She gets a grunt of agreement, but it’s not long before she regrets it.
They’ve spent most of their time so far squished together in the blanket fort, aside from blistering cold bathroom breaks, so when she steps out again only to get a blast of wind to the face, she mourns the loss of all that body heat he offered.
There’s been no sign of rescue yet. She assumed they’d be here by now. The sky is empty except for a few birds, and the landscape is just as desolate as before. They work together to drag their boots through the snow in a painstaking effort to write for help, knowing the plane itself is attention-getting enough but needing todo somethinganyway.
It could be worse. The snow could be solid instead of fresh powder. That doesn’t make it any warmer. By the time they’refinished, she can hardly feel her fingers or toes. She’s about to suggest they get back inside, but he’s not looking at her, he’s frozen in place, staring off in the distance at something over a small ridge.
“Look. Do you see them? Move slow.”
For a moment, she’s excited with thoughts of a rescue, but then the wolf pack trotting across the snow catches her eye. They’re nothing but pinpoints of dark fur, too far away to pose any danger, but her blood still runs even colder.
“We need to move the bodies,” he scowls.
She cuts him a glare like he can’t be serious. Nora hasn’t enjoyed spending nearly a day within semi-close proximity to dead people, but the idea of disturbing the remains when they can’t even bury them is somehow worse.
“I know,” he continues. “I know. But they’ll attract those wolves and maybe something else.”
She chooses to ignore whatsomething elsecould be. “It’s so cold. They won’t…rot unless it’s warm, right?”
“Right, and the wolves were probably tracking game, but it won’t be long before they check this wreck out. We don’t want to be within five plane rows of dinner if we can help it.”
He has a point there. Wildlife is going to investigate one way or another. She just assumed they’d both be gone by then, in a heated hotel with running water, before that ever became an issue.
“I’ll handle it,” he says, softly. “Go on back in, won’t take long.”
“I’m not letting you do that alone.”
“You don’t have to help. You don’t.”
Normally, she’d bristle at anyone telling her what she can and can’t do. Has far too much experience with that to fall backward again, but his plea is gentle and worried, like he wants to spare her from having to do this awful thing.
That only makes her want to share the burden of it even more, so she ignores the sting in her stomach and straightens up. “We’ll do it together.”
He doesn’t fight her on it again.
They move three bodies from the cabin out into the snow. Far enough that anything sniffing around won’t be right on top of them.
“Do you think anyone else survived?” she asks, once they’re snug in their blanket shelter again. “Wherever the rest of the plane ended up?”
“We made it. So, maybe. I hope so.”
“Me too. How far do you think we are from civilization?”
“Been thinking about that. Trying to do the math based on when we finished the movie and how long until the crash.”
“And?” she says, hopefully.
“And so far, somewhere between Juno, Barrow, and the Arctic Circle sounds about right. I’m pretty sure I didn’t see anything but snow when I was looking out the window for a while before it happened.”
She frowns. “That’s not encouraging.”
“Nope.”
“Why the fuck did they want to elope so far out? There are perfectly good mountains in the more populated areas.”
“Oh, I’m sure that was Oliver’s idea. He’s got a thing about being different. Finding the most unique places to visit. Hiking the tallest mountains. He wanted to attempt Everest like an idiot before I talked him out of it. If there’s an epic view out there, and some company willing to guide them to it, it won’t matter to him how hard it is to reach.”
Her nose wrinkles. “Keep saying things like that and I’ll really dislike your brother before I even meet him.”
