"We're almost to the shelter we just have to go through the mall first" Sequia said stopping at the edge of an ocean of snow covered cars. "Are we going to go through that?" Andrew demanded. "It'll be faster than going around," Sequia calmy said. The cars were in ruins. Some were crashed into one another. Others were on their side, and yet others looked as if they had been carfully parked into place. An enormous blue weather worn building loomed in the distance. Columns of smoke flowing out of the roof were barely visible in the snowy whiteness and gray sky. The place had fireplaces burning inside. My enire body was numb with cold. I couldn't wait to bask in the warmth of the flames.
"Wow," Stacey said admireing the sight. "Wait till you see the inside. Ohh, do watch your step, and I strongly advise that you not look into any of the cars," Sequia said snaking his way around the sea of automobiles.
Andrew walked ahead followed by Stacey and finally me. My boots sunk in freezing earth a couple of inches with every step making my progress through the snow all the more difficult. The variety of vehicles around me was staggering. Cars, Jeeps, Trucks, Mini-vans, and just about anything else that ran on fossil fuels was scattered about. They were stranded like beached whales never to be driven again.
Recalling Sequia's warning on peering into the cars I shudderd picturing frozen decayed broken bodies inside. Suddenly my ankles connected with something hard burried under the snow. The next thing I knew I was falling forward into the whiteness. I landed face first in the snow. "Oghh," I moaned lying flat on my stomach in a sheet of snow. I brushed snow out of my hair and face. "Hey guys wait for me," I called out weakly the howling wind drowning out my voice.
I put weight on my leg hoping that I hadn't broken anything. My ankles throbbed painfully, but my legs were well enough to limp along. Without stopping to see what I had tripped over I continued toward the mall using the cars for balance. I wasn't interested in discovering what had caused my fall. It could have simply been a piece of debris, or a frozen body. I would have passed out from fright if I had touched a hand while digging in the snow.
The others were no longer in sight. It's no big deal, I figured, I'll just follow their footprints in the snow. Three pairs of prints were visible on the snow covered spaces between vehicles. They disapeared around the side of a mobile home. The hair on my neck suddenly stood on end, and it wasn't because of the temperature. Faint metallic cruching sounds were coming from behind me.
The sounds weren't coming from a single direction they were coming from multiple places. Steadying myself on aching joints I turned to face the source of the sounds and screamed in terror. I wished the swirling snow was thick enough to bloat out what I was seeing. Three hulking wolves were running and jumping over the sea of automobiles toward me. For what felt like an eternity my legs refused to move. The crackling sounds of windshields cracking under the wolves weight snapped me out of my trance. My throbbing legs only carried me so far before I fell forward on my hands and kness. Desperate to put some distance between me and the wolves I crawled on my hands and knees, building up momentum in my legs. I was prepared to run for my life no matter how much pain It put on my ankles. Suddenly the cars on either side of me rocked as the wolves along either side of me ran over the roofs.
I was prepared to have them pounce on my back and rip me to shreds. I had survived bombings, looters, the weather, and a polar bear attack, and here I was about to die a fools death.