Prompts: Blood Trail/"Is there anybody alive out there?"
It took Keith a moment to realize he was still alive.
Consciousness came back slowly. He didn't know where he was. Or why he was so cold.
He tried moving his fingers but realized he couldn't feel them. He started to open his eyes, but it was like they were glued shut. Was he on his back or on his front? For all he knew he was floating out in space, untethered.
That would make the most sense. He didn't remember what happened, he just knew it was something bad. He couldn't feel anything, but something told him that if he could feel he would be in a whole lot of pain.
He remained limp as awareness came back. More cold. And yes, a lot of pain. And a concerning amount of numbness. He struggled to remember how he had gotten here. They were on a mission. Yeah. something about a mission.
He sat up, bringing his hand to his eyes and rubbing them hard. He was able to open his eyes now. He looked at his palm. Ah, that was the reason he couldn't open them before. They had been frozen shut. He watched the ice melt into his gloves until his hair blew into his face. The wind blew more snow into his face, it felt like needles.
Keith looked around at the vast expanse of untouched white. It was night. How long had he been here? And where was here?
Right, the mission. They were transporting refugees, had them all loaded up into a cargo ship and were bringing them to safety. That safety had something to do with small moons.
He looked down at himself. His red armor had saved him from freezing to death, buried as he was, halfway covered in snow. His helmet was still on, but the glass had shattered all around him. His left arm hung limply at his side. The pain was growing, the more he paid attention to it. No bones sticking out though, Keith probably had the armor to thank for that too.
He turned on his comm, and listened to the static for a moment before shakily asking, "What happened?"
No response. Only the soft howling of the wind.
He moved to stand. Oh it was bad. It was really bad. But he managed to get two feet underneath him as he wobblily straightened. At least gravity seemed to have less pull here. He didn't think he'd have made it to his feet otherwise.
"Anybody?" He tried again as he spun slowly, looking for some kind of landmark.
Oh no. The snowy plain extended for miles in all directions. He took an experimental step forward. And another. He picked a random direction and made off in a straight line.
He wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. But he had to keep moving.
It was coming back to him. There was an ambush, the ship cargo ship they were on had taken a hit. He remembered he had been hiding behind Hunk, who was eagerly talking to one of the refugees about their dining culture when he flung off his feet and into the ceiling. The details were fuzzy after that. The whole ship must have gone down. Eventually, he'd find someone else.
After what felt like years, he looked back, to make sure he hadn't veered off course. The light swirling snow had started to fill his tracks, but the drippy trail of blood he left in his wake stood out brightly against the snow. He hadn't even realized he was bleeding.
"Please," Keith begged desperately. "Is anybody alive out there?"
