10:45 a.m.
We walked in circles, which seemed impossible since we were walking downhill. But these were the same trees Jade had stopped to cough at before. Or I was going insane, and everything looked the same. Gray sky, white snow, black trees, no houses, no roads, no landmarks. There was no way to even tell where the sun was with clouds this thick. And the constant snow turning from feathers, to clusters, to marshmallows. I was hungry. And cold. My back was clammy. I needed water and to stop walking endlessly, getting nowhere.
“Seriously, is this a blizzard yet?”
“Nope,” said Jade. “And we need to find shelter before then, or we won’t be able to see anything. Too bad you didn’t save the radio instead of hiding it and then accusing everyone else of having ulterior motives.”
Alex rubbed his hands and blew on them. “Come on, team. You’re tired and cranky. Hey, look here.” He pulled a chocolate almond Protein Puck bar from his pocket, broke it in half, and threw one of the halves at Jade. “This will help.”
“Thanks!” Jade ate it in three bites.
“Where’s mine?” I held out my hands.
Alex grinned. “Only for emergencies.”
I caught the half he threw to me. The chocolate melted in my mouth, bittersweet flavor bursting around my tongue. Bliss. I licked my lips, not wanting to waste any of it. “Where did that come from?”
“It’s amazing what you can find lying around,” Alex said, and he went to bump into me accidentally on purpose, but I stepped out of the way. He’d have to do more than throw me a stolen protein bar to win me over.
Thick snow blew into my face as the wind picked up again, sending ice slivers down my neck. “My kingdom for a thicker scarf,” I said, shivering.
“You should have grabbed more ski stuff from the closet.” Jade stopped to let us catch up, but I had a feeling it was also to see if Alex had any more treasures in his pockets.
“At least we’re already wearing jackets and ski boots. We’d be dead already if it wasn’t for that.” I ran a little to keep warm, and to stop the wind from buffeting me away from them.
Alex skidded to a halt so abruptly that I almost smacked into him. “Shush.” He tilted his chin.
Gentle flumps fell as snow slipped in between the branches. I huddled in my jacket. Standing still meant shivering in place. If we did this much longer, we’d be totally frozen. I stomped my feet. “There’s nothing.”
“Listen.” Alex took off his beanie, letting the snow cover his silky black hair with white sprinkles.
There it was, very faint, the sound of a vehicle. We galloped, bumping along across the dips and gullies until we slowed to what looked like the edge of a road. Otis’s tail wagged. Alex clutched his leash.
I stared at the snow-drifted road. No one had driven along it for a while. There was a single car parked crookedly along the road across from us, abandoned and half covered in snow. But we could hear another car in the distance, coming closer.
I turned to Jade. “Here’s hoping!”
“Yep.” Jade breathed heavily. “Let’s get the hell out of here.” And, finally, for the first time since before the fire, she flashed me a small smile.
“Listen,” said Alex, “here it comes!”
The low sound of an engine rumbled toward us. Jade and I rushed after it, scrabbling down the bank onto the slippery main road. A silver SUV hit the curve in the road too fast, skidded past us, and smashed into the parked car. We just caught sight of a pale kid’s face, staring at us from the rear window, before the SUV reversed and accelerated off again.
“Bloody hell, so much for neighborly help!” I rushed over to the smashed car. No wonder it was abandoned; it probably skidded at the same spot.
“They saw us,” said Jade, following me. “They saw us and sped away!”
“Wankers.” I blew on my hands. “We can stay in here.” I wrenched the driver’s-side door open, shut it fast, and swallowed.
The steering wheel was slick with blood. It had pooled onto the floor and sprayed across the driver’s seat and onto the passenger’s side. Whoever had been in there must have hit their head on the steering wheel. The bag had inflated and everything. But it was the shoe that got me, left lying upside down on the floor, a black, patent-leather dress shoe, ringed with blood. I held my palm to my mouth. I knew snow and storms could be dangerous, but it never hit me before what that really meant.
I pulled my head out and took a deep breath. “Actually, be ready to wave the next person down.”
“There won’t be a next person for ages.” Jade frowned. “What’s wrong with the car?”
I shook my head, worried I’d lose it if I spoke. Whoever was here had gone. No bloody footsteps, so they must have been taken away to the hospital. With that much blood loss, they had to have severe injuries. Or paramedics removed their dead body. The hair rose on the back of my neck. We weren’t staying in the car. The cloying scents of iron and rust filled my nose and throat.
I stepped back from the open door, feeling faint for a second, then okay, then not. Jade looked inside. I could hear her gag. Then she took a deep breath and seemed to pull herself together.
“This car’s no good!” Jade shouted over to Alex, who was waiting under the shelter of a pine tree with Otis.
“We’ll find another.”
“There aren’t any others!” yelled Alex, coming closer. “What’s wrong with that car? It’s a Lexus.”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” said Jade.
“Seriously, what’s wrong?” Alex handed Otis’s leash to Jade and bent to look inside. “Oh shit.” His eyes went wide as he shut the car door.
“Yeah,” said Jade. “So, we keep looking.”
Alex nodded. “But if this gets much worse…”
We’d catch hypothermia. “Alright, we walk down this road and find another unoccupied car, or wave down a car, and if that doesn’t happen in the next five minutes, we double back and deal with the horror car,” I said. I doubted there would be another car breaking the shelter-in-place order, but I clung to that hope.
“Deal,” said Alex and Jade together. Even Otis barked.
“Great, onward!” I pretended to be optimistic. Still, the stink of blood would be better than death.