I wake up shivering, a giant animal snuggles against me, The giant lizard chirps, “Are you ok?” “Yeah.” A man bangs a gun’s stock on the cage, “Quiet!” The lizard hisses at him and he bangs again. “Leave us alone!” “Quiet, hippie!” I rub the lizard, surprisingly warm in this weather, even with roof fans blowing all the cold air. “It’s getting colder out here.” I look up on a wall, a digital sign, -40 F°

My eyes widen, how am I even alive? Barely have a jacket on. My heart sinks as I look over at another cage, a bloody human skeleton and a wolf snuggles next to its family for warmth, Also dead. They look sunken, weak. All around me, dying animals, people that have long since frozen to death.

In and out of the sleep we could get, snuggling for warmth in the darkness alone, you tend to lose time. Time. I chuckle- Time is irrelevant here. The lizard stops shivering, it chirps weak as I rub his hide, “It’s ok. You can go.” “Get these bastards!” I feel the lizard go limp. I sniffle as I look up at the clock. -50 F°

I frown, then the barn doors open, “Get em’ in there!” I get up to on knees and grab the chilled bars, “Calico!” She lays down, defeated by time and pressure. That man stands over me, “Now, how are you not dead?” “Yeah, sir, he’s been touching the bars with bare hands, he’s only shivered once since he’s been in here.” He sighs, “He’s like me, I guess. Bring him to the interrogation room.” They open the cage and I scoot away. They simply grab an arm each and drag me out.

I shout, “Let Calico go!” He laughs, “He’s still on that?! Shut him up!” They smack my head with a rifle.

I try to grab my head, but I’m handcuffed to the table. I jerk them and go limp. The man walks in and plops down in the seat, “Like the space heaters? I don’t.” “Because you’re cold?” “I wondered since you got here, you don’t seem like an upstanding citizen.” I lift my head in disgust, “I kill these animals and get paid to. Tell you what? I’m going to make you the offer my pops gave me, leave childish ambitions at the door.” I huff, “They aren’t childish ambitions.” “I’m offering you a job, a desk and six figures. You don’t even have to see these so-called friends dying.” I lean in, “Don’t you get it?” His frosted hand forms a fist as I make claws with my hands, “Jennafil has changed. It’s getting colder out here and you’re thinking about worthless paper?!” His eyes sparkle, as if he found someone that gets him, “So you want actual riches? Gold? Property? Women? We got it.” I bang on the table, “Listen to me! Things are going to get worse!” He lowers his hands on the table slowly, “We have enough to last us decades.” “No, you don’t.” He smiles as I continue, “You’re Wendell Onyx. You know you get shipments from lady liberty every so often.” His smile fades, “You’re out of things. Hell, you’re using your barn as a giant freezer.” The table grows colder, despite the heaters. “Sounds like you just want to suffer, you want back in the barn?” “Go ahead.” He blows air out his nose. “Job offer’s still on the table, bratva enforcer.” I squint, “Yeah, that’s where the coke was going, kid. To us- If want a bump, you gotta play nice.”