Winters Goddess

Chapter 1

Yes, we heard that metallic grinding behind us. And yes, our feet were cold and limply dragging behind the rest of our bodies, and our bare fingers, throbbing and grisly looking, stung with what could only be frostbite. Yes, we we're in bad shape, but God, we ran like lightning for as longer than even we thought humanly possible.
Sorry. I'm just really excited about this and admittedly really proud of myself, though I feel I should offer my partner some leverage as well.

Her name was Demeter. Demeter Darrington, skilled hunter, skilled warrior, and above all, skilled trouble maker.
I was nearly the opposite.
Loose on my feet, and sporting a thin stature that quite often got me reasonably underestimated (I won't deny that it's quite obvious I'm on the weaker side of the spectrum) she was always my superior in athletics, in gym class, in beating even her own father in the hunting games. She was a goddess, which was only coincidentally derived from her name.
But above all that child's play? All the sports scores and wrestling matches and weaponry?
She was an amazing best friend.
And now, as I run through the forest with her, trembling and soaked to the bone with what could either be water or my own sweat, call me crazy, but I can't help but smile. Reflect on our relationship. Be the optimistic 2nd friend I've grown up being-

"Hey, Ridge, not trying to be rude, but you need to run a bit faster", she said, letting out a large pant in between.
"We're almost there."

I nod. Ok, I got carried away. Let's get back to business.
The grinding has subsided now, though that might be because of the rising bouts of wind, rushing in and out of our ears like greased darts.
In my preferals, I see Demeter pull her hood a little more tightly over her head and grimace.
Yes, that's how cold it is. A girl who literally grew up thriving in the winter weather is grimacing right now.
As the snow crunches under my feet another minute longer and the snowfall only thickens, I find myself wondering when we'll stop. If we're really so close, why can't we see the town, with it's massive shopping malls and apartment homes, in the distance?
All is quiet-or so it seems.. are the trucks just behind us, lurking behind only the sound of the wind?
Or are they long gone, buried in a rogue avalanche we we're lucky enough to miss?
Should we take the risk to stop?
Demeters hard breathing tries to make me speak, but the wind forces the words back into my mouth.
"Save your breath, I can envision them saying. "Save your breath before it's too late..."
My breaths are becoming strained. The snow is wedging between my shoes and my pants, causing a numb feeling to ripple between my ankles and my legs.
My head is burning. I can almost see the redness in my ears, spreading deep into my scalp...
I can't take it anymore.

"Demeter? Umm, yeah, Demeter, I don't hear anything, think we can rest for a second? Like, just one second?

My words sound childish and
ungrateful, I presume, but she still offers a curt nod and tenderly hunches down. I do the same.
A few seconds pass, which feel like minutes. She only stares off into the distance, and I swear, I'm actually kind of missing the mechanical, jerky, but at least loud rumbling of the trucks behind us.
She's putting so much responsibility on me.
But is she? Like, is she expecting me to say something? Is she thinking the same thing as me?
Sigh. Friendship in peril is complicated.
I give up on trying to be productive (communication wise) and simply allow the breaths to course through me, and substitute this rattly excuse of breathing as sound. 
My eyes only close for a second before I'm startled, once again by a metallic sound-
-though this one was different.
It was louder. So much louder, and tough, and making a sound nearly as agonizing as the classic nails on a chalkboard.
Her eyes finally meet me.
Conflicted, purposeful, graceful. Lost in her own worry, and dare I say, goddessness?
Her eyes ablaze, struggling to raise her voice above the scream of the wind, she yells; "RUN!"
Scrambling, we dash forward as fast as we can, her racing above me many significant inches, her hood now carelessly flapping in the wind.
I try to catch up with her, though I cough and wheeze with every step...
She takes an obvious detour, rushing so fast my head spins.
But, I thought we were going to my town? Where my family lives? Where my house resides, tucked between my other favorite people, my neighbors..
"I'm sorry! She screams, unstable, over the wind. "Ridge,you gotta trust me. Safety.. they're right behind us..."
She coughs and her voice dies out, right along with my hope of reuniting with my parents.
I can't blame her. I shouldn't and couldn't blame her but I'll admit, it really does hurt, much deeper than the physical pain of contracting frostbite...
The only effective way to hold back my fears is just the visual of my tears freezing on my face.
There's a structure potruding in front of us.
I run with determination. I run with so much determination though the heavy snow is begging to stop me...
Demeter drops her compass, and I hear a ravage of curse words exploding from her mouth, and it takes all my will power to keep those damned tears back.
As we approach the structure, it comes more profound.
It's tall. It stands alone, only exception being the thick line of fences trailing along it. A gate sits in the middle of it all, untouched though rotting, in the vicious winds.
My stop is so abrupt I nearly run into the darn thing.
She pushes it open, repeatedly slamming her body force into it.
I dumbly stand back, rhetorically kicking it half heartedly every few seconds. The gate budges just a bit more, finally pushing through the snow just enough for our slim figures to slide through.
She grabs me, forcefully pushing me through the crack.
"Go, go GO!" Her voice is strained and lacks the sparkle that usually assists it.
By the time she makes it through, I'm backed up yet again, appalled at what I see in front of me. Dead animal carcasses line the outside, making a thick boundary from the outside world.
Every wood structure that still exists inside this enclosure is rotted to the point of baring no resemblance to it's actual material. The trees, towering and thick, aren't much better, sporting vines that twirl in knots, reaching as high and low as you would expect, if you add 50 feet in both directions. They are simply that enormous-and I don't know if I should be awed or terrified.
Demeter slows down next to me.
Her eyes are sad. She avoids my gaze and steps away from me. Her voice is barely audible above the rush of the wind.
"I never told you this was here,"
She walks tenderly toward the deep outline of fences, protectively obscuring both the vision and most of the sound of the trucks-as well as us, in their vision. Her fingers, red and gradually turning black reach out to touch it.
"It's long abandoned. But, uh, I think it'll help us."
I nod. Go on.
"If we make it out of here alive, and by some miracle they don't catch us, Ridge, I promise, we'll go home. I can't promise anything else, but I promise if im alive, we'll go home."
I nod once again-bitter, but forgiving.
A single tear rushes down my face, and I wipe it off with the hem of my coat.
It's silent. It's silent and I need to break the silence, because, as I now know, silence is bad for when you're on a chase, being chased by metallic trucks with no mercy.
I raise my voice.
"Umm Demeter?"
She looks my way, expecting.
"I'm cold?" I offer, smiling.
She laughs.
Don't question it. It's a friend thing.
We then sit in silence for another few seconds, until she pipes up with words of her own.
"I don't blame you. I think my eyelashes are frozen right now!"
"Yeah. I feel like a mother scolding my hair's for not wearing coats!"
We burst out in laughter, and I feel a little warmer, despite the heightening temperature, and snow whipping my face every time I turn my head.
Silence again. I stuff my bare fingers into my gloves, and she does the same. I fiddle with the Velcro strap holding it around my wrist.
Demeter closes her eyes. Her hands are visibly shaking, and she holds them to her face, breathing on them warmly. I feel transfixed, and wonder if she knows how graceful she looks doing the simplest tasks.
Like the goddess that she is.
A rearing of a truck wakes me up from my daydreams.
I nudge her awake, and smile.
"Let's do this again?"
Agonized, she forces a smile.
"Let's."
We begin running just in time for a truck to slam through the gate, sending lodges of wood in every direction. I dodge a rather large piece flying my way and feel my heart race, adrenaline pumping through me like a drug.
Demeter? Demeter wasn't so lucky.
It's goes in slow motion. A shard lands in front of her, she doesn't recognize it. Her foot hits the slab of wood sticking out of the ground and she tumbles, head over heels into the snow.
A scream escapes my throat.
"DEMETER! OH MY GOD DEMETER!"
My hands struggle to find hers. I yank her up, but she stays, wedged in the snow like a shovel.   
She lifts her head and smiles.
"Ridge. Go."
"Wha- what? No, Demeter, I'm staying here. Just.. get up, we'll get you up, we'll keep moving. You'll be okay... "
Her head swivels to the quickly approaching truck, covered in snow, and showing no mercy to our position. She turns back to me.
"Ridge. Ridge, go save yourself, alright? I'm not getting up. She finds my hand, gripping it with a stark grip.
I dragged you into this. Ridge, go."
Tears cloud my face. "Demeter, Demeter please... I grip her hand, her arm. I simply allow the tears to come, some freezing, some dripping onto her face to freeze on her. "Demeter..."
She grows more frantic. The truck is approaching, and the snow only rages more, baring into her eyes and face. I try to pull her up, but fail. Like normal.
Her eyes meet mine.
"Ridge, I'll only die happy if you go. I need you to go now and make me proud because I've believed in you from day one.. and... "
Her hand drops mine, and the metallic screeching clouds over the rest of her words beside her one translucent scream of "Go!"
With my eyes on the approaching truck, and tears drowning my face in shiny shards of ice, I run, taking a last look and her body on the ground, already almost covered in snow.
I take a last look at my best friend, now living her last moments of life, and run off. Selfish and broken and alone and....
Running for not life from car, with the approaching realization that I was leaving everything I knew behind.

Hi, to whoever reads this! Sorry for the cliffhanger, ha ;) but I hope you like my book so far, "Winters Goddess" and if you enjoy it, please do not hesitate to vote for me. Thank you!
P.S: I wrote this chapter over the duration of two days, so it may not be the cleanest, but I will continue to update it and try to fix it the best I can. Thanks!
P.S.S: Please do post constructive criticism in the comments. I'm always open to advice!