Wonderer's Wish World 2: Evolutionary Rebirth

Ghosts Walking

Day 22

Time: 12:34 PM

Location: Rime 12

After a few solid whacks, the door swung open towards them easily, swinging open with a type of enthusiasm that made Darius have to stumble back or risk the possibility of getting hit in the face.

Ai caught him, and tilted her head at him in a concerned way. Darius, embarrassed, just shrugged.

"Helloooo!" Molly called as she stepped into the doorway. "Is anyone-?"

Molly suddenly cut herself off with a gasp, and Darius gave her a strange look as he got up. Neither him nor Ai could get around her as she stood, frozen, in the doorway, but Misfortune and Greg slipped past easily.

"Sorry for breaking and entering!" Greg called as he walked inside. He glanced behind him at the door. "It won't happen again!"

"There's a person here!" Misfortune cried out, as if she were, also, trying to call to the people within. "He's sleeping! That's rude. My mommy said it's rude to sleep when companies over. Erm, EXCUSE ME!"

Maybe it was his imagination, but Darius swore he could feel heat on his front, coming from inside the base. The cold on his back, feeling like a million sharp little knives through his coat and into his skin. The feeling made him shudder, and he pushed forward against Molly insistently.

"Molly," he started, his voice low as more desperation leaked into his voice than he would have like.

"Misfortune, Greg..." Molly suddenly said, and something in her voice made Darius pause. He heard her gulp. "That person isn't sleeping."

"He's IGNORING us?!" Misfortune cried, scandalized, and Darius watched as Molly shook her head. She wasn't looking at the mysterious person, Darius realized, she was looking up, at the ceiling.

"No..." Molly said, slowly. "I think she's dead."

That gave Greg and Misfortune pause.

"Oh..." Misfortune said. "Oh no... yikes forever."

"He's..." Greg said, and then stopped himself. "She's really dead? Why?"

Molly gulped. "I think... I think it was the same thing as Rime 12. Their base froze over and then... and then they ran out of food. This person had been waiting for the ice on the door to unthaw... waiting for when she could leave to get supplies... but it didn't thaw fast enough."

Ai and Darius looked to each other. Even though Darius couldn't read her expression, he suspected Ai was starting to buy on to what Darius had already suspected.

No one could say anything to that, only staring in full silence as they thought about that, and what it meant.

Suddenly, Darius found himself shivering again. Gently, he nudged Molly with a numb hand.

"Molly," he whispered, and finally, she moved.

They all went into the base, and Darius eyed the corpse as they walked past. She was tucked tightly into a curled blanket, with only a cropping of dark black hair poking out. It scared Darius.

He looked away.

There was no food, which was unfortunate, and Darius' stomach made its displeasure known. However, there was a working vehicle, and plenty of unused blankets and clothes, which helpfully turned their journey that would take days into, likely, what would be over in less than three hours, granted that one of them could figure out how to drive it.

But that could wait for later. The warmth, which Darius knew was practically a gift from god in their state, felt like agony as he started to warm him, his frozen blood only just beginning to pump through his previously unused veins. As his fingers and toes slowly came back to life, it felt like hot, molten fire was being flooded through his and he had to check several time to make sure nothing was falling off.