9:30 – Day 2

"Considering our circumstances, I wouldn't say the two of us have it too bad at the moment." Petra said as she dug through the backpack.

Jesse snorted slightly, adjusting her position on the floor beside Petra. "I guess, looking at it from an insanely optimistic point."

"Well, since you – our number one source of optimism – are a little out of character right now, I thought I'd step in and try on the optimistic hat for a change." Petra said, causing Jesse to vaguely chuckle and shake her head.

"We have warmth-" Petra said, gesturing at the fire place. "-food-" she placed the two cans of tomato soup on the carpet. "-and as soon as that blizzard outside has calmed down, we can swap out the cans of soda for some proper water."

"I guess you are right." Jesse admitted, shuffling slightly closer. "I just wish the situation was even better, you know? I'd much rather be hunched in front of our fire place, back home."

"Me too." Petra agreed, starting to open the first of the two cans with the can opener Jesse had found. "Even just our memories would have been nice. Maybe there's a perfectly good, not-so-terrible reason we're out here?" Petra cringed slightly at the end of her sentence. "Okay, never mind, that's too optimistic for even me to pull off."

Both of them chuckled again, as Petra went back to opening the cans of tomato soup. Jesse rested her gaze on the fire, watching the flames licking hungrily at the wood.

What if they ran out of firewood? She wondered to herself, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

"Man, it is raging out there." Petra stated, as the wind howled violently.

"Yeah." Jesse replied in a small whisper, resting her chin on her knees. "Glad I'm not out there right now..." Her voice trailed off.

"Hey." Petra said, putting a hand out onto Jesse's back and causing the shorter girl to look up at her. "I'm not going to let what happened earlier repeat itself, okay?" She said to Jesse in a serious, yet gentle tone.

"Thank you." Jesse managed a small smile. "I don't know what I would have done, had you not run into me."

"Now don't get too sappy." Petra said, nudging Jesse's shoulder with hers.

Both their smiles quickly faded when they heard what sounded like heavy boots on wood. Coming from outside the front door.

Petra was on her feet in a split second, pulling out the hunting knife. Jesse shakily got up as well, her expression laced with fear.

"Stay behind me." Petra breathed, keeping the knife defensively raised.

There was a shuffling outside, the sounds of somebody trying to open the door. Petra slowly crept closer with the knife, with Jesse cowering a few feet behind her. The door slowly began to creak open. The figure in the doorway was a mere black silhouette against the blinding white background.

"Back off." Petra said through gritted teeth, raising the knife.

The figure immediately took a step back from her, right as the wind blew shut the door behind them. Their back hitting the door, they immediately stumbled forward again, loosing their footing and ending up in a heap at the redhead's feet.

But as Petra looked down, she was met with two very familiar blue eyes staring back up at her. She had to blink a few times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. "Lukas?"

"Petra." Lukas breathed in relief, breaking into a relieved smile.

"Lukas!" Jesse gasped as well as she came up beside Petra, immediately dropping to her knees and wrapping her arms around the blonde.

"Jesse!" Lukas wrapped his arms around her, returning the embrace.

"I can't believe it." Petra said, offering both her friends a hand to get back up. "Where did you just come from?"

"It's a long story." Lukas replied as he struggled to his feet, wrapping his arms around himself.

It was clear that he had been out in the blizzard for a while, his clothes and hair covered in snow, visibly shivering.

"Come to the fire." Jesse said, gesturing towards the living room area.

Petra subconsciously reached over, sliding on the door's lock, before joining her friends. "I'm sorry for coming at you with a knife." She said awkwardly as they walked back over to the fire place.

"No, no, that's fine – I don't blame you." Lukas said, letting out a slight sigh of relief as he stopped in front of the fire. He glanced back over at them. "What is this place, exactly?"

"It's another long story." Petra said, raking her hand through her hair. "Have you had anything to eat? Jesse and I were just heating up some soup over the fire."

Not even waiting for Lukas's reply, she dug into the backpack. "Can't say this is a restaurant quality menu, but it's something. Beans, Sardines, dried fruit... I believe there's peas and peaches in here somewhere."

"Anything that can be warmed up would be fantastic, no matter what it's made of." Lukas responded with a dry chuckle as he sat down beside Jesse on the carpet.

"This might come off as a weird question." Jesse said. "But do you have any clue where we are?"

Lukas was quiet for a second. "You don't know?" He asked, looking over at them with an expression of dismay.

"Well, since luck's in our favour as always, both me and Jesse here seemed to have had hard enough hits to our skulls to wipe a few weeks away." Petra replied grimly, absent-mindedly touching the back of her head.

"Make that the three of us then." Lukas said, pulling a hand through his hair..

He looked up at them again. Now that the light from the fire was shining on his face, they could make out light purple bruising around his left eye.

"Just great." Petra muttered, leaning her head into her hand for a few seconds before looking up again. "Just fantastic."

"So, I'm taking it both of you had a similar experience to mine?" Lukas asked as Jesse passed him one of the cans of food. "Waking up in the middle of nowhere, cold and injured?"

"Yep." Jesse replied with a sigh.

"Some of us had it worse than others, I must add." Petra added. "Jesse here has not only got claw scratches in her face, but a few broken ribs and possibly a dislocated shoulder. But she did wake up right near this house. I merely had a hit to my head it seems, but I had the pleasure of getting chased by a pack of wolves mere minutes after coming to." She chuckled dryly at the end of her sentence, shaking her head and looking back down at her food.

"What about you?" Jesse asked Lukas. "Hurt your wrist? You're trying to manage that spoon with your left hand."

Lukas sighed, looking down at his right had he had resting in his lap.

"Broken?" Petra asked him as well.

"Worse."

Jesse and Petra exchanged glances, their worry reflected in the each other's eyes.

"I came to, on a frozen lake." Lukas explained. "My right hand... fused to the ice."

"Frostbite." Petra breathed, immediately realising what Lukas was getting at. "Let me see."

Lukas hesitantly lifted his hand, flinching slightly. He carefully slipped off the glove he was wearing, hearing both girls inhale sharply at the sight, Jesse quickly looking away from it.

"I'm sorry." Petra said, shaking her head. "It's..."

"Gone. I know." Lukas replied glumly, pulling his glove back on. "I've come to terms with that."

"This is awful." Jesse said in a small voice, wrapping her arms around herself.

The others only gave tiny nods in agreement, nobody really feeling like saying anything else.

"So all three of us are in this situation." Lukas finally said. "Are Axel and Olivia out there somewhere as well?"

"I hope not." Jesse replied softly. "I hope they're safe, wherever they are."

"We all do." Petra agreed, slowly stirring her soup.

They continued to eat in silence, only exchanging glances every now and then. While they were all three really happy to be together again, their relief for each other was drowned out by their fear for not only their other two friends, but also the future.

"Trying to stay on the optimistic side here." Lukas eventually spoke up, putting down his empty can. "At least we're not cold in here."

"Can't disagree on that one." Petra replied bluntly, passing a can of soda to Lukas, and then one to Jesse. "You're looking a little on the pale side." She pointed out. "Still feeling okay, Jesse?"

"Just tired." Jesse replied, taking a small drink from the can.

"If you want to get some more rest, you can go ahead. We can't really go anywhere in the blizzard anyway." Petra pointed out.

"I might do that." Jesse replied, rubbing her eyes.

"Go ahead." Petra said, giving her friend a pat on the shoulder. "We'll still be here."

Jesse nodded in response, getting up from the carpet and trudging back over to the couch where she has been spending most of her time.

"Is she okay?" Lukas asked Petra, keeping his voice to a whisper.

"Sick." Petra replied, taking another sip from her can. "Not exactly sure what she came down with, if it's just a really bad flu or something worse."

"Man, in this situation... that's bad." Lukas said, glancing over to where Jesse had lied down, back turned to them.

"You can say that again." Petra muttered, getting up from the carpet as well. She walked over to the couches as well, sitting down on an armchair.

"Petra, when was the last time you slept?" Lukas asked her curiously.

"Got about two hours in yesterday night, why do you ask?" Petra responded as she leaned her head against the backrest.

"Other than the fact that you look exhausted to the maximum? Probably just curiosity." Lukas replied, causing the redhead to let out a half-hearted snort.

"Like you said to Jesse, we're not going anywhere in this storm." Lukas pointed out. "You can get some sleep."

Petra bit her lip slightly, clearly considering the possibility. She glanced over at the sleeping Jesse.

"Do you know how Jesse and I found each other?" She asked, causing Lukas to frown.

"No?"

"I was out in this blizzard, trying to get to this cabin I saw from a distance." Petra explained softly. "Found her stumbling through the snow, ice cold and barely staying on her feet. Not wearing her jacket, not even wearing her gloves. Completely disoriented, didn't know who I was at first or what was going on around her, that's how sick she was."

"Really?" Lukas asked, looking over at Jesse as well. "Looking at her now, I wouldn't have thought she'd been that bad an hour ago..."

"If I do go to sleep now, you have to promise to just keep an eye on on her." Petra said softly. "Make sure she's okay."

"Of course." Lukas said quickly. "You don't have to worry."

Petra managed a small smile leaning her head back against the couch again.

"Oh and Lukas?" She opened her eyes again.

"Yeah?" Lukas asked.

"Don't go upstairs."

"Why?" He cocked his head slightly to the side in puzzlement.

Petra sighed, closing her eyes again. "There might be a person up there." She hesitated. "A dead one."

Lukas's eyes widened slightly. "What?"

"I didn't kill them, if that's what you're wondering." Petra mumbled, not opening her eyes.

"I mean, I didn't think that, but like, what happened to them?" Lukas asked, shaking his head.

But Petra didn't reply, her breathing having already stabilized. Overcome by exhaustion and soundly asleep.

Lukas pulled his hand through his hair, letting out a slow exhale. Well, at least he wouldn't be stupid enough to go up there then.

He turned back to the fire, feeling the heat dance across his face. Letting his thoughts run free, while he listened to the crackling of the flames, the strong wind outside and the two, peaceful breathing patterns of his sleeping friends.

All of it suddenly interrupted by a loud bang against the door.

___

Yay for cliffhangers! - puts on crown - 

So Jesse, Petra and Lukas - my favourite trio - are together again! Lukas will hopefully not loose any more limbs now, Petra doesn't have to stay awake to watch Jesse every moment of the day, and Jesse has two friends who can keep an eye on her in case she decides to go for a stroll in the blizzard again. I doubt we'll have to seriously worry about these guys for at least a few chapters to come.

Now the only question is, who or what is banging against the door?

We're getting closer and closer to unearthing the missing pieces of the past as well, and I'm jumbling with nervous excited. I really hope you're all excited for that as well!

On a different note, how has everybody been enjoying this book? It's obviously a new style of writing for me, and I'd like to know if you've all been liking the plot!

Anyhow, I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter! Throw any new theories my way if you have them, because I love hearing what you're all predicting! I'll see you all in five days with chapter 13!