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Aza Perry stared out through the car wiper blades that could barely cope with the snowflakes hitting the glass. The snow had become worse over the last fifteen minutes and now obliterated everything around. In fact the road itself was covered with only edge marker posts poking out of a sea of white.
"Slow down Sofia," she almost shouted. "I felt the back wobble."
'Don't worry. There's plenty of traction and it's always better to keep going in these conditions." Aza's companion glanced across at her but the grin failed to hide uneasiness in her eyes. "I'm only doing twenty kilometres an hour anyway."
"Which is still too fast," Aza whispered.
"We're almost at the top of this rise," Sofia nodded at the screen map as she moved the remote down to low and actually accelerated.
The result was unexpected for the front wheels screamed and the vehicle's rear end swung out in a skid across the narrow two-lane highway.
"Damn!" the driver retorted.
"Don't brake! Steer into it!" Aza yelled when she noticed Sofia's foot automatically stab at the brake pedal.
But it was too late! The driver hit the brake and the whole car lurched sideways. Sofia swung the steering wheel as she attempted to correct but this caused the vehicle to spin around in a complete circle while at the same time, it skidded sideways across the road. Aza grabbed the handhold above the window with her left hand, used her right to brace herself and just held on.
The following few seconds became a blur. The car hit something on the side of the road, sort of bounced and the sensation of rolling sideways and the screech of tyres was followed by the crunch of metal. An airbag enveloped her and the pain across her chest was caused by her safety belt cutting across her body.
Now the car was definitely on its side as snow bellowed up outside the side windows, there was a stench of tyre smoke followed by another sensation. They were falling as well as toppling. Now upside down and only held in place by her seat belt and the airbag, Aza heard a cracking sound and freezing air engulfed her. Something had sliced through her arm.
It was glass!
The windscreen had shattered and had showered her in glass. Even safety glass can be sharp when propelled forward at high speed but the cold air helped to keep her conscious as the car finally stopped with the roof crumpled a few centimetres beneath her head.
"Sofia!" Aza turned sideways and managed to see out beyond the airbag. Her friend's head was slumped forward with only her hair visible. "Sofia," Aza screamed but there was no reply. She reached across and grabbed her friend's arm. "Can you hear me?"
"What happened?" came a groggy reply.
"We skidded off the road. Are you all right?"
"Me! I guess so. Tried to get out of the skid but it all happened so quickly. Damn rental car firm won't be pleased."
Aza almost grinned. Trust Sofia to think of that. She sniffed and smelt something else. There was a distinct odour of petrol fumes.
"Come on," she shouted. "We need to get out of here. If the car blows up..."
Again everything was a frantic blur as she found the door jammed but managed to wedge herself out from the airbag, wriggle through the gap where the windscreen had shattered, and slid onto the ground. A hand grabbed her and she looked up to where Sofia was standing. The opened door behind her friend showed that she had made a more dignified departure from the wreckage.
"Come on," Sofia said. "We must be about twenty metres down from the road. It's still snowing but not so heavily now."
The climb up the slope wasn't too difficult but by the time Aza reached the top she was gasping for breath and soaking wet. Once they stopped moving the freezing temperatures would grip them both. She staggered over a small hump and almost collapsed beside her friend who came up beside her and plonked herself down.
"Great start to our skiing holiday," Sofia muttered. "What now?"
*
RENEE STEVENS STARED out the kitchen window and grimaced. This was the most sever snowstorm since her partner, Tyler and herself had bought East Ridge Village fifteen months earlier and moved to the Great Alpine Highway that crossed through the Southern Alps Mountain Range in New Zealand's South Island.
When the door opened, a blast of freezing air made her shiver but she smiled. Tyler arrived with an armful of wood in his arms. He walked across to the nearby hearth where a potbellied wood burner blazed away, dropped the load into a container and turned towards her.
"That'll keep you going for a while," he said as he removed his drenched jacket and hung it on a hook behind the door.
The century old building that was once East Ridge Station's main house on a vast backcountry sheep and cattle station, was well designed to cope with the high country snow. The station owner, the great-grandson of the original settler still lived two kilometres away in a more modern home. The land they now owned included a small village that was all but gone. In fact the entire hamlet of East Ridge and had been sold to them when the elderly owners retired to Christchurch over a hundred kilometres to the east. As well as their home down a cul-de-sac off the highway there were eight original workers houses, a store, a closed post office building and an old Ministry of Works depot of several old sheds that were originally used to service trucks and graders in the days when the road was a gravel one. The previous owner had joined the stores and post office into a coffee bar, souvenir shop and a tiny general store that also sold petrol from an old-fashioned pump that sat on the kerb. His plans to renovate the houses to provide accommodation for tourists had only been partly achieved with only two suitable for use.
The sale of petrol and the souvenirs provided Renee with most of their income though the houses were sometimes rented out for accommodation in the holiday seasons.
"How are the animals?" she asked.
Tyler grinned. "Fine. All the sheep are under the covered pens while the beef cattle are munching hay over in the big shed. Sam's on the back veranda felling sorry for himself."
'All their sheep' consisted of thirty ewes while they owned twelve beasts; the sheep dog Sam, was an old fellow retired from the station not long after they arrived. Their only other animal was a massive fluffy ginger cat called Apricot. At the moment she was asleep in her favourite spot on an old armchair in front of the wood burner.
"The coffee's ready and there are some hot muffins just out of the oven." Renee grinned. "They'll be having fun with the sheep on the station."
"They'll be fine. Heard they've got a couple of vet students getting work experience up there. They'll be earning their keep."
Renee's expression changed to a frown as she poured two mugs of coffee out of the percolator. "Our booking for a cottage has been cancelled. Can't get through. Damn nuisance actually for we could do with the money."
"We'll do okay," Tyler replied. "That new contract will help."
"Sure." Renee sighed. Tyler was always optimistic but she was the one who did the books.
Two generations before, his contract would have been called the roadman. The contractor who maintained this section of the highway had employed him as a subcontractor to watch over a ten-kilometre stretch of the highway east and west of East Ridge. Mainly it was to cut the grass verges during the summer, clear blocked drains or debris off the roads after storms and help at any traffic accidents or breakdowns, not that there were many. Anything major was handled by the contractors themselves, like a large slip a couple of months earlier that came across half the highway. The contract didn't pay a lot but when he used his tractor, the reimbursements for running costs were generous.
"Well, I'll be heading out in the tractor," Tyler said after he'd finished his coffee.
"In this weather! Why!"
"Part of the contract. There could be stranded cars to the east. The radio said they closed the road back at Springfield but there could be vehicles who came through before this happened." He grinned. "Don't worry, I'll take the big New Holland. It's warm inside the cab and it'll get through okay."
Renee frowned. "Don't go beyond the fork. That's the edge of your area. If you go further you'll get no thanks from Alpine Contractors."
Tyler laughed. "Fair enough. Down there the snow won't be so deep anyway." He found a dry coat and other cold weather gear, kissed her on the cheek and walked outside.
Renee heard him whistle up Sam and a few moments later, watched out the window as the New Holland tractor headed down the drive.
"Well, Apricot," she said to the cat who had woken up and waddled over looking for food. "There's just you and me for a while. There'll be no customers to annoy you today. Guess I can still get that pot of soup ready."
*
AFTER REACHING THE highway, Aza stared around while Sofia stood their shivering. The snow was still falling, their tyre and skid marks were almost obliterated and the car was completely hidden from view. The snow was half way up the edge marker posts and disappeared in a fog of white mere metres away.
It was silent, completely silent and when Sofia spoke even her voice sounded muffled. "It'll pay to walk up the road, there's nothing the other way for ten kilometres. I think the car map showed a tiny town at the top of this hill."
"Probably nothing there," Aza muttered but admitted that it was better to walk and try to keep warm than to just stay where they were and freeze.
Twenty minutes later she stared around in despair. The snow continued to tumble down, her feet were numb and her face and hands freezing. Luckily they both had warm jackets but snow managed to slide down her collar to melt and her top beneath was quite damp. Her jeans were soaked and she thought back to being told that they were the worse things to wear in the snow.
Damn, they should have brought their packs up with them! In the mad scramble up the bank to get away from the petrol smell they had left them behind. The car hadn't exploded for they would have heard it but the idea of going back and perhaps missing a vehicle coming by wasn't really considered.
"We might as well stop here," Sofia said when they came to a tree with low branches and a small circle of snow free ground beneath it. "We'll be out of the snow and will see anything coming along the road."
"I guess," Aza muttered and glanced up the road. If anything the fog had closed in though the falling snow had become lighter.
She stepped off the road and immediately realised her mistake when she sank down with snow up to her waist in a drain that ran beside the road. Now on all fours she scrambled up the other side, managed to grab a tree root, hauled herself up and finally under the tree boughs. The final indignity was when a pile of snow on the branch above landed on her head in one freezing burst,
"Here, let me help," Sofia laughed from above her and Aza grabbed a helping hand.
"How did you get up here?" she muttered.
"Saw you hit the hole and found some rocks to use as stepping stones." Sofia glanced over Aza's shoulders. "Good spot, though. We can see right up the road."
"Yeah, if it wasn't for the snow and fog."
They sat in silence for several moments with Aza engrossed in her own thoughts. What a difference this remote part of the country was from back in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, a thousand kilometres away near the top of North Island. But she'd rather be here in this uncomfortable situation than back there and the problems. She leaned back against the tree trunk, ignored her wet clothes and hair and glanced at her friend who also appeared to be deep in thought.
"Bit different than at home?" she said.
"Somewhat!" Sofia replied. "Bet the old bastards couldn't survive down here."
Aza chuckled. "Might get a smudge of mud on their suits..."
They chatted on for a few moments and became used to the temperatures. Here, under the tree and away from the cutting wind and snow on her face, things appeared more positive than before.
Sofia suddenly stood up. "Hear it?" she cried.
"Hear what?" Aza also stood and listened. It was quite faint but she could hear the chugging of a truck or tractor engine. "Come on," she yelled. "Something's coming! We don't want it to go right past us."
But Sofia was already moving. Aza followed her across the stones, out onto the road and straight into the falling snow. She could hear the engine sound quite distinctly now and strained her eyes to stare up the road.
"I see lights!" Sofia screamed.
The headlights and two orange roof lights materialised into one of those huge farm tractors that moved slowly through virgin snow towards them.
"Help us!" Sofia screamed as she waved her arms and ploughed through the snow towards the tractor. Aza grinned and just stood there. The tractor lights flickered and she felt a surge of delight. Almost in spit of Sofia's waving and screaming, the driver had seen them!
They waited as a blue tractor rumbled up to them with snow swishing sideways off the tyres. It slowed and stopped beside them, a door opened and a guy grinned at them.
"Hi there," he said. "Name's Tyler Walsh. Strange place to be hitch-hiking. I guess you could do with a ride."
*
THE TRACTOR CAB HAD a small bench seat across behind the driver's one that Aza and Sofia could squeeze into beside an elderly dog that wagged his tail and moved to the centre. It was warm and cut off from the outside weather. After Aza explained about their plight, Tyler drove down the highway to where, after a little difficulty in finding the place, he stopped and grinned at them.
"I'll use the winch and go down for your luggage but I'm afraid it'll take a tow truck to haul your whole car up."
"It's a rental car," Sofia said. "We'll need to phone the company. My mobile is out of range."
"Nothing like that here," Tyler said. "You have to go ten kilos down the road to get anything. We've got a landline back home, though." He grimaced. "Reckon the line's down in this weather, though but you could be in luck. Come on, Sam." Followed by the dog, he disappeared out the door and after a surprisingly short time, returned with their backpacks and the couple of grocery bags they had.
"Got a tray out the back of the tractor that I'll tie them onto," he said. "Excuse Sam. He got a bit wet in the snow."
"No problem," Aza laughed. "We are soaked anyway." She gave the dog a lift over her legs and grinned at Sofia who patted him.
Tyler returned and shut the door and glanced at her in the interior mirror. "Got to go another kilo down the road, I'm afraid. Got a contract to keep an eye out over this stretch of highway down to the bottom fork. Then we'll turn and head home."
"And where's that?" Sofia asked.
"East Ridge, right at the top..." He chatted away as he roared the tractor forward.
The tractor's wheels flung snow off sideways as the wipers scrapped across the windscreen. Aza could see little outside but noticed that Tyler seemed completely unperturbed as he held the steering wheel with one hand and reached for a bag in a door pocket.
"Have a chocolate," he said as he held the bag out. "Had a thermos of coffee too but I'm afraid I drank it all just before I saw you. Not to worry, we'll be back home in a jiff. Renee, that's my partner, will have some hot soup ready."
"Sorry to be a nuisance," Aza said.
"You aren't. We like the company. He glanced at her. City folk from Christchurch are you?"
"No, Auckland," Sofia said. "We came down here for a skiing holiday."
"Yeah, there'll be plenty of snow after this storm. Locals reckon it's the biggest fall in years."
He stopped chatting and changed gears, the tractor slowed and Aza saw a yellow road sign at a fork where a small side road was almost invisible beneath the snow. After backing he was about to roar off when Aza glanced out the side windows.
"Tyler stop!" she gasped. "Isn't that someone down the road waving at us?"
"There is," Tyler said as he braked. "Thanks. I was concentrating on staying on the road and almost missed him." He grinned. "Could be a her, of course."
He reversed around again and headed the hundred metres or so to where a guy stood beside a motorbike lying in the snow. The man waited while the tractor stopped before he stepped forward and grinned.
"Snow got too deep for the bike," he said in quite an educated voice. "Skidded off the road and couldn't get it started again. A bit of help would be appreciated."
Aza, Sofia and Sam followed Tyler out onto the ground and across to the motorbike. There was more than just engine trouble for Aza saw that the front wheel was crumpled against the frame and the tyre was flat. Also the guy limped as he walked beside them.
"So you crashed off the road?" she asked and nodded at the wheel.
"My own fault," he replied. "Missed the side of the road and hit a rock beneath the snow. Luckily the snow cushioned my fall."
Aza stared at his left leg where his bodysuit was torn and blood seeped from a leg wound. "It's more than that," she said. "That's a nasty gash you have."
The guy grinned. "Cut it on the rock I guess." He held out his hand. "I'm Ian Rogers. Thanks for stopping."
Aza introduced herself as well as the other two and gave a brief description of their own accident.
"Luckily Tyler came along in the tractor," Sofia added.
"Part of the job," Tyler said. "The contractor hires me to keep an eye on this part of the highway." He grinned and glanced at Ian. "Luckily Aza here saw you. I was turning back and never saw you waving. We'll get your bike on the back tray. Might be a bit crowded in the cab but if you don't mind holding Sam, I'm sure the girls can squeeze across."
They all helped to get the bike onto the tray where Tyler appeared quite an expert at using stretch ties to secure the motorbike and all the bags on the box-like tray. He mentioned that he often carried stranded sheep in it as he unrolled a canvas sheet to anchor everything down. "There's a lull in the snow, but we'd better head home. By the look of those distant clouds I'd say we're going to have another big drop before the day's over."
*