Chapter 29

Waking up early that day, captain gets up and realizes that Arthur was already standing watching the sun's rays penetrate through the entrance of the cave.

-Did you stay awake all night? (captain)

-I've slept enough while you carried me. Now let's get things straightened out, as you said yesterday we have a long way to go. (Arthur)

-OK. (captain)

Stepping outside and receiving the first rays of sunlight after a long period on his face, Arthur feels extremely refreshed.

-Which way should we go? (Arthur)

-Let's go west. If we are lucky we can meet another group on a mission. (captain)

The two start walking on the fluffy snow at their feet. Before leaving the cave the captain looks back and seeing that all he sees is just an endless white carpet with nothing on top of it turns back around and continues walking along with Arthur. After a few hours since the two started walking Arthur notices something strange about his captain, he was sweating a lot and looked weak, when he starts coughing and immediately puts his hand in front of his mouth.

-It's all right? You look terrible. (Arthur)

With his hand still in front of his mouth he responds.

-It's all OK. I'm just going to rest behind that tree, give me some privacy. (captain)

Arthur just watches him going towards the tree and after that he looks at the sky, it was an intense blue without any trace of clouds. It didn't take the captain long to return to Arthur.

-We can continue. (captain)

After a long day of walking the two look for a place to spend the night, but they were out of luck, they didn't find any place that could provide shelter. His only options were to keep walking or try to sleep outside a shelter. The two could generate catastrophic situations, if they decided to walk without sleep they could die from extreme fatigue and if they decided to sleep outside in the middle of that cold they could die of hypothermia. In the end they decided it would be better to try to keep walking, a choice they might later regret. However, it was the only alternative they found. The situation was not easy anymore, but they persisted with a lot of effort and determination, their minds were totally set on keeping going, when suddenly a blizzard starts to happen. The wind starts to battle the two, shaking the branches of the trees around them, it was impossible to keep walking in that situation.

-Captain... (Arthur)

-Keep walking Arthur, don't stop moving forward. (captain)

Pulling his soldier with spirit and strength, captain goes ahead facing the strong winds that followed against his body. Arthur could barely see the walkway in front of him, the only thing he could see was the shadow of his captain fighting the blizzard. Night fell and no sign of anything you could use as shelter, they had been walking forward for hours without being able to see anything. Arthur knew they had to find shelter and quickly, but when he looked at his captain, who was walking ahead of him, he realized that he had fallen to the ground and had not risen.

-Captain!! (Arthur)

Arthur runs with all his strength to his body and reaching him realizes that he was sweating a lot and his breathing was quite intense, he was panting too much. Without thinking twice he slings it onto his shoulders and goes back to battling the wind to go on. In search of his last hope which was a shelter, he puts his conviction and hope in every step he takes. He knew they would both be dead if they didn't find shelter soon, even Arthur was extremely tired and didn't know how far he would be able to continue. Every step was an intense battle for the poor boy who carried his mate on his back. He began to think that everything was lost, when he sees something that leaves his eyes hopeful, a little ahead of him there was a cave, in it they could shelter from that storm. But unfortunately Arthur realized that he had abused his body in an extreme way, after taking a step he weakens and ends up falling and knocking down his captain.

Damn it! I can't stand up. (Arthur)

For a moment he tries to get up, but even standing up seemed unlikely, the idea that they were going to die at that moment crossed his mind, he starts to remember the moments he spent with all of them, he remembers the moments he spent with all his friends and with Angelica and begins to regret it. But when he remembers his father his eyes rage with vitality, he couldn't die at that moment, just thinking about what would happen to his father when he was alone again without the person he loved fills him with fury. With the strength of his arms he forces himself against the ground and gets up, with his legs trembling he walks to the body of his captain that has begun to be hidden by the snow and starts to lift him. It suddenly looked like that man weighed a ton to Arthur, but he didn't give up, he used all the strength of his body until he finally managed to get him onto his shoulders. Now his battle against the strong wind happens again, but unlike before Arthur was aware that every step he took was a step of hope for his father to keep smiling. As he expended his strength on each of these steps, the image of his father kept running through his head, the image of him having a cup of coffee while reading a newspaper, when he watched a movie with him and ended up sleeping, the image that he saw him in the middle of an entire audience, smiling, as Arthur performed in a play and an image of him in the cemetery, watching his father from afar as he bent over his mother's tombstone and wept intensely. That image was what he would like to prevent from happening again, his father crying and breaking his heart, so he would not give up, for his life and for his father's happiness he continued on until he finally managed to enter the cave.