Stranded

The first thing I feel is the cold. Unbearable shards of ice prickling at my skin, whipping against my face and hair. I groan, pressing a hand into my forehead, as if it would somehow stop the pounding ache deep within my skull.Peeling open my eyes only makes things worse, and I'm met with a blinding light that only intensifies my headache. The sky is a pure white mixed with gray clouds, snowfall dancing across my vision and into my eyes. Snow. I jerk my head forward, panic closing around my throat as my eyes dart back and forth. I'm situated against a broken pod wall, wreckage and metal scraps lodged deep within the surrounding snow.Just how long had I been passed out? I reach down to pull myself up, then wince, as I feel a sharp stabbing pain in my ribcage. Fire crackles somewhere to my right, and I shift my gaze in that direction.Tending to the fire is Elias, sitting on a log as he pokes the remainder of our emergency parachute into the fire. Over the fire, he's boiling something. Pushing through the pain, I stumble to my feet, backing up several steps. His coat falls off my body, and the air around me suddenly grows ten times colder. I kick his overcoat aside. I don't need his clothing.I turn three hundred and sixty degrees, half expecting to see the bodies of Shelly, Sadie, and Renya among the wreckage. But they're nowhere to be seen, and we're completely alone. After inspecting the decimated pod remains for the second time, I realize the pod must have snapped in half after disconnecting from the main ship, before plummeting into the nearby planets stratosphere.Memories come flooding back, and I remember Elias tackling me, practically throwing me across the wall into the storage room. I glare at him, holding my arms together for warmth as I wait for him to say something. He doesn't glance up from the fire, his jaw set as he continues poking at the flames.Gone is the charming man I met on Andromida. Elias looks more pissed than I've ever seen him before. There's a line of dried blood running down his forehead and neck, exposing some of his internal metal. It's a gruesome sight, and I almost feel bad for him."Where are we?" I try to keep my tone even, and to stop my chattering teeth. I want to lunge forward and grab him by the hair to demand answers, but my body doesn't cooperate. The world still spins, static red, green, and blue dots dancing along with the snowflakes in my peripheral.At the sound of my voice, some of the tension leaves Elias' body. His shoulders slump, and he leans back to stare at the sky. He sighs loudly, then stands.In his hands, he holds a slightly malformed metal cup, steam pouring off the top. I tense when he approaches me, bringing my hands up to guard my face. Elias softens instantly, and he stops in his tracks. His next words are slow, as if speaking to an animal."Sit down, Mira. You're still injured." He reaches out to help me down, but I slap his hand away.Gods, I want to punch him. And I would, if only sensation returns to my hands, and my teeth stop chattering. Elias reaches for me again, and this time I'm unable to stop him as he helps me back onto the ground. He places the cup of hot water into my hands, and brings it to my mouth to drink. Briefly, I consider tossing the boiling water into his face. I don't though, and I drink from his cup begrudgingly."Giving me water won't make me spare your life," I spit. "You're a dead man walking.""I don't doubt you for a second," Elias replies dryly. "Finish your water."His water burns my tongue as I down the rest, warming me from the inside out. I hurl the cup back at him, and he catches it."I'm going to kill you," I snarl. I'm aware of how ridiculous it sounds, with me on the ground drinking water, and him kneeling over me. My words ring empty against the wind and snow blowing between us. "And if I can't, I won't rest until I've ruined your life."To my surprise, Elias doesn't laugh at me, nor does he point out the obvious, that in my current state I couldn't very well even kill a rodent. He walks back to the fireplace and draws me another cup of hot water."It was only ever yours to ruin anyway," he muses, his earlier dark mood completely gone. "Say, Mira, who taught that brown-haired girl how to shoot? Surely it wasn't you. I was right in front of her, the margin for error-"I throw a nearby scrap of metal at his head, because his voice is making my head hurt even more. He ducks, dodging the shrapnel with a chuckle.Elias' words about the brown-haired girl bring me back to my senses, and the plans brewing in my head about how to kill Elias die instantly. Shelly and the others are somewhere on this planet. Somewhere likely dying, or freezing to death. I struggle to my feet again, a new urgency taking over my body. I need to find them, before they get eaten by wolves or whatever creatures are on this planet."Sit back down, you won't find them," Elias demands, reading my thoughts. "It's been hours since the crash. If they survived the impact, then they've already taken shelter.""They're human," I retort, brushing snow off my legs. "And it's well below freezing. Do you seriously believe they'll survive the night?" There's no sun visible through the clouds, but even I can tell it's getting dark, and getting dark quick."They," Elias snaps, "are none of your concern. Now, will you sit down, or do I have to force you down?" I'm not suicidal enough to try to fight Elias in my state, so I drop back onto the snow with a huff. Satisfied, he brings the water back to my lips."I'm hungry," I deadpan after finishing the cup. "I want to go hunting.""You're not leaving," Elias says in a tone that garners no argument. "You'll rest for the rest of the night at the very least. We have protein bars."He hands me one, but I turn my head away in disgust."Gods, I can't stand those. I'd rather starve to death than eat that." For extra effect, I mimic vomiting.Elias says nothing, staring at me with an unreadable expression."I need real food," I tell him, crossing my arms over my stomach. "I think I'm going to die if I don't eat something soon." Elias looks unconvinced, but when a real growl sounds from my stomach, his face goes somber."Can you catch a rabbit or something else small to roast over the fire?" My request comes out stronger now, as I'm not entirely lying. "I promise I won't run. Where would I go?" I gesture around the miles of snow and trees around us.Still, Elias doesn't budge. Sighing, I pull out a last ditch effort."Please?"Whatever battle Elias is fighting in his head, is decided the moment the word leaves my mouth. He exhales a long breath, and mutters out a defeated fine. I watch him pick up a piece of pod debris, then bend it with his bare hands to resemble a spear."Don't run," he tells me again. "I'd prefer not to chase you down, and drag you back." With those final words, he disappears into a nearby cluster of trees. To be safe, I count down from a 100, and when his form doesn't re-appear, I jump to my feet.There's nothing from the ship wreckage worth taking with me, other than the few protein bars that I find. I peel one open, chewing absent-mindely as I dig through the rumble. My ribs still ache, but the pain is bearable, and likely far better than whatever the others are enduring right now.After a bit of rummaging, I managed to find a blaster. I can't tell if it was Elias, or mine, but at this point it doesn't matter. It's only now that I realize I'm still wearing the small black dress Shelly had picked out for me. My eyes fall back to Elias's discarded overcoat, and bitterly, I retrieve it again.I drop the blaster and remaining bars into one of his oversized pockets, then begin moving south, backtracking from where our portion of the pod had slammed, and skidded against the snow. Snow crunches around my boots, and I thank the heavens that I chose to wear knee length boots this time, instead of stilettos.Unknown: What did I say about running?I freeze at the new message that popped up in my head, and I whip my head in all directions, despite knowing I'm alone. There's nothing but snow and trees in all directions.Mirabelle: Is this Elias? How did you find my contact?For a second, hope floods my system, and I attempt to reach out to my father, to any ship or service in the nearby vicinity. But my messages don't go through, and I'm met with the realization, that whatever weak signal we have down here from nearby satellites, is nowhere near strong enough to connect me with someone above the stratosphere.Elias: Not hard to find, when you're the only possible connection I can make on this god forsaken planet.Elias: You should come back. I've been gravely injured, you need to come save me.Mirabelle: That's wonderful. I'm not coming back.Elias: Fine. Mira, I'm dying. Come back to finish the job.I leave his message on read, redoubling my pace. The other half of the pod can't be far, at most a few miles from our wreckage point. Yet as an hour passes with no sign of wreckage, I begin to lose hope. Did I head off in the wrong direction? Wind burns my eyes and cheeks, snow falling so fast, it shades the entire world white.I look down and notice that the snow tracks I left only moments ago have already vanished, completely filled in by fresh snow. I take another step, and my boot crunches through a layer of snow so deep, it consumes my entire shin. I want to keep going, but the raging storm seems to only be getting worse. Maybe there's a cave, or tree cover I can spend the night under. Just thinking about spending the night curled up on icy snow makes me shudder.In the distance, I think I see a cave opening that looks promising. But before I can take another step, beady black eyes appear out of the close foliage. A low snarling makes the hairs on my skin stand on end, and I reach for my blaster. Several more pairs of beady eyes appear, surrounding me on all sides. And when they finally step close enough for me to see, I let out a hysterical laugh.I'm fucked.*Authors note*Theres nothing I love more than a 'lost in the woods' arc. Writing Elias tend to a fire and hunt like a hunter gatherer is so funny 💀 considering he's literally an android.Again, thanks for reading and as always let me know if you have any thoughts or feedback! ❤️