Winter

Alright everybody just a warning that you may want to have a box of tissues with you. I'm sorry sis ahead of time for making you cry, because I already know this is gonna be a sad one….again. Haha. Please enjoy everybody and let me know what you think.

Winter

The weather had gotten very cold and FAST! It started off as a bone chilling snow and quickly became dangerously freezing. Already several feet of snow had fallen, turning everything a very beautiful yet dangerous white. With all that snow, it was not only extremely cold, but it would bring on many difficulties for not only civilians, but the Gears as well.

With such a cold winter, it brought many illnesses as well. Add all those people living so close together…well it wasn't good. There wasn't too many Locust sightings, but by illness alone there were quite a few deaths .

Besides the illness, many of the Gears wore heavy armor, which made it a big pain in the ass just to walk through the snow.

The civilians were becoming restless. In the beginning they grumbled among themselves which turned into fighting mostly among themselves as well. The Gears quickly grew tired of breaking up the fights.

Damon Baird grumbled every day, mostly to himself about the poor conditions. Day in and day out, it was the same complaint. Dom could tell that it was pissing off Marcus and he was just waiting for him to lose his temper with Baird.

Already Marcus was on edge with the weather and the unhappy civilians, but Baird only added onto the irritation. Dom didn't know why or how long his best friend could last against Baird's constant nagging. Marcus' entire body was tense. Dom had a feeling that it wouldn't be long.

Delta Squad headed out for their rounds when it first began to snow. Even as the snow continued to fall, they still continued. There hadn't been too many Locust sightings, but now the stranded were beginning to attack them.

"Damn it." Baird muttered. "It's so fucking cold…"

That was it.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, BAIRD!" Marcus turned to look at Baird and took several steps toward him. "I am so fucking tired of your constant bitching. Shut it or I will shut it for you!"

Baird went to reply with a sarcastic remark, but Dom shook his head. Maybe it would be a good idea not to open his mouth right now. If looks could kill….

The others had stopped to see if Marcus would take a swing at Baird, but Marcus just turned around and walked away. After several seconds, the others followed.

The snow fell heavily now and the temperature had dropped pretty low, but with very few men able to be out, Delta Squad was stuck out there.

Baird followed some distance behind the others, very deep in thought. Being distracted, a gap formed between him and the rest of Delta Squad.

His thoughts fell upon his dead parents, two people he hadn't thought about in years, but seemed to have hurt him the most.

Jocelin and Elinor Baird, all they really cared about was what other rich people had thought about them, not what dreams their only son had. So when he told them what he wanted to do, they were outraged. It was either become a Gear or be cut off from his inheritance, so he became a Gear.

What good did it really do, they are dead now and he is doing what he wanted to do in the first place. What good did it really do…..?

Well, he is alive…

After several long cold seconds, Baird realized that he had stopped walking. The cold had seeped right to his bones, causing him to shiver. It felt like forever, but when he looked up, Delta Squad was gone and with the falling snow, he could no longer see their footsteps.

"Shit…"

Everything was completely white. With the sun periodically peeking through dark threatening clouds, it would blind him.

Glancing around, he saw no sight of Delta Squad. They hadn't noticed that he had fallen behind. He knew that he shouldn't panic or just wonder around. That would mean certain death.

Looking around, he could not tell where he had come from. A cold breeze blew the snow around him, making visibility not too good. After E-Day, all the buildings looked the same. Badly damaged, the windows blown out and large cracks going up the sides. Some even looked as if they would come crumbling down. Many of the buildings had been scavenged for anything that could be removed and reused.

With the wind picking up and visibility getting worse and worse, things were beginning to look bleak. The temperature was continuing to drop pretty quickly. If Baird did not find any shelter now, it was most likely he was going to die.

Quickly he took cover in an old burnt out building. All the windows like the others were broken out and the first floor was beginning to fill up with snow, as well as the second floor next to all the rather large empty windows. The snow hadn't reached the middle of the building though. There was still a chance he could make it through the night.

Removing the frozen metal armor around him, Baird used whatever he could to block the doorways and hopefully insulate the room a little. Now all he could do was wait. With the storm as bad as it was, there would be no way he could survive in a storm that bad.

"Fucking stranded bums… All their fault…"

Again his thoughts had returned to his parents. He had said some pretty awful things to them before leaving for the military and that was the last time he ever saw them alive. Right now, he wished he could take it all back and see them again just one more time. If Damon Baird regretted anything and that was damn near impossible, it would be that day. If he could, he would apologize to them and give them a big hug. Jocelin and Elinor Baird weren't the "world's greatest parents" but they loved him.

They hypothermia had set it much quicker than he thought it would. Already he was beginning to feel really tired and his body already felt pretty heavy. He stood with much difficulty and walking was even more difficult, but he had to if he wanted to keep somewhat warm. He would do almost anything to keep his body temperature up.

His whole body began to tremble from the quick temperature drop. He was beginning to lose coordination from the violent whole body tremors. The first signs of hypothermia.

He tried to pick up the pace, but even walking was becoming difficult and his balance had become way off. By the way the temperature bot the air and his body continue to rapidly drop, it wouldn't be long before the next symptoms would begin.

Of course he was right. He was always right. As his body dipped closer to 90 degrees, his skin was becoming very pale.

So tired..Baird was already to the point that he just wanted to lay down. His thoughts were no longer as sharp as it use to be. He knew that if he laid down now, he would be good as dead.

For a while, he kept up a quick pace and for a little while he did generate a little body heat, but it just wasn't enough. He eventually became too exhausted to even sit up.

'Just for a little bit' he thought. 'I won't lay down for very long and then I'll get up again…I…I..Just….Need. …to.."

With his body temperature now so low, Baird no longer shook from the cold, a very bad sign. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Baird knew that was very bad. He tried so hard to move, but his body just would not obey.

With a now slow breathing and heart beat, his body was beginning to shut down to try to keep his core temperature up, starting with the arms and the legs.

'Is this the end? There is so much I still want to do…Things I haven't done yet and…still so many regrets..'

With each breath he took, he could see the little puffs in the air before him.

It is said that 90% of heat escapes from the body through the skin, the rest you exhale through your lungs.

With each weak breath Baird took, he watched as the remainder of his body head left his body. His body was finally going into shock and he could no longer feel the cold.

Being at the end of his life, Baird laid there wishing that he could take back all those sarcastic and asshole comments.

The following day they found Baird's body in the doorway of the burnt out building where he was hidden. In his last moments he had managed to find the strength to crawl down the cold stone steps and get part way out the door when he finally breathed his last.

His whole body had a blue tent to it and his blond spikes were now frozen stiff.

It wasn't long after night fall that Baird had finally died of hypothermia. He was buried that day with a small wooden cross that would mark his grave.

That winter, Damon Baird was not the only one who had died. Vivilian and Gears alike lot their lives to a very unforgiving Winter.

Still many more would die before any of them would be able to live in peace once more..l

The End

Alright so…. I know I am so mean to Baird. My sister and I have already come to that conclusion. Please let me know what you think. Send me a review. Thank you so much for reading this.