Page 17 of Battle of Hearts

As they pulled apart, a playful smile danced on Mirren’s lips. “We should probably get moving soon. The storm won’t last forever.”

“Right,” Sawyer said, though she felt a pang of reluctance at the thought of leaving their cozy cocoon. “But first?—.”

Before she had the chance to finish her sentence, a loud crash sounded out that shook the outpost so violently it shocked Sawyer to her core.

The wind howled outside the outpost, a banshee’s scream that tore through the walls as though seeking to break them down from the inside. Snow pelted the windows, swirling in a chaotic dance of white, while the old wood and metal groaned in protest. Everything around them creaked and rattled under the pressure.

Sawyer had always known the Arctic could turn cruel at any moment. But knowing something in theory and living it were worlds apart, which she experienced on several of her missions.However, this mission…the weather was unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

“We should get moving,” Sawyer breathed, concern edging her tone. As badly as she wanted to lay there with Mirren and soak up her warmth for an unreasonable amount of time, they had to get moving.

The outpost was holding up—for now.

Both women didn’t hesitate to throw on their clothes and get to work. Sawyer sat hunched by the stove, staring at the flickering embers that barely offered warmth anymore. They were in dire need of firewood, what little that remained doing little to make the fire greater. Mirren was across the room, pacing, her normally calm exterior beginning to fray at the edges. The situation had grown far worse than either of them could have anticipated. It wasn’t just cold anymore—it was deadly.

“Anything?” Sawyer asked, her voice rough with exhaustion as she looked toward Mirren, who had been fiddling with the shortwave radio for the past hour.

Mirren shook her head, her expression tight. “The storm’s completely blocking the signal. It’s no use.”

Sawyer sighed, the frustration gnawing at her. She wasn’t used to feeling this helpless. Every bone in her body screamed at her todo something, to fix the situation, but this was a force of nature far beyond her control. She could navigate a blizzard. She could endure the biting cold. But she couldn’t fight the inevitable.

Sawyer glanced around the outpost. Their supplies were dwindling. What little food they had left would barely last them another day, and the fuel for the stove was nearly depleted. Worse, the temperature inside the outpost was dropping by the hour. It was only a matter of time before they’d be forced to face the reality that they couldn’t stay here. Not like this.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, another deafening crack rent the air.

“Mirren—get down!” Sawyer shouted, lunging forward as part of the roof above them gave way, snow and debris crashing into the outpost like a tidal wave. She barely had time to pull Mirren into her arms, dragging her beneath the makeshift table as the ceiling collapsed in chunks of ice and timber. For a few heart-pounding seconds, the world seemed to implode around them.

When the noise finally subsided, Sawyer slowly lifted her head, her muscles aching from the impact. Above them, a gaping hole in the roof let in the furious wind and snow, the icy air immediately biting at her exposed skin.

“Are you okay?” she asked, her voice rough, eyes locking on Mirren’s.

Mirren nodded, her face pale but otherwise unhurt. “Yeah. I’m okay. You?”

“Fine.” Sawyer’s breath came out in shallow puffs, her heart still racing. They were both unharmed, but that hardly mattered now. The roof—what little protection they’d had left—wasgone, and with it, their chances of surviving the storm had dropped even further.

Mirren crawled out from beneath the table, brushing snow off her clothes, her movements sharp with frustration. “We have to fix this. There’s no way we can stay here with the roof like that.”

Sawyer wanted to agree, to tell her they could patch it up and wait out the rest of the storm. But the truth hung heavy between them. “Mirren… we can’t.”

The words came out more quietly than she intended, but the weight behind them was undeniable. Mirren stilled, her blue eyes snapping to Sawyer, waiting for her to explain.

Sawyer stood slowly, her limbs aching from the cold, and gestured toward the stove. “The stove’s barely working as it is. And with the roof compromised, it’s only going to get worse. We don’t have enough fuel to keep the heat going, and the temperature’s dropping faster than we can handle. Even if we manage to cover the hole, we won’t be able to stay warm.”

“So, what do we do?” Mirren asked, her voice sharp, laced with the panic she was clearly trying hard to suppress. “We can’t just sit here and freeze to death.”

Sawyer crossed the room, standing by the broken stove, her hands tightening into fists at her sides. She’d been trained to survive in the harshest of environments, but this…this was different. They were trapped, and their options were slipping away with every passing minute.

“We need to leave,” Sawyer said, her voice steady but grim. “We can’t stay here. If we don’t find a way out, we won’t make it through the night.”

Mirren’s expression shifted, the full weight of their situation sinking in. Her hands clenched at her sides, but she nodded, her face set with determination. “How far is the nearest station?”

“Too far to make it in this storm,” Sawyer admitted, the truth heavy in her chest. “But we don’t have a choice. We need to find shelter. There’s a secondary outpost a few miles south. If we can make it there, we might stand a chance.”

Mirren stared at her for a moment, as though weighing their limited options, and finally nodded. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

Sawyer moved quickly, gathering what little gear they had left and handing Mirren a thermal blanket to wrap around herself. They didn’t have time for more preparation—every second they stayed here was another second closer to freezing.

The wind outside howled with brutal ferocity, and as they stepped out into the storm, it hit them like a wall of ice, cutting through their layers of clothing with ease. The sky was so darkit was impossible to tell what time of the day it was. Trees enveloped both sides of what used to be a clear-cut path swayed and groaned violently, threatening to tear from their roots and impale them with their narrow branches at any given moment.

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