BELOW ZERO

Chapter 2

Emmy's POV*

"Cyra! Grab my hand!" I shouted to her, if she could even hear over the roaring wind and snow that was flying towards us. We tried our best to trek through the feet of snow and head in the right direction, though it was extremely difficult as our vision was now clouded with white.

"I think I see your house up ahead!" Cyra yelled as we attempted to run towards the door.

"Okay, we're here, we made it," I said breathlessly as I shoved the key into the lock and stumbled into my dark house.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home, do you guys have any idea where this storm came from?" I called out into the house. waited yet there was no reply. "Mom? Dad? Where are you guys?" Still there was no response. "Cyra wait here for a minute, I'm just going to go check upstairs."

I raced up the steps and headed into my parents bedroom where I saw a horrifying sight. "NO! NO!" I screamed. "DAD!" I knelt besides my father and desperately searched for a pulse, it wasn't there. His face was extremely pale and his skin was cold as ice. I got up quickly in hopes to find my mom, and there she was, lying dead on the bathroom floor. "NO! NO! NOT MOM TOO!"

I heard footsteps behind me and looked up to see a testy eyed Cyra. I got up and engulfed her in a hug and weeped in her arms.

"Emmy, I am so so sorry, I'm here for you," Cyra told me trying to comfort me.

"Cyra, it hurts so much, but we have to get to your house and see if your family is alright. I'm going to gather supplies from around the house, you go to the kitchen and gather all the non perishable foods."

Cyra nodded and headed back downstairs as I headed to my room. I changed into thicker pants and grabbed a pair for Cyra. I shoved three warm shirts in my bag and threw another hoodie over my head. I shoved my first aid kit in and put some matches and a lighter into a ziplock bag. I headed downstairs to check on Cyra.

Cyra had her arms full of food that we could take along with us: granola bars, dried fruit, canned vegetables, beef jerky, and of course lots of bottled water.

"Alright, we also need to change out of our sneakers, do you have any heavy boots?" Cyra asked.

I ran over to my garage and grabbed two pairs of snow boots, also taking two thick winter coats with me, hats, and gloves.

"Okay, I think we have everything we need," I said as the two of us began to change into our warmer clothes. We grabbed all of the supplies before taking a deep breath, and heading outside into the raging blizzard.

The two of us grabbed onto each other's arms and did our best to walk through the deep layers of snow that were quickly piling on the ground. Luckily, Cyra lived only a few minutes away from me, so we reached her house in a short amount of time.

She pulled out a key and we stepped inside the house, hoping and praying that her parents and little brother would be alive still.

"Mom? Dad? Caleb?" she called out, closing her eyes and waiting for a response.

"Cyra! Up here!" we heard someone call from upstairs. We dashed upstairs to find Cyra's family huddled up in her bedroom, layers of clothing and blankets piled on top of them.

"Oh my gosh, you guys are alive!" she screamed in relief, "what is going on right now?" she asked as we sat down and wrapped ourselves in blankets.

"We have no idea, it was supposed to be warm today," said Cyra's mom worriedly, "and then when i looked out the window, everything was suddenly covered in snow!"

"And when we went to my house, w-we found that my p-parents were dead! It must have been from the cold!" I choked out miserably. Cyra's parents gave me sympathetic glances and shooo their heads in disbelief.

"Okay Emmy and I are gonna go gather more supplies for the storm, you guys just stay here," Cyra said confidently. Her parents and brother, who looked almost frozen, had no objections.

The two of us headed to Cyra's room where she filled a backpack with clothes and other necessary supplies. She put on an extra shirt and then a fleece hoodie over, with another jacket on top. Then, we went to the basement to find more coats and winter boots, before heading back upstairs to collect food and water.

After gathering everything we needed we headed back upstairs to the room Cyra's family was huddled in.

"Emmy... oh my God..." Cyra said as she saw her family, lying there stiff and pale.

I walked over and checked their pulses, it wasn't present in any of them. I turned to Cyra and engulfed her in a hug.

"Oh Cyra, I'm so sorry," I sympathized knowing exactly how she felt.

I held my best friend as she wept, trying my best to comfort her and help her through this troubled time. Cyra lifted her head from her shoulder and looked at me.

"Thanks Emmy but it looks like it's time for us to head on and try to find an escape from this crazy weather," Cyra said to me through her tears.

"Yeah you're right we have to head on, we should probably go somewhere warm, any ideas Cy?" I asked her.

"Let's try and make our way to California, we may not get all the way there but we'll see what happens," Cyra answered with a small smile.