Snow falls

chapter 2: Stranger than strangers

The fearsome wind clawing at me as I walked was doing a good job as I was starting to pass out with exhaustion and the cold. My eyes fluttering to stay open, my hands in front of my eyes to stop the snow were starting to fall to my sides. The weight of my body dragging me down, the snow making it harder and harder to keep moving. I woke up at the local hospital. "WHAT... What happened?" I bolted up saying. "Woah Woah there, you took a nasty one. Someone found you in the snow and brought you here last night. Luckily you didn't lose anything to frostbite but you'll have to spend today in here warming up." Doc said with a worry in his voice. I lay back down on the bed and had some of the water next to my bed. A day passed and the Doc released me, I went back to my house now in the warm sunset. I felt a shiver go up my spine as I got to the door of my log cabin, turning around only to find the white emptiness of the snow. I kept looking to see if it really was nothing, but the only thing that moved was a black and white hair running with each other until they both went different directions. My cabin was midsize, the roof just slightly higher than my head. A window with a view of the far expanse of snow-covered flatlands, and a nice fireplace that I started to light. The red carpet was comforting to kneel on but as soon as I got the fire started the armchair next to the fire was much more inviting. The sound of the fire crackling was quite inviting and the silence of the rest of the house was just something I could fall asleep too but there was no time for that. My job was that I made handmade encrusting and designs for weapons, I had also tried my hand at making some guns but I need a bit more time to master that. The. Thing I had been working on so far was a design for a handle of a pistol for a man staying in town, I had already made the snowflake that would soon be in the skull of the eye but I had to make the detailing of the eye so it could be done around the snowflake in this bronze handle piece. I put the piece to the side of my table and stretched my back out as I was huddling over it like a hunchback and my back was killing me. I took the magnification spectacles off and put the kettle on the fire so I could make a cup of tea. "Those Chzinise really know how to make them bags of leaves taste good" I muttered to myself putting a bag in a glass vile, once kettle was screaming I poured it into the flask whisked it around, took the tea bag out and poured it into my flask. I used the rest of the water to pour into my Antifreeze bag and clipped it up to my backpack. The hot water flowed down the tubes running through my normal outfit heating the whole thing up. I put it on and walked outside, it's warm feeling filled my whole body as I walked back to the bar.

At this time of day, you can't see anything five feet in front of you, the dark consuming everything in front and behind me. I kept walking in the direction I thought was the bar and saw a figure in black standing, staring into the abyss that we called the end of the street. I moved behind a building close beside me and peaked around the corner at the figure. Finally, after looking at them stand there for a minute or two I recognised it as that lady from the bar, but as soon as I recognised her the sound of a gunshot rang out and she had her gun out. The sound of a body hitting the was clear even through the raging storm, luckily it wasn't her but she was next to topple. She dropped to her knees and started clutching her right shoulder. I started moving over to her but she quickly moved her gun towards me "don't fucking move!" She said with great anguish. Stepping I back I exclaimed "hey hey I'm not trying to rob you if that's what you think I'm doing, I have good intentions. I know where the local doc is." She lowered her gun due to the pain and gave a deep sigh. I moved over to her and picked her up, slung her left arm over my shoulders and started moving her to Doc's. "FUCK, could you move a little slower pal?" She said gritting her teeth. "You'll freeze if we move too slowly," I said keeping my eyes concentrated on where I was sure Doc's was. We finally made it there only after leaving a trail of blood, before we walked into the door and before she passed out she whispered to me "I didn't fire and neither did my foe..." Then her eyes fluttered closed and she passed out. Overnight she had squirmed in her sleep moving and squirming around like she was being shaken by someone, she kept murmuring Lily like it was the only thing she had left. In the morning she bolted up then immediately clutched her wounded shoulder. I saw her face for the first time, her skin was impossibly clean and well kept, she had wonderful blue eyes and dirty blonde hair tied in a braided ponytail. She had a scar going over her left eye and through her eyebrow. She was beautiful to say the least, "Uh... Good morning... I don't actually know your name" I said taken back by her looks. "Oh shut your trap will you, just call me shadow for now." She said obviously miffed by my tone. I looked away to hide my expression and tipped my hat down, Doc walked in with some bread. "Ah finally you're awake, how's your shoulder?" He said gleefully. She got up still clutching her shoulder and started putting her poncho on like she needed to get somewhere, "Woah hold it there I can't just let you go yet, you haven't fully healed or enough to even raise your arm. It might damage it beyond repair!" "I have to go if someone sees me hurt they'll take their advantage and finish me off." She retorted. I looked up at the two with a face of glee, why don't you stay at my house! It's far from town and I could easily accommodate for two people" "no" she said quickly before Doc could say anything. "But miss you can't go anywhere out of town and that would be perfect for hiding you." "I even have a basement that's not super obvious" I spoke up to say. She rolled her eyes and looked at me with daggers. "If I stay at your house I'm not sleeping, your lucky to catch me off guard this time but I have to be able to lock my room from the inside," she said. I nodded and helped her get dressed. "Your gonna be pretty obvious in the day so we should probably go around the back at night" she nodded in agreement as she finished getting dressed.