Page 25 of The Edge of Never

I wanted to protest, but Kit stopped and rounded me again.

“Get into the tent.”

Placing both hands behind me, I dragged myself backwards. I lifted myself up into the inner part before my arms gave out.

Kit moved into the small antechamber, dragging both of our packs in, and dumping them down before they knelt on the groundsheet in front of me.

“Unzip your jacket,” they demanded as they went to work on the laces of my boots.

They got them off me in record time while I struggled to get my gloves off. They pulled my socks off and eyed my ankle with a concerned look. Then they crawled up my legs and took over for me, tugging my gloves from my fingers. It was all I could do to watch them unzip my jacket and move my arms to help them take it off. They unclipped my helmet and removed my head torch, chucking that into the tent to give us more light in there.

“Do you have extra clothes in your pack?”

“Aye… somewhere.”

My mind was all scrambled, so I couldn’t tell them where I’d put my extras.

Kit nodded slowly and moved over to my pack, digging through it until they found a blue dry bag. I had a pair of thermal layers and underwear in it for emergencies.

They returned to me and unzipped my fleece, throwing that in a pile with my jacket. Then they made me put my arms up to take off my shirt, followed by my thermal layer, leaving my chest bare.

I shivered harder in the exposed icy air. Before I could say a word, Kit was unbuckling my belt and unzipping my waterproof trousers. They were careful of my ankle when they removed them from my legs. Next came my thermal layer. I stopped them when they reached for my damp boxers.

“What… what are ye daeing?”

“Taking these off.”

“Am no getting naked in front of ye.”

Kit let out an exasperated sigh.

“Listen here. I couldn’t give two fucks about seeing what you’re packing right now. I’m more concerned about keeping you alive, but if you want your dick to freeze off, then by all means, stay in your wet boxers.”

They can’t see me like this. What the hell would Jenna think? I can’t do that to her.

“No, ye cannae see me,” I mumbled. “Only mah wife has seen me naked, and ye’re no her.”

Kit blinked at my statement. I didn’t know why. All I could concentrate on was keeping them from seeing me in the buff. It wasn’t right.

When I continued to hold them off, Kit breathed deeply and turned away to dig into their own pack. They threw a ribbed towel across my crotch.

“There, that’ll hide everything. Now, please take them off so I can put you in dry clothes before your temperature drops even further.”

The concern in their expression had me obeying. Pushing myself up, I tugged my boxers down past where the towel was covering me. Kit did the rest, getting them off my legs and over my sore ankle.

“Right, get inside properly and we’ll dress you, okay?”

Pulling myself backwards while holding onto the towel was difficult, but I managed it as I settled next to where Kit had laid out the sleeping bag on top of the mat. I noted they’d pumped it up since it was an inflatable one.

When they came into the inner part of the tent, they’d stripped out of their boots and jacket. Kit zipped us in before kneeling at my feet and helping me into dry underwear and a thermal layer. I put my arms up for them to tug the top layer over my head. Then Kit got me into the sleeping bag, zipping it up and pulling the drawstring around the hood tight.

“You’re going to stay there until you’re warm again. I’m just going to organise things in here.”

I didn’t have it in me to respond. My body continued to shake from the cold despite being in dry clothes and wrapped up in a sleeping bag. It was designed for the coldest of conditions.

I heard Kit moving around in the tent, but I couldn’t open my eyes to watch them.

“It’s… it’s so cold,” I groaned, my teeth chattering again.

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