The Night's Fire-flaught (and 8 other winter stories)

The Avalanche

Jamie's hands felt like they were on fire and in an ice bucket simultaneously. As he rubbed them together, Alice leant across, holding onto his bag straps. "This wind's pretty full on, huh?!" She had to yell, but all that came to him was a whisper. All he did was nod, he felt like his lips were sealed by frost. "Any sign of the lodge?" She yelled once again, and he pointed over to the left of them, and began trudging, sliding his boots through the thick snow beneath them. 

There was a rumbling. A soft hum sort of rumbling, but one that you could feel through your feet all the way to the tips of your hairs. It raised goosebumps over the skin and causes people to make rash and unpredictable decisions. Alice turned to look up the mountain range, squinting, before pushing Jamie over, quickening her pace with each step. 

"What are you doing?!" was all Jamie could get out before the rumbling became a roar, and he had to turn too to see. A torrent of white began to barrel toward them, it's pace quickening, as trees were lost in the already difficult sight conditions. Immediately, he turned and dropped to the floor, pulling himself along the ground on the sled he'd kept for the beginning of their trip out to the alps, grabbing Alice along with him. The snow came rushing behind them, and scooped them up. With time left, and in one quick seamless motion, Jamie grabbed out the emergency flare from his pocket, firing it in an arc. The snow overtook them, catching out the sled and pulling them under.