ENDLESS FROST (GIRL X GIRL)

Chapter 21 Shocked

"It's John or should I say it was him now." Says Lloyd in disbelief while discovering the corpse frozen because of the weather. "It's hard to say when did they die exactly, the cold slowed down the decomposition but he clearly has serious injuries on his neck..."

I sigh before shaking my head. "Thank you, I didn't ask for an autopsy, I know how he died, I want to know who did this, that's all !"

I stand up and pace around in the snow while scratching my neck, this is getting serious now, one of my men is dead, one of the two from the expedition, stabbed in the throat, seeing that with the frozen blood on the tree, he's been caught by surprise and didn't have any time to react at all. His death was brutal and quick, you have to be really cold-blooded to kill someone like that, I'm impressed by whoever did this, but it also means that I can't let my guard down at all. We may be dealing with dangerous people, maybe former mercenaries ? I'm thinking too deep, I have to stay focus.

Suddenly one of my men screams. "Boss ! We found the other one ! Just here!" I go where he is and discover the other body not too far from the first one with his chest in the snow. Lloyd follows me and turns the frozen body so we can take a closer look at his face. "It's Louis boss, with a bullet right through his chest. " I could still spot some blood around his mouth which means he has been hit in his lungs. Lloyd sighs before telling me with doubt in his eyes. " They've both been looted, their rifle and ammunition are no more here. Perhaps they've been attracted here a bit off the road to get ambushed ? To take their supplies, what do you think ?"

I scratch my forehead while I'm deep in thought before replying. "It could be that but it could also be different. What we have to discover right now is simple, who were the hunters ? And therefore who were the preys ?" I take a look at my men and I see most of them looking down, some of them shaking but I'm pretty sure it's not from the cold. Even Lloyd is not reassured, a part of him must have underestimated what we could find here and the consequences of it.

This is the time to show off my leadership, there was no way we could back off now to get back in town. I wanted to know more than ever what's the real story behind all of this and most importantly where the heck is Aida ? She's not here in the snow, I have this feeling that she's alive but so where is she ? Taken hostage by those people who murdered my men ? I can't even think about what they could have done to her if that's the case. I gather myself and stand in between my men.

"Look, I know this situation might surprise you or even scare you but we've not come this far to just simply give up now! We have a goal here, I want to understand what is happening, we're gonna keep heading north to find out who did this and what happened to Aida. If we have to fight then we will, all of us are trained and you've been chosen for this mission for a reason, okay ?"

At those words, all of my men straighten their back while nodding. "Yes boss !"

I smile widely at that and head back towards our cars as all of them follow me. Finally, a challenge that is worth my time, finally...

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I keep looking through the windows on the first floor, looking for any signs of intruders who could possibly come. My rifle is ready, I have bullets in my pockets but I can't help being scared by what could possibly come. The weather has clearly changed from yesterday and Aida agreed with me on the fact that people from our former clan could come at any time now, I'm equipped with my large coat and warm pants because as much as I want to keep fighting from the house to have the upper hand I would probably have to hide in the snow at some point to surprise who could come. I also have my bow on my shoulders with some arrows that I made earlier, the pros about it, is that you can kill in a really quite way if some fools think they can attack here while separating themselves. The only problem is that I have to aim at the throat to be sure to kill someone in one shot.

Aida also had the smartest idea possible, deciding that we should hide most of our supplies in the woods at a place only the both of us know, we used a tarpaulin and wrapped in it, we put food and tools that we could use if we're able to come back one day. But we didn't put everything in there, we left enough supplies here so that if some bastards come, they would think that we only have just that!

Suddenly I feel a hand on my shoulders and tense immediately with my hand gripping my gun hard.

"Calm down Dana, it's me, don't stress out like that, we need to stay focused."

I close my eyes and exhale slowly. "You're right, I'm sorry, I'm just nervous, I hope everything will work out for us."

She smiles simply before kissing my lips in a loving way as tears run down my cheeks and I sniffle a bit. Aida strokes my cheek with her hand to wipe some of my tears.

"It's going to be okay, I'm sure of it, today won't be our last day on this hell we call now earth."

I lean in her touch and kiss her palm gently. "You're right my heart, we're going to get through this together and I will never give up for you, not until my last breath."

Aida gives me this look in her eyes, that only true lovers know. Her eyes mean all of the words that could exist and they comfort me in the best way possible.

"It's the same for me Dana, all the same."