Survive

Hiding

Thankfully the blizzard from the night before had died down, and the next morning the sun was shining brightly overhead. Pale white clouds streaked across the blue sky, some floated away while others disappeared into a fine mist. It was a fairly beautiful day considering we were the only one's alive to enjoy it. Edgar was sleeping soundly in the pouch strapped to my front, and Yona and Timmy were walking ahead of us, exploring the foreign area.

"Timmy, Yona! Not too far, ok?" I called to the two kids, they both looked back and nodded as they trailed farther up ahead. I gave a deep sigh and paid attention to where my boot-clad feet were landing on the snow covered ground. The sun glistened off of the snow and reflected the harsh light into my eyes, causing me to cringe and look up from the ground. It had been oddly cloudy for the past couple weeks, blizzards had been happening on an almost hourly basis and the sun had barely peaked out behind the dark clouds. But now it was practically blinding.

It amazed me how much people in the old World took the sun for granted. It never seemed to be enough. But, when the sun shone too bright and too hot, they created something to control their mistake; their carelessness. However, when that turned on them, they scrambled for shelter upon a train that would take them no where. Some of us were just swept along, having no choice but to join.

"Still have that map on you?" I asked Curtis, wanting to know how far until we reached the next town that wasn't completely buried.

"Yeah," Curtis mumbled as he fished it out of his coat pocket. "We just left Berlin, and the next town is a few miles south from here. If it's still above ground..." he sighed, folding the map back up and putting it back in his pocket.

"This is getting tedious..." I muttered, "It'd be faster if we had a snow mobile." I mused.

"Well, point one out and I'll see if I can fix it up." Curtis quipped, gesturing to the large expanse of snowy terrain ahead of us.

"Very funny, your rapier wit is truly outstanding." I rolled my eyes, but let out a small chuckle.

"I've had a lot of practice." he laughed softly, a small smile gracing his features.

"Well, maybe you should--" I accidentally bumped into Yona, a quiet 'oof' escaping my lips. However; Yona just stared straight ahead, not even blinking. "Yona, what's wrong?" I asked, stepping around her stationary form to look at her. After a moment of eerie silence, her dark brows knit together in confusion with a sliver of fear in her eyes.

"Yona." Curtis said, gently touching her shoulder but she didn't acknowledge him. "Yona." he repeated a little louder, nudging her arm to get her attention. But she continued to stare straight through us, her expression becoming more and more confused and panicked.

"Yona!" I shouted, grabbing her shoulders and giving her a firm shake. She blinked once and looked up at Curtis and I, coming back from where ever her mind had wandered off to.

"We need to run." she whispered, her breath coming in short gasps.

"What?" Curtis and I asked in unison.

"Run!" she cried and grabbed Timmy's small hand before racing off towards a large thicket of tall trees.

"Wait, Yona!" I called, Curtis and I made to chase after her. But, a soft whirring sound in the distance froze us in place.

"No fucking way." Curtis breathed before snatching up my hand and hauling us into the wooded area. I held Edgar closer to me with my free hand through my coat as we disappeared into the trees.

"Yona!" I called in a hushed whisper, not knowing how close whatever it was that was coming closer to us. Racing deeper into the woods, I could see two small pairs of footprints leading towards a massive oak tree in the center of the woods.