Cold

Aiden immediately looked around for the sturdiest looking tree he could find. As soon as he spotted one, he rushed over and latched hold to avoid being swept away. There was no way he'd be able to get away in time to avoid it all together so his only option was to lessen the probability of getting buried in snow. As the roaring sound got closer and louder, Aiden braced himself, shut his eyes and mouth, and clenched his teeth. Then, it hit.

As the wall of snow reached him, it felt like his arms around the tree were hit by concrete. Smaller trees and rocks were caught up in the slide and tumbled down the mountain. All he could hear was the loud roar of the snow like a rampaging river. Then, a horrible cracking sound echoed in his ears and he felt the tree he was holding onto start to lean.

The force of the avalanche and the sudden movement of the tree he was using as an anchor caused him to lose his grip and get swept up in the deluge of snow. He fought to stay above the surface as he was dragged down the mountain. Pain shot through his body as he collided with different things hidden in the snow. At one point, his back hit a tree and all the air was knocked out of him. In a split second, he was pulled under the snow.

The next thing Aiden knew, he was enveloped in darkness. It was cold and there wasn't much room to move around. The one thing he desperately wanted to avoid had happened. He was buried in the avalanche. He could try and dig himself out but the problem was that he had no idea which way was up.

He moved slightly and his entire body ached. One of his legs throbbed painfully and he couldn't move it well. His ankle was also stiff and the boot he was wearing felt tight. As he shuffled around, exploring his surroundings and testing how compact the snow around him was, he started feeling nauseous and dizzy.

Soon, he located a spot where the snow wasn't as hard to move as the rest and slowly started to dig. He didn't know how long it had been since the avalanche or how long he'd been buried beneath the snow but he was getting colder by the second and whatever air he had left was getting thin. It was getting harder and harder to breathe when he miraculously felt his hand break through the surface of the snow.

After making enough room to fit through, Aiden dragged his body out from under the snow. He grit his teeth and a cold sweat formed on his forehead from the pain. He had no doubt that, at the very least, one of his legs was broken and the ankle on the opposite leg was badly sprained if not broken as well. That made it impossible for him to get back down the mountain on his own.

Looking around, Aiden's heart sank. He wasn't on any of the marked paths and he had no idea how far he'd moved from his original location. The sun had already set and the temperature was far too low for him to last the night. The wind was howling and it whipped the powdered snow into the air making it difficult to keep his eyes open. His skin stung from the cold and the sweat on his forehead froze to his skin.

With no other choice, Aiden dug back down into the snow to shield himself from the wind. He ripped a piece of reflective cloth off of one of his coat pockets and tied it as tightly as possible to a branch he grabbed nearby. When it was done, he stuck the top of the branch with the reflective cloth above the surface of the snow. Hopefully, someone with the search and rescue team would spot it. If they didn't…

Aiden didn't want to think about it. Yuki, Ava, and Zeke knew he was on the mountain and they would realize he was near the explosion and the avalanche. They'd make sure someone would look for him. Everything would be fine. Someone would find him soon and everything would be okay.

However, as more time passed, the weather only got worse. The wind was unyielding and it had started to snow. Even with emergency lights, visibility would be limited. The temperature continued to drop and Aiden shivered uncontrollably. The dull ache in his body was constant and steadily growing worse. He felt like he was being stabbed by thousands of tiny needles all across his skin. His fingers had gone numb even with his gloves on and it was getting more difficult to stay awake.

Aiden was tired. He didn't want to move or even think anymore. All he wanted to do was sleep. He knew he shouldn't. He knew that he had to stay awake until someone found him but he was just so tired. He tried to recall a time when he had felt so exhausted but he couldn't. How long had he been there? How much longer would it take? It was cold. Cold and dark. He only wanted to sleep and eventually he even stopped shivering.

His whole body was numb. The pain he felt earlier was completely gone. For a moment he thought he saw lights coming closer to him until it was too bright and he squinted his eyes. A shadow shaped like a person seemed to rush forward and then everything went black.

At that moment, Derek fell to his knees in the snow and scooped Aiden up into his arms. It felt like holding a block of ice. He was too cold.

"Aiden! Aiden! Wake up and look at me, damn it! Aiden!" Derek spun around, carrying Aiden in his arms. "Where's the medic?! Get the evac chopper, right now!" A search and rescue medic ran over with two men carrying a stretcher behind him. Derek laid Aiden on the stretcher and the medic immediately started checking his vitals.

"We need to get him to the hospital ASAP!!" As the search and rescue team was securing Aiden in the stretcher, a helicopter landed in a nearby clearing. Once Derek, the search and rescue medic, the two people that helped carry the stretcher, and Aiden were all inside. The helicopter took off towards the closest hospital. In the meantime, Aiden was hooked up to an IV and wrapped in emergency blankets.

As soon as the chopper touched down on the landing pad, hospital staff rushed Aiden inside and started treatment with Derek right on their heels. A nurse stopped him just outside the treatment room.

"Sir, you can't go in there! Please wait while the doctor's do their jobs!" Left with no other choice, Derek stayed right by the window to the room. He watched as the doctor's cut away Aiden's snow and ice-covered clothes. His breath caught when he saw blood covering Aiden's lower leg. The monitor Aiden was hooked up to showed an incredibly low heart rate and a dangerously low body temperature. His lips were tinted with a blue hue and even his hair looked frozen.

Suddenly, there was another commotion nearby as more people came looking for Aiden. Isaac appeared followed by Silas.

"Where is he?!" Derek didn't take his eyes off of Aiden despite the chaos behind him. "Where is Aiden Hale? He was just brought in on a helicopter for treatment. Where is he?" Isaac demanded to know where his son was until he spotted Derek standing next to one of the room's. He ran over to that same window and felt a stabbing pain in his heart when he saw Aiden lying in the hospital bed.

William Montgomery had also turned up at the hospital and instructed his assistant to handle any necessary paperwork. When Derek was first contacted by Aiden's school friends and told that Aiden was missing after an explosion and an avalanche, it felt like his heart had stopped beating. His mind went blank and he had no idea what to do. Luckily, Mrs. Hudson was nearby when he got the call and she contacted Silas right away who in turn called William and William called Isaac. That's how so many people got involved.

A short while later, Yuki showed up at the hospital with Mikael as well as Zeke, Ava, Lyla, Spencer, and Becca. Mr. and Mrs. Hudson arrived after that and the nurses had to insist that they all move to the waiting room. With so many people there, they were getting in the way of the hospital staff and other patient's. Derek had refused to move away from the room until they threatened to call security and Silas stepped in to drag him to the waiting room with the rest of them.

All they could do was sit down and wait.