Blizzard

Raina straightened, letting the axe fall from her grip to rest against her leg, and wiped her brow. Three hours of chopping wood and hammering stone in the cold had exhausted her, but she was determined to clear the island before it grew too late in the day.

A chill wind picked up, and she pushed her bandana off her forehead to let the breeze ruffle her mousy brown hair. Once her labored breathing had returned to normal, Raina hefted the axe again, muscles protesting, and raised it over her head to take a swing at the log before her.

The wood split satisfyingly when the blade struck, and Raina bent and tucked it into her rucksack. When she stood again, a wave of dizziness assaulted her. She shook her head, blinked a few times, and moved on to the next piece of wood.

Two more chops of the axe, and Raina nearly tripped and fell, her limbs were so heavy. The first few flakes of snow began floating down around her. She stacked the logs and dropped them into her bag, stepping around the corner of Taro's house to the next scattering of wood and rock. She put away her axe and brought out the hammer, positioning herself in front of the nearest stone.

When she swung, the head hit nothing but snow and dirt.

That's odd, she thought absently, It was right there...

Raina couldn't focus. She tried to raise the hammer for a second attempt, but black encroached on her vision and she lost her grip. The hammer thudded to the ground.

Snow and sleet was pelting down when she stumbled to her knees.

I can't pass out here, I'll freeze, she told herself.

It was useless, though. She had no control over her body. She couldn't stand, she couldn't call for help. She could only wonder how her situation had turned bad so quickly.

Raina fell forward onto her face, feeling the cold bite of the snow and ice on her skin. She hoped somebody, anybody, was crazy enough to be out in this weather. Someone had to find her.

Please, she thought weakly, and then blackness took over.

***

Vaughn pulled his scarf up over his nose and mouth, trying to block out some of the stifling snow. He felt like an idiot for allowing himself to be caught outside in a snowstorm. Usually he would've known better, but today he'd been foolish enough to think he could finish up business and get home before the worst of it began.

He pulled his hat down low and hugged himself, trying to get warm, but his efforts were in vain. The freezing wind and precipitation cut through his thin clothes and chilled him to the bone no matter what he did.

Vaughn trudged across an open expanse unrecognizable in the swirling snow, heading for what he thought was the animal shop. He had almost arrived at the building when a dark shape caught his eye.

He would've ignored it, except that it looked remarkably like a person, splayed out on the ground. He debated continuing on or stopping to help, and in the end his softer side won out. With a sigh the cowboy changed course and made his slow way toward whoever was lying on the ground some distance away.

As he neared, Vaughn picked out the vivid red bandana and orange overshirt that identified the prostrate person as Raina, the farmer who'd been trying to befriend him since the day he'd arrived. Although sometimes her antics annoyed him, Vaughn had come to think of Raina as a friend, and maybe even a bit more.

He dropped to his knees beside Raina and rolled her gently onto her back. The planes of her young face were dusted with frost, her lips blue, her hair and eyelashes silver under a layer of ice. Her breath came short, and she was shivering uncontrollably. Vaughn winced at her condition and reached to brush away the frost on Raina's face. Her skin was cold.