The mist hung with dark satisfaction over the snowbound city, its tall buildings towering over the few remaining inhabitants like frozen gods. The snow had been the first onslaught, its murderous intentions hidden amongst the pleasures of children with their sleighs and snowman. Three days later, still coming heavy the heavens had thrown the next gauntlet down. That icy mix of snow and rain came down in torrents, scaring the artificial men, ripping their skin and pummelling the lovingly made bodies into a mass of cold ice and coal eyes.

Media paved the way of safety, the government gave advice and in general the people listened. Those that didn’t often found their cars surrounded by death, slowly, coldly crawling into the engines and heaters until mans greatest invention gave up the ghost and died. The occupants trapped in ice enclosed machines as the sleet and snow continued to fall from the dark grey clouds. Power outages soon followed and then even the wise ones found themselves huddled around gas fired heaters and wrapped in layers of blankets. Food and heat became scarce, water on tap even more so.

Eventually they realised this was no ordinary winter; one week of constant snow had thrown a civilised people into disarray. As Jack Frost bit into the people and housings so did disruption become total on the power grid. Water mains burst causing country wide panic, the gas pipes soon followed leaving behind massive wounds when ignited. Slowly everything ground to a halt.

A few against the advice of others dared to venture to warmer climes. Wrapped up in scarves and blankets they advanced on the cold bitter streets, the wind pushing the deadly cargo of ice-cold sleet and snow into every crevice of clothing. Howling in gusts of 60 mph, the now sodden clothes soon froze, rapidly decreasing the temperatures of those who dared tempt nature. Some lasted hours, none managed a day. And still the heavens delivered the cold gift on the poor dead souls until not a one could be seen under the feet of snow.

As the frozen weather continued the buildings concrete and architecture started to revolt. Starting with the windows that cracked under extreme temperatures and then shattering in random directions leaving the occupants scrambling for furniture to block the mind numbing cold, and tend to the wounds brought about by the sudden unexpected implosions. The deep cuts and lacerations becoming infected and with no medical help available death soon followed. The foundations and walls unable to withstand the bite of this winter and the damage invariably led to the disaster of ruined buildings and unsafe housings. Many more died due to collapsed ruins than the snow had taken.

To the north no one survived past the first week and as the cold crept its way further south the tendrils of ice spread its fingers slowly engulfing a whole nation. The snow was followed by the glaciers, moving at incredible speeds and with devastating slides the shards of diamond sharp death crashed down on mankind and its history. With each new day the knowledge of centuries vanished under vast mountains of ice. As these movable giants drove there way into lands unseen the wildlife they chased bore down into mans cities and dwellings. London itself heard the sound of the arctic wolf for the first time in the history of the planet and with that noise the few remaining residents learnt of a new threat to overcome, that of being the hunted.

After a month all communication ceased. Satellites continued transmitting electronic data but now there was no-one left to hear. The view afforded four euronauts in the European Space Station was as beautiful as it was deadly. Where once before they saw a blue green planet covered in life giving water, now it showed a world covered in ice, slowly engulfing the globe with deadly precision. They counted their days patiently, waiting with dignity until the last drop of liquid oxygen was transferred to the circulation tanks and evaporated into breathable life.

The cold persisted alongside the winds and quickly the Earth’s temperature dropped lower than anything man had recorded. The last remaining remnants of human life faded, soon after the animals followed suit until all that was left existed in hot lava streams, fathoms deep beneath the frozen seas surface.

All that once was had now passed. All that was learnt was lost. The few remaining guardians stood proud for eons, a symbol of engineering and science. Yet no-one would ever see them, or understand these three hundred storey giants. Winter had come to mankind for the last time and no other season would follow. Christmas was here and as if listening to the echoes of children, it was white.