As Above, So Below [Closed]

God, it was so fucking cold.

Wasn't just a normal kind of cold, either. Was the type of cold that seeps into your bones and won't leave you alone, even long after you've practically burned yourself standing near a fire. Felt like ice water in your veins. Just the absolute most miserable type of cold imaginable. 

Gerald never liked to go outside. Sure, as a scout for the station it meant that it was his job to do exactly that, but there was no rule that said he had to actually enjoy his work. After the other trainee had frozen to death during an expedition south about a week ago, he'd been fast-tracked into the position of Junior Scout and given responsibilities far exceeding his actual capabilities. Just the way life worked, he figured. To make things worse, he was now supposed to be part of some sort of expedition up north to the geothermal plant, which had inexplicably gone cold.

Great.

He let out a sigh, feeling like shit but not being able to do much of anything about it. The balaclava he wore felt clammy and stuck to his skin like glue, doing little to ward off the cold. He adjusted his beanie cap, pulling it tighter against his scalp in the faint hope it might ease the pounding headache that he just now felt was beginning to surface. With an old hunting rifle slung over one shoulder alongside the hiking backpack on his back that carried his gear and other essentials, Gerald rubbed his two gloved hands together as his breath turned to steam from beneath his mask.

"We all set to go?" he'd ask the rest of the group.

Gerald merely offered an unenthusiastic grunt to Natalie's attempt at motivation. Bad enough they were going to go north of all places, but the thought of having to pass through the Dead City gave him more than just the creeps. Being one of Hansen Station's scouts, he's had the unfortunate experience of having to pass through and even explore the ruins of the old world. The clear dangers from the environment and animals aside, going through them always gave him a lingering anxiousness deep in his gut. Each abandoned car, frozen corpse, broken window and faint sound of the world left behind always reminded him of how truly, and utterly alone he was.

It'd probably be better now that he'd have a whole group of people trekking the frozen wastes beside him, but someone he doubted that.

"Only fancy thing you'd find in a city's an early death," he quipped after a moment of quietness, placing his hands beneath his armpits and hugging himself to keep warm - as warm as he could be before the expedition set out, that is. "Those old buildings crumble at the lightest touch and trap you under it. S'what happened to that other guy, the trainee."

He gazed around at his surroundings, noting the eerie near-silence of the woods around them. Only the howling wind made its presence heard and he knew that it'd be the only thing they'd be hearing for a long while, if they were lucky. He suddenly wondered what sort of thoughts crossed the other trainee's mind during his final moments. They'd found his corpse a couple of days after he'd stopped answering back calls on his radio, trapped beneath the frozen and rotting logs of an old cabin that was half-buried in the snow. The cold had done him in, naturally, but it was clear that he'd been alive for some time after the building's collapse. Freezing to death, all alone, with his legs broken and with nothing but the wind, the cold and his own fading heartbeat to accompany him. Horrifying.

Gerald shuddered then, and it wasn't because of the cold.