Linda woke in a frost-covered field. Naked and freezing, she wandered away from her resting place; crawling on her hands and knees because her legs were too shaky from fear and cold to stand. Linda searched for warmth.
Rubbing her arms for the warmth of the friction, Linda suddenly realized that there were others. People nude and shivering, just like her. Linda continued to crawl, shaking violently, through the snow, searching for heat, or at least someone to help her; the others did not even seem to notice her. As she crawled further away from the place where she awoke, further away from the miserable people like her, she noticed more people in the distance.
"Help!" She tried to scream, but it came out a croak, as even her vocal cords seemed to be frozen.
The people heard her, and turned to stare at her, but made no move to help. They also looked miserable. She rose slowly to her feet.
"No one can help you now." Linda heard a voice whisper in her ear.
She wanted to turn to see who was there, but she didn't have the strength. Linda instantly thought that it was her own voice inside her mind. She drew closer to the other inhabitants of the snowy plain. As she moved closer, holding her arms together, her shivering stopped and she became calm. As she tried to keep herself from becoming sleepy, she noticed that the people she saw were also naked, but, unlike Linda, they had blisters and open sores completely covering their bodies. Each of them had a look of agony on their face.
Linda forgot her troubles for the moment and backed away with disgust. She was afraid to venture any further. Her teeth began to chatter. It was indeed colder in this portion of the plain that in her own portion. It seemed to get even colder with every step she took away from where she woke up.
Even though frightened, Linda walked further down the plain, her teeth chattering so badly her jaw was beginning to ache. Within a few steps, in addition to the chattering of her teeth, she began to shiver uncontrollably. The snow was thicker here, and there was no one around. Linda shook so badly she fell to the ground. Her legs just could not support the weight of her body any longer. Linda began to cry painful, frozen tears.
The area was blanketed in thick snow, making her surroundings very white, and extremely bright. Linda refused to open her eyes. Every time she did, the light blinded her intensely, to the point of agony.