The truck roared steadily across the snow road, its treads grinding against the frost-bitten surface. The horizon was still painted white, but the endless flat stretches were beginning to break with distant, jagged shadows. Cryostead was close now. Lira had said earlier they were within a few hours, and the words hung in everyone's mind like a thread of hope.
Those hours however, passed in silence. No one slept, no one dared. The truck rattled with each dip in the road, the faint hum of the engine filling the space where voices should have been. For once, there was no immediate danger pressing down on them, and yet the quiet only made the weight heavier.
Adel was the first to break it. She leaned forward from her seat, her eyes moving over the tired faces in the cabin. "What happens...when we leave Glacierfang?"
The question was sudden and hung in the air.
No one answered right away. Renn gripped the wheel tighter, his lips pressed thin. Lira stared into the mirror, watching each of them in turn.
Finally, Orrin shifted, his voice rough. "There was supposed to be another sanctuary. That's what they told us back at the sanctuary. Glacierfang 's not the end.
Gray let out a bitter laugh as he remembered the directers words. "Another sanctuary? Another place to be sent on death runs while the ones in charge sit safe behind their walls? That's not living. That's slavery with a prettier name."
The words struck, heavy and cold. No one argued, not even Lira. Because Gray was only saying what all of them had thought at one point or another.
Adel drew her coat tighter around her, her gaze dropping. "We've only been thinking about getting through the day," she said quietly. "I haven't thought about… after. It doesn't feel real enough to."
The cabin grew quiet again. Even the engine's hum felt subdued.
Then Renn exhaled hard, forcing a smile. "Well, maybe we'll actually have time to think once we're through this place. Look...Cryostead's practically around the corner. Ten minutes, tops."
It should have been comforting. And for a moment, it was, until the truck shuddered violently.
The sudden jolt sent Orrin and Adel slamming into their seatbelts. Gray grabbed the railing overhead, his heart leaping. Korr grunted, undoing his buckle and leaning toward the window. "What the hell was that?"
The wind outside rose, shrieking against the metal frame. Korr squinted through the frost-fogged glass, searching. "I don't see anything—"
A second impact hit. Not from the road. From the air.
The entire truck lurched sideways, its weight grinding against the ice. The belts strained, metal creaking as momentum threw them all into each other. Korr's head smacked the ceiling and he cursed, collapsing back into his seat with a groan.
"Everyone okay?" Lira barked, twisting around to check. Her hands braced the seat as she scanned for injuries.
Before anyone could answer, Renn swore violently and slammed his foot down on the pedal. The truck roared louder, gaining speed.
"Why are you accelerating?" Lira snapped, her voice sharp over the grinding engine.
"Look!" Renn jabbed at the small green-lit screen to his right. A radar, its line spinning in endless circles.
The first sweep was empty.
The second sweep lit with a single dot.
The third showed two. Then four.
By the next turn, the screen was swarming, dozens of signals, too many to count.
The blood drained from Gray's face.
"They're on us," Renn said through clenched teeth.
"Everyone, get ready to fight!" Lira's command was instant. The cabin erupted as buckles snapped open, weapons freed from straps and holsters.
Gray moved to the window, Adel close beside him. His breath caught. Out of the rolling sheets of snow, movement blurred, sleek, four-legged forms bounding across the ice. A whole pack, their eyes burning red, their bodies glittering as though carved from frozen stone. They were fast, faster than the truck could outrun for long.
"Those things are relentless," Gray spat. "And we've got no way of fighting them off in here."
Lira's eyes darted to Adel. "Can you cloak the truck?"
Adel shook her head sharply. "No. I can't mask something this big. Only people."
The truck rattled as something slammed against the side. The windows filled with flashes of claws and wings, the creatures not only chasing but swarming. Their shrieks pierced the cabin, drowning out the engine.
Gray gritted his teeth, rage boiling with his fear. "Not one bit of peace. Not for a single hour." His knuckles went white around his weapon. "It's always another fight. Always something trying to kill us."
The words barely left him before the creatures caught up.
They slammed against the metal, scratching deep lines into the truck's armor. The windshield blurred under slashing claws, the side windows vanished under swarming bodies. The world outside disappeared, leaving them encased in a cage of shrieks and pounding blows.
Then came the crack.
Fractures split across the rear windows. One, then both. The glass bowed inward with every strike.
"Brace!" Orrin bellowed.
The windows shattered.
Icy wind, colder than anything they had ever felt before roared into the cabin as the first of the creatures burst through. They weren't catlike anymore, not fully. Their bodies were lean and skeletal, wings jagged blades of ice. Their size was no bigger than a human hand, but their movements were too fast, their claws sharp enough to tear through fabric and flesh alike. Their eyes glowed a venomous red as they darted inside, slicing past faces, striking and retreating.
Renn cursed and ducked low, steering with one hand while slashing at the air with the other. Gray swung, barely clipping one as it spiraled out of reach. Adel slashed upward, missing by inches as the thing raked her arm.
"They're too fast!" Korr growled, his axe useless in the cramped cabin.
Lira's eyes flicked across the chaos. Then she saw it, the faint frost clinging to the creatures, melting when they came too close to the heat of the truck's lights. "They're vulnerable!" she shouted. Her gaze locked on Orrin. "Channel Vyre. Heat this place up!"
Orrin blinked, breathless. "Are you sure? We can't—"
"Do it!"
There was no time to argue. Orrin gritted his teeth, planting his boots wide. Steam rose faintly from his skin as he pulled at the core of power within, forcing it outward. His veins pulsed with strain, his body trembling as the heat began to swell. The air grew warmer, then hot. Unbearably hot.
It fought against the icy cold winds, ultimately winning. Leaving the truck in a somewhat warm temperature.
Steam continued hissing from his shoulders, his arms glowing faint beneath the skin. The temperature spiked, sweat breaking across Gray's brow even as the icy wind howled in.
The effect on the creatures was instant. Their screeches sharpened into agony as their icy bodies began to soften. The frost coating them dripped, their wings losing form. They darted desperately, but the heat seared them from the air. One by one they fell, melting before they hit the floor.
"Keep it up!" Lira barked.
Orrin roared, the strain pulling every muscle taut. Steam poured from him, curling across the ceiling, filling the cabin with sweltering fog. The creatures shrieked and dissolved, their numbers dwindling until the last few darted back out into the storm.
Korr slammed the rear windows shut, sealing the gaps with what scrap and metal he could reach. The wind dulled, leaving only Orrin's ragged breathing and the heavy pant of exhausted lungs.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then the truck swerved hard, nearly throwing them off their feet. Lira snapped forward, bracing against Renn's seat. "What are you doing?"
"They'll regroup!" Renn shouted, his eyes locked on the path ahead. "If we stay on the main road, they'll follow us straight to Cryostead!"
"Then where the hell are you—"
"There!" Renn jerked the wheel, forcing the truck toward a narrow slit in the ice wall. The vehicle screeched as it turned, metal grinding against the frozen rock. The gap was barely wide enough, a twisting crevice splitting the glacier.
The truck squeezed through, scraping along both sides as Renn gunned the engine. Behind them, the shrieks of the swarm grew fainter, blocked by the narrowing walls.
They burst into darkness, the crevice swallowing them whole. The sound of pursuit faded. Only the echo of the engine and their own breath filled the tight passage.
Renn slowed, his knuckles still white. "We...lost them."
No one cheered. No one dared.
But when the crevice widened again, spilling them into a hollow valley, all eyes turned forward.
Through the thinning snow, towers of ice rose, pale and jagged, built into the earth itself. Bridges stretched like frozen veins, walls gleaming with frost. Cryostead.
Lira's voice was low, steady. "We've made it."
And though relief touched the edges of their fear, the silence that followed was heavier than any swarm.