Frozen Fear

Chapter 6

Cold.

Everest felt the cold climb up her back, making its way through her body. She shivered unconscious in the cold stone beneath her while a strong gust hit her fur, taking away her sleep with it.

She opened her eyes with difficulty. "J-Jake...?"  She managed to  mumble. She took a look at her surroundings, and it terrified her. "W-Where am I?" she asked herself while trying to stand up, when she felt pain in her hind legs enough to make her wince. She didn't know it, but they were just sprained, but it was really hurting her.

Still trying to ignore her injured legs, she finally stood in four and checked on the... "What is this place...? Ow!" she moved her head and a sudden stitch in the forehead made her return to the cold floor. The it hit her, her memories. Jake and her running away from the storm, she jumping inside the-

"The cave!" she exclaimed, but this only made her headache return. "I have to get out of here..." she spoke, a paw on her head.

The entrance from where she entered was much higher than she thought. It turns out that the cave was pretty much higher than it looked from outside. The aperture was totally blocked by a huge pile of snow from the top to the bottom, and the other side of the cave was only ice and rocks, no holes where she could slip through, no rocks that she could just push and with some luck find a backdoor, nothing except a hole in the top of the cave that illuminated all the cave. It gave her the information that the storm hasn't stopped yet, and it was almost afternoon.

"Maybe I could climb up there... No, it's too high." Everest kept thinking looking at that hole, and then back to the blocked entrance. "Guess I'll just have to dig the snow..."

It was at a pile of snow of at least 8 feets high, not to mention that it got a bit solid from the big freeze. Making some fast thinking, she calculated at least 2 days of digging. Nonstop.

It couldn't be helped, if she wanted to be free, she would have to do it.

And so, Everest climbed up the pile and started digging for some hours when she ended up exhausted. Her head had stopped hurting, but her legs haven't, it was torturing her. Also, Jake never stopped for a lunch break during the trip. She practically just ate some dog treats and water ( during breakfast, before the trip) in the last 28 hours. 

Just thinking about the liver treats she prepared for the lunch break made her stomach growl and echo in the entire cave. Everest really can't stand being without food, but to a serious level. She could feel her body running out of energy too fast compared to usual. But she couldn't even peak to the outside with her digging job.

"This ... is not working..." she said out of breathe. "If I don't get any food soon, tomorrow won't be different. I'll probably faint... I have to preserve energy."  she thought, already resting on the floor again. "Tomorrow... will be then." And with this, she drifted off to sleep.

*  *  *  *  *  

The next morning was not what she expected. Her legs were now unbearably sending waves of pain through her body, the hunger now gave her a terrible stomach ache, but the headache was gone. And one more thing, the hole on the roof gave her a look of  a free of snow sky.

The storm was over.

"Finally-" she smirked with an odd expressing, but her legs didn't respond her, and made her collapse in the snow beneath her, making her yelp in pain. "Not now... move! You can do it!" she screamed.

With a lot of effort, she managed to climb back at the pile and tried to shovel the snow with her paws, but only passed a few minuted before her body stopped in cold. Her view blurred, she felt dizzy, weak. It finally gave up, and Everest rolled on the snow pile and landed on the rock floor, resting on her left side.

Her legs didn't responded her will, her body felt too heavy to stand up again.

And then, she cried.

"I'm so, so sorry..." she thought, letting out a painful cry. "I'm sorry I was not strong enough... I'm sorry Jake, I'll be leaving you alone in the cabin again... I'm sorry Skye, but you'll be the only girl in the team again. I'm sorry Ryder, pups, I wasn't strong enough to be a PAW Patrol member... I'm gonna miss you all, so much..."

"Especially you, Marshall..." she spoke with her own voice.

"I can't believe I'm saying this now, and not to you face to face, like I should have done from the beginning. Because, even if you didn't feel the same, I love you..."

"Goodbye..."