It had been a considerable amount of time, but Riven was not any closer yet to the village. The thick snow made it hard for him to move quickly, having to pull his feet out from a meter's worth for each step. Alas, it was either he get there or not: he had long lost sight of the bunker entrance. There was no more turning back.

"Brrrrrr! J-J-Just keep moving, Riven! I-It's only a little while...long-g-g-ger!" he thought to himself as he persisted. It was do or die already-and he only just woke up mere hours ago! The smoke still seemed so far away.

Another hour's worth of walking passed. Riven was shivering, as his trench coat only mildly mitigated the cold. Each breath he took sent chills inside his lungs. His feet felt extremely cold, and his hands as well.

Minutes passed and Riven could already see the smoke nearing him.

"Good! Good! I'm almost there..."

"WAUUGH!"

Riven did not notice the slope in front as he took a step and started tumbling down towards the settlement. When he finally stopped after a few seconds, he was face-down on the ground, with his bags and weapon strewn around him.

"Ugh. Not again!"

He pushed himself up off the ice. The entirety of the front of his body was freezing, especially his face. While doing so, he looked forward. He was near the settlement! He just needed to keep on going and he would finally reach civilization!

Hopefully a good one!

Riven dusted off the snow on him and proceeded to pick up his bags and rifle...but then he noticed something as he did so.

Did that lump of snow just move?

Riven, not wanting to find the answer to that, quickly continued on to the village. He picked up the pace. Was he seeing things? It only came to him that he felt really famished, but it paled to the coldness on his face and hands. Maybe his hunger was affecting him?

"I hope they have some food over there...I could eat anything but snow at this point..."

The thickness of the snow started to lessen until Riven could feel that he was stepping on ground. Eventually it became snow-covered ground, which made it easier and faster for him to walk.

Lo and behold! The village was close at hand for him. Riven excitedly started to jog towards it, grateful to have finally found some people!

But then he noticed something grim.

There were six houses in total. The closest house was partially wrecked. He could tell from the rubble pile coming out from its side. Moving closer, he could her some distant shouting.

"Monstruo de nieve! Monstruo de nieve!"

He did not understand the strange words being uttered. As such, Riven slowed his approach, walking slowly as he kept a hand on the old rifle slung on his side. He could see some men dressed in winter clothing running from something...

They were running from a large lump of snow!

Well, that was what he could make out in the distance.

The men shouted something again.

"Fuego! Ve al fuego!"

"Estaremos seguros cerca del fuego! Ve! Ve! Ve!"

"What the hell? So I wasn't seeing things! How is that snow moving?"

Riven ran behind the destroyed house as he watched the men. In the middle of the small village the five gathered around a medium-sized bonfire. Looking back at the big lump, it got bigger until it formed into a large, vaguely humanoid shape with glowing blue eyes. The snow monster roared.

"Ha? How-"

"ROOOOAAAAAAAARRRR!"

BGM: Vector 2 OST - UFO

"YAAAAAAHHHH!" Riven screamed in surprise as he turned around to see an equally huge snow monster behind him. He rushed out the doorway of the wrecked house, alerting the men to his presence.

"Huh? Quién es ese?" one of them asked aloud as Riven rushed towards them.

"I hope you guys don't mind me joining in!" he said as he stopped in front of the bonfire.

"Está hablando en inglés?"

"No he escuchado eso en mucho tiempo..."

"Cuidado! Está armado!"

Despite the lack of understanding between them, Riven and the men looked around warily. The snow monsters were silent, but they were still around.

Riven observed his surroundings in an attempt to identify where the creatures were. The village was on ground barely covered by snow, as he could see the frozen soil. It wasn't enough for the creatures to materialize, he hoped. All the houses were weak-looking wooden cabins that looked like they were cobbled together from what what was available. The most "sturdy" one had a few metal barrels laying around. Fuel? Water? Riven couldn't tell as they were covered partially in snow.

"Se han ido?" one of the men said to the other.

"No lo sé, amigo. Pero no quiero saberlo!" another replied.

"Oh crap crap crap! How the heck do these things exist?" Riven thought as he pulled up his rifle and readied it.

"Hey, amigo, mira donde señalas eso!" one of them said to him. At that moment, one of the snow monsters burst out of a house. The snow-covered roof fell on the bonfire.

"MIERDA! Corre! Se acabó el fuego!"

The men ran as the snow monsters lumbered towards them. Riven tried aiming the old rifle and pulled the trigger.

It wouldn't budge!

"What?!" he thought as the creature brought a fist down near him as he ran. He fiddled with the gun, remembering the knob which was put on "safe". He looked at it and switched it to a notch with one line. Riven stopped running and fired again.

Nothing!

"Ugh! Why won't this stupid thing work?!" he thought frustratingly as he kept pulling the trigger, only to hear 'clicks.'

Riven pulled off the magazine to find that the magazine was empty.

"Oh COME ON!"

He fumbled for one of the magazines on his belt as he ran away again. He could hear the men screaming as he turned and saw another snow monster materialize and lumber towards one of them.

"Jorge! No!"

"AHHHHHHHH! AYUDAME POR-!"

*SQUISH!*

"JORGE!"

Riven saw one of the men get stepped on by one of the monsters. Its "foot" was blood-red.

"Oh my God!"

Riven put a fresh magazine into the gun as he turned to the snow monster chasing him. He peered through the sights and aimed for the "head."

"Here goes nothing!"

"Eat this!"

Riven pulled the trigger. A single bullet was fired at the monster's "head." He pulled three more times, with two shots hitting it at the center and side.

The head was blown off, but it quickly reformed. The monster roared again, this time, more angrier.

"AWW CRAP!"

The other snow monster instead focused its attention on him after the roar. Perhaps they realized he was a greater threat?

"Van por el inglés!"

"Qué hacemos?"

"No lo sé! Si nos adentramos en la nieve, ¡habrá más de ellos!"

Riven tried putting more shots into the first monster's head, but it was no use. It only made it madder.

"Shit! I...I don't want to die here! Oh God!" he thought.

Suddenly, more gunfire hit the first monster. It turned around to the source and roared.

"Run, kid!" a voice shouted in English. Riven didn't hesitate and ran, but the second monster followed suit.

Riven dashed in between two houses as he saw a man in the distance running towards the village. He turned the corner only to bump into the same man.

"Augh!"

"Hey!"

The both of them were knocked on their asses. Riven now managed to get a good look at the stranger. He was wearing a gray knit cap which was partially covered by the hood of his dirty-looking, blue-gray parka. He had some old cargo pants on and equally old boots. He also had a backpack, a wooden hiking stick strapped on his back, and a belt with a revolver in a holster.

"What gi-" the man said before stopping when he realized who he was talking to. "You! I told you to run!"

"I did!"

"Well not towards here!"

The two monsters turned the corners of the house. The man immediately got up and yanked Riven up.

"Follow me, kid!" he shouted back to Riven, who complied without hesitation. They barely missed getting hit by the second monster's fist. They reached the house with the barrels around it.

The man brandished a knife which he used to stab a hole on top of the nearest barrel. He sniffed it and coughed hard.

"Ack! Okay, this is full of gas..." he muttered as Riven tapped his shoulder.

"I hope you got a plan in mind 'cause these things are getting closer!"

"I think I do, kid! Just do what I say!" the man said to Riven as he put back his knife and pulled out the revolver.

"Let's get them near here so we can blow 'em up! Fire melts ice, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"What are you waiting for then? Get their attention!" the man said as he shot at the snow monsters, who roared as they started moving faster towards the two. Riven followed suit with his rifle as they both fired while backing away from the house until they got to a safe distance. The monsters, unaware of the man's plan, continued to close the distance to the house until they were just right beside it.

"NOW! THE BARRELS!"

Riven and the man shot at the barrels before diving to the ground. The house exploded in a large fireball, blowing away the snow monsters.

"WOOOOOHHYEAAAAH!" the man exclaimed after pushing himself off the frozen soil. "Holy shit, that worked!"

Riven lay on his back as he sighed in relief.

"Thank God that's over..." he thought. The two were unaware of the surviving men from earlier approaching them.

"Oye. Ustedes dos," one of them said. Riven and the man turned their heads to look and immediately got up.

"Oh, you guys speak...what was that called again...ah! 'Panish,' huh?" the man said as he fumbled his pants' pockets for something, pulling out a small, old book.

"How do you say that again..." he muttered. "Ohlah! Bueynos diyas!" he said to them before laughing nervously.

One of the men looked at the burning remains of the house before looking at the two.

"Podrías haber destruido nuestro gas...pero gracias por salvarnos," he said to them.

"What did he say?" Riven whispered to the other English-speaking man.

"He did say 'gracias' so I think he said 'Thank you.'"

The 'Panish'-speaking man turned to his fellow men.

"Así que uhh ...deberíamos irnos a la costa, muchachos. Quieres venir?" he said as he made a 'wanna come with us' motion to Riven and his companion.

"They seem friendly enough. You coming?" Riven's companion asked.

"Well I don't have anything to stay here for," he replied.

The man grinned. "The more the merrier, they say! Oh and thanks for helping me out...errrr what's your name by the way?"

"R-Riven. Riven Kirouniam...I think."

"If you 'think' that's your name then I 'think' my name's Cullen," the man said as he put an arm around Riven's shoulders.

"Now let's get moving, Riven! We'll chat on the way."