.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Walter asked.
"Well, it's just that, don't you think it was weird about that stranger that helped us last night? Do you think he might be from Winterhome? If so, then why didn't he show his face? Why would he keep himself hidden? And those gunshots were so many, and what if he's not alone?" Jack asked, going on about the mysterious stranger that lent them a hand, but gave no greetings.
To be honest, Walter wasn't oblivious to the points that Jack was saying, it was a problem for Walter, but he didn't want to be too paranoid about the situation. Even if Walter was the more calculative one, he'd rather not think too much about it and move on. But Jack was not letting that topic go anytime soon, his words were growing more scared as he continued.
"And that bridge, I know it was my idea to cross it, but I couldn't be the only one that noticed something. Where are the people from Winterhome to man the bridge? Or at least some engineers to at least watch over the automation in case anything bad happened to it? It just doesn't make sense, Walter." Jack explained.
"I think it would be for the best if you don't speak of this to anyone else back home, Jack. The last thing we want is people getting worried like you. Maybe they saw the signs too, but so far, no one seems to be that worried. Don't crush their hopes, Jack. You would know that." Walter said, not sparing another glance at him.
Jack sighs as they continue walking.
They have reached the bottom of the hill, the up climb was easy for the first few steps, but as the hill got steeper, their normal ascend got more difficult with each passing step.
"How high is this hill? I feel like we're not reaching the top at all." Jack asked, feeling his foot almost sinking into the snow just to barely get a foothold up. Just then, as Walter drags his feet up to slam into the snow, his whole leg suddenly gets sunk down deep into the snow.
"Woah!" Walter screamed in surprise, looking down to find his entire right leg had been dug into the snow, landing him into another awkward position for Jack to see in full view. Thankfully, it was just his leg that was buried in the snow.
"Oh my god, Walter!" Jack yelled in concern; he was just a few feet away from him. "Are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. But I think I can't move from this spot. You need to pull me out," Walter said as he reached out his arms towards Jack.
"Okay, just sit tight. I'm coming over to you. Slowly." Jack said, cautiously walking back down to Walter, not wanting to end up in the same position that his partner is currently in.
Walter then placed both of his hands on the surface of the snow to push himself back out, "Okay, I think if I do this-"
"Wait, don't do that-" Jack tried to warn him. But Walter's plan falters as the moment he pushes his weight onto the snow, his arms immediately sink down, and he has to unfortunately come along with them, slamming his face onto the snow.
Through his muffled breath, Walter did his best to call for Jack's help, "Ah! Jack! Jack, help me!" His muffled screams were audible as he wiggled his body frantically to get out.
It looked a little silly to Jack as his worries soon turned to amusement, unable to keep a calm composure to help Walter, Jack had to stop in his tracks to quell his laughter from bursting out. But he too, fails and ends up laughing hysterically at the sight before him.
Walter wiggles some more, but it doesn't work. It had only made it funnier for Jack to handle and laughed even more.
"Jack! Stop laughing at me and help!" Walter screamed through the snow.
"Then stop wiggling like a worm, you're going to sink deeper if you do." Jack managed to speak through his laughter.
Walter stops moving and slumps out of exhaustion. But he can still hear Jack's laughter at him. Luckily his face was in the snow, so Jack can't see the embarrassment from his face.
Closing the gap between them, Jack was able to safely make it to Walter and got into position, "Okay, I'm here. Hold on." Jack said. He stands behind him and digs his arms under his armpits. Slowly, but surely, in one pull, Jack pulls Walter out from the snow, freeing his arms first.
"There we go. That wasn't too hard." Jack said. But Walter was quiet.
"Hey Walter, are you okay?" Jack asked.
"I can't feel my face. Help me get the rest of my leg out, please." Walter pleaded.
Jack obliged and pulled the rest of him out of the snow and onto a more thicker side of the snow. Walter lays down, still exhausted from his frantic wiggling attempt. Jack chuckles a bit, remembering that little wiggle that Walter made.
"Stop laughing at me, that's twice that I end up in the snow." Walter said.
Jack lends a hand to help Walter up, and hand him his map back, "We should be more careful from here. This hill might not be an actual hill at all, just a huge lump of snow merely appearing like one." Jack said.
The two continue their way up to the top, Jack was the first to make it. He puts his hands on his sides, "What a view, you're too slow, Walter" he said as he looked behind to see Walter.
"I was going as fast as I could. I'm just making sure that I'm not going to fall into the snow again. Not this time." Walter said.
Jack chuckles once more.
"That's enough." Walter glares at him.
"Now, where is that-" Jack said as he looked out to find the observatory from the hill, but he was quickly pushed down in the process. He felt a hand grabbing onto his shoulder and bringing down to lay onto the snow. Jack turns his head to see that Walter was the obvious culprit, but he two was laying low as he looks intensively at something ahead of them.
"Hey, what gives!?" Jack yelled in surprise.
"Shh! Get down and shut up. There's something down there." Walter whispers as he points at the cave,
"What?" Jack takes a look over the top, and sees something near the cave. "Oh hey, you found a cave. That's strange, the others didn't mention anything about a cave nearby. But what is that? Is it a cow? It's hard to tell from here." Jack said as he squinted his eyes.
It looked white. But the shape was hard to identify from far away. Walter pulled out his binoculars to take a better look, "You know what, I think it's a cow," Jack confirms, nodding his head.
"I wonder why they're all the way out here though? Maybe we can take them back to New London with us?" Jack said. But Walter was not responding to Jack as he puts the binoculars down and quickly arms his rifle.
"You're going to scare them away, Walter." Jack said.
Walter hands Jack the binoculars, "Take a look you damn idiot. Those are not cows." he said, attaching a scope onto his rifle for a better aim.
Jack took the binoculars and looked into them, he didn't know what Walter saw but he was about to know when he saw something he thought that could be any worse than the wolves.
"Oh, I may have misjudged. That is not a cow, that is a polar bear. There are two polar bears down there." Jack said.
"Just when I thought things couldn't get worse than wolves. It had to be bears, what's next?" Walter said as he positioned his rifle down range in case the bears ever noticed their presence.
Jack continues to look at the bears through his binoculars, "It's white, big, and armed with claws. And a full set of teeth that could kill us in an instant. You think it was a harmless cow?" Walter asked.
"No, it's not a cow." Jack said, feeling quite foolish from his initial assumption.
"But, I don't think they know we're here yet," Walter said, keeping his watch on the polar bears. "They are just hanging around outside that cave, I see something bright in there."
"You think? Maybe we should head back now." Jack suggested as he too knows that they can't fight the bears.
Walter continues to look around the areas through his rifle scope to see if there are more of them. He guides the scope until he reaches the entrance of the cave. It appears that the entrance of the cave had been boarded up with wood, quite hastily too.
There seems to be multiple spots of red on the snow. Is that blood?
"Hey, one of the bears is getting closer to that cave. It looked like it smelled something," Jack said.
Suddenly, the bear started to attack the wall, followed by the sound of screaming. Wooden spears and sharp objects began protruding out of the gaps between the wood as they tried to fend them off from breaking in.
"Hey, there are people in there!" Jack said in shock. "We have to help them!"
Walter lowers his rifle and turns to him, "What!? NO! Jack, my gun can't kill a bear in one shot. If you go down there, I don't know if I can save you from it."
Jack shows the captain's revolver, "I got this."
Walter groans in frustration, "That's not enough. You just got it; you barely know how to use that thing. Bears are not that easy to kill."
"Well, can't you use your gun and shoot it in the head or something?" Jack suggested.
"You idiot, I'm not a sharpshooter, Jack. And that's two fucking bears, there's a reason why no one is dumb enough to fight a bear. We are not going down there." Walter argues, this was not the time to debate on their options when there is only one in Walter's head.
Suddenly, they heard a woman's scream, coming from the cave. One of the bears had managed to drag her out of the cave, her hands clawing at the ground trying desperately to get away from the bear as its teeth were dug into her leg.
"Walter, they're going to kill her! We have to do something!" Jack got up, he was ready to run down there and help. But once again, he was stopped by Walter as he too get s up and grabs hold of his arm, preventing him from running.
"Jack, as your partner, I implore you to stay put!"
"But they're in danger, Walter! We can't just sit here and do nothing!"
"Yeah? And so will we if we go down there too! Look, I know we saved the others not too long ago. But don't let that hero stuff get to your head!"
"I'm not!" Jack tried to pull his arm off from Walter's hold.
"Then listen to me, and don't go down there!"
"Help me! Help!" The woman scrambled again as she was struggling to keep the bear's jaws away from her. Her strength was slowly dwindling as Jack watched in dismay.
Jack may be naive, but he wasn't afraid when there were others in danger. He knew what was right from wrong, and that at this moment.
He knew that Walter was wrong.
With one final tug, Jack breaks free from Walter's hold and rushes down the hill, running frantically and feeling the adrenaline rushing through his body as he takes out his ice ax, charging towards the bear.
"Jack! No!" Walter cried out to him. "Damn it! You absolutely dumb buffoon!"
/-/
In a fight for survival, the survivors did their best to fend off the bear's relentless attack. But their barricade was getting weaker by the second as the second bear started clawing its way inside. All the adults that were still able to walk were holding off with their defenses and the children cried in despair, holding onto their parents as the bear outside roared at them.
"Make it go away!" One of the children yelled.
"We can't hold this up for much longer! That bear is going to break through if we don't stop it." One of the survivors at the barricade said as he pushed as hard as he could to keep the wall up. But every push that the bear makes only sends the others to lose their footing every time before getting back up and holding the barricade.
"I don't have enough strength to keep the wall up!"
Another survivor activates a device in his hand that emits some electrical currents and shocks the bear's paws whenever it slips through the gaps, "Take this!" he yelled, lunging the tip of the baton to make contact with the bear.
"Is there anyone out there to help us?" A woman asked.
"There's no one else out there. It's just us!"
The bear's brute force sends another push, the survivor with his shock baton goes in for another retaliation.
"We should have never left the city." She cried.
"But if we stayed, we would have suffered worse than the bears! We're already exiled, there's no point in going back there!"
"Help me! Please!" The woman outside continued to scream for her life, it was unbearable for the rest of her cries.
"Don't go out there! There's nothing we can do for her!"
"Damn it!"
"NO! NO, HELP ME!" Her hands started to give up as the bear's jaws were inching close to her neck. Her tears were abundant, but useless in what looks to be her last moment before death arrives to claim her.
As she closes her eyes, one last time before accepting her inevitable fate, she hears a sudden cry of rage coming in out of nowhere, "AHH!" Jack screamed his lungs out as he lunged forward and plunged his ax into the bear's neck. Forcing the bear to roar out in pain and divert its attention away from the woman.
Jack held onto the ax while narrowly avoiding the bear's claws swinging violently at him in an attempt to get him off.
"It's okay. I'm here to help!" Jack said to her as he tried his best to keep the bear away from her.
But the bear finally manages to push Jack down. Jack continues to hold the ax in one hand and the other pushing the bear away.
He tried to pull out his gun, but the bear's attacks were too fast for him to do so. His strength begins to fade as the bear proves to be the stronger opponent. The bear's jaw slowly got closer to his face instead.
The other survivor was struggling to find a way to help Jack.
Maybe it was just a foolish mistake for Jack to make, but he had to, as the woman's distress was similar to the one he couldn't save back at London. But now here he is, being the idiot yet again, risking his life to save another.
He had wondered if Walter would risk his hiding spot to save him, only in a short time would Jack's grips soon begin to falter.
"Walter, help." Jack said weakly as he held onto his life.
Walter watches the scene played out through his scope. He had his aim dialed in and steadied his breath. Hoping not to miss, Walter stops his breathing for a moment and squeezes the trigger.
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A/N: I hoped that the chapter was suspenseful as I can make it. Here is one of the most rng events for your scouts. Either they win, or lose. Obviously Jack would help, while Walter would not. But as their sides clashed only one would be their answer.
Walter takes the shot, but what do you think he is shooting at? The next chapter will reveal what's next. For now, let's hope that your assumptions are not wrong.
As much as I tried to make it clear with Jack and Walter's character, I think this moment should fully show what their true colors really are. But even if Jack may seem more righteous than Walter. He is still naive to a fault, and sometime being good doesn't mean that you will come out on top.
Sometimes, it is knowing when your odds are more than your favors.
I liked that little funny moment of Walter getting stuck in the snow, and Jack's reaction to it. A little but of wholesome moments in a dark and cold world of Frostpunk. Stuff like was what motivates me to write this story.
Okay, I'm done here.
Thank you all so much for reaching.