"Summer-chaaaaaann!" Shachi called from behind her, and she rolled her eyes and turned. "It's so cold!" He shouted, holding onto his arms to preserve body heat. The wind had began to pick up and the fat flakes were now coming down harder than before.
"I'm cold too, baka!" Her teeth chattered between words, and she shivered more violently than before.
"We have to cuddle to-" He started but she swung around.
"No! No cuddling of any kind!" She started walking through the fields and hill again.
"But Summer-chan, I'm gonna die of hypothermia! Would you really want that to happen?"
"Sometimes." She muttered to herself. She pulled her jacket, adorned with fur around the hood, a little closer. Rolling her eyes, she turned and waited for Shachi to catch up. Her compassion was starting to get the better of her.
"Fine, let's just stick close together so we don't get lost either." The engineer gave a sigh of relief. They huddled close together and walked in a straight line through the large open fields.
"Have you seen any sign of the sub yet?" Summer chattered, but Shachi shook his head.
"We should be getting close, right?" The wind blew past them in a stronger gust than usual, sending snow into the hoods of their jackets and in their eyes.
"I hope so."
The snow continued to fall, growing more severe as time went on. Soon, visibility was reduced to no more than a foot in front of them. Shachi and Summer held onto each other's arms, linking them together so they wouldn't lose each other in the white blizzard.
Still being in the open fields, there was nowhere to take shelter. Not a tree in sight, no caves of any kind, and still no sight of the yellow submarine they called home.
"Shachi! I think-" Summer's foot slipped on a patch of ice hidden under the snow, sending her sliding down the hill and accidentally releasing her grip on Shachi's arm. "AH!" She shouted, flailing her arms around to prevent her fall.
"Summer-chan!" Shachi muffled voice shouted, unable to find where she was. All he could understand was that Summer wasn't next to him anymore. "Summer-chan! Where are you?"
"Shachi!" A very faint voice called, coming from a direction the engineer couldn't pinpoint. It was no use using landmarks for direction, the only thing visible was the swirling white of the snow in the air.
"Summer-chan!" Turning left, he started off that way in hopes of finding her.
Summer had been on Shachi's right. The hill they'd been walking on was slightly more elevated than those around them and they hadn't realized it. Summer, having slid down at least 30 feet of slick snow, was laying on the ground at the bottom. Breathing heavily didn't do much to catch her breath as the high winds and snow kept going into her mouth. Coughing fits overtook her.
"S-Shachi!" She called, her voice hoarse from the dry air. She didn't hear an answer, only the howling wind. "Shachi!" She tried again in vain.
Struggling to get to her feet, she brushed off whatever snow she could on her jacket even though the wind just replaced it a few moments later. A few steps into walking and she slipped and fell once more. She landed onto her knees, and they scraped on some rocks that were underneath the snow.
"Dammit!" She could feel a hint of warmth through her pants, and a little moisture. Looking down, a dark red liquid began staining the knees of her pants. She was out of breath, bleeding, lost in the middle of a blizzard.
Things were turning out just peachy.
"Parker, do you know where Captain is?" Blake asked, holding a few medical books. "He wanted me to organize his bookshelf in the infirmary but I have a questions for him."
Parker took another sip of his hot chocolate, then pointed down the hall. "Last I heard, he was in his room. Go check there."
"Thanks, man." Heading off in that direction, he greeted a few men who passed by.
'Huh.' He wondered to himself. 'I haven't seen Shachi or Summer for awhile...'
Coming up to the Captain's quarters, he noticed that the door was slightly ajar. This was odd, as Law was always careful to keep his personal quarters secure at all times. Cautiously pushing the door open, he looked inside.
There, lying on the bed in some strange position, was the captain. His arm shot out at a strange angle, hidden partially by the comforter of his bed. A head of unruly hair poked out at the top and several limbs were only somewhat visible in the mass of blankets and pillows.
Blake stood there, grinning when a small snore emanated from within the nest of comforter. Deciding that his Captain's rest was more important than his question, he left the exhausted man to his sleep.
The sun had started its descent in the sky a few hours ago, and it was getting close to the horizon. Before long, it would be dark. Usually, Bepo liked watching these sunsets, but he had a lot on his mind and he just couldn't shake it off.
'I could stay with Pride and protect her from the hunters.' He thought, but then he would take one look at the yellow submarine. 'But the crew is my family. We've been through so much. Captain wouldn't be happy that I left.'
The female bear stirred in her sleep, shifting position on the ground under the makeshift shelter again. Bepo watched her, wondering what it was like to be in her paws.
She kept mentioning the fact that the hunters always came in groups, but Bepo had yet to see any sign of people on the island.
'Maybe they were sailors? Hunting for polar bears?' He shook his head. He should have smelled any remnant of humans occupying the island as soon as they landed. So, why wasn't anything adding up?
Another question was why he hadn't smelled any other polar bears on the island. And it was very odd that there was only one polar bear on an entire island where she proclaimed there to be polar bears. Bepo shook his head. He was so confused.
And she had stated that she wasn't fed enough for hibernation but...polar bears didn't hibernate. Even he knew that despite not living in the wild. So...why had she lied?
The wind started picking up, harshly billowing the fabric of the shelter. It flapped dangerously, and Bepo looked up to see the blizzard going on towards the forest. Suddenly, he noticed a dark figure walking towards the sub. It was a single person, hunched over from the snow. Bepo got up quickly and went to see who it was.
He couldn't smell them properly because of the shifting winds. The figure seemed to look up at him and find newfound strength.
"Bepo!" A hoarse voice called out, and the polar bear recognized it as Shachi.
"Shachi, what are you doing out here?" He loped up beside the engineer who was shivering violently. He looked to be close to hypothermic, and Bepo picked him up without warning. Holding him to his chest, surrounded by his fur, Shachi let out a sigh of relief.
He stiffened, and started to scramble out of the bear's arms. "What's wrong?" He asked.
"I have to find Captain. Soon or she'll die. We need to look for her!"
Bepo kept pace with Shachi's slow running. "Who?" The engineer looked at him with dread, as if he had committed some terrible act and not told anyone. He tried to speak a few times but his voice wouldn't work, or he was scared of saying it out loud. Finally…
"Summer-chan. She's lost somewhere out there."
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