Sprint and Not Grow Weary

We had a big problem.

The snow storm was getting worse and worse by the minute. The longer we stayed here in the barn, the more horrendous it would be to travel outside, even the hundred or so meters we’d have to dash to get to the final inner wall would be impossible for the humans to make.

And that wasn’t even taking into account the Bowalkers on top of said last wall, ready to snipe us as we would race to reach the last gate into town.

Options were running out, and pretty soon this barn would be snowed in completely.

We had to make a tough call to leave the saved people here, but we’d make sure they’d keep warm. Indena and Marek set up some bonfires around, ones that wouldn’t burn down the barn. Then all the people were gathered close and wrapped up in a big hay pile and tarp. That would allow them to share body heat.

Not a comfortable arrangement, but they’d live.

As for us, now we had to think about how we were going to make it through the final dash.

“We’ll be able to run there, I can just barely see the gates in the wall.” Emily commented.

“But there will be those bowalkers, no?” Marek remembered. “Yalda and Mel should go and defeat them first.”

Uncle shook his head. “We wouldn’t have the time to waste taking out those demons. And even if we did, we’d still need to ensure that the people that get revived don’t freeze to death.”

With that sad realization, the people cursed as Bowalkers right now were better off in that form. We'd come back for them later, then everyone could be saved.

"If we bum rush it, we could make shields to protect ourselves." I suggested, thinking some of the scraps around might work.

"We'd need big shields to cover anything those demons could see." Uncle said.

Indena knocked on a broken half of metal silo. “Can we use this thing to cover our run?”

The big sloped shape of the silo actually might work out really well, but it was heavy. We all could stay under it and keep covered, but Marek and Uncle would need to do the heavy lifting.

Uncle liked the plan, so it was set in motion.

“We’ll need to run,  holding it horizontally toward the wall, or there’ll be a gap in front they’ll be able to shoot in from.

It took a few minutes, but we ended up getting the silo section moved outside. All of us went under it and the two boys held it up at each end.

“Have I mentioned how much I hate the snow?” Indena announced.

“You hate everything, no?” Marek grunted, keeping a grip on the heavy chunk of metal.

“No you don’t understand, I hate the snow more than anything. Never mind...forget I said anything.”

Her body heat rose dramatically, keeping the underside of the silo nice and warm, while also melting the snow around us. That made it much easier to move.

And so began our sprint to the wall.

TINK!

The first arrow hit.

TINK TINK!

TINK TINK TINK!

It sounded like heavy droplets of rain pouring down. With each strike of an arrow, we felt a little force push us back.

TINK TINK TINK!!

The arrow fire rained down even harder!

There was no end to these things, were there?

Arrows were so nemours, that they were deflecting off of each other and going under the gaps of our silo shield.

Each of us were narrowly dodging weird shots, as if the Bowalkers knew almost exactly where we all were. It was a little nerve racking.

“How are they so good at picking us out in the blizzard?” Emily questioned. “This is ridiculous!”

We hunkered down the silo shield, trying to brace ourselves for a moment.

Come to think of it, how were they seeing us at all? This snow cover was so heavy, I couldn’t pick them out even with my IFF’s active.

Unless…unless they could detect heat!

I remember seeing a thermal scope on the Bowalkers. They had to have been detecting our heat signatures, that’s how they were able to see us, even through this silo.

“Uncle, remember the thermal scope they have on them?”

“I was thinking the exact same thing,” he replied.

“This metal is very cold though, how can they see us through it with thermal images?”

Thermal vision was also known as inferred vision. I’ve used it before with my antenna to detect heat signatures.

I deployed said antenna now and activated my infrared vision, just to get an idea what was going on. It looks like Indena’s body heat was enough to give off a heat signature that was radiating out the sides of our cover. They must have been using that to estimate their shots.

“Indena! You’re too hot!” I commented.

“Oh come on!” She grumbled. “You’re saying I should lower my heat?”

If she didn’t lower it, these arrows would keep pouring on.

“Please! Lower your body heat down!”

Even if she just went down to the human average, she’d be able to conceal us.

But here’s the problem…when Indena was a little girl, she almost died in a snow storm. She doesn't like snow at all.

“I…I can’t!” She denied. “If I do that, I’ll have to deal with the cold!” Her voice was stressed, she was panicking and crouching down to curl up. “I can’t do it again!”

“It’s either you deal with the cold, or we bite the dust. Take your pick!” Uncle ordered.

CRICK!

The silo was starting to crack from the arrow fire, little gaps were forming in the metal.

Her phobia was too great. She couldn’t lower her body temperature in time.

I’d never seen her this paralyzed by anything, not even back when we were stuck in the valley.

“I have an idea!” Marek took off his coat, then warped it around Indena. “Ms. Emily, do the same.”

Both of them bundled Indena up tightly, greatly masking her heat signature.

The arrows began to ease up on us, eventually stopping completely. The Bowalkers could no longer see us.

“Alright, let’s get moving again.” Uncle ordered.

Indena slowly rose to her feet, shivering like a leaf, clenching the coats to her tightly.

Without Indena’s heat melting the snow in our way, it was a lot harder to trudge through. Emily had to carry me so I didn't get buried.

With just seconds before a massive wall of snow piled down behind us, we managed to get to the final gate. The door opened up on its own, and we stepped inside the wall.

Once we were sheltered inside, we tossed the silo chunk aside and took a few minutes to catch our breath. It was surprisingly roomy in here.

“I…I’m…I’m sorry…” Indena hid herself under the hood of Emily’s jacket.

“No need to apologize.” Uncle patted her shoulder. "Fear is a very damning thing."

When fear sets in, it's hard to deal with problems, even if doing so would help us overcome that fear. That’s why I kept saying it's not good to try and simply overcome that fear on her own.

“Indena, we’re here to help you.” I held onto her hand. “Fear tries to keep you down, but we’ll help you get back up.”

She looked down on me, her normally sharp, narrow eyes were soft and warm.

“I’m supposed to keep you guys from freezing, but doing that only froze me up,” she sighed.

This humble tone coming out of her was new, and very comforting.

“So don’t wo…” She turned to Marek, confusion and worry spilling over her. “Uh…Hey…Marek?”

“What?” He brushed back his hair from the stress we’d just gone through.

“You…You have an…”

Oh gosh! He had an arrow sticking out of his knee!

"Oy, dude, you're leg!" Indena shouted, dropping the coats and reaching for the arrow to yank out.

Marek hadn’t noticed it was there, but when he did, he didn’t seem to react to it with shock. As Indena was about to yank it out, that's when he protested and shoved her away.

“Wait!” His eyes were now bulging out of his head, he broke out into a cold sweat. “I can pull it out myself…”

“No, that’s a horrible idea.” Uncle said. “We’ll need the proper surgical equipment to remove the arrow, then the young mistress may use magic to fix the wound.”

Healing magic could easily cure any of the damage done by that arrow. He’d be fixed in no time. However, as for his adventuring days…

Just as the idea was starting to sink into his head, Marek fell to the floor, looking like he’d fainted.

“OH NO!” I primed my healing spell before Marek died! “Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's…”

Uncle put a hand up to stop me from using my healing spell.

“No, don’t worry. He just passed out from shock.” Uncle was scanning him to diagnose all his injuries and current state. "As long as nobody takes it out, he won't bleed."

Emily took a closer look at the arrow protruding from his knee. “It might be a little worse then that.” She gestured to a blue, bubbly substance over the tip of the arrow head. “This thing was laced with a potion.”

“Did they poison him?” Indena asked.

I rubbed a little of the substance across my palm, then scanned it with my hand scanners.

Incoming science!

The chemical formula of this substance was C₁₂H₁₈O, also known as 2,6-diisopropylphenol, which according to my encyclopedia was a drug known as propofol. This drug is typically used for surgeries to put people to sleep.

So, that means that Marek must have been affected by it and got sedated.

“Excellent job, Yalda.” Uncle patted my head. “Your father would be exceptionally proud of that deduction.”

“I’d expect no less from the daughter of the world's most famous scientist.” Emily started to lift Marek up, eventually prompting Uncle to hold him over his shoulder. “Either way…” Emily huffed, “this guy’s going to be out for a little while.”

If only Marek had been the worst of our troubles...because now that I'm taking a good look around, we appeared to be inside some kind of giant metal facility...how and when the heck did we end up here? I thought it was super roomy when we passed through that gate!