Hello! Welcome to Out of Cryo! This series tells the story of a girl named Becks, who goes into cryogenic sleep with her family until she is awakened by none other than Aloy herself. This series spans two "seasons" as well as an interlude, some "behind the scenes" chapters, and a few spin-offs. I've rated this series M for a variety of reasons including profanity, violence, sex, and an array of scenes that may be traumatic to some readers.

I'm Kitewalker and this is my first work for H:ZD so I'm very excited to share it with you. :) The first chapter is on the short side but it's simply the introduction and future chapters are longer. I hope you all enjoy it and stick around! I love this game so much! You can follow me on tumblr at zerodawnkitewalker for OoC updates or just in case you're interested in my random musings.

Cover art by the talented DRON261095.

Just a last note - I probably shouldn't have to say this but there are spoilers all over the place in this and Horizon Zero Dawn belongs to Guerrilla Games, who are very awesome for making this amazing game.

"Becks, hurry up! Dad said we gotta get downstairs now!"

Groaning in frustration, I covered my left ear with one hand so that I could hear Jenna better through the Focus. Frankly, I was surprised long-distance comms still worked what with most of the grid down on the coast but I tried not to linger too long on that fact that it was only a matter of minutes before I would not hear my best friend's voice ever again. "Sorry, Dennis was telling me something," I said. "What were you going to say?"

Silence.

"Jenna?"

For a moment, I thought the call had gone dead. But a few seconds later Jenna's voice came through, though it was so broken that at first I assumed the call quality was just going to shit. "T-the news just came in, my parents said. Mom got the call."

My chest tightened. This was really happening. The surrealism of it all was overwhelming. "I-I'm sorry," was my lame response.

I heard her swallow before she spoke again. The way she did that – I knew she was trying to put on a brave face and sound tough. Whether it was so that I wouldn't freak out or so that she wouldn't freak out I'll never know. "Yeah. Well, I mean, we knew this would happen, right?" She offered a nervous laugh that came out as a distorted warble on my end.

"Becks, now!" my brother yelled. I wanted to turn and snap at him to leave me alone, just like I used to whenever he would bother me while I was on a call. But this was different. He wasn't just being my annoying and at times, condescending older brother. The fear in his voice was obvious – he was just as scared as I was. As we had all been over the last year.

I didn't want to leave Jenna, though. She had an entirely different situation to deal with. And I was terrified for her. But if I could stay on the call just a bit longer, maybe-

"You should go. I think my parents are about ready anyway," she said with a heavy sigh.

I froze up at her admission. "Jenna…"

She laughed and for a moment she sounded like my best friend again, not the weary, broken girl who had to watch her world be destroyed, no, devoured. Consumed. That's all we were to them – food. I clenched my fists, angry beyond words at the people who did this, at the militaries, at Jenna's parents, at my parents, and mostly just at the utter helplessness that I felt knowing there was not a fucking thing I could do to help my best friend or her family.

"Becks, go. I'll…I'll be okay. And you'll be okay, too."

"N-no. It's not fair," I whispered, not bothering to wipe the tears that now streamed down my cheeks away.

"I-," Jenna's voice became distorted again, her words completely unintelligible. My Focus interface flashed red for a moment before the call was dropped.

"Hello? Jenna?" I tried, even though I knew she was gone. In tears, I turned to my brother, who had been waiting quietly the remainder of the call.

"That was Jenna," I mumbled.

He nodded. "I know. Mom and Dad are waiting for us downstairs." He looked down. It was obvious he felt guilty about interrupting the call.

"It's okay, Dennis," I sniffed. "L-let's just go." I brushed past him and headed through the door and down the stairs to the underground bunker of my family's estate, not bothering to look out the window one last time at the world dying around us.

"There you are!" It only took a quick glance for Mom to see that I had been crying. She wrapped me in a tight embrace and I just sort of collapsed in her hold and cried into her sweater.

"Jenna?" she asked gently. I sniffed again before nodding.

Dad approached us. He was usually a calm guy but the stress over the last few months had worn on him and it showed in his face. "Door's sealed," he said. "We'd better get a move on if we're going to do this."

I took my mom's hand and the four of us walked through dimly lit bunker for a few minutes. I had only been down there once or twice and was still surprised at how far it extended underground. The metal walls that framed the hold were supposedly impenetrable and the seal was tight enough that there was no way the swarm could detect us in it. I guess Dad wanted to make sure that we had a real chance.

"Here we are," he announced. In front of us were four of what looked more like coffins than what was to be our only chance to live. It was experimental tech, but Dad knew some very smart engineers who convinced him that this was our best chance, if we could afford it (and we fortunately could, though it cost nearly all of my family's money from what Mom told me).

Seeing my reflection through the transparent hatch of my "coffin" was disheartening. I saw a scared girl with olive skin and light brown eyes look back at me. Here I was, only 19 years old, barely into university and just starting to figure out my place in the world, only to find that there wasn't going to be a world with a place for me.

The hatch opened with a hiss and a blast of frigid air rushed at my face.

"You first, Rebecca," I heard my mom say. Her voice sounded far away. Nothing seemed real anymore.

I turned and stepped backwards into the casing, already feeling dizzy from the gases. I saw Mom wipe away tears of her own as the hatch began to close, and the last thing I remember was the muffled sound of my parents telling me they loved me and that everything would be okay.

The first breath I took was beyond painful. My lungs burned and I wanted to cough but I felt so drained that the only thing I managed to do is fall forward. Before I could hit the ground, however, I was immediately caught by strong arms, which pushed me back up with ease before everything shifted beneath me. It took me a moment to realize I was being carried. Did something go wrong before they turned on the cryo? I was slightly annoyed as well as confused. Really, if something could go right for once that would be great.

"Whoa, careful!" a gruff, male voice spoke. "You can't just fling people around like that!"

What?

"I've got her," another voice, this one younger and female, but not familiar at all. Both voices were muffled, though the female's voice seemed much closer. "The others?"

What the hell…? Nausea began to set in. My stomach hurt and I felt like throwing up.

"Ah…" The man hesitated. "No."

"Damn. Okay." A pause. I still couldn't move or speak and I could feel myself losing my grip on consciousness. "She's really weak. We need to get back to the camp."

Camp? What camp? What was going on? Where were my parents and my brother? Panic began to set in but I was too weak to do anything about it.

"Stay with me," the female muttered. I think she was talking to me, but it was difficult to be certain. Before I could try to investigate further, however, the world around me began to spin and I saw only darkness.