The Long Dark

to go. Enough snow had already accumulated that the part of the Ripsaw facing the side road, had been covered in a blanket of snow. I thought they’d be safe. Or at least hoped they would be. I repeated at least two times how Titouan and Avery should not leave the Ripsaw. Avery, pretty much locked in his own world that was the phone, didn’t say anything. Titouan was more verbose, but only barely, saying,” That he had fucking heard me.” That was good enough for me. We took our weapons and GPS and began the half-mile walk towards the complex.
We trudged along in the blinding snow. I had to wipe the GPS screen regularly, rarely taking my eyes off it. I was a little too fixated with it. Sam nudged me away from my distraction. “I thank it’s on fire. We should turn back ‘round.”
There was a glow off to our right, but there was no way of knowing what was glowing. Hell, it might’ve been a security light for all we knew. We sure as hell couldn’t see with any clarity what it might be. “Just a little farther.”
Sam sighed.
I looked behind us but couldn’t see Tish. She had fallen too far back. I couldn’t believe Sam had let that go unnoticed. I supposed he had his own distraction. “Keep up, Tish,” I hissed. I waited for a moment. No reply.
We stopped. “Tish,” I said again, this time louder.
“Son, we fuckin ourselves with ‘is. We need ta go.”
“I thought I heard something,” Tish said, materializing into view.
“Get down,” I said. I’m not sure why, because no one could see us unless they were mere feet away. “Let’s just wait here for a second, figure out what we do next.”
I was beginning to feel guilty for dragging everyone on a potentially deadly wild goose chase. It’s not exactly like there seemed to be any other better options, where there was so much upside, but I knew Sam was likely right. The Order would’ve surely made this place a priority. Still, I didn’t want to give up on it. Not yet. We were so close, and we had already risked a lot getting there. I decided I would try to mitigate our potential losses. I would move up alone and see what I could see. Sam and Tish could hold back and cover the rear. It sounded good.
I told Sam and Tish my plan. Tish told me that I was going to “get them killed.” For Sam’s part, it was apparent he wasn’t thrilled, either. “You do what you need ta do. We got yer back. You get killed, ‘ough, it on you.”
“Good enough,” I said. It wasn’t. I’m not sure what I expected from Sam, but he was colder than the blistering winds. That coldness was new. I was apparently fucking up. Still, I was drawn to the place.
***
It soon became apparent there had been a firefight at the base. Just outside the main complex housing the radar dome sat two vehicles; they looked to have been shot up to holy shit. The main complex seemed to have received its fair share of damage, including the main door barely hanging on to its frame. At least three bodies were sprawled just outside the main entrance, plus at least one more lying near the vehicles. To the right of the main building were several smaller buildings, one of which was the source of the fire.
I crept towards it. My curiosity like a bug attracted to the brilliant orange light of a bug zapper on a warm, summer’s night. I wished it was warm or summer. I hoped I wasn’t walking towards a bug zapper, though.
While the object—the object rather than the building was on fire-- was heavily damaged, there was enough of it intact to know it was some sort of mobile radar. Initially, it seemed innocuous. On further inspection, there were clear signs it wasn’t as it initially seemed.
I covered my face as I moved closer to the fire. I quickly swiped at the side of the object, wiping away some of the char, before quickly backing away. What I was seeing didn’t make sense. I moved back in for another quick swipe. I had uncovered three small blocks of stenciled red lettering in what appeared to be Russian.
I heard crunching snow near me. Before I had put any thought at all into what I was getting ready to do, I had called out. “Sam… Tish?”
There was no reply. Not immediately anyway. Then two quick shouts in what I believed to be Russian, soon followed by thuds of trampling feet in the snow. I hustled away from the burning dish, cut my headlamp, and hoped the blizzard would obscure my presence enough to make it back to Tish and Sam.
My rifle was unslung. I had pocketed my bright GPS and was guessing my way back to Sam and Tish.
I had taken maybe fifteen or twenty strides when I heard pounding steps from behind me. First, there was one and then another, flying past. They were heading in the direction of Sam and Tish. Fuck it, I thought. I took off in the same direction. I still had a ton of the repellent on my jacket. I couldn’t remember if Sam and Tish used any of the tubes we had or not. I quickened my pace.
Sam cursed. “Don’t shoot. William is still out ‘ere.”
Tish cried out. Sam cursed again. There was rustling just ahead. More footfalls surrounded us. I flicked on my headlamp and took aim at what I assumed was a Gray on top of Sam. I turned the rifle around, gripping it by the barrel, and lashed out at Sam’s attacker. He went down with a sickening crunch. Two quick shots and a feminine scream could be heard just a few feet away. “Get off me,” Tish said. She had apparently taken care of her attacker. From the crunching snow around us, more were near.
Gunfire opened up from