Shattered Frost: Chapter One

The Beginning of The End

I sat on the couch with the rest of my family, mouths agape at the earth-shattering emergency broadcast on the television, which we had the volume up loud on as to not miss a word being said. On-screen was the footage live from a news van, hell-bent on getting as far away from the bright object being filmed in the night sky as possible.

The announcer cut in, attempting to remain calm as she gave the reports. “Reports of a large amount of missiles of unknown strength have been confirmed flying over the ocean towards as-of-yet unconfirmed targets across the Scalinian nation...” There’s a pause and what sounds like shuffled paper as the screen shows different footage of the projectiles before switching to a map of the Scalinian nation, with dots, lines, and cities with crosshairs below them overlayed on top of it.

The announcer’s voice comes back in, much more panicked. “We have just received word that according to military analysis, the cities listed with crosshairs below them are the presumed targets of missiles. The Scalinia National Government advises all targeted city occupants to head towards the nearest spot-lights and beacons indicating bomb shelters, or if near the edge of the city, take whatever road available as fast as possible out of the city.”

Evacuation protocols lit up the screen, demonstrating the proper procedure for evacuating, although by this point, I’d imagine most people in the targeted cities would already have left.

Fortunately for the town we live in, called Nortrige, we are in the northern mountains of the nation, far from any cities with a strong military or governmental presence, which apparently means that we’re not worth targeting.

Noting this, I wrap my dark purple, scaly arms around my son, daughter, and husband, pulling them towards me in a tight embrace. “We’re going to be all right,” I say quietly, gently rubbing my hand through the fur on my husband’s back. “We’re going to be all right,” I repeated, more to reassure myself than anything.

We stood there for a few more seconds, not saying a word, before my husband Arvan slowly let his light grey, furry arms out of the embrace to hang limply by his sides, saying, “Someone finally did it...in a matter of several hours...the world we know will exist no longer.”

I let go as well, looking at the family I hold so dearly in my heart...Savina, my adolescent dragon daughter...Kalex, our youngest and an adorable wolf pup...and my lovely husband, of course.

“So, what’re we going to do?” Savina asked, crossing her light-purple scaled arms in front of her, similar-colored wings tucked behind her back much like myself. As I thought of a response, several sharp raps came from the door.Curious, I walked over to the door and checked the peephole to make sure it was someone we knew.

Opening the door revealed our good friend and neighbor, Harrison Wiltimire, whose brown and black patterned snake tail was curled underneath him. He’s entirely snake, unlike the nagas with their human torsos, but he also possesses scaly arms.

“Evening, Elisia, Tosssoro family,” he greeted, hissing slightly in the middle of our family name.

“Evening, Harrison,” I greeted back, “I wish I could say it was a good one, but...”

“That’sss why I came to sssee you,” he replied, “There’sss a town meeting sssoon at town hall, you probably should go.”

I looked back at the rest of my family, and shrugged. “That sounds like the best option...we’ll try to be there soon, thank you, Harrison,” I finally responded.

“Of courssse,” he said, slithering off towards the town hall.

“So, meeting in town hall?” Arvan asked as I came back into the room. I nodded. “Let’s get going then,” he said, and suggested, “We should walk...save gas, who knows how frequently we’ll be able to get it after everything explodes...”

Nodding again, I grabbed the house keys, and once everyone was outside, I locked the house up. Setting off at a brisk pace, I held Kalex’s dark grey, furry hand as we headed off towards town hall, fortunately not too far from where we lived. Then again, in a small town like ours, nothing was all that far from home.

As we neared the hall, there was already a crowd of the townsfolk waiting outside. Several projectors and speakers were hooked up to show the broadcasts of just what was going on. Nearing the back of the crowd, we searched for friendly faces.

“Tosssoro’s, over here!” Harrison shouted out to us, waving us over. Our family quickly walked towards him.

“So what’s happened?” my husband asks.

“Our military isss ssseting up defensesss asss we ssspeak,” he replied, his hiss quite evident. I turned to the screen to see footage of Scalinian soldiers hastily preparing what I assumed to be counter-missile weapons. One was fired, and the camera tracked its path into the sky, the missile heading towards a bright streak coming fast towards the cameraman. Everybody in the crowd outside the town watched as the unknown missile headed towards the counter-missile, gasping as they met, and watching the hostile missile exploding into a blinding white light. The footage cut out, the woman broadcasting cutting back in.

“We have confirmed sightings...nuclear warheads are detonating across Scalinia, causing as-of-yet untold amounts of casualties...” She pauses, likely receiving new information. “The president of Scalinia wishes to broadcast a message to the survivors of this devastating strike.”

The crowd outside town hall, which had been earnestly chattering since the explosion, fell silent as the President appeared on-screen. “People of Scalinia,” he begins, “Today, a date which will live in infamy, our proud nation of Scalinia was attacked suddenly and deliberately by nuclear weaponry from one or both of the two rival nations, Kovilska and Eovipa. I believe that I am correct in assuming that the will of the people and its representatives would be not only to attempt to defend ourselves from further devastation, but to enact appropriate retribution for the number of lives lost today in these dastardly attacks. As commander in chief of our nation’s military, I have ordered that all nuclear warheads still able to be launched to be primed, and as president, I have pushed for declarations of war on both nations. I only ask that those who survived today’s assault to stay safe wherever they are, and to do whatever they can. God willing, by tomorrow this time, we will have enacted our retribution and triumphed over our enemies. This is President Illvian, signing off.”

Following the President’s announcements, Mayor Callestan stepped out onto the balcony on the second floor of the town hall, an assistant handing him a microphone. He tapped the microphone several times in an attempt to gain the attention of the crowd, which had again erupted into chatter following the President’s speech.

“Folks, folks, calm down!” he exclaimed, his country accent booming through the speakers hushing the crowd finally. “That’s better. Now I know a lotta you are panicked, and with good reason, but I need y’all to keep your heads on straight. We haven’t been hit, and our town is still in workin’ condition...for how long I don’t know, but we’ll just have to make do with what we get,” he explains. “Now, I’ve talked with some of our town’s leaders, and we’ve got a few ideas. I see that most, if not all of the town is out here tonight, which is good. First things first, how many of y’all got folks that you’ve decided on leaving town to meet? Put up your hands,” he requested. About a fourth of the creatures gathered outside, at least, from what I could tell, put up their hands. “Alright, alright, keep your hands up,” the mayor said, looking over the crowd. “And how many of ya’ got emergency plans already made for somethin’ like this that’ll take you out of town?” He paused, scanning the crowd again. “So it looks like a little over half of y’all are sticking around. More than I’d thought, which is good. As for those of you who are packin’ your bags and hittin’ the road outta town, I wish y’all good luck, and may you stay safe on your travels. I’d start packin’ now, every second counts.”

Savina spun around to face me, asking, “We’re staying here, right?” with a little less of her teenage cockiness and a little more of actual concern.

I nodded reassuringly, and turned to Harrison. “Are you staying or leaving?” I asked him.

“I’m ssstaying,” he replied. “There’sss not many other placesss I’d want to go anywaysss.”

The crowd became gradually smaller as those who planned on leaving said their goodbyes and good-lucks, heading for their homes or vehicles, whatever the case may be. The mayor watched them go, a look of regret and sadness on his brown, furry wolven face. “Well, for those of you sticking around, there’s quite a few things that’ll have to change here. First, everyone fill your vehicles and gas cans up as soon as you can. Don’t all go right now, or there’ll be a mass line at the station. I only say fill em’ up because we don’t know how much longer we’ll be getting oil through the pipes, and while I’ve ordered a couple people to start filling up reserve cans at the station as fast as possible, I’d rather stay out of those reserves as long as possible. As for water...” The mayor went on with a list of suggestions, such as turning whatever ground possible into farmland, as keeping a sustainable food supply would be important. The other major suggestions agreed upon were to get a few technicians and repairmen geared and supplied up, and sent to the only notable feature the town of Nortrige had: The Rulsia River Dam. The dam supplied most of the power to the city, and keeping that up and functional was important to helping the city survive. The town almost unanimously agreed, as none of the suggestions would be too difficult, besides the dam, and we were leaving that job to people who actually knew what they were doing.

With some basic plans in place and everybody remaining feeling slightly better about their chances of survival, the people in the crowd dispersed back to their respective homes, preparing for the changes that would have to take place if the town was to survive the nuclear war and its consequences.

After unlocking the house, Savina and Arvan went quickly about following the mayor’s orders to unplug anything not immediately being used, and to charge anything that could hold power, as again, we didn’t know how long we’d have access to the resources we were used to, and stockpiling power in whatever possible meant we’d have some in reserve if we lost connection to everywhere that supplied the town with power. I was going to help them when I felt a small furry hand tug on mine. I looked down to see Kalex’s dark grey, furry face look back up at me, worried.

“Mommy?” he asked, big brown eyes meeting mine.

“Yes, sweetie?” I replied, crouching down to his level.

“Is...is everything okay?” he asked innocently.

I bit my lip, thinking about how to respond. How do you tell a seven-year-old who’s never left his hometown that the rest of the world is ending and will never be the same again? That the comfortable life he’s used to innocently living will likely be snatched away from him, never to return?

I couldn’t. “Well...Kalex...we’re going to be busy for a very long time, some things are happening that need everyone in the town to do their best and work as hard as they can. But I promise you, as long as our family’s together, we’ll be okay,” I reassure him, gently tussling the fur on top of his head, between his pointed ears. “Go get some rest, we’ve got to be up early tomorrow,” I say gently.

“Okay, mom,” he innocently replies, going to his room. With that taken care of, I went searching for the bag of emergency gear in the garage. Searching through the cluttered piles of junk, I finally found the yellow, dust covered bag buried in a corner. I dusted it off a little with a few pats of my hand, and took it inside to set it down on the kitchen table. Inside was a tin of basic medical supplies, a crank for hand powering electronics, a tough, water-resistant radio, a water purifier and iodine, matches, large multi-purpose plastic bags, a couple rolls of toilet paper, a couple rolls of duct tape, some dust masks, rechargeable flashlight, reusable plastic utensils and plates, and a signal flare with a six pack of flares. Savina had heavily insisted on us getting one after her class had had an emergency preparedness assembly, and with tensions growing on all fronts, it had seemed like a good idea to make one, just in case. Turns out it’d been a smart idea to prepare one, even though at the time even Savina never thought things would really go this far.

Arvan and Savina finished up their electronics check, and came back out to the kitchen. “Oh, you found the emergency bag,” Savina said, checking over the supplies inside, “Knew this thing would come in handy some day.”

“How much food do we have?” I asked, which got my husband to get up and walk over to the pantry, opening it up to check.

“A decent supply, but let’s try and save the less perishable food for later,” he suggests, turning back to us.

Nodding, I take a seat at the kitchen table, leaning over, my head in my hands and my scaly purple tail idly flicking back and forth behind me. Savina and Arvan take a seat as well, looking over at me and each other.

Arvan clears his throat, getting our attentions. “So...Savina, you’re old enough to understand what the consequences of this war will be...our world will forever be different, even if our town itself isn’t directly hit. And Elisia...I know that you always wanted to give our kids the best life possible, and I did too. But now, the best life we can give them is one that simply involves them surviving through the coming devastation...and while I would like to think that the bombings will be done by tomorrow...I do not think this will be a two day war...it will only end when all three nations are completely out of nuclear missiles, and who knows how long that will be,” he sighs, looking wistfully at the ceiling, “So, tonight, let’s just get some rest...tomorrow’s going to be a very busy day.”

Nodding, Savina headed off to her room, while my husband and I went to ours. I struggle to fall asleep tonight, my mind waiting for the shriek of an air raid siren to be heard. Eventually, though, exhaustion overtakes me, and I slip into the first of what is likely to be many troubled nights of sleep.