Her heart was in her chest, and blood pumped wildly through her veins as she saw tree after tree. But it was all happening so fast that she couldn't comprehend everything. A tree. The elk. A drop off. And then, she was going over the side of the embankment and sliding.
Terror froze her in place with her hands white-knuckling the steering wheel. The car was rolling down. The world in front of her spun out of control as she tumbled down the embankment. Things were hitting her body and her head and she banged against the inside of the car even though she was securely belted in her seat. And then she abruptly stopped.
It took a few seconds for her to catch her breath and to see in front of her. Adrenaline raced through her body. She had an odd sensation and then realized she wasn’t sitting upright. She was on her side and the weight of her body was pulling against the seatbelt.
It hurt to move her head, but she forced herself to so she could get her bearings. She turned to the right and saw a big drop. The car was propped up by a few trees that weren't taken down by her car rolling down the mountain.
She had to get out of the car in case the trees gave way. The only problem was that she was stuck. Everything was quiet and cold and serene at the same time. Reaching her hand up to her head, she felt wetness on her fingers. Her stomach rolled as if the car was still moving and she felt dizzy. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d sat there with her eyes closed. The car was getting cold and she began to shiver. But the stars she’d seen when she’d bumped her head were gone and she didn’t feel dizzy like she was going to pass out.
Someone was chopping…or knocking. She wasn’t sure.
Harper opened her eyes and saw Nash Webber at the driver’s side window. He was knocking lightly on the door and calling to her.
“Are you hurt?” he asked.
So much was confusing to Harper. She was on her side and felt heavy. Her seatbelt dug into her shoulder and her side. When she opened her eyes wide and peered out the passenger window, she saw nothing but mounds of snow and small trees that were growing in a funny direction. She turned back, looked out the driver’s side window again, and focused on the position Nash was in. His hand was not on the car at all. He was holding some sort of a strap that was tethered to something somewhere Harper couldn't see. Her shoulder felt as if it was on fire.
“I’m…I'm okay,” she said. She was okay. If she felt pain, then she was alive. That was something.
“Don't move. Not at all. I want you to take your instruction only from me. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Nash disappeared for a few minutes. At least it seemed like only a few minutes. She was starting to feel the pain in her head and time was a little sketchy. She saw strange shadows in front of her but it didn't make any sense. Then she realized her headlights were on and she could see some light against the snowflakes that were falling. It was getting darker. And that was odd. She hadn't expected it to get dark for least another half hour. How long had she been like this? She reached her hand out and touched the heat register. It was cold. It had been blasting heat just fine while she’d been driving.
“Can you try to unlock the door?” Nash asked, suddenly appearing in the driver side window again.
Confused at his position, she leaned forward as best she could to look out. Her head was swimming so badly she slumped back against the headrest and closed her eyes.
She heard the knock on the window again. When she opened her eyes Nash appeared a bit panicked. “Stay with me. Don't go to sleep.”
Asleep? Why on earth would she sleep in her car?
“Make sure you stay still,” Nash said. “If you can reach the lock, unlock the door and I will open it. You’re going to feel a burst of cold air hit you, but don’t worry, and don’t move. Do you understand?”
Cold air. Yes, she was cold. She turned her head and nodded.
“Here we go,” Nash said.
He yanked on her door but it wouldn't budge. “Did you unlock the door?”
She reached her hand up and it felt strangely heavy. Then she fumbled around the door armrest until she found the button that unlocked the door. As soon as she did, she closed her eyes and rested her head against the headrest again as if that one small move had zapped all of her energy. Her head was resting in an odd position. She felt as if she was floating.
Within a few seconds, she heard the door open and then the rush of cold air Nash had mentioned. Wet snow came into the car along with the cold air, shocking her skin and her senses.
“You had quite a tumble down that embankment. You're very lucky,” Nash said. She watched him as he did a quick check of her arms and neck and then looked at her head. It felt so weird to have a man touching her like this. When his hands reached her thigh, she pushed his hand away.
“Hey. Knock that off.”
She heard his low chuckle. “I'm not getting funny with you. I promise. Just checking to see if you have any broken bones. The more you're able to help me, the quicker we’ll be able to get you out of this car and up to safety.”
“Up?”
“Looks like you rolled a few times down this embankment before these trees caught you. You took down a lot of young saplings along the way. But these two trees were sturdy enough to hold the car which is good, because if you had gotten any further along things could've ended…differently.”
“What are you talking about?” She opened her eyes and turned her head to the passenger side, blinking her eyes to focus. The snow was coming down hard but in an instant she suddenly understood. The car had rolled down the embankment and was dangerously close to going over a cliff.
“Oh my goodness. I could have…”
“But you didn't. And you're going to be safe in a few minutes.”
“You mean, I’m not now?”
“Let’s get you out of this car and hooked up to the harness that I’ve secured at the top of the hill. It’ll help us climb up.”
“I don't think... I don't know if I can.”
He was busy doing something. She wasn’t sure he was even paying attention to her ramblings. But then he turned and looked straight into her eyes.
“Much as I'd love to make this easier for you, I can't,” he said gently. “The only way out of here is to climb. I’ll help you. But you’re going to have to listen to me. The more you can do without hurting yourself further, the easier it will be for both of us.”
“There was an elk,” she said.
“I saw the tracks. I need to strap you into the harness. If you can’t handle that, or if you feel pain when you move, I’ll have to strap you to my back and climb that way.”
She frowned and it hurt. She tested her head with her fingers again, rubbing the spot where it throbbed. Her fingers were sticky.
“Is that blood?” she asked, glancing at her fingers.
“We’ll deal with that later.”
“I’m going to move my arm behind you to put this harness on. Don't you worry,” he said, reaching behind her in the seat and running a strap behind her. “I'll do most of the work. Just don't faint on me or pass out or it’ll make this tougher. Is it a deal?”
She turned to look at him and squinted trying to pull in all his features and get a grip on where she was. “My grandmother is alone.”
“You can worry about your grandmother later. Let's just worry about you for now.”
She heard something snap. When she looked down in front of her, she realized Nash had somehow managed to put the harness on her without her knowing. That's when panic set in.
“I don't know if I can do this.”
“One way or another we have to.” He reached behind himself and he tugged on a second line. “I'm going to undo your seatbelt now and you're going to feel your body being pulled away from your seat. But don't worry. The harness is strong and you won’t fall. I’ve got you.”
She forced her eyes to stay open, not even realizing they drifted closed. She was so t
ired all of the sudden.
“Ready?” Nash asked.
She nodded and immediately regretted doing so as the dizziness from the motion made her head swim.
When Nash abruptly released the seatbelt, she felt her body instantly fall a few inches, making her insides fill with panic and her eyes fly open wide. Pain pierced her thigh. Her hands reached the steering wheel and gripped it. But she felt Nash’s arm snake around her waist and pull her towards him.
“You’re okay. Now let’s take it one leg at a time. I want you to turn your body so you're facing me and then lift your legs out of the car. It's okay if they dangle because I have you. You’re going to feel your body fall back a little, but don’t worry. I won't let you fall. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” She held on to each word he said and did as he told her.
“Okay one leg at a time.”
Her legs felt like lead and it was hard to lift them. It took considerable effort for her to lift her left leg and get it free from under the steering wheel. As she tried to do her right leg, Nash maneuvered her body sideways until both of her feet were outside the car.
“I’m going to place my hand behind your neck because I don't know if you have whiplash or were injured in any way. I don’t have a collar or I’d put one on you. Do you feel any pain in your neck?”
She shook her head.
“I don't want your head to snap back, so I’ll keep my hand there. I want to make sure you don't bump your head coming free of the car. So I want you to listen to me carefully. Try to put yourself in a fetal position, you know, with your head pulled forward and your knees to your chest. I know this will be hard, but it’ll make it easier.”
She listened to each instruction, and moved slowly. His voice was calm and patient, something that was so much the opposite of what she was feeling as the gravity of what had happened to her began to sink in fully.
“This is the toughest part,” he said. “And we have to do it fast because I’m not sure how long these trees will hold you here.”
“Oh, joy. It gets worse?”
He chuckled low. “Hopefully not. I want you to put your arms around my shoulders and hold on as tight as you can. When I move your body to get you free of the car the door is going to swing shut with gravity. Do you understand?”
A branch snapped and her car slid an inch or two lower, moving Nash further away.
“That didn’t sound good.”
“It’s not. Let’s do this. Now!”
Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Three
Unlike a Hollywood movie where the car breaks free from the tree the moment the woman escapes the car with the dashing hero, the car didn’t slide any further down the hill. As soon as Harper was free from the car, she wrapped her arms tightly around Nash's shoulders. He moved them to the right of the car door and it quickly slammed shut from the force of gravity, as he said it would.
Snow fell down on her face and she realized she was facing the sky. While she took in her surroundings, Nash fiddled with the ropes and harness equipment. But it wasn't until he started pulling them up that Harper realized the gravity of her situation fully.
“Don’t look down if you're afraid of heights,” he said, pulling on the pulley system of rope.
Of course she looked, and was immediately sorry she did. If she'd taken just a few more of those trees out when she'd rolled down the embankment, she would've gone over the cliff. She didn't have to look to see just how far she would've fallen. She knew because she'd seen that drop from the other side of the mountain. The cabin that her grandmother had rented out to Nash had a clear view of this spot. That must have been how he’d realized she was here. How else?
She rested her face against his shoulder, trying to blot out the images assaulting her mind of what might have happened had these two trees not stopped her fall.
“Are you getting queasy?” he asked.
“Yeah, but mostly because I just realized how close I came to dying.”
His arm was still secure around her waist even though she was sure he'd put her in the harness securely.
“You have plenty of time to revisit all this later. Right now, I just want you to stay calm and listen to my instruction when I need you to do something.”
His voice was soothing but had a hint of command to it as if he'd been in a position of authority and was used to giving orders. Or he was experienced in calming people in dangerous situations.
“Do you do this often?” she asked.
“Rescue beautiful women?”
She rolled her eyes and smiled, stumbling as her feet dragged on the snowy ground as he hoisted them up the hill. She wasn’t doing much to help him. He was doing it on his own. So she let him hold her tight as she settled her body against his.
“How are your legs?” he asked.
“I don’t know. How are they?”
She glanced over at him and caught him smiling.
“Do you think you can walk a little?”
She thought for a brief moment. Her body seemed almost numb and she wasn't sure if it was numb from the cold or from any kind of injury. “I’m sorry. What do you need me to do?”
“I still have you attached to the tether. So you're not going to fall back. I'll make sure of that. But this will go faster if I don't have to carry you or make short adjustments with the pulley. If you’re not up to it, we’ll take as long as we need to. But the sooner we get up the hill, the sooner we can get back to the cabin where it is warm and take a good look at your injuries. I managed to get the stove going before I saw the accident and came out to investigate.”
“Heat. That would be nice.” Her stomach felt queasy from all of the motion, but the thought of getting warm was inviting. “I don't know how much I can do, but I'll try.”
He chuckled softly. “That's the spirit.”
It took about half an hour or so to make it to the top of the road where her car had tumbled off the embankment. By the time they reached the road, it was already dark and Harper was exhausted from the climb. She was having a difficult time gauging time. She'd seen her headlights shining on snow below and now it was pitch dark.
She was so tired that she immediately dropped to the ground as soon as they got to the road and Nash let go of her. Since they were still connected to the harness together, she pulled him down with her.
“Whoa. Let me undo the harness. You can rest here for a little bit, but we still have a ways to go before we get to the cabin.”
“I'm so tired.”
“I know. That's the cold and most likely the bump on your head zapping you of your energy. It’s late and you’re probably hungry too. But you can't sleep now. You need to stay with me.”
“I can't.”
“Do you know any show tunes?”
She blinked and tried to replay his words in her head. “What? Did you say show tunes?”
“Yeah. It’s an old trick. If we sing, it'll give you something to do so you’ll stay awake. It'll make you concentrate. That will keep you from passing out, and it will keep you from getting colder because when you sleep you automatically lose some thermal heat. You can't do that until we get to the cabin.”
She felt her lips stretch into a smile and she couldn't hold back even though her body felt so fatigued. “I don't know show tunes. What you mean like Broadway tunes?”
“Sure. We could sing movie themes. I know a bunch of those too.”
“I’ll just leave that to you.”
“No way. I’m not going to embarrass myself by singing show tunes or movie themes unless you’re going to do it with me.”
“I don't…” She thought for minutes as he fiddled with something in the dark. She wasn't sure exactly what he was doing but she heard chains rattling and what sounded like the harness coming off his jacket. She still had her harness wrapped around her. He appeared in front of her and began to undo the harness.
“Were still a long way from the cabin,” she said. “It’s going to take us forever to get
there.”
“You have a good memory then. It is a ways up the hill. But we’re not going to walk.”
“We’re not? You have your truck?”
“I have a snowmobile. I didn't think that I was going to need it except for some fun in the higher elevations. I thought it was going to sit on the trailer all summer unused. Guess I was wrong.”
“I, for one, am glad you brought it.”
He chuckled. “Me, too. I had visions of carrying you all the way up the rest of the mountain to the cabin. So, what tune are we going to sing?”
Any other time she would have had a quick quip to shoot back at him. She was used to doing that at work when one of the officers gave her a little tease. She didn’t have the energy and her mind felt like mush.
“No singing. Please. I don’t have the energy to since the theme from Frozen. I’m already frozen.”
“Frozen. I haven’t seen that one.”
“What? How can you not have seen that movie?”
“Is it an action movie?”
“It’s animated.”
He shrugged as he released the last of the hooks from the harness and stood up. “Then I know I haven’t seen it. Do you have kids?”
Harper shuddered with a wave of chills. “What?”
“Kids. You said it was animated.”
“No. You don’t have to be…” She sighed and then shuddered again. She was frozen. A snowmobile ride back to the cabin wasn’t going to warm her up either. But at least she was alive, even if it meant she might be stuck on the top of the mountain for a while.
“I have to call my grandmother,” she said. She reached around herself. “My purse is still in the car. It has my cell phone in it.”
Nash lifted her from the ground and guided her to the snowmobile. “There’s plenty of time for that as soon as we get to the cabin and get you warmed up. Think of it this way, if you manage to get a signal and tell your grandmother that you're still on the side of a mountain, she's going to worry until you get safely to the cabin. This way she gets worried and gets over it really quickly when she knows that you're already safe.”
“There’s no cell service at the cabin.”
Sweet Montana Boxed Set 1-5 Page 23