The ground beneath Basil's feet shook as he heard a loud explosion from outside. He immediately ran into the bedroom to check on Pip, who had been sleeping.

He was now awake and very much confused, "What's going on?"

"No time for that." Basil ran into the closet and changed. He had just come out of the shower and was only wearing a towel, "Get your shoes on."

"Why?" Pip put on the shoes despite his questioning, "Where are we going?"

"I don't know," Basil said tying his shoes, "But I have a feeling anywhere is safer than here right now."

Basil pulls Pip out of their room and into the crowded hallway. He'd never seen this many people here before. Hell, he thought he and Pip were the only residents here. Basil begins running down the hall, no destination in mind.

"Where are we going?" Pip asked the growing panic seeping into his voice.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I'm figuring it out as I go."

They walk down a hallway with a dead end and Basil turns around, heading back the way they came.

"Do you even know where the exit it?" Pip asked, his breathing getting louder as he tried to keep up with Basil's now jogging pace.

"I'm not looking for an actual exit." Basil stops in the middle of the hallway, "I'm looking for that." He pointed at a window about the size of a surfboard.

Basil grabbed the window ledge and looked outside. It seemed to be facing the back of the property. No one could be seen from Basil's point of view.

He jumped back down and turned to Pip, "Okay, I need you to listen very carefully. Can you do that?"

"Yeah."

Basil reached up and pushed at the window, but it didn't budge. He looked around. At the end of the hall was a decorative vase sitting on top of a table.

Basil jogged down the hall and grabbed the table, letting the vase shatter onto the floor. He ripped one of the legs off and ran back to the window. He jammed the leg into the corner of the frame and pushed.

"What are you doing?" Pip asked, "Shouldn't you just smash the window?"

"The glass is too thick," Basil said, continuing to shove at the pane, "Most windows are designed to keep people out, not in. "

Finally, the window budged and came out of its frame. Basil dropped the leg and turned to Pip.

"Give me your foot."

"What, why?"

"I'm gonna boost you up."

"Okay." With that, Pip lifted his leg and grabbed onto the window sill.

"On the count of three. One two three." Basil lifted Pip up and he pulled himself through the window.

Once he was safe on the other side, Basil grabbed the window and heaved his body up and through. His landing was not as smooth. He fell face first into the dirt. By the looks of Pip's face, he suffered the same fate.

Basil wasted no time in getting up and heading for the ginormous wall on the edge of the property. But he stopped short when he realized how far away it was. It was unlikely they would get to the wall unnoticed. They would have to do it in spurts. Looking around Basil tried to find the best way to get across without anyone noticing. Their options were slim.

"There." Basil pointed to a tree about a hundred yards away, "When I say go, we make a run for that big tree."

Pip nodded.

"Go"

They ran as fast as possible for the tree. Once there, they stopped and Pip waited for Basil to figure out what to do next. He wasn't someone who liked exercise. which explained why he was so out of breath already.

Nearby they heard another loud explosion, followed by screams. Pip looked up at the sky, and he could've sworn that it had rippled.

"There are not many places to hide between here and the wall," Basil interrupted Pips train of thought, "We'll just have to hope they're busy with whatever the fucks going on to notice."

"Wait, let me just," Pip gasped bending over, "Just a little break."

Basil kneeled so that he was face to face with Pip, "Are you alright?"

Pip, "Yeah I'm fine. Just need a moment to catch my breath."

Basil nodded, "Okay," he put his hand on Pip's shoulder, "Tell me when you're ready."

"Can do."

They waited for Pip to catch his breath. In the meantime, Basil took the liberty to sneak out a few yards to try and get a look of what's going on. But there was nothing to see. The garden was empty. Basil wondered where everyone was. When he came back Pip said he was ready to go.

"Its a couple of hundred yards. Are you sure you'll be able to make it all the way without stopping?"

"Yeah, I think I'll be fine."

"Okay, let's go."

Without much more warning Basil made a beeline for the wall. It startled Pip, who ran as soon as the shock passed.

Basil made it to the wall and watched for any sign of trouble as he waited for Pip to catch up. When Pip got to him he turned around and looked up at the wall he planned to scale. It was much taller than at first glance.

Basil knew he wouldn't have any trouble getting over the wall, but he worried about Pip. He could boost Pip up, but then Pip would have to make the landing on his own on the other side. And as he said before, he wasn't very athletic.

Basil paced along the wall, trying to figure out what to do when an idea struck him.

"Pip, give me your jacket."

Pip took his jacket off and handed it to Basil, "What are you doing?"

Basil didn't reply, taking the jacket and climbing the tree. It was bare of snow. Which was weird, considering it was the middle of winter. Now that Basil thought about it, there wasn't any snow in the garden either. In fact, it wasn't even cold out.

Has he really been at this place for that long? There was no time to figure it out at the moment.

Basil climbed as for up as he could before reaching out to the wall. There was still a good ten feet above him. Nothing he couldn't handle though. The wall had ridges all along the sides.

Basil dug his hand into one of those ridges and began free climbing the rest of the way up the tree. Once at the top, he let Pip's jacket hang down. He had to bend to get the jacket to reach where Pip could grab it.

"Grab the jacket and hold on tight."

Pip did so and waited for Basil to continue, "I'm going to jump down and it's going to propel you up."

Without any more warning, Basil jumped down and dragged Pip off the ground. Once Pip got to the top of the wall basil let go of the jacket and jumped down.

"Alright, now you're going to jump down and I'll be here to catch you."

Pip maneuvered to jump but he stopped short. He looked down at Basil and back up.

Basil took that as Pip being scared of the height of the jump, "Hey, it's okay. I'll catch you."

Pip was silent and then, "I'm not scared about that."

"Than what's the problem?"

Pip pointed behind him and Basil turned around and what he saw couldn't be real.

Before him lies a forest. Except it covered completely in snow.

"What the fuck."