"He's falling!" Toby screamed, pointing a shaking finger through the small, soot-streaked glass window of the brake house door.Outside, Vance's arms windmilled wildly against the freezing alpine air as the sudden deceleration ripped him entirely off the footboard. The bounty hunter let out a sharp, choked curse that was instantly swallowed by the screech of grinding metal. His heavy combat boots scrambled for purchase on the slick, frost-covered iron, but the physics of the lurching freight car were absolute. He skidded sideways, slammed hard against the exterior safety railing, and tumbled off the side of the train altogether."Did he drop?" Ariful gasped, leaning heavily against the wall as a fresh wave of coughing wracked his frail chest. He wiped a streak of gray phlegm from his mouth, his eyes wide with desperate disbelief. "Did the drop finish him?""Don't care. Keep turning that wheel!" Zoya barked, her muscles trembling as she held the massive iron brake mechanism in place. "

"Hold him back!" Zoya gasped, her boots sinking deep into the freezing drifts as Vance's weight crushed down against her chest.Snow sprayed into the air as the bounty hunter drove a brutal, gloved fist toward her jaw. Zoya twisted her head away at the last fraction of a second, the heavy blow glancing off her cheek and burying itself into the packed ice beside her ear."Get off her!" Toby shrieked, scrambling blindly over the splintered threshold of the brake house door and tumbling out onto the snow-covered slope."Toby, stay back!" Ariful yelled, stumbling out right behind the boy, his chest heaving violently as he raised his trembling pocket pistol. "I have a clean line—drop your knife, Vance, or I swear to God I’ll open your chest!"Vance didn't even glance back at the weapon. A cold, feral grin twisted across his scarred face as he pinned Zoya’s right wrist into the frozen gravel with his knee, his left hand sliding a heavy combat knife free from its thigh sheath."Your little f

"We keep moving," Zoya said, her voice dropping into a fierce, unyielding register as she led the battered survivors away from the gleaming steel tracks and down toward the safety of the winding tree line.Ariful stumbled, his breath whistling through his chest like a torn bellows. "My lungs... I can't catch the air, Zoya.""You have to," Toby urged, grabbing Ariful's sleeve and hauling him forward. "If we stop here, Vance gets back up. Look at him back there!"Behind them, high on the mountain pass, the stalled freight engine let out one final, hissing gasp of white steam, fading slowly into the cold, silent dawn. Vance groaned against the rock, his fingers clawing furiously at the snow as he tried to drag his shattered limb forward."They're getting away," Vance growled to himself, his vision blurring as the freezing mountain air bit deeper into his flesh."He's crawling," Toby whispered, panic spiking his voice as he looked back over his shoulder. "Zoya, he's still coming!""Let hi

"I am drowning in dry air," Ariful gasped, his knees buckling as Zoya hauled him across the splintered wooden threshold of the forestry shack. "My chest... it feels like it is turning to glass. One wrong breath and it will shatter.""Stop talking, Ariful. Conserve the air you have," Zoya ordered, kicking the heavy timber door shut against the howling mountain gale. The latch dropped into place with a sharp, echoing thud that rattled the dust-caked windowpanes. "Toby, drop the pack. Help me get him onto that wooden bench by the hearth.""He's turning blue around the lips, Zoya," Toby cried, his scraped, bleeding hands fumbling frantically with the straps of his heavy rucksack. He dropped the bag onto the floorboards with a dull thud, rushing over to grab Ariful’s cold, trembling arm. "Look at him! He's not getting any oxygen at all!""I see it!" Zoya snapped, though her own voice cracked slightly under the strain of exhaustion and panic. She forced herself to stay anchored, pressing he

"The whistling stopped," Toby whispered, his voice trembling as he dropped to his knees beside the rusted iron stove. He pressed his palms against the side of the metal cylinder, feeling the faint, blessed radiation of heat seeping through the rusted plates. "Look at the kettle, Zoya. It’s actually steaming."Ariful let out a long, shuddering sigh, his eyes fluttering open as the moist, heated air finally unlocked his spasming bronchial tubes. "I can... I can draw a full breath," the older man rasped, clutching the edge of the wooden bench with white-knuckled intensity. "It feels like my lungs aren't wrapped in barbed wire anymore. Miracle of miracles.""It's not a miracle, it's basic physics," Zoya said, though a tired, relieved smile momentarily softened the harsh angles of her bruised face. She pulled her blood-stained sleeve across her forehead, wiping away a mixture of sweat and soot. "Keep your face near the spout, Ariful. Take it slow. We aren't out of the woods yet.""Literall