Erin was still looking up at me, worried. So I told her the one thing I knew with cast-iron certainty. “You’re my girl, now.” No one was ever taking her away from me.

She flushed, nodded, and the grin she gave me lifted me right up through the ceiling. I wrapped my arms around her, she cuddled into my chest and all was right with the world.

After a while, though, my soldier brain started to kick in, infuriatingly practical. It started to think about how today we'd reach the rendezvous point at the village. And what would happen when we got there.

I just fucked JD’s little sister. Not after a month of careful dating but within a week of meeting her. My stomach twisted. JD was going to be… Mad didn’t even begin to cover it. But he’ll get over it. Right?

I’d put Erin’s clothes on the stove and they’d dried overnight. We dressed and then opened the door to find everything covered in a blanket of pristine white snow. The sky was clear again and we were feeling pretty good, aside from being achingly hungry.

Before we left, we gathered some branches from the edge of the forest and filled up the stove for the next person. Then we set off for the village, holding hands.

Two hours later, I saw smoke rising from behind a hill. Another hour and I was lying on my stomach, peeking over the brow of the hill with Erin beside me. Becker thought we were dead, but what if he’d caught up with the others and was waiting here for us? It didn’t hurt to be cautious.

Through the scope of my rifle, I saw several huts, an old truck and a few people who looked like locals, but there was no sign of the team.

A crunch of snow behind me. I whirled around, bringing my rifle up…and found myself looking right into Colton’s bearded face. Both of us lowered our rifles with sighs of relief. I wanted to hug him. Then, fuck it, I did hug him. It had been a long few days.

Colton thumped me on the back. “Thought you were dead, when you fell outta the chopper. See, this is why I don’t like flying.”

Poor fella. Colton hadn’t been a fan of heights before this. We’d probably scared him off flying for life.

We followed Colton down into the village and over to one of the huts. He pulled open the door and I let out a groan of relief. Bradan, Cal, Gabriel, JD and Gina were all sitting inside, all okay.

JD and Erin ran to each other and hugged. “You alright?” asked JD urgently. “You okay?”

Erin nodded and I saw JD relax. It must have been a sleepless few nights for him. He looked at me over her shoulder. “Thanks.”