Creeeeak.

Something stirred. Etta looked at the structure above.

“…It made… a sound,” she said, still shivering as usual.

“That it did. And it has been doing so for a while. Please stop reminding me, and stop moving around too much,” Seth grumbled.

“…Mm.”

They have been stuck in the air for a while. The sun has already begun to set. And the cold worsened.

“Where the hell is Nathanael! It shouldn’t take him this long!”

Etta felt tired. She wanted to sleep. Yet the height made her awake and aware. Perhaps she could have slept in Nathanael’s arms more than Seth’s. She still didn’t like the old man she was stuck with.

She only hated being tired when she couldn’t sleep. It was annoying. Even when being suspended in the air, and feeling afraid, she just wanted to have her eyes closed and go take a long nap.

Always tired. Never fully conscious. Her words slurred from the drowsiness. Eyes always half closed, blinking more than usual. Her head jumped up and down. Thoughts were slowed. Her movement was slow. She could barely lift a thing. Walking, in general, was already hard. That is how it has been since the bunker. Her memories a blur. Something missing. Something important. Pictures of something she should know, still that feeling of emptiness.

“Kid, how come you shiver?” Seth asked.

“…Mm?”

“I made sure you wore enough to fight off the cold, yet you still turn blue. Even inside the house, I have noticed you nearly hugging the fireplace once.”

“…Mm…” She didn’t know why. Etta thought she had always been like this since she could remember.

“I’m not gonna lie, if Nathanael doesn’t come soon, you’ll likely die of the cold.”

Harsh. Bitter. No compassion. Yet he was sincere, no lie, completely honest with no thoughts of her feelings.

“…Nat…”

There was a snap. A sudden dreadful snap. They didn’t even have time to look towards the noise when the rope began to make them descend at falling speed. Perhaps a small cog. Or something part of the crane fell apart. The wheel holding the entire length of the cord spun at the speed it wasn’t intended for.

Etta screamed. She held tight and closed her eyes. Seth couldn’t get a hold, nothing to grab on or control the fall. The snowy ground awaited their helpless bodies.

The wheel took a sudden halt, the rope straightened. Seth grunted at the tightness from the rope once they fell no longer. If the rope wasn’t made out of materials used for sudden and hard descent, that would have likely broken something inside Seth’s body.

His eyes darted about. They were much closer to the ground, but still too far to jump off. But the wall before him wasn’t the cracked wall he was close to before. And the fixed rope on the wall could perhaps hold him.

“Shit, I should’ve put her on my back,” Seth muttered. “Climbing would be much easier that way.”

She couldn’t open her eyes. The feeling of that quick fall… she didn’t like it. And though she screamed, she still felt tired. But she couldn’t sleep.

Movement. Seth was doing something. The wind began to go back and forth. This odd feeling of falling horizontally. She slightly opened her drowsy eyes to take a look. The old man was swinging the line.

“…Eh!?” she unusually yelped.

“Hold tight, we’re gonna catch the rope in front of us!”

He didn’t waste time. It was reckless and dangerous. But Nathanael wasn’t coming, and the crane was beyond repair at this moment. It could completely fall in a matter of seconds. He swung to and fro, the structure above made fearful creaks. Seth winced, yet kept at it.

Seth reached with his hand, but only his fingertip touched the fixed rope. Another support structure collapsed, making the wheel turn again. Down they went once again, and the rope they were attached no longer was straight. It was bent in awkward directions, and they flung away from the wall. They spun in the air, there was no controlling it any longer. Being steady was out of the question, it was something he couldn’t make happen.

Something made the wheel hinder, and the line straightened, making Seth nearly lose his breath as it tightened even more around him.

It wasn’t over though, they were swinging fast and hard towards the wall. His feet weren’t ready, they were facing the cliff on their side in fact. Seth managed to turn with his body and moved his legs and feet towards the ever-closing wall. His knees slightly bent, he made contact with the ice. It was harsh, and his face told it all. At the same time he touched the hard surface, he grabbed onto the rope. Finally, they weren’t hovering in the air. The fastened bolts, which had the connection of ropes, held fast.

But when his hard impact with the cliff was made, more cracks started to form, and it created a sliver through the ice, all the way towards the wooden structure. Support beams fell, the entire thing was falling, and Seth was still connected to it.

He struggled to get the rope off, specifically attached to his back. It wasn’t tied, it was on a hook, but the latch on it was hard to take out in his position. But through all his struggle, and with the will to live, he reached.

Clasping around the hook and opening it, something tugged at his back. But the hook dropped loose while only the tip made short contact a while longer. He nearly fell along with the crane he created.

The structure touched the earth. The puff of snow flew in all directions, making a small cascade. Thankfully Seth made sure Nathanael moved the two sleds so they wouldn’t be crushed before he left.

“Fucking hell,” Seth cursed.

Etta whimpered. Tears ran down. She couldn’t hold it in. That was all they could hear at this moment, no more creaks or snaps. Just the silence, and a child crying.

The distance they were from the ground was much closer now. It was likely survivable, but with a few broken bones. Slow and steady down the fixed tether, the only safe way of coming down. Seth had the ice axes, but didn’t risk using them, as another crack could break the bolts.

Seth’s aging body still had enough strength, he wasn’t completely done with his old career.

The sun had set once they finally touched the ground. The cold worsened too much already. And Etta could not move, only shivering with rattling teeth.

The old man rummaged through the sleds, gathering what he needed to create a fire. A small fireplace, he has made one too many times in the plains of snow. He pulled out a small pouch and threw in some unknown dust into the dried materials. The red particles then caught fire when Seth turned on his lighter.

The white turned to the colors of flame. Etta’s eyes widened once she felt the heat rush in. She basically crawled towards it once it appeared, and nearly touched its light.

A warm, fuzzy feeling. She could finally sleep right now, she met her condition to do so. Her eyes nearly closed, nearly faded into dreamland, but Seth’s sudden movement caught her attention.

He took out a torch from one of the bags and lit it by the campfire. He was already ready to go into the forest.

“I’m going to find the boy. That fire will last long enough for me to come back, so stay here.”

It took some time to process, but his words soon connected.

“…Eh?”

“The boy likely has no clue on how to start a fire, so I’m going to look for him. It wouldn’t be ideal only to find a frozen body.”

She wanted to sleep. To sleep of the cold. But the time she hung in the air made it impossible to do that. The fire here was enough to sleep around. But alone, and surrounded by the cold that could breach the heat and envelop her… that would keep her awake.

“…No… I want to… see Nat!” She didn’t want to be left behind. It was a feeling she had in those memories, such bad memories. Awful memories, which she doesn’t even know if they’re hers or not. Many empty pages. Names and faces scribbled over. One of her last memories is of leaving her brother, someone she doesn’t have a past of. That feeling of losing his hand and continuing running from whatever they were running from… She didn’t like it. And she suddenly felt the same right here and now.

“Look, you will only slow me down, I can’t waste time,” Seth argued.

“…I… follow…” she insisted. Staying behind wasn’t happening. Too much fear would rise, perhaps that would even be worse than the feeling of cold. No, the cold is far worse, she knew. Staying inside that bunker for a few days felt as if the world was ending, and the sight of strangers scared her for a moment, but Nathanael had something she wanted to see the most again. But what was it? A brother?

Etta stood and walked away from the loving flames. But the cold steps were too much, and she fell.

Helpless. Surviving on her own would be a death sentence. Just moving around in this cold was too much. So cold. So cold. There aren’t even memories of times when the world had heat and sun.

The old man grumbled and sighed. “Fine, I’ll hold you on my back. But in doing so, Nathanael will have a higher chance of death, and I would really not like that, as it is going to be an inconvenience for me.”

There was no smile, but she thought of joy.