I’ve never seen a snowstorm like this in Australia. It’s been a constant blizzard for days and we have been cut off from civilisation.
I work maintenance at a small ski resort in the Snowy Mountains, which is one of the very few parts in Australia where we get enough snowfall to have a ski resort.
The snow season doesn’t start for a few weeks so we have been working hard to make sure all maintenance and preparation of the resort is completed before we open to the public.
Since this blizzard set in we have had a long string of tragic events take place. With authorities unable to get to us, I decided to share my short recount of what has taken place to date.
DAY 1 - A heavy blizzard has set in. Basically a complete white out. We get decent snowfall here over winter, but nothing like this. This looks like the video footage I’ve seen from research bases in Antarctica, with snow blowing horizontally and wind speeds reaching 100mph.
Myself and the other workers have been confined to the common recreational hall, only venturing outside to make the trek up to our accommodation which consists of two neighboring dormitories housing the fifteen onsite maintenance staff.
DAY 2 - Waking up that morning it was obvious we were well and truly snowed in. The sole road leading down the mountain is impassable, even if your vision wasn’t completely obstructed by the rampaging blizzard.
By mid morning we realised Chris was missing. He was last seen in the rec hall the night before. The last of us made the trek up to our rooms together, but Chris wanted to stay behind and finish watching a few episodes of Game of Thrones.
Once news broke that Chris was missing we spent hours searching for him. That afternoon his body was found. Chris was half buried in the snow 200m behind our dormitories. He must have lost his sense of direction walking the 100m from the rec hall up to our rooms, easy to do in weather like this. We never should have left him on his own.
Barry (Site Manager) made the phone call to the local police to report the incident. With the authorities unable to make it up the mountain any time soon we were instructed to try document our findings and leave Chris where he was.
That afternoon the entire crew gathered in the hall for a meeting. Barry paid tribute to our fallen colleague Chris and set out some guidelines to ensure this wasn’t to happen again. Recent weather reports stated this freak storm was likely to last another four or five days.
The plan was to go up to the dormitories in groups, pack what we needed for the next few days, then all head back to the recreational hall and wait out the storm. Fortunately the kitchen is stocked with enough food to last us a few weeks.
Once most of us had returned to the hall, the beers started flowing and our chef Bill started working some magic in the kitchen.
An almighty scream came from right outside the door. We all grew silent and looked at each other, questioning what we had just hears.
Suddenly the door to the hall exploded open and Sarah sprinted through it. She was white as a ghost with a look of fear swept across her face. Her normally bleach white hair was crimson red and what I assumed to be blood covered her hair, shoulders and parts of her face.
As she crossed the threshold to the hall she tripped and fell onto her stomach. She screamed out for help, reaching out towards us.
Puzzled, I looked at the others. What was she talking about? I began to walk towards her to help when I noticed the tentacle.
A dark purple tentacle, as thick as a man’s leg was wrapped around her ankle. The tentacle started to retract out the door, dragging her back with it. In a desperate effort she grabbed a hold of the door frame.
A moment of bravery overcame me, I bolted for Sarah, grabbing her other arm, attempting to pull her to safety.I yelled out to others, demanding they help. People rushed over and we all grabbed ahold of Sarah. It took several of us to start making any ground back.
What happened next has scarred me for life.
Another thick purple tentacle shot out of the blizzard. The projectile wrapped around Ben’s neck. Ben let go of Sarah and turned to face me. It was only a fraction of a second before he was flung off his feet and dragged outside by his throat.
I will never forget Ben’s face at that moment. It is burnt into my memory. Ben knew he was gone, a mixed look of fear and terror, but also a small amount of content. I don’t know how I could tell in that fraction of a second, but a part of me thinks that he was at peace with what inevitably faced him.
Possibly satisfied with Ben, the tentacle gripping Sarah released and we dragged her away from the door before slamming it shut.
We all stood around Sarah in silence. Shock setting in. Sarah was understandably a mess and she broke down sobbing into her hands while one of the girls tried to comfort her. I kneeled down beside Sarah and checked over her leg. Dark circular burn marks wrapped around her lower leg.
Once Sarah calmed down she explained to us that her and Eugene were on their way back from the dorms when Eugene was snatched by the creature. It didn’t take a genius to then work out that the blood covering Sarah was in fact Eugenes.
We made contact with the local authorities, but due to the conditions they still are unable, or unwilling to attempt to reach us.
It is clear Sarah needs urgent medical attention. Not to mention we don’t know what has happened to Eugene and Ben, I’m not proud to say that we are all too scared to go look for them. I think in all likelihood we can assume the worst. There are also several others yet to return to the hall from getting their belongings.
The rest of the night was quite uneventful. We tended to Sarah’s wounds and made further contact with the Police. Safe to say they didn’t believe our story, but as soon as conditions improve they are going to attempt to make it up to us given we now have multiple casualties and several missing.
DAY 3 - With three people having never returned to the rec hall, myself, Barry and Matt decided to head over to the dormitories. None of us were overly enthusiastic about the idea, but in the wake of the creature attack, we were hoping that the others were safe in the dorms. I also had a small hope that against all odds Ben would be OK. Naive I know.
We built up the courage to head out the door, leaving safety and warmth behind. Once outside the first thing I noticed was I couldn’t see shit.
It didn’t take long for us to find Ben. Not even 15m from the rec hall we found his remains. It wasn’t a pretty site, Ben’s carcass painted the surrounding snow in crimson red, encircled by chunks of flesh.
The rest of the walk to the dormitories was terrifying to say the least. As I already mentioned we couldn’t see more than a couple meters in front of us, and knowing the monster that slaughtered Ben was still out there didn’t help.
I’m not sure if I’m going crazy, but I swear I could see large blurry objects hovering just outside my peripheral. Every time I’d try to turn and catch sight of one it would be gone.
We made it to the dormitories, where we found the missing members. Roy, Greg and Jess had been too scared to make the journey back to the recreational hall. They’d been on their way down when they saw the monster attack Sarah and Eugene, so they made a swift retreat to the dorms.
It took some convincing, but eventually they all agreed to head back to the hall with us. They gathered their things and we all started making our way back down to the hall. Hindsight will show this wasn’t the best choice.
We formed a single file line for the walk back, everyone keeping their hand on the person in front of them. We didn’t want to risk anyone getting disorientated and suffering the same fate as Chris. Matt took the lead and I took anchor, with the other four in between us.
With the pathway snowed over and our vision severely hampered the walk back was very slow.
We were nearly back at the hall when disaster struck. Remember the blurry objects I saw on the walk up? Turns out I wasn’t just seeing things.
What I could only explain as a giant bat swooped down, hovering in front of Matt and preventing us from walking any further. Its enormous wings stretched out wide, blocking our path. The bat’s wings must have spanned at least 12 feet wide, its grotesque face and illuminescent red eyes showed ill intent. Long canine fangs protruded from the beast’s gaping maw.
Frozen in place, all of us were too scared to move. That was until Roy broke out of the line and sprinted back towards the dormitories in a desperate dash for shelter. Before he could take more than a few steps another gigantic bat appeared from the snowy abyss and pounced on Roy. The bat pinned Roy to the ground before taking a bite out of his neck. Its gigantic wings opened up again, before the bat soared up into the sky, clutching a screaming Roy in its claws.
Mimicking the actions of its fellow monster, the bat in front of Matt also made a move. It sunk its claws deep into Matt, before it too flew off into the blizzard.
With our path no longer obstructed, we all broke into a panicked sprint for the hall. From the back I saw multiple bats swoop down. Barry was knocked off his feet, whilst Greg was hoisted off into the Snowy abyss.
I sprinted for my life. I passed by the others, shamefully my only intent to save myself.
I burst through the door to the hall, shortly followed by Jess. As I was in the motion of slamming the door shut, I caught sight of Barry, limping his way towards the door.
I regained some pride as I ran out and grabbed a hold of Barry, dragging him in through the doorway. Jess slammed the door shut just as something big crashed into the otherside of the door, presumably one of the giant bat-like creatures.
We filled the others in on what had transpired on our short journey through the monster infested blizzard.
With the sun setting we gathered together in the middle of the hall.
The creatures outside are now tormenting us, banging on the doors and windows. We can hear them walking across the roof.
We have barricaded the doors and windows as best as possible, but if they so choose they could easily gain entry by smashing through the windows.
It’s now 1am, and no one has managed to get any sleep tonight. Everyone’s shit scared. Rescue can’t get here, and it seems only a matter of time until one of the ungodly monsters from outside decides to smash its way into our flimsy sanctuary.
Sarah’s leg looks to be severely infected now and she seems to be in tremendous pain. She has a high fever and has been teetering on the edge of losing consciousness.
Barry’s also lost a lot of blood and has suffered a deep wound to his shoulder after the giant bat attacked him.
To make matters worse the heating system failed a few hours ago. The temperature here is rapidly dropping and we don’t have enough clothes and blankets to keep us all warm.
Inevitably we will be forced to leave the safety of the hall and access the plantroom on the backside of the building so we can attempt to fix the central heating system. I am gathering some tools together now.
When I return I will continue to update you as events unfold.