Victoria woke to hear voices, but she was so tired that she couldn't open her eyes and still felt cold despite being wrapped in a blanket.

"Did you get the kids?"

"Yes, all five of them. The youngest has a fever."

"Transport them to an ambulance. We need to get them warm."

"Put the heater on in the ambulance. They might catch pneumonia."

Victoria tried to stay awake, but as soon as she felt the slightest warmth, she slipped into unconsciousness again.

~🏠~🏠~🏠~🏠~🏠~🏠~🏠~🏠~🏠~🏠~

When Victoria woke up again, she found herself at the hospital. She was securely wrapped up in warm clothing and blankets.

Victoria sat up and looked around, hoping to see her siblings. She spotted Annie in the next bed, still unconscious. She couldn't see any of her other siblings.

A nurse came up to her. "Hello," she said with a smile. "What's your name?"

"Victoria Franklin," said Victoria.

"Nice to meet you, Victoria," said the nurse. "You look like you have been through a lot. You and your siblings are lucky to be alive."

"Wait, what about Josh?" asked Annie in a panic. "Is he okay?"

The nurse smiled at her. "Don't worry. He was the most affected, but he should recover pretty soon. Don't you worry about a thing, kiddo."

But Victoria did worry. She didn't know if Josh's condition was okay. Soon, her parents came into the room.

"Victoria!" said her mother. "Are you okay?"

Annie woke up just then. "Mom?" she asked. Her parents went to check on her too.

Victoria told her parents about everything that happened that day.

"I'm so sick of this weather, and it's only January," wailed Annie. "We almost died."

"Now there Annie, calm down," said Mr Franklin.

"I have already checked on Betty, Peter and Josh," said Mrs Franklin. "Your older siblings look shaken, but Josh seemed so weak. He was sleeping when I checked on him. The doctors said that it would be a while before he recovered."

Annie sniffed. "I was so scared," she said.

"Don't worry," said Mr Franklin. "Everything will be fine. But..."

"But what?" asked Victoria.

"It will be difficult to live in our house for the time being," said Mrs Franklin. "Clearly it isn't safe for you kids. You could have died because of us."

"It wouldn't be your fault," said Victoria.

"Well, we have decided that it would be better for you kids to live somewhere else until winter is over," said Mrs Franklin. "For now, just rest. We will talk about this later."