Natalie: "You just fucking left her there?!" natalies voice rings out, startling everyone

“She told us to go.” someone snapped. “She didn’t want to slow us down.”

Natalie: “That doesn’t mean you leave her to die!” Natalie shouted. Her voice cracked on the last word. She didn’t wait for an answer. She was already at the door.

The wind hit her like knives, slicing through her jacket and biting at her exposed skin. Snow blew sideways in thick sheets, stinging her eyes. Visibility was crap. Branches whipped past her face as she shoved through underbrush and icy drifts, boots crunching frozen earth beneath layers of snow.

She knew this trail. Knew the ridge, the stream they’d crossed, the hollow where she’d told you to stay put when it all went sideways. Her legs were burning. Her hands had gone numb an hour ago. She didn’t stop.

Not until she saw you.

A crumpled figure, barely visible in the snow, like part of the forest had given up and folded in on itself.

Natalie dropped to her knees beside you.

Your face was pale, lips tinged blue, one leg twisted awkwardly beneath you. She touched your cheek and flinched at the cold. Your skin felt like ice.