Survival is Crucial

Life / Death

The crunching of snow, the screeching of winds, the shifting and clacking of metal, the swishing of cloth twisting on top of one's flesh. Slings are thrown apart two mens' shoulders connected to rifles held closely in their hands, the ends of the barrel being pointed into the sky as they maneuver their way through the harsh cold. They are following a dark red blood trail that dripped against the crystal white ground below. One chuckled as they got closer and closer to their destination while the other one remained diligent, paying close attention to their surroundings as they closed in.

A man hiding under a small cliff gripped his arm as hard as he could, listening to the sounds around him for it all to be naught due to the whistles and cries of the wind surrounding him. Bloodstains his clothes, a droplet of blood frozen by the sleeve. The man sighed before sprinting away from the cliff.

After a few minutes of walking, hyperthermia had set in, forcing him to resist the urge to rip his clothes off from his body. He found a cave by pure luck, quickly running inside before crawling into the deepest parts of the cave, curling into the fetal position as his teeth clacked together rapidly. The man opened his mouth as wide as he could before swallowing a mouthful of air, breathing it in before blowing out through pursed lips, rubbing both of his arms in rapid succession. After an hour of waiting, the storm finally died down, the man indulging in his own warmth as he began pissing himself to prevent hyperthermia.

A young man with long black hair, a scar running down the left side of his head, his eyes remaining closed at all times as if he were a blind man. The stench of piss filled his nose causing him to screw up his nose, "f**k!" He yelled before pushing himself further into the corner of the cave.

A man clad in a white snow coat appears at the entrance of the cave, his shadow cast across the ground as he entered, "What's a boy like you doing here?" The man said commenting on the young man's effeminate face.

"I'm an adult... 19 years old."

"I'm Nixon Driver, 23 years old, what about you?"

"Seth Alpheus Hunt, nice to meet you."

Nixon is a tall burly man with blond hair wearing two large earrings that sat on the lobes of his ears, his emerald green eyes shining amidst the dark cavern Seth had situated himself in. Nixon recoiled at the smell, "Did you piss yourself!?"

"I was cold..."

Nixon pressed his lips together before exiting the case, "I'll get you some new clothes, wait here."

"Why?"

Nixon raised an eyebrow, "I'm not gonna leave some dude to die in the middle of a snowy forest, it'd haunt me in my dreams."

Seth sighed, "Alright... thank you."

Nixon nodded, "Alright, I'll be right back." Nixon left at the pace of a light jog.

After a few minutes of waiting, Nixon returned, throwing Seth some folded clothes. Seth grabbed them out of the air, immediately going to put them on. Nixon spun around, pressing his back against the maw of the cave, staring up at the cloudy sky above.

"It's gonna snow again... another storm."

"f**k! It's cold!" Seth yelled from within the cave.

Nixon chuckled to himself before watching Seth stumble out from within the cave, "You ready?"

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

"I'll bring you to a town nearby."

Seth nodded, "Alright, thanks."

"No problem."

After an hour of mulling about in the snow, they reached the town. Nixon dragged Seth into a bar before handing him a large pitcher of ale, "What?" Seth asked himself as Nixon pat his back aggressively.

"Hey! Y'know, Seth,"

"Yeah?"

"I'm Irish."

"Okay...?"

"Do you know what Irish people love doing the most?"

Seth hesitated to ask but asked anyway, "What is it?"

"Drink!" Nixon held a pitcher in the air before chugging it down, some of Nixon's friends celebrating with him as Seth looked at them with a puzzled expression on his face, sipping from his pitcher intermittently.

"Weird to have a party with someone you just met."

"Ain't no problem!" Nixon slammed his hand into Seth's back a few more times before disappearing into a crowd of people drinking to their heart's content.

A young woman heading the counter came over to Seth, leaning over it to whisper into Seth's ear, "He always celebrates when... well... anything happens." She smiled before moving away from Seth, "When he got back from the Spanish-American War, when he met his comrades again, even when all he did was f**k a girl silly one time, always celebrating."

"Interesting."

"So, where did he find you?"

"A cave."

"Oh?"

"I was being chased by some bastards who wanted to rob me and ended up there drenched up to my t**s in piss before he found me and gave me my new clothes."

"Quite the expressive way of talking?" She chuckled.

"I'm quite an expressive person." Seth gave her an award-winning smile before taking a sip of ale.

"I have a question."

"Hm?"

"Was there more of a, say, nefarious reason as to why those men were chasing you that you caused?"

"Sort of, but it doesn't make me less of a victim, that's for sure."

"Well, that's good, wouldn't want good 'ole Nix over there to get involved with any crimes and criminals -- he sort of hates them due to some family issues."

"I'm not a criminal, but that doesn't mean that I'm the best of men either."

"I see, I see," She chuckled, "What makes you, 'not the best?"

"That's for me to know and for those around me to find out." Seth's eyes open a small bit, his sapphire-colored eyes glowing under his eyelids. Getting a better look at the woman in front of her, she was a dime a dozen. A beautiful young woman with an amazing body, her short blond hair reaching her ears, and the type of woman Seth liked were those who could fight, all too apparent due to the scarring on her hands. "You fight?" Seth asked, looking at her calloused knuckles.

She gave a somber expression before looking at them, "Yeah, though nobody but Nixon and his crew support what I do, everyone else saying that a woman's job is to do housework and the like."

"I like a woman who can fight."

She stifled a chuckle before giving Seth a coy smile, "Really?"

"Fun always happens when a woman can get into a scuffle, plus, I always find it better to have someone that can both have my back, and can..." Seth chuckled to himself, "Nevermind." He waved his hand as if waving away his thoughts.

"I see what you're saying." She took in a deep breath, "Let's talk more tonight."

Seth took another sip of his ale before smiling, "Okay."