Wasteland

Chapter Seven

Frey-

 Outside the Door was bathed in white. The ground was freezing, covered in a white powder that crunched beneath my feet. Light bled through the roof of fluffy but furious grey. My eyes automatically adjusted to the light levels and I could take my surroundings in properly. I was colder than I had ever felt before, my body convulsing with shivers that I couldn’t stop, but Jace dragged me onwards into the bleak landscape. A cloud of what seemed like steam rolled out of my mouth as I took each breath, but instead of being hot; the air was stone cold; like my breath was freezing in mid air. Tall trees stood, their bare limbs dusted in a coat of white. I recognised their forms from the Tome, and some lessons of school, but they were taller than I had expected. They reached up, tips groping at the infinitely high roof of clouds that were smothering the landscape. The cold was really getting to me and my foot wraps were beginning to soak up the powder which seemed to turn into water on contact. My joints ached, muscles cramped and head span. Before I knew it, my knees ploughed into the white powder. It felt about as gritty as it sounded. My arm was tugged painfully as Jace tried to haul me with him.
 "Get up, before they follow us. It's either that, or I'll leave you here to freeze!" he growled. The thought of the cold being enough to kill was an incentive to rise up, and carry on. Footprints lay fresh in the ground, pointing the way for anyone to follow, but without another thought, I carried on towards destination unknown.

Deesee-

 Deesee felt the chill spread across the Hole. It had quickly overtaken the Main Chamber, and had now begun to ebb its way into his museum. Fiddling with parts and fidgeting with things, he knew what he had to do. Jace had taken Frey almost half an hour before, which gave them a head start into the cold realm beyond, but Deesee was confident he could find them again. He set down his masterpiece and stood back. It would suffice. Retrieving it once more, he held it tight and exited his room for what may be the last time, stopping only to extinguish the candle that danced despite the cold. Greeted by the wall of frost, he only had his mind set on a single thing: Finding Frey. He shivered once, a single shudder that rocked his whole world. This was a stupid idea, but he couldn’t leave her with that psychopath. The Main Chamber was dusted in a layer of white that looked soft, but was really only gritty and colder than the air. His breath rolled lazily before him, each breath chilling his lungs. The bright chamber was deserted, but footprints circled around the layer of cold white. The only thing stopping him from leaving now were memories. Thoughts rolled through his mind like the frost around him, good and bad emotions flooded him but were pushed aside. He took his last breath of air from the hole he called home, and set out into the wasteland beyond.

Frey-

My legs aches dully, numb from the cold that consumed me. For so long we had walked, trudging through various levels of the white powder called snow. At one point, it engulfed my legs from knees down. My clothes took much of the chill, but in return soaked up cold water into the rough fabric. Jason had not let go of my hand since we had left, guiding me. He had stopped merely once to check the compass.
We were heading towards “E” or 086o. My numbers were not flash, but I understood that it stood for the degrees of a circle. The 86th degree wasn’t towards Haven, Jace told me, but was in fact towards the ruins of a once great city – Strasbourg. There, we could resupply and scavenge, possibly even take shelter among its skeleton buildings. First sight of it came as the great glow was at its highest point. I had once observed an overhead picture of Strasbourg, but this was nothing like I had thought it would be. Snow swamped the streets, buffeting entrances and blocking paths. Cubes of wood, stone and brick were the main casualties along the street sides, although taller buildings that towered over the younger buildings we also looking decrepit. Despite the disastrous appearance, I was dumbstruck by its beauty. The vastness of the city was astounding, an infinity of possibilities. Jason was clearly unaware of the picturesque view and marched on, leaving me in his wake. I gained my bearings as he turned to check on me.
 “What is it?” he asked.
 He must just be used to it, I realised. I shook his question off and began to advance once more into the depths of the city.

 I began to imagine what all these places had once been. Dining halls once dressed in fantastic colours, Buildings dedicated to clothes and places for small groups of people were a common thought of mine as I read faded words like, “Pizzaria” and “Outlet”. The cold had numbed me entirely, but now I was used to it. I felt sluggish, but that was okay. I didn’t need to move quickly. In fact, I could almost curl up to sleep where I stood! Sleep, yes sleep. Tired. That’s it, I am tired! I registered myself slowing down, woozy. I barely noticed Jason stop in his tracks and say something to me. He looked worried.
 “Frey, for god’s sake, listen!” he urged. I snapped out of my zombie trance and heard what he was listening for: a ragged panting, like a repeating sharp intake of breath.
 “What…?” I began, but I was pushed back by Jason’s arm, which swept in front of me. I gracelessly tripped over my own feet and hit the ground, hard. I winced, but when I looked again, I saw a four legged beast pounce upon Jason; it’s from paws hitting a shoulder each. With more energy than any human I had known in the vault, I watched Jace seize the spindly legs as he fell, forcing the beast over his head and careening into a snow drift. With a low growl, it picked itself up and I saw it properly for the first time. It had a coat of sleek fur across its metre tall frame. Its head has a muzzle protruding from where a nose would usually sit. A row of viscous teeth that looked like they could tear off limbs with a slight bite were protruding from black gums and a pair of bloodshot eyes were set in above the snout. It was a scary sight, to say the least. I was metaphorically frozen to the spot, my muscles had all tensed rendering me useless. All I could do was watch the beast leap, its powerful legs rippled as they released the tension coiled in the muscles. Even before it was airborne, Jason had recovered and pulled a knife from his left boot. With a practised roll to the side, he dodged the soaring creature before using the rolling momentum to jump back towards it. Pushing of with both feet, he twisted in mid-air and slammed into the beast’s right flank. They were sent crashing into the snow, Jason on top. I saw a fan of red spray across the disturbed white sheet. A whine like a cry for help was the last sound before silence. My heart skipped a beat as seconds passed like minutes, but Jace soon pushed off the corpse of the beast. His jacket was splattered with blood, but I was relieved to see it was not his own, but in fact it was what had spurted out from the animal’s slit throat. I saw him look at me, and then over me. My heart sank once more as I willed the power to follow his gaze. Five silhouettes greeted me and I groaned.

Deesee-

Following the kidnapper and his victim was easy enough, no snow had fallen since they left the Hole earlier that day, leaving footprints broken through the fragile icy layer. The problem was the chill that threatened to turn him into an icicle. He counted 25 minutes since he left the safety of his home and his mind was telling him,
 “It’s not too late, turn back now and you may live!” Fortunately, his heart told him otherwise and he trudged onwards. It was another ten minutes before the city arose in the distance like a mirage. Drawn to it like a moth to a light, he was only vaguely aware of the footprints that he was following. A further ten minutes saw him to the edge of the city, and he couldn’t help ogling the structures that dwarfed him. Much had crumbled as the years of decay took their toll and the skeletons of the buildings were exposed. Ahead of him was a long stretch of road, three hundred metres long at the least. Then a sound, more chilling than the cold, rattled him; a howl. It scared the wits out of Deesee, but fairing for the life of Frey, he increased his pace. The foot prints were a blur beneath him as he ran at full tilt towards the sound. He came to an intersection. That is where the footprints ended and the confusion began. There were patches where the snow had been pressed flat, others where human footprints had circles, and then there were the inhuman prints. They were the most worrying, accompanied by the splatter of blood that smeared into a trail.
 Frey. He thought, dramatically. Two sets of foot prints had encountered a set of three human prints, and three inhuman. He saw that three human prints had left, two in tow that were not human at all, and three were great lines of compacted snow. Two questions played on his mind: What had happened, And where was she?

Frey-

 Two sets of snarls were emitted from the throats of two more beasts, almost identical to the carcass discarded on the ground. Fortunately, they were tethered by the neck to three people, two of whom held the animals secure, and the third holding a rather bulky contraption in both hands. At first, ones face was distorted severely, before I realised he wore a mask. Another wore a bandana with a scarf like a python wrapped around his neck and the third with the contraption wore a set of goggles, only with a single lens that covered his eyes and most of him nose. The masked one had a strap across from one shoulder to another and fastened to it were three pieces of ‘Lectrics like Deesee had shown me once before. They approached, moving as one. I scrambled to my feet, breaking free of the paralysis that had held me, and moved backwards towards Jace. A reassuring hand touched my shoulder and I stopped. The masked one held one of the beasts in one hand, and with the other, tugged upon a long handle the stuck out over his shoulder. The weapon brought to bear looked lethal: a crescent blade with the end fashioned into a triangular spike mounted on a metre long pole. I was startled by the voice that came from the depths of the mask.
 “Jason. I should have known that you would be here. It was only a matter of time before we met again.” The voice was distorted, like the mask. It was not only muffled, but had a slight tone to it which reminded me of the ‘Lectronic boards that clung to the leather pouches that ran across his chest.
 “Hello Michael. Never seeing your face again would be too soon. Sadly it seems you have decided to excite yourself and show it anyway. Well, in a matter of speaking…” Jason retorted snappily. A growl like the wolves rolled out from the black plastic mask. He clearly had struck a nerve.
 “If you even…” He was cut off by Elisia as she was raised at eye level with him. My eyes widened and I could only see the inevitable. As the gun came up, Michael skilfully dodged out of the way of any projectiles that may have come his way and readied himself at the same time. It was pointless, cause with the skill possessed by only the most highly trained men, the contraption was raised and an arc of electricity erupted from the tip. A split second of blue sparked across the gap between the contraption and Jace, and within seconds he was on the floor, muscles twitching in shock. I was horrified, but that feeling didn’t last long. Michael stepped up to me and the last thing I remember was the hilt of his axe and the howling of the wolves before unconsciousness.