Snowbound Nomad

by Cassie Power

  “Be it ever so humble…” She hummed the words, then pulled around to the front carefully and got out. She had the keys for the place, so pulled them from her jeans pocket first, not getting her jacket from the passenger’s seat before she opened the door. That was a mistake, she realized, so fixed things immediately. It was her old, big blue winter coat. The one that had lived for several years in the back of her closet and smelled a bit musty for having done it. Now she was kind of glad that she’d brought it along with her anyway. It had made the move from New York with her after college. Alfred University had been small and intensely cold most of the winter, as well as snowy. So, she had the needed gear, and the common sense to have busted it out from storage. Even her old gloves had made the trip, being left stuffed into the pockets on the side.

  It was a sign that she was secretly brilliant. No one could know what the building there had going on, and not dying was a clever trick that she’d picked up along the way in her life.

  She had to walk across dirt that had a bit of gravel mixed in to get to the wooden steps. They were a bit warped, and needed to be stained again. They were heavy however, being made of split logs. Her feet made thumping sounds as Merry climbed up to the porch, but nothing creaked or felt weak to her. The entire place looked to be made the same way, which was a great sign. She’d been in a lot of places over the last year that had less structural soundness.

  The door opened to the key that she’d been given, not having a deadbolt on it. It was just a doorknob with a regular lock. Honestly, it was a nice-looking thing, being made of heavy brass work. Not decorative, but still kind of classy. There was a bit of tarnish on the tops and sides, like it had been used for a long time before the cabin had been closed down and sold.

  Inside the place was dim, but there were large windows on the front. Double paned insulated glass, designed to keep the cold out. Not that it was really working at the moment. The things looked sturdy, but were the small kind that would have opened upward, if it were summer.

  Even inside, her breath could be seen in the air. Hitting the light switch, nothing happened.

  “Of course not.” She didn’t know if the place ever even had power. There were no lines in the area. Then she rolled her eyes.

  “There’s a switch. Duh.” That got her to smile, since dark or not, she could make-do.

  They could work without power. She needed to call in however, which would probably mean taking a trip back down the road a long way. Pulling her cellphone, she saw that there wasn’t even one bar of reception, which surprised Merry not in the slightest. She had the good service plan, but squirrels didn’t put up cell towers very often. Probably because they were lazy little so and so’s. Selfish too, only thinking of getting ready for the winter and all that kind of thing.

  She’d passed a tiny store, on the edge of a tiny town that probably called itself a village or something quaint like that. That had been about twenty miles back, so if the snow stopped she could get to it that night.

  If not, she might be stuck until the team got there. Which wouldn’t help anyone at all. Even not coming would have been better than that.

  Danson Meeres had told them he was sending in someone to work with them. A psychic, of all things. That was what the rather obscure email had said. She’d been around enough to know that some of that sort were great guessers, and that however they did their tricks could pull off the occasional nifty on screen presentation… But all of them had been as flaky as hell. This one wasn’t even famous or anything. Just some guy that had been recommended and hired sight unseen. Meeres hadn’t even given him a name, to be honest. That would have happened if it was a big name.

  If it had been someone impressive, or even with a cult following, they’d showcase them and make them look really good. It would help the ratings, at least in theory. Uncanny Things actually got air time, if at two in the morning on channels that normally didn’t have to pay for the content. Still, if they could get anything solid, like a major star from the supernatural world, or maybe an actual ghost, things could improve that way.

  Why they needed that kind of person instead of say, a wilderness guide, she didn’t know. Really, hiring someone like that, who knew how to survive in tough situations, suddenly made a lot of sense to her.

  That would have been way more handy at the moment.

  For one thing, there was wood right there, stacked up next to a huge black metal stove that seemed to be designed to cook on, as well as heat the front room. It was large and square, after all. There were even little pot shaped spots on the top, with handles that could be taken off. Why that existed, she didn’t know, but wood, plus fireplace meant heat. Merry didn’t have any matches, not being a smoker, but right there, next to the stove was a long, red handled, lighter.

  “Now all I need is a half-ton of newspaper and a gallon of gasoline and I can get a nice blaze going!”

  Not that she was going to get those. Her fire-starting ability really was at about that level however. In truth, she’d never gotten even that kind of thing going before, and couldn’t cook to save her life, so was a bit worried about the whole thing. She had a sleeping bag though and could bundle up if she had to, for the night. It was cold, but there had to be some way to keep warm.

  Walking into the kitchen, she was a bit surprised, since there was food there already. Boxes with military rations in them, canned goods in several more, and even some bread that seemed to be still fresh. She had to squeeze a loaf for that, the room not being bright enough for her to read the expiration date. It was sitting on the table in the medium sized room, a bit of light coming from the far wall, which was on the back of the house. There were four wooden chairs, but one of them had been pulled out to hold more food.

  That meant that someone had already been there, and thoughtfully brought supplies. That was handy, because she’d kind of figured on going to local restaurants for food. Since the only thing within twenty miles was forest, that did not seem to be all that convenient.

  Walking to the sink, she blinked, since it was funny looking. It had an old fashioned looking hand pump on it, which she tried to use, figuring that it wouldn’t work, like the power hadn’t. To her surprise a splash of water came out, with each pull on the heavy cast iron handle. Wetting a finger she tasted it, expecting that it would be rusty, but it was just clean water, as far as she could tell.

  Very cold, but not freezing.

  “So, I won’t die of thirst? Good to know. I hate that. It will just be the cold that does me in. Mutter, mutter…”

  The rest of the place wasn’t huge, which would be a bit of an issue when the rest of them got there. The provincial palace had four rooms. The living room, which was the largest space, a tiny bathroom that seemed to have a toilet that didn’t use water, which was accessed through a hallway that was larger than the room itself, was next to the kitchen. Then there was a single bedroom, which had a door on it, but no lock.

  In all, the place probably had the floor space of a single wide trailer, if that. Putting seven people in it, or eight, given the psychic, would be a fun time for all, she didn’t doubt.

  They couldn’t even put the boys out in tents, if it was going to be that cold and snowy the whole time.

  That meant people were probably going to smell bad, since there didn’t seem to be a tub, or shower there. The bathroom had a sink, and when she looked again there was a back door in the kitchen. Beyond that there was a shed, which Merry was praying would have the secret generator in it.

  Instead, when she opened the door, which didn’t have a lock, she found that it held a large wooden tub, big enough for two cozy people. Maybe three, if they were all dating. There was a wood stove like thing under it, and more wood stacked inside. The floor was finished in what looked like gray slate to her, though it was dark enough that it was hard to tell. There was a window, but it had a blue curtain in front of it. That let in a bit of light, through the crack between the heavy material on either side. A lot more
came in when she pulled those back however.

  Then she could see the space, which had a few low tables in it. The whole thing was maybe ten square feet and there was another iron hand pump which emptied into the big tub. That meant whoever had built this place had been in shape, since it would take hours of work to fill the thing that way. Trying it out for herself, being curious, the thing did work and drained out the bottom instantly, meaning that the pipe that went under the floor was deep enough not to freeze. Hopefully.

  On the way out she noticed the south facing solar panels on the room. They were being covered with snow at the moment, given that the curtain of lace and fluff hadn’t stopped coming down. In fact, if anything, the density was only increasing. The plants already had some white on them, obscuring the green that was still visible. The sky was getting darker already, being that it was nearly five. She’d left early, but the trip had still taken most of the day. That meant she probably wasn’t going anywhere that night. Merry didn’t even have snow tires, or chains with her. Even if she had, trying to travel alone on that stretch of road wasn’t the brightest thing ever. Not if the conditions were going to be as bad as all that.

  “In short, my dear, this is going sideways fast. Fubar, as the saying goes.” Talking to herself was a bad habit, but it beat not hearing a voice at all.

  For a long time, she’d been alone. Even with the others around. Merry traveled a lot for her work, so it had made sense not to try and settle down yet. Even at home, she couldn’t have a cat or dog. Merry was gone too much for that to be fair to them. Besides, the only people she knew were her coworkers and while they were all pretty close, they couldn’t pet-sit most of the time when she traveled, being with her like they were.

  So, she made do. Talking to herself and trying not to feel like she was missing out on life just to make money. The pay was decent. It might not be enough to make up for the lack of a life, of course. Not in the end.

  Merry was starting to suspect it really wasn’t a good trade off. It was that hard line between practicality and love that kept getting in her way, however. Short of starting something with one of the guys on the crew, there weren’t a lot of dating opportunities in her world. Even the ghosts were a bit too thin on the ground for that. Besides, most of the ones that they checked out had been murderers in real life. That was why they were sent in for the most part. People loved to attribute every knock and misplaced set of keys on killers. Even ones that never really existed.

  That was about half the cases they’d been sent to investigate. Most of the things they did didn’t really pan out at all, which meant that the group on camera had to jump and yell at very minor things a lot in an attempt to make it interesting enough to watch. It was a bit annoying, but kept her in food and her apartment, so she didn’t whine about it too much.

  Walking back into the living room she sank onto the comfortable sofa there, which was right in front of the big wood stove. Looking at the thing she tried to work out how it would be started. That would take the lighter, she knew.

  “Because you’re so clever. I bet you can’t just stick that flame under a log though. If it was that easy, someone would have mentioned it to you by now.” Moving to the thing she tried that, using a single piece of dry wood that was probably pine. It smelled right for that.

  Merry opened the front of the large black thing, to see that there was ash inside, and dark bits that showed someone had used the thing successfully, at least once or twice. The pile of wood was right there, in a big wooden rack and so was the lighter. Teasing her with its presence. As if she wasn’t up to the task of using it. Merry glared at it, her face going soft after a moment.

  “You are probably right, my little red friend. Let’s see here…”

  Placing the flame under the edge of it, she tried to get it to catch on fire. That didn’t happen. The lighter did its job making a flame, but for some reason that wasn’t enough to do the trick. In fact, it seemed to her like the wood didn’t want to really do its job at all. It was supposed to provide warmth, and maybe light, but no, it was just sitting there, barely getting sooty from the flame under it. Even that might have been her imagination. It was more than a little hard to see.

  What would have really helped, she decided, was a roaring fire to see by. That or having the power on.

  Rather than run the lighter out, she dropped the wood in the box and stood up. It was clear there was a trick to it that her life of central electric heat wasn’t providing her with. Almost as a joke she looked around for a thermostat, but there wasn’t one. Naturally. That would be too simple, after all.

  It was then that she heard a vehicle coming. At first, she couldn’t understand what would be happening, her mind assuming it was the wind. Then she got it. Going to the front door, she couldn’t see more than the headlights through the trees as it closed with her. No one was supposed to be there yet. Her skin crawled a bit, as she looked out at the forest, the light coming through it eerily. Someone was coming and she was all alone. Unarmed and vulnerable. Before that moment she hadn’t been worried, because Bigfoot wasn’t going to be bothering her.

  Now she realized that she’d forgotten that there were things in the world a lot more dangerous than supernatural creatures.

  Humans, for one.

  Merry smiled, her lips curling at the edges. After all, she really doubted that rapists were all that common out in the woods either.

  “Which probably means this is just the cannibal serial murderer that you ordered.”

  The truck, its lights bright and showing the heavy snow that fell between them, pulled up slowly. Carefully. That, or menacingly. It was too soon to tell which one was happening at the moment. The thing was large, blue and silver and had a newer look about it. That meant money, since nice trucks weren’t cheap.

  She’d priced them, since being able to haul things around came up in her line of work. It was too expensive to be cost effective in her world though, so Merry had given the entire idea a pass. Most of the time the show went to places with real roads. Even there hadn’t been too bad that way.

  The lights on the front hit her, leaving her blind, even after they turned off. Then, with a noise that could only be the killer opening the door and climbing down, she heard a soft fall of footsteps. The world was dark, thanks to the bright lights that were gone now, so all she heard was the voice.

  “Hello! Are you Meredith Seaford?” The tone was pleasant, and the voice both warm and male. It didn’t sound old either. That clearly had to be a trick. Sounding nice to fool her into letting her guard down, no doubt.

  At least to her currently fevered imagination that made sense.

  As the tall, slightly sinister seeming, man moved toward her, using his words to throw her off guard, she answered. Politely. Until the knives came out there was no reason not to be nice. Not that she had one on her, which suddenly felt like an oversight. A gun would be nice as well. She’d just have to hope that her Tae-Bo classes were going to help, if it came down to it.

  “That’s me. I wasn’t expecting anyone. Are you…” She hadn’t been given a name, having just been told that a psychic was supposed to be there, eventually.

  The man, who was closing with her in the dark, nodded. She could just make out that he was taller than her. Thin, and about six-four or five. So, huge, in comparison. Also wearing a heavy coat and gloves, which didn’t seem all that dangerous, if she were being honest about it. Just prepared for the weather.

  She knew this since the man stuck one of them out at her, to shake. After she took the warm, strong seeming hand, he spoke again.

  “Dan Meeres.” Then, before she could work that one out totally, he moved past her. “We should get inside? It isn’t going to be getting any warmer, I don’t think.”

  Chapter two- Dan

  It was hard not to be stunned by the woman. She practically glowed, she was so filled with life energy. Warmth came off of her, along with a scent of soap. That, and her own natural fragrance, which
told him a lot about who, and what, she really was.

  Dan smiled at that, feeling an instant attraction to the dark-haired lady. Her pale skin was just visible in the twilight. Her features were very even, too. For a moment, he thought that she might have been one of the people that he’d hired to be on the show itself, not the one that ran the science portions and team needs behind the scenes.

  The thing there was that he knew who those two were, having seen the program. Every single episode of it, in fact. After all, he paid for it. That meant that she had to be Meredith Seaford. Well, it was that, or she was a squatter that had taken over the isolated cabin that he’d bought. That kind of thing didn’t happen in real life very often, so he accepted her at face value and was careful not to brush her as he passed.

  He owned the place behind her, but it was clear that she felt uneasy with him, being an unknown. Her body was upright, to make it seem larger. Even her arms were being held away from her body. Like she was ready to fight the strange man that had come. Either to protect her new space, or, possibly, her virtue.

  It was cute. A bit like a tiny puppy protecting itself from the larger dogs that had come to its yard.

  Inside the place was as he’d left it, more or less. Her scent was all over, but it wasn’t strong enough for her to have been there for too long yet. No fired burned, though it was clear that she’d been about to start one. Going over to the black metal four pot cook stove he could smell the lighter fluid. That, and a tiny bit of carbon in the air. Not wood smoke however.

  He ducked down to open the door and understood the problem instantly. A large chunk of wood had been being assaulted by a flame, attempting to provide warmth. Not that it was that cold inside. About forty degrees, which was better than the twenty-eight or so outside. The place had very good insulation, as he’d noticed the first time he’d been there. That was good, since otherwise the woman with him would have probably died that night. If he hadn’t shown up.