Anarchy [ Watty's 2016 ]

XX: Jade

It took everyone ten minutes to get ready. I noticed that the wind outside had picked up, but I didn't realize just what that meant until it was too late.

Taylor opened the door and was greeted with an ice-cold slap to the face and three feet of snow. She slammed the door shut immediately. "What the hell? It's October, for god's sake!"

"Oh! Didn't the news say there was supposed to be, like, a freak winter storm hitting the east?" I said to no one in particular.

"I think I remember that. I wish I'd remembered earlier, though," Alex complained.

"I won't argue with that," I said with a nod.

"Okay, so, what now?" asked Taylor, crossing her arms. "I don't have a plow, and there's no way we get to the main road through all that snow."

In the distance, I could hear sirens wailing. "Well, I have no intention of getting caught for such a dumb reason," I protested. "But I do have an idea...Better bundle up-and I hope all of your shoes have good traction."

Less than two minutes later, my plan was set into action. And by plan, I mean insane idea that was certainly more risk than what it was worth, but it was something, at least. Before we even managed to walk twenty feet down the river-which, thank god, was frozen solid-everyone but Alex and me had fallen on their asses at least once. And Alex only avoided it by grabbing onto my arm and nearly dragging me down with her. I had warned them about traction, after all.

To be fair, the snowstorm didn't help much. We could barely see ten feet in front of us, and the cold air cut right through my fall clothes, making my hands and feet sting with any movement. Alex was no better off, and it was partly my fault-I'd only brought light clothes for her and me, with the exception that I had my hoodie and she didn't. The thin jacket Taylor had given her did nothing to fight off the cold. "Asshole had to take my scarf with him, didn't he?" she muttered angrily.

"So where exactly are we going from here?" Taylor shouted over the wind after we'd been stumbling about thirty minutes.

"Well, I figure we can get as far as Adam Street before the river gets too wide to freeze over completely," I explained, "and right there's the Milton subway station, so..."

"But ain't there a closer one? Mattapan, right? And Capen Street, and Valley Road, and Central Avenue?" Taylor questioned. "Why not one of those?"

"Too close," I answered. "They'd check there. They won't expect us to go as far as Milton, though."

"Oh. Smart."

We walked in silence for twenty more minutes, then we all stopped when we got to a slightly wider section of the river. By now, the snow had settled over the ice, which made it much easier to walk. "C'mon." I walked ahead, waving at the others to follow. "We can't let them catch up, especially since I bet they've found our-"

"Watch out!"

Crrrack! I froze in place, my foot hovering over the ice; every muscle in my body tensed. My heart raced as I tried to figure a way out of the situation. I was too far from the others to turn back, so my only option was to make an inhumanely possible dash for the shore. I took a deep breath and slowly put my foot down on the webbed surface with a crunch.

I tried to dig my feet into the snow for traction in an attempt to leap to shore. The ice responded with more crackling. Well, shit. I tossed my bag and made a last-ditch attempt at a jump...

...with a crash, the ice beneath me broke apart, dumping me into the river.