Wolf stayed still, looking at the puddle of blood on the floor, with no body nearby, no cub next to it. He had been expecting to find a dead body, but this was unexpected. He turned around.

"Building is empty, proceeding outside," Wolf said, already running out of the lab.

"Find him," he thought. But Wolf wanted to know if this was search and rescue or a body retrieval. Where could Cub have gone? There was a lot of blood in the lab. Had he just walked out of there? If he had, where had he gone? It was impossible that he was able to reach the road if he had been seriously hurt.

The team left the school, scattering amongst the snow. "Cover as much ground as you can; we won't have daylight for much longer," Wolf ordered. If Alex had managed to make his way outside, if he was hurt, the survival chances were minimal. If he was lost in the snow, if he was passed out, they had to find him and fast. Wolf couldn't help but think that if Cub was out there for more than a couple of hours, he would have died of exposure.

There was also a possibility of someone moving the body, but that wouldn't make much sense since they left Stellenbosch behind. If they wanted to erase the evidence, they wouldn't leave the job half done.

"Found footsteps!" Fox yelled out, making Wolf snap his attention to him.

Indeed, a fresh pair of footsteps were marked on the floor. Instantly, the whole team followed them. They were fresh; if they weren't, the snow would have already covered them completely.

There it was, easy to spot, the bright yellow jacket sticking out of the snow.

Wolf ran, clearing the snow off the body. It was Cub, eyes closed, lips blue. He took off his gloves, bringing two fingers against Alex's neck. Everything was still around him; he waited, his fingers pressing against the ice-cold skin. One beat, two, three.

Wolf sighed in relief; the boy was alive. There was a heartbeat, a weak one, but there was one—a miracle at this point.

"I need medical airlift to my coordinates," Wolf told Jones. She had asked something, but Wolf didn't respond. He didn't even hear what she said. Alex might be alive now, but they had to make sure he would stay that way.

Snake reached them, bringing out the first aid that he had been in charge of carrying. He was the most competent with it anyway.

They cleaned off the snow that had accumulated on top of the kid, stopping when they saw his leg, more specifically the piece of metal sticking out of it.

"How did the kid manage to walk all the way here with that sticking out?" Fox said, looking over the situation.

"At least he didn't rip it out," Eagle pointed out.

"He would have been dead if he had done that. And judging by the half-decent tourniquet, he knew that too," Snake said, pressing gauze around the metal, trying to stabilize the best he could.

Unfortunately, Alex chose that moment to start to wake up. "Stop," he said weakly, making everyone turn to him in surprise. No one had expected that he would wake up, not in the state that he was, but there he was, eyes dazed, looking at them with no interest, no relief. Not the relief you would expect someone to feel at being rescued.

"Cub, it's going to be okay, we'll take you home," Wolf said, trying to comfort Alex.

"No, leave me alone," he said instead, pressing his eyes closed.

"What?" Wolf asked, shocked.

"Leave me alone," he suddenly yelled out, the voice echoing through the mountains. "You're not here; you're not real," he started to say, trying to move away.

"Shit, hold him still, don't let him move," Snake yelled out, holding his leg.

"Cub, you have to calm down," Wolf said, grabbing his shoulders, pressing them against the snow.

"I don't want to die," Cub said, shaking his head against the snow, his eyes glazed and pupils dilated. It was clear he had a concussion, not surprising judging by the amount of blood that painted his face.

"You're not going to die; help is on its way," Wolf reassured, not letting go of his shoulders. Unfortunately, Alex seemed to ignore him; his eyes did not focus on anything.

"No, it's not, I'm going to die, and no one is going to find me."

"He doesn't think we're real," Wolf said, turning back to Snake.

"A concussion, dehydration, and blood loss will do that to you," Snake said, looking up from the wounded leg.

Cub went slack underneath Wolf's hands, falling once again unconscious, going completely still, making Wolf slowly release him.

"We need to warm him up," Snake said, handing Wolf a shock blanket. It clearly wouldn't do any miracles against Alex's freezing body, but it was all they had until bigger help arrived.

Suddenly, a noise broke out in the middle of the mountains, a helicopter finally appearing in the sky, heading towards them. Help had arrived, but looking at the bruised, bloodied, freezing face of Cub, Wolf couldn't help but think they were too late. Would he ever recover from this?

Wolf looked around; there wasn't a place for the helicopter to land; they were in the middle of the mountains covered in snow.

His suspicions were confirmed when four cables were dropped down, and a stretcher began to be lowered down.

The four members of the unit were quick to attach the harness to themselves. The moment the stretcher touched the ground, they all jumped into action. They had already stabilized Alex's major wound; the rest they couldn't do anything about. Carefully, they rolled him into the stretcher, trying not to jolt him too much.

They laid him out on the piece of plastic, strapping him tightly with multiple straps. Alex groaned as one put pressure on his leg.

"Hang in there, Cub!" Wolf yelled out on top of the helicopter noise.

Snake made an okay sign, and the cables began raising them, Wolf and Snake grabbing one side of Alex, stabilizing him the best they could.

Slowly but steadily, they began rising until they were able to climb into the helicopter. As soon as Alex was pushed inside, the helicopter went on its way, hopefully to the nearest hospital.

An oxygen mask was instantly put on his face, providing warm air to the freezing boy, along with all the blankets they could find.

It was not long before Alex began shivering, a good sign, a sign that he was beginning to warm up.

Not long after, the helicopter began its descent. The moment it touched the ground, the sliding door was forced open, multiple doctors entered, pushing Alex out.

"Jeune homme de seize ans, hypothermie, plaie exposée, commotion cérébrale, inhalation de fumée et déshydratation, possibles brûlures," one of them yelled out in French, making Wolf wince at the severity of the situation. But they got him there, they got him to safety. But did they?

Wolf had been trained better; he should have noticed then. They should have searched the whole school before making their way out. He should have done better than assuming that a clone hadn't been made of Cub. There simply hadn't been enough time to have done so. But they had been wrong, and Alex was the one to pay the price.

No one from the unit said anything; they all remained inside the helicopter in silence. Wolf knew they also blamed themselves.

There weren't a lot of times that Mrs. Jones felt helpless, but since she met Alex Rider, he had changed those odds. She felt helpless in stopping Blunt from using him, and now she felt helpless in saving him.

She could only watch as the boy was found, battered in snow, freezing to death, having accepted his death. All kinds of emotions rushed through her when it was confirmed he was alive. She never accepted Alex's death, but she hadn't been expecting his survival either.

She had already sent a rescue helicopter before Wolf had asked, herself already making her way to the hospital that they would fly Alex out.

She had entered the same hospital that she had a few days ago, with the same kind of worry, the same kind of doubt.

She only caught a glimpse of Alex as he was wheeled out to surgery. She sat down with a sigh on the chairs that decorated the waiting room. She looked around the room; it was empty. She was the only one in there. She was the only one that Alex had waiting for him. In other words, no one that Alex cared about was there for him. No one would be there to hold his hand when he woke up, if he woke up. The only person was her, the same person that sent him to his death. The same person he probably, and rightfully, must blame for his current situation.

How long would Alex be punished for? First, his uncle died, and before he could grieve in peace, he was sent to his death. What would Ian say if she saw her right now?

Crawley had asked the same question, 'he was training him, I think he would be proud'. Would he? Had he been training him, or had he just been bonding with his nephew? She remembered all the times when Ian casually slipped that Alex had won some tournament, that he would need some time off just in time for school holidays, that he wanted to go scuba diving in the Mediterranean. That didn't sound like someone whose only interest was to train someone to be a spy.

Ian would be proud of what Alex did in Point Blanc, but he would also kill her for putting his nephew, his dead brother's son, in a hospital bed.