Bloody Snow

“Why are they ringing the alarm?”

“We got snow coming in less than an hour!”

Everyone was caught off guard. Predictions usually allowed for hours of preparation. Right now, my children were out with my father. He loved taking them out of the settlement to be among the trees; his favorite reminder of life before.

Who knew if he had packed an emergency tent just in case! I threw one in my bag, with masks and a tub of burn ointment then dashed out to find them.

Since the Great Change, in 2143, the sky had become a mortal enemy.

Seventeen minutes in, I was at daddy’s usual spot, welcomed by dead silence. Already, the sky was turning crimson.

“Dad! Ayden! Cami!”

Frosty silence.

“Guys!”

The air was turning to pure void; no more wind, smell or feeling other than cold emptiness.

I kept searching and calling, not noticing that the first red snowflakes had started to fall.

My vision was getting blurry.

“Daddy!”

I could no longer walk straight.

“Ay… den! Com... Cami!”

My words, now a slurry mess.

Excruciation flared on my wrist. Two snowflakes had made contact with an exposed part of my skin and they were searing my flesh.

But finally, my babies!

“Ya… you’re here!”

The poor boys were hiding, with a glazed expression, under daddy’s protective jacket. He was laying face down… under a thin layer of red snow.

I deployed the automatic tent and together we waited for the toxic storm to pass.