When The Snow Runs Red

When The Snow Runs Red (preview)

It was a quiet winter night in the small town of Crystal Valley. The streets were silent, the only sound the soft crunch of snow beneath the feet of residents trudging home. But as the moon rose high in the sky, something sinister stirred in the snowy fields just outside town. A snowman made entirely of snow and blood had appeared, standing ominously in the field.

At first, no one noticed it. But that soon changed as strange incidents began to occur. Residents reported seeing bloodstains in the snsnow. In the dead of night, some would speak of a snowman, it’s eyes glowing red and it’s bloody mouth wide open in a twisted grin that sent shivers down the spine of anyone who saw it. Witnesses would wake to find it standing silently outside their windows, it’s red eyes watching them with a malevolent gaze. Despite the growing fear and unease in town, the snowman remained. It seemed to feed off the terror of the town, growing stronger and larger with each passing day…

One night, as a group of teenagers walked home from a movie, they heard a soft crunching sound behind them. Turning around, they saw the blood-red snowman slowly lumbering towards them. One of them were a tall buff guy with black hair and green eyes. “Tssk, so this is the bloody snowman people have been crying about. Hmph, it doesn’t look so tough”

The group of four: wo girls and two guys watched as the confident man approached the horrific snowman sitting in the snow-covered grass. The others slowly backed away. Watching In unease. “Heh, it’s time someone smashed you to bits and end this stupid rumor”  Clinching his fist, he threw a punch right for the pile of snow, only to feel himself hit something hard hidden behind the layers of snow and blood.

That’s when he tried to pull his hand away, only to realize the snowman, or whatever it was had bit down on his hand, keeping him from escaping. With a loud crack, the poor man’s hand was bitten off in a gush of blood. AAAAAGGHHH! M-MY HAND!” The others could see blood dripping from the creature’s mouth as it grinned back at them.

They took off down the street, running for their lives. Meanwhile their wounded friend struggled to catch up with them as blood drained from his missing limb. “D-don’t leave me!” He choked out before loosing contiousness in the middle of the street. The snowman was fast,  One by one, it picked them off, consuming them in a vicious display of hunger, leaving behind nothing but mere bones of it’s victims…
The next morning, the townspeople found nothing… but a trail of bloody snow leading out of the town, and the snowman nowhere to be seen…

From that night on, Crystal valley  was consumed by fear. No one ventured out at night, and doors and windows were locked tight. But every winter, as the snow began to fall once again, the residents of crystal Valley  still whispered of the blood snowman and the terrible fate that had befallen those who had dared to cross its path. The snow may be beautiful, but it can also hide unspeakable horrors…

Chapter 1 Blood stained in the snow

A pair were driving down a long straight path as snow fell, they had planned to stay in a rentable cabin out in the forest to get some alone time. They had been married for a full year now and were excited to take a vacation. Mark and Chris were in their early 20’s with Mark at 21 and Chris at 20. Mark had black hair with hazel eyes dressed in a black hoodie while Chris had long brown hair with blue eyes dressed in a black hoodie with pink lines around the sleeves.

Chris drove their dark-red muscle-car while Mark sat in the passenger seat on his phone. Though as they drove, the signal on his phone grew weaker until there was barely one bar available. “Damn, there’s almost no signal out here!” Mark groaned in frustration before giving up and sliding his phone into his jeans pocket.

“Aww, don’t be so moody, this is a vacation for us, it’ll be great to be off our phones for once unless we’re taking pictures together”

“Sigh, you’re right. I’m hoping this vacation goes well”

“It will, don’t worry Mark, you’ve always loved the snow. Even when you were a kid your mother told me how you would spend all your time out in the snow to the point you’d have to be dragged back in so you wouldn’t get hypothermia”

“I’m sure my mom was exaggerating, I doubt I would’ve gotten that cold ” Chris just smiled as she rolled her eyes, making her way through the blowing snow as they finally reached the cabin. They pulled up a few feet away as they got out and pulled their large bags out from the back. They unlocked the door using the key they were given by the owner as they made their way inside.

The cabin had smooth wooden floors with the living room a few feet from the door with a white couch, a brown fur rug between the couch and black-wooden table where the TV sat. The y dropped their bags by the couch as they looked around. The kitchen was right behind the couch with a small bar with wooden chairs. They decided to drop their bags by the couch as they walked into the kitchen to relax.

Chris sat at the marble bar table while Mark went over to the fridge to get something to drink. It was so cold, his throat was getting sore by how dry it was. He pulled out some apple juice before asking his partner what she wanted.

“Do they have any soda?”

“No, besides...in this climate soda isn’t really the best option unless you want to be dehydrated”

“Fine, just get me anything babe, you’re not the only one who feels dehydrated” He just poured them both a glass since he already had the juice out and set her glass down in front of her while he chugged his down nearly in one gulp.

“Well, since it’s already 6:00 PM, we might as well just watch some TV until it’s time for bed”

“Sure, why not, it’ll give us time to snuggle and be close to one another” Chris beamed with excitement. Mark smiled while rolling his eyes at her as he set his glass down on the counter before they made their way over to the couch.. They snuggled up to one another as they watched a new movie called “Fear Island”

As the movie ended, Mark laid on the couch, his wife asleep beside him. As he sat there wondering what to watch next? He heard a faint sound. Getting up he walked past the kitchen to the right of the front door to see a hallway. “Oh right, we never checked out the other parts of the cabin” Making his way down a narrow-rugged hallway, he noticed a window was open, letting in snow from outside as a small pile of snow sat just below the window.

“Hmph, the others before us must’ve forgot to close the window” With a sigh he slammed the window shut walking further down the hall into a small dark room. He thought he saw a figure in the dark, but when he flicked on the light, there was no sign of anyone. He was in a small white room with gray tiled floors and windows aligned the walls.

“Weird, what is this, some kind of empty plant room?” He noticed red spots on the floor but brushed it off as the tile just getting old and worn out. He pulled out his phone to see it was already 8:30 PM. “Might as well go to bed, don’t want to sleep in on our vacation”

CHAPTER 1 A Strange Red

Mark collapsed onto a large soft queen-sized been with a thick white blanket on top as he soon fell asleep...

Mark awoke in his bed with his wife patting his face trying to wake him up. “Babe, did you go outside last night?”

“No why?”

“There’s a weird red substance on the floor by the back door” Shaking his head to wake up, the man got up making his way over to where his wife was talking about. She pointed at a large circle of red that stained the wooden floor. Mark was unsure if something was dripping from the ceiling or if it was just aged like before.

“I’m not sure Chris, I'll see if maybe something’s leaking or it’s just getting old” He pulled his hoodie over his head as he made his way outside, the sun was covered by the now stronger blizzard that began to blow around the cabin, making it kind of difficult to see five feet in front of them. He went to the back of the house where he saw two black cellar doors by the back of the house.

“I didn’t realize we had a basement, maybe the pipes below are rusting and making the spots on the floor above” Pulling open the heavy doors, he looked down to see cement steps, leading into utter darkness. The man had always been afraid of the dark, what horrors could be lurking in the darkness below. He took a deep breath, the cold wind hurt his lungs and didn’t help to calm him, but he proceeded down the steps into the pitch-black basement below.

He pulled his phone out to use the flashlight when he nearly tripped, causing his phone to slip out of his grasp and fall into the darkness. “Shit” He continued slowly down the steps until he reached the bottom. He made sure to step carefully as to not step on his phone and damage it worse than it already was.

Finally, Mark managed to reach a core and turn on the light. He saw his phone lying in the middle of the cement floor, it’s screen cracked. He tapped the screen hoping it would still work. The screen managed to flash on with some pixels damaged but still operational. He slid his phone into his pocket to worry about later while looking around to find the source of the red substance he assumed was rust or eroding.

There was red spots all along the floor forming a path up the stairs. This gave Mark chills. This doesn’t make sense, if it’s rust, then why is it leading upstairs in a straight path? He wiped the substance up from the step, looking at it closely. “This can’t be blood, if there was a dead body or another person in the house, I'm sure we’ve notice, or at least been dead when we went to sleep hours ago”

He went upstairs out in the snow and pricked his finger to let blood drip into the snow and waited...after a few minutes the blood began to dry and closely resemble the red substance around the house. This caused Mark to go into a panic as he ran back inside locking all the windows and doors.

“Mark what’s wrong!?”

“That red substance that keeps appearing around the house...it’s blood!”

“What!?...No it can’t be, you’re just trying to scare me”

“No! I pricked my finger and let it dry in the snow and they turned out similar!” She saw his bleeding finger and grew uneasy. “Please tell me this is just some cruel joke you’re pulling on me” Mark looked at her with a serious yet scared expression. She began to hyperventilate from the stress as they looked around only to see no one around.

“Are you sure it’s not deer blood? I’m sure there’s plenty of deer around here”

“Even if it were, how is it all over the house and in the basement? With that much blood, I'm sure it would’ve at least collapsed somewhere by now”

“I’ll just call the sheriff, I'm sure they’ll be able to help!” Mark looked at the blizzard outside then at his panicking wife who dialed the number and waited. Just as he expected, the call wouldn’t go through.

“We don’t have any connection out here and with the blizzard getting worse, I doubt it’s going to stop anytime soon”

“O-ok, then we’ll just get in the car and drive somewhere else!” They threw their bags in the back seat and put the key in the ignition. Each time they tried to start up the car, it would die on them.

“Shit! The car’s engine must be frozen!”

“Are you telling me we’re stuck here until the blizzard's gone!? Chris screamed in both frustration and fear. With a sigh Mark answered: “I’m afraid so, we’ll just have to wait and hope whatever that blood’s from is either gone or dead somewhere” They hurried back in the house and ran up to the bedroom locking the door.

Mark checked the closet and bathroom for anyone or anything hiding inside while Chris checked under the bed, but nothing. “Ok, looks like we’re safe up here for now” The man assured her as they sat close together in fear staring at the locked door until they fell back asleep...

Mark awoke in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom when he thought he heard something moving through the snow outside. Walking half-way down the stairs to see outside through the windows, he saw a figure out in the distance. He could feel his heart skip a beat as he rushed to make sure the front door was locked luckily it was.

With a relived sigh he switched on the porch light to see a snowman over by their car. Mark was glad it was just a snowman when a thought crossed his mind: (How long had that snowman been there? I don’t remember seeing a snowman anywhere when we first got here, could someone have made it or pushed it over here to prank us? I doubt it, why would someone go through all that trouble and during a blizzard no doubt)

He looked at the snowman, he couldn’t see it very well from where he was, along with it being night and the falling snow, but something felt off about the figure, it seemed...different. “I’ll just look at it in the morning, hopefully the snow calms down by then”

Mark went back to sleep…


The next morning, the blizzard had passed, and the snow had stopped falling. Mark decided to investigate the snowman he had seen the night before. As they approached it, they noticed that it was not like any snowman they had ever seen before. Some of the snow had been cut away, revealing patches of red staining the snow underneath. The snowman's arms were too long and its face was twisted into an eerie grin. It almost seemed...alive.

Mark shuddered, the events of the previous night still fresh in his mind. “Chris, did you make this snowman?” he asked, hoping that his girlfriend would somehow have an answer to this strange occurrence.

“No, why would you think that?” Chris replied, her voice tight with fear. “I don't know, it just seemed too...odd. And with all the strange things that have been happening around here, I wouldn't put anything past anyone or anything at this point.”

They took a closer look at the snowman, trying to figure out if there was anything else unusual about it. As they studied it, they noticed more bloodstains on the snow around the snowman, as if something had been dragged through the snow last night. They looked at each other, knowing that they weren't alone out here in the snowy wilderness.

Mark and Chris knew they needed to get out of here, but the car was still stuck in the snow and they had no other means of transportation. They decided to stay in the cabin and wait for help, hoping that someone would find them soon. As the day went on, they heard strange noises outside, rustling in the snow and thumps against the cabin walls. They tried to distract themselves with movies and board games, but the fear was palpable in the room.

As darkness fell once again, they heard a tapping at the door. Chris clung to Mark as he approached the door, heart pounding. When he opened it, there was no one there. But they could feel a cold breeze blowing in from outside, that’s when the snowman appeared, standing just outside the door, it’s twisted grin somehow wider than before.

Mark slammed the door shut and locked it, backing away. They heard scratching at the windows and doors, as it tired to claw it’s way inside. The snowman seemed to be alive, moving on its own accord and coming closer to the cabin with each passing moment. Mark and Chris were trapped with no way out and no one coming to their rescue. They knew they had to do something, or face a gruesome fate at the hands of the blood snowman.

Mark and Chris frantically searched the cabin for any weapons they could use to defend themselves against the bloody snowman. They found an old fire poker and a kitchen knife, but they knew it wouldn't be enough to protect them against such a monstrous creature. They huddled in the bedroom, listening to the scratching and tapping at the windows and doors. Each sound sending shivers down their spines.

"We have to do something," Chris said, her voice shaking. "We can't just wait here to be killed by that thing."  Mark nodded in agreement. "I have an idea. It's crazy, but it might be our only chance."

"What is it?"

"We have to destroy the snowman. If it's using the snow to regenerate and grow stronger, then we need to get rid of it before it becomes even more powerful" Chris looked at him, fear in her eyes. "But how are we going to destroy it? It's made of snow and blood, it's not like we can just burn it or something."

Mark thought for a moment. "What about the cellar? Maybe there's something down there we can use to destroy it." Chris nodded, and they slowly made their way down to the basement. As they searched through boxes and crates, they came across an old blowtorch.

"This is it," Mark exclaimed, holding up the blowtorch triumphantly. "This should be enough to melt that thing down to nothing." They made their way back upstairs, adrenaline pumping through their veins. They approached the door, the sound of scratching gone…utter silence... Mark took a deep breath, readying himself for a fight.

He slowly opened the door, only for the creature to be gone…

Mark and Chris cautiously stepped outside, scanning their surroundings for any sign of the snowman. They saw nothing but white, the snow stretching out in all directions. Suddenly, Chris let out a scream as she saw the snowman standing just a few feet away from them, it’s red eyes glowing in the dark. Mark immediately pulled out the blowtorch and turned it on, aiming it at the snowman.

The creature seemed to be unaffected by the flames, continuing to advance on them. They watched horrified as what looked like a skinless humanoid entity, it’s entire body covered in dried blood as it jumped out of it’s snowman disguise, biting into Mark’s neck as he let out a horrific scream.

He aimed the flames at the creature again, this time with much stronger and hotter heat. The creature’s face began to burn away, it’s body collapsing in the snow It flinchedfor a moment before going motionless…

Mark and Chris sighed in relief, knowing that they had finally destroyed the blood snowman once and for all. They used the blowtorch to unfreeze the engine and drive away from the cabin. As they drove off into the night, the deformed creature opened it’s eyes as it rose to it’s feet letting out a deafening scream that echoed throughout the forest….

TO BE CONTINUED…