It was cold. Not just any cold, though. The kind that reached through the howling wind with its scrawny, thin fingers and wrapped around your skin, searing past the flesh, reaching all the way to bone.
Winter was a worthy opponent. It didn’t need to be anything other than what it was to win a war. It could bury you in snow, suffocate you with frigid air, or drop your body temperature to a point that the blood just froze in your veins.
And it could do it all while looking like a wonderland.
“Is all this really necessary?” hollow eyes asked as we trudged through the snow.
I didn’t say anything. For two reasons:
1. I was terrified.
2. I was conserving my energy because I wasn’t going to die like this.
“You heard the boss.” Spidey tossed the words over his shoulder like a snowball.
Bitter wind blew, and I squinted against it. Jeans, a T-shirt, and a coat were not enough protection against a snowy mountain at night. My ears already ached inside, my fingers were stinging from lack of heat, and even pushed inside my pockets, they were stiff and unbending.
Snow coated my hair, and my nose was numb. I’d nearly bitten my tongue twice because my teeth were chattering so violently.
I stumbled and would have fallen if I hadn’t caught myself with my hands. They screamed in pain when they sank into the icy snow. Funny how it looked so beautiful through a window, but the second you stepped out into its world, all bets were off.
“Get up.” Hollow eyes grabbed me, forcing me to my feet. My knees ached from the cold.
Even if I managed to survive a gunshot wound, I’d never survive a trip back down the mountain.
“Where are we going?” I asked, shuddering.
He shoved me, and I started trudging again.
“To a place where your body won’t be found until spring. And when it is, it’ll be by the bears,” Spidey replied.
“Why not just kill me now?” I asked, glancing back at the resort. It was getting farther away with every step.
Just keep going. Lead them away from Liam. The farther the better.
“I already told you. You earned a painful, frigid death. Not only did you put the boss and a lot of his people behind bars, but you made us all look like fools when you escaped. We’re gonna make an example outta you. Anyone who thinks they can follow in your footsteps will think twice.”
“That why you came out of hiding?” I goaded. “So you could take care of me yourself?”
“I don’t like loose ends,” he spat.
My toes burned, and my legs felt wind burned through these stupid jeans.
“This way.” Spidey grabbed me suddenly, forcing me in a different direction. So far, we’d been going up the mountain. Off to the side of the lifts. I’d tried to wave at some people riding on it about a mile back.
Spidey and friend laughed at me.
The snow falling from the sky had picked up. Visibility was lower than before. We weren’t under lights, and all of us were dressed in black. Why couldn’t I have picked a neon-yellow coat?
We walked some more, past a marker gesturing for us to turn back for the black diamond hill. It was darker the farther we got, so dark that Spidey pulled out a small flashlight and led the way.
He shined a light on another marker, one that distinguished the parameters of the resort. Everything beyond this point was unpatrolled and considered unsafe. They were making me hike through the snow up the side of a mountain to the place I would die.
I started to think about Liam. About everything we would never get to do. About how glad I was I got to see him again. How glad I was I got to at least tell him I loved him.
“Whoa,” Spidey said, stopping abruptly. He shined the flashlight over what looked like a drop-off. The light stretched down to the untouched, smooth snow.
“We’re here,” he said, turning. The whites of his eyes glowed in the dark, and his pale face stood out against the night and the black beanie he’d pulled on.
I bet it was warm under that hat.
Hollow eyes shoved me toward the edge, and I grappled for balance before managing to right myself.
Two guns lifted and trained on my chest.
Another flash from the night my father died slapped over all my thoughts. The way he jerked when the bullets hit him. The way his body dropped to the floor.
“Any last words?” Spidey asked.
“Yeah,” I said, reaching around to my back pocket. My fingers were so cold it was difficult to force them to bend, but they did, and I grabbed the pen. “This is for my father.”
I lunged, catching them off guard. Spidey fired a shot, but it went wide. The sound boomed through the night and rumbled the ground underfoot.
I kept going, not caring if I got shot. If I was going to die now, I was going to do some damage first.
My body collided with his, and we both fell into a tangle of limbs. The weight of my body caused his to sink deeper into the snow, so I used the advantage, shoved up, and swung my arm down, jamming the pen in his neck.
His eyes went wide with surprise, and the gun in his hand fell into the snow. Both hands came up to where the thin instrument stuck out of his flesh. Dark-red liquid seeped into his gloves.
Hollow eyes grabbed me from behind and lifted me off. I started kicking and swinging my arms with everything I had left. The cold butt of a gun pushed against my temple, and I froze.
Spidey stood, pulled the pen out of his neck, and threw it on the ground. I watched it hit the pristine snow, splattering it with dark spots.
Well. That didn’t really go as planned.
“You’re going to pay for that,” he spat.
“Because dying isn’t already punishment enough?” I retorted. Then I kicked the man holding me in the shin. He grunted, but didn’t let go.
Spidey walked over and punched me in the face.
Yep. That whole men shouldn’t hit women thing?
These two didn’t believe in that. Clearly.
My head rocked on my shoulders, and my body went momentarily limp. The smear of something warm on my face brought me back. It was actually a pleasant feeling because I was so cold, until enough focus came back and reminded me if I was feeling warmth, it was likely blood.
Whether it was mine or Spidey’s, I didn’t know.
Lifting my head, I felt the heavy weight of death. Like it was already here, already trying to entomb me.
A flash of something up above in the trees caught my eye.
I blinked, trying to see through the falling snow and my blurred vision. Whatever it was moved again.
Something familiar stirred inside me. Something that felt a lot like love.
Liam.
“I’ll see you in hell, bitch,” Spidey intoned and motioned for hollow eyes to put me down. He tossed me onto my feet near the edge of the drop-off, and I swayed.
The sound of a breaking branch drew the men up short, and they both spun in time to see a blur shoot from out of the trees and cut over the snow in a quick motion.
It was Liam. He came for me.
There was no moment to feel any sort of elation, though. Him being here wasn’t a relief.
It just made this situation all the worse.
A fact that was undoubtedly proved when Spidey and his hollow-eyed friend lifted their guns and began to shoot.