Winter Wonderland

There Goes the Neighbourhood

Naiche

Naiche had been undisturbed and alone in his corner of the world for several years. After eliminating the humans who had hunted him down, it had forced him to move. Not that he was attached to anything, his home was four walls and a roof, and enough comfort to allow him warmth if he desired. He only had one item of value that he didn't carry with him, and that was his old truck. He had found it years before and taught himself the inner workings of the machine, keeping it running, though it spent more time sitting in the small garage than moving.

He could spend weeks roaming the woods, hunting and being at one with nature in a purity that he had grown up with. Back before settlers had come and displaced his people. Before vampires had come and turned the young warrior he had been into one of them. The victors shaped the world, and its memory of history, and despite his proclivity for living, he had no desire to be a part of the disaster that had been created.

As summer disappeared and the colour changing leaves fell to the ground in anticipation of the snow and cold that would arrive in weeks, something changed in his world. Noises and movements that pulled him out of the deep woods, past his own home and to the nearest cabin. The tiny cabin that sat on the side of a hill, overlooking one of the peaceful mountain lakes had been empty for several years, and used as a seasonal retreat for decades before that.

And then, one day in the middle of autumn, he slipped unnoticed through the shadows to see trucks and workers buzzing around the building like a swarm of bees.

As he watched, large panels were lifted and fixed to the roofs of both the house and the small garage, both of which looked to have been repaired. There were people digging with machines, laying pipe down to the lake from the house, and several people carrying old wood and cabinetry out of the house and boxes of things back in. It appeared as if they had been working on the place for a few days, and as Naiche watched over the next couple, he saw several projects and teams of people coming and going.

Most of the workers were humans, some from the nearest town and contracted to work, but others were from farther afield and Naiche watched them with a growing disdain until he turned and stalked back into the forest. Whoever was moving there, he intended to stay as far away from as possible. The road did travel down to where his place was situated, but it was rarely used and his driveway hid his house behind a locked gate and a wall of trees.

And soon it would be winter, when the road to his place would be impassible and whoever was moving it would return to the luxuries of the rest of the world. Come spring time, he could abandon his home and find another one, though he was finding that the so called civilized world was getting harder and harder to avoid.

***

Citali

Citali pulled onto the rough gravel road from the secondary highway that had been little better. The sun shone, though it was already dipping below the tree line around her. Overhead, mountains loomed, already capped in snow and bringing a crisp chill to the air as she drove with her windows down.

Her GPS directed her onward, and beside her on the passenger seat was the package from the realtor. She had stopped in the town to pick up the keys to her newly purchased cabin and then grabbed groceries. And despite how far the GPS said she still had to go, she had underestimated exactly what that meant.

She had not passed another car for about forty miles, and after turning onto the dirt road from the highway, she had not passed a single drive way. The last stretch wound its way up from the valley and into the mountain, before dipping once more onto a mountain valley plateau.