The second collaborative writing challenge for Thriller! 5 people need to participate in this challenge, and at least 2,000 words total should be written.


Zai squints upwards into the snow. “It's falling even faster,” he says, turning back to the campers and wiping a clump of snow off of his nose. “We need to find shelter, quickly.”
“I can't see anything but the snow,” Inky says, burying her face into her scarf as she peers across the flat, seemingly endless field of snow. “Are you sure we're going the right way?”
“We're bound to find something eventually!” Moss shrugs. "I just hope we don't freeze first…

Continue the above story for at least 2000 words, incorporating at least three of the obstacles below as you journey in search of shelter:
1. An angry polar bear
2. An avalanche
3. An ice-covered lake
4. An abandoned igloo
5. A narwhal
6. A deep crevasse

Kenzie trudged up behind the others. They had started to climb a hill covered with snow. Kenzie was about to ask if they were anywhere near shelter when suddenly she heard a deep rumbling sound.
“It's an avalanche!” Kenzie screamed, “Take cover!”
She ran over to a big boulder and got on top. She saw most of her friends go under in the snow. Will we be, okay? She wondered. Kenzie closed her eyes and held onto the boulder as tightly as she could.
A few minutes later after what seemed like forever it stopped. There was silence all around. Kenzie could not see anyone. Suddenly she saw a checkered tan scarf that looked like Zaine's. She picked it up and shouted, “Zaine! Zaine! Where are you?” Kenzie looked around but did not see anybody. She pushed through the snow in hopes of seeing a sign of any of her friends.
“Moss! Zaine! Inky! Anybody? Please show yourselves!” Kenzie cried.
Suddenly she saw a finger pointing up in the snow. It was red from the cold, and it was wiggling up. She ran over and started pushing the snow away. A hand… An arm… A shoulder… Finally, she uncovered the body and discovered it was Zaine. She helped him get up and gave him his scarf. Then she gave him some handwarmers and some other stuff.
After that she went around and looked for the others.
After two hours she found everyone. She helped them all stand up and she gave them each some hand warmers and extra gloves, scarves, and hats. And they started on their journey for a little bit longer..

273 words!

“I'm so c-cold,” Ayid shivered, “I h-hope we'll find somewhere w-warmer.”

The other campers around her nodded. One of them pointed to a snowy hill to their right, “Why don't we go over there to see what we might find?”

The others nodded and they started the trek up the hill.

Ayid struggled to keep up with the rest of the group. She wasn't very athletic before she accepted her invitation. It was a strain to pull one leg after another in the deep snow. Ayid hoped that would be the end of the snowy tundra. Maybe at the top of the hill they'll see a nice warm cottage in the forest. She wouldn't mind that.

Inky reached the top first and let out a moan, “Ugh. It's just an icy lake.”

Ayid's hopes deflated. Of course, just their luck.

Soon enough, she too had reached the summit of the hill. She looked out onto the vast frozen lake.

Should they cross it? The ice seemed thick enough to hold their weight…


exactly 1555 words left!

Bree shivered; she didn't know whether to cross the lake or not. Bree struggled to find the courage to do so. It seemed it was hidden in the snow, and Bree had to find it.

Bree slowly walked across, only for the ice to break seconds later.

“No!” One of her fellow cabin-mates yelled. Bree shouted, only for it to be drowned by a weird sound below her.

She then attempted to pull herself up, though it wasn't enough. Bree gave all her strength, only for it to be dumped far down into the waters below.

Suddenly, her hands slipped on the ice, and she fell into the water. The iceberg collapsed, and she was stuck underneath it. Bree heard the muffled cries of her friends above, but the sound below her came closer..

closer.

closer.

And Bree managed to find the willpower to shoot her head above the icy waters. She saw something sharp below, and getting impaled by it was definitely not what she wanted today. But slowly, her eyes closed. Amongst the cold, her consciousness started to leave. Bree yelled once again, but it was drowned out. And her soul would be too, if she didn't do something. Fast.

But Bree couldn't. She just couldn't. Her body lay limp, slowly sinking down near the sharp cylinder-like object. She was going to die.

225 words, 1330 words left.

Lizzy screamed as she saw Bree’s figure descend further and further into the depths of the lake. Luckily, no one else had fallen into the lake, but there was no one who was close enough to try to reach Bree. An icy fear latched at Lizzy’s heart. Were we losing a party member?

Suddenly, a dark figure slithered through the shadows of the ice. Lizzy couldn’t quite make out what it was, but she didn’t think it would be too kind.

Fortunately, she was wrong about that.

Bree’s limp body resurfaced. She was on the back of a giant narwhal.

A wave of relief washed over Lizzy, and she sighed, suddenly realizing how tense her body was. Once she got out of here, she was definitely getting a well deserved spa day.

A group of people hurried towards the narwhal to get Bree off of it, and carefully carried her back to the group. She was sputtering water and looked a few shades bluer, but she was alive nonetheless.

Lizzy looked back at the narwhal which was still hovering near the surface. It was actually quite a pretty narwhal. Dark speckled spots on top of a smooth light gray, with a long horn sticking out from the forehead. Lizzy had never seen a narwhal in person before. Despite its size and really sharp horn, it actually looked very friendly.

Lizzy considered approaching it, but she knew that the ice in that area was very thin, so she merely nodded at the narwhal, as if to thank it for saving Bree’s life. She wasn’t sure whether the creature understood the gesture or not. The narwhal then promptly turned away and swam towards the depths of the lake once more.

When Lizzy turned back towards the rest of the group, Bree was back on her feet, although she looked very disheveled. Actually, everyone looked very disheveled. They had eaten tons of food at the party, but all the stress from being locked in and trudging through the snowstorm made everybody very hungry. Luckily, they had brought all the food that they could with them, but they were still in need of more warmth (the party clothing hardly offered any protection to the cold). With Bree’s fall into the lake, she was under the danger of getting hypothermia. Everyone knew they needed to find a place to rest.

The snow was starting to fall even quicker now. Lizzy had to squint to see through it all. She could tell that the group’s time in the snowstorm was starting to take a toll on them. They were moving even slower than they had before. Lizzy began to grow concerned. It was likely that everyone would freeze to death, given their current situation.

Lizzy found herself wondering how such a snow landscape even formed. The building that the party had been held in was surrounded by plain greenery. It wasn’t even close to winter. It was likely that this vast room was some kind of massive underground terrarium that the hosts had built. Though Lizzy had no idea why they would want to build such a thing. How much would that even cost? Anyway, considering how big the area seemed to be, the hosts probably would’ve added some sort of area for shelter or food. After all, if the hosts themselves became lost in the endless fields, they needed some sort of backup plan.

With this thought, Lizzy garnered newfound determination. She trudged through the snow piling at her feet, forcing herself to use the last few drops of strength she could find inside of her.

“Do any of you guys see anything?” Inky asked, concern lacing her voice. “There has to be something we can use to get out of here.”

“Logically speaking, there should be some form of shelter out here,” Lizzy replied, raising her voice over the chilling gusts of wind. “Would it be wiser to split up?”

“I’m not sure that’s the best idea,” Zai added. “We need to rely on each other for strength. I suggest that we travel in a huddled group, and alternate places every once in a while so that those towards the outer area can have a chance to walk in the middle area.”

“And we should keep an eye out for anything we can use to our advantage,” Moss added.

Everyone nodded collectively, and they began to form a tight group so that they could huddle for warmth. The party members shuffled forward awkwardly, but Lizzy could tell that she wasn’t as cold as she previously was.

After the group had rounded a corner around a large hill, Lizzy noticed something. The snow in the area was significantly shorter in depth than where they had previously been walking, even though there was still plenty of snow falling. It was likely that someone had been walking around, and they had even remained in the place for a while. Was it possible that there was shelter here?

Just as Lizzy had this thought, she heard a voice shout.

“I see a figure up ahead! It looks like an igloo!”

852 words
478 words left

“An igloo?!” Ayla said “Thank gods! i’m FREEZING!” she said. They headed toward the igloo. The snow was deep and they all sank into it, finally FINALLY they reached the igloo. Ayla pointed her head inside and almost yelled. A large polar bear was eating something, she didn’t know what it was, and didn’t want to find out. Ayla pulled her head out “i-um-There’s a polar bear in there!” she said nervously. “But we NEED to get in there!” A camper said “Well I’M not dealing with a polar bear!” Ayla said. “But we need to shelter!” someone said “Maybe we could lure it out. Like, with maybe some food?” she said. “But we need that food!” Someone said “Would you rather freeze to death, starve, or get aten by a polar bear?” Ayla said. Everyone was silent. “Well, let’s lure it out then” she said.

Kenzie was really surprised when she found out there was a polar bear in the igloo. She looked back at Zaine and silently thought. Can you take care of it? I know that you are a polar bear whisperer.

Zaine stared back at her like she was crazy, and he gave a look that seemed to say, Are you crazy? I've never tried talking to polar bears! I told you that I like polar bears! Not talk to them!

Kenzie told him, “Well maybe at least try. Okay?”

Zaine sighed and walked up to the polar bear. He started squawking like a bird. “Opp wrong language.” He spoke. Then he started making grunting sounds at the polar bear. “GRUUUNT GRUNNNT!” Zaine said.

The polar bear glanced at him and seemed to say, “Do I have to move?” It then made a really loud annoyed sounding grunt. It advanced forward.

All the other campers backed out of its way. Some of the other campers then glanced at Zaine and one asked him. “You can talk to Polar Bears? Omg that is so cool! Can you also talk to cats?”

Zaine laughed and said, “I'm not sure if I can talk to cats but I know I can talk to polar bears! But now is not the time to talk about animal whispering. We some free shelter so we better use it.”

Kenzie led the way into the igloo and discovered it was way bigger than it looked. In the corner she saw a little tunnel that she was barely small enough to fit in. She looked around and then put down her backpack. “We might as well settle down in here for a little while. Maybe huddle together to try and stay warm.” Inky said.

Suddenly, another camper noticed the crawl hole and said, “Woah! Look at that! I wonder what's down there.” The camper crawled to the crawl hole and was going to crawl down when suddenly she slept down and disappeared out of sight.

That's all of it! We don't need to write anymore but if any of you are interested in writing some for it feel free to I guess xD