Page 190 of The Heart of Winter

Maybe someone told it to?

It hovered in place for a moment before changing direction and heading back toward us, then slowing down. My heart nearly exploded in my chest.

Did they see us?

Fuck! I couldn’t stop the burning sensation behind my eyes, wetness blurred my vision.

"Winter! They saw us!" I shouted, grabbing his hand. Then, without thinking, I lifted him off the ground, spun him around, and pressed a firm kiss to his lips.

The drone hovered about fifty yards above us, then lowered even more, as if trying to get a good look at us.

And that’s when I realized, this wasn’t a commercial drone.

It was big. Sturdy. Definitely built for long-range, high-power use.

It hovered for a few more seconds, five, maybe, before it suddenly shot upward and… flew away.

Winter stood there, mouth slightly open, breathing fast.

"Incredible… it saw us," he whispered.

"Yeah, they’re coming. I know they are."

"Oh my God," Winter murmured. "So this is it. The end of this madness?"

I wasn’t entirely sure what part he meant by ‘madness’, but probably all of it. In any case, I didn’t analyze it right now.

A wave of pure euphoria surged through me, washing everything else away.

It was over. Over. OVER.

One way or another, our island ‘adventure’ was about to end.

Just in time, too—thicker, darker smoke was rising over the volcano. The gases could reach us soon.

***

The next few hours passed in a strange kind of daze. We ate a few raw eggs from the cliff along with some raw clams.

Winter rummaged through his carry-on bag and found his brush and hair mousse. He combed his hair and styled it into something more presentable, more akin to what he used to wear while working at DevApp. Here on the island, it was usually a loose ponytail, not so tightly slicked back.

There was this odd silence between us as I sat there, observing him style his hair.

It was like we both sensed that a chapter of our lives was closing, that we were about to return to the dull reality waiting for us. And I guess that was kind of a shock.

So many things were nagging at me, but I didn't have the focus required to start a more constructive conversation; my mind was buzzing with emotions. Deep down, I’d probably started to believe we’d never leave this island, staying as permanent residents here, cut off from the rest of the world.

And now, all of a sudden, the thought that by tomorrow I wouldn’t be some stranded Robinson Crusoe, but just another DevApp employee again; the boss’s son, a graphic designer in Winter’s department. It all felt so surreal. Like someone was about to yank me out of the pages of an adventure novel and toss me back into a gray, ordinary life.

Winter seemed just as lost in thought. His expression was calm, maybe even a little wistful. Had he, too, started to grow used to the idea of staying here? Had he, in some strange way… started to like it? From what I could sense, that was the case.

We’d been gone for nearly three weeks. A huge unknown was waiting for us out there.

I had no real sense of time, maybe two hours passed, maybe five. I couldn’t focus enough to keep track.

We stayed close to where the drone had spotted us, wrapped in blankets, just sitting still and waiting, staring blankly in the sky.

There was only one thing I ended up bringing up, and that was my pheromone masking spray.

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