Chapter 1: Snow Day

"How bad do you think this storm is going to get Kisho?" she asks covered in scarves shivering. Her red hair poking out between various scarves.

"Well our science class got canceled, but we should be able to make it home Maya." the young Japanese man answers trying to get his keys out of his backpack that looks like it is the one he's had since middle school. "Texted the others to meet up?"

"Yeah...are you sure your van will drive in this?" she looks nervous as the snow picks up around them as a chill breeze roars through.

"We should be fine…." he says, sounding nervous as he finally gets his keys and works on getting his Eurovan open. The thing looks like it's on its last legs.

In the distance four others head towards them. One is a pale woman with long auburn hair who seems unphased at the cold as she screams at a man in tiny spectacles with bright yellow hair poking out of his beanie that has the symbol for pie on it. On either side of them is a taller gentleman with an all ivory outfit trying to calm the young man. Next to the angry woman is a woman who looks the opposite of this man who wears all blacks and clothes from a time long ago.

"Oh look! There they are! Fia! Kai!" Maya calls out.

"Tamaya! Tell this idiot his perfect attendance record is not worth getting us killed!" the angry woman looks over at them. Tamaya shakes her head saying, "You know Fia you might want to save that anger to keep yourself warm. You could have stayed home."

Kisho is already trying to start up the car as the berated man comes over mumbling, "It's not my fault that the school held off canceling classes till the last minute…" He then glances at Kisho asking, "Need any help? Also mind giving some of our TA's a lift back with us to the apartment complex?"

Kisho glances over at the black and white pair waving at him sheepishly. "Of course Kai! We have to help each other out!" Kai and Kisho focus back on getting the van to start.

"Thank you guys! We rode the bus here but heard those got shut down too." The man in white answers feeling a little nervous.

The van roars to life as Kisho says, "Don't thank me yet. This van's heater is out so this will be an interesting trip back."

They all pile in leaving Fia and Kai in the back who decide to start back up their argument. The TA's sit in the middle seats awkwardly. Tamaya gives Kisho's shoulder an encouraging rub as they head out onto the roads.

The drive seems to go well at first, but they start realizing everyone else was wise enough not to head out in the first place. In the usually bustling city all the shops are closed. There were no people out on the roads and most cars that got stuck out were now in ditches.

This wasn't only a snowstorm but a windstorm as they find themselves blinded. Kisho tries to drive by mostly memory, then they hear a pop and rattle noise as the van comes to a stop. "Nonono!" Kisho whispers out as he tries to turn the key back and forth to get the car to turn back on but all that comes out is a small putter then silent sound. Fia looks out at the sheer white asking, "A-Are we close to home?"

"I-I think sooo...there were a few guess turns there." Kisho says.

"Guess turns?!" Fia asks then sighs, "I suppose we'll wait here for the storm to die down." 

"Fia…" Kai says quietly, "No heat in here. I mean we can wait a little while but we're probably going to have to go out there."

Tamaya looks at Kisho with worry, "Really? But don't we have like an emergency kit or something in here?" Kisho shakes his head, "We took it out last time we went out...um camping." He seems to look nervously at the TA's. 

The male speaks up saying, "Might as well face the cold. I do not believe we are on a highway. Besides there are almost no cars out." He looks to Kisho and Kai then looks at the women saying, "Alright men let's go see if we can find some street signs to see where we are at."

The woman TA says, "Or we could just use our phones." She takes hers out and glances down at hers and sees that it's having trouble triangulating. The others quickly pull out their phones. Kisho finds his dead as does Fia while the others realize they have the same cell provider and the same issue. "Alright back to Asher's idea." She shrugs seeming to not panic as she opens the door letting in the crisp cold air.

Asher looks at the woman smiling, "It was a good idea Evelyn." He starts getting out of the car realizing his vision is extremely limited. But they were at least near a sidewalk curb which is encouraging. Kai and Kisho work on getting out of the car with Asher next to him.

"Wait!" Tamaya says as she digs in her bag and pulls out some yarn she's been working with for the scarves she makes. She takes the end and ties it around Kisho's wrist saying, "Do not lose each other!" Kisho blushes, "Great idea!"

Asher and Kai grab on as they slowly head out.

They bump into each other and almost hit walls as they find an intersection that wasn't far from the van. Looking up they can dimly see the traffic lights flashing red. "I can't make that out!" Kai yells trying to squint through his spectacles. Kisho is out of luck as well with his rectangular wire frame glasses. "Burnside and 220th? Well some number in the two hundreds…"

Following the yarn back they realize what this means. Seeing their faces the women know it is not good news. "Burnside and two hundred numbers." Kai says shivering as they all quickly climb back into the much colder van regrouping.

"That's nowhere near home or school for that matter!" Fia says still pent up, "Does anyone know what's even around here?!"

"Warehouses. Industrial buildings." Evelyn says, still sounding cool as a cucumber. 

Shivering Tamaya asks, "Wh-what do we do now?"

"Find somewhere to wait this out?" Kisho says as he looks at Tamaya worrying as he rubs the side of her shoulder, "I'm sorry…"

"It's not your fault." Tamaya says trying to comfort Kisho through her chattering teeth, "We all chose to leave this morning. I don't think anyone thought it would be this bad." 

"I did." Fia grumbles quietly glaring at Kai before asking, "Is there going to be any shelter in an area like this?" As if on cue they see some lights go on that seem to be from an office near the van. Everyone stares at the light for a moment before Evelyn says, "Let us see if someone is home before that light gets turned off. Shall we?" She opens the van as everyone quickly gets out not willing to argue.