The Frozen Empire - 1

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Story 1 - The Frozen Empire

Chapter 1 - Only The Second Worst Thing That I Could've Thought Was-

Context: This is the same chapter 1 that's called House of Glass in the anthology book! If you read it there already feel free to skip this chapter!

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"Uh... what the fuck?"

Out of everything Charlotte expected to find in an ice cave was a section this elaborate. The section they had entered was disguised as just another part of the cave. A towering metal door bolted into the ice seemed more or less invisible if it wasn't for the imprint of one of those spinning wheel bank vault door handles. Charlotte's hopes of escaping the cave she had been lost in for hours weren't exactly soothed but maybe there was something behind that door that could help her. Why was a door like this even here? It's not like they were trespassing on private property so no private company was building in there. At least that's what Denver told her.

"Fuckin' Denver Kelly." She muttered to herself, now under the assumption, she was probably definitely trespassing. Despite the idea of arrest on her mind, the adventure seeker didn't mind. Bending her fingers in strange contortions to get the blood a-flowin', her eyes locked on the door. A thin layer of ice lay between her and what could potentially be a way out of this stupid cave. 'You know if you just listened to Lydia and didn't play hide and seek with the entire ice cave open to hide in this wouldn't be an issue.' Charlotte rolled her eyes at her inner dialogue. Lydia was always right it seemed. Punching the ice, small bits of it broke off like how glass might. The gloves that protected her fingers from frostbite didn't help much with mobility or having an impactful punch though. She didn't feel like breaking the bones in her delicate hand either.

"Hmph... what am I to do?" Suddenly, Charlotte was hit with a fiery idea and then the following embarrassment of not remembering sooner.

"...Oh right I have a lighter." Digging through the bag on her back, she pulled out the small tool, filled to the brim with lighter fluid eager to set something on fire. Weak, gloved fingers needed a few tries to get it going but a spark shortly rose, providing a slight warmth to the chill that found a home in Charlotte's bones. Frozen ice put up a fight against the heat but eventually succumbed to the flame and turned to still rather cold water.

"You know this is easier than I thought." As more ice melted, the seems of larger sheets cracked. Charlotte's curiosity peaked as she wondered what could be beyond the door. What if it was a government base? There could totally be proof of stuff like MK-Ultra back there!

"Wait, will I get arrested if I go back here? Eh, I'm already this far in!" With enough ice broken, she tried her luck at the wheel-like handle. She wasn't weak per se but the cold certainly hindered her muscle's ability to work. Tugs at the door became more and more desperate because whatever was behind it could be her escape, her savior. 'Or it could just be nothing, a ploy to waste your energy and kill you faster. You should've saved that lighter fluid to keep the frostbite away.'

Her eye lit up a bit when the door began to turn. Exerting every bit of energy she had, a pained groan echoed through the ice cave, hopefully bouncing off the walls to her friend's ears. Now detached from the latch, the door only needed a few heavy pushes to make enough room for Charlotte to hold her stomach in and slide through to see...

"Holy shit. Did I die freeze to death back there because this cannot be real!" Whatever reality Charlotte was in before, she had just left and entered a sci-fi world! Well at least an abandoned one, she could taste the dust in the air that fluttered alive at the slightest movement. Two rows of five ivory, corroded tubes towered over the lab. On the desks in the lab, she realized that the place was frozen in time both literally and figuratively as the calendar inside dated back to 1972. Examining the tubes, they each had some sign in front of it.

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