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“What do we do now, Higgsbury?”
His voice is so- awful , like this. So hopeless, as the pair of us lean heavily against each other, blood from our various wounds pooling awfully beneath us.
“I- I don’t know.”
My voice breaks, and I shudder with held-back tears. We’d had to have run at least half a mile from camp, it was nearly dark, and we had absolutely nothing. No way to get a fire started. Nothing that could stave off the night, for even a little while.
“What do we do ?”
He sounds like he’s on the verge of tears, and it’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard. He’s not the type of man to cry. I don’t think I’ve seen him cry once. I don’t want to see it now. I rest my forehead against his shoulder and squeeze my eyes shut.
“I don’t know.”
We’re sprinting for our lives, dashing as fast as we can manage with the hounds on our heels. It’s almost dark, and Maxwell desperately fumbles to get a half-spent torch lit. It’s not going to last long enough, and out of desperation, I snatch it from his hand and light a nearby tree on fire. But that won’t last for long either.
“I have enough! I can make another torch! We can survive this if I just have a second -”
‘I don’t have a second,’ I think to myself. Maxwell is starting to slow, and the hounds are catching up. I desperately fumble with my materials. Yes! It’s lit! But it’s far too late, and I turn in time to see Maxwell succumb to the hounds. A choked cry escapes my throat, and it’s all I have time for before the hounds descend on me.
I didn’t even see it happen. I wasn’t paying attention to anything. Lost in my head as I walked forward unseeingly, doing mental calculations and trusting Maxwell to make sure I didn’t walk into a tree. And it was so fast . A low hissing sound, the crunching of snow, and that was it. I must have walked 20 more feet before I realized that something was wrong.
I turn around to tell him something, tell him what I had finally managed to work out that we needed, and he’s gone . He isn’t there, and panic fills me.
The blood was so, so bright against the snow. I can see it from where I’m standing, despite how far I am. I’m frozen, at first. This can’t be happening.
This is happening. I sprint towards him.
“ Maxwell !”
I nearly fall as I run, scrambling desperately through the snow. I do fall once I reach him, the cold of the snow soaking through the knees in horrific juxtaposition to the warmth of his blood doing the same. The ice bites at my fingertips as I desperately try to do something- anything - to save him.
But it’s far, far too late.
The tears freeze on my cheeks as I start to sob.