"Uhhhhhh, Uhhhhhhh." Nora groaned as she roused. She was in immense pain. The cold air calmed the burning feeling in her lungs. Nora felt the urge to vomit as nausea overcame her. Nora tasted bile and her mouth filled with vomit as if it was automatic and natural as breathing. She noticed that she was in the soft snow as her hands touched the ground.. She proceeded to vomit until she emptied her stomach. "Ahhhhh. Owww." Nora grunted in pain, her throat and chest ached. She could feel her eyes stinging from the sweat pouring from her forehead. Again she wildly vomited painting the landscape around her with all the food in her stomach. Nora started to bawl her eyes out screaming on the ground, the remnants of vomit running down her chin.
When the tears started to flow from her burning eyes she whimpered in pain. Saliva poured out of her mouth as she drooled uncontrollably from the nausea and mucus runny mucus seeped out from her nose. Nora fumbled blindly for her bag and pulled out a souvenir t-shirt. She wiped her face with the t-shirt desperate to regain her sight. She managed to clean herself up somewhat satisfactorily, however the shirt was a lost cause. With her sight regained, she pulled wet wipes from her bag and used the pack to clean herself more, she had removed the vomit from the front of her hoodie. It was integral to her to get rid of the smell before she succumbed to the severe nausea that plagued her. The back of her hands was burned, blisters would form soon. She fought the pain and started to eat clumps of snow. She was so terribly thirsty.
The snow in front of her looked like a Jackson Pollock painting. A wave of dizziness hit her as she spun her head around. She started to walk away from the mess she made until it dawned on her that she was no longer in the middle of the city. After a minute passed she passed out falling into the snow feeling hot. She laid in the snow, her chest rising up and down with her breath. Her body cooled down from a fervent state as she gasped for breath lying on the ground. The night lingered on around her, hours passing. She heard the howling wind before the weather stirred her. Snowflakes and the cold wind burnt Nora's cheeks as she awoke. Her body felt so heavy. She rested.
'You have to find people Nora. You need help.' Nora thought to herself. Nora laid on her back looking at the canopy of stars as clouds started to roll in. She pulled out her phone and swiped the screen to check for signals. The battery was bulging, if she survived this ordeal she would need a brand new phone. She would have to be very aware of it for now as it was a fire hazard, and her only life line. "Fuck." she muttered inelegantly as she looked at the display incredulously. She had no reception. Emergency calls would not go through. It had been five hours since she left the hotel. Her head buzzed with the static of panic. Nora willed herself to her feet and decided the best course of action was to move onwards and try to find signs of people around her. She felt very sick. She pulled her jacket around her tightly, stepping into the soft snow, her feet finding mud. She prayed that her boots would not be swallowed up by the ground as she sank a little each time. She cursed inwardly as the wind howled and snow blew around her. She could not tell what direction she was walking in because of the overcast sky. She moved willing herself to move.
"Where am I? How?" Nora asked herself and sobbed more thinking that the hellish harsh winterscape was a punishment. Hell. She had already almost died once in the snow. What if she was dead? Nora sobbed in confusion as she stumbled across the landscape in a feverish state.
"No. No. No. I am alive, it hurts so much." Nora muttered to herself dazed. Nora marvelled at the fact she see own breath; it allowed her to somewhat grasp her rational mind.
"Got to keep moving, find people." Nora mumbled. The stinging burns on her skin from what happened earlier helped her focus her energy and mind to keep moving. The biting cold wind and snow flying against her tender burnt flesh was oddly sobering. Nora was in shock and in survival mode. Nora did not know much about the outdoors beyond what she had read in books but her injuries and current mental state thrusted an unreasonable confidence upon her in her stupor. She had no practical experience camping as her family was not close. She did not know where she was going. Minutes felt long. The hours are like eternity. Nora grabbed a handfuls of snow to eat periodically, it seemed to sober her up. She felt like she was boiling physically. Her emotions pooled to the surface as she continued walking slowly. He had her younger sister on the side? He was a twat. It still really hurt her. Nora cried bitterly to herself as she ate snow. Each handful felt more agonising with her burns.
'Focus, Nora. Stop thinking about them and focus on saving yourself. At least someone will find you. Dead or alive, do not let them win.' Nora thought deliriously.
"Aghhhh!" She groaned and checked the date on her phone again realising it had been only four hours. Her head reeled and she looked around in the oddly bright night, the moon was full and there was no light pollution. She eyed a tree line in what seemed to be an endless pasture and reasoned that at least there would be a break from the wind in the forest and the possibility for her to create fire. At least she had a lighter in her purse for Mark, he smoked. She had it specially engraved for him. She pulled it out of her purse to test it out. It had not been filled with fuel because of her plane ride. When it did not light she sniffled. She broke down and started crying and tossed the lighter into the field.
She drew out all the lessons she learned from watching Bear Grylls in survival programs. At least she could melt the snow in her mouth for a water source for now. After what she guessed was an hour passed she looked for her phone and checked for reception, or a wireless network to find it would not turn on. She would not be able to use it for light now. Nora screamed in frustration loudly and melted down a bit. After crying frustrated for what seemed like forever to her; she willed herself to move onwards. In her mission to find people, a house or even a path; she ended up falling into a muddy ditch, dirtying herself. She reasoned to herself that morning would come soon, and people would start milling about for their day.
Nora finally started to reach the tree line and started to walk through brush and proceeded to walk until she heard the whoosh and snap of a metal trap and felt intense pain in her right leg. She tripped and fell forward and rolled on her back screaming loudly in pain. She looked to see a huge animal trap on her leg with a pulsating light on it and felt the heat of her own blood running down her leg. It was dark. While her eyes got used to the darkness that surrounded her. Very little light permeated the thick pines that towered above her. Nora dazedly unbuttoned her jacket and pulled the drawstring out of her hood while moaning and swearing profusely. The pain sobered her enough to realise that she was probably going to die of this, but she did not want to go out without a fight.
"Ahhhhhh, god no, fuck, why me?!" Nora screamed as she tied the cord into a tourniquet above her massive wound and tightened it until she blacked out.
"Ah, Ah, Ah!" Nora groaned. Nora's head rolled back as she whimpered in pain as She felt lucky that it did not seem to nick her femoral artery. Nora, then briefly got her wits about her satisfied that she had slowed the blood loss. She went to try to loosen the trap, finding that the thing was locked on to her leg very tightly and that there was no external mechanism. Just a pulsating light. It seemed to be flickering faster. She found herself dizzy and decided to lay back temporarily. She looked up at the sky and noticed that there was something hovering near her in the sky.
"Oh great I'm seeing shit again. I'm going to die." Nora said aloud before her eyes closed. That's when Nora found unconsciousness. A massive vehicle had pulled up with a pair of men, they spoke in language she could not understand.
"Please help me." Nora begged as she passed out.
'Ahhhhhh!' Nora awoke screaming in blinding pain as they removed the trap. She was puzzled briefly. The scream seemed to have startled everyone in the cabin. Nora's eyes darted around. The interior was clean and had multiple empty stretchers. A large man was crying being consoled on a seat across from her by another man. She started to cry and she felt something cold like a gun barrel pressed against her and then a pin prick. Her vision went white and then pain disappeared. She felt so tired and so calm.
"Help. Too much. You put too much." Nora croaked and choked for air as she fought the sedation. She heard a foreign language and she felt a large cool hand try to calm her. She felt two tubes go in her nose and oxygen started to flow in. She succumbed to unconsciousness smelling the sweetest and purest air she had ever smelled.