Page 7 of The Brightest Night

Velos started to sob softly. “What do we do? What do we do, Nova?”

It was easy to forget how young he was. He’d been through hell with the Blackwood crew. Probably spent most of his life cloistered on that ship. This had to be terrifying for him.

“It’s okay. We’re going be okay. I promise.” I scrambled off the mobile and cupped his face, looking him in the eye, my expression firm. “You have to keep it together, okay? Stay here with Kai. I’m going to go get Gabe.”

He nodded stiffly, blinking back tears. “Okay. I’m fine. I’m good.”

“Yeah, you are.”

My gaze dropped to Kai and Rex, silent and crumpled. Were my friends fried? Nope. That was defeatist talk. Everything was going to be okay.

One thing at a time.

My boots sank into the snow, each step a mission taking me closer to the dark shadow that was Gabe lying on his side in the snow, eyes closed, face serene as if he’d chosen to lay down and take a nap. Yeah, that would not do.

I dropped to a crouch beside him and slapped his cheek lightly. “Gabe! Wake up.”

No response. Not surprising. Something had definitely been fried or shorted or something, and there was no way to know until I could open him up and check. Stars, I did not want to open him up.

I tried to lift him, getting him a little off the ground before losing my grip.

“Velos, give me a hand!”

It took a few minutes, but together we managed to haul Gabe up and tip him into the cab with Kai and Rex. They lay in a tangle of limbs. The indignity. Urgh. But it would have to do.

“Now what?” Velos asked, arms wrapped around himself, his face pale and drawn. “What do we do now? We’ll freeze out here. The mobile isn’t working, and we’ll die and⁠—”

“Shut up! Let me think, dammit!”

He flinched as if I’d slapped him, and guilt dug claws into my chest. I exhaled, my breath fogging in front of my face. “You’re right; if we don’t keep moving and find shelter soon, we will die. So we need a plan.” I circled the machine.

Could I push the mobile? It took less than a second to realize that wasn’t an option, but wait…the side car was detachable and had a sledge bottom.

Where were the supplies that Gabe had mentioned? A hatch in the back of the mobile contained a pack and some rappelling rope. Perfect. I tied the rope to the handles on the cab. Then I studied the mechanism to detach it from the main mobile. Lever. I pushed them down, grunting with exertion until they snapped into release position.

“Yes!” Velos hopped up and down. “We can pull it.”

I grinned at him. “Yes, we can. See, we can do this. Together.”

The rope was long enough for each of us to loop one end around our waists then pull it over my shoulder. We walked, and the cab moved with us slowly. But it was moving. This was working.

The wind picked up. A fresh blizzard was coming in, visibility dropping fast. We needed to find shelter. A large rock. A tree. Ideally a cave. Any place to shield us from the storm.

“Nova, I can’t feel my hands,” Velos cried.

“I know. We just have to keep moving.”

He made a soft, strangled sound but obliged.

We trudged with our heads down. Each step got harder. Was the cab getting heavier?

“Argh!” Velos staggered and fell to his knees.

I helped him up, and he shook his head, his eyes bright with unshed tears as he clumsily unwound the rope from his waist.

I tried to stop him. “What are you doing?”

He slapped at my hands, crying out in a mixture of anger and fear as he finished freeing himself and backed away.