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She shook her head. ‘Zodiacs are dangerous in rough seas. Anything could happen – one of you could fall and break something, go overboard, or get crushed against the ship trying to get on board. No, the captain is right. We’ll be safer on land.’ She continued to trudge forward.
It took them much longer to make it up the hill to the campsite battling against the wind. On the plateau the gusts were even stronger, and the snow was falling thickly, making it hard to see. They stuck close together. There was not much in the way of natural shelter, so they set to work deepening the holes in the ground.
Janine retreated into the hood of her jacket, her shoulders hunched. She was pacing from foot to foot.
‘Hey!’ said Olivia, waving her glove in front of her toget her attention. ‘Why don’t you grab a shovel and see if you can start connecting these holes – we’ll need walls of ice and snow around us.’
To her surprise, Janine didn’t argue. Greg and Tariq picked up shovels, and together they started to dig.
Once Arthur had caught up and confirmed there were no stragglers, Melissa raised her voice again. ‘I need to send out a search party for Liam,’ she said. ‘We need to find him. Cutler, Greg, Janine, come with me. The rest of you stay here under the guidance of the professor. He has expedition training too and can supervise building the shelters.’
‘Is she serious?’ asked Annalise. ‘They can’t just comb the ice looking for him. Where the heck could he have gone?’
Patty slumped down inside the tunnel of snow holes they’d built. ‘This is hardly better than being exposed to the elements.’ She’d pulled on a life jacket she’d taken from the Zodiac – Olivia didn’t know how much that would help, but she supposed it might keep the woman a little bit warmer. Maybe it was the illusion of safety she needed. Like wrapping herself in the life jacket might be a signal to the universe. Olivia could hardly blame her. She wished she could cling to anything that might stop her from sinking deeper into the mess she’d found herself in.
But there was no life jacket for bad decisions.
It was sink or swim.
‘It might help to have the pulk over here too,’ Olivia mused out loud. ‘Professor?’ She waved her arms to try to get Arthur’s attention.
He trudged over. ‘What is it?’
‘The pulk – Liam left it on the other side of the camp. I can go over and get it but I might need a hand.’
He nodded. ‘Good idea. Robert, why don’t you go with her?’
She stalked off towards it before the storm worsened their visibility. Robert jogged to catch up with her.
‘Come on, Liam … where are you?’ she muttered under her breath, scanning the horizon around them. The cloud seemed to have closed in on them, making her feel as if her eyes were wrapped in cotton wool. Her feet swum in her oversized boots, and she struggled to see much further than the sleeve of her crimson jacket. She couldn’t believe that only an hour ago she’d felt safe, staring up at the sky of a clear white night.
She was almost there. She could see the outline of the pulk now, with its bright red plastic base. Then she frowned. There was a splash of red on the snow, as if some of the paint had leeched from its surface.
She felt her stomach drop, her body knowing before her head caught up with what she was seeing. Blood.
She didn’t want to, but she took a step closer to the pulk.
And then she screamed.
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Robert was only a few steps behind her.
‘Holy fuck,’ he said.
Olivia was on her knees, a pool of vomit next to her. She still couldn’t lift her head. That would mean seeing it again.
Liam, dead, his body lying across the pulk broken and bloodied.
She didn’t need to be a medical professional to know that Liam was gone. There was no chance of reviving him. Half his face was caved in.
Janine was next to reach Olivia, but Olivia stood up then, catching Janine in her arms, stopping her before she could see the horror. ‘We have … we have to get the doctor.’
‘Holy fuck, holy fuck …’ Robert appeared to be in some kind of trance behind her, unable to process what was happening. She didn’t need that. She grabbed the sleeve of his jacket, shaking at his arm until he turned around.
‘Get yourself together. We need to find one of the crew. Tell them what we found.’
‘What did you find?’