Page 9 of The Mountain Man's Virgin
I tried the door again and was able to open it about an inch into the compacted snow. The impact of the rollover had blown out all the windows and I was able to crawl out through the shards, cutting my hands as I gripped the window frame.
“Lucy. Take these.” Tania said, thrusting her leather driving gloves at me.
“You will need them. I’ll be back in a couple minutes to get mine.”
“Don’t be stupid. Take them.” Tania said, thrusting the gloves at me. I slid the fur-lined gloves onto my bloody hands, wondering how much it was going to cost me to replace them. My hands instantly felt warmer.
“Thank you,” I said to Tania. “I’ll be back soon.” I pulled on my old ski coat, thankful to discover that my phone was in its inside pocket.
I jumped into the snow and immediately sank up to my crotch. Luckily the snow around the car was light and fluffy, and following the swath that the rolling Jeep had created, I was able to trudge in the direction of the road. Huge snowflakes were swirling in my face and sticking to my eyelashes. I was sweating and breathing heavily. I was in good cardiovascular shape but fighting through three feet of snow was harder than anything I had ever done.
The tracks from the Jeep were filling in fast and my heart sank when I realized that we had dropped off a small cliff and I wasn’t going to be able to climb up. I turned to see that the Jeep was quickly becoming covered in snow. Shit. I was going to have to walk adjacent to the rock face until I could find a place to climb up to the road. Thankful for Tania’s gloves, I turned and followed the cliff band, wading through the deep snow. I knew that I had about two hours before complete darkness set in. If I got up to the road and couldn’t find service, I wasn’t going to be able to call for help, I’d have to hope I could flag down a passing car. That was the moment that I truly started to get scared. We could all die out here in the snow.
Keep your head on your shoulders. I whispered to myself. Everything is going to work out.
The cliff band started getting smaller and smaller as I made my way along its base, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I found a narrow gap between the rocks that was at an angle that I would be able to climb. It was slow going, but I kept putting one foot in front of the other and crawled up the gap.
See, Lucy. Stay positive. Everything always works out… I smiled to myself as I reached the top. My positive thoughts were quickly replaced with dread.
Where was the road? I looked to my left and then to my right. The snow was falling heavily, but not heavily enough to block my vision - there was no road in sight. The damn thing must curve away from the cliff. I thought to myself.
That moment was a crossroads in my life. I had a choice, turn around and go back to the car – or keep going to try to find the road. I was warm enough in my coat and knew that if I went back to the car, we might all freeze to death. I decided then and there. One that would change my life forever – and I kept walking.
With every corner I turned, every hill I crested, I expected to see the road. The minutes turned into what seemed like hours and I knew I had made a horrible decision. Was I going to die out here? Who would take care of my sister if I died? I couldn’t die. I had to keep going.
The light was starting to change, and I realized that the sun was setting. I was breathing heavily and decided to sit down to take a break, rationalizing that I needed a break if I was going to have to walk through the whole damn night.
I didn’t even try to find a sheltered spot because I was only going to rest for a minute. Just one minute. I sat down, the fresh snow supporting me like a cold recliner.
This is nice. I thought to myself.
Then the strangest thing happened. I started to feel warm – and then the world disappeared.
Chapter 8 – Mick
The snow swirled and danced around my windows as the storm increased its intensity. I kicked back in my favorite chair and opened one of my business books. As a young business student, I learned that readers are leaders, and that adage stuck with me throughout my career. I read at least one book a week - all business except for my vast Clive Cussler collection.
I was deep in concentration and almost didn’t hear the distress call come through on the radio. My secondary personal radio channel squawked, and I heard the voice of local Search and Rescue lead, Tony, scratch out of the tiny speaker.
“SAR to Mick. Mick. Do you copy?”
I grabbed my radio off the table and set down my book.
“Copy Tony.”
“What’s your twenty?”
“I’m at the cabin.”
“We have a missing person, last seen on highway five ten at the hairpin.”
Missing person? I was expecting evacuations, hospital trips, digging out stuck vehicles, but a missing person? Jesus Christ. I checked the thermometer, it was hovering just below freezing. If they were dressed appropriately they might still be alive – unless they had to spend the night out there.
“I don’t think I can fly in this,” Mick radioed back.
“We can’t either. We located an overturned car on the road near your place. One of the occupants left to go for help.”
I shook my head. What kind of an idiot would head out to look for help? It always surprised me that people didn’t know the basic tenets of rescue. Stay in place. This dude had just turned a car rescue/retrieval into a missing person’s search. One that would likely turn from a search and rescue into a search and recovery.
