My hand tightens on the pistol. We're out of time.
I meet Neve's eyes in the darkness. See her fear. Her trust. Her readiness to fight despite being terrified.
This is my world. Violence and consequence. Moments like this where death waits outside and choices narrow to survival or surrender.
And now it's hers too.
The sound of snow being disturbed is loud in the small space. Someone's digging. Finding the entrance. Exposing us.
I shift. Put myself between her and the opening. Gun ready. If they want her, they come through me first.
Light breaks through. Flashlight beam cutting into the cave through the loose-packed snow at the entrance. Someone's pulling away the barrier.
"Found something."
The entrance opens wider. Cold air rushes in with the light. A rifle barrel appears. Then a face behind it. Young. Professional. Eyes that go wide when he sees me.
I pull the trigger before he can get his weapon up. The shot is deafening in the enclosed space. The man drops, blood spray hot against the cold air.
"Move!" I shove Neve toward the opening. "Now!"
She scrambles out. I'm right behind her. The dawn is gray and brutal. Two more men are closing in. They see their partner down and their weapons come up.
I fire twice. One drops. The other dives for cover behind a boulder.
"Start it!" I'm moving. Putting myself between her and the shooter. "Go!"
She's on the machine. Engine roars to life. The man behind the boulder is lining up a shot. I fire again. He jerks back. Hit but not down.
"Magnus!" Neve's screaming my name.
I'm running. The man's getting up. Bringing his weapon around. I fire the last round in my magazine. He goes down hard this time.
I vault onto the snowmobile behind Neve. She's already accelerating. We're moving before I'm fully seated. Snow kicks up behind us. More shots ring out from somewhere. The hunters have backup.
We're racing across open ground, exposed and vulnerable. More figures appear from the treeline. At least three, maybe more.
Bullets whine past us. One hits the windscreen and cracks spider across the plastic.
"Faster!" I'm reloading with one hand while the snowmobile bounces over rough terrain.
She opens the throttle and the machine screams. We're flying across the snow with distance opening between us and the hunters. But they're organized and professional. They'll have vehicles, backup, and resources.
Behind us, engines roar to life. Not one engine. Multiple engines. The hunters have snowmobiles of their own, fast ones.
And they're gaining.
9
NEVE
Engines roar behind us. I risk a glance back. Snowmobiles are closing the distance with terrifying speed. They're professional machines. They're faster than ours. The hunters are gaining ground.
Fear claws up my throat. My hands grip the throttle harder, knuckles white inside my gloves. Wind tears at my face like knives. Cold burns my lungs with every gasping breath. Our snowmobile screams as I push it as hard as it will go, the engine protesting, but it's not enough. It's never enough.
The distance is shrinking. I can see them now. Black helmets. Rifles strapped to their backs. One raises a pistol.
Gunfire cracks through the morning air. Snow explodes beside us where bullets hit. They're too close. They're way too close. Magnus fires back from behind me, twisting to aim at the hunters. The shot goes wide. It's hard to aim from a moving vehicle. It's hard to hit anything when every bump threatens to throw us off.
