Trapped with the Blizzard (32 page)

I gave her a tight smile and nodded towards the exit. “You’re free to leave at any time. There’s the door.” She looked at me blankly as if I’d just spoke in Swahili. “You said you’re being held captive. That must be very scary for you,” I drawled. “You can go. Right now. Right out that door there. Best of luck to you.”

The woman finally seemed to get my point. She rolled her eyes and huffed, but refused to say anything.

“Thank you, Dani, but I…” Liz started to say, but I wasn’t done with the ungrateful old woman yet.

“So, Liz here didn’t break into your house, kidnap you in the middle of the night, drag you up here, force feed you a lovely Christmas dinner, and chain you to a radiator in a tiny closet?” I stared at her, willing her to answer. “No? Then why don’t you shut the hell up? These people have done nothing but save your sorry ass and this is how you repay them?” I was surprised at the anger in my voice and only stopped when Miah put a hand to my back.

The tension pulsed for a few seconds before slipping away entirely. The crowd that had gathered around Liz crumbled as Dorothy turned without a word. I watched her retreat, mulling over a few choice things I wanted to throw back at her. A bully was a bully no matter the age.

“Thank you for standing up for me,” Liz said with tears in her eyes. I’d meant it. I knew she and Bryan had done everything they could to keep the town alive and safe, but it didn’t mean I was ready to show it. I clenched my teeth together, trapping the emotions I felt deep inside. She reached out for my hand, but I wrenched it away.

“Yeah, whatever.” I could feel the tears welling in my own eyes. The last thing I wanted or needed was to start bawling in front of everyone.

“Dani,” Miah called out as I stomped off.

“I’m fine. I just need a minute,” I replied with a wave over my shoulder.

I made my way to the dark kitchen, to the spot where Miah had been laid. Because of some strange structural design, it was one of the few rooms on the ground floor that wasn’t covered in snow. The wind whipped past these windows, tearing the snow away and piling it up somewhere else.

My throat tightened with emotions I absolutely hated feeling.
This is why I shut people out. Because I can’t stand this feeling… or feeling anything at all.

I’m not sure how long I stood there staring out of the window, imagining the tiny patch of blue sky I’d be able to see come day. I tried to ignore the orange glow from the fires all around us, denying it as part of my reality. I hadn’t been outside in nearly a day and facing another night trapped inside with over a hundred other people wasn’t an appealing prospect. Something in me snapped. I needed to go outside, to feel the wind on my face, even for a minute or two.

I snatched one of the dark camping lanterns the staff had left behind. I tested it, checked behind to make sure no one was watching, and slipped down a pitch-black hall. The door I found was normally used for deliveries brought directly into the kitchen, but today, it would be my freedom. I pushed hard, thinking the door was going to be wedged shut with snow, but thanks to a protective awning, it easily swung open.

I expected to be hit in the face with a blast of wind. I closed my eyes and stepped outside fully prepared to be smacked with stinging snow. Instead, I found myself in the middle of a quiet maze. Liz and Bryan had made sure a team of people kept up with the snow removal on paths surrounding the lodge. Even so, I had to walk through a couple inches of snow that had fallen since the last shoveling.

The soft cushion of snow towered above me, reminding me of corn mazes my dad took me to in the autumn when I was little. The white walls seemed to glow with a strange, shifting light from the lantern. The snow absorbed every sound, even the wind above. The sky was an odd orange hue, the low clouds reflecting the light from Tellure Hollow below. With the lantern held at arm’s length, I started down the path before me.

The sheer volume of snow made the dreamy scene otherworldly. I ran my fingers along the sides, the path narrow enough I could touch both sides at once. Snow crumbled along as I slowly walked, coming to a split in the path. The right side carried on around the back towards the barns while the left continued towards the front.

I’ll just do a quick loop and get back in before anyone misses me,
I thought.

The sidewalk had probably been cleared in a straight line to begin with. After almost two days of inconsistent shoveling, it’d become a weaving, serpentine path. Little bumps and crevices along the walls blocked a clear line of sight. The walls made it feel a little claustrophobic, but it all looked so surreal I didn’t massively freak out. It was impossible to believe that only a few days before, this entire area had been clear and open, the ticket booths packed with people waiting to get on the slopes.

It only took a minute to make my way through the single-lane maze and to the front doors. I stole a quick glance to the right before I turned. The groomers Bryan had used to clear the parking lot and search for Miah sat at the close corner. I didn’t want to go right back in, so I turned towards the parking lot, walking past the chair where Miah had been found. It was now nearly buried.

The further I walked, the more exposed to the elements I became. Icy fingers of wind pulled at my jacket and hair. I turned and again, couldn’t believe my eyes. The entire first level of the lodge was buried, completely obscured by the snow. It was as if the ground had risen up and swallowed it whole. A huge mountain of snow climbed up along the right side, the drift stretching in a gentle slope all the way up to the roof.

I went as far as the last snowcat, not daring to head any further into the frigid darkness. It wasn’t like the last time. There was no raging into the storm, no screaming until my throat bled. The lodge had become so stifling… I just needed the air. The cold ripped through my clothes. I bundled myself against the wind and trudged up to the entrance.

I heard a moan. At first, I dismissed it as the wind, but the sound tickled the back of my mind. It replayed, like a needle skipping over a record.

I almost didn’t turn around. I almost didn’t see him. But a movement, his foot or maybe the flap of his jacket, caught my eye enough that I turned. I noticed the trail of bright, fresh blood congealing in the snow. My gaze quickly followed it to a body, slumped but moving slightly. With a cry, I rushed forward. I threw the plastic lantern down on the ground and only realized it was Walt when he tried to fight me off.

“It’s okay! It’s Dani. What the hell happened to you?”

He blinked up at me with pale blue eyes, snowflakes landing on his eyelashes. A huge gash in his scalp leaked down to his brow and along his temple. It looked alarmingly similar to Miah’s…

“Walt, we need to get you inside. You’ll freeze to death out here,” I said as I tried to loop an arm under his armpit.

“Jack,” he whispered. The wind attempted to steal his raspy voice, and I remembered.
He had the baby last.

I froze, the image of the baby in the deep snow sending a cold shiver through my body that would never thaw. “Where’s Jack? You had him, where’s the baby?”

Walt didn’t respond right away, blinking again, obviously not fully roused from the knock to his head. I didn’t care. I shook him hard enough that his head flopped around to his shoulder.

“Where is he? Walt, you need to…”

He squeezed his eyes shut, a hand going to the cut on his head. “Someone took him. I didn’t see ‘em. I came out to look at the roof and they hit me over the head from behind and before I blacked out…” He looked at me with the first glimmer of clarity. “They took him.”

“All right, let’s get you up. We need to find Bryan and Liz, now. They’re just inside!”

Once I got him to his feet, he waved me away. “You go. I’ll just slow you down. Go get them.”

I hesitated a half-second, sure the moment I let go of the old guy he’d go toppling to the ground. He wavered for a second, found his balance, and shouted at me to run.

I turned on my heel and sprinted towards the front door. Panic and adrenaline pulsed through my body. I slipped and slid along the snowy ground, as if I were running on ice. I slammed into the front door and tried to wrench it open, but it didn’t budge. Confused, I tried it again and only then did I notice the locked chain. My mind was slow to process the rattle against the metal frame.

“What the fuck?” I muttered as I yanked at the chain. The links were far too thick to pry apart, threaded through the handles and secured with a simple padlock. In a moment of insanity, I imagined picking it with a hairpin or something. I jogged backwards, looking up and down the paths in sheer panic.
Who would do that? Who would lock the doors from the…

Walt was suddenly at my side, his old eyes able to zero in on the problem at hand much faster than I had. He was disturbingly calm compared to my frantic panic.

He grabbed my forearm with surprising strength. “Do you smell that?”

“What? What the hell are you talking about? We need to…”

“The smoke. Do you smell smoke?”

“Well, yeah. They’re burning wood in there. Listen, we need to…”

“No. It’s more than that. It’s the building itself. I’ve just gone through two house fires in one week and I know that smell.”

And almost like an answer to his suspicion, a curl of black smoke roiled from the corner of the locked door in front of us and the people inside began to scream.

With the weight of the world coming down on my shoulders, having Dani stand up for me in such an epic gesture almost moved me to tears. The way she verbally tore Dorothy down… it was a thing of beauty. Even in my bitchiest days, my tongue would never have been so sharp.

Miah glanced back to me with a shrug as he wisely let Dani go off. I felt the eyes of the crowd on me, that sideways glance people gave you after a confrontation. I ignored the sensation and focused on Chris and the other men hanging the curtains. They worked efficiently and it might’ve been my own hopeful imagination, but the fabric immediately made a difference. I noticed fewer drafts, and while people were miserable stacked on top of each other, the closeness did make the air warmer.

Bryan worked the opposite side of the room getting everyone settled in. I poked my head out into the hall to make sure everyone had come into the Great Hall before shutting the two heavy doors. We still had a few hours to go before dawn and the end of the storm. We were battered but not broken.

Even though we aren’t completely out of the woods yet, morale will go through the roof when we see the sun come up,
I thought as I scanned the room.

I pulled out the baby monitor and pressed the call button. Bryan’s hand went straight to his pocket as he searched for me in the crowd. Tucking down low so he couldn’t find me, I whispered, “You have a cute ass.”

I watched as he excused himself, his face turning a pretty shade of pink. “Mrs. Phillips agreed with you,” he said. “Thanks for that.”

“It’s not like she didn’t already know it.”

My crouched stance was earning a few strange looks, so I straightened and double-checked the doors to save face. “Hey, boss, everyone make it in?” Chris asked as he approached from my left.

“It appears so.”

“Good, good.” Chris nodded to himself as if he were in deep thought. I was getting used to his nervous behavior, treating it as I would any other personality quirk or tic. He held my gaze and leaned closer. “You know the guy… downstairs? He was asking for you last time I was down there.”