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knocked her hands loose and she slid backward in the snow. She saw other guards sliding also.
    "We need to get to better cover!" she screamed as loudly as she could. She hoped her voice wasn't lost in the wind. "We'll get separated like this!"
    She saw those nearest her nod in assent. Maylee dug her gloved hands into the snow until she found dirt and roots underneath. She pulled herself forward, forcing herself to her knees.
    The wind roared in her ears and snow pelted her face. She looked left to right as best she could. The clouds of snow were blinding, but she could make out a small group of trees to her left. It would be better than nothing.
    "There!" she screamed, pointing to her left. The wind pulled at her arm, so strong she had trouble holding it out straight. She saw those nearest her look and nod.
    Maylee turned slowly in the roaring wind and snow, her limbs aching from the effort. She took one last look at the trees to make sure she was headed the right way. The wind and snow made them look farther off than Maylee knew them to be. She put her head down and crawled.
    She'd made it a foot or two when she felt something snag her right leg. She craned her head around, wincing as the snow pounded in her ear, and looked.
    A legless corpse, partially covered by snow, held onto her right ankle with a torn, frozen hand. Its mouth opened and closed. Maylee knew it was groaning, but all she could hear was roaring wind.
    She lifted up her free leg to kick the corpse. She was mid-kick when a huge gust of wind whipped under her and spun her onto her back. She slammed into the ground and sputtered up at the sky. Her bat, still stuck in her coat, dug into her spine painfully. She felt the nails she'd driven through her bat. It hurt, but she didn't think they'd reached skin. Snow whipped by overhead. She lifted her right leg up as far as she dared and looked. The corpse's hand still clutched at her leg, but the rest of the corpse was no longer attached. The wind had torn it free.
    A second gust of wind caught Maylee's side and she slid across the snow, out of control in the wind. She hit a bump in the ground and rolled. As she spun, she saw the other guards sliding and rolling with her. She cursed herself. She'd led them into a storm and gotten them killed. She'd never see her mother and brother again.
    She spun over onto her stomach and dug her hands into the snow. She found something solid—a root, maybe, it was hard to be sure—and gripped it tight. She kicked her leg in the snow behind her until she felt the dead hand fall free. The wind roared and snow whipped around her. She blinked into the pelting snow, seeing the shapes of guards falling and rolling around.
    Something large and dark raced toward her in the wind. She blinked and the shape resolved. It was a deer corpse, bloody and bent.
    She screamed soundlessly into the wind and the deer carcass slammed into her face. Her grip slipped and she spun around in the snow. Another gust caught her and she slid to her right. She had no idea where she was anymore, no idea where the others were. The wind was too strong and the snow too thick to even see the walls of the town anymore.
    For a few more moments the whole world was full of wind and snow. Ice pelted Maylee’s face and ears. She clawed desperately at the snow but found nothing to hold. She rolled and slid, out of control and feeling she would lose her mind.
    Finally, the wind relented, so slowly Maylee thought she was imagining it. But soon it was obvious. The roar died and the clouds of snow began to thin. Maylee became aware of guards all around her, clustered together more closely than she would have expected. A few more seconds and she could make out the tree line behind them and the town walls to the left. She could hear guards shouting to her and each other.
    A few more seconds passed and things were normal. Snow stopped pelting her. She could hear normally again. All around her guards cursed and panted. Her heart