“I’m sorry, little guy. Did that mean man come in here and take bạn away?” Lorrie asked Kowalski as she set him back in his cage.

    “No, I went exploring! bạn should’ve seen me! I opened the door all on my own and everything!” Kowalski chirped excitedly. Lorrie sighed.

    “I’m sorry Preston works for those horrible people. I’m glad bạn don’t understand what’s going on. I would hate for bạn to realize how cruel the world is,” Lorrie đã đưa ý kiến as her eyes went dark. Kowalski sighed and reached through the cage, placing his flipper on her wrist. Lorrie glanced down at it, then looked at Kowalski’s sympathetic expression and laughed slightly in disbelief.

    Before she had time to react, Preston charged through her door and shut it behind him, then turned to Lorrie.

    “Lorrie, we have a problem,” he đã đưa ý kiến urgently.

    “Damn right, we have a problem. I told bạn to stay away from me,” Lorrie responded.

    Preston shook his head.

    “No, that’s not what I mean. Jack told the others what’s going on. They’re not happy with bạn knowing our secret,” Preston warned.

    “And why should I care? It’s their problem, not mine,” Lorrie said.

    Preston shook his head again.

    “No, bạn don’t understand. They’re not just going to let bạn turn them in, Lorrie. They want to kill you,” Preston told her. Lorrie scooted over in her cot so she was in front of Kowalski.

    “How do I know bạn don’t want to as well?” she asked accusingly.

    “Lorrie…Out of everything I lied to bạn about, I did not lie about my feelings for you. Please, Lorrie, if bạn don’t trust me on anything else, I’ll understand. But please trust me on this,” Preston pleaded getting down on one knee before her. Lorrie looked into his eyes and considered. She couldn’t be sure she could risk trusting him, but his expression didn’t seem that of a liar this time. She sighed.

    “And what are we supposed to do about this?”

    “The only way out that I see is the emergency boat. We get on it, sneak away, and call for help once we get to the cabin,” Preston told her.

    “But if we call for help, you’ll be busted, too, won’t you?” Lorrie pointed out. Preston looked away for a moment, then looked back into her eyes as he answered.

    “Yeah. Probably,” he đã đưa ý kiến slowly. Lorrie didn’t respond. “But it’s a chance I’m willing to take if it’ll save your life,” he continued. Lorrie glanced to the side.

    “Fine. But this better not be another lie,” she đã đưa ý kiến before she shifted her gaze back onto Preston. Preston shook his head.

    “It’s not. bạn need to put something warm on—fast,” he told her. Lorrie nodded and stood, grabbing her sweaters and thick jacket, scarf, gloves, goggles, and boots and putting them on. She was about to grab Kowalski’s cage, but Preston put his hand up to stop her.

    “No, it’ll give us away. bạn need to just take Kowalski and forget the cage,” he told her. Lorrie was about to protest, but she realized he was right. The cage was too big and would reflect light. So, instead, she took Kowalski out and held him in the opening in the hàng đầu, đầu trang of her áo khoác to keep him warm.

    “Alright, I’m ready,” Lorrie told him.

    “Okay,” Preston started for the door, “I’ll go create a diversion and I’ll meet bạn at the boat.”

    Lorrie nodded in understanding. Preston left her room and she followed behind, holding Kowalski close to her. When they were topside, Preston took off to the left, opposite the position of the boat. When Lorrie ensured that there was no one around, she moved out, turning to the right and keeping close in the shadows with her head down. Upon reaching the corner, she slowly looked around to see two men talking quietly. She couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. It was dark now, so it was also difficult to make out their faces.

    From behind, a large crash was heard and Lorrie buried her face into the tường so she’d blend into the shadows as the two men ran bởi her to check out the commotion. Lorrie assumed that Preston had knocked over some crates hoặc something for his diversion and peered around the corner once thêm to be sure it was clear. When no one invaded her peripheral vision, she shuffled across the deck and leaned over the railing, where she saw the emergency speedboat. Jumping down into it, she pulled the tarp off of the engine and waited for Preston, as promised.

    A few phút passed and Lorrie remained alone in the small boat. She looked down into her áo khoác at Kowalski, who looked back at her through frightened eyes, as if he wasn’t sure what was going on. hoặc possibly, what was going to happen next. Finally, Preston threw himself over the railing and landed in the thuyền with an solar-powered lantern, causing the thuyền to rock and hit the side of the ship. He handed the lantern to Lorrie as he reached up and pulled on the ropes and the thuyền jerked downward. A moment later, it made contact with the water with a splash, bobbing up and down. Preston didn’t waste a moment; he pulled a pocket dao, con dao from his pocket and sliced the ropes, freeing the thuyền from the ship and threw himself past Lorrie to start the engine.

    Above, a couple of crew members came to the railing and started shouting something back to the others. But Lorrie and Preston were already moving away, their lantern light fading as the thuyền took them farther away from the ship. Preston violently swerved back and forth to avoid large chunks of ice, causing water to splash into the boat. A bang was heard from the ship and Preston jerked forward.

    “Preston! Are bạn alright?! What happened?!” Lorrie cried helping him upright.

    “I’m fine! Hold the lantern up!” Preston responded fumbling for control of the boat. Lorrie held the lantern up toward the front of the boat. Another bang was heard and Lorrie felt a fast streak of air whip past her, inches from her head. Preston jerked the thuyền in another direction and accidentally ran into a chunk of ice, causing the back of the thuyền to bounce upward. Lorrie and Preston were thrown phía trước, chuyển tiếp from the thuyền and landed on snow.

    Preston regained his footing first and pulled Lorrie bởi the arms to her feet.

    “Run!” he shouted snatching up the lantern and taking off into the Nữ hoàng băng giá desert.

    Stumbling over their own feet—and each others—they moved farther away from the ocean, and from the ship. They didn’t know where they were going, but they were going to be anywhere but there.

♦ ♦ ♦

    Neither Preston nor Lorrie knew how long they ran before they deemed it an toàn, két an toàn to slow down. Now, freezing and deathly silent, they trudged through the snow and harsh, howling winds of the Antarctic. Both refused to make eye contact. Finally, Preston cut through the silence.

    “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think it’d be better if we huddled together for warmth,” he đã đưa ý kiến without looking at her. Lorrie rolled her eyes.

    “I’d rather freeze,” she đã đưa ý kiến flatly.

    Preston sighed. “Lorrie, I know you’re pissed at me, but I—” He doubled over with a grunt and fell to his knees, dropping the lantern and grasping his shoulder. Lorrie turned to him and knelt bởi his side.

    “Preston, what’s wrong?” she asked trying to see past his hand.

    “One of those bullets grazed me when they were shooting at us. I’m fine,” Preston đã đưa ý kiến as he tried to get to his feet. Lorrie grabbed the lantern and held it to his shoulder so she could see.

    “Preston, that bullet didn’t graze you. It went right through your shoulder,” she đã đưa ý kiến pulling her scarf off and tying it around the wound to try to contain the bleeding. Preston watched her until she was done.

    “I knew bạn weren’t heartless,” Preston đã đưa ý kiến softly. Lorrie looked him in the eye for a moment, then looked away with a sigh.

    “Come on, we should go,” she đã đưa ý kiến grabbing him bởi his good arm and helping him to his feet. She then held him close and started phía trước, chuyển tiếp a couple of steps. “And I’m only doing this huddling thing because you’re hurt and I really am freezing my tail feathers o—”

    Lorrie stopped abruptly with a gasp, her eyes going wide. She then pulled away and looked in her áo khoác to find it empty.

    “Oh, God, no…” she đã đưa ý kiến in realization.

    “What’s wrong?” Preston asked turning to her.

    “I Mất tích Kowalski! He must’ve fell out when the thuyền threw us! We have to go back!” she đã đưa ý kiến turning and starting back toward the ocean. Preston grabbed her shoulder.

    “Lorrie, we can’t! Who knows how close they are to the bờ biển now! If we go back, they’ll kill us!” he reasoned.

    Lorrie shook free.

    “I don’t care! I can’t leave him out there! He won’t survive on his own! Who will feed him?! Who will keep him warm?!” she argued, now with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Kowalski!” she called at the hàng đầu, đầu trang of her lungs.

    Preston grabbed her around the abdomen and clamped his gloved hand over her mouth.

    “Lorrie!” he whispered harshly in her ear. “You’re going to give us away if bạn don’t keep your voice down! I’m sorry, Lorrie, but bạn can’t go back for him! He’s probably already dead!”

    Lorrie violently pushed Preston off of her and turned toward him on her heel.

    “Don’t touch me!” she screamed with her fists clenched. Preston realized what he’d đã đưa ý kiến and stood down.

    “Lorrie, I didn’t mean—”

    Lorrie waved her hand to cut him off. “No, you’re right…There’s no way he survived this long…He’s…He’s…” She brought her free hand to her mouth and broke down crying. Preston stepped phía trước, chuyển tiếp and took the lantern from her before she dropped it and wrapped his arms around her. Lorrie buried her face into his chest and wept.

    “I’m sorry, Lorrie. I’m so, so sorry,” he đã đưa ý kiến softly into her ear. Before he knew it, he was shedding his own tears.