Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

“I think we have her all taken care of.”

Colby Shephard squinted to see his friend Ryan in the heavy snow and ice swirling around them. “Good. You want to get her to the hospital before you can’t see the road anymore. Just take it slow and easy.”

“Will do,” Ryan said as they slapped hands.

Colby hoped they wouldn’t find anything serious when they got the young lady to the hospital. She’d been trying to make it home in the storm and misjudged the edge of the road, causing her car to slide down an embankment. There might possibly be some neck damage, but hopefully not. At least her cell phone had still been working enough for her to call 911.

“I’ll leave y’all to it, then,” he said.

“Glad you could help! Living in this stuff makes a big difference.”

“Yeah,” Colby agreed, smiling behind his gator.

No matter how many times he tried to explain to people that what they faced down here in the South wasn’t the same as living in New England, no one seemed to grasp the difference. He’d certainly never seen a storm like this one up there, where the heavy snow was mixed with tiny pellets of ice. The roads were gonna be closed for a week with this stuff and he’d spend all his time digging people out of ditches. Not that he had anything better to do.

Just as he turned away, Ryan’s partner jogged over. “Colby, just heard on the radio that there’s a tree down over Brimland Road, so you might want to take a different route home.”

Shit. “Good to know! Thanks.”

He turned back toward his truck as the two loaded into the ambulance. In the distance, a slow rumble of thunder gave him pause. Snow thunder wasn’t common in these parts, and gave an almost foreboding element to the already heavy atmosphere. Like the whole world was holding its breath, waiting to see what torture Mother Nature was about to hand out.

He cranked up the defrost to clear the windows off, watching as the ambulance slowly rolled in the opposite direction. He rubbed his hands together, thinking about his own route home. He would have to skirt the edges of town in order to avoid Brimland, which was a main thoroughfare. Not ideal, because those roads cut through farmland and were much less traveled, but what choice did he have?

It made more sense for him to go back to his apartment over the old Post Office than to follow the guys out to the hospital, which was farther out in the county. If anything came up—which it would—he’d be closer to the fire department and the equipment they would need to bail people out of the storm.

Here's hoping wrecked cars were the only worries they had over the next week. Any house fires or medical emergencies could be disastrous with the slower response time they were gonna see. He’d need to keep all his fingers and toes crossed during this storm.

Colby inched down the road, cursing under his breath as he saw firsthand just how bad visibility had gotten. He’d be lucky if he made it home in a couple of hours instead of the twenty minutes it would take under normal circumstances. At least he was familiar with the curves of the old McDermot highway. He hadn’t been out here recently, but had lived out this way growing up.

Once again he wondered why he hadn’t moved on from this town. Moving away from Thornbury Woods the first time had been the best thing for him. Despite that, he never could have turned his back on his granddad when his health had gone downhill. Especially considering Colby’s own medical training. He'd been able to keep Granddad in his own home until he'd passed over a year ago. The plan had always been to move on after that, but somehow it had just never happened.

Knowing how rough the next week would be—both with the number of know-it-alls that would get on the road and get themselves stuck, plus the lack of resources from the miserly Childress County government—made him severely regret his lack of motivation.

An hour later, Colby judged himself to be about halfway home, cutting in front of the old Asher farm. He vaguely remembered gossip about Maria moving out of town with her new husband, but wasn’t sure if the old homestead house was still in use by anyone. Regardless, he didn’t think he’d make it much farther. His truck had slid on the road more than once, and his hands were slowly losing their feeling to cold numbness despite the heater being on full blast.

He’d do better to get himself inside a building—at least for now.

He found what vaguely resembled the turn-off to the Asher homestead, if he remembered correctly. Unfortunately, twenty feet in found his truck facing a big gate. No way was he getting that open in this weather. He’d be lucky if it wasn’t chained closed. The house was a good half a mile away from the road, completely wiped out of his line of sight by the increasing snow. Jesus, he hadn’t ever seen a storm this bad this quick.

He left the truck at the best possible angle for him to dig it out when he returned, secured everything and got his skin covered to prevent exposure damage. His rush to get to the emergency scene meant he hadn’t brought any warm food with him, but he shrugged on his backpack with his backup bars and beef jerky in every available pocket. If no one was actually in residence, he’d need something to eat until the roads were clear again.

Which could be a while.

It took a couple of deep breaths for him to force himself to push his truck door open against the wind. The first slap from the storm hit him with an all-over sting of cold and wet. He left the truck unlocked. The odds of someone coming along who would want to steal something were slim in this weather, and Colby didn’t want to take the chance on the doors being locked when they froze closed—because they definitely would.

The gate was locked or frozen shut, either was possible in the freezing ice. Colby glanced up to the top, about three feet over his head, and decided to risk it. He wasn’t interested in testing his abilities in this wind with the barbed wire on each side of the gate.

Getting up went pretty well, though the sting from the frozen metal ate through his gloves like they weren’t even there. But on the other side it only took one misstep for him to lose his footing and tumble all the way to the bottom. Landing on his left hip forced the breath from his lungs but there was no one to hear him yell. Thankfully. Wouldn’t that ruin his laidback reputation as Cool, Calm Colby ?

Some days that nickname was harder to live up to than others.

After a moment of stunned immobility, he rolled over with a groan that quickly disappeared on the wind. He struggled back to his feet, grateful for the sturdy boots keeping his feet warm. His hands weren’t so lucky. He could feel the icy tendrils on his wrists where the snow had snuck in around the bands of his gloves.

Not good. He needed to get inside fast.

He sprinted in the direction of the house, though he couldn’t see it yet. He squinted, searching the horizon for any evidence of life inside. The accumulating ice and snow slowed him down considerably. A couple of falls on slick spots let the cold wetness invade the unsecured borders of his clothing. Man, why had he not moved to a warmer climate by now? Florida was just a couple of states away.

The distant echo of snow thunder was muffled by the sound of the rushing wind against his toboggan.

Pretty soon his fingers were completely numb. His legs grew as heavy as tree trunks that he dragged down the road as best he could. Just when he thought he would forever be lost in the swirling gray and icy projectiles, a pinpoint of white appeared on the horizon.

He strained to make it bigger, but logically knew he would have to get closer for that. His body wasn’t cooperating. Everything grew exponentially harder, even his brain becoming cloudy. His thoughts were difficult to grasp. Somehow he kept his feet moving one step in front of the other, praying he was walking in a straight line.

Soon the light doubled in size, confirming it was real and not a figment of his frosted imagination. Something about the yellow undertone of the light warmed him inside, keeping him moving when his body wanted to give up and lay down on the cold, hard ground. After enough steps to fill an eternity, Colby’s leg slammed into the edge of the porch.

He was too far gone to even cuss. Instead he crawled onto the wooden planks and dragged himself to the far wall, searching for the doorframe. Catching the edge with his left hand, he forced himself to inch over that way, even though it was away from the warm light that drew him so strongly. Surely somewhere on the inside he'd find the source of the light.

Finding a locked handle, Colby briefly contemplated getting to his feet, but the thought quickly drifted away. He was stuck pounding on the door from his knees, praying someone was inside.

They had to be, right? Someone had put a lantern in the window to help him reach safety? Surely they wouldn’t leave him outside to freeze to death on their porch—alone and lonely, like always.

But no response came and Colby had a vague ticking in his mind that told him he was out of time. He had to get out of this weather and into some heat.

Summoning what little energy he could conjure, he used it all to pound on the door. The impact stung, reverberating down his forearm. At least he felt something.

But the parting of the clouds in his mind quickly disappeared and he was left cloudy and wondering if he had actually knocked or not. Why didn’t someone answer? Why...

Colby wasn’t sure if it was seconds later or minutes when he found himself slumped against the door. The weight told him he was starting to accumulate ice on his back, though he felt oddly warm. What was happening?

He tried to knock again but knew the attempt was weak. He had to get inside...get inside...get inside... Suddenly he realized he was actually blacking out. Time was passing. He knew he was in danger but his heartbeat seemed to be slowing instead of speeding up.

He leaned forward, resting his head against the door, gathering his strength. Don’t fall asleep, don’t...

The doorknob was solid against his palm. He gripped it tight, then turned it several times. Nothing. So he reared back and twisted the knob as he slammed himself forward, ignoring the pain in his shoulder and cheek as he fell through the opening.

The last thing he heard was a high shriek before the darkness took him out.