Dark Earth

Prologue

~17 Years Ago~

"I'm getting nervous," Shelly admitted, turning to her husband with an anxious smile.

Ethan ignored the snow covered Alaskan roads for a brief moment to look at her. He couldn't help but smile at his beautiful wife. He knew what she was going to say next.

"Are you sure you can take an entire season off?" she asked.

He reached over and placed his calluses hand reassuringly on her thigh. "Babe, we've got enough saved up. The season's only about four weeks and they promised me there'd be a spot for me next season on the First Star. You know I can make up what one year off will get us. Besides, there's other side work I can do to keep some money coming in."

"It's going to put it off though, you getting out of crabbing," she said with a frown. "It's so dangerous-I want you to be home with us all the time. I'm afraid just one season and I won't want you to go back."

Ethan smiled. He'd gone to a few of the doctors appointments and talked to plenty of veteran parents. He knew what she was going through and knew that she's been dealing with rampant hormones for eight months now. Let them get through one more month and they'd have a daughter. Then it would be just a few more weeks until her emotions were back to normal. Besides that, she was worth it. "We'll do what we need to, don't you worry. It'll all work out."

The truth was that they had a lot of money saved up. Ethan earned more catching Alaskan king crab and snow crab in the four-to-six week crabbing season than most guys earned in a year of steady work. Off season he engage in salmon fishing or worked on fixing boats if he couldn't find a job. After four years of this, they had a tidy bankroll saved away and plans for him to soon leave the dangerous life of crabbing behind and move inland.

Ethan enjoyed the work and there were times when he still had a hard time accepting the thought of retiring. He was getting older; he'd been doing it since he was eighteen and he was pushing twenty-four now. Still in his prime, but now he had to worry about his newlywed wife-and, in another month, their baby girl.

He smiled at his young wife and said again: "It'll all work out for the best."

Contrary to the words Ethan had just spoken, disaster struck. Checking there was no cross traffic at the four way corner, he accelerated hard from the stop sign. From the opposite direction a large truck came hurtling across the intersection, the driver pulling frantically at the wheel to try and avoid them. Unable to stop in the icy conditions, it slid sideways, turning partially, then caught just enough to flip it over. Ethan slammed on his own brakes, useless in the snow, and cranked his wheel to the side to try and get away. His other hand shot protectively in front of his wife's chest even as she squeaked in terror at the impending collision.

"Ethan I love you,"

When reality righted itself again Ethan blinked. He heard a horrible ringing in his ears and some distant noises that he couldn't identify. He could smell something too; a mixture of gasoline, steaming anti-freeze, and melting rubber. He looked around, slowly recognizing the things he saw. He was in his truck, but the truck would never run again. He could see the remains of the other truck alarmingly close to him, steel melded with steel from the two vehicles. His side window was gone and a fresh but frigid breeze blew through it.

Ethan's cheat and left arm were numb one second, then in agony the next. He coughed a little, making him hurt even more. Something warm and wet was running down his face and he felt a burning in his chest.

He looked over and saw that his hand was still on Shelly's chest, pinned to it by a piece of silver metal that had impaled both his hand and her chest, and both his hand and her shirt were red with blood.

"Shelly," he said, half whispering and half croaking. "Hang in there baby, if you can hear me; please!"

He picked himself up a little, ignoring the agony in his ribs, and tried to bring his left arm around. It moved, barely, but he knew it was broken. He tried to ignore the pain as he reached over to her, but found his hand would not open or grip the metal that pinned them together.

"Don't move! Somebody called an ambulance," someone yelled at him from his now open window.

Ethan turned to look at them and heard them gasp. "Shelly...my wife," he said "Hurry! She's pregnant."

Ethan felt his vision fading as he heard the man curse. He murmured as he passed out: "It'll all work out."