CHPT 241: Green Eyes, Red Snout.

The air was cold, biting her skin like dozens of icy bugs. Her labored breaths came out as warm fog that rose and blended with the spinning sea of white all around her.

Snow...

It ebbed and flowed around her like a rising tide of icy flakes. It was everywhere. In her hair, turning it from brown to a cold white. On her thick brows. Melting against her freckled face. With every tired inhale she took, a volley of snowflakes flew within her and threatened to crystalize her from the inside out.

Cold bites. But here, it felt like the cold was all consuming. Every flake on her skin and hair sucked the heat from within her and left her feeling frozen and empty.

And yet, she pushed onwards, feet sinking into the already made footprints in the snow ahead. She followed them because there was nowhere else to go. The ones behind her were fast approaching.

In the distance they loped through the tundra as black silhouettes snarling and fiery eyed. Every few feet one of them would jump with inhuman power and sail through the white blanket of sky only to crash into the snow banks below causing the ground to shake and threaten to make her fall. Their continuous earth-shattering approach fueled her limbs with adrenaline and pushed her forward.

Closer to the cold, closer to the one ahead.

In the distance, the being moved like man-- but they were too fast. Blasting through the tundra with ease while also staying close enough for her to follow.

"Stop following me!" The being ahead yelled over the snarling monsters flanking her.

Her mouth moved in response, but she couldn't speak. All she knew was she wanted to follow. She wanted to know.

CCRRKCKCKC!!

RMBRMBRMBRMB!

The ground at her left and right cracked and rumbled into a giant avalanche, turning their already dangerous run into one on a icy mountainous bridge. There was nowhere left to go but forwards.

The winds picked up, threatening to blow her off the path to join the crumbling avalanche below them.

If that wasn't enough, she began to slip and stumble. The once packed snow beneath her feet felt like slush. In a panic, her head peered down at what she was trudging through that threatened to make her fall.

"Blood..."

Every footprint she followed towards the being ahead was now filled with blood. The red liquid stuck out like a stain on a plain white shirt in the monochrome icy tundra.

A cold chill ran down her spine-- colder than the ice that consumed her for one simple reason.

The footprints of the being ahead of her she once followed were no longer footprints. They were instead giant paw prints.

AAAWOOOOOOO!!!

Her eyes were ripped from the bloodbath beneath her feet as a bone chilling howl ripped across the tundra like a whip, lashing out at everything for miles.

The sound was so loud her skull felt like it was splitting and tears fell from her eyes only to freeze on her cheeks, yet she pushed on. She couldn't remember why, but the urge to pursue the being ahead was unavoidable.

Faster....faster.....faster. She was getting closer. She could see a solid form beneath the steady shower of snow.

She continued to run until she felt like she'd be able to touch the runner ahead. Her hand raised in response, ready to grab the mysterious individual.

Even closer than before, she could feel the person's heat, hear their breaths. She would know in seconds.

3....2...1--

FWOOSHH!!

The being exploded into a burst of glowing pale blue light that stunned her senses into a state of momentary deafness.

She felt like she was floating. Couldn't hear, couldn't feel, couldn't see. For the moment she was calm, simply floating by in darkness. Then, the world came back in an explosion of white.

Only there was no storm. No wild winds and no bloody paw prints.

She was standing on the top of a cliff. Snow climbed up to her knees as she looked out over the edge to see the remains of the avalanche below. Clouds hovered like ghosts in the distance while the calm winds howled, reminding her of what she heard only moments before.

The thought made her shiver.

"Ursula..."

She stilled.

"Ursula....I told you not to follow." The voice continued, dropping to a low growl.

The voice was flanked by footsteps-- crunching through the snow behind her at a calm tempo.

They sped up. Faster and faster until it sounded like someone was running towards her.

She spun around as the footsteps drew closer.

"Wh--"

"RAGH!!"

***

"ACK!" Ursula flew upright moving her arms to defend the throat that she thought was just about to be ripped from her.

For a few moments, she sat upright as still as a statue. Frozen by fear and the constant change of scenery. She wasn't even sure of where she was or if any of it was real.

She began looking around, in search of weapons or an escape for the Monsters that she was sure were on the hunt.

"Too dark....beds....papers...pencils...wait." Her shoulders sagged with the ease of her nerves after realizing where she was.

She was in Isaac's room, and everything she'd just experienced was a dream-- nightmare, memory? That was the weird thing about dreams. They felt oddly reminiscent sometimes and all too real. As that one did.

The snow, the cold, the ones that chased her.....and even the one that called her name on the cliff.

She reflexively closed her eyes and took a calming breath only to see who ripped her from her nightmare again.

Jaws open-- drenched in gooey blood with teeth like ivory daggers. Midnight black fur covered in snowflakes cloaked the rest of the Monsters head. From beneath the black hair-- fur, the wildest green eyes she'd ever seen ripped through her in a way even it's razor sharp teeth couldn't compare to.

Her hands fell from her throat and instead occupied her eyes that she rubbed the sleep from while she yawned, when they fell the room became clearer now that it was removed from the dizzying haze of tired eyes.

She looked around for a few seconds, growing more and more awake before suddenly realizing what was wrong with the sight of her sleeping friends.

"...Where's Claude and Frosty?"