Chapter 1 - The Cold Doesn't Bother Me
Snow, snow, snow. That's all one could see this far out into the wasteland. There was no sun in the sky, nor clouds that could be defined; just ice and snow blowing fiercely from the wind.
In the heated canopy of a small tracked vehicle, driving across the icy plain, sat a young woman with platinum blonde hair and blue eyes, her gloved hands clutching the control sticks. She had been driving across this tundra for what had seemed like an age; she was wondering how much longer her fuel supplies would last, or if they would freeze in the intense cold like they had done ten miles back down the road.
Her name was Elsa Walker, and this was her life. She was a courier, delivering packages, people, and supplies all across the local area. It didn't provide her much in terms of supplies, but it was a life. And in a world like this, she had to make the best of it.
She didn't know what the world was like before the Big Freeze-before the ice and snow came. The blizzards had been howling for over a century when she was born, in a settlement out in the wastes.
But she had left that secluded life behind now. The people there had gotten tiresome, never wanting to do more than just carry on with their lives until the end came.
Elsa wanted better. She wanted to have a better life. But this-driving across the tundra in a wreck of a Snowcat-wasn't at all how she'd imagined it.
She had no friends out here; she never bothered sticking around long enough to make any. To say she was antisocial would be an understatement; she only cared about surviving each day. Anything else was inconsequential to her. Her family she had forgotten a long time ago; any relationships she somehow made out here she'd broken off after the first or second meeting. She was married to her job: a marriage that wasn't as blissful as one would think.
As her Cat drove forwards through the snow, the growl of the engine started to soften; the fuel was running low. The vehicle itself was long and quite wide, with four large caterpillar tracks and a drill in front of the cockpit in case Elsa found herself in an avalanche or icy cave.
Elsa sighed, hoping to make it to an actual bed rather than spend another night in the vehicle's cramped confines. Her heating elements had been malfunctioning frequently lately, and if she were to spend a night in her canopy again without them, she knew she was done for. She silently begged her Cat to keep going, to get her to somewhere, anywhere that wasn't out here.
Eventually, as Elsa was starting to lose hope, she saw a light on the horizon, a large beacon of sanctuary. She had reached a settlement.
She thanked whatever god she believed in for this miracle, although really, she knew it was just blind luck rather than divine intervention.
As she neared the settlement, Elsa saw its name was "Snomar." The sign was missing a few letters-they had likely either fallen off and been buried by the snow, or stolen by some desperate scavenger.
Whatever its name was, it was Elsa's home for the night.
She pulled her Cat into town, seeing it was a rather quiet settlement, with a few walls made of salvage surrounding it. The buildings were also made of scrap too, with no windows and doors kept closed and locked at all times.
The Cat finally came to a stop at the centre of town, and Elsa put on her goggles, hat, and gloves, pulling her scarf up over her nose and mouth. She turned off the engine, and pressed another button on the control console of her vehicle, hearing a soft hiss before the canopy opened up and Elsa was exposed to the elements.
The blizzards howled in her ears, but Elsa had gotten very used to them by now. Everyone had.
She walked through the settlement, hearing what sounded like music over the icy wind. She looked around, finding that the sound was coming from one of the buildings nearby.
She trudged over to it, beating on the door with her fist. "Hey, anyone in there?" she called out. If there was music coming from inside this place, there were most likely people, and if there were people, this might be a bar or an inn, somewhere to rest her weary legs.
The door gently opened to reveal a man with shaggy blonde hair and a rather unkempt beard. He was wearing a furry grey coat and a small winter hat. "Jeez, no need to knock so loud. We've already got it bad enough with the storms."
"Sorry," Elsa apologised.
"Whatever," he grunted. "Just get in here. The heat's getting out."
Elsa walked inside and removed her scarf and goggles. She soon felt the warmth of a thermal generator splash her face, defrosting her skin.
The building was not a bar, but rather what appeared to be some sort of old motel. Whoever the man at the door was, he had clearly been taking care of the place.
"Cosy," she commented.
"Well, in a world like this, a warm bed is a luxury many could die for," the man remarked. "So...you looking to rent a room?"
"Might be," Elsa said. "It's better than sitting in a goddamn Cat all night and freezing to death."
"Do you have anything to trade?" he asked. "I mean, I can't just give my rooms to everybody, can I?"
Elsa opened up her rucksack and rummaged through it, taking out a dented can of beans and setting it on a counter. "Will this be enough?"
The man looked over the set of beans, eyeing it over. "Seems pretty intact…and not too degraded…this will get you four nights here. No more, no less."
Elsa smiled a bit. "Thanks much. If you don't mind my asking, what's your name?"
"Kristoff," the man introduced himself. "And yours?"
"Elsa, Elsa Walker."
Kristoff then looked at Elsa. "You're definitely not from around here, are you?"
"No, just passing through," Elsa said. "I'm actually looking for work right now."
"Work, huh? What kind of work?"
"Courier work, mostly," Elsa answered. "But to be honest, I'll do pretty much anything as long as I get food and supplies in return."
Kristoff smirked. "Anything, huh?"
Elsa frowned. "Get your mind out of the gutter, jagoff."
He raised his hands. "Relax, I was kidding."
"Good, because even if I were a hooker, I still wouldn't sleep with you," Elsa remarked. "I'm not into men."
"Well, as long as you don't make a mess of your room, you can be into robots for all I care."
"Whatever." Elsa closed up her rucksack and shuffled it back over her shoulder. "Just point me in the direction of my room."
"It's down that way," Kristoff informed her, pointing to the hallway next to him. "Third door on the right."
Elsa headed into her room, dropping her rucksack on the floor and flopping down on the bed. "Fuuuck," she muttered. It felt so good to have an actual bed to sleep in.
But her rest wasn't blissful, as she then heard the sound of mice squeaking and scurrying along the rusted metal floor.
Elsa sighed. "I knew this was too good to be true."
xXx
Meanwhile, just outside of the settlement, a lone figure slowly stumbled across the icy terrain. She was hardly dressed for the weather: she was barefoot, in a ratty white tank top and tight-fitting black pants. Her forearms were wrapped in dirty bandages, and her face was covered in freckles. She held a hand in front of her face to keep the driving snow out of her eyes, the wind whipping her two braids about. Her hair was strawberry blonde, but it was streaked with white.
The young woman had no idea where she was going; she only knew that she was tired, hungry, and afraid. She had been lost in the frozen wastes for two days after she escaped from that…that place.
"Gotta keep going," she whispered to herself. "Gotta get somewhere safe..."
She kept stumbling through the snow, the light from Snomar glowing faintly in the blizzard. She wondered if she would go blind, but that didn't matter. The loss of sight would have been a blessing compared to the torture she had just been through.
She breathed huskily, clutching her freezing lungs. Her veins were turning a sickly blue, and her skin was following suit. "Gotta…keep going…." she repeated wearily.
She strained, her feet sludging through the thick heavy snow. Every step fell exhausting to take, but she had to make it out of this alive.
As she rested herself against the large sign on the outskirts of Snomar, she suddenly began to vomit a strange blue fluid from her mouth.
"Agh!" she groaned in pain, her throat on fire as she hacked up more of the goop.
She slapped her chest, trying her best to bury the agony within her body. She didn't know what was happening to her, and at this moment, she didn't care; she just knew that she had to get someplace safe.
The young woman stumbled into the town, seeing it coated in the heavy, hard-packed snow. There was no one around, save for a large tracked vehicle parked by the side of the street.
She slowly approached the door of the nearest building, but before she could reach it, she collapsed onto her belly in the snow. She crawled forward, scratching at the door with her fingers. "Help..." she groaned. "Somebody...p-please help me..."
As the girl finally went limp in the snow, the door swung open. Kristoff looked down at her, eyes wide. "Oh my God!"
He reached around, checking the girl's pulse. She was still alive, barely. He knew she would die if he left her out in the storm, so he picked up in his arms and carried her into the lobby, placing her on an old, rather rotten sofa.
As he did so, Elsa, who had gotten up to use the bathroom, noticed him. "Kristoff?"
Kristoff looked over at her. "Elsa, give me a hand here," he said. "This girl's out cold."
Elsa hurried over to him. "What do I do?"
"Is there anything in your backpack? Medical stuff?" Kristoff asked. "I don't know if she'll live long enough for me to get the town doctor in here."
"Hang on," Elsa said, looking through her backpack and taking out a small syringe. "I found this when I was rummaging through an old hospital a while back. It's one of those cure-all wonder drugs-a Stimpak, I think."
"It'll have to do," Kristoff replied, taking the syringe and injecting it into one of the girl's blue veins.
The girl moaned in pain for a few seconds, then seemed to relax a bit.
"Is she…dead?" Elsa asked, becoming slightly worried.
Kristoff shook his head. "I don't think so." He held his hand over her wrist, feeling her pulse. "She's still there."
Suddenly the girl coughed heavily, hacking up more blue goop from her mouth and over her chest.
"Woah! What the fuck?!" Elsa exclaimed. "What the fuck is that shit?!"
"I…I don't know," Kristoff replied, confused. He looked over at the girl as she laid her head back on the couch cushion, her eyes slowly opening.
"W-where…." the girl croaked. "Where am I?"
"You're in Snomar," Kristoff answered. "This is the Reindeer Inn. I'm Kristoff; I run the place."
"And I'm Elsa," Elsa chimed in. "I'm just a courier from out of town."
"What about you?" Kristoff asked. "Can you tell me your name?"
The girl was silent for several seconds.
"Come on, can't you tell me who you are?"
She rubbed her throat. "I...I don't know," she answered. "I don't know who I am."
xXx
Author's note: Strap yourselves in folks! This is gonna be a long one! For those wondering what sort of AU this is, this is in fact the apocalypse, a new ice age if you will. It's loosely inspired by the Fallout series and other such works of that nature. Hope you enjoy! And for future reference, this version of Elsa is asexual (but she feels strong attraction to girls)
See you next chapter!