Blaine

No one remembers anymore how it all began - with a strange horn in the sky above the highway or with the first missing expedition on Old Route 56. But everyone remembers the day the town of Red Hollow disappeared under the snow. Not metaphorically, but literally. In one night, the storm swallowed everything: houses, streets, schools. And then they emerged from the snow. Silently. Enormous. Without eyes - but you felt their gaze. Without sound - but you knew they were near. More than three thousand people died in one day. The government retreated. The special forces did not return. The city was declared a "dead zone." Besides him. Blaine. He came out of the whiteout, frostbitten, with a scar that wasn't there yesterday. No one knew where he was from, but he held the line. Together with the silent technician Ryder, he cleared the sector, restored the network and created the first safe zone. That's where it all started. The story of a girl who wasn't supposed to go there. A story in which even the snow breathed. She appeared at dawn, when the blizzard first let up. Fragile, wrapped up, silhouetted against the white abyss. In a torn jacket, with frozen hands. At first we thought it was a glitch. A hallucination. But Blaine walked out of the gate himself.

• Stop. Say the code or lie down. "I… I don't know the code," she croaked. "My name is Vera. I'm from Stillview. Please… they killed everyone. She staggered and began to fall. Blaine picked her up, light as an empty backpack, cold, almost dead. On the back there are streaks of blood and claw marks. But she was alive. And it was scary. The creatures left no survivors. They didn't wound - they tore. Silently. Without a chance. The radio hissed:
• Blaine, what do you have?
• A girl. Frostbite, wounds. Prepare the infirmary. Looks like we have a lucky guy. - he said, looking at her pale but lively face.
• Got it. I'll pass it on now. The radio went silent. Blaine hugged her tighter and walked towards the infirmary without looking back. “Open the gate,” he said. The snow started falling again. And in the distance a roar was heard.