Eternal Winter

“Hey! Angela? Are you still asleep?” Lance yelled banging on her door.

“I was asleep until I woke up to you banging on my door!” Angela screamed from inside after a moment. “It’s 5:00 in the morning?! What are you doing up?”

“You are coming with me to find stuff to fix up Mayday!” Lance said with a big smile on his face. “Now come on! I’ll give you half an hour to get ready.”

“Fine!” A muffled Angela yelled from inside. Lance grinned as he sprinted to the workshop.

“Alright, Hyrum? What do I need to fix up Mayday? And put it on the Techboard please.” Lance called out as he walked to the tech board with a bagel in his hand.

“Ok Sir, you need circuitry, scrap metal to repair the body, and a smoldering tool to repair the broken connections in the brain,” Hyrum responded.

“I don’t know if we can find all of that, but we can try.” Lance signed as he turned and found Angela walking into the shop. “Well, well, well. Look who decided to wake up!”

“Oh shut up already.” Angela yawned. “Where are we going?”

“We are going to find stuff for Mayday, so I can try and fix him up again,” Lance answered. “Let’s go! We haven’t had much time to kill anymore because of you.”

“Wait wait, what’s ‘Mayday’? And what in the world is that?” Angela asked, stepping over to the Pretorian, and reaching out to it.

“Don’t touch it!” Lance snapped, to which she hastily retreated her hand. “That is ‘Mayday’.”

“So that’s what we are repairing?” Angela asked.

“No, that’s what I’m repairing.” Lance snarled.

“Fine, fine,” Angela said as she made her way to the airlock. Lance followed close behind.

“Hey Hyrum, could you please watch Alloura? She has been acting weird lately.” Lance called out as he was walking into the airlock.

“Ok, Sir. I’ll contact you if anything happens?” Hyrum asked.

“Thanks,” Lance responded as he closed the door to the airlock. Lance took hold of a radiation suit, slipping it on. The suit stuck to him like wet paper, and Lance grunted in frustration until finally, he wrestled the suit into a comfortable position. He glanced over to see Angela was having a bit of difficulty.

“Need any help?” Lance smirked.

“No!” Angela said defiantly, her cheeks turning slightly red. “I do not need your help!”

“Suit yourself.” Lance leaned back against the wall watching her. He was amazed by her, the way she elegantly fumbled with the folds of the suit, how she looked up at him with that amazing glare that she-

“You’re staring,” Lance quickly looked down at her harsh words. He faked a cough into his hand, fidgeting with the screen on his forearm. “Do you have something to say?” Angela asked him.

“What? Uhh n-no,” Lance stuttered. He quickly straightened up and asked, “You ready to go yet?”

“Yeah. Finally, I am ready to go.” Angela huffed, turning to the door leading outside.

“Grab that sled there,” Lance said as he pointed to the makeshift sled in the corner of the small room.

“Why?” Angela asked.

“Because we are going to need it! Duh!” Lance yelled.

“Fine, fine, fine,” Angela said as she grabbed the sled.

Lance stepped up in front of her and grasped the rotating mechanism. He yanked it counterclockwise and it hissed as air escaped. He gave the door a firm push and it gently swung open, revealing the wasteland outside. Angela stepped out first, her feet gently sinking into the snow outside. She sighed in amazement at the sight of the ruined forest and the cracked wreckages on the horizon. “I’ll never get used to the sight of this monstrosity.” She said, her body tensing, gripping the sled in her hand tighter.

“Good. You should never get used to it.” Lance spat as he stepped up beside her. “Let’s move. Keep up, if you can. Put the sled down there and let’s go.” Lance said as he pointed to a small spot indented with two long lines from previous expeditions. She stepped up to it and they both began forging through the wasteland.

The snow beneath the sled crumpled as it hurled down the side of the mountain. It hit the road and slowed, eventually coming to a full stop, ironically at a stop sign. Lance sat behind Angela on the sled, his arms around her waist. He let go of her quickly and stood up stiffly. He grabbed the sled as she rose and began trotting into the desolate city, snow swirled around them as they walked

“What exactly are we looking for?” Angela said as she examined an electronics shop.

“Stuff.” Lance said as he pointed to the shop, “We go in here.” He grabbed a piece of rebar sticking out of the ground, he moved towards the front door, where it was chained up with a large padlock. Lance chuckled at the padlock and grunted as he heaved the bar, then struck the lock, which dented under the blow. He struck it a second time, and it shattered into pieces. Angela blinked as she watched,

“Well, that was unexpected.”

“And why is that?” Lance glanced over his shoulder at her.

“I knew you were strong, but not that strong,” She said.

“Hurtful, but understandable.” Lance chuckled as he dropped the rebar and made his way into the store. As he stepped in he glanced around at the rubble covering the floor. He squinted, holding his hand up against the light shining through a hole in the ceiling. He stumbled as he made his way to the battery section.

“We need batteries?” Angela asked.

“No, but we need certain things in the batteries,” Lance answered.

“Ok, what else then? I could go and get the other things.” Angela suggested.

“No. We stay together.” Lance commanded.

“Why? If we split up, we could get it done faster.” Angela huffed.

“No,” Lance repeated. He wanted to tell her the truth, but it brought back too many painful memories.

“Are you ok?” Angela asked, seeing his face fall, then harden with pain.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Lance snapped looking away, he took a breath. “I’m fine.”

“Then what should I do?” Angela asked.

“Go find any food in the break rooms. Or anything we might need.” Lance ordered. “Also make sure to grab a soldering tool.”

“Um…” Angela said, “What uh- what’s that?”

Lance sighed, “You know, it’s a gun-looking thing with two prongs at the front? The thing that connects broken wires? Ringing any bells?”

“Uh-” Angela looked down at a shelf, then picked something up. “This?” She held it up.

“Angela-” Lance put a hand over his mask. “That’s a fork.”

“But it’s got prongs on the front-” Angela said weakly. Lance sighed and waved his hand.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get it. For now though, just- just go find food.”

“Fine.” Angela huffed once more. She stalked off in the direction of the break room. Lance shook his head as he took a couple of packs of batteries and slipped them into his backpack, glancing around. He stepped over a few fallen shelves and opened a door into a workshop. He glanced around, spying a soldering tool laying on the ground, after falling off the table. As he held it he felt the screen on his arm buzz. He slipped the tool as he looked down at the device. It read:

“Incoming message from HOMEBASE-Hyrum”.

Lance read what Hyrum had sent him then looked up quickly, startled. He swung the backpack on his shoulder and sprinted to the break room. Angela was standing there, piling food into her arms.

“Angela! We have to go! There’s a problem.” Angela’s head whipped around at him.

“What’s wrong?” Angela said worriedly.

“Mayday is awake!”