Tuesday December 24, 2013
Old Highway 73
Near Gatlinburg, Tennessee
9:12 PM Local Time
“Terry, careful. The snow is really coming down.”
“Thank you, Wendy,” Terrence sighed, glancing over at his wife with gritted teeth. “I was completely unaware of that until you just told me.”
Wendy Briese bit her lip, rather than retort at her already irritable husband. She couldn’t blame him for being stressed- conditions had been worsening ever since they had left Werner Valley and driven into the Great Smokies National Park. Visibility was low, and the snow was piling up loosely on the roadway, reducing their speed to thirty miles per hour- if they were lucky. Twice now, the RV had slid one way or another, and Wendy had feared they’d be stuck, or, even worse, sent careening off a cliff. But Terrence’s skillful handling had kept the massive vehicle on the road- so far.
Wendy glanced back at Theresa, who had stopped reading her book, and was looking up at the cockpit with fear on her face. Of course she’d have felt the RV sliding, and the obvious tension between her parents wasn’t helping matters. Wendy looked closely to make sure her daughter was securely buckled, and gave her the best reassuring smile she could, before turning back to Terrence.
“Maybe we should stop and put chains on,” she whispered.
“No, we need to just keep going. I’m not stopping for anything.” Terrence insisted, his jaw set. For just a second, he looked to be debating about saying something, then finally said, “What we NEEDED to do was leave Indianapolis when we were SUPPOSED to, so we could have gotten to the Chalet before all this hit.”
Wendy bristled at the barb that was aimed in her direction. Terrence had insisted that they leave by ten so that they could get to their retreat by sunset. But Wendy’s phone interview with 99.3 WWCN in Tampa had ran long, and it wasn’t until one o’clock that they had finally left The Nest to spend Christmas in at the Ski Chalet resort in the Smokies. She felt bad about holding their vacation up, but at the same time, she had a job to do, and part of that job was to promote shows she was booked on. It stunk that the interview had been scheduled for Christmas Eve, but she’d had to do it nonetheless.
Terrence seemed to have realized that he had overstepped, but no apology came. His voice did soften, however, as he sighed. “It can’t be too much further. Can you look on your phone and see how far we are from the 441 Bypass?”
Wendy glanced at her phone for nearly a minute, then shook her head. “It’s not loading anything. I don’t get a signal, or 4G, or anything.”
“Of course.” Terrence muttered, “Well, keep your eye out. We should be hitting it in the next few minutes or so, if my guess is right.”
Wendy nodded, then turned back around to glance at her daughter, who was even more pale. “Are we going to crash?” she whispered, looking at her mother.
“Of course not, Terr-Bear,” Wendy said, smiling much more broader than she really felt like. “It’s just that the road is unfamiliar, very winding, and there’s a lot of snow, so we really want to be careful. Go back to reading your book. Once we get to 441, it should only be a half hour until we’re there.”
She turned back around, peering out of the windshield into the darkness, watching as the snow reflected off the RV’s headlights, the wipers brushing away any flakes that stuck to the windshield. Up ahead, she could see a yellow warning sign for an upcoming right-turn intersection. “Is this it up here?”
“Doubt it,” Terrence said, grimacing. “That road goes south, and we need to go north to get to Gatlinburg.”
Wendy nodded, disappointed, but neverless strained her eyes at the green sign marking the intersection. “No you’re right. County Road 73B… LOOKOUT!!!!!!”
“SHIT!” Terrence barked, slamming on the brakes as a figure appeared out of the snow, more quickly than either could have thought possible. The RV lurched as the tires locked up, sliding on the snow and ice, and both Wendy and Theresa shrieked as the RV fishtailed- to the right, she realized to her growing horror. The direction the figure had been standing.
Terrence regained control of the RV, and was able to work it to the side of the road, coming to a stop. Wendy slammed on the lever to open the RV’s door, and ran out, heedless of being in only a sweater and blue jeans. Behind her, she heard her husband order Theresa to stay put, then descend the stairs afer her.
Wendy had only ran several steps when, to her relief, the figure came waddling towards her, its footing precarious in the snow. To her shock, it was small, no larger than a child. A girl, she realized, no more than eight, as her features were illuminated by the RV’s emergency flashers.
“Are you okay?” Wendy asked, her concern growing as she saw that the girl had no hat, no gloves, and was wearing a windbreaker- far too light a coat for the conditions. She was pale, almost frighteningly so, her black hair making her skin seem all the more ghostly.
“What are you doing out here, kid?” Terrence called from behind her.
“Help! Please help! My mommy!” the girl began, but between her teeth chattering and the wind, Wendy couldn’t make out anything else. She knelt down in front of the child, grasping her hands in an attempt to calm her.
“Whoah, whoah. Slow down. Oh my God, your hands are like ice…” Wendy shivered, simply from touching her. “What happened? How long have you been out here?”
The girl took a deep, shuddering breath, almost a sob, but managed to speak more clearly. “My mommy… she took a wrong turn, and our car broke down, and we’re up on that road there… she sent me back here to get help while she looked after my baby sister. Please…”
“Of course we’ll help you,” Wendy said, giving her husband a pointed look. “But let’s get you inside so you can warm up, okay? What’s your name?”
“Felicity,” the girl replied, her teeth chattering again, as she followed Wendy and Terrence towards the RV door. “Felicity Holcombe.”
“That’s a very pretty name,” Wendy said, helping her into the RV. “My name is Wendy, and this is Terrence. She helped the girl into the RV, and pointed at her daughter. “This is Theresa. She’s about your age.”
“You’re eight?” Felicity asked, smiling shyly.
“Seven,” Theresa countered, clearly taken aback at the sudden appearance of another girl in the RV. “Mom, what…”
“Her family has some car problems, so we’re going to help them out,” Wendy said. “This is Felicity. Give me your blanket, Theresa. She’s freezing.”
To her immense relief, Theresa didn’t argue, but instead handed over her blanket, and Wendy wrapped the little girl in it, while at the same time, Terrence turned the RV’s heat on high. Wendy checked her over. She wasn’t sure what to look for in frostbite, but she was worried that Felicity may have been afflicted with that or hypothermia.
“Are you feeling better?” Wendy asked, and smiled reassuringly when Felicity nodded. “Okay, sit down next to Theresa and buckle your seatbelt. Terrence, I’m staying back here, okay?”
“Alright.” Terrence agreed. “Just hang on. It’s going to be a sharp turn.”
Wendy checked to make sure both girls were buckled onto the couch, then knelt down in front. “Okay, let’s go get your mom and sister. Then maybe we could have some hot chocolate to warm ourselves up. Would you like that?” Felicity nodded, and Wendy grabbed ahold of the edge of their couch as the RV lurched and turned right onto the county road, away from Gatlinburg and deeper into the mountains- and the blizzard.
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