Take My Hand

Fry and Leela have been walking for hours. Their feet were getting frozen from the snow. Leela thought she couldn't walk for another second. It was storming, and the snow was breathing through their faces like needles.

"Fry! I think we need to stay down!" Leela exclaimed through the snowstorm.
"Yeah! But where?" Fry asked.

Up ahead, Fry noticed a small cave, made for the animals. He thought that it might be a warm place to rest.

"Over there!" Fry exclaimed.

Leela followed him towards the cave. He grabbed her hand to make sure she wont be blown away with the storm. As they reached the cave, they dropped down to the ground and panted in the cold air.

"Oh, that was close." Leela said.
"I agree. I hope we can get back to the crew before we really get frozen." Fry said.
"Yeah. How far do you think that we skied here?" Leela asked.
"All I can say is, probably out of the skiing lodge."
"That explains it."

From outside, they heard a helicopter. They were probably searching for them! Fry and Leela quickly got out of the cave and waved their hands up at the air.

"Down here!" Fry exclaimed.
"We're over here!" Leela exclaimed.
"S.O.S!" Fry exclaimed again.
"We need help!" Leela shouted.

Up at the helicopter, the man saw Fry and Leela shouting for their lives. He noticed that they must have been from the snow board competition.

"Well, looks like these two might need some assistance. I should probably signal for-" the man said, but was suddenly interrupted by a loud bell ringing. "... Right after my hour of coffee break."

The man turned the wheel to head back to the shelter, leaving Fry and Leela behind.

"... Well, so much for S.O.S." Fry said.
"What are we going to do know?" Leela asked.
"Can you signal anyone else with that thing on your wrist?" Fry asked.
"No. It's frozen."
"... Great. We're stranded out here. No food, no water, no nothing."
"Let's not give up hope, Fry. I'm sure Bender, Amy, or Zoidberg will be around."

Back at the shelter, Hermes was taking a sip of his Shirley Hemple, as Amy and Bender were discussing about their challenge from the ski lodge.

"But Bender! There was no way you could beat me! I only tripped half the quarter!" Amy exclaimed.
"Nothin's fair, honey. Just plain, ole' work of skill." Bender said as he counted his $2,000.
"Oh, my head. Has anyone seen Fry and Leela?" the Professor asked his crew.
"Uh, they're kinda lost out in the snowstorm." Zoidberg said as he sipped his hot chocolate.
"Oh, yes." The Professor said.

Then he walked away to get some hot chocolate from the concession stand.

"So anyway, how can you possibly outsmart me? I'm the champion of skiing!" Amy exclaimed.

"All right. You wanna fair explanation? I'll give ya one." Bender said as he put the money in his case. "I paid that hunk of a ski champion to get in your way and lead you to lose. Basically, he lead you to that tree."

"You cheated! I want my money back!" Amy exclaimed.

"If you call that cheatin', you better give me a fair reason why I should pay-" Bender was then interrupted by the sound of the Professor spitting out his hot chocolate in astonishment.

"Fry and Leela are lost?" he exclaimed.

"Well, yeah. A friend of mine at the snow board competition told me." Zoidberg said.
"Good Lord! We should do something!" The Professor exclaimed.
"... Like what? That search patrol is on their way." Bender said.
"Oh, right, right." The Professor said.

But it seemed that the search patrol wasn't actually coming back. And the snow storm was getting intense...

Fry and Leela noticed that it was about to reach to dark. And their bodies were shivering with cold snow.

"Oh, we should have stayed back at the cave." Fry said.
"No, we shouldn't. We need to keep moving." Leela said as they both reached up to a hill.
"But, Leela. The snow's getting higher on our feet."
"It'll get smaller any minute now, Fry. Just keep your shorts on!"

Fry and Leela started up the hill. It was pretty high, so they must know that it must lead to the shelter.

"Fry! I think we made it!" Leela exclaimed as she panted.
"Yeah!" Fry answered.

Leela was the first one to reach on top of the hill. Fry had a little trouble, because of the sleet. On one step he tried to stomp on, he slipped. Leela turned around and grabbed him by the hands. She pulled him up the hill with all her might. He forced himself up as well. Then, his knees finally touched the soft snow on top of the hill.

"T-Thanks, Leela." Fry said as he also panted.
"No prob." Leela answered.

As they looked at each other, it kinda brought back the memory when they almost kissed under the mistletoe last Xmas. Oh, how much they wanted to do that. Not to mention, when Bender helped SantaBot the other Xmas, fear brought them together. It was the spirit of Xmas. Leela finally snapped out of it, and turned the other way to the direction of the path. She gasped. Fry wondered, please don't let it be anything bad. He turned his head as well. It was... The mountains. The snow. The hills. But no shelter...

They were far away from the Planet Express Crew...

TO BE CONTINUED...