A Very Dark Winter
(A Pandemic FairyTale Story)
Once upon a Time, there was an old man named Normandy. He lived and survived through the most horrific cold winter in history. This is the story of how the old man survived.
It was a cold December day, it was also very dark. It was dark due to the power grid shutting off. Old Normandy had been wise and had stocked up on food many months before winter because he kept hearing Prince Harry Ligs warning the people about the Very Dark Winter that would be coming. Yet he was almost out of all the food he stocked up. He woke up with his nightcap on and his pajamas and his winter coat and an icicle hanging from his nose. He could see the air in a cloud puff as he breathed. There had not been power for months now. He got up to put some wood in the fireplace and he only has a few pieces left. He made a small fire to take out the sting of the cold if that was even possible.
He craved a hot drink of coffee, but coffee was one of the first things to disappear. It got stuck on the shipping boats that were stuck in the water and never arrived. He decided just to heat some water over his fire and he cut off a piece of his leather from his boot and put it in his cup for an added taste. As Normandy was enjoying his leather drink and was concerned that he was out of wood and the woods near him was getting bare. He would have to search for a new place to chop wood. He had not left his secluded cottage in months because he feared what could be happening in the outside world.
He had no choice, he would have to venture out or freeze to death. So he changed his clothes and got ready for his adventure. He was excited but also nervous about what to expect. He started walking into town, the wind howling and snow blowing in his face.
He was headed towards a forest near the closest town when he saw a long line of people waiting outside a store. He decided to walk towards them and check out what the store sells. As he walked towards the store he passed other stores, that each had signs that said permanently closed due to staff shortages. He was happy to see people again, and they did not look dangerous. It was families and children but they were in very raggedy looking clothes and looked very pale some of them had a greenish tint on their skin. He asked the person that was in the back of the line what they sold at this store. The young man said they sell, applesauce, alcohol, pipes, wood, and matches but they also give one piece of bread and a cup of water every day for free. Most of the people in this line are for the free bread and water said the Young man, They do not accept cash but will trade with any valuables you may have. They also will not accept trades or give free food if you are not a 10 Vaxxer. What is a 10 Vaxxer said, Normandy? It is if you had your first vaccine but then also at least 10 booster shots. If you are not a 10 Vaxxer you are identified as fully Vaxxed. There are a few stores around the corner that are more lenient and will accept your card or vaccine tattoo if you are 6 and above Vaxxer. Normandy cringed and then thanked the young man for his help and left to check out the other stores around the corner.
As he turned the corner he saw a few more stores with masses of people in line with a sign that said Vaxx 6 and up Only. Some people were laying in sleeping bags as they waited in line. There was a park nearby and there were lots of tents set up and people gathered there like it was a community of some sort. He went to one of the ends of the long lines and asked a woman all bundled up who he could barely see her face, what are where all the tents were for? She said that people live in tents because they were forced out of their homes. They also pitched their tents there because they have to wait in line at least 22 hours each day to get their free bread and then they can get in liner quicker if their tent is close to the store. She said the park on the eastside is for Vaxx10 and then the westside park is for the Unvaccinated which includes anyone that is not Vaxx10. The Draco Police come to an inspection each night to make sure everyone is in the right place. Normandy asked the woman how the Unvaccinated eat if there is no free bread and water available to them. She said a lot of time friends and family members secretly share with them but if the Draco Police finds out they will put them in the camp cage. She explained that most of the unvaccinated took off from this area and created a savage tribe in the Cascade mountains. Normandy thanked the lady and gave her some marbles from his bag. He said, here, maybe you can barter with these for something. She was very thankful and pulled out 3 sticks of wood from her knapsack and gave them to Normandy.
Normandy was very pleased with the sticks. He was also getting hungry and only had a few cans of food left at home. He thought he better return before it starts getting dark and even colder. His hands were now frozen and his legs and feet were so numb it felt like he had wooded sticks for feet as he walked. He knew a shortcut to get back to his cottage. He walked with his wooden-like legs as fast as possible and went down the street, he went past house after house that was abandoned and boarded up. As he looked into the window of one house he saw a wolf and then he also noticed a whole family of wolves that lived in the house, the next house had a house full of skunks and the next one had monkeys!
Before the last power outage, he had heard how most of the animals from the zoos escaped because of staff shortages. This was quite freighting to the old man and he tried to speed up because it was getting darker now and he looked around and thought he saw a tiger behind him. He didn't know if it was his imagination getting the best of him. He looked around again and did not see or hear a tiger but he was still scared. He slipped on some ice and bad because he could see some blood dripping out of his pant leg. He was determined to keep going. He got up and kept walking but limping now. He couldn't see well with all the snow blowing in his face. He came across a bunch of Cages that looked like mini jails. They had metal bars all around them but not plastic or glass walls. No Walls just metal bars. There were signs on each cage, with a number and then a reason why the person was put in jail. C-4092 was put in because he refused the 8th Booster shot. D-3849 was put in for leaving his Church open. C-837 was put in for giving food to the unvaccinated. D-384 was put in jail for a social media violation. It also said 12 years old on the social media one. Then Normandy saw skeleton hands hanging out of the cage. This frightened him and he quickly limped home.
He was so exhausted when he got home but he used the 3 little sticks to make a small fire and he cleaned and treated his wound. He used to be a Vetirnnairan before he lost his job. So he knew a little bit about medicine. As he was falling asleep the Tv twitched and made a fuzzy sound that woke him up, he limped to the Tv, excited that the power might be back on, and saw Prince Harry Liggs warn the people, It's going to be a Very Dark Winter, the statement repeated itself a few times before making a static sound and turning off. Normandy was too tired to be upset about the power going off that he fell asleep quickly in his sleeping bag near the small fire.
When he awoke the next day he couldn't stop thinking about all the people he had seen the day before. He looked around his cottage and put things in a bag that he thought might be valuable for trading. He headed out for town. The day was cold but not as windy as yesterday and the sun was out. What a glorious day thought Normandy.
He hadn't felt this good since the Very Dark Winter had started. Maybe because he was so isolated in his cabin for so long and he was sick of talking to his imaginary friend named Curtis. Maybe he could even barter with some of his medical skills he thought. He was so filled with hope as he walked along the path to the town.
As he approached the town he smelt a most marvelous smell. It smelled like chicken wings! He had to be imaging this! he saw a big smoke and it was coming from the unvaccinated area and he saw a big fire and people in a line for food. the food was so intoxicating he had to come closer to the fire. He saw a little girl with a frog leg on her plate. He looked closer at the fire and saw some men roasting frogs on long skewers. He lined up with the rest of the people and when he got to the front of the line he held his hand open and was surprised they let him have a frog. No vaccine passport! What a glorious day indeed it was. It was crispy and tasted just chicken.. it was so warm and made his whole body warm-up. A lady asked him if he would want some drink too. Of course, said Normandy and she gave him a mug. Normandy thought today feels just like Christmas with the way this day is going. Although he did not know which day it was because he had lost track. He drank a sip of the cup he realized it was pure alcohol. He spits it out but then decided to drink it because made it would warm him more. At least it was hot.
What a glorious day it was indeed. He decided to sit down and drink his alcohol and sit on a blanket with the other Unvaccinated people. A girl about 12 years old started to ask Normandy if he living in her village area. Normandy said no, that he was just traveling through. The girl wore a long dress and a light jacket and a light scarf. "I am so excited, Today is Christmas Eve!" said the girl. It is? said Normany, I did not know that! "Yes," said her mother that just come back with her frog legs. "Hi, I am Molly Green, I am Ginger's mother, Ginger is so excited about Christmas". At this point, Normandy was halfway into his drink and thought the effect of his drink was starting to take place. "How exciting!" replied Normandy. Going along with the Christmas insanity. Eventually, the girl was even getting Normandy to be excited about Christmas when he realized he had been drinking and that there would be no Christmas only a Very Dark Winter.
Molly the mom said, "The Christmas boat will come in with toys for children!" "Wow, how delightful! said Normandy. Now completely warmed from the drink and the fog legs. He was so glad to be talking about such things that made his heart happy that he gave the girl his coat. His mother said, "You will freeze!" Normandy said he had more coats and that he needed to start heading off now. The young girl was so excited about the coat she gave Normandy a big hug. The mom had a big smile on her face and said, "Before you leave I want I want to give you some more frog legs and some sticks". Normandy was very grateful and thought maybe tonight really was Christmas Eve because it sure felt like it, he could feel the Christmas Spirit. There had not been Christmas for 5 years now, but Halloween had never been canceled. During Halloween, there were not even social distancing rules enforced. He walked the long way home this time, avoiding the village of Wild beasts and camp cages. He never even felt cold as he walked home. His heart was warm and the warmth went to his whole body.
The next morning, Normandy ate some of the frog legs and his make-believe coffee leather drink. He had come to welcome this drink in the morning. He heard the Tv flicker on and it was a news report that said the wild beasts were starting to hunt more people for food. Yikes, thought Normandy. He saw packs of lions running down the streets of California. Then right before it turned off I heard the words of the Prince repeat, Very Daaaark Winter, Ver Dark Winterrrrrr, Very Dark Winterrrrr , and then it froze and turned off. Normandy was still feeling so good about last night and thought he would go to Unvaccinated Village and see if someone needed his medical services there and maybe he could stop and try to hunt a bunny on the way.
He headed to the Unvaccinated Village, it was another cold but sunny day. He had his bow and arrow with him in case he saw a bunny or squirrel. He saw something moving in the trees. He aimed his bow and arrow and shot! He missed, the arrow stuck in the tree. He heard a sound, but a very weird animal sound. Then he noticed it was a monkey in the tree! Then he remembered how there was a whole house of monkeys that lived up the street.
As he was coming near the town he saw officers with helmets and guns and there were about 50 of them and they had a badge of a dragon on their coats. Normandy thought that was weird because a dragon was never the symbol of their country. He had never seen these officers before but this but then again this is the first week out in the world since The Very Dark Winter started. One man was on his knees pleading for his daughter. The officer hit the man in the face with a bat. These people were rounded up for sleeping in the Vax10 village. They were all in handcuffs and chains connected all together. They were hauled away in a truck called Draco World Peace.
He went to the unvaccinated camp and when he arrived, Ginger ran up to him very excited and gave him another hug. "Normy!, she said I have to tell you something, Merry Christmas!" "Merry Christmas to you," said Normandy not wanting to disappoint her. Molly, Ginger's mom said, "Yes, we have news that Christmas toys will be arriving soon!" Normandy wanted someone to pinch him because he was completely sober now. Molly explained that the Pure-blood Pirates will be the ones coming to deliver the presents. "Huh?" said, Normandy. "Yes, the supply ship was stranded for 2 years without leaving, people were starving, so pirates took over the ships and took the merchandise themselves and they sell it at their pop-up stores," said Molly. "They are so kind that they said they would go around delivering toys to children".said Molly. She also mentioned that they are called Purebloods because they were never vaccinated. They are very strong and skilled in warfare and can fight off the Draco with ease, but they have to keep moving as nomads. Molly said is very unusual to meet a PureBlood, because most of the people even in the unvaccinated village have at least a few jabs.
It started getting a bit windier but the sun was large and blazing in the sky. Normandy wondered what it would be like to visit the Vaxx10 village but he didn't have a vaccine passport so he would not be able to, but he noticed just from looking at it that the people there had more blankets and cots, but they did not look any healthier then the unvaccinated group and there was a lot less of them living in there. They were always quiet and isolated and the Unvaccinated group seemed to work more as a community in sharing their food and making big fires every night.
Some boys ran into the unvaccinated village area, yelling, "They are here! they are here!" Ginger started jumping up and down with excitement. The boys pointed out the ships. Normandy couldn't believe his eyes when he saw 3 ships from a distance coming near. He could see a flag-waving from the Ship with the words PureBloods.
Finally, the ships got closer and started to dock. He saw a bunch of people dressed mainly in black with bandanas on despite the cold and some with furs hats on with bright green feathers. They did not look anything like the people from the villages. They looked healthy and strong and their clothes looked new. They started loading boxes out of the ships. Normandy stared in amazement. Most of the pirates were men but there was some Pirate woman too. Then there were some people that had lavender hair and they didn't look at all like the people wearing black clothes. The people with pink and purple hair did not have the PureBlood Symbol on their clothes but a name tag pinned onto their clothes that read Puka.
Curious about what was going on he asked Molly who the people with the different colored hair were and if they were pirates too. Molly said they were not Pirates but they had joined forces with the Pirates. A lot of social groups that were fighting against each other before the Very Dark Winter had joined forces to combat Prince Harry and his evil sidekick Dr. Ouchy.
Moly told him that the Puka group was an animal rights group that fiercely defended abused and mistreated animals. The Pirates and The Puka people joined to go on a mission to defeat the evil Dr. Ouchy from killing and torturing puppies. They were not successful because she heard reports Dr. Ouchi had escaped.
As all the Pirates and Puka people were leaving the Pirate Ships a woman dressed differently than all appeared in a white long dress and a white coat with white fur. She had a white eye patch over her eye and she wore a necklace that had the letters P and B. She had long dark burgundy hair and glowing skin. Normandy never saw a woman as beautiful as she was. With her pink glowing cheeks and cheery smiling lips. Her hair moved with the wind.
Who's the lady in white asked Normandy? The little girl answered I have heard many pirate stories of her. Her name is Scarlet Johnson. She is a fierce warrior and defender of the innocent. The pirates loaded in boxes to the Unvaxxed village tent area and started unboxing the toys inside and giving them out. "Merry Christmas!" they said to each child.
Children were playing with toys everywhere! The Pirate Costume and Toys were the favorite toys among the children because they wanted to be Pirates too when they grew up. They ran around in complete glee. The Puka people started giving out puppies but questioning the parents if they were really able to take care of them correctly. The puppies were from Dr. Ouchi's lab in Woah Hoe. They saved the puppies still alive and some of the tortured ones. They gave out lots of dog food to the new owners. Some people asked if they could have some dog food to eat for themselves. The Puka people said no way, but the pirates gave out the Dog Food to anyone that wanted it, even if they were not going to keep a puppy. Scarlet Johnson got up in front of the Unvaccinated Village and Made a beautiful Christmas Speech and Prayer and thanked God for his provisions. Everyone held lit candles and they sang banned songs that included Christmas songs, hymns, and old Pirate songs. It was illegal to sing these songs because they were now considered Hate speech songs under Prince Harry Liggs and the Evil Dr. Ouchi. It was a marvelous night and everyone sang them without fear that night.
Normandy had so much fun that Christmas night that he fell asleep at the Unvaccinated Village. He was enjoying himself so much in this community that he thought he could sleep there every night, then he would not be so alone. It was like he had a new family.
When he awoke in the morning he heard a little boy say, "Mommy, the puppy's eyes don't look so good and they are all red" The puppy was foaming from the mouth. Normandy being a former vet knew that this dog could have rabies or another Virus that Dr. Ouchi could have injected in the dog. The dog started growling and Normandy quickly grabbed a bucket nearby and trapped the puppy in it. He told the Puka people to round up the other puppies for observation. He gave the Puka people instructions on how to take care of the Puppies and to keep them away from the children and people till their observation period was over.
He had to quickly get home to get some Rabies medication to see if it would work. He tried to take his normal way but the Draco soldiers were back blocking the road. So he had to take the Wild Beast route. He was so filled with adrenaline that he didn't even care. What are some skunks and wolves anyways he thought? They are more scared of me, he thought. He ran, looking straight ahead, not to the left or to the right. He focused on the path ahead. He saw something in the snow, slithering... It looked White and blended with the snow.. It was a huge Snow Snake. Normandy started running as fast as he could. He was several blocks away and looked back and couldn't see the snake anymore. He was almost back to his cottage when he found a baby bear crying. Its leg was stuck under a large rock. The baby bear was so small and he knew it was not a threat at its age so he quickly picked it up and put it in his backpack. He knew he could treat the Bear back to health.
As he got back home he searched for some Rabies medicine but when he got to his medicine cabinet he discovered the Rabies Medicine was all out. All of a sudden he felt his house shake felt like the wind was circling his house. He heard a whirring sound looked out the window and it looked like a huge snowstorm was upon him.
When he awoke in the morning he tried to open the door to his cottage but snow would fall in the door. Never in his life did he see snow this high and deep and so frozen. The storm did not let up. The snowstorm continued and on the third day the power came on! His heat was working and he could watch T.V. All the shows were reruns and only 3 channels worked, but there was a 24-hour live stream. He was happy because he had no wood left. He also managed to find a bunch of cases of oysters in cans.
He made himself some oyster soup as he sat glued to the Tv. He found out a lot from the updates on the news. He thanked God for providing the miracle of heat during this Great Storm that never seemed to quit. He no longer had a view from his windows because the snow was so piled up it covered the complete view from the window.
He learned from the news that the Puka people couldn't contain the puppies and several of the puppies developed a virus that mimicked Rabies and that the dogs ended up attacking and killing some of the Dracko Police officers. The media blamed the killer dogs on the Pirates and not on Dr. Ouchi. There was a clip of Scarlet Johnson fighting a female Draco officer and doing some type of Martial arts. She had her hair in braids and was wearing all white again with white leather pants with white boots that had spike weapons on the bottom part of her boots. Wow, was she fierce thought Normandy. She kicked the Draco Officer in her mouth. It looked like a clip from MMA fight. The news reporter also announced that there were new allegations that Dr. Ouchi had imprisoned orphans to do experiments on them. He was still M.I.A.
Normandy went to sleep repeating the scene in his head of Pirate Pureblood Scarlet's fighting scene. The Winter storm went on for 4 weeks straight. The power would stay on for 6 days and go out one or two days and that pattern continued during the storm. Normandy was busy with the baby bear during that time and his foot had healed. He fed the bear oysters. He trained the bear and bonded with the bear and the bear slept near him, keeping him warm on the days that the power was out.
Normandy had to wait another month to get the front door open. He finally did. He thought maybe it was time for his bear to leave his cottage and reunite with his bear family. He brought the bear outside but the bear did not want to leave him so he let the bear stay with him.
One day when some wild Hyenas were surrounding his cottage, with one Roar from his bear, all the animals fled. This happened on more than one occasion with some snow leopards and some more dogs that were infected by Dr. Ouchi. Normandy let the bear out by himself because since more animals made their way towards his area he was scared to leave his cottage. The bear would bring back all sorts of dead animals for Normandy to cook.
Every night he snuggled with Bear and he was not lonely either. When the power was out for a week. Normandy rode on Bear's back and Bear brought him to a forest and Normandy could stand on Bear's back as he cut branches off of trees for wood. One Morning Normandy found Bear sleeping with his paw inside a book. Normandy looked closer it was the Bible. It was the same paw that had been hurt. He happened to look at the page the Bear had its paw in and maybe thought God was trying to tell him something. He looked at the page and He read Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
That really comforted Normandy and he continued to read encouraging scriptures during that Very Cold Winter and it helped diminish his fears of the horrific news. The scriptures strengthen his faith and gave him hope but Isaiah 41:10 was his spiritual weapon and he would need it to get through the Very Dark Winter. He even called Bear, Izzy because of the Isaiah scripture. Izzy is short for Isaiah.
The snow was starting to melt and he really wanted to check in and see how Molly and Ginger were doing. He felt confident that no animal could attack him with the Bear around.
So one morning, he decided to venture into town. He brought a bag of extra clothes and blankets for the village people. He rode on Izzy. The sun was out and the snow was melting. He did not see very many wild animals that moring except a few loners out there. Although the sun was out there was still blowing wind everywhere.
As he got close to the villages he saw no lines. No people. The stores that were once opened had the sign-up that said Shut for no staff. This was all too much for the old man and he started to weep uncontrollably because he did not know the fate of the people and felt guilty for not trying to help them more during the Great Blizzard.
Someone shouted from one of the tents, "Please help me". He got off Izzy and looked in all the abandoned tents and could not see anyone. He did not know if his mind was playing tricks on him. Finally, he did find someone in a tent. Practically frozen. It was the young man that he talked to when he first came into town. He got the young man on Bear and took him back to the cottage and used his medical expertise to bring the young man back to health. It took about 2 months for the young man to recover.
During those 2 months, the power would continue to come on and off and Bear continued to be a great help. As the young man made a complete recovery he was able to explain to Normandy what had happened when Normandy was gone. The Dogs with rabies escaped from the Puka people in the middle of the night. They ended up attacking and killing a lot of Draco Officers. The young man did not hear about any of the children or families getting hurt because the PureBloods were there to protect them. The Purebloods took as many Unvaccinated people as they could back on their ships and he heard they were going to take them to the Purebread Country up in the Cascade mountains where they would be well taken care of and safe. The soldiers that were not hurt from the puppies took the rest of the Vaxxed 10 group with them on a truck and it is still unknown where they ended up. I am 10Vaxxer but I was scared of the soldiers so I hid in the tent. I was hoping to go with the pirates but it was too late and the ships were gone quickly.
I prayed in the tent for God to save me, even though I am an atheist. I was giving up hope. I do not know how I survived the Great Blizzard and the Very cold Winter. I thought I kept hearing a voice keep telling me, So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Then as I was in and out of conscienceness I saw a vision of a man riding a bear. I just thought I was just hallucinating.
Normandy was delighted to tell him the Good News and how God had given him the same scripture, Isaiah 41:10, and God had sent a bear that named Izzy after Isaiah, to help him. The 10 Vaxxed man was full of great joy and did become a Believer in Jesus that day.
Soon the snow melted completely and birds were chirping in the air and flowers were starting to come out of the melted snow. A rescue team came knocking on the cottage and they were shocked to find two men and a bear inside. Normandy thanked God, and never forgot how during The Very Dark Winter when wild beasts went around devouring people. God had sent him a wild beast to help him and that is the Power of God and that is how old man Normandy Survived the Very Cold Winter.
The End
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:20
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