The Tree

First Day

Screams echoed in the freezing air, carried by the wind, warning everything around them to stay away. Only, it was too late.
As the Avalanche fell, the screams went silent- but in their place came the boom of ice cracking, and of trees snapping. Nothing in its path survived.
After the disaster had reached an end, scientists came from far and wide to figure everything out. The scientists had been informed that there were several groups that had journeyed up the mountain before the Avalanche hit.
One group had left four and a half hours before the Avalanche, and were planning on staying the night at a cave which would of taking at least a couple of hours more to reach. That group was certain to have no survivors.
The second group had been at the mountain for one day already, and had been venturing down the mountain for a couple of hours when the Avalanche came. Because they were near the peak of the mountain, they could of been far enough up out out of the reach of the Avalanche which started about an half hours walk down from were they were. But the Avalanche would of had to build up momentum before becoming huge, so the second group could of still been swept down.
The third and last group was a VIP group. All the people there had to pay extra to get a detour to the frozen lake of Y'ells which was incredibly famous. It's fame came from surviving the Elatra Avalanche one-hundred-and-fifty years ago.
The third group could of survived if they were still at the lake, but the time they stayed there depended on when the tourists wanted to leave. So it's was uncertain that that group had had any survivors.
The scientists decided to send helicopters to the three places the groups were expected to of been when the Avalanche fell.
The first helicopter to reach its destination was for the first group. This part of the mountain was completely covered over with snow, almost like someone had iced a cake so thickly, the actual cake had started to look more like a mound of slop than a cake. The pilot of the helicopter was just about to report back when he noticed a largish shape protruding out of the snow. The pilot steered in closer and realised he was looking at a tree. The only one for miles around. All the other plant life would of been smashed up and crushed- why but this tree? It even looked like the tree was as straight as it ever was, not bent even the slightest. The helicopter pilot was sure of this. Seventy five metres away from the tree itself, it was clear enough.
The pilot flew out and reported back to the scientists what it has seen. The scientists agreed there was too be confirmed that there was no survivors, and the 'undamaged' tree was probably a tree from higher up that had fallen and got its trunk wedged in a rock under neath. Nothing they needed to examine further.
The helicopter investigating the second group was realising it was taking longer to get to the beginning of the Avalanche that he was told. About twenty minutes later, he reached the peak of the mountain-also the start point of the Avalanche. That meant the second group would off been taken by the Avalanche, because the were below the safe point.
When the pilot reported back, the scientists confirmed its thoughts were correct. Group two would of been killed.
The third helicopter reached its destination and was troubled to find that Lake y'ells had been hit. The supposed safe spot for group three. The one hundred and fifty year old monument was destroyed, along with the people near it.
After reporting back and confirming the deaths of all three groups, the scientists called for news reporters to give the news out to the world.

Allie didn't know death was like this. It was much colder than she thought. And she didn't have any flashbacks. Actually, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Allie even thought she still had complete control of her body.
She tried opening her eyes which she had squeezed shut very tightly for the past few minutes. Yes, she could see, but the only thing in her view was the White of the snow that had fully surround her. Allie lifted her arms through the snow above her head searching for the open air- she couldn't last much longer with the little oxygen supply the snow provided.
Allie was much deeper than she thought. Her arms could not reach anything but more snow. She panicked because she didn't have any idea how to get out, there was nothing to hold on to or step on. If only there was something like a tree... A tree! There was a tree. It should be quite close, maybe a metre away. Allie pushed her arms in front of her, behind her and at her sides until she felt the rough bark of the tree. She quickly and swiftly grabbed the trunk and used it to lift herself up and out of the snow.
Allie had to climbed several metres through the dense snow before reaching fresh air. It was very rewarding when she felt the cool breeze on her face, also bringing her to the realisation that she was absolutely freezing.
As she pulled her fur jacket closer to her, she took a moment to take in everything around her. White snow as still as death surrounded Allie as far as she could see. The only thing that wasn't snow was the tree she climbed out on. It seems to stick out of the snow and reach several metres higher. It also has no noticeable damage to it. This seems peculiar because even the taller stronger looking trees around this area had been wrecked by the Avalanche.
Allie had completely forgotten about the Avalanche. Her mind had been swimming with other things for the past few minutes.
Could it have been only today the Avalanche had come? In fact it would of had to of been within the past ten or so minutes. But it seemed like much long ago. How did she survive it?
A terrible thought began to seep through Allie. Where was the rest of her group she was with? They are under all of the snow, no air, no way of getting out... This overwhelmed Allie too much. She started shouting, hoping someone would respond. No one did.
Allie didn't know what to do. She decided to climb the tree so she could get out of the that freezing snow. Once Allie was sitting on a nice strong branch, her brain really started buzzing. Questions exploded like fireworks from her head. As soon as one thought came to her mind, it would quickly be replaced by another, even more confusing one. But one thought kept coming back.
Why did only Allie and this tree survive?
By now she had come to the conclusion that none of her fellow mountain scalers had survived. It was too late now. They would of died from the Avalanches impact, suffocation or something awful like that.
Once she had that fact figured out, this thought kept popping up.

Why had She and only this tree survived?