The crunch of the dense December snow screamed with each footstep. His every movement was laborious; each moment stretched into an agonizing infinity; but he had to keep moving. He had to make it home alive.
In the dark quiet of the night he was unaware that he had company. He was unprepared for the weather, let alone the creature that eyed him cautiously as he meandered into it's territory.
As he struggled to put one foot in front of the other he became aware that the steady crunch was being echoed ahead of him. He stopped for a moment. It also stopped. He went to step again, then heard a definite crisp crunch of ice before he had chance to place his foot once more. The crunches turned into crashes and he heard the trees ahead clatter and scrape against some Juggernaut of the winter night.
His eyes widened as a lumbering shadow thundered towards his frozen body. He could almost smell the sweat and anger as it cut through the frozen air. Death hurtled towards him but he did not have the strength to move.
