The Recruit

20. Cold

"Welcome back, my two little bunny rabbits," Surge said. "Nice warm afternoon, was it? Lovely choccy biscuits? Nursey made you all better? Well I have another special treat for you two love birds. Take off your boots and everything but your underwear, then go outside and, in the unlikely event you make it through the night, I'll let you come back in the morning. Remember, it's nice and warm in the main building if you want to quit." Ash and Serena stripped off and stepped into the dark.

"Merry Christmas," Surge shouted after them.

The door shut, closing off the last tiny arc of light. The wind was bitter. Frost burned their feet. Serena was only a few metres from Ash, but he could barely see her. Ash heard her sob.

"I'm sorry, Serena," Ash said. "This is all my fault." Serena didn't answer.

"Please talk to me, Serena. I know I was stupid. Seeing everyone sitting in the warm and it being Christmas made me crazy. You know?" Serena started crying quite noisily. Ash gently touched her shoulder. She backed off.

"Don't touch me, Ash." This was the first thing Serena had said to Ash since the fight.

"We can get through this together," Ash said. "I'm so sorry. You want me to beg? I'll go down on the ground and kiss your feet if you just start talking to me.

"Ash," Serena sobbed, "we're done for. You can say you're sorry a thousand times, but you've still got us both thrown out."

"We can get through this, Serena. Find somewhere warm and go to sleep." Serena laughed a little.

"Find somewhere warm! Ash, there is nowhere warm! There's a big muddy field and an assault course. Nothing else. It's already close to freezing. An hour out here and we'll start getting frostbite in our toes and fingers. It's fourteen hours until morning. If we fall asleep we'll die of cold."

"You don't deserve this, Serena. I'll bang on the door and ask to speak to Large. I'll say it's all my fault and that I'll quit if he lets you back inside."

"He won't bargain with you, Ash. He'll laugh in your face."

"We could start a fire," Ash said.

"It's raining. It's pitch dark. We'd need something dry to start the fire and somewhere out of the wind to start it. Any suggestions?"

"The bridge over the lake on the assault course," Ash said. "There's a gap under there before the water starts. We could put branches and stuff along the sides to keep out the wind."

"I suppose," Serena said. "We've got to try. There might be stuff in the rubbish."

"What?"

"There are two rubbish bins at the back of the building," Serena said. "We could go through them. There might be stuff inside we could use."

Serena led Ash to the back of the training building. They each pulled the lid off a bin. Both were full of rubbish tied up in bags.

"Reeks," Ash said.

"I don't care what it smells like," Serena said. "Here's what I'm thinking. We take the bins with all the stuff in to the bridge. Then we go through all the bags. Hopefully there's something to start a fire with. The bags will help us keep warm if we wear them."

It was hard finding the bridge in the moonlight. It was too dark to make out any more than the outline of the ground. There was a risk of hitting something sharp with every step. Ash and Serena took a bin each. They weighed a ton. Ash tried rolling his instead of carrying it, but the bin kept jamming in the mud. Serena was having an even tougher time because her hand was bandaged. They walked the path at the side of the assault course. Ash's feet were numb already. He thought about the gruesome photos of black frostbitten toes in the training manual and shuddered.