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Ben readjusted the rifle strapped to his back and pointed his headlamp at the hut as he got closer. What he saw made his blood turn to ice.

The lights were on. The door had been smashed in, letting that light out into the night.

“Fuck,” Ben hissed. He yanked the rifle off his back and forced himself faster, ignoring the screaming pain in his knee. He ran up the hut steps, using the butt of his rifle to push the shattered remnants of the door out of his way before limping inside.

“Thing 2,” Ben whispered, his rifle up as he explored the tiny hut. “Report. This is Bravo.”

No response. Ben ground his teeth together. What the hell was his real name? Ben had gotten so used to calling the guy Thing 2, thanks to Levi bringing up the Dr. Seuss book when the two guys first reported in. Wait, the guy’s name was also from some childhood book. What was it? Ben stalked quietly through a narrow kitchen, racking his brains. Levi had said he loved the book when he was a kid. He and Austin had a collection… There was a tiger… What the fuck was it?

“Calvin,” Ben said as the name came to him. “Are you there?”

A low groan echoed from a room up ahead. Ben burst in to find a cramped bedroom with a single bed and several old coffee cups lying broken on the floor. A thirty-something man lay in the mess of coffee cups, swaddled in layers of winter clothing. The heating in the huts was much worse than their cozy cabin. There was a bullet wound in his leg.

Ben dropped to his good knee beside Calvin. “Hey! What happened?”

Calvin looked at him, disoriented. No, concussed. One of his pupils was bigger than the other, and he looked at Ben like he wasn’t sure what was going on. Also, as if Ben’s headlamp was hurting him.

Ben switched his headlamp off and snapped his fingers in front of Calvin’s face. “Status report, now.”

“The…” Calvin waved nonsensically toward the door. “Fucker said he was the other guy… Thing 1. Said he was hurt… I let him in. Stupid…”

“Was he hurt? Is he headed to the cabin?”

Calvin giggled weakly. “If he’s not hurt… he is now. Shot him in the arm. Bang.”

He made a finger gun with one limp hand. Ben checked him over quickly for any injuries he might’ve missed, then pushed himself up. “I’ll send for help. Keep this on the wound.”

Calvin jerked and swore at him as Ben pushed the corner of the nearby duvet against his injured leg. But after some convincing, he held it in place.

Ben slid his rifle onto his back. “Where’s your radio?”

Calvin pointed groggily. Ben ran into the next room and found the radio set up on the coffee table in the living room. He turned it on and held the receiver up to his mouth as he worked the dial to Dominic’s private frequency. “Delta, we have a situation. Come in.”

Static. Ben craned his head toward the window, where the cabin waited beyond the trees. He couldn’t see it from here, but he kept looking, as if he could know if Levi was okay if he stared hard enough.

“Dominic,” Ben said. “Come the fuck in, now!”

Static gave way to Dominic’s sharp voice. “Report.”

“Sniper is en route to the cabin, and Thing 2 needs medical attention at his hut. Send whoever the fuck you have.”

There was a beat of silence. “I’ll send them to your location. But Ben, the storm⁠—”

“I know,” Ben said. He glared out at the snow. The storm might have died down, but the roads were blocked. There wouldn’t be anyone barging in to save the day. That had been what Thing 1 and Thing 2 were for.

“Heading back to the cabin,” Ben said. “I’ll give you an update once I have the situation under control.”

“You’d fucking better,” Dominic said. Ben heard it for what it was: Don’t die. Ben slid his rifle off his back and charged out of the cabin, plunging back into the snow. His knee ached with every step, but Ben didn’t feel it. He didn’t feel anything except his raging heartbeat urging him back to Levi.

CHAPTER 18

There was a knock at the door.

Levi bolted upright in the wooden chair. He thought about calling out the password he’d joked with Ben about, but something held him back.

An unfamiliar voice echoed from the porch, making Levi’s blood freeze. “Bravo? This is Thing 2. We have a situation.”

Levi stood cautiously. Was that Thing 2’s voice? He’d never listened very closely to Ben’s radio transmissions. Shit, why hadn’t he listened?