Frozen

Into the Thick

The wind howled like wolves outside the car as Alex desperately spun the tires in the snowbank and punched the steering wheel when it didn't work. Anna sat next to him, watching the futile struggle with her eyebrows knitted in panic and her knuckles turning white through her gloves as she gripped her armrest. Danny and Ronnie bundled up platonically next to each other with their backs together as they tried to keep each other warm in the subzero temperature. Alex turned the key in the ignition and the car sputtered to silence as Lara opened the back car door and climbed in next to Ronnie. She let out a loud huff, which meant that she was going to give the whole car an earful, and began her rant dramatically.

"We are going to die out here, Alex. This is all your fault. Where the fuck even are we? THIS DOESN'T LOOK LIKE BRITISH COLUMBIA TO ME!" Lara screamed as hot, fearful tears rolled down her cheeks like smooth crystals and her voice shattered into a million pieces. Alex's face stiffened in anger as Anna watched his hands tighten around the steering wheel and she prepared for him to snap as well. "How does it make you feel that we're all going to freeze out here and be eaten by bears?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, LARA!" Alex filled the car with his rage like a nuclear explosion, but didn't manage to silence the stuck-up city girl until he followed his demand up. "Seems like I'm the only one actually trying to UN-FUCK US! What purpose do you even serve? If you're just going to complain they whole time why the fuck are you even here?"

"Fuck you, Alex," Lara said through her teeth as she swung the car door open and slammed it on her way out, spilling thin sheets of ice to the ground beneath the windows. She walked to the back of the car and sat on the trunk as she pulled her box of cigarettes out of her winter coat pocket and sparked one up with her copper colored Zippo lighter. Alex, Anna, and Danny all stepped out of the car after her as Ronnie cocooned himself in the warmth of all the blankets in the vehicle. Alex knelt down and examined the tires, a quarter of the way stuck in a thick crater of icy snow, as Anna stood over his right shoulder observantly.

"Danny," Alex said calmly as he stood up and almost absently bumped into Anna, "help me push?" Anna stepped up to the car window and knocked on it twice with her second knuckle as Ronnie looked over at her from his comfortable blanket coffin. She waved him out of the car and he immediately put his hands in his armpits to conserve the heat he had been building inside. Alex, Danny, and Ronnie all migrated to the back of the car and Lara angrily stormed off towards the front as Anna looked to Alex for direction. "Anna, get in the drivers seat and floor the gas pedal when I say so." Anna hopped in the drivers seat with her foot on the gas as Alex prepared a three-count for the pushing-party and they prepared themselves for a struggle. "Now, Anna." Alex, Danny, and Ronnie groaned strenuously as they began pushing with their entire body weight and Anna stomped the gas pedal into the floor.

The back tires spun in the thick ice and flung chunks of the frozen surface back at the pushers' shins like a barrage of small, icy bullets. Anna released her foot from the gas pedal and took the key out of the ignition as she got out of the car and looked back at Alex as he dented the back bumper with a solid kick.

"We aren't moving this car," Alex said as Danny hopped up on the cold trunk and Ronnie swore profusely under his breath. "I saw a sign for a tourist trap or some shit a few miles back. Shouldn't be too far from here, I could make it on foot and be back with help before morning."

"I'm coming with you," Anna finally spoke as she made her way to the back of the car and glanced up at Alex's worrisome eyes, "you can't just go alone, you have to at least take someone."

"No," Alex said sternly as Anna's expression shifted from concern to confidence and Alex's eyes darted away from hers as he tightened his jaw. Anna knew that Alex couldn't say no to her, and she didn't like using that against him, but she couldn't let him go off into the below zero tundra by himself. "Anna, please. Just please stay here."

"I could go with him," Danny piped up as he stepped forward and joined the conversation.

"Yeah," Alex agreed quickly to get Anna off of the expedition, "we'll just go and be back before nightfall. We won't take too long in town."

"I'm still coming with you guys," Anna demanded as Alex released a heavy sigh and whispered fine under his breath. "I have survival skills that could be useful out here." Alex pinched the bridge of his nose tightly and groaned for a long moment as he wiped the palm of his hand down his face and nodded silently.

"You do fencing, but alright, we're getting moving now, then. We don't have a second to waste. Ronnie, I'm taking your Bowie knife, we'll be back." Alex picked up Ronnie's knife out of the trunk of the car and clipped the leather sheath to the belt loop on his hip as he took his two-person headcount and nodded slowly. "C'mon, we have to make it back before the sun sets." The trio of friends began their journey to the south with the frozen snow crunching noisily beneath their boots as Anna wrapped her coat tightly around her shivering frame. Alex stared straight ahead into the slashing blades of wind in determination as his jaw tightened stiffly and his milk-chocolate colored eyes darkened seriously against the natural adversity.