Water temperature. Current speed. Nothing unusual. He gave the screen a glance every few seconds, then sat down to rest while it gathered the rest of the readings. The silence out here always felt heavier when he wasn’t moving.
He unwrapped a protein bar and leaned back slightly, letting the cold settle into his legs. The drill nearby gave off a faint whirring sound, humming as it bored into the ice. Caleb stared out at the empty white field and chewed slowly, eyes half-lidded. Then came a sharp crack.
It snapped through the air like a breaking branch. Caleb stiffened. He looked over at the drill, expecting to see something wrong—but everything seemed normal. The noise must’ve been the ice shifting beneath it. He stood, brushing off his coat, and moved to shut everything down.
But just as he reached for the screen, he heard it—faint and low. A dragging sound, slow and steady, coming from behind him. At first, he didn’t see anything. Just the flat stretch of snow and distant ice ridges.