Benji and Gio had been best friends since middle school.
They were 21 now. Old friends who had gone to the same college and eventually, in their third year, ended up as roommates.
They had also made the same terrible decision regarding their winter break travel plans.
A bunch of their friends had snagged a snow cabin up in Park City, and so they decided to eschew the icy road conditions and attempt to get Gio's older Jeep through some gnarly back road conditions to make it through the snow and somehow get safely to their AirBnB.
"I'm gonna get so fucked up tonight, man. I think Lacey is gonna be there." Benji said hopefully, referencing a sexpot they'd been close with in school.
"Same. It'll be amazing to see the old gang. Some of the girls have fucking blossomed. Lacey is a perfect example." Gio held up his knuckles which Benji knocked.
Unfortunately for them, when the weather guy said two feet overnight, he had actually meant four.
This was a record snowstorm, and their horrific T-Mobile service flickered like a candle as their Waze app attempted to navigate them down the right backroads.
"Fuck dude, these roads are starting to get slippery," Gio complained, as he peered out at the wipers struggling to keep up with the onslaught of snow flurries continiung to fall. Their phones were plugged in and the defroster was on blast, but it was barely helping their vision, as the road grew all the more dark.
They had turned down a very dark road as their navigator attempted to redirect them around a huge accident on the interstate.
"Yeah man...just take it slow, no hard breaking," Benji assured him. They both wanted to come off as sounding relaxed, even though they both were inwardly nervous about the worsening conditions.
This was not a well-traveled or plowed road. And as the houses became fewer and the snow became heavier the risk grew.
Their quarter tank of gas should've been plenty, but they were twenty miles away still and their cell service was like a stoic, mormon town—zero bars.
Then things went from bad to worse. On a series of steep hills, the weathered SUV began to fishtail.
As they headed down a hill with a curve up ahead, the brakes locked up.
"Fuck." Gio muttered, releasing the brakes. But the car was sliding down the slick, snow covered hill now.
"Fuck dude, brace yourself." Benji warned.
The car coasted right off the edge of the road and rumbled down a small fifty foot hill, coming to a stop when the front end smashed into a giant tree and began to sputter.
They were lucky not to be injured, though Gio's hand felt sore.
They were also somewhat lucky none of the windows had broken. It was 15 degrees outside and their car wasn't turning over.
"You okay man?" Benji checked in.
"That was fucking scary, but yeah I'm okay. The car is fucked." He tried it again to no avail.
"Any reception on your phone?" Gio asked the next important question as they tried to remain calm.
They both checked.
"Zilch. Zero. Nada." Came Benji's tittering levity.
The car was still warm from the heater they'd previously been blasting right before the accident, but it was amazing how quickly the cold began to creep in to the old SUV.
