She curled into herself where she sat, arms wrapped around her knees, breathing heavily into her cupped palms in a futile attempt to stay awake, stay alive. Her breath came out in shallow clouds, vanishing as fast as her body heat. The cold pierced through her layers, slicing straight into bone.
She was trapped inside a deep freezer, a place meant to preserve meat, to halt decay and rot. But the air… it carried a different scent. Not quite blood, not quite metallic, but sharp and wrong. She didn't know enough to place it. Maybe it was animal blood. Maybe something worse.
She blinked slowly, her lashes stiff with frost, and glanced around. No sign of her bag. Panic surged. She forced herself upright, limbs aching, each step like wading through ice water. Her teeth chattered as she staggered across the freezer, hugging herself tightly to keep her resolve from cracking.
