Frostpunk: The Last City On Earth

Chapter 8: Blood In The Snow

Jack and Walter reached the old expedition site.

"Well. Here's the old campsite. But now we need to find that cave." Walter said. He looks back at his map and slowly plans their next move. "I'll need to check again."

Jack looks around the campsite and finds a small doll. He picks it up and inspects it, "Hey, I found a doll. Think it belongs to one of the kids?" He said.

Walter looks over at him, "Maybe, bring it back just in case. Maybe we should ask the engineers to work on some toys for the kids."

"Yeah, good idea, Walter," Jack said, keeping the toy inside his bag. "Not much here to look at, so which way is it to the cave again?"

Walter shows him the map and points outwards, "Should be over those hills if I'm right." He said.

"If you're right, that is." Jack points out.

"That's what I've just said." Walter looks at him, annoyed. But Jack had already left to go up the hill.

Walter follows behind.

The first few steps were easy, but they got slower as they got higher up the hill.

"How high is this hill? I feel like we're not reaching the top at all."

Just then, Walter's foot gets skinned into the deep snow.

"Woah!" He screamed.

"Walter!" Jack quickly turns around to check on him, "You okay?" He asked.

Luckily, he didn't sink. But his whole leg was now buried in the snow.

"I'm fine. But I can't move. You need to pull me out." Walter said.

"Okay, I'm coming over to you. Slowly." Jack said, cautiously walking back down to Walter.

Walter placed both of his hands on the snow to push himself back out, "Okay, I think if I do this-"

"Wait, don't-" Jack tried to warn him.

But Walter's plan proved useless as his hands sunk in the snow. His face slammed onto the snow.

"Ah! Jack, help me!" Walter's muffled voice screams into the snow.

Jack bursts out laughing. He started wiggling, but it didn't work. And it made it even funnier for Jack.

"Dude, stop moving! You're going to make me die of laughter!"

"Stop laughing at me!" He yelled.

"I can't hear you, Walter."

Walter stops moving and slumps. He can still hear Jack laughing at him.

Luckily his face was in the snow.

"Okay, I'm here. Hold on." Jack said. He stands behind him and digs his arms under his armpits.

In one pull, Jack pulls him out from the snow.

"There we go. That wasn't too hard." Jack said. But Walter was quiet.

"Hey Walter, you okay?"

"I can't feel my face." He said. "Help me get my leg out, please."

Jack pulls the rest of him out.

Walter lays on the snow.

The two continue their way to the top. Jack was the first to make it, "You're too slow, Walter."

"I was going as fast as I could. I'm not going to fall into the snow again. Not this time."

Jack snickers.

"Enough." Walter glares at him.

Jack tires to get a better look over the hills. Walter tries to catch his breath.

"Hm, maybe if I-" Walter quickly pulls him down to the ground.

"Hey, what gives?" He asked in surprise.

"Get down. There's something over there." Walter whispers as he points at the cave.

"What?"

Jack takes a looks over the top. He sees something near the cave. "Oh hey, you found the cave. But what is that? Is it a cow? It's hard to tell from here." Jack said as he squinted his eyes.

It looked white. But the shape was hard to identify from far away.

"You know what, I think it's a cow," Jack confirms, nodding his head.

Walter rolls his eyes and unslings his rifle, "I'll take a look with my rifle."

He steadied his rifle in the snow.

"You're going to scare them, Walter. We don't want people to think we're raiders now." Jack said.

But Walter stayed quiet.

"Hey, Walter. What do you see over there? Come on, don't leave me hanging over here."

Suddenly, Walter looked away from his scope and back again.

"Jack." He finally replied.

"Yes, Walter? What did you see?"

"That is not a cow. It's a polar bear. There are two polar bears."

Jack's eyes widen at the realization, "Oh. So, not a cow then?"

Walter removes his rifle and hands it to Jack, "Take a look for yourself."

Jack grabs the rifle and sees through the scope, "It's white but big and with paws. And a full set of teeth. You still think it's a harmless cow?" Walter asked.

"No, not a cow." Jack shakes his head.

"But, I don't think they know we're here yet," Walter said.

"You think? Maybe we should head back now."

Jack handed back the rifle to Walter. He looks around the area to see if there are more of them. He guides the scope until he reaches the entrance of the cave. It appears boarded up quite hastily.

There seems to be a bit of red on the snow.

Is that blood? Maybe they are just out hunting for some food.

"Hey, that bear looked like it smelled something," Jack said.

Suddenly, the bears started to attack the wall, followed by the sound of screaming.

"Hey, there are people over there!" Jack said in shock. "We have to help them!"

Walter lowers his rifle and turns to him, "What!? NO! Jack, my gun can't kill a bear in one shot."

Jack shows the captain's revolver, "I got this."

"That's not enough. You just got it. Bears are not easy to kill."

"Well, can't you shoot it in the head or something?" Jack suggested.

"You idiot, I'm not a sharpshooter, Jack. It's two fucking bears, and we are not going down there."

A woman's screamed for her life. The bears managed to drag her out of the cave.

"They're going to kill her!" Jack gets up, but he is stopped again by Walter.

"Jack, no!"

"But they're in danger, Walter! We can't just sit here and do nothing!"

"Yeah? And so will we if we go down there too! Look, I know we saved the others not too long ago. But don't let that hero stuff get to your head!"

"I'm not!" Jack pulls his arm from Walter's hold.

"Then listen to me, and don't go down there!"

"Help me! Hel-"

The bear finishes her off, eating her corpse soon after, letting the blood from her body paint the snow.

It was too late to save her now.

Jack had enough and took out his ice ax, charging down the hill.

"Jack!" Walter cried out to him. "Are you serious right now!?"

/-/

"We can't hold this up for long! The bears are going to break through!" The survivors pushed as hard as they could. But every push the bears make almost sends them to the ground.

"I don't have enough strength to hold on!"

"Is there anyone out there to help us?" A woman asked.

"There's no one else out there. It's just us!"

The bear's brute force sends another push.

"We should have never left." She cried.

"But if we stayed, we would have suffered worst than the bears!"

"Help me! It's got me!" A bear's mouth was under the wall. It grabbed his leg and dragged him out of the cave.

"No! Let him go! Give him back!" He screamed as he ran out for him.

"Don't go out there! There's nothing we can do for him!"

"Damn it!"

"NO! NO, HELP ME!" His hands started grabbing the snow to slow him down. But it wasn't enough as the bear dragged him further away from the cave.

The bear stops and looks at him, ready to eat him. He's too scared to move and afraid to fight back.

As he was about to accept his fate, "AHH!" Jack screamed his lungs out.

Jack runs up and plunges his ax into the bear's neck. He forced the bear to open its mouth and let go of him.

Jack held onto the ax while narrowly avoiding the bear's claws swinging violently at him.

"It's okay. I'm here to help!" Jack said.

"Who are you?"

But the bear manages to push Jack down. Jack continues to hold the ax in one hand and the other pushing the bear away.

He tried to pull out his gun, but the bear's attacks were too fast for him to do so.

His strength begins to fade as the bear proves to be the stronger one. The bear's jaw slowly got closer to his face.

The other survivor was struggling to find a way to help Jack.

"Walter, help." Jack weakly said.

Walter watches the scene through his scope. He aims at the bear's head and steadies his breath.

A/N: Oh no. Trouble seems to follow them where ever they go.

Here it is, the infamous gloomy cave. Where the chances of your scouts are at the mercy of the RNG outcome, or is it 50/50?

I like to flesh out these encounters and make them intriguing. And add a bit more character to Jack and Walter. Jack is cheery and optimistic. In contrast, Walter is very doubtful and pessimistic. I hope that I have made it clear that they are very different from each other. But in time they will learn to accept and grow together. Two against the dangers of Frostpunk. (That sounded cool in my mind.)

They would probably go through a lot out of everyone considering they are scouts. And they will be the first to see everything. But hey, what's a story without suspense and conflict? It would be boring.

Thanks for reading.