Ice -- Wolv book II

17 - Stranger Danger

As the world tossed and tumbled around me, I fought to reopen my eyes. It felt like someone had sealed them shut with superglue.

Come on, open! My eyelids sluggishly complied, opening into slits mere millimeters across. Thank you!

"Norman, he's slipping!" I felt the two hands clamped around my hands slacken, and my wrists began to slide free.

"No, no, I got 'em," Norm growled, and in one smooth motion, one of his hands let go of my foot and reached down, taking hold of my back and swinging me over his shoulder.

"Oof!"

"Shut it." He jammed his shoulder into my gut, earning a dry cough from my chest. Please, you could be just a LITTLE gentler! I shook my head lazily, willing my eyes to focus.

Every room we passed, every corridor we traversed; they were all empty. The lights were all off, save for the dim light filtering in through the windows. My eyes flicked up to one of them, and I caught the briefest glimpse of a perfect white orb, hanging full in the sky far out above the horizon.

Norm walked on, passing the window before I had a chance to comprehend the full moon.

"Did you plug it in?" Norman asked, breaking the silence.

"Yessir, I hooked it up to the generator about an hour ago."

"Good. Darn thing doesn't start easy in this weather." What doesn't start?  "Go on ahead an' prime it up. We'll be right out."

The shoulder that had been digging into my gut shrugged, and I slumped down onto the cold floor by Norm's feet. One of men donned a parka, than pushed open a door and disappeared outside. A rush of frigid air washed over me, but I was too drugged up to shiver.

My eyes drifted up, and focused on the end of an adjacent hallway. The flooring in the hallway--as well as directly beneath me--was weathered-looking hardwood, sporting several large water stains and countless splits and checks throughout the beams.

Creeeaaaak.....

My ears perked as the floor at the far end of the corridor groaned under someone's weight.

A shadowy figure stood at the end of the hallway, holding what looked like a plate in both hands. My eyes slid up over to my captors--both of them were too focused on the parkas they were donning to notice the newcomer. Maybe they just didn't hear anything.

The figure froze at the sight of us, its head moving back and forth between Norman and I.

Sarah?  She stepped forward into a beam of moonlight, illuminating her worried features as well as the two plates of food in her hands. I howled for joy inside, and cracked a tiny smile.

She'd kept her word; she'd found us some food.

Too bad she's too late. Her eyes widened, and she stepped out of the light and into an open door, disappearing from my sight.

"Hey, grab him somethin' to wear, eh? We'll get a lot more for him if he's still alive," Norm snapped. He still hadn't noticed Sarah, standing not fifty feet away--albeit behind door.

"Alright, alright." Hands lifted me into a sitting position, and something was draped around me. It reeked of caribou and sweat. "Shoot, this bastard's heavy."

"Stop complaining, Eli! I just carried him, he's light as a mîkwan!" He's light as a feather!

Finally, the caribou hide outfit had been pulled over me, leaving me marginally protected from the cold. My eyes wandered down to my chest; I was wearing a beige-colored hide jacket, adorned with a few brightly colored beads across the breast. The hide had been frilled at the ends of the sleeves. Seems like a rather elaborate outfit for a prisoner.