Snow Blindness

[aviv_b_artwork]

TITLE:Snow Blindness 
AUTHOR: Aviv_b
Originally posted at torchwood_fest BINGO/PROMPT/EXCHANGE: Bingo Prompt - Foot Rub
WORDS: ~ 1510
RATING:  PG-13
CONTAINS: Character death

DISCLAIMER:  Not mine; Aunty B's and RTD's

SUMMARY: My take on what happened to the team in the Himalayas. First of four related stories about the Team during TYTNW. 

They were trapped in a cave in the Himalayans. A blizzard raged outside as it had for the last week.

Gwen had been the first to die. The rest of the team saw that she was getting weaker, but they couldn’t just abandon her. She had been the strongest during their ordeal until she fell through the ice. She chilled and they couldn’t risk a fire out in the open to warm her up. Tosh and Owen stayed with her while Ianto went in search of shelter. He returned hours later having located a small cave.

They shivered in the cave for several days while Gwen got sicker. Pneumonia, Owen guessed, but it really didn’t matter, their meager rations were barely enough to sustain them and they had nothing to give Gwen, even to ease her pain. The pack she lost on her plunge contained all the medical supplies.

The rest of the team slept fitfully while Gwen wheezed and groaned in her sleeping bag. They had dressed her in the few extra clothes they had and put her closest to the sputtering fire they had managed to build. Ianto melted ice and fed her warm cups of tea that seemed to make her feel a bit better. The others drank warm water so Gwen could have their share of the dried leaves.

The third night in the cave, Gwen cried that she was cold and began to talk to Rhys.

“I’m so sorry love, I should have never had that affair with Owen, he’s a right tosser. Didn’t even think to split the medical supplies, just shoved them into my pack. Good thing it wasn’t Ianto that fell , he’s carrying most of the food.”

Tosh turned her face into Ianto’s parka and cried.

“I’m so cold Rhys, my feet are so cold. Can you rub a little warmth into them?”

Owen bit his lower lip to keep from weeping.  He ordered Tosh and Ianto to get into one sleeping bag together to keep warm as he began to unzip Gwen’s bag.

“What are you doing,” Tosh asked in surprise. “She’ll freeze to death…”

Owen looked up from his patient to her. “Doesn’t matter now, might as well let her go happy.”

Owen took his gloves off, pulled Gwen’s socks off and began to rub Gwen’s feet. They were ice cold and the skin was shiny white. Frostbite. It was a mercy that her respiratory system was shutting down; she’d never survive amputation, even if he’d had the equipment to perform surgery.

Gwen continued to talk to Rhys, and Owen took on the role telling her how much he loved her and how he would make her lasagna when they got back home and maybe they’d even have a baby.  Tosh and Ianto sobbed quietly in their sleeping bag. Owen gave her the last of the tea that Ianto had made and she finally went to sleep.

The next morning the storm had ended and Gwen was gone. They left her in the cave, as burial was impossible. The three remaining teammates pushed on.  A week later, Owen began to act strangely. He wanted to turn back, insisted they turn back even when Tosh pointed out that they didn’t have enough supplies to survive a return trip. Their only hope was to push on until they reached their goal. Rescue would be waiting for them, she was sure of it.

Three more days and Owen was raving, blaming Jack, blaming Gwen, cursing Ianto. He told Tosh that he loved her (that’s when she knew he was totally deranged). They set up a tent for the night and Ianto melted snow and Tosh made a soup from some dried lentils.

“Christ, I’m cold,” Owen snarled.

Ianto rooted through his pack. “Only enough tea for one,” he said sadly, pulling out a bag with a tiny bit of leaves in it. He looked at Tosh who nodded.

“Here, Owen, we’ll make you tea.” Owen fussed a bit when she gave him the only cup, but finally drank it down.

“My feet are freezing, but the rest of me feels better.”  Tosh offered to rub his feet and after looking at her like she was the one who was losing her mind, Owen said, “Why not.” She rubbed his feet until the circulation returned and as Ianto was already asleep, she crawled into the sleeping bag with Owen.

The next morning Owen was gone. He’d left a note: “Have to find Gwen. Don’t expect me back. Sorry about fucking up so badly.”

Tosh and Ianto packed up the remaining supplies and headed onward. They didn’t really believe they could complete their mission, but staying at the spot where they lost their second team member would have been unthinkable.  They trudged on for ten more days and then Tosh’s sight began to fail. Snow blindness. Ianto short roped Tosh to him and they slowly made their way forward for two more days.

Another stormed started and they took refuge in new cave, so small they could barely sit up.

“How much food is left,” Tosh asked.

“I think we should be fine for another week or so.” Truth was, Ianto hadn’t eaten for two days.

“I may be blind, but I know there’s less than that left.”

“Well maybe a bit less, then, let’s say a week.”

Tosh doubted the answer but decided to keep silent.

“We’re not going to survive, are we?” Tosh asked a bit later.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that, just..uh…no, probably not,” Ianto admitted.

“Let’s just stay here, Ianto. Finish the supplies and then let the cold take us.”

“Okay,” Ianto whispered.

He lay next to her in the sleeping bag that night listening to her breathing. What would happen when the food ran out? She was blind now. If he died first she would die alone and helpless. He slipped an arm out of the bag and reached for his duffle. It held all their remaining supplies. He snorted as he saw that there were about a day or so of rations if they both ate. Time to get busy then.

Tosh awoke to Ianto’s voice. “I’ve used the last of the fuel  to melt some snow and made us a drink with some protein powder,” he said handing her a cup. She drank the fluid down quickly.

“How much retcon was in there, Ianto?” Enough to kill?

“I hope so,” Ianto admitted.

“What did you use on the others.”

“Gwen was so near death, that the tea was enough.”

Tosh turned toward him in shock.

“The first bag was fine, but the second bag had been tampered with. It seems someone didn’t want us to come back.”

“What?”

“Remember that night we all got sick a few days into the mission. We couldn’t find any decent tea in Shimla, so I dug out one of our bags and made us tea in my hotel room? After everyone got sick, I took a closer look at it, and a closer smell. There was the distinct odor of almonds.”

“Cyanide,” Tosh said.

“Yep. Surprised she held on as long as she did. I didn’t want her to suffer, but I think I may have ended up making her worse. Should have known that anyone who could break through retcon the way she did would have a very strong will to survive.”

“And Owen.”

“Not enough tea to kill, and I was saving the retcon for you. So I waited until you were asleep and then took him outside, pointed him away from the tent and told him that Gwen was calling for him. He wandered off to find her.  He’ll be dead by now. I don’t think he suffered.”

Tosh was getting sleepy and it was hard for her to think. “You wrote the note. Always so good at covering our tracks, I should have known. But what about you? Do you have enough retcon left for you?”

“Unfortunately no, but I do have a gun. And when you are gone, I’ll use it one last time.”

“Oh Ianto, I’m so sorry.” Wasn’t that just like Ianto, always making sure that everyone else got taken care of.  Of course he’d save the hardest death for himself.

“So you don’t have to worry, just go to sleep.”

“Rub my feet then,” she asked, and Ianto did.  “That feels so good, Ianto, thank you,” she said as she drifted off wondering why she had never seen the gun Ianto mentioned.

* *

Three days later, Ianto sat in the cave waiting for the end. It was clear that someone wanted them out of the way, but whom? Saxon, most likely, but why? Nothing made any sense, but it didn’t matter. Hypothermia would take him long before starvation would.

He should have brought his gun, but at the last moment, he left it behind. What would there be to kill in the Himalayas, he had reasoned. For the first and last time in his life, Ianto had to admit that he didn’t know everything.