A Frozen Adventure

The room was filled with body's laying around just waiting for word on their flight. They had waited for hours already and the plane still had not landed. Some were sleeping on their sea-bags, others were playing card games, and still others were sitting there just lost in their thoughts. Miguel was leaning against the wall wondering what this new world would hold.

He had spent a week in the beautiful town of Christ Church, New Zealand, "God's Country," he thought. This land of beautiful green rolling hills, sprinkled with soft woolly sheep throughout every countryside. The streams and rivers were a deep clear blue color, like none he had ever seen in his native California. The people he met spoke with a strange "down under" Kiwi accent (that is what they call themselves). Miguel found it amusing and he made fun of them just as they made fun of him.

"Accent, what accent?" the young man he was talking to responded, "I would say you're the one with the accent." And he was right, Miguel had failed to realize he was the foreigner in this country.

Miguel and his best friend Anthony enjoyed walking around on the square, where the shops were full of friendly merchants and some of the finest sheep skin products they had ever seen. Miguel figured he would save some money during his deployment so that when he returned on his way back to the states he would stop and purchase some sheep skin seat covers for his Camaro. He also thought his mother would love a beautiful sheep skin throw for her bed.

The week in New Zealand had gone by fast and it was time to leave this beautiful country behind. The commander in charge made the announcement that their flight was ready to load. Everybody busied themselves as they dawned their field jackets and cold weather gear, and threw their sea-bags on their backs. They formed a single line and walked out onto the flight tarmac.

"Damn, this plane's a beast!" Miguel said to his buddy as they climbed the stairs onto the LC-130 transport plane with it's magnificent turboprops.

"Dude, I call the window seat," Anthony retorted. He was not at all fazed by the huge bird.

They were soon inside the belly of the LC-130 Hercules, and Anthony found his window seat - it was not a seat at all, they had to sit on cargo nets.

"What the heck man? These things don't even look like they can hold our fat asses!" Anthony griped.

"Hey, just sit your ass down by the window and shut the hell up!" Miguel laughed and gave Anthony a good shove in the direction of window seat he had asked for.

The duration of the flight was a good eight hours and Miguel could not get warm. He had everything the Navy had issued him for cold weather on and still his fingers and toes felt like they could break right off. He could barely move his legs and his teeth were chattering. Anthony had somehow managed to fall asleep and was leaning his head on Miguel's shoulder. Miguel envied him.

"Lucky bastard! I wish I could take a nap," Miguel thought. He could not find a comfortable position no matter which way he leaned or turned. The cargo nets offered very little support for his aching back. Still, he remained somewhat still to afford his buddy a restful nap. "He's going to owe me big time for this."

Miguel glanced out the round small window and all he could see was a landscape of hundreds of snow and ice caps. A white wilderness he had never imagined. The continent of Antarctica was an amazing site from the comforts of the plane high above it. Miguel's hearing was numb from the buzzing of the turboprop right outside the window, but the landscape seemed so quiet, there was no movement, just miles and miles of white fluffy snow.

The landing of the LC-130 Hercules was very rough and it appeared the huge metal bird would never stop bouncing on the snow runway, but it finally came to a complete stop.

"Dude, wake up, we're here man," Miguel slapped Anthony on the head and startled him.

"Uh, jeez man, it's frickin freezing in here - what the hell?" Anthony wrapped his arms around his shoulders and rubbed them up and down trying to generate some heat.

"Put your bear-paws on dude, they'll keep your hands warm," Miguel raised his fur covered hands up to show him the funny looking mittens they had been issued.

Anthony slipped his bear-paws on as they were guided off the plane to some funny looking tracked people-movers called Deltas. They looked like huge orange tracked caterpillars - the Delta was a series of three train-like box-cars linked together, each on their own tracks.

"Good thing these things are heated because I'm freezing my ass off!" Miguel complained.

"Look at those crazy dudes in their shorts and t-shirts on, how the hell can they do that?" Anthony was referring to the guys who were outside refueling the LC-130.

The average temperature in Antarctica at that time of year was 40 degrees below zero. It seemed like a scene right out of the "Twilight Zone." Something surreal, it could not be humanly possible. Miguel and Anthony had every item of cold weather gear on and yet they were still freezing.

The guy sitting next to them laughed, "you get used to it man, those guys have been here since last year." He was a returning member of the unit, this would be his third deployment to "the Ice" as everyone referred to this frozen world.

"No way man, how do you get used to it,it's frickin freezing all the time in this place!" Anthony argued in vain.

The guy just laughed again, "ah, just wait, you'll see when you've been here a few months, you'll get used to it."

"Yeah right, he's frickin nuts!" Anthony turned to Miguel, "I'll never get used to this cold ass weather!"

The Delta finally pulled into town, there was a sign that read "Welcome to McMurdo Station." The troops stepped off the Delta and they were guided into the main admin building where they were assigned their rooms. Miguel and Anthony had requested to be roommates before the deployment and they were happy to find out their request had been granted. They had to share a room with two other guys, it was four men to a room and that was cool with them. Miguel was the senior man and he got first dibs on what bunk and what space he would occupy. He picked the furthest bunk in the room because it's the one that afforded him the most privacy. Anthony picked the one right across from Miguel's. The guys took a few hours to get settled in and then they decided to try to find the chow hall, they were both very hungry. The food was alright and they ate well.

The next morning, their alarm clocks went off at 0500. Their working day would begin at 0600 and end at 1800 and they were to work six days a week, with Sundays off. The guys bundled up and headed up to the chow hall to get a quick bite to eat before they started their day. They reported to Alpha Company spaces where they got assigned to work on the "Ice runway" (the largest project). Anthony would get to run a dozer and Miguel would get to run a grader.

The guys worked on the "Ice runway" day in and day out and the project was tracking as scheduled. Miguel and Anthony were actually pretty proud of themselves.

"Dude, we're really getting pretty good at this, I can run this grader with my eyes closed now," Miguel bragged.

"Shit, I'm cutting through this ice like it's butter!"

"Hey, it's almost quittin' time, are you going to that party with me tonight?"

"What party? I didn't hear about no party?"

"Yeah dude, I told you Smitty and Pacheco are throwing a party in their room tonight."

"Do you think Christy will be there?" Anthony asked with great interest.

"Hell yeah, why wouldn't she be, it's not like there's anything else to do in this hell hole."

"Hey dude, do you think she likes me? She seems really shy and I can't tell if I stand a chance with her. She's so damn hot."

"I don't know, but every guy in the company wants to get into her pants. I guess you're as good as any of them."

"Thanks buddy, you're a hell of a friend!"

They finished up for the day and headed for the barracks. They showered up and got ready to go to the party. Anthony put on his best shirt and jeans, splashed on some "Tommy" cologne, and he was confident he would get Chrity's attention.

The room was packed and it was difficult to walk through the crowd, everyone was drinking and having a good time. Anthony spotted Christy, she was talking to Blaine; a well built good looking mechanic, known to be a ladie's man.

"Damn it!" he thought, "how the hell am I going to get her away from Romeo? Shit!"

Just then he realized something was going on, everyone started gathering around the table in the far corner of the room. Anthony couldn't see because he was only 5'7" and couldn't see past people's heads. Still, he kept an eye on Christy, Blaine had stepped away from her. Anthony made his move, he pushed his way through the crowd and placed himself right next to her. It was then he saw his buddy Miguel putting on a show for the crowd. He had had too much to drink already. He was up on the table, he had taken his shirt off, and he was dancing the "Macarena." Everybody was laughing so hard, it was histerical. Anthony realized Miguel had done that to attract attention and to help him out. He was standing next to Christy, but he didn't know what to say.

"Hi, so how are you liking this place?" he tried not to sound nervous.

"I hate it! I miss my family, I miss my friends, I miss my dogs, I just hate it here!" she said almost about to cry. She had been drinking too much too.

"Hey, hey, it's alright, sshhhh, it's alright," Anthony put his arms around her and held her and tried to comfort her. He really wanted to be there for her. He often felt the same way. Being in this frozen tundra was like being at the ends of the earth, literally, completely isolated from the rest of the civilized world. He could smell the fragrance of her hair and feel the warmth of her body against his chest, it was intoxicating.

"I'm sorry," she said pushing him away, "I didn't mean to do that."

"No, it's alright, I know how you feel, I hate this place too!" he tried to stay close to her. He wanted to hold her, he wanted to kiss her, he wanted to make her feel safe.

She smiled at him and they talked for a while. Anthony had a great sense of humor and before long, he had her laughing. It was good, it was what they both needed. They continued to drink and Anthony managed to convince her to stay the night with him. He found Miguel still dancing to the music and amusing what was left of his audience.

"Hey," Anthony tried to whisper in Miguel's ear, "I'm going back to the room -"

"What?" Miguel asked loudly, "Dude, I can't hear you, what did you say?"

"I'm going back to the room," he said a little louder this time, "Do you mind finding somewhere else to stay tonight?" and he winked at him. Christy was hanging on to Anthony's arm and smiling.

"Oh, oh, yeah, dude, I get it now. Yeah, I think I can find somewhere else to crash tonight," Miguel smiled and winked back at him, "no problem buddy, I gotcha."

The following morning was rough for everyone who had been at the party. Luckily, it was Sunday, a day of rest. They rested. Anthony spent more time with Christy and he knew that he really liked her. Wow, she was great!

Monday came and they were back at work, running equipment and trying to meet the deadline. The first jet was due to land in a week and they were really pushing to get the runway done on time. Miguel was running his grader and Anthony was running his dozer, they were working side by side. Miguel sensed something bad was about to happen, he wasn't quite sure what, but something was amuck. He glanced over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of Anthony's dozer; Anthony was waving his arms up in the air trying to get Miguel's attention. Miguel stopped his grader and jumped off of it. He ran towards Anthony.

"Stop!" Anthony yelled, "Get help!"

Miguel noticed the ice around Anthony's dozer had begun to crack, "jump Anthony! Get the hell off that thing!"

"I can't! I won't make it!

"Anthony, just jump, I'll go get help!"

"This frickin piece of shit is going to take me down with it!"

The ice continued to crack and Miguel had to back further away from Anthony. The dozer blade began to submerge into the icy water.

"Oh my God Miguel, I'm gonna to die!"

"No, just wait, I'll go get a rope!" Miguel turned to run and he heard the thundering sound of the ice cracking and he started to run as fast as he could, he just ran. Then he stopped running, he looked back and Anthony and his dozer were gone.

"Noooooo! Damn it Anthony, noooo! God, I told you to hold on!" Miguel cried, "buddy, I told you to hold on!"

Others had seen the accident happen and they had a helo up in the air in seconds, but there was no sign of Anthony. It was as if the ice had swallowed him. They could not move in any closer because the ice was very thin and unstable, it could continue to crack.

Miguel sat on his grader, frozen and numb from the day's events. He couldn't believe that in an instant his best friend was gone. He was sitting there with only his working uniform on and it was forty degrees below zero. somehow he had gotten used to the subzero temperatures and he hadn't even realized it.

They could not pull Anthony out of the water, the dozer had fallen into the deep frozen abbyss and it had taken him with it. They never found him and Miguel had to return to New Zealand and the states without him.