Chapter 1: Hell Is Cold (1)

1.

Keep moving forward,

It's all I'm good for,

I can barely remember the way home, the world being covered in expressionless snow makes that difficult.

If it wasn't for making this journey thousands of times before, I'd surely be lost. Luckily, I had caught some rabbits for the journey to be worth it.

I hope it's enough.

Drudging through knee deep snow for hours was a common situation for me,

I don't even get tired anymore on these hunts, why is that? Probably adrenaline I'd assume.

Huff.

Ah. Breathing is heavy, I always realize the toll on my body when the log cabin shows itself on the top of this mountain.

Yeah, I pushed myself too far I think.

The cabin looked old, it was made of tree logs and planks, it had been slowly decaying from the elements.

If you take a good look at it, you’d surely think ‘oh this place is abandoned.’ Which is a sad thought when you really think about it, because you know... I live there.

Some green moss managed to find a way into the cracks of the planks and logs.

Guess life really does find a way.

There were windows, were, the glass had been broken so rags and fabric covered the view inside.

I put my hand on the handle on the door and pushed carefully, to not damage the hinges any more than they had already been.

If this door breaks, we are royally screwed.

"I'm home" I mutter out, my vocal cords feeling torn from all my heavy breathing

A figure in the dark quickly runs up to the window and undoes a rag, to let some light in.

"Hey bro!"

It takes some time for my eyes to adjust, but from the voice I could tell.

It was my little sister, Amelia, I had been taking care of her for who knows how long.

She still looks frail and weak, her black hair almost reaching the floor, skin closely wraps around the bones on her arms, I try my best to feed her, but nothing seems to be enough.

Her dark brown eyes always looked distant, like she wasn't even looking at me, she seemed off in her own little world.

I can’t blame her, who would want to be in this world? Everything sucks here.

Perhaps we both have gone a little crazy.

"I caught two today" I mutter again, bragging in a way, hoping for praise.

I dropped the bag I had been carrying through the snow onto the ground, seemingly losing all my strength as I entered the warmth of the cabin.

"Let me take care of that big bro, you look tired."

"I'm fine, don't worry."

"You always say such stupid things," she grabs the bag from the ground while I lay down pathetically on the floor.

I see her trying to make lifting the heavy bag look effortless as she carries it to the table. I hate pity.

Urgh I'm so pathetic. I wish I had more strength to help.

My headaches are back, always with these headaches, is this cabin cursed or something?

With a grunt, she lifts the bag up, it lands it back down onto the warped wooden table, the contents of the bag already spilling out.

I stare at her as she starts taking out all the stuff I had carried back home, she looks through it like it's a Christmas present.

"Two today huh? And you found some berries too? This is cause for celebration." she declares, still rummaging through the bag, separating all the food from the firewood I had collected on my small journey.

I'm breathing heavily still, I can barely move but I manage to stand back up and walk to be beside her.

I began to grab some of the firewood and sticks, wood had changed a bit after the snow came, it became easier to burn and its hue changed from brown to more of a redish tint, making walking through the forest look nightmarish.

"Let me get the fire started, you can prepare some food"

"Sounds like a plan!" She takes the two animals I had caught and prepares to skin them, they look similar to rabbits, but only have one eye.

I don't really know why, but ever since the snow came, these weird creatures became the norm, replacing the ones we were used to, I'd assume all the normal rabbits are dead by now, natural selection at its finest.

I walk to the brick fireplace, its completely charred black from overuse, ash surrounds the pit, I never could be bothered to clean it.

Disgusting.

I began taking the dry sticks and logs I had found, placing them in the fireplace,

Oh, here it comes, great, lightheaded, dizziness, why cant... i be... useful?

I fainted and hit my head on the floor, this was normal though.

Amelia thinks it's narcolepsy, but I never had such symptoms before the snow, and without a book in sight, I don't even know if narcolepsy can just appear out of nowhere.

"How long was I out?"

I look back at Amelia, who is just smiling.

"Only a few seconds, like 15, does your head hurt?"

"No... I'm fine" I get back up from the floor, and begin to place more wood in the fireplace

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Luckily, I wasn't standing up, it could've been a lot worse.

2.

"Let us pray for this wonderful meal," Amelia says with her heart full of hope.

She doesn't know exactly how I catch these animals, but it involves a lot of me running and getting lucky, that's probably why she prays.

It's not hard to catch them once I find them, it's just there have been less and less recently.

She sits next to me on the table and grabs my hands then closes her eyes, praying, I pretend to pray as well, sadly god probably died a while ago, his body growing cold like us.

"Let's dig in," she instantly starts eating the food like a rabid animal, I don't know where exactly she got these table manners, but she looks like an animal tearing apart a corpse.

It’s fine though, it’s not like table manners matter anymore. I do always try to eat clean, to not feel like I’ve fully fallen into my animalistic nature.

Best not to dwell on it.

This was the usual routine, I'd come back with rabbits or berries, she'd cook and then we'd both eat, this boring routine, as expected, made us not have many things to talk about.

"So, what did you see today?" she questioned with intrigue in her eyes, making direct eye contact while still eating the cooked rabbit.

"Uhm, you know" I scratch my blonde hair, the texture is awful, each strand feels crispy and clumped. It's especially bad since I haven't washed it in a while, "just a lot of snow, the usual"

Amelia hears my usual response and gives me a look of dissatisfaction "snow can be cool!" Giving me a fake smile, it's clear she is getting a little stir crazy locked up in here... for, who knows how long, how long? How long have we been in this situation?

"Hey Amelia?"

"Sis!" she adds.

Oh, right, she doesn't like me using her name for some reason.

"Hey sis, how long has it been since the snow arrived?"

She gives me a perplexed look, as if I said something forbidden.

"I dunno, a while, does it matter when every day is the exact same?" she replies, trying to change the subject, which is weird because she usually loves new conversation ideas.

"And also, how old are we? I feel like we haven't aged" I ask again, these questions weren't as serious as she was taking them, the snow started when I was around, I think 13, since then, time has been meaningless.

"I dunno, how old are we?" She questions back, I think she is getting defensive.

She looks back at the rabbit and eats some more, thinking the conversation reached its natural conclusion.

"Huh" I mutter to myself.

Amelia looks at me again, smiling "it couldn't have been more than a year, also eat, you haven't touched your food"

She begins to tug at my clothes, silently begging me to stop.

A year? That can't be right, it feels like much more than that, but since I don't feel much older, it has to be true, I can’t wait until I get stronger and taller…

“Eat!”

The tugs grow more and more rapidly.

I look down at my food, the rabbit had been skinned and cooked, Amelia naturally became good at cooking these rabbits, but without seasoning they still taste rough, a stick had been placed through the entire rabbit so we can eat while holding up the stick, sort of like a skewer.

I take a bite, the texture is awful, although I'm sure she knows this.

I finished my meal, and make my way to the bed in the cabin, as soon as I touch this bed I fall asleep instantly, probably from all the exhaustion I built up in my hunt, the mattress was comfortable too so that helped.

The springs broke in the mattress a while ago, so we replaced the insides with a ton of clothes and soft material rags we had lying around in the cabin.

I had always fallen asleep before Amelia, I hope she is getting enough rest.

I landed on the bed and fell asleep, dreaming into the abyss.

3.

Another day.

The sun poked through the bottom of the door of the cabin, giving me my cue to wake up, Amelia had already prepared my things, something she had always done for me.

The headaches, I always wake up with headaches, I'd assume this is what a hangover felt like, but I've never touched alcohol, sadly.

"Be safe out there."

"I always am."

After the brief exchange, I put on multiple layers of clothes, I make my way out, going the path I always took.

The first few minutes of the cold were unbearable, especially considering how used I got to the warmish interior of the cabin overnight.

My skin adapts and begins to feel numb, which was a good thing in my mind.

The path I always took was directly towards the sun, it was a smart way to do things in my mind, since by the time I started walking back I could just follow the sun again and arrive back at the cabin.

The path was a bit dangerous, we live up in a mountainous area, and to get down there was a lot of climbing steep rocks, this was only the case for the first 2 hours at my slowish pace.

Barely anything lived up in the mountains, which was a good thing, since rabbits weren't the only animals in this world.

An hour passes, my hands had become perfect for climbing so going up and down the rocks seems like second nature.

I always like to think about how much my upper body strength had progressed, it's really the only thing I'm proud of.

The mountainous terrain begins to become denser in foliage as I go down, the trees sprawl super high, my neck hurts just by looking up at them.

The trees and bushes spread decently apart and that gives this whole place an eerie look, making it seem like there's always something lurking and watching.

I've had multiple nightmares about something popping out from behind those trees, but no such scenario has happened fortunately.

I make a small detour towards the lake nearby to wash my hair and face, it's only about 30 minutes away from my usual path.

My hair was unbelievably messy and tangled, so this was seen as a necessity.

I rarely do this since the lake can sometimes be a bit dangerous.

Wolves are what I'm most worried about, wolves and bears, they had also gone through some kind of mutation,

same as the rabbits,

I have only seen passing glimpses of them.

I would never be crazy enough to actually approach one.

The lake was beautiful, it was completely frozen over, you could break the ice with a rock and get to the nice cold water below.

I could imagine people playing in this lake before the snow came, splashing each other, playing games, I wonder how those people are doing now?

Probably dead.

I shutter at the thought, I hadn't seen another person besides Amelia since the incident when everything started to get bad.

As I begin to break the ice with a rock I found, I hear rustling in the bushes, a rabbit maybe? No it's too big.

I turn around, directly at the bush where I heard the sound.

A gasp, then a beeping sound

"We have a mimic by the lake, please send backup"

Why does that voice sound familiar?

I hear something being pulled, oh it's probably a bow, they aren't friendly, great.

I drop my bag and I put my hands up.

"I surrender!" I stare at the bushes,

I was never a fighter, nor am I strong or cunning, the best I can do is just surrender.

"You bastard."

A girl pops out of the bushes and fires the bow, hitting my shoulder, wedging itself into the bone.

Shit that hurts. Urgh, I hope this doesn't get infected, well actually I hope I don't die, but after not dying I hope it doesn't get infected.

Clearly my gambit hadn't worked but through the shock of being shot, was another.

"Amelia?" I say, softly, she could probably barely hear me, I can see her pulling back the bow again, but yes that is clearly her, she is taller and looks older, not as skinny and fragile, she has a few scars on her face, and her hair is shorter.

This couldn't be her, it's a monster, taking a deformed appearance of my sister, I hate this world so much.

My shoulder, it's bleeding bad, the arrow is wedged deep, if I don't move my legs I'll surely be shot again.

My fight or flight response came, I ran, I begin running through the trees, I can make it back to the cabin quickly if I take a faster route.

Leaving my bag behind.

The girl who had the appearance of Amelia might not even be following me, but I had to still take the risk up the dangerous side of the mountain.

"shit..." I look up, there was a reason the mountain was safe, it was very dangerous and rocky, if I fell at any point it's certain death.

I begin to climb up the steep side of the mountain, my shoulder made it hard to move so I was practically climbing with one hand.

Never take a knife out if you've been stabbed with it, the blood will start coming out if you do, but I had to risk it with this arrow, it was actively in the way.

I plant myself on a flat part of the terrain and pulled the arrow out, it made a squelch sound as it popped out, it was supposed to hurt, but it didn't, probably adrenaline again.

4.

A whistling sound could be faintly heard coming from the wind hitting the trees...

"Hey Amelia, don't go too far okay?" Said the broad man with brown hair and beard, he looked to be over 30, scars all over his face, clearly has had a rough time in this world.

"Yeah I'm just going to the lake to wash my hair, I won't be gone long"

Amelia had a bow behind her back, with some handmade arrows, she wafted through the bushy area to see the lake and its view.

She loved this place; it wasn't far from the cabin she used to visit on holidays with her family all those years ago.

Although she would never go back to that cabin, not after what happened.

this lake was the only part that hadn't been tainted yet by memories of death and despair.

"Is that" she whispers to herself, and hides herself in the bushes, what looked to be a young boy with blonde hair, was breaking the lake open, perhaps to wash his hair as well, she couldn't get a good look, so she wafted through the bushes further.

A person in the wild like this? They must be skilled in surviving this harsh environment, there's barely any food here.

Upon seeing the face of the boy, she gasped, she instantly knew, this was a mimic.

Mimics are a type of unholy creature, they take the appearance of people most dear to you, especially if they are dead, and coax you into a relationship with them, you become complicit, and the mimic slowly takes the life force out of you, by life force I mean blood.

It was a horrible fate, it would take months for the mimic to eat you, meanwhile you think you are just getting more and more sick, feeling tired.

She grasps her radio, something that was rare but needed in this world, and presses the transmit button.

"We have a mimic by the lake, please send backup" she says, she begins to draw her bow back, carefully placing an arrow facing right towards the direction of the creature.

The creature drops his bag, why would it need a bag? Normally clothes are just apart of the mimics skin but that bag is clearly not connected,

weird.

Maybe it took it from one of its victims.

"I surrender."

Shit it noticed me, why isn't it making a move, it could kill me instantly. I begin shaking.

"You bastard."

This just slips out of my mouth, I'm feeling rage I haven't felt in years, how dare you deform and defile my brother like this?

I get out of the bush and take the shot.

Crap, missed the head but got it in the shoulder, red blood? Wait why is there blood, mimics don't have blood, they have a weird black acidic liquid they bleed with, so why was the snow painted red?

"Amelia?"

Shit it's trying to trick me, it's all a trick, I'm falling for it.

I pull the bow back again and place another arrow, aiming right for the head.

For an unholy monster this one seems docile, weird, these unholy creatures usually kill humans without a second thought when threatened.

Then he ran, I mean, 'it' ran, holding its shoulder as if it could feel pain, I let it run, it's probably just trying to lead me into a trap.

I walk over to the bag, it looks exactly like the old one we had at the cabin, the straps seem to be withered and torn then sewed back together.

It's full of berries and logs, why would a mimic need these?

"Are you okay? I heard what you sent on the radio, we have Sophie coming over too."

I am staring intimately at the bag, it has a familiar scent.

"Amelia?"

I look over and see jack, he carries all of our stuff when we go out hunting, he is reliable in situations like these, so he arrived quickly.

Jack is a very big man, around in his 30s, basically built like a lumber jack as well, which was ironic since due to his name.

Sophie must've been super far away; she could easily clear more distance than Jack.

These were the two people she would usually go on hunts with.

"Oh... yeah, I'm fine, the mimic ran away."

"Ran away? Like ran ran or a sort of follow me into my secret lair run? What's with all this blood are you hurt?"

He walks closer to her, she looks back at the blood, red blood.

None of this makes sense.

"I think the mimics are evolving, they are able to now imitate blood and objects like this bag."

Jack looks shocked but also doesn't really believe her, how could he? They had been in this snow situation for years with no changes to the documented unholy creatures.

"Yeah, that could be true, I'll tell Immy about this"

"Thanks.." she continues to look at the bag

A uncomfortable silence befalls them, only the sounds of the trees moving in the wind fill their ears.

"Hey jack?"

"Yes?"

"Can we make a quick detour? I want to go to the cabin my parents owned."

End of Chapter 1.