A timer appeared on the box, showing the time to repair completion at 1 hour. Assuming no delays, we'd be out with 2 hours to spare. Quickly scrounging around the area, we managed to find a few decently sized branches that would serve as clubs if it became necessary. Having prepped as much as we could we waited. 5 minutes passed. Then 10. We started to relax, and all of a sudden heard movement coming from in front of us. A pair of wolves came bolting out of the woods towards us, snarling and slobbering. BT sighted the rifle and fired once; dropping a wolf before it could even get close. He quickly chambered another round, firing again and taking down the other one in a single motion, with only a beat to aim.

I whistled in admiration. "Nice shooting. You military?" BT's shots were clean, one through the head, the other likely through the heart. He looked the part, with his high and tight hairstyle and the way he handled his weapon. For having been spaced out not a full day prior he's made a remarkable recovery. I wonder what Luna did that snapped him outta his funk, or if it was just the fact she was being threatened that brought him back to Earth from wherever he was.

He nods. "US Army Rangers, a proud part of the 75th. You do time as well?" So he was Spec. Ops, which explained a lot honestly.

"I didn't serve. But I heard the stories from my dad before he passed. He was a Joe as well."

A howl echoed in the distance, reminding me of the situation I was in. Best not to get too chatty until we made it out.

I look down at the 38 in my hand. The weapon still feels alien to me, and with only 6 more shots left I'm gonna need to make them count. Allison and Luna have grabbed sticks, although Luna looks hesitant to use hers. Another howl, this time much closer. I couldn't guarantee I'd have the accuracy needed to hit the shots, and we would have more wolves coming before long. But I knew who might.

"How many shots you have left for that thing?" I asked, keeping an eye on the tree line.

"4 before I'm down to using this thing as a club. You?" BT asked.

"6, then I'm in the same boat. All things considered, this might be best in your hands." I handed off the 38 to him, then picked up my stick club. We'd be relying on BT to hit his shots. "No pressure."

The clock ticked down to 30 mins, and another pair of wolves ran out from the trees. BT downed the first one and winged the second with the 38. His next shot finished the job. We managed to hold them off until the timer hit 5 minutes remaining. Whatever came next would be the last wave we would fight, and we only needed to bait whatever it was for 5 minutes before we could escape. BT still had 1 more shot in his rifle as well, so I was feeling confident about us dealing with any wolves. And then the bear walked out of the woods.

The four of us looked at one another, looked at the bear, and slowly started backing away. While it didn't look as immediately hostile as the wolves, we couldn't discount that it might decide to charge us. BT raised his rifle, and aimed, then thought better of it. Until it made a decision, we wouldn't be pushing it one way or another by angering it. The bear stared deep at me, and I remembered something I had once heard about grizzlies, although how applicable it was I couldn't say. I had heard that grizzlies took eye contact as a challenge, so I told the rest of the group to keep their eyes to the ground, and if it decided to come over, drop and play dead. The timer kept ticking down, and those last few minutes stretched on for hours. Eventually, it seemed the bear had made its decision. It grabbed one of the dead wolves and dragged it into the woods, leaving us relieved. It had taken the easier meal for itself, rather than risking injury by challenging us.

"That was way closer than I ever needed to be to a bear, and I'm so glad it's over." Luna sighed with relief. I know for sure I felt the same, but I wasn't as open about it. Had that bear decided it wanted us to be lunch instead of one of the wolves I don't know that we would have been able to stop it. Sticks weren't going to cut it, and unless BT managed an extremely lucky shot, he wasn't putting down that bear with his rifle. We had gotten lucky, and that was it. The last couple of seconds ticked away, and a notification appeared on our UIs.

Helipad Repair complete. Call for rescue from the cabin

"Now to grab Emma, call the helicopter and get out of here. All the while trying to avoid Dave, who likely knows exactly where we are due to his magical traitor powers" Allison said. She wasn't wrong, it seemed the traitor UI was significantly more robust than ours was. How much had he been updated about without us knowing? Presumably, he knew when his fellow traitor had died but was he aware that we had completed our objective and were closing in on escape? I turned to ask BT his thoughts. Swish Thunk An arrow embedded itself into the tree in front of me, right where my head would have been. Well, I guess that answers that question. Turns out Dave apparently is a damn good sniper with a bow and arrow.

Quickly tracking where the shot had come from, I bolted towards Dave's position. I knew if I could give BT a shot, we would be fine. I ducked behind a tree as he pulled another arrow back. Peeking around the tree, he loosed, and I charged at him again. There was a small part of me that wondered why he wasn't repositioning. An arrow smacked into my thigh, and I tripped, falling to the ground. I pulled myself behind a rock nearby and prepared to rush him again. At the last second, I realized why he wasn't moving. I was being baited into another trap. Peeking around the corner I could see small patches of disturbed snow that were more than likely traps. There was no way I could get to him. I grabbed a rock and chucked it at the traps, trying to set them off.

"Take the shot already!" I yelled to BT. Another arrow whizzed by, this one aimed at Allison. She tried to dodge, but the arrow caught her in her shoulder.

The crack of a rifle rang out, and Dave collapsed. It was over. Now we just needed to survive long enough to make it out.

BT had some medic training from his time in the service, and he field dressed our two wounds by pushing the arrows through and wrapping them in the gauze and torn blanket strips. Each step was agony, but we moved as a group to try and make our way back to the cabin. We went and collected Emma, who was just waking up, and staggered our way to the helicopter after calling it in. As we took off, I looked down on the area that had caused us so much pain and knew that I wouldn't miss it. As we flew off into the sky, white light surrounded us all.

I woke up to darkness, cold and wet. I pushed my hands up and impacted something smooth and metallic. Banging on the lid didn't open it, and whatever I was in was slowly suffocating me. It was a relief when minutes later a light came into the pod as the lid opened.