Quickly changing into the sweats and the sweater, I hurried downstairs and pulled on my snow boots. If Kyler was out there with potential bad stuff going down, I could be out there too, at least keeping an eye out for him while he put some gas in the generator.

I grabbed my jacket off the back of the kitchen chair. Zipping it up, I opened the front door and took a face full of blowing snow. “Holy snow balls in hell!”

Kyler’s footsteps had barely made a dent in the drift of snow covering the steps leading off the porch. Unwilling to fall again, I held onto the banister as I carefully shuffled through the packed snow. Not once did my boots sink through and hit the wooden steps. Jesus. This was some heavy snow.

In the fading light and through the whirling snow, I could see the downed pine tree to my left and the snapped electric lines whipping in the wind. There was a slight path in the snow, where it had to have been disrupted by Kyler.

I followed it around the house, wading more than walking. My hands were shoved deep in my pockets, but I already felt the cold biting into them. I couldn’t feel my nose or my cheeks as I rounded the side of the house.

He was crouched beside a pile of snow, a shovel clenched tightly in his hands as he stared at the backup generator.

“Kyler?” The wind carried my voice to him.

His head snapped in my direction and he rose quickly. “Syd? What in the hell are you doing out here? I told you—”

“I know.” I waddled closer to him, teeth chattering. “But you shouldn’t be out here by yourself.” I pulled out my hand, tugging my wet and now icy hair back from my face. “I can keep watch.”

“Jesus, you’re going to catch pneumonia!” Red splotches colored his cheeks.

“That’s n-not true. You can’t get a cold from a w-wet head.” Sniffling, I turned my attention to the generator, my eyes narrowing against the stinging wind. “Is it o-out of gas?”

He stared at me a moment, expression stormy as he turned back to the generator. “No. There’s gas in it, but someone cut the fucking lines going into the house.”

My mind rebelled against what he had said, but I saw a long disruption in the snow, leading away from the generator to the surrounding woods—a trail that looked to have been made by skis. “No. No w-way.”

Kyler moved through the drifting snow with more ease than me and reached behind the generator, pulling out sliced wires. “Completely cut.”

I stared at those wires, heart sinking. Fear slushed its way through my system. “This isn’t g-good.”

“No.” He dropped the wires and turned to me. “We need to get back inside. Now.”