In The Dead of Winter: Part 1

Kalina stumbled through the snow-filled field, tripping for what seemed like the hundredth time. She fell face first in the snow and sat up, wiping the snow from her face as she tried to bundle herself up more against the cold, only wearing jeans, tennis shoes and a black long-sleeved shirt. Her desperate brown eyes scanned the open area around her as a strand of black hair fell in her face. Kalina didn’t see any sign of life around and gave a sigh, which seemed broken in the middle from her being so cold, not knowing how long she’d been outside. She stood up after another moment and started walking forward again. After a few minutes, she saw a forest in front of her and stopped, afraid to enter it.

After the slightest moment of hesitation, she entered it, thinking that it might shelter her from the weather a little. She also thought that there might be a village on the other side of it, smiling slightly as the thought crossed her mind and she relaxed. Kalina looked around the forest silently as she walked forward slowly, hoping she didn’t get lost in it. She looked back ahead of her after a minute, wondering how long the forest might last, then shook her head to stop any more negative thoughts from entering her mind.

Two hours later, she was still walking through the forest, the trees blocking out the sky, along with the fact that it was becoming dark. Kalina was silent, glad that she hadn’t tripped as much in the forest, only a few times. She couldn’t tell that she was almost out of the forest, since the moon was covered by clouds and no light entered the forest from the opening. She was a little surprised when she stepped out onto a snow-covered cliff overlooking a village. Kalina smiled a little and walked to the edge of the cliff to look at the village, but was shocked when she realized it was burned down and in ruins, something she didn’t see from the edge of the forest.

What happened here? she wondered, then sighed. “Just my luck,” she muttered to herself. She was about to turn away from the village when a tiny bit of movement caught her eye. Kalina focused in on the one point in the village and saw that she was right, someone was in the village. She stood where she was for a minute before deciding to risk it and began to walk down the hill silently. About halfway down, though, she tripped and fell, tumbling down the rest of the hill and landing roughly at the edge of the village ruins. “Oww,” she said, not getting up.

Kalina knew she was fine, but felt better just laying where she was. She then looked up and saw that the person who had been moving was standing in the deep shadows a few feet away. She couldn’t make out anything about the person, except that their eyes were a piercing blue and that they were glaring at her. Now she only stayed on the ground because she was too frightened to move.

Kalina watched as a man stepped out of the shadows and towards her, still glaring down at her. “What are you doing here?” he asked in a cold voice. Kalina quickly scrambled to her feet and took a few steps back, but soon realized that she was backed against a wall and felt like panicking, but knew she had to try to stay calm.

“I-I was just looking for a place to stay and I fell down the hill,” Kalina said, trying to think of any options on how to get out of the situation. The man took another step toward her and Kalina flinched involuntarily, looking away from him. “I-I can just leave now,” she said, hoping against hope that it would work, but still doubting it highly.

“Now, why would I let you do that?” the man asked, smirking at Kalina. “You must’ve figured out that I was the one who burned this village down and killed the people in it. And even if you hadn’t, I still wouldn’t let you leave. It’s just one more person to kill, no trouble at all,” he said, taking a few steps towards her again. Kalina’s eyes were filled with fear as she looked up at him, thinking that there was no way she could escape. She looked frantically around and realized that there was a gap a few feet away from her in the ruins of the wall.

She looked back at the man as he took another step towards her before quickly sprinting off to the side and through the gap, and was glad to see there was another small one in the back wall. She took a moment to wonder if she could fit through it, and then looked over her shoulder to see the man behind her. She sighed, knowing she’d have to risk it and she ran forward. She got down on her knees and struggled to fit through the gap, and right before she did, the man grabbed her ankle. Kalina struggled against his grasp, but he seemed to be stronger than her. She kicked at the man and finally managed to get him, freeing her ankle and managing to run off before he could grab her again.

Kalina ran until she got to the edge of the town again, and then some, before stopping. She looked over her shoulder,  panting, but gave a sigh of relief when she didn’t see the man following her, and wasn’t alert. Kalina didn’t hear the rustling in the trees nearby and when she did, she was frozen in place, almost positive that the man was still in the village. She turned around slowly and was faced with the same piercing blue eyes she’d seen in the shadows. ‘How could he have gotten in here so quick?’ she wondered, shaking.