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‘What do you mean? What kind of accident?’ Cutler stepped forward.
Melissa held up her gloved hand. ‘It means we have a new plan. We can’t—’
‘I demand to see Liam. I am the CEO of Pioneer Adventures and I have a duty of care towards my employees.’
Melissa stepped forward to meet him. ‘You might be the CEO but while we’re on this ice, I am the leader. And what I am saying is that we cannot stay here. It is too exposed. We need proper shelter.’
‘Finally you’re speaking sense!’ said Cutler.
‘We’re going to walk to Brown Base. It’s not occupied at the moment, but there might be food provisions.’
‘Do we really have nothing to eat?’ asked Janine.
Melissa shook her head. ‘We don’t have time to keep discussing this. We need to move, now. If we keep the shore to our left, we won’t be able to miss it.’
‘How far?’ Maxwell asked.
‘If we move now, it shouldn’t take more than an hour. I’ll lead the way. Dr Vance, can you manage the pulk? Make sure no one is left behind.’
The professor looked pale, but he nodded. Melissa strode off into the snow in the direction of Brown Base.
Olivia hesitated. She hadn’t relished the idea of sleeping in the campsite with Liam’s corpse – and with a killer on the loose. But at least here they were all together, and could keep an eye on each other. Keep watch. On the move there was a chance they’d get separated. Lose the pack. Luckily a few others felt the same way. ‘We’ve just spent an age digging out these bivvies and preparing the walls here,’ said Robert at Melissa’s back. ‘I can only barely hear you above the wind as it is – and you want us to go out in this?’
Cutler looked as if he was about to protest too, but when he stood up to lift his head above the parapet they’d made he was smacked in the face with a gust of strong wind. He trudged after Melissa.
Once he was moving, there was a moment’s pause with the rest of the group. Annalise was next to step forward, running up to be alongside the CEO.
That got the rest of them moving. Janine grabbed hold of Olivia’s hand, and they followed.
‘Can I walk with you two?’ Patty came up beside them. ‘I think I lost my buddy.’
‘Of course,’ said Olivia. She bent her head close to Patty’s. ‘Did you know those two were close?’
Patty scoffed. ‘Close? I wouldn’t say that. But maybe being stranded in an Antarctic storm is enough to bring father and daughter together.’
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‘Annalise is Cutler’s daughter?’ Olivia blinked back her surprise.
‘She thinks I don’t know, but I’ve worked for Pioneer my whole life. I figured it out. I know she’ll take over one day, but I respect her wanting to learn the business from the ground up.’
‘Wow. I got the complete wrong end of the stick. I thought they were dating.’
That made Patty guffaw, and Olivia laughed too. Janine frowned. She was right; it was a strange – totally inappropriate – reaction to their situation. They sobered up and kept walking.
According to her watch, it was past midnight.
As Olivia had feared, the group spread out as they hiked to Brown Base. Melissa broke the trail in front, Cutler and Annalise, Robert and Aida and the couple whose names Olivia had already forgotten were close behind. Delilah had huddled together with Greg and Tariq. She’d snapped at Yara for continuing to film their desperate situation. Maybe she was hoping to go viral. Maxwell and Lucinda held hands as they walked in eerie silence, focused on the goal of reaching the shelter.
As for cabin twelve? They’d fallen to the back of the pack. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping Olivia moving at this point. It coursed through her veins, somehow propelling her legs forward even though every musclescreamed in pain. So much had happened, her mind was struggling to contain it all.
And underneath everything, there was fear. Fear that Sergei would leap out at them at any moment, crush her skull the same way he killed Liam.
She looked behind her every few steps, her eyes constantly scanning the horizon. But there was no sign of him.
She also kept an eye on the professor. As the minutes ticked by, it was clear he was struggling with the pulk as they headed down the hill towards the beach. It was too heavy for one person to control.
‘Melissa!’ Olivia called out.