“There’s the cave,” Will said, pointing with his rifle.

Up near the top of the rocky hill was a black fissure between two large boulders.

A clatter of pebbles behind them made Alec whirl around, rifle cocked and levelled. He saw a man, old and gnarled as the nearby bushes, whiplash thin, with a cold-whitened face that was mostly bones and eyes. His mouth was sunken, toothless, and his heavy fur hat was jammed down until it merged with the bulky collar of his rough coat.

“They’re still in there,” the old man said to Will as he advanced carefully toward them. “Haven’t seen any signs of smoke or a fire for three days now.” He said fie-yuh for fire, an accent Alec hadn’t heard before.

“Not much firewood to be had around here, that’s for sure,” Will said.

“Eh-yup,” said the scout.

“Okay. Good.” Will wriggled out of his shoulder harness, reached inside the pack and took out two oblate metal objects. Grenades, Alec realized.

Pushing one grenade into each of his coat pockets, Will said to them, “You two stay here and cover me. I’m gonna see if they’ll listen to some sense.” He picked up his rifle and started scrambling toward the top of the hill.

Alec kneeled in the snow and clamped his rifle under his arm, pointing it in the general direction of the cave.

“They’re bad poison,” the scout muttered in his strange accent. “Caught Johnny Fullah last week and shot him through both knees. Left him crippled to bleed to death in the snow. Lucky I found him before the wolves did.”

Alec glanced at the old man, then put the rifle to his shoulder and aimed it dead at the cave opening. Will was nearly at the edge of the big boulder on the left of the cave.

“Hello the cave!” he shouted.

No reply.

“We know you’re in there. We know you’re cold and hungry and your friend needs medical help, if he’s not dead already. Come on out and we’ll take you back to the base. I’m a medic, I can help your wounded man.”

“And then hang us!” a voice shouted back. It sounded young and trembly to Alec.

“That’s up to the jury. You’ll get a fair trial.”

“We ain’t comin’ out!” It was definitely a young voice, cracking with fear.

Will talked with them for half an hour, patiently, almost pleasantly. He pointed out to them the hopelessness of their situation, urged them to come out peacefully.

Finally the voice said, “Okay... okay, you win...”

Will grinned back down toward Alec, then rose to his feet. “Good,” he said toward the cave. “I knew...”

The shot exploded, echoed by the cave walls, and knocked Will completely off his feet. He tumbled, flailing legs and arms, down the rough hillside. A yellow-haired figure darted from the cave mouth and dashed off toward the right.

Alec had let his rifle rest on his knee, but without thinking about it he snapped it to his shoulder and fired. The rock chipped in front of the fleeing blond. He skidded to a stop, pawing at his eyes. Alec fired again, slamming him back against the rock. Again, and the figure jerked once more and crumpled to the ground.

Alec swung his rifle back to the cave’s mouth. Another shot boomed out, and the snow puffed a few centimeters in front of Will’s sprawled body. Alec emptied the rest of his clip at the cave’s entrance. The firing stopped. He scrambled up the few steep meters to Will’s side. There was a spreading red stain across his coat front. His eyes were open, but hazy.

“Don’t... don’t...” Will mumbled. Alec heard more shots, from behind. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that the scout was aiming a smoking pistol rock-steady at the cave’s mouth.

“Give them a chance... they’re scared...” Will said weakly.

“I’ll give them a chance,” Alec said. He pulled the two grenades from Will’s pockets. One of them was slippery with blood. Hooking a finger through their firing rings, Alec grabbed Will’s rifle with his free hand and made his way, doubled over, toward the entrance to the cave.

There was no more firing. Flattening himself along the boulder beside the cave entrance, Alec yelled, “You’ve got five seconds. Come out with your hands up or I’ll blow you all to hell.”

The same high, cracking voice shrieked. “Wait! Gimme a chance... he’s out cold... I gotta drag him...”

But Alec was counting, not listening. He reached five, glanced at Will still sprawled on his back in the snow halfway down the slope, then pulled the pin from one grenade and tossed it into the cave.

“Hey... wh... no... wait!”

The explosion sounded strangely muffled. Smoke poured from the cave and Alec heard a high, keening screech, long and raw and agonized. He yanked the pin and threw in the second grenade. The explosion blotted out all other sounds, and by the time the smoke had wafted out of the cave, all was silent inside.

Alec edged into the cave carefully, rifle cocked. It took half a minute for his eyes to adjust to the gloom. There was enough left of the two bodies to recognize that they had once been human. Barely enough.

He walked out and went to the blond he had shot. The kid could not have been more than fourteen. He lay where he had fallen. There was no gun or any other weapon near him.

The wind gusted. Alec looked up and saw that the scout was at Will’s side.

“Don’t look too good,” the old man said as Alec joined them. “Think they got a rib. Mighta punctured th’ lung.”

“Can we move him?”

“Got to. Can’t leave him hee-yuh.”

They bound Will’s chest as tightly as they dared, Alec tearing strips from his own shirt. Then Alec sent the scout on ahead to get help as he wedged himself under Will’s arm, on his good side, and started to help him to his feet.

“What about...” Will sagged, nearly dragging Alec to his knees, “...those kids.”

“Don’t worry about them.”

It wasn’t as bad as Alec had feared. Although they barely made two klicks by sundown, trudging along with most of Will’s weight on Alec’s shoulders, just before it got truly dark a trio of scouts met them. They had a stretcher and the four of them carried Will to an overnight camp that the old man had set up. It was only a lean-to, but it sheltered them from the wind. They slept next to a big, hot fire.

The next morning a wagon came up and took Will and Alec back to the base. Douglas and Angela and half the base’s people were at the first gate to meet them.

Two nights later, Douglas banged open the door to Angela’s house. She and Alec had eaten dinner in the mess hall, then walked the snow-banked paths to her house. They were sitting in front of the fire, drawing a charcoal sketch on a piece of fabric together, when Douglas strode in without warning. Suddenly the little room was overcrowded.

“Well, at least you’re dressed,” Douglas said.

The two of them scrambled to their feet.

“Of course we’re dressed,” Angela replied cooly. “Now close that door or it’ll be freezing in here.”

Douglas nudged the door shut. “You’re wanted over at Will’s place, right away.”

“What’s happened?” Alec demanded.