The Glaciermen #5: The Taking & Station
Early access prepublication manuscripts of "The Glaciermen"
Let’s jump right in today. Here it is folks…
(Link to previous segment if you missed it, and a link to the beginning, if you’re new).
The Taking
Wrapped in a coat not his own and too big for him, Lee trudged across the ice of the glacier with Sandy and the other surviving passengers, numbering about sixty or so. It was only half of those who had originally boarded back in Chicago, leaving behind corpses and a small handful who elected to stay with the captain. They followed behind the dauntless former copilot, suitcases and luggage dragging awkwardly behind them.
The sun was setting over the wreckage of the plane at their backs and was casting long shadows onto the ice from the trundling figures. A cold northern wind battered falling snow against them as they walked, making Lee shiver and sending a chill into his bones. The winds brought dark clouds, further dimming the already scant light of the setting sun to the west.
About a hundred yards from the plane, the group reached the edge of a massive crevasse in the ice. It stretched to either side until disappearing in the clouds of falling snowflakes now falling heavily all around them. The walls of the crevasse were steep, but nearby was a section sloping down gradually enough as to be safe for a descent. At the bottom of the crevasse, some fifty feet below, stood the gloomy mouth of a cave in the ice.
A questioning voice in the gathering crowd spoke up: “Is this such a good idea? How are we supposed to get back up once we go down there? It’s pretty steep.”
“It’s not that steep,” Reynold said.
“Maybe for you. But we’ve got some older folks, they can’t climb that. What are they gonna do?” asked the woman who had spoken up.
“The rescue crew will have ropes and stuff for anyone too weak to climb. It’ll be fine.”
The woman was about to speak again, but Reynolds cut her off, not happy with someone questioning his newfound authority.
“Enough questions. If you don’t want to come you’re free to hang out and enjoy the weather. I’m going down there to get some fires started while there’s still light left.”
Not waiting for a reply, he started down the slope into the crevasse, shuffling his feet rather than stepping in order to maintain his balance. A few followed after him, which was enough to sway the collective. They began to descend.
Lee and Sandy were near the back of the group. Lee was carefully placing each step, and watched as the people in front of him attempted to scuttle down the slope. He agreed with the woman—it was definitely too steep for an old person—even he could see that. Lee heard a shout and saw someone slip, colliding with a few people on the tumble toward the bottom. Four ended up in a jumbled heap near the mouth of the cave. A few groans came from the tumble and made their way up past a murmuring among the rest of those descending.
When Lee and Sandy reached the bottom, he could see a sputtering red light on the floor inside the mouth of the cave. The copilot was ahead, lighting another flare before walking another twenty paces and tossing it down. He progressed down a tunnel of ice before stepping into a larger space beyond. The passengers slowly filed down the icy tunnel toward what turned out to be a spacious cavern.
After a quarter of an hour, and some commandeered luggage for fuel, there were several fires burning around the cavern. Groups of passengers huddled around each one, some with hands toward the flames, others with arms hugged tightly to themselves. Two of the flight attendants were going between the groups, passing out what was left of the food from the in-flight meal packets.
It was nice to be out of the wind and snow, but Lee was still cold as he huddled next to one of the fires with Sandy. She had spread a mat of clothing underneath them on the ice, and he was sitting nestled against her for warmth. Sandy was looking down at Lee, who had just finished scarfing down a stale pack of salted pretzels, and shook her head at herself. Lee suddenly remembered something and turned to Sandy.
“What was your name again?”
“It’s Sandy. And you’re—”
“I’m Lee Wallace. Nice to meet you, Sandy,” he said, sticking out a hand for her to shake and looking her in the eye.
Sandy laughed, but didn’t take his hand. “Uh, hello Lee Wallace. I guess we forgot our manners in all the commotion, eh?”
Lee nodded, saying, “My mom told me to always be polite when I meet new people, and I forgot before. Anyway, I got to act more grown up now that… now that she’s gone and I’m on my own.”
Sandy felt a pang of sadness clutch her chest, but did not let it show, and instead channeled the positive energy coming from the child huddled against her.
“Well, you’re not alone. You’ve got me now, too. We’re in this together.” She said, speaking as much to herself as she was to Lee.
Lee smiled. “I guess you’re right, Sandy. We’re together on an adventure now.”
“Yeah, an adventure,” she agreed.
“Plus,” he added, pointing at the copilot in another part of the cavern, “that guy seems like he knows what he’s doing, though he’s kinda mean. I don’t like him very much.”
Sandy nodded, saying, “Yes, he certainly acts like he knows what to do, but I think you’re instincts are correct—I don’t like him either. How about this, you and me are partners on this adventure. We take care of each other, okay? Let that guy do his own thing.”
Lee, recognizing that Sandy was sharing responsibility with him, puffed his chest a bit and nodded seriously with a look on his face he felt was very adult.
“Partners,” he said, sticking his hand out again.
Sandy matched his comically stern expression and shook his hand firmly.
“Partners.”
With the agreement set, and not much else to do, Lee passed the time telling Sandy about his toy soldier collection, detailing how they would have responded in such a situation as theirs—how they would not have argued about what to do, how they would have had snowmobiles and ice picks and skis, and would not have needed to be rescued.
Sandy followed every detail with apparent great interest, nodding frequently and asking questions occasionally. Soon Lee had worn himself out, falling once again into the sleep that likely signaled a concussion from the events of the crash. She sighed and smiled. There was such joy in the boy despite the horrors of the last day. Exhausted herself, she too succumbed to the rigors of the day, allowing her eyelids to close as she huddled close to the motherless child.
† † †
Screams pierced into Lee’s dreams of toy soldiers and tore him back to consciousness. He shot up, still cradled by Sandy, and jerked his gaze to and fro across the room. Around him was chaos. Many of the fires had been scattered across the floor of the cave, embers glowing and steaming on the ice floor. The dim light scattered and reflected off the undulating icy walls of the cavern through clouds of smoke in the air.
The cavern was filled with shouting and screaming as the dark forms of passengers ran aimlessly in the dim light. Among them were blurs of blue, streaking this way and that, occasionally colliding with a running shadow to tumble on the floor. Someone nearby was cast into the fire in front of Lee, sending up a cloud of sparks and letting out a painful howl as the flames licked up the combustible winter clothing, catching almost immediately. The figure rolled and flailed, but to no avail, and was soon consumed by the hungry flames.
Sandy was awake now too, and getting up, grabbed hold of Lee by the collar of his oversized jacket.
“Run!” she shouted, already dragging him away from the blazing body.
He stumbled to his feet and ran with Sandy in no particular direction. They ducked around bumbling passengers, stepping over a pile of something that revealed itself to be a lifeless body as they passed. Horrifying shrieks mixed with strange grunts and guttural sounds behind them.
A man ran toward them from the side. They made to dodge around his panicked advance, but before he reached them he jerked, a barbed spike bursting through the front of his jacket. He coughed dark liquid, droplets splattering against the ground as the spike was yanked back by some unseen force. Sandy and Lee watched horrified as the man was dragged away toward a blue glow.
They ran again, soon reaching the wall of the cavern.
“The exit!” Sandy yelled to Lee over the din, “We have to find the exit. Don’t let go of my hand!”
Lee held tightly as they jogged along the wall. It was hard to see in the dim light, and he was disoriented already from the chaotic dash away from the fire. He tried to peer through the darkness, but could not see anything resembling an opening past the raging throngs of blue and black amidst the scattered fires. Sandy continued to pull him forward, and as they went along the wall they passed a number of openings of various sizes. Lee did not remember noticing them before. Some were just small hollows, like shelves in a wall, but others were the entrances of tunnels leading into the dark ice, though none was as big as the one they had used to enter the cave.
After going for a bit longer, Sandy stopped and turned to Lee.
“I can’t find it Lee,” she shouted, “Quick, get in here!”
She pushed him toward a small hollow in the ice. He went on all fours and squirmed backward into the cavity. It was only a yard or so deep and perhaps two feet tall, but it was enough for him to fit his whole body with a few feet between him and the opening. Sandy’s soot-smeared face filled the opening, and her expression was filled with fear. She reached a hand into one of her jacket pockets, but before she could pull it out, a flash of blue hammered into her side and she was gone from Lee’s sight.
Startled into stillness, he peered out from his hiding place in the ice. Squinting through the smoke, his field of view was constricted by the mouth of the opening, and he was only able to see a small window of the cavern beyond. The fires were almost out, and there were fewer figures running around. Glowing blue forms shifted among the clouds of smoke. As seconds passed by, the screams lessened in number and intensity, replaced by grunting and moans of pain.
Somewhere in the haze a new shout rose above the rest, then a bright red orb flashed across the cavern, casting the entire space in a bloody red hue. It streaked in a shallow ark before hitting one of the glowing blue forms in the haze. The figure collapsed, writhing on the ground, then was still. The shout came again, a triumphant bellow, then another red orb streaked toward a blue figure, missing narrowly.
The flare gun, Lee thought, scooting forward a few inches toward the opening. A third flare flashed as some survivor out in the smoke fired again. Another blue glow went down, however, the other blue figures were beginning to coalesce in the direction of the source of the flares. One last flare was launched, but at a sharp angle toward the ceiling of the cave, where it ricocheted before coming back down to skitter across the ice near Lee’s hiding place.
Lee heard a new scream pierce the smoke, which was beginning to dissipate. The glowing blue forms near the flare gun shooter were beginning to take the basic shape of men, though their heads were hairless and their arms looked a little too long. Through the dispersing haze Lee could make out two of them dragging a lone man by his legs. He wore a white shirt, now torn and stained with blood in several places. It was the copilot, and he was screaming and kicking as they dragged him.
They were approaching a third blue figure who had a barbed spike with a loop on the end like a harpoon. He threaded a rope through the loop, measuring it out until he had two lines of equal length bisected by the spike. He took hold of both lines close to the spike and began swinging it in a rapid circle, then released it toward the ceiling with a guttural yell. The spike point pierced deep into the ice of the ceiling, both ends of the rope now dangling down from it. The blue man jerked hard on the ropes one time, then tugged twice, seemingly satisfied.
The other two arrived with the copilot. One of them produced another harpoon spike, which he jammed forcefully into the copilot’s calf until the barbed tip pierced through to the other side. The copilot screamed in agony while the blue man then tied one end of the hanging rope to the spike in his calf.
Then all three of them took hold of the remaining dangling line, and with a common movement they heaved downward on the rope. The copilot was dragged upward a few feet by the spike in his calf. With each heave, the bloodied man released another pained cry. They continued to raise him until his face was level with their heads. He was too exhausted to continue his cries of pain, instead letting out sobs as he gently swung back and forth.
One of the blue men produced a knife, then slowly dragged it across the copilot’s throat. The other two held a pouch of some kind below his head, catching the blood now streaming from the man’s neck. When the stream was reduced to a dribble, one of them tied off the pouch, and all three left the body hanging there. A steady drip of blood continued to fall, pattering rhythmically against the icy floor.
Lee pulled his gaze from the dangling body, fighting back nausea. As quietly as he could, he took deep breaths and focused his attention elsewhere. He took in the rest of the cavern for the first time, now that it was illuminated red from the blazing flares. The cave was roughly fifty yards long and about half that in width. Bodies were strewn across the floor among puddles of blood, scattered ash, and half-burnt luggage. There were a dozen or so of the blue men. They had shaven heads and were dressed in only loincloths and moccasins, their skin glowing azure and rippling with muscle.
They were beginning to pile the bodies of the dead onto large sleds which Lee had not noticed before. Huddled near the sleds were the passengers who were still alive. They were packed together tightly, held in place by three of the blue men with prodding spears, so Lee could not count exactly how many there were, but they had to be at least twenty in number. Maybe Sandy is there.
In the new light from the flares, Lee was able to locate the original entrance to the cave. He considered making a dash for it, but before he could decide more blue men appeared from the tunnel leading to the surface. They were dragging additional sleds piled with bodies. The people who stayed on the plane, Lee thought, No, that’s too many. They must be taking the dead people too. I’ve got to do something or I’ll end up like that.
Lee watched as they dragged the sleds across the icy floor of the cave toward another opening on the far side, occasionally tossing another body from the floor onto the pile.
What would a soldier do? He asked himself.
After watching the sleds disappear into the second tunnel, and realizing there was nothing for him to do, Lee decided the best course of action was to wait until the others left too. Then he could figure something out.
As he began to scoot backwards in the hollow, watching the cave through the open end of the hollow, a snarling head appeared. Lee screamed, face to face with the ugly visage of one of the blue men. It was like a human face, but the eyes were a little too big and the head was too round, with a brow protruding strongly from a curving forehead below a shaven scalp. Black pupils inside almost-black irises pierced into Lee, and the man-thing formed a grisly smile, revealing a set of jagged yellow and black teeth. His skin was shiny, as if something were smeared over it, and glowing. Lee could see the faint outlines of veins under the surface of the skin, which itself was tinged with green and yellow amidst the blue glow.
Lee finished his scream, and before he could take another breath, the blue man reached into the hollow. Lee tried to avoid the grasping hand, pressing himself against the back of the hollow, but there was nowhere to go. Spindly blue fingers clutched his shoulder strongly, the force of the grasp pressing into his shoulder and sending shoots of pain into his arm and torso. He tried in vain to scoot backward, the ice pressing against his legs and back, and he felt a strange instinct rise up inside his chest.
It was not a scream but a combative shout that left Lee’s lips this time. He grabbed the blue forearm with both his hands and lurched toward it, biting hard and feeling his teeth sink into the flesh, which was surprisingly warm in his mouth. The blue man howled, and jerked hard, pulling Lee out of the hollow in one swift motion. Lee let go of his hold on the forearm and crumpled against the floor.
The man stood over Lee, poised to strike with a short pointed spear. Lee lay still where he was dumped, half-curled into an awkward ball, making no movement to run or struggle this time. Seeing no continuing threat, the man-thing laughed heartily, sending spittle down onto Lee. Then he grunted something, but Lee continued to lay there motionless. The man grunted again, this time more slowly, and Lee could make out a few isolated syllables.
Holy crap! He’s trying to talk to me.
The man poked at Lee with the spear, then gestured toward the small crowd huddled across the cavern before repeating the harshly-syllabled phrase. Lee put together the basic meaning of the command and slowly got to his feet. Another prod of the spear sent him walking across the cave toward the other captives. Most of the bodies had been collected at that point, so not much was left besides burnt luggage and blood stains on the ice—and the still swinging corpse of the copilot.
Soon Lee was shoved into the huddled mass of people. He wrinkled his nose at the smell, again having to fight back nausea. The scent was a mix of vomit, feces, and urine. Lee was pressed between an old man with long hair and a middle-aged couple. The ice was stained yellow beneath the middle-aged man’s feet. The sound of gentle crying and muffled sobs carried from the main mass of the crowded captives.
They watched as the last of the bodies were collected and piled onto the two remaining sleds. A handful of men were pulled from the crowd and split into two teams. Through a series of gestures and grunts, they were directed to pick up ropes in front of the sleds. One of the conscripted men, with a look of frightened confusion, uselessly asked a question in English. The only answer he received was a smack across the head with the rod of a spear. He cowered, blood streaking from a split on his forehead. No one asked any more questions.
The men began to pull the sleds toward the exit tunnel the other sleds had disappeared down. The rest of the survivors followed after the sleds; the three blue men behind them with spears were motivation enough.
As they entered the tunnel, lit only by the blue glow coming off the skin of their captors, Lee took one look back at the carnage in the cavern behind him. The bloodstains were already beginning to freeze over with frost. Before his view was cut off by a bend in the tunnel, Lee saw a blue man hurl a spear at the spike holding the copilot to the ceiling. The ice around the spike shattered, releasing the corpse to fall to the floor with a dead thump.
His view lost to the winding tunnel, Lee faced forward and walked on after the other prisoners, trudging deeper into the bowels of the glacier.
• • •
Station
Everyone was yelling. Amanda sat in a folding chair in the main unit of the station. Huddled and shivering under a blanket, she was exasperated by the commotion around her. They had rushed her inside, thrown a blanket around her, and had sat with rapt attention while she recounted what had happened in the cavern—but as soon as she finished, the room burst into shouting.
Rolf was slamming his fist against the table, incoherently spewing at David, who had grabbed Mikkel by the lapels and was shaking him while repeatedly yelling ‘I was right.’ Mikkel was shouting back at David, his normal jovial spirit gone for the moment, struggling to free himself. The young man had followed them inside. Still shirtless, he was standing silently in the corner with crossed arms. His eyes were roving from person to person, but rested on Amanda longer than any of the others.
“Everybody shut up!”
The room fell quiet as the three shouting men stopped to look back and forth at each other, only to realize it was Amanda who had spoken.
“Could everybody just shut up for one, freaking, second.” She took a deep breath. “Two of us were just taken by those… things,” she said, pausing as the sound of Erika’s body crunching against the ice came back in her mind.
Pushing the thought away, she continued, “And that man just saved my life. You’re heartless! All three of you. We can at least thank him, or even just ask his name!”
“Lee.”
The room was silent again as all heads turned to the young man.
“My name is Lee, though I haven’t been called that in a long time. You’re welcome.”
After several seconds, David broke the silence. “You know English. You appeared out of a hole in the ice, dressed like a cartoon savage, and you know English. How?”
“Because I’m from Chicago.”
David’s face wrinkled with confusion, and he slumped down into one of the folding chairs around the table. Mikkel lowered himself into the chair next to him. Rolf stayed standing, the dark affect locked on his face.
“Well, thank you for saving my life, Lee.” Amanda said, offering a smile for the first time since coming out of the ice.
Lee nodded to her, then stepped forward toward the table. David’s head shot up as realization dawned upon him.
“You were on the flight. The flight that crashed here nine years ago—Chicago O'Hare to Reykjavik. You’re one of the passengers. But that’s impossible, you would have been just a kid. You couldn’t have survived on the glacier…” David trailed off.
Mikkel chimed in. “What happened to the rest of the passengers?”
Lee was quiet, though from the distant look that came over his face the answer was likely not a pleasant one. David stood, ducking out of the room before returning with a hard plastic case. He set it on the table and opened it. After rummaging for a few seconds, he retrieved a large syringe from inside the case.
“I need to sample your blood.”
“What?” Amanda said.
“His blood. I need to test it for genetic variations. It could be the proof I need to prove my theory, and then—.”
Amanda interjected, “Really? Right now! Forget the theory, we’ve got to figure out what the hell we’re gonna do!”
“We should leave—leave and tell the proper authorities. Let them deal with this, if they even believe us,” Mikkel said, holding his head in his hands.
David was shaking his head. “No, we can’t leave. But you’re right, both of you. We need to come up with a plan, and we’ll also need more proof before we can expect anyone to take us seriously.”
“Runa.” Rolf had finally broken his silence. “Save. Runa.”
Amanda said, “Yes, we’ve got to get her back. And Erika.”
“But we do not even know if they are alive. Who can know what those creatures have done with them,” Mikkel retorted.
Lee spoke with complete conviction. “They’re alive.”
“We have to save them!” Amanda pleaded, looking to her father, “Dad, please. We have to.”
David sighed, rubbing his temples. “Of course, you’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just… excited and terrified all at once. I was expecting a few frozen bodies, not… living breathing proof standing right next to me and glowing blue nightmares kidnapping half my team.”
“But what about us?” Mikkel said, “You heard how she described them, growling and leaping like animals. What can we do against that? We do not know anything about them, or anything about the tunnels in the ice for that matter. We could get lost down there just as easily as getting taken ourselves. This is outside of our capabilities—I still think we should go.”
Rolf spat on the floor and shot a long string of harsh syllables across the table. Mikkel’s face went a pale white and his gaze dropped to his boots.
“What did he just say?” David asked.
Lee spoke again. “He called the fat one a coward, and said that he can stay up here like a cockroach while the real men save his sister—and that if he leaves without them, he will track him down, gut him like a fish, and feed him his own insides.”
They stared at him, both astonished at Lee’s calm demeanor relating such a harsh message as well as bewildered at his comprehension of the language. Before anyone could inquire as to how Lee knew Danish, Amanda piped up.
“Good. So we’re staying then. What’s our plan?”
David thought for a few moments, then said, “First, we need some answers. I could test Lee, but his DNA probably hasn’t changed significantly enough to give us any clues, and likely wouldn’t convince anyone of my theory anyway. We need hard evidence—we need to capture one of these blue men.”
“No, I meant what’s our plan for saving Erika and Runa?” Amanda said, annoyed at her father’s fixation on proving his theory.
“Oh, right,” David replied sheepishly, “Well, let’s assess—we are unarmed, likely outnumbered, and know next to nothing about what’s under the ice.”
Amanda turned to Lee. “Then it’s time I think we get some answers about that.”
And that’s it for now folks
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I could feel the tension this chapter. Parts were absolutely terrifying, well done!
I'm so excited to get answers!