The sled

That night was quiet, they stayed in their tents, even if they heard whispering outside. They didn't move, they didn't react. Ryan was holding onto his journal; he hadn't opened it in so long. But this time he held it close. At intervals, he would write in it. He would write messages to his daughter, telling him everything he wanted to her if never could again. He would write and write until his hands became cramped and sore. Ryan would lay there with pages of messages to his little girl back home and a heart aching with sadness.

A little click happened in his ear and he looked up to see Virgil in the darkness playing with that compass. He was more admiring the shape and design than actually the functionality.

Ryan whispered, "I don't know if that'll get us home."

Virgil glanced down at him, there was a sweet smile playing on his lips. "That's okay. I probably won't be going back home anyways."

Ryan peeked up from that as he asked, "Why do you say that? Have you... lost faith in me?"

"No," Virgil said curtly. "It just sounds deserving."

"Deserving?!"

"Yeah..." Virgil sighed. "I started this expedition, it got a lot of people killed, and somehow I'm still alive. Sounds like a god is saving something worse for me down the line."

"We agreed this wasn't your fault," Ryan stated.

"Perhaps..." Virgil hummed, "But I'm a billionaire, Ryan. A spoiled brat from old money who doesn't deserve it. When this expedition is over and I die, I've organized everything so the deserved money will go to all of you. Guess if I die, I won't be able to fire Elucid properly." He snorted at that with a chuckle and continued, "He has helped out a lot. So maybe he deserves 'something.' For just helping."

"...Maybe," Ryan sighed too, too tired to really dive into it, "He's still a racist ass."

"Yes, he still is," Virgil agreed, "But at least all that money will go to all of you, and if not you..." he paused a bit, choked up a bit and said, "It'll go to your families. And if anything else... it'll go to some charities."

"You wouldn't keep any of it?"

"I decided to leave some behind to retire in," Virgil noted. "Just enough to get by. But even then..." He gazed faraway, his eyes crescent as a light shone inside. "I wanted to use it, to retire with Kathlyne... I wished I could have stayed with her, grown old with her, for the rest of our days, on a balcony in a small home near the ocean. The scent of sea water... the sound of seagulls. Somewhere faraway... where we could fall in love again."

Ryan watched him, his shoulders slumped, and his eyes fallen. His eyelashes were long for a man, but they framed his eyes nicely, "Was your marriage with Kathlyne failing?"

Virgil slowly bit his lip then let go. He turned to Ryan with pleading eyes as he replied, "I thought we could mend it. I thought we could have a second chance, or a third chance. Or how many chances we needed to heal. But we weren't that lucky. I thought we could be better than other marriages in our field. Real and loving... But it wasn't like that, especially near the end."

"...Did you ever love her?"

"Once, I did once, and I thought I could now," Virgil sighed. "I thought we both could love, again. But the pressures that came with framing a perfect marriage to the public's eyes did more damage than good, so Kathlyne wanted to come down here. Away. I thought it would fix us, to be away. I was wrong."

"Is that why she lied about the pregnancy?"

Virgil stared at him, his expression was hurt, but he nodded, "Yes, I think she lied about that. I think she was using that to test me in some way. But there is no way of telling now."

Ryan watched him, they both stared in silence, but Ryan then spoke, "My wife-my ex-wife Rachel, we had a strained marriage. I was away a lot, doing this kind of work, and she had to take care of both our kids, and she also had a job that worked late hours sometimes. We argued on how to balance our lives better for our children, but stupidly, we focused too much on our problems and not our kids."

Virgil was listening contently as Ryan continued, "There was an incident, my son disappeared one New Year's Night. We never found him."

"Oh god, Ryan," Virgil sympathized.

"Yeah uh, after he disappeared..." Ryan mumbled, "We found in his journal that he was in contact with someone. It sounded like an older woman of sorts, but the police could never figure out who it was... I think it was one of his teachers."

"Why would they do that?"

"I don't know," Ryan answered. "We never found his body, but it's been almost several years now. There is no way we could find him now."

"What was his name... if you don't mind me asking?"

"Colby," Ryan told him. "He was ten years old."

"Oh god," Virgil grimaced. "I'm so sorry. So sorry. That shouldn't have happened to you."

Ryan closed his head, then nodded, "There was a snowstorm that night. I saw him half an hour before. Then, he was just gone, the back door opened, and his footsteps running outside. I couldn't find him. He was gone."

"Ryan..." Virgil took his hand and faced him.

"I failed him," Ryan stated. "I couldn't find him. That broke everything. Rachel took Abbie and the house during the divorce. I was living in a shit apartment with only pain killers to keep me company. I still sometimes dream about him, lost out there, calling me."

"Then why be here?" Virgil asked. "Out in the snow?"

"...It was a long time ago, Virgil," Ryan explained. "I've searched, I've mourned, I've done what I could for him now. So, I do jobs like this. So maybe people can find peace, if they find their lost ones. Or..." He took Virgil's hand, "Find solace over them."

Virgil held a soft smile to him and replied, "You have helped."

"That's good," Ryan nodded. "That's what I wanted."

"Besides the money?" Virgil teased.

"We might die tomorrow," Ryan countered. "Money hardly seems like any importance right now. I'm more focused on getting everyone else out of here."

He gazed at him, eyes sorrowful and said, "You know, I've had a lot of people tell me how to feel, but no one has really asked or care to know how I feel. And everyone tells me that if I think Kathlyne is out there, then she must. No one has told me off, not like you." He let himself lean on the ground, head rested on his shoulder, eyes peering up to Ryan, "I'm thankful for that... and I... I like that."

"I could tell," Ryan smirked.

Loudly the whispers interrupted their moment rather rudely, but they were incomprehensible. Whispering over them as if trying to keep the people from sleeping, but at times it was like a drowning sound. Virgil stated, "That dark space that came out of nowhere; it wasn't the sky or anything. It must move like those things."

"Probably so they can hunt in the day," Ryan muttered. "We have to careful I suppose."

Virgil didn't speak for a minute, just exhausted as he said to Ryan, "I'm tired, let's sleep now."

"... Okay."

The two woke up to loud arguing outside and found Elucid and Roberto cussing each other out, ready to throw some hands. Ryan got in between them as he interrupted, "What is going on here?!"

"He's been bashing my dogs, Ryan!" Roberto barked as he pointed an accusatory finger at Elucid.

Elucid returned the favor with a venomous scowl, "That's cause your dogs are fucking stupid! You call yourself a dog trainer, yet they're so brain dead all the time!"

"My dogs have had the best training!"

"The best training comes from a fat little Churro that is out of his element!"

"Fuck you!" Roberto was about to beat him, but Ryan grabbed him, though he was contemplating letting the guy tackle him now. But Virgil intervened.

"Elucid, this isn't the time to start stupid arguments!" Virgil snapped at him. "We don't need your racist insults also, fucker."

"Who cares what time it is?!" Elucid hissed. "We're so off course that it doesn't fucking matter anymore! No matter what I say, it doesn't change the fact that we are so royally screwed, and this porker's dogs aren't even trained good enough to alert us to any of the dangers that's going on! Not even when one of their hearts are being ripped out. I thought mutts barked at everything, yet they don't even budge when this paranormal crap starts happening."

"That... is true," Virgil agreed reluctantly. "That the dogs seem to calm around these things, but! That gives you no right on being so hard on Roberto!"

"Pft, no one's going hard for Roberto," Elucid scoffed. "He deserves some names after letting go of Chuntao!"

"You let go of her too!" Roberto shouted. "You didn't pull her away from danger!"

"No, you didn't pull her away!" Elucid yelled. "You all did a shitty job trying to protect her!"

"We tried our best!" Ryan now snapped at him.

"Well your best isn't good enough!" Elucid countered, stood tall to face Ryan dead in the eyes and said, "You're never good enough."

Ryan almost threw a punch, he almost let it fly. But something far away roared. A loud terrible roar, one that vibrated and pierced their ears. The group grew silent at that roar as it echoed from far away. They looked into that direction, staring to the north, hearing the roar resonate in the air.

It then howled again, it's voice animalistic and menacing. Roberto was the first to speak up, he tugged on Ryan's jacket saying, "It's coming from the north... where we got to go."

They all felt a wave of fear swell around them, shivering from terror more than the cold. Elucid stepped back, his mouth mumbling as he pleaded, "What do we do...? What do we do...?"

Roberto turned to Ryan, his eyes were glassy, staring into the distance with an expression of dreaded defeat churning on his face. He caught Virgil's eye who was looking to Ryan for guidance as well, but Ryan was frozen in place. Like ice was growing around, he was unable to move.

Roberto pulled at his arm, gaining his attention as he yelled, "We'll go back!"

Elucid realized the meaning of that statement before Ryan as he shouted, "What?! No! We can't go back!"

"And we can't go the way we want to go," Roberto countered. "Whatever that is, it sounds big. I don't want to face it; I think we can all agree on that." He gulped then continued, "Past the ice tunnels and before the lake there is another... longer path that goes to the shore. If we go there, we can avoid all of this."

"Those things..." Ryan mumbled.

"We know how to handle them," Roberto stated, though his voice was ringing with uncertainty, "We need to go now though." Another bellowing roar echoed through the air, and Roberto began quickly pushing, urging them, "Now! Now!"

Everyone was running everywhere, pulling down the tents, getting the dogs hooked to the sleds. There was panic rising in the air, but they felt that if they kept moving, maybe they could make it. Maybe.

Once hooked up, they kicked off, speeding back to where they came from prior. Barely a few meters from their base, they heard the loud embedded scream, echoing across the open plains. They traveled with the wind against their exposed cheeks, the dark clouds looming overhead, threatening to storm. The group sailed across sheets of ice and powdered snow, kicking up flakes of it behind them.

They heard the roar again, it was closer now, they turned over a hill and slid down. The men started hearing scratching along with loud thudding, trampling through blankets of snow. It carried heavy footprints, slamming onto the ground, something sharp sliding on the ice, creating piercing noises. Sooner they heard loud, heavy breathing, bursting with the footsteps, it getting more defined the closer it got to them.

Ryan glanced behind them as they reached the bottom of the hill to see something big smash its way through the snow covered cap. His eyes widened to see a beast, of overwhelming size, its mass threatening their lives. There were teeth and protruding claws that appeared with his quick glance. There was thick, hairless skin that wrinkled over its muscular fat. He turned away, hearing the other's reactions at the monstrous being that was after them, standing tens of feet tall, salivating at them.

Elucid was the one to scream, a scream riddled with such agonizing fear that it sounded more of a children's cry, "It has no eyes! It has no eyes!" Ryan pushed his dogs to go even faster, even if their hearts blew out, they needed to pick up the speed now.

The thing was catching close behind them, screaming its heinous cry that ripped apart the sky. They fled, faster and harder, losing breath at the thought of that thing mashing its teeth around their torsos. Ryan shut his eyes at the brief imagination at the monster taking his head in its mouth, and quickly and bloodedly separating it from his body. He reopened them, kept moving, they all kept moving, the wind burning their skin, straining to hold onto the handles of the sled.

But unfortunately, some of the dogs on Virgil's sled were losing speed, growing tired. Virgil snapped at the realization that he was falling behind as he gasped, "NO! NO! KEEP GOING! NO!"

Ryan turned to this cry as Virgil looked up at him, the beast directly behind him. Mouth wide open, teeth sharp as swords, extending wide to impale him. Ryan's heart felt like it was about to stop, he was already turning around. He watched Virgil, and Virgil stared back at him. The beast was seconds away from having him in its mouth. Virgil swayed to his right, keeping eyes with Ryan, and abandoned his sled.

Ryan's mouth fell agape as Virgil jumped off, falling to his right, rolling onto the snow. He watched as the beast collided into the sled, bulldozing into the wooden frame like it was nothing, and scattering Virgil's supplies everywhere. When the sled broke into pieces, its teeth eventually met with the dogs that screamed in fear then from pain as the sharp fangs sunk into their flesh. The weight of that creature collided into them, slamming their bodies into its mass, dashing their bloodied remains all across the white snow. The beast took the screaming dogs into his mouth and yanked it around, whipping it about in his mouth. The gangline that was holding them all together snapped, and the front dogs landed on the snow with various limps and injuries.

Three dogs were unable to move too far, but two limped and ran straight to Roberto who called to them. Once they reached him, he pushed them onto his sled and drove off immediately.

Virgil had picked himself up and had started running away from the monster who was too focused on the dying dogs to notice him. Ryan caught up to him, picking him up on the sled, and driving off as fast as those dogs could take the two of them.

Eventually they moved at a steady pace, trying to give the dogs a bit of a break. They were close to the caves, Ryan sighed in relief at the thought of it, glancing down at Virgil who was now standing on the footboard ahead of him. Earlier he was gasping from the situation, but now his breathing had calmed down and he was shaking less. He was now gripping the dog sled handle, staring out at what was ahead. Ryan gazed at his vibrant red hair, tasseled out from under his head that had fallen down. His eyes soften and he was so close to him.

The sled hit a bump, maybe because of a rock or a thick sleet of ice, and at that imbalance, Virgil fell back into Ryan for support. Ryan reflexed and held onto Virgil's side, helping him get steady. Virgil balanced himself back up and glanced up to Ryan. He didn't notice before, but Virgil's eyes were a very vibrant green. Virgil stared back at him, he muttered, "Thank you," he turned away, and rephrased, "Thank you for coming back for me."

Ryan gazed down at him and whispered, "Of course I'd come back to you."

Virgil's voice hitched at that, but he said nothing. But what he did do was he took Ryan's hand that was still unconsciously on his hip and wrapped it around his waist. He then murmured, "Then don't let go."

Another roar echoed through the air and Virgil whipped his head to look behind. The terror was returning, stricken briefly by the sweet calm, but now it was riding in full force. Ryan saw his hands tighten on the handle; his eyes sunk at the sight. He gripped tighter around Virgil's waist, regaining his attention. Virgil held onto his hand, leaning back onto his chest. His voice trembled, "A-Are we close?"

"..." Ryan breathed into his hair and said softly, "We're almost there."

"...Okay," Virgil took him in. His scent is somehow comforting in this horrible situation. "Okay..."

They could hear the creature's loud footsteps approaching, its loud breathing. Its roar was resonating, Ryan dug his chin into Virgil's shoulder. Virgil grabbed onto Ryan's right hand, which was holding onto the handle. The roar was screeching, they kept sledding faster.

The moment they saw the ice tunnels that monster appeared hot on their tails. Once he saw it, Ryan shouted to the others, "Elucid, go first! Then Roberto!"

"What the hell, Ryan?!" Roberto called back.

"You have extra dogs on you!" another scream bellowed behind them. "Meaning more weight! Let Elucid go first!"

"F-Fuck!" Roberto shouted, but he relented. Elucid was the furthest ahead anyways, and he quickly slid into the cavern. The beast's talons slid on the ground as it ran, now about a dozen meters away from Virgil and Ryan. Roberto then slid in, disappearing into the darkly lit tunnel. The creature snapped at Ryan's jacket, he felt the movement behind him, straightening his spine. The loud teeth cashing together. Quickly, their sled finally met the entrance of the cave, they slid through, and once the two passed through, the monster crashed into the entrance. His heavy weight, smashing deep into the tunnel, causing it to rumble. When he collided, it made the earth quake around them, taking them off their balance and falling off the sled. But even when they saw the dogs keep going, they still picked themselves up to outstretch any distance they would need from that beast.

The tunnel was thundering with noise and ice from above was falling down. The monster roared as they ran, and ice dropped from the ceiling. Suddenly, everything was dark, and they couldn't move.

-

Virgil and Ryan fell unconscious under ice and awoke to lights flashing in their faces, and the others calling to them. Ryan blinked, seeing Roberto and Elucid digging them out. Roberto was bawling and Elucid was in a tiffy, but he was still trying. Once Roberto saw Ryan's conscious face, he burst further into tears, "Ryan! Y-You're al-alive! I-I-I thought you were leaving me here with this asshole!"

Elucid pulled back at that and Ryan slightly chuckled. But when he glanced around, he couldn't see Virgil. He began to panic until he felt near his chest and around his arms was movement. He pushed some of the ice off of him to see Virgil peering under it, looking up at Ryan with teary eyes. He reached to him and asked, "Are you... okay?"

Ryan smiled at that, "Told you I won't let go."

Virgil grew a smile at that, "Yeah..."

"Ugh!" Elucid snapped, throwing his hands in the air as he walked off. "Dig yourselves out. You're gross."

Roberto sighed, turned to Ryan, "Why are we keeping him again?"

"Cause, he's not the worst person in the world," Ryan sighed as well. "He's just an asshole. Maybe one day he'll grow out of it."

"Or maybe he'll become fodder for one of those monsters," Roberto shrugged. "Munch, munch, bitch."

"Roberto," Virgil gained his attention as the two were pulling themselves out of the slight cave in, "I'm sorry... About the dogs."

Roberto gave him a look, then averted his eyes as he stated, "Pretty sure a lot of my dogs have died now. I am sad, but when I survive this, I'll get more money to buy new dogs. So, let's just let it go."

Virgil's face sank, but he nodded, "Okay."

The two were reunited with their sled and hooked some of Virgil's dogs to it. They sledded off, and out of the tunnel.