The tent wasn't the end of it. The soldiers led her deeper into the crack in the ice. Behind a heavy white tarp, there was a hole. A tunnel, going down. The walls were metal, shoved into the ice. The air got warmer. It smelled like a hospital now. Cleaner. But with an under-smell of old coffee and fear.
Colonel Rahim walked in front. "Stay close."
The tunnel opened up into a cave under the glacier. A big bubble. The walls were ice, but held up by more metal beams. It was a lab, but a sad one. Computers sat on folding tables, wires everywhere. A few portable heaters glowed. There were people. Not soldiers. Civilians in thin lab coats. They looked up when she walked in. They had that look. Tired. Scared. Guilty.
And in the corner, on a cot, hooked to an IV bag, was her mother.
Elena’s th
