On the run

Chapter 24

Stephanie's point of view.

The incessant sound of wood creaking woke me up from my fitful nap. The now unforgiving winds nipped at my exposed skin, making me wonder how I even managed to fall asleep.

The small shelter rocked and swayed back and forth, resembling a house of cards that was about to topple over.

The wood began to groan loudly, small bits of wood falling around me. Looks like it's time to get moving.

It hadn't even been minutes after I saw myself and my bag out that the structure caved in with a loud thud, laying on the snow in a splintered heap.

I stared at the small destruction in front of me, a strange feeling of foreboding washing over me. 'The wood was old, and couldn't survive in the snow. That's all to it" I reassured myself, letting Eden take over.

With the snow falling on the ever increasing pile on the ground, the mass of coldness increased, making it difficult for even Eden to cover much distance. But we were almost there, so I didn't mind waiting a little longer.

We passed a small but dense crowd of trees and even though a lot of them had fallen prey to the weather, I recognized them as the trees which served to protect the small town beyond it from intruders.

"I think we're here Eden, keep going!" I encouraged her, the violent gusts pushing her back.

She kept moving, walking by frozen lakes and destroyed houses that didn't look like they were victims of natural processes.

The strange feeling i had earlier returned. Something isn't right...

"Eden, switch back. Now." I kept calm, although my ming was racing with unspoken possibilities. "Eden, now!" I panicked, running towards one of such houses as soon as I shifted back, not bothering about the fact that I had no clothes on.

I picked up a piece of lumber, wet snow and something else covering my hand..

"These houses were burned down", I realized, my eyes widening at the streaks of soot on my hand. Before my brain could register what I was doing, I was already sprinting, sprinting across the center of the town and into the outskirts.

"Nico? Where are you?" I called out, my gaze searching the remains of houses that were scattered across the perimeter. The wind carried my voice further, but brought back no responses.

I began searching through the scattered rubble, growling in frustration when my efforts yielded no fruit.

"Steph...over there" Eden said, her voice low. "Where?" I asked, my eyes darting around till they came across a blackened and now frozen skeleton. My heart constricted, oxygen refusing to enter my lungs.

I lightly touched the remains, half expecting it to come to life, but all I felt was the cold surface of bone.

I shook my head wildly, sucking in a deep breath. He couldn't.. That was impossible. I resume my search around the area, but finding nothing except more destruction and occasionally rotted or mutilated corpses.

"Maybe he's..." Eden trailed off, fueling the dark thoughts lurking in the corner of my mind. "HE'S NOT!" My steps falter, the wind almost toppling me over.

I knelt down on the snow bed and started digging, as if he would magically appear from under, laughing as I had obviously fallen for his prank. I hated pranks, but I'll be more than willing to forgive him this one time. If he'd only just...

"He's... Not..." My broken whisper cut through my delusions, confirming that mind was giving in to the dark thoughts. My fingers were numb with cold and bloodied, the bones threatening to shatter.