by Nicola Adams
They could hear rustling noises and the sound of snuffling, like that of a big dog on a scent trail. So it was a wolf, not a human. Would a wolf bother digging through pine branches? Jake hoped that the strong scent of the pine sap would mask the scent of humans, confusing the predator enough to leave them alone.
It did, but not as much as Jake or Shelley would have hoped. And the wolf was not alone. It became apparent that there were two of them. They were seeking shelter from the snow and wind, like Jake and Shelley. And, just like them, the wolves chose the uprooted tree as the ideal place to spend the night.
Shelley squeezed Jake’s hand again when they heard the wolves digging near their heads. They appeared to be making a nest of their own, but so far they were not disturbing the one Jake had built. Were they really sharing shelter? It seemed incredible.
Soon they heard sounds of contented grooming, which led Jake to believe the wolves had eaten. And shortly after, the sounds of sleep. One of the wolves snored. Through the crack in the blanket, created when the wolf had moved a branch, Jake could see stars and calculated that it had to be at least eight in the evening, if not later. He squeezed Shelley’s hand in the faint hope she would understand his message that they should try to sleep. She gave one squeeze back and he felt her adjusting slightly. He heard her yawn very softly so as not to disturb their nest-mates.
Knowing there was little more he could do, and hoping and trusting they were safe, at least for the night, Jake dozed off. He slept fitfully. In his dreams he was on the run and having trouble staying ahead of either a fast car or a pack of wolves. All the stresses and images of the past two days ran together and bled into a full-blown nightmare from which he woke with a violent start, sweating.
He sat up, forgetting the wolves, and startled them awake. Apparently he had given them enough of a fright that they took off without so much as a backward glance.
“Shelley,” Jake said and shook the sleeping girl. The early morning light glinted off the snow and Jake wished he had his sunglasses. The landscape looked innocent now, but he was not so easily fooled.
“What?” The girl slowly sat up and stretched.
“How did you sleep?”
“Better than I have in a while. That nest of yours really did keep me warm,” Shelley said, yawning. “Where did you learn that? The boy scouts?”
“Nah, my dad taught me. Once we were all out camping and our tent got wrecked.”
“How do you a wreck a tent?” Shelley interrupted.
“I, um, I set it on fire. But it was totally by accident.” Jake grinned sheepishly. “Anyway, my dad made this awesome nest for us out of pine boughs. It was the best ever and we stayed warm all night. It was better than a sleeping bag in a tent.”
“You didn’t wreck the sleeping bags too, did you?” Shelley winked at him playfully. She enjoyed teasing him.
“No, I didn’t.” Jake stuck his tongue out at her then got up and brushed pine needles off himself. “Come on, let’s go see what they did to the car.” He held out his hand to pull Shelley up and she happily took it, the branches falling off her like a discarded garment. It made Jake feel that she was suddenly very vulnerable again. He wanted to wrap her in something, but there was nothing but snow.
Shelley felt his intense gaze and turned away. She spotted the tracks made by the wolves and pointed at them, gasping.
“I know, they slept with us all night. They got scared off when I suddenly sat up. I’d forgotten they were there,” Jake explained.
“They didn’t try to eat us?” Shelley sounded very surprised.
“I think they’d already eaten when they settled in for the night.”
“Wow.” She was completely dumbfounded.
“Yeah, wow. Now come on, let’s go.” Jake pulled her along. The snow was at least six inches deep, and more in some of the hollows. It made walking a chore and the trek back to the car seemed to take forever. Of course, last night they had been running. Now they were moving much slower, feeling hungry and thirsty.
Shelley scooped a handful of snow and started sucking on it to quench her thirst.
“I wouldn’t do that too often, it can cool you down too much and there’s no way to stay warm.”
“Is there anything you don’t know?” Shelley snapped irritably. The cold snow was not settling into her empty stomach very well.
Jake chose to ignore that because he wanted to get back to the car and was not in the mood for an argument. He hoped he still had some food stashes somewhere or that there was still some of Johan’s excellent coffee left in the thermos. He would even drink it cold.
The bank loomed up ahead and seemed much steeper than it had when they had careened down it the night before. With all the snow it might be more difficult to climb. For the moment, though, it afforded them some cover as Jake scanned the shoulder of the road for another car, their attackers’ car in particular. From where he stood he could not see any other car, but that did not mean there wasn’t one. He carefully and slowly made his way up the bank and found they were truly alone.
He helped Shelley up and they rushed to the car, which was half covered by a large snow drift. The highway had not been plowed yet and Jake looked at his watch. It was only just seven. He should have been able to guess by the low angle of the sun that it was still very early. The plow might show up soon, or later; it all depended on where it had to come from.
He moved away as much of the snowdrift as he could with his feet to clear the car exhaust and to get to the trunk where he had the jerrycan.
Shelley meanwhile slowly walked around the car to see if there was any outward damage done by the thugs who had shot at them.
“The body looks untouched, but there’s a pool of something coming out from underneath,” she called out to Jake who had his head in the trunk looking for tools, another blanket or anything they could use.
“What?”
“A puddle of stuff,” Shelley called out again.
This brought Jake to her side very quickly. He bent down and touched the liquid with two fingers then brought it up to his nose. “Brake fluid,” he groaned. That’s why they weren’t out here waiting for them in the cold. The thugs had sabotaged the car and figured they could come back and pick up Jake and Shelley at their leisure.
“Can you fix it?”
“Maybe, but it’ll be a temporary fix until I can find a new brake line.” He washed his hands with snow and rubbed them on his jeans. “I wonder what else they cut, if they bothered to go underneath and cut that. Let me pop the hood.”
Jake opened the driver’s side, got in and felt around under the dash for the hood release. Shelley meanwhile, thoroughly chilled, got in the car and under their one blanket. She pulled out the thermos and shook it, relieved to hear the sound of liquid sloshing back and forth.
“Want some cold coffee?” she offered.
“Yes, please.” Without looking at her or waiting for his share of the day-old coffee, he got back out and looked at the engine block, tugging gently at wires and hoses to find out if anything else had been sabotaged. It made him very angry that they, whoever they were, had damaged his father’s car. It felt like a violation. The car had been a fixture in Jake’s life. From his earliest memories that car had always gotten him safely back home or out on an adventure. Never a problem, and now it had been sabotaged, lines brutally cut.
Jake was exaggerating, but he couldn’t help it. He felt so hopeless.
“Here, have some coffee; it’s actually still warm.” Shelley came up and handed him a cup filled about halfway. Jake took it and turned away, rubbing his eyes.
“The bastard’s cut the fuel line too,” he said between clenched teeth. He took a sip of the coffee, swallowing away his tears, and let the taste linger in his mouth. It wasn’t exactly good anymore and it didn’t help his empty stomach, but it seemed to give him some strength to keep going. He reminded himself why he was there in the first place.
“Any food left in the car?” He
turned to Shelley and she shook her head.
“Can you call for help?” Shelley asked, hugging her mug of lukewarm coffee. “Like a tow truck or something?”
Jake pulled out his phone and noted the empty battery symbol. He sighed and showed Shelley.
“So what do we do?” A note of desperation crept into her voice.
“Let’s get in the car, it will be a little warmer, and then we’ll decide,” Jake said. “Maybe one of us can stay with the car while the other goes to that gas station Jimmy found.” Jake rummaged around in his duffle bag and found his other sweatshirt. He took off his hoodie, put the other sweatshirt on and then the hoodie. It wasn’t much, but it helped.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to split up,” Shelley said, sounding more and more desperate. Jake looked at her and nodded, trying not to show his own desperation. Sure things looked bleak and they were cold and hungry and being hunted by scary special forces people with guns, but he didn’t want her to see how he felt.
“Then what do we do?” Jake asked, trying not to sound irritable. The hunger cramps had not been helped by the coffee. “Just sit here and wait for someone to rescue us?”
“Yes,” was her firm answer.
Like who? Jake wanted to add, one of your old clients, but stopped himself just in time. That would have been a cheap shot.
Shelley only shrugged and huddled under the blanket, her face blank and very pale.
After a time Jake said he thought she was probably right. Maybe he could try and repair the brake and the fuel lines so that if help showed up they could at least get some gas and limp to a proper gas station. Hopefully one with some tools and lines, though Jake didn’t hold out much hope of that possibility out here.
Just as he was about to step out of the car, he saw a searing bright light in his mind’s eye and he heard his father’s voice.
“Jake? Jake?” It sounded desperate, “Jake?”
“I’m here, Dad,” Jake said out loud and in his head.
“Thank God, Jake. They told me you were dead. That they’d killed you.”
“They tried, but I’m all right. Just delayed. Hang in there.”
His father said no more, but Jake received a few more images that were startling to him. He had no idea there was a secret compartment in the trunk; he thought he had explored every inch of the car at least ten times.
Jake jumped out of the car and opened the trunk. His last image was just light and it felt like a loving hug. Jake knew he was on his own again, but didn’t linger on the feeling. He felt around for the tiny catch his dad had shown him, surprised he had never found it before. It was near the locking mechanism for the trunk and appeared to be just a part of that. But when he pushed it, he heard something click open in the back, over the left rear wheel. He found a flashlight and flicked it on so he could see in the compartment. The opening was small, but the compartment extended back. He stuck his hand in and pulled out his father’s old service pistol and a box of ammunition. Jake had always wondered where he kept the pistol.
Jake knew about guns; his father had taught him to shoot at a gun range, over his mother’s objections. The first shot had been exhilarating, but after that it wasn’t nearly as exciting. It was just one more thing his dad had taught him as part of basic survival skills. Sometimes Jake thought that perhaps his father was expecting Armageddon in his lifetime.
At that moment, though, Jake was grateful for the knowledge, and he checked the weapon, loaded it and made sure the safety was on. Then he stuck it in his hoodie pocket.
He reached into the secret compartment again and pulled out a small stack of MREs. All in flavors Jake liked. It was almost as if his dad had prepared the car for him. As if his dad had known what would happen.
Jake carefully closed the compartment and the trunk and got back in the car.
“Look what I found.” He showed Shelley the MRE meal packets and the gun.
“How?” she asked.
“My dad showed me where they were hidden. Now we have breakfast and defense.” Jake took a packet and tore it open with his teeth. It might not be gourmet, but it tasted good after a night in the wilderness.
Shelley turned over the solid-feeling packet in her hands before opening it. She took a tiny, experimental bite and grimaced, but chewed and swallowed.
“What is this anyway?”
“Meals ready to eat. Military rations. Soldiers carry them into battle,” Jake explained, tearing open another packet and taking a big bite.
“What, do they throw these at the enemy? It tastes awful.” Shelley took another small bite and did her best to chew it before swallowing it. She did not like the taste at all, but knew it was food, or meant to be food, and anything was better than going hungry.
“They’re an acquired taste,” Jake said with authority.
“That’s for sure.”
“What’s that noise?” Jake whipped around and saw a plow coming straight at them.
Chapter 19
“Out!!” Jake yelled and pushed Shelley out of the car. He jumped out on his side with just a second to spare and slid across the hood to safety on the other side. But his heroics had been unnecessary. What he had seen as the truck’s trajectory had in fact been distorted by the way the sunlight hit the snow and then glinted off the edge of the plow blade. He had seen it in the rearview mirror and he knew that it was slightly inaccurate when it came to precise viewing. The truck slid past them with six inches to spare, spraying them with dirty snow.
It came to a stop and the driver jumped out. He was a young man, probably in his early twenties, and revealed a buzz cut under his woolly hat when he took it off to scratch his head.
“You two need any help?” he called out, and jogged over, his insulated, orange snow pants making a shushing noise as he jogged. They’d have no trouble finding him in the snow. “Like a jump start or some hot coffee?”
“Yes, actually we need some fuel and something to repair cut brake and fuel lines. Can you help us?” Jake came forward to meet the man, but Shelley hung back. She wasn’t as eager to meet him after her encounter in the diner the day before. “Right now some hot coffee would be great. It’ll help wash down these MREs.”
“You’ve got MREs? Man, I love that stuff!”
Jake turned and grinned at Shelley while shrugging, as if to say, See, I’m not crazy. Shelley turned away and tried not to laugh.
“What’s wrong with your girlfriend? She sick? I got a medkit.”
“No, she’s not…” Jake started to say she wasn’t his girlfriend but what did it matter now? “She’s just cold. Some hot coffee will warm her up.”
“Right. Hey, if you’ve got more of those MREs I’ll trade you. I’ve got a cooler full of ‘healthy’ food, but would much rather have MREs. I used to live on those things in the military and I still miss ’em.”
“Sure,” Jake said. Although he was fine with them, he wanted to make sure Shelley had decent food to eat. He wasn’t going to trade away all of them though. His dad had stocked those for an emergency and that’s why he would keep some.
“I’ll see what I’ve got to fix your lines. Some critter got them in the night eh?” The young man jogged back to his truck and pulled open a side compartment. While he rummaged around, Jake gathered up a stack of MREs and walked over to the truck. He gave Shelley a quizzical look but seemed to understand her reluctance to join him.
“Stay warm in the car,” he said after he saw how pale and cold she looked. “I’ll bring you some coffee.”
The snow plow appeared to be very well stocked and even had something Jake could use to jury-rig new hoses with.
“I’m Ted, by the way,” the young man said, and tipped his hat.
“Jake. And you’re a life-saver. I wasn’t sure how we could get to a phone or a gas station.” With an effort Jake stopped himself from saying anything more. He wasn’t sure he could trust this young man; he was getting some odd mixed signals. So he chose to play it safe.
&
nbsp; Ted handed some hoses and a jerrycan of gas to Jake and took the MREs into the cab. He reappeared with a sizable cooler and a big thermos. He walked back to the car with Jake.
“Here, take what you need, and please take the fruit and those granola and yogurt cups. My girlfriend is a total granola-hippie. Don’t get me wrong, I love her and all, but this health food crap is not my thing. Give me a steak and potatoes any day. And take these whole wheat sandwiches with turkey too. You’ll be doing me a huge favor,” he urged Jake and Shelley, holding out a couple of sandwiches wrapped in wax paper.
“Thanks,” Shelley said shyly, and took the sandwiches. She got back into the car and let Jake pick out whatever other foods he felt they could use. She put the sandwiches on the dashboard and felt a deep weariness come over her. She leaned back and closed her eyes. Images of a war zone came unannounced and she felt the fear and adrenaline the young soldiers experienced. It took her a moment to realize she was watching Ted’s memories.
She opened her eyes to erase the images and saw Jake holding a little bag of food and Ted offering him a roll of tape, but it didn’t seem real. Their movements were not as they should be. The light was strange too, and the colors—both were too bright. What was happening to her? She couldn’t make out what they were saying, either. The sound of their voices seemed as if it came from under water.
Shelley’s heart rate went up and her breathing became shallow as panic took hold. This had never happened before. What was wrong with her?
“Hey, where’s your cup? I’ve got some coffee for you,” Jake said, appearing next to her. She hadn’t seen him walk over. She hadn’t heard his footsteps crunching on the snow. She gave a start and almost screamed.
“What’s wrong?” Jake asked.
“Shut it off, make it go away,” she whispered, her eyes unfocused.
“What?” It took Jake a moment to figure out what she was talking about. “Shelley, look at me.” He took her face in his hands and turned it toward him. He made eye contact and forced her to keep looking at him. This had happened to him too and his father had talked him back again. He only hoped he could remember the right words.