For a moment, I simply stood there, horror rooting me to the ground. Then the words tore from me without thought.
“God help me… who could possibly do this to you?”
Her eyelids fluttered, and though her gaze was unfocused at first, it locked onto me with a clarity born of sheer will. Her voice was almost gone, scraped raw by cold and screaming.
“Please… not me… warm them first,” she breathed, barely audible over the wind.
I did not hesitate. I shrugged off my heavy shearling coat and knelt in the snow, scooping the infants into my arms one by one. Their skin was icy against my palms, their bodies trembling violently, and I tucked them against my chest beneath my thermal layers, trying to trap every bit of heat I had. Then I reached for the rope, fingers numb and clumsy as I hacked through it with the folding knife I carried in my pocket. The fibers snapped one by one, and the woman’s body sagged forward the moment the tension released. I caught her before she hit the ground, shocked by how little she weighed.
“My name is Thomas,” I said urgently, though I didn’t know why it felt important for her to know. “You’re not alone anymore.”
