Freezing Death

6/9/47

Kaleb quickly dashed behind the rock, his fingers slipping all over the place as he attempted to recharge his gun. The purple lights across the object in his hand pulsated as he pressed down on a button, growling to himself. As Kaleb was recharging his gun, he took a brief moment to slightly peek out from behind the large rock, his eyes scanning across the snowy landscape, his eyes peeled out for.... it.
...
Where the fuck was it now?...
He couldn't see where it was. He glanced towards Serena. She was also hiding behind another rock, not too far away, seemingly looking in his direction. The landscape was quiet... too quiet. Kaleb's eyes returned to analyzing the land. Then, he noticed a small patch of snow near Serena's rock begin to slightly shift and crumble. He quickly snapped his head back to look at her, holding up a hand signal to alert her. Serena nodded in response. Perfect. Now that Kaleb knew for a fact she was paying attention and ready, he gestured towards the area where the snow had shifted. Serena's attention turned to the patch, as she pointed her weapon at the patch, the red lights becoming brighter as she prepared to shoot. But before she could pull her trigger...
It shot up out of the ground.
Snow flew up into the air, and shot back down practically everywhere, painting everything that somehow wasn't covered in snow with it, and Kaleb was soon partially blinded, his goggles painted with a thin layer of the icy white material. He quickly removed his hand from charging his weapon to wipe off the snow, his vision returning after. He instantly noticed the giant creature scurrying towards Serena at high speeds, its mouth slamming open and shut, letting out a high pitched screech as she shot at it. Kaleb aimed his gun at it, the purple lights getting brighter, but clearly a dimmer glow than Serena's. A few weak shots came out, barely grazing the creature's shell. He watched as it grabbed Serena with its mandibles, shaking her violently as she started kicking at its head, to no avail doing absolutely nothing to help her. He instantly started recharging his gun again. But that wouldn't cut it. It's sharp mouthparts quickly dug through her clothing and flesh, an agonized scream escaping her, as her body pratically split apart, parts falling limply on the ground, the snow becoming painted red underneath where she had been moments before. The creature stopped what it was doing, tilting its head down, the noises of messy eating echoing across the mountains as it ate its meal. Soon, all that was left was scraps of flesh and organs, and shattered bones. It lifted its head, seemingly looking around but it couldn't see Kaleb, and seemed to have practically forgotten about him at that point, going back to bury into the ground and return to it's home, when-
Crunch
A high pitched squeal echoed throughout the mountains, its head and legs starting to violently move awry. The crunch instantly turned into loud cracking, as Kaleb dragged his dagger down through its shell-like skin, tearing it open. Red liquid started spurting out of the opening, painting the ground, the dagger, and Kaleb in the color. Soon, the creature's violent movements slowed down, until it fell limp, its legs starting to curl into it's body slowly.
It was dead.

Huh. I'm alone now.
As he stood there, the screaming of the harsh wind only filling the silence, until another sound broke through.
Banging.
He tensed up, looking around, but he couldn't see where the banging was coming from.
———
6/9/47
———
Kaleb's eyes fluttered open, instantly blinded with morning light, causing him to let out a small hiss of pain. He groaned, turning and burying his head face first into his pillow. He felt more rested than usual, so he assumed that he probably went to bed much, much earlier than usual. Probably it was either because he had gotten so tired he had collapsed into bed early without shutting the blinds, or he had been so out of it, and just ended up blacking out. He didn't have a hangover or anything, they didn't have anything alcoholic, so it most likely was from exhaustion. He would fucking kill for a drink for once though, honestly. He heard the sound of banging on his door, which was not his version of a peaceful awakening.
"KALEB! GET YOUR DUMBASS OUT OF BED RIGHT NOW!!"
He heard Serena yell. Kaleb angrily groaned in response. "Give me five goddamn more minutes, woman." He soon heard the sound of Serena cursing under her breath, and moving away. He yawned, laying there, enjoying the warmth of his bed while it lasted. God, he wished it was warm like this outside, maybe just even in the house. After all this time, he hadn't gotten very used to the freezing temperatures STILL, which sucked. Well, he could handle the cold better, he'd just die slower if he froze to death. And he stayed like that, before finally sitting up, and stretching. He opened his eyes, reaching over and shutting the blinds. The room was plunged into a calming darkness, the sound of the snow outside merely a white noise to him by this point. Kaleb stood up, slamming the door open and stepping out, yawning.
"Welcome back to the real world, sleeping beauty. Or should I say, sleeping lump." Serena said in a sarcastic tone, glaring at Kaleb. Kaleb rolled his eyes at her. "Shut up. Now if you excuse me, I just woke up and need to use the bathroom."
He shoved past her, causing Serena to roll her eyes stick her tongue out at him. Kaleb soon returned, attempting to fix his messy hair, with no luck. Serena just gave him a knowing look, and he sighed, giving up on even trying.
"Ya hungry?"
Kaleb nodded. The two entered the kitchen. There wasn't much food in the cabinets, it was always a struggle to find food in this snowy hell they called home. They pratically lived off the remains of the icebugs and snow hoppers, and the food they stole from others. Serena started searching the cabinets, but found nothing.
"Nevermind. We don't have jack shit in here it turns out."
She announced, sounding annoyed, collapsing onto the chair. Kaleb sighed.
"Seriously? Jesus christ, did you forget to go hunting for icebugs or something? Plus, we know where those Robinson kids are hiding out. We could literally just raid them."
Serena just shrugged. "I dunno man, it really puts me out of it when it comes to pulling that shit on some kids." Kaleb rolled his eyes. "Have you FORGOTTEN about how our situation is? Don't be a such a pussy, it's survival of the fittest."
The two just stated at each other silently for a moment, until Kaleb broke the silence again. "How did you even forget we have nothing? That doesn't make any sense." Serena groaned, "Oh. My. Fucking. God. PROBABLY because I wasn't the one who had grabbed our last meal from the cabinets yesterday. YOU should know that.". Kaleb fell quiet, and just muttered, "Touchè." They sat in silence again.
"Well, we gotta do SOMETHING. I'm not gonna sit here and starve." Kaleb remarked. Serena just nodded in agreement, and gave him a knowing look.
"

Let's go hunt."
The two grinned. A little bit of bloodshed in the morning wouldn't hurt.