A different kind of a Christmas story

Chapter 1: Bitter cold

*12:00 am Christmas Day*

Annie's POV

We had been trudging along through the snow and darkness for over an hour. My hands where wrapped around my shivering body. I was dressed in the warmest clothes that I had, so was Berthtoldt, yet we where both freezing our asses off. 

"Do you see anything?" Bertholdt asked. Glancing back at him, I noticed that Reiner was following slowly behind him, slower than Bertholdt, and Bertl was slow. I looked back ahead to see if I could give him a promising answer, but what I saw was the same scene that I had been looking at for the past hour. I sighed in disappointment. "No." I said. 

"Shit." Bertholdt cussed. I swear I could her his teeth chattering. I just stared straight ahead. I couldn't bare the situation that we where in. I'm not even confident on how we got here. We were in the middle of nowhere, snow up to our knees, and it was most likely midnight. The moon was a solid round sphere in the sky. It was Christmas day. If that train hadn't crashed, we would've been snuggled up against the fire right about now, opening presents and drinking hot coco. But no. We're here. I sighed, watching my breath disappear into the air around us. My eyes suddenly shot open wide when I saw the brimming of a forest up ahead. 

"Hey! Reiner, Bertl, look!" I yelled over the gushing wind. I stopped in my tracks for the two of them to catch up with me. Once they where both standing right next to me, they awed at the forest. I could feel their warmth radiating off of them and into me, warming me up the smallest bit. I would take any heat offered at the moment. 

"If we find enough wood, I could make a fire." Reiner suggested, stuttering along the way as his teeth chattered. 

"Sounds good. Let's find a camp sight first." Bertl said, running towards solitude.