Blizzard Bound

Chapter Two - Russell

Shit.

This was not good.

I pulled over to the side of the road as gently as I could, being careful not to roll off into the ditch like the car sitting in front of me. Somebody had put a hazard sign in the middle of the road, and an orange hat and ice scraper was lying half buried in the snow by the car. I was having a hell of a time getting through the snow in my truck. Whoever tried to take a Corolla up the mountain had balls of steel.

Or was dumb as hell.

I quickly pulled on my gloves and zipped my coat up to my chin. I left the truck running, and turned up the heat. If there was anyone still here they would be half frozen, if they were still alive at all.

I pushed the thought out of my mind and focused. No sense running into worst case scenarios until we assessed the situation. My boots crunched in the ice, the snow coming around my snowpants nearly to my knees. Grabbing the flashlight I always kept in the glove box, I made my way to the driver's side of the car.

I kept my center of gravity low and nearly had to slide my large frame to where the front of the car rested at the bottom of the ditch. I glanced inside, but didn't see anyone in the front seat. I turned around behind me to see if I could see any footprints. If any had been there at the time of the crash, they were gone by now. There was already three inches of snow covering the top of the car.

"Hello?" I called out into the woods.

A shuffling noise came from behind me. The back seat. I scrambled up and swung open the door. Brown eyes stared at me from beneath a layer of blankets.

"You okay?"

"Mom?" a quiet voice spoke out.

Unease settled into the pit of my stomach. I may not be the most handsome man in the world, but I definitely wouldn't be confused as someone's mother. This girl (woman?), was in a bad way.

"Um, no not your mom. But you need to come with me now," I reached out a hand for her to take to help her back out of the car.

"I don't know you," she said.

"Listen kid, I know you don't know me but you're going to freeze to death out here." I could feel myself getting irritated at her hesitation. Didn't she know she was in a life or death situation. "Do you want to die out here?"

Her silence scared me. She looked down, not meeting my gaze. I felt something strange in my heart, watching her like this. She was hurting, and it wasn't because of the cold.

"Okay, okay listen. I'm not going to hurt you. But to make you feel better, take this," I handed her the pocket knife I usually kept on me. Judging by her condition, she wouldn't be able to open it anyway, but maybe it would make her feel better. She reached out a hand and took the cold metal. She tucked it back under the blanket and looked at me again, not moving from the other side of the car.

I could feel the cold biting at my wrists where my gloves had come untucked from my jacket. There was no way I was going to let her sit here a moment longer.

"Come here. Now." My voice was harsher than I meant it to be, but I was never really known for my patience. All I could see were her eyes, but the skin around them seemed much paler than it should have been.

Those brown eyes widened a little, but then she shook her head, seeming to knock herself back to reality for a moment. She looked around as if she didn't know where she was. She leaned forward and crawled toward me, awkwardly trying to keep the blanket wrapped around her. When she was close enough, I put my hands under her arms and helped her onto the slope. The blanket fell away and I realized she wasn't even wearing a jacket.