Alexander and Celeste scurried ahead of me, eager to get home where the generator provided heat - at least more than the surroundings.

I couldn't blame them, either. Even wearing nearly 5 layers, my skin was still freezing. I couldn't feel my fingers or toes.

My face was icy, and my hair was freezing together with clumps of ice and snow.

I heard the barking, and I smiled even though I couldn't feel my lips. These dogs were the only living thing I have to spend my days with at home.

A pile of snow fell on Alexander's head, making him jump back several feet and shake his shaggy white fur out. I could barely see him in this frost-bitten wonderland.

One more hill and I saw the lake in the distance, just past the mountain I was on.

Celestial ran down it the second the wooden walls of the cabin came into view, while Alexander rubbed his nose on my hand.

I pat his head. "Sorry pal. No more food until we get home. We only have so much."

He enjoyed my hand on his head, even just a slight bit more warmth to his fur that was frozen just like my hair.

We got closer to the cabin - and that's when I saw it.

The lake has been frozen since the freeze first happened, and if anything the ice just grew deeper and deeper, thicker and thicker.

Most likely maybe 10-20 feet thick, with cracks through it from the severe pressure. They were never anywhere near deep enough to cut through and get to water, and they were always small.

So imagine my shock when there was a gaping hole in the center of it.

I tilted my head, walking to the hole with barely a care. I was used to ice, and this thick it wasn't a danger to fall in.

Water sloshed out of the gap, chunks of ice coming with it, and no obvious signs as to how it got there.

Soon I realized it was too cold to question how it got here, at least until I warmed up a bit.

But that didn't mean I didn't stop in my tracks when I saw the other set of tracks.

Leading from the hole in the ice, to shore.

I quickly got to the cabin and swiftly turned the generator on. What the hell could that be?

The generator was loud, but I still heard a bang from the shed I stopped using last year. It was molded, rusted, frozen to the point that if hit hard enough it would shatter like glass.

Already on edge from seeing footprints and a hole in 10 foot thick ice, I made my way to the shed, completely forgetting my stone cold body.

Getting closer to the shed and farther from the loud generator, I started to hear a sobbing of sorts.

What the hell? Nobody comes up here anymore except me.

I turned the corner and froze like an AZ storm had hit.

It was a young woman, curled in the corner and shaking uncontrollably.

She wore a bra and underwear with an odd style as if it were designed specifically for her. Her feet were bare. It was all she wore.

Her skin was pale, but it didn't look natural or right for her. The tips of her fingers and toes were black with frostbite.

Her lips were blue, her dark hair (which was thick and circled her like a small puddle), eyebrows and eyelashes were frozen, and frosted tracks on her cheeks shown tears that froze as they fell. Her knees and palms were scraped, barely bleeding in the cold.

She looked me in the eye, and I noticed how bright her eyes were, gold and copper and bronze like liquid metal.

She continued shaking, and spoke in a voice clearly unused for some time - but velvety and soft all the same. "Please," she said shakily.

"Don't hurt me."

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Word count: 669
*edited