On Ice *Experiencing a complete overhaul*

Chapter 1

Snow came down in large fluffy flakes that instantly turned into soaking spots upon contact with the dark fabric of my winter jacket. I gently guided my large horse, Falcon, through the deep snow along the fence line. It was a crisp winters morning, though it was warmer than most, and I couldn't help but enjoy my first hour of the two-hour trek to check the fences. Duska, my husky ran alongside jumping and frolicking in snow banks in canine delight. Cattle dug in the snow nearby.

All in all, it looked like it wasn't going to be a bad day. I hoped that if everything went well, I would be able to visit my hideaway on the way back home. Midterms were coming up, and I more than needed the break to clear my head. Before I was born, my parents had built a hunting cabin on the far end of the property. It had become my parents' haven in the early years of their marriage, but when my mom passed away from cancer the year earlier, it seemed my father had little use for the cabin and all the memories it contained. I, on the other hand, took every excuse I could to visit the retreat and had even done some minor repairs on the outside over the last year. I had left the interior mostly untouched after my mother died. The kitchen still had the same blue lace curtains that my mother had chosen when the cabin was first built, and the same pictures still hung on the walls. I had even left my mothers cream crochet sweater where she had left it, carelessly thrown across the arm of my wooden rocking chair. In a way, it was my way to be close to her. I smiled in anticipation as I thought of the stone fireplace, and paused to rub my hands together for warmth while surveying the cattle from the top of my small hill.

The wind had started to pick up, and the thick snowflakes had begun to whip themselves into the makings of a storm. With a quick nudge, Falcon picked up the pace black hooves churning the deep snow as I gave up on the fence line and turned towards the cabin. There was no sense in getting caught in the storm. I fired a quick text to my father telling him I was going to spend the night at the cabin. The late afternoon sun that was falling lower in the sky was becoming more challenging to see as the minutes ticked by.

Ten minutes away from the cabin, I was alerted by the sounds of coyotes yipping. Spurring Falcon, I rushed into the swirling haze towards the sound, fearful that they had gotten a hold of a cow. From a distance, I couldn't tell what the coyotes had brought down. "Duska go!" Duska's ears pricked up and she tore off towards the coyotes. After many previous encounters with coyotes, one while she was a pup, Duska had plenty of training on how to deal with her canine cousins. As I got closer, I could tell that whatever the coyotes were after wasn't one of the herd. It was too small for starters, and the animal was wounded, whatever it was. A trail of blood could be seen in patches where the falling snow hadn't managed to completely erase it.

Duska had planted herself between the two coyotes and their prey, something I found oddly uncharacteristic of my husky cross. Usually, Duska would try to sneak up on them or chase them off. It was unusual for the Husky to take the defensive and give up her advantage. I reached for the .22 behind my saddle. Through the chaotic white, I could see the smaller coyote try to get behind Duska. The coyote's ears were flat to her head, and her potentially lethal one-inch canines were fully exposed. I fired a shot, and the animal dropped, Duska took the opportunity to launch herself at the slightly larger male in a well-planned attack. After some snapping and snarling the second coyote fled but still watched from a distance.

I took this as an opportunity to climb down from the saddle .22 in hand. If it was a dying animal with that much blood around it might be better to end things. I prayed it wasn't one of my neighbours' dogs that were laying there. Slowly I trudged through the knee-deep snow to the top of the ridge, blood formed red streaks as the animal previously tried to hide its self from the coyotes. Finally reaching the top of the small hill, I levelled my rifle at the unmoving body. Duska growled before whining up at me. I paused in my movement and looked closer. I gasped sucking in the frigid air.

It was no animal on the ground in a pool of frozen blood but a man...a VERY naked man. My heart thudded as I crept closer to the figure. 'Wait, why is he naked?!' I tucked the rifle under my arm and knelt in the snow over him. He looked to be around my age, maybe 17 or 18. His dark hair was cut short, and there was frost on his long eyelashes. His pale skin was red with cold. The coyotes had torn loose a chunk of flesh from his shoulder and his side leaving a trail of blood and flaps of tissue. It was the gunshot wound to his other shoulder that sent chills down my spine. Warning bells went off as every instinct screamed danger.

'Who is this man? And how in Hades did he get naked and shot in my field?!' Gingerly I reached over and checked for a pulse. My hands shook as I reached over. His skin felt like he had been on ice for hours. The snow was coming down too hard, and the wind was blowing too fast for an air ambulance I would have to take him back to the cabin and wait until the storm broke...if he stayed alive. As dressed as he was would make the trip to the cabin a race against time, and with the snow coming down faster and thicker I wasn't sure how long it would take to get to the cabin. Visibility blew chunks. Literally.

My hands searched for a pulse while my own heart raced. 'Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead' There! I almost jumped out of my skin when I felt it. It was faint but there! If I was going to keep this man alive, I needed a plan. I needed to keep him warm and get him to the cabin. Standing up, I whistled for Falcon. Moving almost slower than I could stand the large horse made his way towards me lazily. When he stood beside me, I started to work in doing the knots behind my saddle freeing my sleeping bag.

Rolling it out and unzipping it, I laid it down beside him. Gingerly with care, I slowly moved him onto the sleeping bag. He began shivering fiercely when my warm hands touched his cold skin.'Why did I have to find a frozen football player?' I mentally groaned to myself as I struggled in the snow. Awkwardly and with a lot of cursing, I managed to get him onto the sleeping bag. I grabbed my backpack and pulled out a couple of my t-shirts to use as bandages. Because of the cold, the bleeding had slowed dramatically but still oozed from the bullet wound and from around the edges of the skin flaps. The bullet appeared to have passed through his shoulder but had nasty powder burns.

With slowly numbing fingers, I worked quickly to tightly bandage his wounds. Using my scarf and strips of my t-shirt, I managed to hold back the skin flaps and bind his wounds. I was thankful he was unconscious. I only wished I had a better way to keep him warm. Duska curled up next to him in the sleeping bag, causing me to look at her oddly. That dog was behaving strangely, but since I usually didn't come across naked men in the snow, I had nothing to compare it to.'At least she'll keep him warm,' Zipping them inside my fathers large sleeping bag I began to tie a rope from my saddle bag to each corner and harnessed it up to the saddle. 'Now, all I have to do is try not to bang him up. That'll be easy...' I winced at the thought knowing that a 10-minute ride could easily double over rough terrain not to mention the blizzard I was now facing. "Don't you dare die on me," I knew all I could do was hurry and pray.