The Good Town

Chapter One

Chloe felt shivers all over her body. She murmured in her sleep warning her sister to not be so selfish to take the entire blanket to herself. She stretched her arm to pull her blanket but found none. instead, she was met with a cold surface.

She tried to stand up but found it hard to do. She couldn't open her eyes they seemed glued together. She almost panicked. Not almost panicked, she screamed very loud. All in the hope of waking up from what she presumed a bad dream. She rubbed her eyes vigorously with both hands and pulled her eyelash to get the substance off her eyes.

A room of pure Ice was in view. She was sitting on a bed. The floor was made completely of ice too.

"Where I'm I?"

"Hello! Anyone here?"

She removed herself from the carved ice bed and walked around the room. An opening in the cave allowed light inside. She walked towards the light and stood there, confused. She took a peek and found that the ice wall was the only thing stopping her from being outside. There was a clear blue sky and some familiar unrestrictive space.

With shivering hands and feet, Chloe started to look for how she would get out of this constricted space. She found ice shaped in small sizes and used it to enlarge her open hole. She wanted to widen it enough for her to get out. She continued hitting it until it cracked open. She was exercising relief when the entire cave started to crumble. She had to run, crawl and roll out of its way.

"That was close. I didn't know anyone had plans to kill me. Although buried in an ice tomb seems like a cool way to die!" She said still sitting on the floor.

"You mean more like crushed by ice," replied a voice behind her.

Chloe turned around sharply. She found one of her friends Kathryn. Chloe wasn't very glad to see her. She still assumed she was dreaming. And didn't need the blond intimidating young lady spoiling it. She stood up and threw a snowball at her. Kathryn dodged, making Chloe miss by an inch.

"Chloe, what was that for?"

"I'm just trying to make sure you are not spoiling my dream of being rescued by a prince charming," Chloe replied while rolling another snowball.

Kathryn had to hide behind a heap of snow, "Chloe, can you stop? Now is not the time."

Chloe wasn't listening. She threw like three more balls. Kathryn quickly made one of hers and threw it back. It met Chloe on her bare chest which made her scream. Kathryn used the moment to get close to her. She removed her jean jacket and gave it to the freezing young lady.

"We need to find the others," Kathryn said.

"I thought this was a dream. I thought I was at home with my sister. Then I woke up here and you also appeared here."

"Oh Chloe, the last thing I remember was that we were on a road trip. We had an accident of some kind and we woke up here."

"This is not a dream?" Chloe asked.

"Yes, it's not a dream. Let's try to move around maybe we will find them."

Kathryn and Chloe walked around the large ice that seemed odd to appear in the middle of a dusty road. There were boulders of ice everywhere. They walked for a while and found another crushed part. Chloe presumed that was where Kathryn had woken up from. Kathryn now recognized that the ice was shaped like a round building of some kind with each person having a room of their own. They walked on and found another recently crushed site.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Kathryn asked Chloe who was more bothered by what she was wearing.

"Who wears a crop top on skinny jeans in winter?" Chloe complained.

Kathryn sighed. She paused to catch her breath. It was too cold here. Her brain felt like it was about to shut down. and her lungs were in pain from breathing in cold air. She had so many questions. Why were they here, for how long have they been away, Were they still alive, What happened, what caused the snow?

"Look!" Chloe shouted between shivers and pointed at the road.

Right beside the road in a distance was the other three on the road trip with them. Alden, Kal, and Gift. They raced for it without having a second thought. Kathryn hugged Gift with tears in her eyes. She pressed the young lady so tight her lungs were squeezed shut.

"I can't breathe" She muttered before she was released.

Kal stood shocked. He finally stopped staring and went back to what he was doing. Alden was very focused on removing their car which had been buried beneath the thick frost. Though an old Mercedes, it meant a lot to him. Besides, that was the only thing that could take them back home from the middle of God knows where.

"We searched for the both of you. We thought you must have died from the cold especially you Chloe, considering your choice of clothes." Alden stated as a matter of fact.

"Here we were thinking you three were the ones who were dead." Kathryn returned.

They talked for a while and agreed to get the car out and head home. Since they didn't know where they were, it was seemingly a bad idea to walk. They took turns doing the manual defrosting while others waited around to see if they could find someone who was going into town.

Gift had her short peach-colored dress, boots, and a headband. She was watching the boys from a distance. She couldn't help because her hands were almost blue. She was the only one standing. Kal sat very close to her on the sand. He wore jeans paired with a t-shirt and a brown jacket. Chloe sat next to him with her head on his shoulders. She was on a white crop top and jean shorts. Her shoes were nowhere to be found. While Alden and Kathryn were busy with the car. Kathryn's spiky hair had a darker color because it was wet from the splashes of ice that melted in it. She was also sweating from hitting the ice off with a small metal she had found.

Alden was the most determined. He looked flushed. His brown hair scattered In a different direction. He kept scraping the ice which came off in small chips. He didn't mind. Consistency is key. Alden paused to get the sweat off his brows when He noticed that the sun was extremely hot. Kathryn was heaving from all the manual deicing.

"Rynn, stop." He said to her. She nodded in response.

"The sun is hot. It wouldn't be long before all the ice would melt." He said. And she agreed. Without arguing, she dropped the short metal rod, walked across the road, and sat very close to Chloe.

Two hours later, Gift was beginning to feel very hungry and her legs weak. She found a spot to seat on the floor. the more she watched the more she felt the car hadn't melted at all. It was somehow true because the thickness of the snow had not reduced an inch.

Kathryn was bored and tired. She dragged her foot on the floor thinking very deeply. They needed to get out of this place before it got dark. She needed alternatives. Alden left the bunch to inspect the melting of the snow while Kal checked his jacket pocket for any leftover food because he was starving.

"I'm I the only one bothered about this," Gift said. "Why is there ice in the middle of this dry land. Check it out there's no snow anywhere but there." She added by pointing.

"I was thinking about that too," Kathryn replied.

"Where are we, guys? I'm scared." Chloe complained.

Kal found his cellphone in his pocket. He tried to turn it on. "Hey, I found my phone."

He said to the others. It was the phone alright but it wasn't working.

Alden was quiet all the while. He searched the area with his eyes. Hoping to see something he might remember. He tried to remember what happened to them before finding themselves here.

The five of them had planned a road trip to a landmark just a few miles out of town. They had spent three days exploring the area before they decided to head home. The dirt road was a shortcut to town, but not many people used it. They were happily Singing in the car on this very road when dark clouds appeared above the Mountains on the side of the road. Alden remembered Chloe saying something about the weather forecast that morning and that her forecaster never got it wrong. That it was strange for dark clouds to appear.

He had kept on driving since he knew the path very well. Suddenly it became hazy as the dust was driven through the air by a fierce wind. Alden tried to find his way out of the haze and hit something or something must have collided with him? He wasn't quite sure.

The rest of what he remembered didn't look real. He saw himself flying in the air, screaming. He was still in transit but without control. It felt more like he was dragged out of the car by the wind. Yet it could be true. The force of hitting something could send one flying in the air but then wind up dead because of the impact.

"Guys, let's look for some other solution," Kal suggested.

"Yeah" the others agreed.

"Do you see anything familiar?" Rynn asked.

"No! Only a bunch of rocks."

"From what Kathryn to me, she said we were heading home right. On this dusty road. So which way should we go? Left or right?" Chloe said

"I got it" Alden shouted and added, "We were going that way". He said pointing to the right. "I know because our car is going that way too. Look!"

"That is the way home" he exclaimed excitedly.

The rest were not so convinced but they had no choice but to get moving. They dragged their tired bodies and headed to where Alden had pointed. They hoped the town wasn't that far because none of them had thought of getting thirsty and had not fetched a little bit of melted snow in a container for later use.

They walked for almost an hour before they stopped to rest.

"Are you sure we took the right path?" Kal asked in concern for his hunger.

"Yes! It's the right path" Gift screamed. "That's a pole right there. I know that pole. It's very close to my house"

"How are you so sure?" Chloe asked.

"I can't even see the pole, but if that's true. Then we are just a few miles away" Kathryn said between breaths.

"I just wish we would find a ride to take us home," Chloe said.

Alden was quietly catching his breath. He turned around to see the pole Gift was talking about and found a car hidden behind small shrubs. It was invisible.

"And a ride we have gotten," Alden said to the crowd without taking his eyes off the car.

They followed his eyes to find an abandoned car in a distance. Its doors were open like it was left in a hurry. Maybe by robbers or something like that. On another day, they would worry about its ownership. But today, they needed to know if it could take them home.

"Come on."

"We are going home."