All Chapters of Ice Cold - Part One: The Dark Zone: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Alex never felt himself hit the ground. Soon after his eyes had gone black, he regained his sight, but to his confusion, he could not remember where he had been before he was suddenly knocked out. Alex could not remember much of anything right now, but when he opened his eyes, he found himself gazing at some sort of vision.Nothing about his current surroundings felt real. Alex’s eyes were burning and his sight was slightly blurred. He was not sure where he was. The only thing he found himself looking at was a man standing a few yards away with his back turned to him. The man did not move, and Alex was unable to make out any of his features or anything in the distance, as his entire vision was cloaked by a bright light. The only thing he could see was that this man was holding something in his right hand. The object looked like a large sword, but instead of a blade, there were a series o

Several miles away, at the Iron Furnace, Caine was isolated in his private quarters, which was hardly more than a large tent he built adjacent to the furnace tower. It was dimly lit by a single torch that stood on the ground near the back of the tent. Caine was standing in front of a single shelf hanging suspended on one of the beams supporting the tent’s frame. On it sat several old-looking wine bottles, all of which were filled with the clear-colored alcoholic drink.Caine poured the wine from one of the bottles into an old, aluminum cup and drank from it, wincing as he did so. One thing he learned from these outsiders when they established themselves in his territories was how to make wine for himself, which he had done over the course of the summer for when the colder months arrived. Though he had never quite grown accustomed to the taste, in the back of his mind, he felt a very distant sense of

Frustrated as he was, Alex had to admit that, for the first time, he and Malachai were on the same page. Knowing this, Alex composed himself and proceeded to catch up with Malachai. “Then I’m coming with you.”“What?” Malachai retorted. “I don’t want you with me!”“But you need me. You can’t do this by yourself.”“You really think I need you?” Malachai snickered. “The Ravennites have gotten along perfectly fine without you here, and especially without the scum that came before you.”Alex was on the verge of snapping. He was so sick and tired of Malachai’s attitude toward him. “Stop blaming me for what the Morennos did to you. I’m nothing like them!”

Zak never moved from his spot. With Alex unconscious and Malachai gone, he had no choice but to wait for him to wake up. What they were going to do after that was unclear. If the Domineers were at the Iron Furnace, then they wouldn’t have a chance of saving their friends without Malachai’s help. Zak wanted all of this to end just as soon as the rest of them did.To his surprise, Alex woke up sooner than he expected. For a while, Zak was contemplating picking him up and hiking all the way back to the Citadel. Alex had woken in a brief fit of panic. He quickly sat up on the ground and looked around hastily for Malachai before realizing that he was gone. Alex caught his breath and saw Zak sitting against a tree adjacent to him, looking back at him silently.“What happened?” Alex asked, catching his breath and putting a hand to his forehead,

On the level just below him, Malachai and Zak were still being led down the corridor by a small company of Domineers, both of their hands bound behind their backs. The whole time, Malachai was wiggling his arms around very subtly, hoping that their captors would not notice. Zak was scanning around and observing his surroundings. As he looked up at the ceiling of the hallway, he noticed something that caught his eye. Along the left wall, just under the ceiling, Zak thought he was looking at a long, thin rope  suspended all the way down the corridor. He narrowed his eyes, wondering what it must have been for.The Domineers took them to the end of the hallway until they arrived at a closed sliding door that was guarded by two more men armed with swords. The Domineers escorting the two of them told the guards that they were taking them to their prison hold. As Malachai continued to shift his arms around,