SWY 106

It felt like something enormous was crushing him. His body was heavy, and he couldn’t breathe. It was so cold his teeth were chattering audibly.

‘Cold. I feel like I’m going to freeze to death. Lestel, come here and hold me. I need my human blanket… Lestel!’

Sharhan, curled up tightly and speaking to Lestel in his mind, suddenly snapped his eyes open. His vision was pitch black. No, it was all white. He couldn’t even move a single finger, as if he were trapped.

‘What is this… That’s right, the avalanche!’

The memory hit him like a blow. The last thing he remembered was the avalanche rushing down at them with terrifying force. He and Lestel hadn’t even had time to react.

He’d felt uneasy about the devastated mountainside when they’d arrived at the villa yesterday. There were no trees to support it, and yet the mountain had been heavy with snow. The new snowfall must have been too much for it to hold, triggering the collapse.

“Lestel? Lestel!”

Sharhan groped around, calling Lestel’s name. He’d desperately tried to grab Lestel’s hand just before they were buried, but all he could feel now was cold snow. He must have failed to catch him. Lestel had likely been swept away in another direction.

“Lestel!”

He screamed with all his might, hoping Lestel was nearby. But no answer came. The snow swallowed his voice, muffling it so it couldn’t carry far.

Sharhan clenched his fists and struggled to dig himself out. The weight of the snow was crushing, heavy like a slab of stone.

“Damn it, you think I’m just going to lie here?!”

He managed to create a little space to move his arms and began pushing the snow aside, resting when dizziness from the lack of oxygen overwhelmed him, then repeating the effort again.

The one saving grace was that the snow hadn’t frozen solid, yet. But if he delayed too long, it would, and then he’d die here, frozen beneath the surface.

“I’m not dying here!”

Fueled by desperation, Sharhan pushed his body again. He didn’t know how much time had passed. His frozen skin had gone numb, and his strength was draining fast.

Even despair began to whisper that he should give up, but he couldn’t, Lestel might be waiting for his help. Sharhan bit down on his lip until it bled and fought to the surface.

Finally, when the crushing pressure on his chest began to ease, he forced himself upward. The snow clinging to him like wet cement slid off in heavy lumps.

“Haah… haah…”

Panting and hunched over, Sharhan looked around.

“…Ah.”

All he could see was endless white. Trees stuck up through the thick snow here and there, and bits of broken buildings jutted out, but there was no telling where he was.

He brushed the snow off his legs with frozen hands and stood, staggering. Once he found his balance, he looked up. The snowfall had stopped.

“Looks like it’s not noon yet…”

Judging by the sun’s position, it couldn’t have been more than six or seven hours since the avalanche. A whole day hadn’t passed.

“Lestel! Derry! Ardelle! Peter!”

Sharhan shouted their names as he trudged through the snow, sinking with every step. Now wasn’t the time to worry about drawing attention from the walking corpses. He had to find Lestel, nothing else mattered.

He knew he had to head toward the villa, but with no way to tell directions, he simply pushed forward. Then he saw something, just the tip of a toe sticking out of the snow. His eyes widened.

“Lestel?”

He rushed over, kicking through the snow, and began digging frantically with his bare hands, then flinched.

Grrr… hiss!

It was a walking corpse, baring its yellowed teeth and snarling, unable to move in the frozen snow. Sharhan clicked his tongue in disgust and stomped its neck, snapping it.

“Lestel, where the hell are you?!”

No, there’s no way he’s frozen to death under the snow… Sharhan shook his head violently, trying to banish the thought. But the longer time passed, the harder it was to keep his fear in check.

The one hopeful sign was that the snow was getting shallower as he went on. Trees were starting to reemerge, and in the distance, he could see a house. But he still couldn’t tell where he was.

He snapped off a thick branch and began stabbing at the snow with it, hoping to find any trace of Lestel buried beneath.

Every time he spotted even a hint of a body, he rushed over and dug with numb hands. His ears felt like they would fall off, and shards of ice clinging to his hair scattered every time the wind blew.

“They just don’t die.”

Even the avalanche that swallowed grown men like Lestel and himself couldn’t wipe out the walking corpses. Sharhan weaved around one with its lower half still buried in snow, dragging itself toward him, and looked for shelter for the night. The sun was setting, he couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

“Ugh, that won’t work.”

He found a house, but it was so thoroughly crushed by the avalanche that it was unusable. Anxious now, Sharhan kept moving, shouting Lestel’s name again.

“Lest-?!”

Tap tap!

A knocking sound pricked at his ears. Sharhan tensed and scanned the area. Everything was still, the snow stretching silently into the dusk.

Tap tap!

There it was again, urgent. Sharhan carefully moved toward the source. It was coming from the ground, just in front of the wrecked house. Bending low, he called out.

“Is someone down there?”

“Please, help! The door won’t open because of the snow, it’s too heavy!”

“Door?”

“Yes! If you clear the snow, you’ll see a hatch leading to an underground shelter. Please, clear it!”

The voice was frantic and pleading, definitely a young man.

‘An underground shelter…’

It wouldn’t be comfortable, but they could probably stay there for the night.

“If I help, can I spend the night there in return?”

“Uh… it’s cramped, but yes. Wait, is it already night?”

“The sun’s setting.”

“Right… it’s been so dark down here I lost all sense of time. Please, hurry!”

Sharhan began shoveling away the snow, now hardened like ice. Finally, he uncovered the hatch’s handle.

“It’s clear.”

He knocked on the door, and almost immediately, it opened. A man in his late twenties or early thirties poked his head out in a panic, then clambered out and inhaled deeply. Three more people followed, two men and a woman.

“I thought we were going to die in there. Thank you so much. I’m Teddy. That’s Gilbert, Ethan, and Eve.”

Teddy, the man who had first emerged, bowed slightly. Gilbert looked to be the eldest of the group, and the others gave small nods.

“I’m Sharhan.”

“I got up to pee at dawn and saw the mountain looking strange, so I woke everyone up and we escaped in time. But then the hatch wouldn’t open. The air was getting thin, we were starving, freezing… We really thought we were done for. Hearing your voice felt like salvation.”

Teddy rambled without being asked, then looked around and kicked at the snow, muttering, “No wonder the door wouldn’t budge.”

“The house is wrecked. Everything’s buried in snow. I don’t know if we’ll be able to salvage anything. Still, considering the size of the avalanche we heard, we’re lucky to be alive.”

Gilbert and the others approached, faces tight with concern.

“Our luggage is over there.”

From the look on Ethan and Eve’s faces, it must have been important.

“We’ll see if we can recover it in the morning. For now, let’s go back into the shelter. If a walking corpse shows up while we’re standing out here, we’re screwed.”

Teddy, glancing around nervously, was the first to go back underground, beckoning them to follow as his head disappeared.

“Go on in.”

“You go first. I’ll come in last.”

Sharhan couldn’t afford to risk the others closing the hatch behind him with ill intent.

“Suit yourself.”

Gilbert replied indifferently and went in. Ethan and Eve followed, and Sharhan descended last.

The shelter was cramped for five adults. Lying down was out of the question, and even stretching one’s legs was hard.

“Bit tight, huh?”

Teddy gave a sheepish smile as he cleared space for Sharhan to sit.

“It’s fine. But, are you all locals?”

“Just me. The other three aren’t from around here.”

“If you’re local… do you know the Hines family’s villa?”