Beneath the Ice

Every television in the capital was turned to the news as the arguing voices rang out loud and clear.

“There is nothing to worry about! My fear-mongering opponents just want you to be scared, there is no freeze. If temperatures are dropping, why was it so hot yesterday? Alendorix will be fine!”

“Are you just ignoring science? It doesn’t matter if it was hot yesterday, all scientists agree that there’s going to be a cold snap, it’s going to happen!”

“Not all scientists. I put together a study that proved that’s all a load of garbage! You’re just using politics to scare people into getting your vote!”

“That wasn’t real science! They’re in your pocketbook! They’ll say whatever you pay them to say; The Snap is coming, and it’s coming fast!”

Sirens were blaring across the city as Arvan shoved his way through the crowd, dodging in-between citizens standing with their mouths gaping as they stared at the sky. Despite the argument on the televisions, the wall of ice was approaching and there was nothing that could be done about it. They’d ignored the signs, they’d ignored the warnings, and they’d ignored the science. Luckily for Arvan, he hadn’t, he just didn’t know that everything would happen this quickly.

Six months ago, he’d noticed the strange weather pattern far to the east of the city. Temperatures shot up higher than they had in the last recorded century. Then down, lower than the lowest recorded low for that region ever. This sling-shotting of temperatures continued for a week straight before he had noticed the pattern; these strange weather events were traveling, directly for Alendorix - straight for his home.

Arvan had done everything possible to warn people. He’d shown the science to his peers, shown the numbers to anyone who would listen, and luckily, most people did. Unfortunately, “most” was not everyone. Debates began as the concern became politicized, and before too long it felt like the world was split. Despite this, Arvan knew the science, he knew that his numbers were real, and he knew that he had to prepare. And now, even if it was too early, he would have to make do.

He finally made his way through the crowd of people, many of whom were sobbing, on their knees begging to a god that wouldn’t answer, one that had led them to denying the science that was so obvious. He slipped through the neon alleyway into the doorway of the apartment building he’d called home for years.

“Elora!” He shouted as he ran up the stairs, “Elora, where are you?”

“Here!” Came the response from the end of the hall. His wife, Elora, was standing in the doorway, wearing a loose hoodie and jeans, face pale with shock. She kept glancing at the window, then back at Arvan, her panic clear with each snapped movement. “What’s going on?”

“It’s the anomaly!” Arvan shouted as he grasped her hand and started pulling her back towards the stairwell. “It’s just like I said would happen.”

“But it’s too early!” came the response. “You said it would be another month or two!”

All Arvan could do was nod as he pulled her behind him.

On the street, the couple sprinted down the alleyway and into another, then another, moving into the twisting and turning back streets of Alendorix. The citizens of the city coped with their reality every way imaginable. Some prayed. Many cried. Others fought in the streets and alleys, arguing until the punches and kicks started flying. In one corner of an alley, a crowd of people had surrounded a man screaming about the end times and how humanity deserved this punishment. Arvan shook his head; part of him agreed with the raving man.

“Quick!” Arvan shouted as he and his wife reached the edge of the Alendorix Science Incorporated building - the tallest building in the city, and Arvan’s old workplace. “Climb!”

The couple started up the line of fire escapes that lined the side of the building. The dropping temperatures caused their hands to stick to the metallic ladders, peeling away the outer layers of their skin as they climbed, leaving small bloody prints as they ascended the building. Looking behind him, Arvan saw that it had started. The river had completely frozen, and the ice was beginning to rise, crawling its way up any material like ivy, already approaching the street level.

Arvan and Elora continued to climb the ladders, even as they heard the commotion on the streets. Screams that echoed throughout the city followed by the gurgles of those same screams frozen forever in the icy throats of their owners, entirely iced over. On the second level of the city, people noticed and began rushing for safety, trying to climb wherever and whatever they could. The icy tendrils continued climbing up, stretching and pulling higher and higher, covering every apartment and home on the lower level.

They continued to climb, even as Arvan saw the ice overtake their apartment on the second level - the home they’d built together and the life they’d lived in each others’ arms. The city was almost silent now, only those who’d escaped high enough could still be heard, and even that was only the sound of panting and exertion as people tried to run, climb, jump, or fly as high as they could.

They continued to climb, even as the skyship drones began falling out of the sky, their controllers from the ground already expired. Once they started falling, the sounds resumed. The passengers screamed as the ships hurtled towards the earth, and then the explosions as the metal crunched into the ground and the air compartments went up in flames that were quickly quenched by the subzero temperatures.

And then, they were at the top - the rooftop of the ASI, 880 floors up - the highest point in the city. The building was eerily steady as the ice climbed up. Arvan smiled as he rushed over to the tarp in the corner of the rooftop and ripped it away, revealing the small shuttle that he’d spent the better part of the last 6 months designing. A perfect little ship, two seats and six wings, cold resistant and utterly indestructible. He laughed as he waved his wife over. The top slid open and the couple sat themselves inside.

“This is it!” he shouted as he jammed the ignition. The small machine sputtered. Arvan looked around frantically. “NO!” he screamed as he jammed the button again and the machine continued to sputter. Behind him his wife began crying. He jammed the button again and again, and each time the machine simply shuttered, but never started. Defeated, Arvan allowed his shoulders to slump. He turned in his seat and gripped his wife’s hand.

“I’m sorry. I tried.” He said quietly.

“I know,” she sobbed back to him.

Then, the machine hummed to life. Arvan’s eyes snapped back to the dashboard as the machine jolted into the air. Ellora’s eyes widened like they might burst from her head as her husband gripped the wheel of the machine, pressing forward and shooting the two of them off into the distance. Behind them, the ice reached the top of the ASI, and, with nowhere left to go, worked its way off in every direction, falling back down to earth like a giant umbrella. In minutes, the entire city was walled off by a thick layer of ice, doming the frozen city and its inhabitants off from the rest of the world, its only two survivors now in a homemade craft hurtling into the distance at impossible speeds.

Seconds stretched into minutes and further into hours as the couple sat in silence.

“Do you think…” Ellora began, hopefully.

“No…” came the response. “Its just us now.”

“What happens now?”

“I don’t know.”