Alone at Winter

Frostbite

A few days had passed where Alex and Champion simply wandered into completely different houses in an attempt to find some food and water so then they could hopefully survive long enough so then Alex could get back to Anne and Oscar.

Alex felt joy while in the presence of Champion; the large yet skinny dog gave Alex something to cherish and love while living in the terrible conditions left behind from the blizzard. They search house after house in the hopes to find supplies. But sadly, they left with barely anything to keep the two alive.

Alex was quick to notice that they had found barely any left behind water bottles. He and Champion went with the second best option and started marching towards a lake through the thick snow. Soon enough they cane across the lake, which had been frozen over with ice. Alex grabbed a pocket knife from his pocket and started to hack at the ice.

He decided that the small blade wasn't doing the job so he decided to go onto the frozen river and find it's weakest patch of ice to break. He began to slowly walk across the frozen lake and Champion stayed at the side.

Alex continued across the frozen water; cracks being heard from his every single step. He shook worryingly as he slowed down even more so. He began to reach the other the ice from beneath him shattered like glass. Causing him to fall into the freezing water.

Champion's head shot up as Alex fell in the river. He was barely holding onto the stronger ice around him as the current tried sweeping him away. Using his upper body strength Alex lifted himself out and immediately rolled in the snow.

"F-fuck s-sake." He muttered to himself. He then stood back up shaking and walked back towards Champion with the water in hand. Champion simply wagged his tail and stood enthusiastically. Alex gave a sift grin before starting the journey back to his home.

As soon as the two had arrived back home Alex was quick to change clothes from his freezing wet ones. He took off his clothing and left him in his underwear and socks.

He pulled off one sock with ease and he reached for the other one to attempt to peel back. But as he pulled the sock down he saw that there was blood showering the soft material of his sock. His face scrunched to a state of uncomfort; Alex was always squeamish around blood, no matter the amount he would always look away in disgust.

He looked away as he pulled more at his sock, Champion laying beside him with his head on the cold floor. Alex winced as he pulled away some skin from his toes, releasing blood from the peeled back skin. He breathed heavily at the instant sting and let out some tears as the blood dripped from the red patch on his foot to the floor. Alex then pulled off most of the sock to expose the black tips of two of his toes; he yanked at the sock out of frustration, causing the nails to rip from his toes sending blood running down his foot. He let out a loud scream in result of the immense pain.

The darkness of his skin didn't fool his tear filled eyes, it always obvious to him that he had frostbite from the river. He knew that if he left his toes alone then it would contract a disease or even poison his own blood; to stop from this happening Alex only knew of one thing to do. He had to cut off his toes. He didn't like the thought of manually removing two of his toes but it had to be done to save his life.

He searched around from a knife that was capable of removing the toes with ease so he wouldn't have to go through the pain of cutting through them manually. Seeing as though the house had no lighting or heating and light was wearing thin Alex realised that he didn't have the time to parade around the house in the hopes to find a knife. He simply sat back onto the floor and took out his pocket knife; he opened it up and stuck the blade against the two toes.

He whimpered to himself as he started to cut his toes. Tears had began quickly running down his cheeks as blood started to soak the floor and his foot. He forcefully dug the knife in while using the momentum to cut better into his toes. He screamed in pain as he hit a nerve. Sweat, tears and blood showered Alex; his pocket knife barely even a quarter way through the toes. He yelled and cried out loud, scaring Champion in the process. He cut even deeper into the blackened toes, the blood coming out quickly; Alex grinded his teeth together as he continued cutting even deeper into his own flesh.

He had finally reached the bone of each toe; he was pleading to himself to stop cutting, but he still continued. The bone was rough and sent enormous jolts of immense pain through Alex's body, sending him into a loud shriek with every swift movement of the blade. Cutting the bones in his toes was like cutting into a table; it was tough. Yet somehow Alex still cut further into the bone, his blood and tears now becoming a mixture of liquid on the ground. He was still screaming at the top of his lungs, shouting profanities and praying to God for the first time in years.

After what seemed like hours Alex had cut through the bone of his toes, having them dangle from his foot by a few layers of bloody skin. While crying he successfully removed the two toes from his foot, the pain was extreme and he could barely look at his foot. He grabbed the band aids and wrapped his foot up tight to stop any more blood from being released. He continued to collapse to the floor in tears and pain, Champion laid beside him in an effort to comfort Alex. Alex felt lightheaded and so he decided to put on different layers of clothing before limping up to bed and talking to sleep with Champion on his legs.