Mantis

2

The night was frigid and unrelenting. They huddled close, but their shared body heat was barely enough for one person, let alone three.

Their troop leader had never showed up nor did any of their team members. Kazimir had sent several location updates and a message, asking for instructions.

No one answered.

Esme was shivering violently. The blanket Castor had stored away at the bottom of his backpack was thin, not more than a rag.

"Hm? Kazimir did you say something?"

Esme looked into his direction, not able to make him out against the dark of the night. Her cold fingers stroked up his arm.

"No." He tried to whisper. There was cold sweat sticking to his back, freezing in the cold.

"Fuck, Esme, don't leave us now, we don't have a shovel with us." Castor wiggled around, not trying to disrupt the tiny fraction of heat they had been able to collect beneath the fabric.

"Are you alright?"

Esme turned her head again into his direction. For a second, he thought he saw a glint in her eyes.

"Hm, I'm scared. I hope you can think of something. I can't."

"It's simply too dangerous to move during the night. We're already exposing too much of us."

"I hope nothing sniffs us out, otherwise we're screwed." Castor had squeezed his body fiercely into foetal position.

"I'm sorry. We should be quiet. I love you guys, but I don't want to be eaten alive."

Esme followed Castor's idea of curling into a ball, leaving Kazimir with his thoughts yet again.

They were trained in combat, filled to the brim with tactics and manoeuvres and despite all, exposed to the elements just the same as any other person.

The icy cold crawled in through his ears, seeping through hours upon hours of emergency drills, rendering them useless. A shiver ran through his body. His pulse quickened. Lacking knowledge was the first sign of losing it. Saltzer had said it a thousand times and then forgotten it himself.

There was a rumble in the distance. A tree fell.

"Oh fuck."

"Shut up, Castor!" Esme went for her backpack.

They weren't armed. Munition was at an all-time low. The shipping of essentials into the zones had been sluggish over the prior months.

"Please tell me you have a gun."

Esme shushed her friend again, denying him hope.

Kazimir felt for the knife on his belt, slipping it off the hook and gripping it.

Castor did the same. It was merely for the feeling of safety, not an actual weapon against the beasts.

They froze in their positions, listening into the abyss.

Another tree went down, the crunching sound of claws on wood vibrated through the forest. The smell of pine lingered in the air. The ground shook softly, sending rodents scattering away into safety.

Kazimir wished they could to the same. Running was useless.

The beast's sense of smell was incredibly fine-tuned. Running or hiding in their territory had the same effect as hiding in plain sight.

The rumbling ceased.

Castor breathed, noticed its intensity, and stopped.

A noise erupted from deep within the woods. A horrible screeching sound. The sound of something being slaughtered. It had gone for another being, sparing them.

"Hm, they're growing restless. They're rampant." Esme swallowed.

"Well, their conventional food source is not only gone but fighting back. I'd be pissed too."

Castor slipped his knife back into its designated pocket and curled up again, ignoring his companions.

Yet, the two friends didn't budge a finger, remaining utterly still until dawn slowly crept up the horizon.

Esme had already lost a finger to the cold in the past and didn't bother losing another one.

Kazimir went back to rearranging his thoughts. He couldn't grasp a clear one, everything was blurry, hazy, meaningless.