13:45 – Day 2

"What do you think is going to happen?"

Petra lifted her head, looking over at Olivia who was walking beside her. She cocked her head to the side, the annoying strand of red hair falling down to dangle in her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

Olivia shrugged slightly, slipping her hands into her jacket's pockets. "Exactly what I said. How do you think this is all going to turn out?"

"I don't know." Petra admitted, trying to blow the string of hair out of her face. "Anything can happen."

"But what do you think?" Olivia insisted. "Do you think we actually have a chance here? To find the refuge we originally set out towards?"

"I don't know." Petra repeated as she gave up, using her hand to brush the strand of hair away. "I don't look at things the way you do. There is no point tearing yourself up over what could happen. Just hope for the best, prepare for the worst; that's my advice here."

"Oh." Olivia responded softly, nodding her head.

"Why? You think we're not going to make it?" Petra asked.

"You didn't see Redstonia, Petra." Olivia whispered. "If you saw your home town like that, dark, cold and with... well, bodies littering the streets... I think you'd be more afraid as well."

"Bodies?" Petra raised her eyebrows. "When you said some Redstonians died, I didn't imagine them to have literally dropped over the place like flies."

"Jesse has whatever took them down." Olivia said softly, looking down at the snow they were walking on. "I just have this terrible fear, what if she doesn't make it to the cure in time?"

Petra's expression slowly sunk as well at the mention of Jesse. She folded her arms for warmth as they walked, suddenly silent.

"So there are in fact wolves in the area then?" Olivia finally asked, breaking the silence. "I thought I heard howling yesterday night."

"Oh yes." Petra said with a shudder. "I can tell you that other than the one who attacked Jesse, I've encountered four- three more."

"Do you think we'll run into any out here?" Olivia asked, shuddering.

"Under normal circumstances I wouldn't think so." Petra responded, rubbing the back of her head. "But the wolves I've seen out here are underweight, starving and perhaps even sick. They're desperate for food."

"Dear god." Olivia breathed, wrapping her arms around herself. "I don't like the sound of that. What if-?"

"If it comes to that, we'll have to hope the hunting knife does its job." Petra replied before Olivia could finish her sentence.

"How are you so confident?" Olivia mumbled with another shudder.

"Because I have a target." Petra responded. "I know what I want to do, and I'm focusing on working towards that. If you let yourself get too wrapped up in the bad things the future could become, it doesn't leave much space for focus on you want to make it."

"Since when did you become so wise?" Olivia asked with a chuckle.

"Not sure I even have an answer for that." Petra said, chuckling as well.

After that, it was quiet between the two of them again. Olivia returned to keeping her hands in her pockets and her eyes fixed on the snow. Petra kept out a constant look for... just about anything. Be it something in their advantage or even predators.

The place really was desolate, with not much wildlife about. The only form of life that Petra was able to spot, was a lone deer. Trying to stand up against a tree as it tore off bark with it's teeth, desperately wanting to eat something.

Slowly, Petra allowed her thoughts to start wandering. Thinking back to Jesse and Lukas, who would be anxiously awaiting their return at the cabin.

It was Petra's turn to shudder lightly as she thought of Lukas's hand. Right at that moment, their attention was really focused on other stuff. But if they ever got to return to their normal lives... it wasn't going to be easy for Lukas.

Everybody knew how much he loved building and writing. Two things that he really needed his dominant hand for. Petra could almost not stand the thought of Lukas only having one hand for the rest of his life.

Petra bit her lip, thinking about Axel. It was true, he wasn't stupid. He wouldn't let the cold get the better of him easily, not without a fight. He'd find a way to make it through the cold night.

But even so, Petra wondered if he too might loose something to the clutches of frostbite?

Petra internally groaned, running her fingers through her loose red hair a few times. Why the hell was the topic of loosing limbs constantly coming to mind?

"I thought something looked off about you." Olivia suddenly spoke up.

"What?" Petra asked in surprise, turning her head to Olivia.

"Your bandanna." The engineer pointed out. "Can't remember the last time I saw you without it. What happened to it?"

"Oh." Petra thought for a second, recalling where her bandanna actually was. Lying back in the cabin's upstairs bathroom, soaked in blood. "I'm not sure. I must have lost it in my run from the wolf, because I woke up without it."

"Sorry." Olivia said, flinching slightly. "I know you loved that old rag..." She tried to put on a smile. "On the bright side, you look nice without it? You should keep your hair loose more often in the future."

"Hell no, it's annoying the crap out of me." Petra responded, once more flicking back the strand of hair that kept finding its way into her eyes.

Both of them chuckled slightly, feeling a little relieved that the tenseness in the air was broken. Petra's expression slowly fell again as she folded her arms, letting her right slightly rest on her left.
For the most part, her arm had felt fine. A little stiff maybe, and sore if she put any strain on it. But now that she was out there and getting cold, the pain slowly began to return.

"It's not far any more." Olivia's voice trembled slightly. "Petra, I really am scared."

Petra unfolded her arms, wrapping one around Olivia's shoulders in a reassuring matter as they trudged through the snow. Her blue eyes slowly searched horizon, noticing the cliffs coming into view. Lukas definitely must have missed the fork in the road, no way did she, Jesse and him run that far.

"Is everything okay?" Olivia asked as Petra flinched, unwrapping her sore arm from around the engineer.

"I'm fine." Petra brushed her off. "My muscles are just kind of stiff from the cold."

"Mine too." Olivia responded, wrapping her own arms around herself.

It was silent between the two of them again as they walked in the direction of the cliffs. Olivia was beginning to look around for exactly where she and Axel had found themselves.

"It was around here somewhere, I know it." She said, biting her lip.

"Then we'll find the spot." Petra said firmly, beginning to look around as well.

She and Olivia slightly walked in separate directions, looking for any sign of the area. Petra didn't expect Axel to just be casually sitting there, waiting for them. He'd have hauled himself over to a bit of safer area, no doubt the area was filled with tiny caves and dips in the mountain.

Petra knelt down, her hand brushing snow off of an object. She flinched slightly, recognising the shard as part of a car's headlights. She could only pray that they didn't find... well, a piece of Radar somewhere.

Petra lifted her head, looking around again. The piece from the car was a good sign, it meant they were on the right track.

Now isn't the time. Petra thought in annoyance as she felt a slow pulsing returning to her head. She reached up on hand, rubbing her sore forehead in an attempt to relief herself of the dull headache. She wondered how hard she had actually hit her head against that tree when she fell.

"Any sign yet, Petra?" She heard Olivia call out, the engineer's voice on the verge of cracking.

"Not yet! Keep looking!" Petra called back, getting up from her kneeling position again.

She staggered lightly, feeling almost dizzy once she was standing. Shaking her head, Petra brushed it off and continued to look around. She was starting to feel a bit more concerned, uncomfortable with how deserted the area looked.

Petra frowned as she knelt down once more, picking up another item that was slightly buried beneath the snow. It was a scarf with a green striped pattern. She could have sworn she'd seen Axel wear something similar in the past... was it his?

Petra stood up again, biting her lip as she looked around. Her eyes came to rest on something lying on the ground in the distance. She began walking the direction of the shapes, slightly buried beneath the snow.

Suddenly Petra slammed on the brakes, stopping in her tracks. Her blue eyes widened, her mouth slowly opening. She felt her stomach clench as she realised just what she was looking at.

Petra took a horrified step back, clasping a hand over her mouth as she gulped back a scream. Her legs trembled slightly beneath her, and for a second Petra felt like she was going to be sick on the spot.

Because lying only a few metres in front of her, were body parts.

Pieces of blood coated skeleton, the remains of what once was human. Skin tore off like it had been a wild animal's meal, only parts here and there still recognisable. Limbs were gnawed off, clothing torn to shreds.

But the thing that was really making Petra feel sick to her stomach, was the fact that she knew who she was looking at. Despite being shredded and soaked in blood, the familiar green jacket was unmistakable.

Axel was dead.

"Petra?"

The warrior felt her blood run cold, hearing Olivia's voice.

"Did you find anything yet?"

Petra heard the snow crunching beneath the engineer's boots as she approached. At that moment Petra just wanted to run up to Olivia and envelope her in a tight hug, shielding her friend from what she was about to see.
But the redhead found herself rooted to the spot like a frozen statue, not moving a muscle.

There was a sudden, sharp inhale beside Petra, followed by probably one of the most heartbroken screams she had ever heard in her life.

"No! No, no, no, no! This can't be- It can't! No, please no!" Olivia was already on her knees, her body convulsing with violent sobs.

Petra lowered her head slightly, closing her eyes. She could feel the awful sensation of something warm and wet trailing down her cheek. For once, she didn't do as much as wipe it away.

Olivia's words had changed into desperate wails of pain and heartbreak. Sobs racked her body, her face buried away in her hands. Slowly, Petra let herself sink down beside Olivia, putting a hand on her friend's back. Her own face was already streaked with tears, her heart heavily beating inside her chest.

Feeling Petra's touch, Olivia all of a sudden buried her face in the redhead's jacket, wrapping her arms around her. Petra pulled her closer, hugging Olivia tightly as she sobbed.

"We're too late!" Olivia choked out into Petra's jacket. "He's gone!"

Petra opened her mouth, only to close it again. Unable to fight it, she felt a sob of her own burst from her throat.

There was no denying it.

Axel was gone.

___

...I mean, it was inevitable.

So unfortunately Axel didn't make it, and the order is down to four members. But I have a feeling most of you saw this bit coming, Axel obviously didn't have much of a chance in his position. 

The question is, will the other four all make it out alive? Or will somebody else be joining Axel and Radar?

I guess we'll see! There's only a handful of chapters left in this book, but there's still quite the collection of plot twists ahead. And- *breathes in deeply* -A LOT OF GRIEF!

Do ya'll have any new theories for how this is going to end, or what is going to happen next? The only hint I can give you, is a hell of a lot of darkness.

Anyhow, let's end this A/N here! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, even though we're down an Axel! See ya'll in four (yes four, I screwed up and posted this a day too late) days with chapter 21!