ice

- chapter 3. -

             They continued to light red flares and lay them on the ice as we walked.
             "Okay, stop." Logan said, stopping.
             She turned away. "Whales.. don't like the machines. The sound. Too much. Once they are off the ice, then.." She stopped, and then continued in the foreign language, then back to English. "Frostwhales, up! Fucking danger. Okay?" Logan explained.
             Everyone nodded.
             "Whales break ice for breathing. They won't stop til they breach. They always hit seven times. Seven."
             "Minimum.." Oxo paused, blowing the smoke from his pipe. "Seven."
             "When Frostwhales hit, we run from here.." Logan paused, kicking a small lantern sitting on the ice, enabling it. Then turned around and pointed to the flare we planted at the beginning, "To there."
             "Got it Fletch?" Logan said, looking at Fletch.
             "Benga!" Fletcher said.
             I assumed that "benga" meant got it, or ready. Something along the lines of that.
             Logan looked at me, "How about you, extro?"
             I sighed, "Uh, yeah. Right. Benga.."
             "When the Frostwhales hit," Logan paused, she said pulling out a pipe and lighting it. Took a puff, and then blew it out. "We go."
             Everyone but Fletch and I did the same. We didn't own a pipe. Logan handed hers to me. I looked at her, and took it, unsure.
             I sighed, and took multiple puffs, handed it back, and started coughing. They laughed.
             Everything slowly turned to white. I looked around, confused. I looked at the ground, it was dark blue ice.
             I laughed and stepped forward, "Woah." The ice glowed.
             I stared in amazement. I felt happy, unbothered. I could stay here for eternity and I would be fine with it.
             I heard noises, that sounded like machines powering off. I looked around confused.
             Soon enough, I heard Fletcher trying to snap me out of it.
             "We have to go! Celeste, snap out of it! We have to go!"
             Finally he grabbed my shoulders and shook me, I snapped out of it. I heard the group yelling.
             Seconds later, everyone started to run, and suddenly, the ice cracked as a whale slammed its body into the ice. It didn't break through.
             Fletcher and I were farther behind than the others.
             I felt like I was panicking, like I couldn't breathe. One mistake could get me killed.
             The whale hit again, the cracks got worse, and I nearly slipped and fell over. But I kept running, looking back. The group whooped as they ran far ahead.
            Another hit.
            Fletch turned his head and yelled. "Celeste!"
            Another.
            I grunted, "Fuck!"
            "Come on, man!" Fletch shouted, still facing me.
            Another. This time it hit directly underneath where Fletcher was running, and he went soaring through the air. He did a flip, hoping to land safely.
            He failed. He landed as another hit directly under him again, and this time he hurt his ankle. in the crack. He fell over, and slid across the ice. The others lept over him, practically leaving him for dead.
            "Shit." I murmured.
            "Ow, fuck, my leg!" He yelled.
            I quickly ran towards him, dropped to my knees and slid. I picked him up, he was quite light considering he's modded.
             I slowly walked, attempting to pick up the pace. Logan stopped dead in her tracks, turned around and faced us.
             "Come on! Come on, run, you fucking extro!"
             I picked up the pace, and once again I was running. I watched the ice slowly start glowing underneath me.
            "No, no, no— FUCK!" I shouted as the whale hit, fully breaking through this time, Fletcher and I went soaring even higher than he did before.
            The group stared in terror as we soared.
            Fletcher and I screamed.
            As the whale slowly soared, I got only inches away from it.
            It was beautiful, more beautiful than you could ever imagine. It flowed a beautiful shade of blue, with deep, dark, glowing, red eyes. It looked like lightning was zapping out of it. Some sort of electricity bursted through it.
             I watched, and once again felt like I was at peace with this gentle giant. Those thoughts quickly shattered as I hit the thick ice and went sliding towards the group, Fletcher did the same.
             "Fuck.. my head.." I rubbed the back of my head and looked at the group. They stared in amazement at the Frostwhale in its natural beauty.
             The group whooped and laughed for us.
             "Sometimes.. six hit!"
             I rolled my eyes and smiled.
             "Fuck.. off." Fletcher said as he flipped her off.
             We all laughed.
             "Amazing run, Celeste." Logan complimented.
             I nodded, and wrapped my arm around Fletcher to help him stand, he stood and limped on one leg.
             "Wow. That's amazing.." I said, staring at the Frostwhales, leaping into the air.
             "Yeah it is.." Logan agreed.