Free Aurora (The Exodus Trilogy) by Andreas Christensen

shouldn’t be far off now though. If they could only carry on a bit longer. That’s what they had said hours ago, but there was still no sign of it. They could be anywhere for all he knew, everything looked the same. All they knew was that if they stopped, they’d surely die. So they kept moving, one step at a time, trying not to think too much, keeping despair at bay.
    “I recognize this place!” Harry suddenly screamed through the howling wind.
    “This is where we sat watching the patrol pass once we had crossed the perimeter!” Ben almost didn’t get it, his mind was working slower somehow. But then it dawned upon him.
    “That would mean…” Harry nodded fiercely and tried to make some kind of contact with Lisa, who seemed to have almost passed out.
    “We’re safe, Lisa! We’re safe now.” Ben and Harry helped each other carry Lisa, one on each side, as they stumbled over toward the perimeter.
    A few minutes later, Ben heard Harry shout again.
    “Hey! Hey you, we’re here! We need help!” He doubted anyone would hear, as the wind drowned all sound that was more than a few meters away. But it meant Harry must have seen something. And soon he saw the lights of the snowmobile. We’re safe , he thought, as it approached. And not a minute too soon, as he was holding on to consciousness by a thread. Then, as the figures on board became vaguely visible, he heard a shot pierce through the noise of the blizzard. Something heavy dragged him down, and he stumbled over and fell to the ground.

Chapter 5
    TINA HAMMER
    “Trigger-happy sons of bitches.” Dean grimaced as he tried not to let the pain show. Earlier that day, he’d been cutting firewood with Kim, when his axe had slid off the surface of the wide log he’d been trying to cut in half. The axe had slipped from his hands, and its head had buried into the shin of his left leg. Kim had helped him back into the cabin, and Tina had come minutes later. She had immediately seen that he’d been lucky. It was a flesh wound, the bleeding was easy enough to stop, and as long as the wound was kept clean, it would heal nicely in a few days.
    “I mean, how do you not see the difference between a balder and three kids?” he continued. Henry shot him an angry glance.
    “Come on, Dean, don’t be an idiot. You’ve been to war, you know this shit happens. Too bad, but it happens.”
    “Yeah, that’s right,” Dean shot back. “In war, it happens. When people are trying to shoot you dead, shit happens. But here? What, like some balder is carrying a bomb vest? You see, I thought balders hunted with their teeth or their claws. Never heard they were packing.” When no one else said anything, Henry got up and went to the door.
    “I’ll go get some more wood,” he muttered. As he slammed the door shut behind him, a gust of cold air blew across the room, almost blowing out the candle on the table.
    “Can’t say I envy those poor suckers though,” Kim said. “I’m glad I don’t have to patrol that perimeter in this weather. Makes you almost sympathetic to them.” She smiled mirthlessly.
    There was nothing to say, so the room went silent again. Tina understood Dean’s reaction, but she knew better than to judge some poor freezing soldier on guard duty who makes a mistake. It was a mistake, they’d said. The three kids had gone AWOL two weeks before, and two nights ago, they’d come back through the perimeter. The guards had been alerted by the motion detectors and rushed out in their snowmobile to meet them. Then, by some freak accident, one of the guards had shot one of the kids. The officer who announced it said the soldier was not to blame, as he’d thought it was a balder attacking them. Besides, he’d said, this was the very reason no one was allowed outside the perimeter. It was dangerous.
    She had recognized the names of two of the kids, Benjamin Waters and Lisa Hayden, two of the kids who’d been on that last, unauthorized launch from Earth. The two