Holding Out In A Tower

"Jesus Christ, what the fuck?!" Eric exclaimed as an extremely strong gust of wind blew snow all over his face. Eric, in his worry and stubbornness, refused to go anywhere once Rachel left to find Zoey. Even as the storm rolled in, and continued to get worse, Eric couldn't bring himself to walk away. What if Zoey and Rachel were coming back and he wasn't there? What if they got lost and were calling out for help, if he headed anywhere else, he might not be able to hear them.

Anna, on the other hand, was in a minor panic from the storm and the fact that Eric was now acting unreasonably. "Eric, please, we need to head back to the lodge," Anna begged the teen while she hugged her chest, shaking wildly, the cold chilling her to the bone. However, the cold wasn't the only reason the blonde was freaking out, along with her worry for Rachel, Zoey, and all the others, she was starting to freak out for Eric and herself. The storm was getting worse and without a guide, could they even get back?

"Not until Zoey and Rachel get back, Anna!" Eric shot back, "I-I can't risk leaving her out here," He tried to explain while taking a small step forward, "We should go looking for them,"

"Eric no!" Anna shouted out while quickly grabbing the teen's jacket and pulling him back, "We'll get lost, look around! Look at what's fucking happening! We're no better off than they are right now!" Anna screamed out before starting to hyperventilate, "Oh god, oh fucking god, Eric, what the fuck do we do?!"

Eric's eyes sprung open and spun around, running up to Anna and embracing the terrified girl, "Anna, hey, just relax. It's okay, we're okay," Eric assured her while looking around, his eyes growing wide, "W-We just need to...wait for Rachel. She'll be back; she has to come back,"

"Eric we could freeze, and what if she's not coming?! Where the fuck do we go!? I-I don't even remember which way we came from!" Anna wailed into Eric's shoulder, her body trembling wildly,

"Relax, Anna, relax," Eric easily said while turning them both around, "We, uh, we just need to...we can stay...um," Eric mumbled as his heart started to beat rapidly, what do they do? The reality of the situation was starting to dawn on Eric, and he hadn't a fucking clue what to do,

Anna seemed to sense this and moved her head up, looking around, they were in the middle of the woods, they weren't by the mines, and they weren't near any caves...suddenly Anna's eyes bugged out. "The fire tower!" She exclaimed while spinning around, "It's only a few minutes from here, it's our only shot!"

"Yes! You're right, Rachel went, um, t-that way and that meant the tower should be...uh, this way!" Eric nodded as he grabbed Anna's hand and sprinted forward with her, the pair panicking as they hoped they'd be able to find the tower because if not, they'd surely freeze.

It took the pair nearly twenty minutes of slow exploration and backtracking until they spotted four giant tower legs. Eric lead Anna towards the rickety staircase and grimaced, the damn thing looked like it would collapse, but they didn't have a choice. It was either this or ****, "Stay right behind me, I'll go first, make sure the steps are sturdy," Eric told Anna as he grabbed the railing,

"No, I'm lighter, I should go first," Anna argued, a bit worried that Eric may, in fact, hurt himself if a step broke under his larger weight,

"Don't care, I'm not letting you take the risk, Anna," Eric sharply replied, "I go first," He reiterated while stepping up onto the first wooden board. He lifted his foot for the second step and kicked some snow off it before stepping up. Eric carefully made his way up the creaking steps, Anna following just a step below him, "Careful," He said as they reached the halfway point, "You good?" He asked while glancing back,

"Eyes forward, you could slip," Anna firmly said with a small furrowing of her brow, irritated that Eric could hurt himself.

Eric nodded and returned to his ascent, reaching the top after a good ten minutes of slow, careful climbing. It was nothing short of a miracle that no boards broke, but this luck balanced out thanks to the locked door. "Stand back," Eric said to Anna as he stepped back and set himself, he took a small step before slamming his foot against the door, though it didn't budge. "Oh come on you piece of...shit!" Eric shouted as he set himself up for a second kick. This kick got the door open, but Eric's foot slid right over the snow, causing him to tumble inside.

"Eric!" Anna screamed out while charging inside the tower, falling down to her knees next to him, "Oh god, are you okay?!"

Eric let out a small groan and sat up, rubbing the back of his head, "Yeah...fuck, that was, nevermind, let's get that door closed. You need to get warm," He sternly stated as he **** himself back to his feet, though he couldn't help but rub the back of his head that was tender from wacking it on the floor,

"Eric, sit down, I'm fine," Anna said as she too got up, tugging at Eric's coat as he pushed the door closed, he used the hook lock to keep the wooden door shut as he busted the lock kicking it in,

"In a second, you're fucking freezing I can tell," Eric dismissed as he was too locked in concern for Anna to worry about his own well being. The black haired teen scanned the area and smiled as he noticed the old fire stove, "Perfect," Eric moved over to the black heater and knelt down, on one side he found a few pieces of firewood, which he quickly tossed into the furnace. He swung his pack off and dug through it, "Thank god we brought all this crap," Eric muttered out as he pulled out some matches, it took a few tries, but he was able to get a fire going decently quick thanks to the dry wood.

With a relieved smile Eric let himself fall back, so he was sitting down on the floor, he drank in the moment of security the fire gave but this melted away as Anna's weak broken-voice called for him. He turned and saw the girl cupping her face in her hands, "Eric..." She whispered could, unable to say anything more.

Eric quickly hopped up and ran to Anna, embracing her once more, "It's okay, we're gonna be just fine, once this storm passes, the others will come looking. It's gonna be okay, Anna, I promise," Eric warmly told his ex while she pressed her crying eyes into her shoulder.