So Cold

Kidman's pov

I grabbed the school teacher's flimsy bicep and dragged him up. Running instinctively, he followed closely until we barged into a cafeteria. Three of the undead were eating a manwich and I yanked the school teacher down. In a hurried pace I crept into the kitchen, Mr. Camilius on my heel.

Once in the kitchen the monster with a heart of a ball and chain barged in and screamed. Despite the roar, the three cannibals kept eating. Mr. Camilius kept muttering curses, the Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary's as I assessed the situation. The cafeteria was lit by the uncannily red sky outside and the wind howled as it blew upon whatever building we were in. Just as I was about to turn around Mr. Camilius gripped my wrist and guided me quickly into a meat locker.

It was relatively nondescript. Your usual meat locker. Small and cold. Our bodies weren't so much as a hand-span apart as something's nails dragged along the fridges down a ways from us. The shrill, nails-on-chalkboard-like sound continued until it was so loud we had to cover our ears. Finally it passed with a gurgle from whatever Mr. Camilius had spotted and slowly seemed farther and farther away.

The school teacher was cussing and shivering and I finally got a good look at him. Crap, he's covered in mud, blood and water. He can't stay long in this freezer. I tentatively peeked open the door and was disturbed by what I saw.

Nothing.

I looked up at the sky and it was a brownish, swirling black. Then the doors opposite us slapped open and then the familiar buzzing and now blood red man were made apparent. Worming back into the cooler I spoke over the buzzing outside, still trying to be careful not to raise attention chattering,

"Mr-Mr. Camilius? We gotta stay in here until the buzzing stops."

"I'm f-freezing!" He yelled weakly, too weak to raise attention.

"I-I know."

I know all to well. If I try to share my body heat with him I risk getting myself wet. Then we'll both die, frozen like a statue in a meat freezer holding onto each other for dear life. Hell, the blood oozing from my shoulder wasn't helping either. Unless... Jesus Christ- I can't ask him to do that! After a few tense minutes of watching him shiver like a leaf I put my hands on his shoulders and wrapped him up in an embrace. The instant his wet clothes touched mine I regretted holding the information back.

The time ticked by, the blood from whatever cuts I had were frozen what felt like ages ago. The school teacher and I shivered in this freezer, our bodies practically mashed together. I shifted my weight and shook off the ice that was forming between us and his hand, no longer shaking, tugged at the collar of his shirt croaking out,

"Why does it feel so hot?"

Oh no, his body is shutting down.

"I'm-I'm gonna take this o-o-off~"

"N-n-No, Mr. Camilius. Y-you're freezing r-r-remember?"

"Its so hot." He pouted, his voice so weak it made me hug him harder. Paradoxical Undressing was the final stage for hypothermia. When your body stops shaking it means that your body can't produce much more heat before it shuts down in an attempt to protect the brain. I had stopped shaking as well. Delirium was another thing to worry about.

Had the buzzing stopped? I thought it was louder than before. Loud, loud, loud. Impossibly loud.

I shook my head, trying to jar my thoughts.

"Mr. Camilius?" I asked as the buzzing seemed so much more vibrant. "D-d-do you hear buzzing?"

He didn't even voice the word he was so frail that he mimed the word, no.

That does it then.

I can't trust my head. My brain. My mind. My mind-case, brain-case. I can't trust my dead-head. So I had to trust the school teacher's ears. I felt frozen in place as I heaved ourselves forward sluggishly, the wings of bugs were so vivid in my ears it almost stopped me. When we tumbled out I almost cried out in joy from the sight of a nice empty cafeteria. Now out in room temperature, I didn't care about taking my wet outer garments off, throwing the guns and gear on the floor. Leaving me in my black underwear.

My bare feet squeaked on the floor when I saw something red in the corner of my eye. A Red Cross. I practically clambered to it and the medkit had the general medical supplies and one STEM special syringe. Despite working for Mobius, I never figured out what the hell was in these things and how they translated into the virtual world of STEM. I injected half of it into my arm and then gripped the nearest table and grit my teeth as feeling began returning to my nerves. The room temperature felt like fire against my freezing skin and I screamed but then went back to chattering once my blood started flowing again.

Camilius hadn't moved. God, he's unconscious. I hastily grabbed a nearby apron that covered the fronts of my legs to my ankles and covered my torso somewhat and slipped it on as I strode over to Camilius. Taking the knife, I cut and tore the rags of his shirts off and tossed them aside. Murmuring a curse I grabbed another apron and set it on the floor, and dragged him on top so his back wasn't on the cold floor. Then the moment of truth.

The needle felt like a knife in my hand as I pricked Samuel Camilius' heart and he gasped, eyes wide. Next he coughed and then collapsed back into unconsciousness. I was almost about to do CPR until I saw his skin regain color and his breathing begin to be more noticeable.

Mentally saying a silent thanks, I turned on the furthest oven and left it open. Putting our clothes on a chair near the heat so they could dry. I hurried to move tables over the doors coming into the cafeteria before going to Samuel's side and collapsing against the nearest oven, rocking back and forth in the fetal position, waiting for the only man on our side who knows where Lily was to wake the hell up.

A/N: I actually did my research on this one. In case you were wondering, they can't really cozy up to the oven. The heat could damage skin or cause lethal irregular heartbeats. That goes for heat lamps, hot compresses, and hot water as well. Source: mayoclinic.org.