The administrators had organized for us to wear the thickest jackets that were available. I also wrapped the picnic blanket I had used to sleep around my body like a shawl. Since it had been August previously, the jackets were not especially warm, but it definitely blocked out the cold better than my thin sweatshirt. 

We walked on the snowy streets between the houses in absolute silence. The only sounds were the crunchy snow and the snorty breathing of the man next to me. Benni, how he had introduced himself, had obviously trouble breathing properly. 

He had a high nose bridge and deep sitting eyes. His skin was slightly tanned by the sun or a solarium. Since his muscles looked more like they were trained in a fitness studio for show, I guessed the latter. With full lashes and full dark hair, evenly streaked with silver strands, paired with the tall and muscular build, he was an above-average looking man in his late forties, maybe already fifty. His posture was also good. The only off thing about him were his arms, which did not find enough room to hang down straight because of their bulk. I involuntarily thought of a gorilla.

Hugo lead this excursion, so he moved ahead, followed by Li Julong and the other administrator, Mark Anderson. Only yesterday evening, I realized that Li Julong was not particularly tall. He was only about half a head taller than me. Mark Anderson was a full head taller than Li Julong. In the welcoming speech, Mr. Li looked very imposing, but now he looked rather ordinary, almost tiny, next to the enthusiastic Mark Anderson and Hugo. 

Mark Anderson, with his lean frame and tousled blonde hair, looked like he had just stepped out of a 90s movie–a heartthrob straight out of a teen romance, even if he was actually too old for the role and only had passable looks. His brown leather jacket, perfectly fitting his overall image, added a touch of rugged charm to his appearance. From somewhere, he had gotten thick boots that made his outfit the best fitting for the weather out of all of us. 

“I hope really this is soon over,” Mark Anderson said in English with a heavy German accent.

Li Julong just nodded, marching silently.

“I could use a warm cup of coffee and a cozy fireplace right about now,” Mark continued, his voice tinged with longing. “This cold is really… well cold.”

I couldn't agree more. The biting wind and freezing temperatures were starting to take a toll on all of us. I wrapped the picnic blanket tighter around myself, trying to shield my body from the icy chill. My shoulder mucles were strained from the night and hurt as they tensed up every time a gust of air brushed against my skin.

Hugo, who was leading the group, turned to face us. "We should be reaching the area where the winter clothes store is supposed to be," he said in his deep voice. "Let's keep going and hope we find something useful there."

As we continued south, the snow-covered streets became more desolate and eerie. The abandoned buildings loomed overhead, casting long shadows on the ground. The silence was deafening, broken only by the crunching of snow under our feet.

Suddenly, Li Julong stopped in his tracks and pointed at a place further ahead. "Look, over there," he said in a hushed voice. "I think I saw something move."

We all turned to look, but nothing was there. The empty streets stretched out before us, devoid of any signs of life.

"There really was something just now…," The not-so-tall man whispered to himself, the he shook his head. "I must be imagining things," He said with a hint of skepticism.

Just as I was about to dismiss it as a trick of the light as well, I felt a cold breeze on my leg. I looked down, but there was nothing there. No snow, no ice, nothing.

"We should keep moving," Hugo said, his tone firm. "Whatever it was, it's not our concern right now. Our priority is to find supplies and get back to safety."

We nodded in agreement and continued on our way, but the feeling of being watched lingered in the back of my mind.

I wasn’t too sure how much time had passed since we left, it might have been 20 minutes or just five. The lack of a digital pocket watch really showed in moments like these.

None of us had been able to find our phones earlier, and without access to navigation, we had to rely on our memory and instincts to find our way. The streets all looked the same covered in snow, and it was easy to get disoriented in the labyrinth of abandoned buildings.

Based only on vague clues, we headed towards a street with multiple stores. This was the area where I spent most of my childhood. However, I barely recognized most of it now. Luckily, Hugo was the one at the front and not me. I would manage to accidentally lead us to France or even the Arctic!

I pulled in the air through my nostrils. It smelled like spring air, cozy; like fresh laundry that was dried in the sun. Just cold. It smelled like the expensive water from the supermarket tasted. 

Walking here in silence wasn’t so bad… If it wasn’t so dangerous… and cold! It felt like a vacation with no worries about rent or the rising gas prices.

The sun glared in my eye. 

I closed my eyes and only breathed for a moment.

Back open, I looked at the timer on the translucent, floating screen.

It was frozen in place; didn’t count down like before. I still didn’t know how long we had been walking. 

[Body condition: chill

Emotional state: relaxed]

At least I wouldn’t be paralyzed anytime soon. The picnic blanket kept me chill.

I hoped we would find the store soon.

We marched for a long time. My toes felt like blocks of ice while the soles of my feet burned from exhaustion. We had avoided the wide streets and taken a lot of detours to avoid snow fanger packs and I had long given up on understanding where we were heading. And I was sure I wasn't the only one. Merely the reassured “We need to go this way,” from Hugo from time to time gave us confidence to move forward.

As we turned around, I recognized the area. Even with the piled-up snow, I vaguely remembered that I had been here before.

This was a street I had frequented with Ellie and my parents on our peaceful weekends. The tall storefronts were so familiar with their snow-fallen and decorated windows, as if the doors would swing open with the smell of pralines and gingerbread; as if the fir branches in the windows would start glowing with fairy lights any moment and people would greet us with a glass of glühwein.

Of course, none of this happened. We also did not enter the wide shopping street and instead circled further in the smaller alleyways.

Finally, we arrived at a clothing shop, well hidden in a narrow side-street. 

I rubbed my numb fingers.

The window displayed a brown and a purple winter jacket with warm, knitted mittens and hats. 

Hugo tried to turn around the doorknob, but of course, it didn’t budge. Quickly, he changed strategies and directed us silently to move from the open street to between the buildings.

“Mr. Anderson, you go to the front and try to open the door. Miss Yu, you follow him. You two are the fastest to escape.”

I doubted that but didn’t say anything. As a military officer, he probably had evaluated us beforehand.

We nodded. And walked to the street alone, while the others waited in the shadows. It was completely silent.

Mark Anderson pulled out a tiny metal pin out of his leather jacket. A lock pick! 

Clack! 

“Na, wer sagt's denn?”*

In less than a minute, the lock was open. Mark Anderson turned the knob and pushed hard.

“The door says pull,” I whispered.

“Oh.”

Embarrassed, he took a step back and pulled the door. It moved… but only an inch. A barrier of hard snow stopped the door from opening further.

He gestured for me to help him. 

I didn’t think it was going to work, but I grabbed the door frame anyway and pulled. It didn’t budge. Classic. With a red head, his blonde hair messily falling down and ruining his hairstyle, he finally stated:

“That’s not going to work.”

I nodded, already having stopped my efforts moments ago.

We reported to Hugo, who showed a conflicted expression. We had had to avoid a lot of areas already because of the impassable snow walls and to avoid the fanger packs lurking behind them. 

This had been the only hidden clothing store we found, and the sun had almost reached its highest point.

“How about we melt the snow?” I suggested.

“Won’t that attract the fangers?”

“Not if we are quiet.” Sahar Davishi agreed with me.

Sahar Davishi was the woman who traded a can of soup for a favor yesterday. I used the favor to make her join the reconnaissance team. Since the danger was high, she wouldn’t be listening to me here, but the additional company was worth it. The more people, the better.

“Does anyone have powers that generate heat?” I asked without much hope.

“No…” Everyone shook their heads.

“Why don’t we break the window? Wouldn’t that be faster?” Gorilla Benni suggested.

“You idiot, of course, that would be faster, but we would be discovered by fangers in no time!” Daniela refuted with an agitated whisper. “Do you even think before you talk?” She was a dark-haired woman with big blue eyes and a long face. I had seen her yesterday when Li Julong ran to the roof to fight the fanger. She came running in and barricaded the door; one of the security people who abandoned their administrator.

We began to search for another entrance. But no matter where we looked, every door was either frozen shut or blocked by the snow.