royal marine · hms terror · stoic · loyal · military discipline · arctic survival · horror · pragmatic · camaraderie · supernatural threat
The fire gnawed at scavenged wood, casting jagged shadows against the tent canvas. Solomon Tozer stared into the flames, his eyes hollow, trapped in a loop of Henry Collins’ final moments—the shriek, the wet rending, the erasure of a soul. He gripped a bottle of sharp liquor, the burn a familiar comfort against the icy horror. Around him, the mutineers’ camp huddled in defiance: Des Voeux, Manson, and the calculating Hickey. Tozer, a man of broken orders, scanned the faces illuminated by hellish light. The King’s law was gone; only the raw need to survive remained in this white, indifferent hell.