Eternal Winter's Reign - Book 2 - Chapter 14 - Alone Again (Patreon)

                           The Eternal Winter several kilometers from Delta Base

Chairperson Winters, an ironic name considering his situation, shivers at the cold as he trudges through the deep snow, still wearing his armor. And all the while, he can’t help but berate himself for bringing that monster into his base. But at the same time, how was he supposed to know just how powerful the monster was? None of the mutants were anywhere near as strong as him.

Most of them weren’t even capable of handling a Tier 2 Symbiont Host, much less wipe out a room full of them.

He shakes his head at the thought, still trudging through the snow, his armor’s boots hidden from view deep within the half-a-meter tall snow filling what he believes used to be a clearing.

Fuck that bastard. When the Empire sends reinforcements to rescue us, he’s the first one I’ll be court-martialing!

Chairperson Winters rubs his arms as he walks, only to eventually pause when he hears a light growling sound echoing through the snowstorm around him. And when he hears it again, more than a little fear shows on his face.

I can’t die here…

He tries to start running but quickly finds that he isn’t strong enough to do that while knee-deep in snow. So all he ends up doing is tripping, the man still not used to the enhancements his Tier 1 Symbiont gave him. Enhancements that are still not strong enough to help him get out of his current situation.

The growling grows in volume before a short chirping sound echoes around him along with the sound of wings beating.

Chairperson Winters looks up from the snow, and almost immediately feels his heart skipping a beat out of pure terror at the sight of a large bird spanning two meters in length with shards of ice making up its wings and pitch black eyes swooping down towards him. And to make matters worse, when he looks down slightly, he finds a large wolf charging through the snow, bulldozing it away without an ounce of struggle.

Oh fuck…

He quickly pushes harder against the snow to drag himself out, with little success as he finds his leg stuck on something. But just seconds later, he realizes it’s not suck when a flash of pain radiates out of his calf.

As if something had bitten him.

“Fucking heelll!!!!” The Chairperson shouts, tears beginning to drip down his eyes. “I’ll fucking kill you, North!!!”

Despite the second lieutenant not being anywhere nearby, the Chairperson continues to scream in rage at him, his voice filling the night until the two frozen ones finally make it to him, and after a brief fight over who gets the spoils, silence him for good.

Then the only sound filling the area is that of frozen ones chewing on his corpse.

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                                                            Delta Base

Alexia wakes up with a yawn as she rises to a sitting position, rubbing her eyes. But she quickly comes to and looks around, finding herself sitting on a bed in a bedroom of sorts. Similar to one that Alexia believes would be in a military base, with simple beds, all well-made and with simple blankets on them.

Although no one else is inside of the room, leaving her all alone in it, with the door to the room shut.

Did someone move me here?

She wonders about that for only a few moments before shrugging and getting up, stretching a little in the process.

I’ll just ask Alex…

Alexia moves over to the door of the… dormitory? Bunker? Whatever the room where soldiers sleep is called. She moves over to it and opens the door, peeking her head out into the hallway. And almost immediately finds a woman standing next to the door.

The woman turns to her the moment the door opens and says, “You’re awake! Did you sleep well?”

Alexia blinks at her for a second before stepping out of the room and looking around the hallway as she answers, “Yeah…” then she turns back to the woman while tilting her head and asks, “Where’s Alex?”

The woman flinches slightly, making Alexia’s eyes narrow.

“I think you should talk with the Doctor about your father,” she says before quickly turning around and calling behind her, “Come with me! I’ll take you to her.”

Suspicious… and did she just call Alex my father?

She pauses on that thought for a moment before nodding slightly.

Father works.

Alexia follows after the woman for a few minutes, passing by dozens of people along the way, many of whom look surprised when they see her eyes. But Alexia just ignores them all the way till they reach the office she and Alex had gone to when they first arrived at the base with the rude old man.

An old man she was told got politely shown out of the base by Ale… by her father.

That might take some getting used to… but I think I like the idea of him as my father.

The girl smiles a little at that thought before the woman who she believes is a soldier based on her armor opens the door to the office, revealing the same Doctor who Alexia had seen describing her father’s teammate’s conditions sitting behind a desk doing paperwork. But the woman quickly looks up and smiles when she finds Alexia standing at the door.

“Doctor, Alexia…” she pauses as she glances at the girl seemingly in question. So Alexia just smiles wider and answers the unasked question, “North,” surprising both woman in the room. But they both just smile at that as the soldier continues, turning back to the Doctor, “Alexia North has woken up.”

“I can see that,” the Doctor answers, sounding tired and amused at the same time before she waves at the soldier, saying, “You’re dismissed.”

The soldier gives the Doctor a salute and leaves, only briefly pausing to give Alexia an encouraging smile as she does so, closing the door to the office behind her.

A few moments of silence pass as Alexia looks around the room. Then she focuses on the Doctor again when the woman begins speaking, “I’ll be blunt. Alexander is off clearing nests.”

Alexia tenses at those words, but she doesn’t start crying. Not this time.

Instead she wipes her palms that she feels would normally be sweaty with her anxiety right now but aren’t thanks to her body’s changes on her armored pants as she asks, “W-when will he get back?”

“Probably won’t be too long,” the Doctor answers, seemingly a little surprised by Alexia’s reaction.

He can’t just spend all of his time with me… I understand that. I just wish he would’ve told me he was leaving again…

Alexia sighs, understanding that the only thing she can do is wait.

“The Princess is here still if you want to see her,” the Doctor mentions, upping Alexia’s mood a little.

“Okay,” she answers quietly.

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