They sat there, as the snow blew past them. Virgil stood up and walked to the edge of the cliff. He screamed, he screamed so wickedly with anger. He howled like something was being torn from him. Ryan walked up to him, and held his hand. He screamed, letting his voice carry into the night. They called to the air as if begging someone out there to hear them. They wept to anyone who could hear them. They sobbed, the wind carrying their voices, praying that someone would be there.
The two collapsed into each other that night. They lay outside their tents as they passed out onto the icy ground.
-
Ryan woke up with a groan, he felt a sharp pain dash across his face and realized it was from the freezing winds. He felt his cheeks and fingers begin to become numb and turned down to see Virgil's hair was covered in frost. He panicked and quickly started pulling the unconscious Virgil back into their tent to get warm. He briefly glanced to the cliff. There was no one there.
But he did see light slowly creep over the horizon. Ryan sealed the tent and bundled Virgil in whatever blanket and sleeping bags they had. He turned on the radiator and lit a light. He rubbed both their hands together, deeply breathing hot air onto the chilled fingers. He wiped off any excess of snow of his head and dried his hair. He did this for quite some time until he heard a mumbling.
He glanced up to see Virgil slowly wake up. He seemed dizzy and muttered, "Ryan...?"
"I'm here, I'm here," Ryan assured, he didn't stop trying to warm Virgil's hands.
"We..." Virgil dozily said, "We lost Roberto..."
Ryan froze and he watched Virgil's face twist as grief-stricken him.
"Is no one going to make it?" Virgil asked, his voice low and almost inaudible.
Ryan stared then bit his lip, it was cold and stung, making him flinch in pain. Virgil noticed and reached over. His hands were warmer as they stroked Ryan's face, "You're freezing, come here," he gestured to under the covers. Ryan sighed and complied as they lay next to each other.
Ryan whispered, "I'm sorry, if we didn't stay out there... you wouldn't be so cold."
"That's what you're worried about?" Virgil countered. "Care more about yourself too, Ryan."
They lay there and Ryan wondered, "Why do you think he kept that from us?"
Virgil didn't answer right away, thinking deeply to himself. But when he finally did, he responded, "I doubt he actually wanted to talk about it. Guilt can make someone's lips seal tight. But you gotta ask," he lifted himself up to look Ryan in the eyes, "Why would he come all the way down to Antarctica to get over a hundred million dollars. Anyone would jump for that chance, but you aren't jumping for the money. You're jumping for what you can get for the money."
Ryan nodded and stated, "He was my friend."
Virgil's eyes flicked to him and then he snuggled in further, "He was kind and honest to me... I saw him as a friend too."
-
They had two sleds left, each with their own dogs. The ones of Roberto's sled that were slaughtered the night prior had disappeared by daybreak. Neither of them questioned it, because it wasn't hard to imagine an answer to what happened to them. They sled out of the mountain pass and further into a storm. They were used to it, the splintering hail, the dropping temperature, the low visibility. It was cold and ruthless, but they no longer feared it.
There was a sort of emptiness when it came from a lack of fear. They didn't feel the wet from their eyes freeze or the sorrow croak in their souls. They hardly felt anything anymore. What was there left to be afraid of? What was there left to feel? When the inevitable was hot on their tail.
They didn't look at where they were going, they just went deeper inland. In an open plane, the two sleds to god know where. They had no idea where the other was going.
When snow subsided, they saw a large ice-covered mound in the middle of the plains. It stood there, a bump in the landscape, distant from anything else. It had a few open entrances but was mostly left vacant on this frozen scape. When they approached it, it seemed to become warmer. The two glanced at each other, unsure what this creation was. They peeked in and Ryan called, "This could be a good place to hide out from the storm."
"Are you sure?" Virgil questioned; his voice shaky with uncertainty.
"No," Ryan admitted. "This is probably a bad idea."
Virgil stared then nodded. They slowly crept into one of the caves, parking their dogs as they took light to quickly inspect it. Virgil asked, "Do you think any big animals would live in here?"
"Not this far inland," Ryan stated, then turned to him with a pale expression. "But we now know animals don't have to live just here."
Virgil shrunk closer to him; a quiet understanding was developing between them. They peered in further and just really saw tunnels slipping in and out that could fit them. Nothing was immediately ahead, but it was only a matter of time before something appeared.
"Do you think this will lead anywhere safe?" Ryan cautiously wondered.
Virgil didn't speak for a moment then replied, "...I think... it leads out somewhere."
"You sure?"
"Why are you asking me?" Virgil hissed.
"Because..." Ryan explained, "You seem to be pretty hyperaware to everything that is happening."
"...What?"
"Think about it, Virgil," Ryan explained. "You were aware of the voices first and I know you sensed that thing in that tunnel back then. I see your face and it's like there is this instinct that shows itself to you. I think you are just aware."
"What... like psychic?"
"I don't know," Ryan huffed. "But somehow..." Ryan shut his eyes then opened them back, speaking with a clarity, "I know that you just know."
Virgil stared then said, "That... would be really weird."
"Yeah," Ryan sighed. "But I think it's true."
"Well," Virgil noted "We've gone pretty far, let's go back and hope our dogs are still there."
Ryan nodded, "Right." They trekked back to their sleds and when they reached them, they thankfully saw that they were all there, but the dogs were on edge. They were all standing, back hunched, heads low, and growling at something at the foot of the cave. Something big and looming.
Virgil's voice caught in his throat and Ryan froze in place. It was that giant monster. That thing that ripped Elucid to shreds. It stood there, towering over the dogs who relentlessly snarled at it. Its breath heaved, releasing plumes of frosty plumes. Its directly faced at the two who couldn't move a single muscle out of fear.
It stood there, unmoving, unflinching. Its body blocking the entrance. But it didn't step in, it just barricaded them from leaving. Virgil was the first to speak, his voice shivering, "I-It's bl-blocking the entr-trance."
Ryan felt an overwhelming terror that drenched him. He didn't know how to react or move in case that thing were to launch at them. He soon found his words as he mustered out, "Why isn't it... attacking us...?"
"I-I don't know," Virgil whispered.
"...Can we get the dogs?" Ryan mumbled.
Virgil made a meek sound in response, unsure what to say or do. Ryan stared at the creature and realized that it now had eyes. It could fully see them even though before it had no eyes. It had this blue human like eyes that were very familiar. Ryan took a step forward.
The beast didn't react to his movement, so he took another. Virgil followed close behind as they steadily and slowly approached the sleds. Their hearts in their mouths and legs feeling like led. Each of them went to their sled, and cautiously pulled them away from the monster and deeper into the tunnel. Sliding a distant, far enough where they couldn't see the beast any longer. Ryan motioned Virgil to get on the sled and they mushed down as quickly as possible, not daring to look back.
They kept their lights on as they pushed down through the cave. The tunnels were smooth and slick as the dogs dashed, their paws pattering against the icy snow. Somehow it seemed to be getting warmer and warmer in the caves, somehow making them both anxious. They didn't know how to feel about the beast at the entrance, but they were beginning to feel horrified for what unknown lays ahead of them. The air was becoming warmer and humid, it was hotter than the indoors of an outpost. They shivered from the heat and the dogs slowed, panting as they took a slight trot through the paths.
The light from their flashlights were getting brighter too, for a reason unexplained. It was silent and odd, something was off, though they could only imagine what. Ryan stared at the long twisting tunnel and glanced around. He looked to his right and shrieked. In the icy walls there was something in there. Something voluptuous and thick. Something, no somethings, round and orange. The features weren't completely distinct, but behind the ice, Ryan could see that they were round and glistening with fluids. The things were scattered all throughout the ice. He turned to see that they were on his left and up above him. They were further ahead, and he saw that some were closer to the edge of the ice. Some even further had seeped through.
Virgil barked, "Ryan! Ryan! Don't touch them!"
"I won't! I won't!" he screamed in a panic. The substances were everywhere, all around them, emanating a heat. He saw them pulsing like they were breathing. They had a multitude of discoloration that slimed with puss. A large one to his right throbbed and squelched loudly. Strands of it hung from the ceiling and they rubbed together making a sloshing sound.
It was horrid.
He groaned and pushed the dogs further, all running as fast as they could, trying to find a way out of this mucus covered flesh like tunnel.
There was a light at the end of the tunnel, the two gasped in relief as they pushed to it. Once reached, the light briefly blinded them, but their eyes soon adjusted to a large room that had several flesh like tunnels leading into it. Virgil cursed, gripping tighter onto the handle of his sled and the dogs pathetically whimpered. Ryan glanced around, seeing similar festering tunnels from the one before. All of them claustrophobically squeezing in on each other, barely making an opening for a sled to go through.
The room itself was large and some of the puss balls grew on the walls, creating a sort of glow to illuminate some of it. Their eyes widened at the things bulging out of the ice. Mangled and decayed were human remains. Arms, legs, faces, were protruding from the flesh. Some had rotten flesh and bones, while others were still being freshly formed to the walls. They were high and low, and all over, their distinct shapes becoming visible to Virgil and Ryan.
In the center bottom of the wall before them was a figure that fused to the formations, their flesh slowly being taken over. Their skin pulsating with newly grown puss tumors that relentlessly spread throughout their body. They lay their naked and taken, lower body already completely absorbed by the walls. Pieces of what was once their clothes and equipment had fallen to the floor besides them. They croaked and grunted pained noises; their breathing was abnormally sparse.
The two of them stared at this person in the wall, with a skinny chest, their ribs revealed. Fluids poured down their entire body. Virgil's face distorted into something of horror and sadness as they recognized the man. His voice weakly cried out, "... Sargent..."
Sargent Abraham was formed to the wall, his body completely bound by the flesh that was steadily absorbing him. His face was withered and pale, his eyes sunk and lips trembling from exhaustion. He opened his eyes to the sound and feebly looked up to see them. A sort of tired realization dawned on him and a broken voice pathetically spoke, "You two... you're alive..."
"Sargent Abraham," Ryan felt his stomach twist. He was consumed by this extreme pity and helplessness, but he dared not touch him.
"I am... surprised..." the Sargent said. "I don't know... how many days... it has been... but I thought everyone... would be dead."
"It's been weeks since we lost you," Virgil stated, slowly approaching him. "We were going to search, but the outpost... Many people were killed. In our group..."
"Where are they...?"
"... They're dead," Ryan answered. "All of them."
"...So... sorry," the Sargent sighed.
"No, no, no," Virgil wept. "We're sorry. We didn't look for you. We couldn't."
"It would have been... useless," the Sargent confessed. "Those shadows... took me. Stole me away... You wouldn't have caught me."
Ryan stared at this amalgamation that was once a man and asked, "Did they put you here?"
"Yes..." the Sargent responded. "They fit me... to this wall... I was fine... for a bit... Then I started changing... becoming one with everything here..." He watched the men stand there at a loss for words and he muttered, "That tunnel." His head gestured to one behind them. "If you can't go back... the way you came from... go there... You might survive..."
"...Can...?" Ryan bit his lip, trying to swallow this question but he couldn't. "Can we get you out?"
The Sargent watched them than slowly shook his head, "No... I am a part of this thing now..."
Virgil shook his head, voice cracking, "We can't leave you like this!"
"My gun," the Sargent whispered. "It's nearby..."
Ryan saw it, just a few feet away really. He felt a restlessness begin to consume him.
"Use it... on me."
Virgil sobbed, his head spinning.
"Sargent..." Ryan's eyes felt tears streaming down his face, "Are you sure...?"
"I can't stand to be here... any longer..." the Sargent's voice shattered, cries were spilling from his eyes and mouth. "Please... please... help me. Please..."
Ryan choked on his cries and he carefully lifted the gun. His hands were shaking, his mind was empty. He aimed it at the Sargent who was wailing sounds of sorrow. Ryan pointed the gun and fired.
-
They went through the tunnel that the Sargent directed them to. A tired silence fell between them as tears dried on their cheeks and the flesh walls faded away from sight. The darkness trapped them, the only sound of dogs panting and the pattering of their paws. Virgil and Ryan sled for what felt like hours until they saw an opening, praying it was the outside world.
They exited to see a snowy landscape with night that had already fallen. They two sighed in relief, but the moon that night was really bright. It shone on the white world. Ryan and Virgil glanced up to look at the sky.
Three moons.
Three moons hovered in the sky, three full red moons that shone over them. Their minds couldn't handle it. Couldn't believe what they were seeing. It was too impossible. Virgil screamed.
His scream rang through the emptiness and his body shook as he tried to find Ryan. Ryan couldn't hear the screams. He couldn't hear or feel anything. It was all too distant, too far away. He couldn't believe it. He wasn't here. He wasn't seeing this. He didn't know what he was seeing.
Three moons.
They hung before them, looming, threatening their very existence. What was real? Where was reality? The fabric of space just seemed to fall apart on top of them. Where were they?
He was pulled away, his eyes moving from the moons to Virgil who was so obscure. Ryan almost forgot who he was. He didn't recognize this man at first who was calling and begging for him. Tears running down his face, pain searing in his voice. Briefly, he didn't recognize the face, the soft red hair and the frantic green eyes. He stared at the man who was falling apart before him, unsure how to move or react. His screams coming into his ears like mumbles.
Then suddenly, it all seemed to come back to him. His hearing returned, quickly bring out a shrill cry from Virgil's mouth, "Ryan, please! What do we do?! What is that?! What is this?! Please help! Please! Help me! Ryan! I can't! Ryan, are you there?! Where are you?!"
He fell to the ground, holding Ryan's hand, pleading for solace. Ryan looked down at him, like his conscious, his reasoning had yet to completely return. He further listened to Virgil's sobs as he howled, "The moons! The moons! That's not possible! How is any of this real?! There's three fucking moons!" he gripped harder onto Ryan's hand; he couldn't feel the pain. "This can't be real! It's not real! Ryan!" He found a way to pull him down, Ryan's knees hitting the hard ground. He gazed into Ryan's face and didn't see anyone there. His face was blank, expressionless. He was in complete shock.
Virgil held his hands up to his face, slowly brushing his thumbs against his cheeks. He realized that Ryan couldn't hear him. Ryan's mind wasn't there. Virgil whimpered at the realization and delicately held his face. He murmured softly, "Ryan please, please." He lowered his head, tears dripping onto his knees. He carefully brought Ryan's face to his as he whispered, "Please Ryan. Please."
Virgil kissed him, gently and lonely. He held him as his kisses begged for comfort. Begged for help. His tears streaming down, they wet Ryan's face. His teeth gingerly knocked into Ryan's as he slowly held him, quietly calling his name. He embraced Ryan, kissing him so much, his whispers splitting through, crying out his name.
Ryan grunted, a noise coming back to his throat as his hands grasped onto Virgil's arms. Virgil made a relieved sound as Ryan started to regain his senses, beginning to hold him. Virgil let his lips go as he dropped his head into Ryan's neck, he sobbed softly.
Ryan held him and soon regained his consciousness. He looked up at the three moons, feeling the daunting fear tower above him. He stared at those moons, a boiling anger steaming in his stomach as he embraced Virgil tightly.
-
They huddled in a tent that night, legs tangled, desperate for one and another. Hardly willing to part and not daring to breath an inch away. Virgil's head lay on Ryan's arm as he slowly traced a finger on his shirt, not really doing anything, maybe counting the threads in the seams. Ryan gently played with his red hair, finding quite a few white strands, but not saying anything about them. They laid together taunt and tight, hanging on. At times, whispering each other's names.
Ryan spoke, "Do you think this whole world is made of snow?"
"..." Virgil picked at a piece of lint on Ryan's shirt. "...Maybe."
"That could be why the monsters can live in our world," Ryan suggested.
"They definitely came from those tunnels," Virgil stated.
"Three moons," Ryan thought aloud. "If this world has any water, it could be really high because of those moons. That's how that works, right?"
"I think so," Virgil sighed into Ryan's chest. "A lot of water to cover a world in ice."
"Hm," Ryan nodded. "Maybe... if this world is made of ice, then that'd mean that the sun might be really far away."
Virgil contemplated then said, "No one knew about those monsters. If they did, I would have been told."
"People at the border outposts thought weird things were happening," Ryan admitted. "But I just chalked it up to weird supernatural beliefs."
"I heard it too," Virgil confessed. "I don't know if I believed it or would believe it was this bad."
Ryan slightly tugged at Virgil's hair, pulling his face towards him, "Tell me, Virgil. You knew nothing about this?"
Virgil stared at Ryan, not an ounce of offense resided on his face as he spoke, "No, not at all. I wish... I wish I never came down here..."
Ryan felt his chest squeeze as he wrapped his arms around Virgil, his hands riding down his slender body. Ryan whispered, a whisper that was filled to the brim with worry, "They can't be able to leave Antarctica. They have to only be able to stay in the cold. They can't go any further."
Virgil sighed into him, "Yes, I think you're right."
"Virgil."
"Hm?"
"Let me kiss you," Virgil peered up. His eyes carelessly gazed at him. Ryan took his hand and kissed the palm. Virgil's mouth sighed as he slipped his lips to Ryan. They were gentle at first, delicate like a cool breeze, but then something built, and they started to become rough as they nibbled and bit onto each other's lips. Gnawing and drawing trickles of blood, they grappled each other. Tugging on tightly, they didn't let go. Through the sounds of kisses Ryan spoke in grunts as his hands gripped hard on Virgil's back and waist, "I killed him."
"Yes..."
"I've killed people."
"I know."
"Sargent Abraham, Jack," Ryan sunk his tongue into Virgil's mouth, seeping darkness into each other. Virgil let go to breathe, but Ryan growled on in, "I let Elucid, Chuntao, and Roberto die. Their deaths are on my hands!" He pushed Virgil down, groping and grinding against him, as he maliciously bit his lower lip, "I put a bullet in the Sargent's head, blasting his brains against the fucking wall!"
"...Mn, Ryan..."
"I cut Jack up into pieces!" Ryan hatefully growled. "I tried to save them. And for what?! They died! And I'm here. Here in this strange place. Here..." He glanced down at Virgil, who was panting under him, his lips colored red.
Virgil stared up at him and said, "I let my wife die..." Ryan flinched at that. "I couldn't find her or save her. It was me. I was the reason she went out. She was tired of me." Virgil voice was empty as he told him. "I brought everyone down here. As far as I know, we're the only two who survived so far. And for what? Chasing a ghost of someone who didn't want me? Chasing someone who is dead. Someone who is gone. I thought I could fix things, but I made things worse. This..." He gestured to everything, "Is the worst."
Ryan watched him then finally stated, "We're just a couple of fuck ups."
"Hm," Virgil nodded, hanging onto him. "And even though we have done such terrible things and let terrible things happen, we're still here. Still alive." He took Ryan's hand and kissed it; a mark of blood landed on the knuckles. "We're alive. We still have a chance. And we are still together."
Ryan dropped his head down onto Virgil's chest, he muttered, muffled with tears, "Yes."