It was morning when Yoku realized it was snowing heavily. The situation was getting worse. He got up quickly and shook Adam awake.
"Hey, hey! Wake up."
Adam groggily sat up as Yoku urged him to move. They climbed into the truck, covering it with layers of polyester and cotton blankets before setting off. As time passed, the snowfall intensified. The air grew colder, and the windshield fogged up.
Adam reached out and touched the window, dragging a finger across its surface. A thin trail of water followed his touch. "Weird," he muttered, puzzled by how the cold seemed to seep through objects like glass, almost as if it were supernatural.
Yoku squinted at the windshield. There was nothing visible beyond it—only an endless white void. The road had completely vanished under the thick snow. The only sounds were the howling wind and the steady hum of the truck's engine. Both of them felt lost, aimlessly wandering through the storm.
Adam glanced outside. Even the towering power lines were barely visible, fading into the storm like ghostly silhouettes. The truck's cabin was eerily silent, save for their breathing, which now came in visible puffs of mist. Adam shivered, pulling his coat tighter around him.
He turned to Yoku, still gripping the wheel. What was he thinking? Should Adam say something? The cold air leaking through the ventilation ducts made him shiver even more.
Then, Yoku spoke. "Hey… sorry if I haven't been talking much. I just don't usually talk , or its been a long time since ive talked to someone."
Adam looked at him, unsure how to respond. Should he admit he had the same issue? Or just stay quiet? With a sigh, he realized it might be fine to open up a little.
"Hey, should we stop and light a fire outside? Rest for a bit?" Adam suggested.
"No, I don't think so… it's impossible to light a fire in this blizzard," Yoku said, still focused on the road. "I've experienced this before—no fire will survive at -60 degrees Celsius. And even if you managed to light one, you'd still die of hypothermia in minutes. The heat would only be absorbed by the environment."
Adam's eyes widened. "Sixty?!" He had never heard of such temperatures back in his world. Was this a nuclear winter? His hands and feet were already freezing at an alarming rate, even with the insulating blankets.
He exhaled sharply, his breath turning to mist. His mind was starting to go fuzzy from the cold. His legs ached. Could he even feel them anymore? He just wanted to rest.
Yoku kept driving, but his arms were trembling from the cold. Though the engine was generating heat, it wasn't enough. The cold was creeping into the cabin, numbing their bodies.
"Hahh... I... can't see anything" Yoku murmured.
Adam turned to the windshield. It was completely covered in snow. He pulled on extra gloves and layered more clothing before shifting in his seat.
Yoku glanced at him. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to clear the snow," Adam replied, reaching for the rifle.
Yoku hesitated, looking at the rifle, the grip of his wheel harder. "Wait… uh… fine, go ahead."
For hours, Adam periodically scraped the windshield, fighting off the frostbite creeping into his fingers. Both of them were exhausted, their limbs numb, their movements sluggish.
Adams fingers were completely numb. He was in pain and he didn't want to continue.
'Even the thing that I have to do, to survive why… do I still think its suffering' Adam thought, dilating as far as they through the window, and there just snow everywhere
'Am I even alive right now? Is this a dream? Its cold… I feel spikes on my hands and feet', it feels as if there worms slowly eating his flesh off
As he continued shovelling snow off, his skin of his arms are now going white and slowly turning dark, The cycle keeps repeating shovelling with a rifle again and again, Adam glanced at Yoku. He must be in hell worse than Adam now, it's even deadlier to survive this cold, if your just sitting there not moving, and his still driving… Is he even alive?
Time felt like it was speeding up, minutes turned into hours… A memory of his broken old house, looking at the wooden window as a kid, it was snowing… And there were kids playing, life was still going on, as his mother slowly closed it with a blanket because its cold.
As he kept going the task has been hopeless, there was no hope. There was no hope left. The bottles of water had been completely frozen, and the heat of the truck is slowly dissapearing. 'Why do I even want to live? What's the reason? His clothes were icy hard plates by now.
'No…No…NO I don't want this! I want to live there was no reason I just want to! I just don't wanna die…
Huff… He couldn't even closed his eyes it felt blurry. My eyes were now extremely heavy, his irises were partially frozen. Everything was foggy.
…
Adam's breaths were shallow, his vision hazy. His hands barely obeyed him anymore, moving like rusted machine parts as he continued to scrape away the ice. Then, finally—
"Wait… I see something!" Yoku exclaimed.
Through the blizzard, a massive structure loomed in the distance. It was larger than an entire village, its surface covered in pipes and electrical wiring. As they drew closer, the outline of a rusted steel gate came into view—wide open, leading into a concrete building.
Yoku pulled the truck toward the entrance, their only hope of shelter from the relentless storm. Many red tapes, telling 一部工事中ですので,立ち入らないでください.{Stay back, specific area under construction}
they enter through the building head through not caring if it would hit the truck at all, I guess… Yoku was feeling it aswell
There's a sign on entrance 新築工事（2651年3月～4月）[Project dormitory march 3 2651]
工事の一時停止 [Temporary halted construction site]