SNOW

- Chapter Three -

"Ugh," Doug mumbled through the snow. "Wha- what time is it even?" he struggled to say, shuddering from the cold. Lifting his arm out of the snow, he brushed it off to look at his watch. Dropping his head back in the snow he let out a heavy sigh, "Three hours, I've been out for almost three hours." He let out a loud groan of frustration, not knowing what to do next. Suddenly he heard a loud thud out in the distance, like something hitting the ground, hard. He laid there, frozen, making sure to be as quiet as possible. Hearing nothing for the next few minutes he decided to try to escape, pushing the tree off his body. After easily getting exhausted trying to move the massive log only a few inches, he suddenly hears the unknown creature roar; and from that roar Doug hears five more loud thuds hit the snow. "What're they bears? What kind of bear hides that far up in a tree?" he thought to himself. "And they would they just fall out of the tree? Wouldn't they just climb down?"

As time slowly passes and the sun gracefully sets he begins to hear large, heavy footsteps crunching in the snow. Then all goes quiet. As Doug blows into his hands, trying to warm himself up, he tries to look around but to little avail. With a massive tree covering most of his view, looking side to side doesn't really have its advantages. "Ung- " The tree got heavier. Burying Doug even more into the freezing snow. Forcing himself to look up, he came face to face with a blood thirsty bear hunting for its prey.

"Ah!" Doug jumped up out of his dream and hit his head on the tree. He laid there, coming back into consciousness, trying to figure out what to do. Coming back to reality he looked at his watch to see how much time had passed while he was asleep. "Yesh, an hour." He laid there, watching time pass by as he lets another hour pass. As he feels the cold consuming him, he began to talk to himself, "Sh- shit. Oh, J- Jerry, I wonder if he, if he forgot about me? Or, hopefully getting help..." he closed his eyes and forced himself to accept his fate. No one was coming to save him, and he'll die alone.

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With the dead of night being quieter than the voices from the bodies it collects, the sound of a helicopter suddenly broke the silence of the forest. With the jolt of adrenaline waking Doug up from the brink of death, filling him with a newfound hope, he was able to wave his weakened arm. As the helicopter's lights focused on him he was able to hear a few people stomping through the snow. "Here! Over here!" he tried to yell, knowing the helicopter muffled his voice. As one of the paramedics was coming closer to the fallen tree, she noticed his arm waving from under the giant piece of timber. She signaled for the others to come help. It was all so loud. The rest of the paramedics pulled Doug out from under the tree and out of the freezing cold. They threw him a heated blanket and began walking back to the helicopter, Doug was finally safe. He was going to live to see another day, and could hopefully laugh about it with his friend.

Then a roar came from the void of the forest.

With everyone looking in the same direction, Doug could only feel fear enter his body. As everyone stood there, not knowing what to do, they heard the rustling of something bolting out from the void of the forest. Doug watched in horror as the innocent paramedics were being picked off one by one. He saw one of the paramedics; only a few feet away from him, running back to the helicopter, trying his best to go against the snow. But a shadow of a creature rammed into his side, forcing him to fly into a nearby tree, splitting him in half. The light from the helicopter revealed the fresh organs and gushing blood being soak into the earth, laying there, as his life fades away.

Leaving the only paramedic helping Doug running for the helicopter, he felt a hard brush next to him. The woman helping him was finally picked off, with her blood being sprayed on the fresh snow. Falling to the ground, Doug laid there, staring at the helicopter. He noticed that the blades were at a standstill, but was more focused on not being noticed by the unknown. As he focused on the helicopter, he saw that the paramedic's backpack was just out of reach. Hearing dead silence he decided to go after the backpack, still holding onto the blanket. Hesitantly crawling through the snow, he was finally within reaching distance of the bag and threw it on his back, attempting to not make too much noise.