The Cold Embrace of Family

Phil’s indignant squawk drifted across the tundra to Wilbur’s ears. He sat up from where he lay sprawled in the snow, swiping the clumps from his hair and glancing at his father.One of his mother’s crows landed on Wilbur’s shoulder, nipping at his ear. Wilbur cringed away from it with a frown. “Quit it you.” He paused though, when he caught sight of something in the haze of the snowfall.Far away, gray and hazy, a dark lump lay in the snow. Wilbur squinted, unable to make out any details in the winter flurry.He stood and trod closer, the crunch of his footfalls too loud in the cold silence. He couldn’t hear his father or Techno anymore, but the warning to stay close had been forgotten in his curiosity.Another, smaller form came into focus through the haze, hunched over the larger. A cry drifted between the snowflakes and to Wilbur.Wilbur neared the mysterious shapes and realized it was the form of a dead human curled in the snow. It was on its side and half buried by the snowstorm. Beside it, a young child sobbed, shivering in the cold.