At this point, I knew that I was lost. With exhaust and distress I slumped against the nearest tree into the thick snow below. The icy cold tore at my skin as the flakes fell upon my flesh making my retirement all the more miserable. I strained my thoughts to come up with a means of survival when I heard the lone howl of a wolf in the distance. Though I glanced around there was neither the hope nor possibility of seeing much more than five feet through the falling snow or the thick forest in which I now rest. However tired or sore I felt I knew at that point that I had to gather the strength to get out of range of the creature. Though death almost beckoned, almost seemed like a joyful escape from the madness my only thought was to move.

With nearly all my strength I managed to pull myself up on the trunk behind me to come to my feet and with a quick thought determined the direction in which I wished to travel. It took me nearly everything to advance my feet towards the dark forest of winter trees into the grey of whatever lied ahead, somehow I was walking. It is unknown to me even now how long I wandered or if I ever wandered in a straight line. At one point I began to feel eyes all around me though in a place where left is right, it is only natural to feel this way.

With feelings of failure and near acceptance of the end I fell to my already cold, wet knees. In one last cry of desperation I screamed to the sky and every pitch was consumed by the cold and by the night. The moon above me was my only witness and I accepted this fact. My grave would be here in the snow bank and my tombstone would be the tree above me. My epitaph would be the wear and tear of the ages on the bark of the tree and my mourners would be the passing seasons which would rot my body and free my soul.

The eyes that I had felt earlier had returned and I feared that the wolf had found its meal. Seconds earlier I had been contemplating my demise and my body's future and now I was contemplating which direction to run though all directions looked the same. With an origin less energy I climbed to my feet and made a feeble flee into the mist. As I ran I took a quick look over my shoulder only to see nothing. I turned a second too late and hit a dead end in the form of a very large redwood which knocked me to my back with the view of the tree-tops and moon peeking through the clouds above me.

I could hear the sound of something approaching fast and as I leaned up from the frost I could see Michael above me with a shovel. He looked behind my body and screamed and as he did I saw a large shape lunge onto him. I wanted so badly to rise and assist but had not the strength or will to do so. I slumped back down to the snowy terrain in which I lay and felt the ice seeping into my coat. As I watched the sky above me and listened to the struggle nearby everything faded into the darkness from which we all are created...