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I come to slowly. I’m dazed, wondering where I am, and what sound I’m hearing. A yellow light keeps flashing. I can see its reflection in the window glass. I turn my head. If not for that blinking yellow light, it would be pitch black. I can just make out Emma across from me, blinking at me through the blanket she tucked around her head. What I can make out of her tear-streaked face looks bruised in the yellow flashes of light. Or maybe it’s actually bruised. I can’t tell. Something about the way she’s sitting doesn’t look quite right. I shift my gaze to Kate. She’s much the same. She’s pulled off the blanket and stood up, looking about as confused as I feel. Her hair is darker than I remember on one side, and streaks of it continue down the same side of her face.

I shove off the blankets and pillows packed around me and slowly stand. Immediately I lose my balance. The floor isn’t level. At least, I hope that’s the reason I stumble. My body feels like one big bruise. Bracing my hand on the wall of the plane, I take a shuffling step and then another, aiming for Emma. Before I get there, she’s dug herself out of her own cocoon and is trying to stand up. 

Seeing both of them mobile, I push off of the wall and point myself in another direction. “Dex? Janelle? Nicolette?”

 

“Here Miss Libby,” Dex says. His voice sounds deeper and gruffer than I’m used to. 

 

I stumble in the direction his voice came from. I don’t have to go far to find him. He’s slumped against the wall. I don’t see Janelle. I crouch down and end up losing my balance. It takes a minute to get myself sitting up. “Dex? What’s wrong?”

 

“I can’t get up,” he tells me. 

 

And now I see the issue. Something has him pinned down. “Oh, Dex. We have to get that off of you.”

 

“Trust me, you can’t. I’ve tried. It’s true I’m weak right now, but if I’m not strong enough to move it, there’s no way you are gonna get it off of me.”

 

“Janelle? Where are you?” Janelle can help Dex. She has to. “Janelle?”

 

“She’s over here, Libby,” Emma calls. “She’s out cold. I didn’t know vampire passed out.”

 

“Nicolette?” Not bothering to get up, I crawl past Dex, toward the cockpit. “Nicolette?”

 

The sight meeting me when I reach the open doorway is a shock. The entire nose of the plane is gone. The dials, glass, everything after the seats. Gone. “Nicolette?” I whisper. The last I saw she was in the pilot’s seat. Both are empty. Ashes swirl as a gust of wind buffets the plane and I suddenly realize I’m shivering. 

 

“She’s gone, Miss Libby.”

 

“Oh no, Dex.” I wipe my tears. Plenty of time to cry later. I drop my head in my hands and try to think. 

 

“Y’all have to get out of here, Miss Libby.”

 

“What?”

 

“Listen to me now. This wasn’t an accident. Somebody wanted us all dead.”

 

Emma coughs. “He’s right. This was no freak engine trouble. They tried to kill us, Libby.”

 

“Yeah, okay, but who? Who is they?”

 

“You don’t have time to figure that out, now. Y’all have to get out of here. I mean it. It won’t be safe for you to stay here.”

 

“But Dex—” 

 

“Whoever is behind this will want to make certain that their plan worked. They’ll send scouts. You need to be long gone before they find this plane.”

 

“Okay, but what about—”

 

“You keep moving and keep your eyes peeled for helicopters, and drones. Listen hard night and day, but only move at night. Stay out of sight during the day. If you see people, you go the opposite direction.”

 

“We can’t—”

 

“A storm’s brewing, we were trying to beat it but now you’ll be in it. There are ski outfits in the back. Each of you put one on over your clothes. Then get into the galley over there and take whatever y’all can carry. Stuff your pockets. There should be a couple of flashlights and—”

 

“Dex! Stop a minute. Please.” A sob escapes me. Pressing his lips into a thin line, he nods at me. “Dex, I don’t want to leave you.”

 

“There’s no help for it and we don’t have time to argue. Now, in the galley there’s a stash of bags of blood. Leave one for me but take the rest for Janelle. She’ll need it more than I do.”

 

“But you’ll need the blood, too, to heal.”

 

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve been in tougher spots than this.” Kate snags a bag of blood and crawls with it to Janelle, who finally has her eyes open. “And don’t forget the first aid kit. You all need help, but don’t take the time to patch yourselves up now. Just stop Kate’s head from bleeding all over the place and leaving a trail for them. Get as far away from here as you can before daylight. Then hunker down anyway you can. In a cave, under cover of a thick canopy of trees, or just dig into the snow. Janelle can help you do that real quick. Once you’re safe enough, tend to the rest of your wounds.”

 

“Dex, don’t make me leave you like this. Please.”

 

He shakes his head at me. “You don’t need me, Miss Libby. You’ve proven yourself to be a survivor. Tap into that wealth of inner strength I know you have and get your friends to safety.”

 

Emma steps up beside me and sets her hand on my shoulder. “We’ll take care of each other Dex.” She squeezes my shoulder. “Come on, Libby. The clock is ticking until search parties arrive.”

 

Despite Dex’s words, Emma and I find a bandage and wrap the deep gash on Kate’s head with enough gauze to hold it and tight enough to stop the constant flow of blood. Then we quickly pull on the snowsuits, thankfully all in dark colors. Before I’ve even zipped up my navy blue one, my shivering stops. Even the snow boots fit snuggly and are warm. 

 

Emma and Janelle need help getting dressed. Emma’s shoulder is dislocated. With Janelle’s help, and lots of cursing and crying, we were able to get the ball back in the socket. But her right arm hangs useless now. Janelle has a bad concussion. Blood should heal her, and the first bag did help, but Dex advises us to doll it out to her slowly over time, to make it last as long as possible. For her part, Janelle is so confused, she just smiles at everyone. 

 

I’ve no doubt all of us are black and blue. I certainly ache all over. 

 

Our suits have multiple pockets, and we hurriedly divide the small stash of food between us. As I stuff the small handful of energy bars allotted to me into an interior pocket, I fear it won’t be enough. 

 

Janelle smiles at me as I hand her blood bags. When she just stands there staring at them, her eyes red and looking half starved, I direct her to place them in her pockets. She does, looking grumpy and I hope giving them all to her at once isn’t a mistake. But I can’t worry about that now. 

 

“Go!” Dex yells. “Get the hell out of here!”

 

“We’re going, we’re going.” Still, I make my way back to him. “Dex. Are you sure? Now that Janelle is awake, she can help—”

 

“You’ve wasted enough time. Go on. Get out of here.”

 

Tears tracking down my face, I nod. “We’ll send help. I swear it, Dex. Just you stay alive, damn it. You hear me?”

 

“I hear you badass. I’m tough. Don’t worry about me.”

 

The only easy way out is through what used to be the cockpit. I stumble a few times making my way behind my friends. My equilibrium feels off. Strong hands right me each time. I don’t have to glance behind to know who’s helping me, though I do in order to thank her. In answer, Janelle just gives me that eerie guileless smile. “I got yer back Libby.”

 

Any stars or moon are obliterated by the storm. I pause at the ripped metal edge, buffetted by the endless dark and glacial wind flinging snowflakes stinging against my exposed skin. My friend’s voices float up to me from the dark below. 

 

Janelle steps up beside me. She holds out her hand. “How about we jump together?”

 

I place my hand in hers. Her normally cold skin saps the last of the warmth from my fingers. Still, I give her a bracing smile.

 

“Ok. On three. One, ahhhh!” Laughing hysterically, Janelle leaps, tugging me along with her. She releases my hand before we hit the ground. I land hard on my side on what feels like a limb. Kate rushes to my side, kicking snow all over me in the process, and helps me scramble to my feet. Holding my arm against my side to protect it, I glare at Janelle, but she beams at me with innocent delight and my irritation fades. Can’t be mad at her if she isn’t exactly in her right mind, can I? It isn’t like she meant to hurt me. 

 

It was cold on the plane, but here on the ground, the wind is so fierce it takes my breath away. I tug the hood up and fasten it as tightly around my face as I can, then come the heavy waterproof gloves bulging the side pockets. The fingers are too wide to allow me to grip anything, but my icy fingers slowly begin to get feeling back. When I look up, Janelle’s red eyes shine like beacons in the snowy dark. I can just make out Emma and Kate’s forms. The four of us stand in an awkward circle, snow up to our knees.

 

Dex’s urgent voice echoes in my mind, quickening my pulse. “From here on out, no talking. No wandering off. We stick close together, keep tabs on each other, and move as quickly as we can.” I turn to Janelle. “We have to get as far away from here as possible before light. Do you mind leading the way? You can break through the snow easier than we can.”

 

Janelle smiles widely, showing her fangs. With a wink she turns and plows through the snow. One by one they shuffle into her tracks. I take up the rear, following in the addled vampire’s footsteps.