by Cassie Power
That sounded very certain, so she frowned a bit, and sipped at her cup. The chocolate wasn’t cold, but it had cooled a bit, so she drank it a little faster. No one wanted cold hot chocolate. She didn’t speak until she was done. Then she just held the cup, not knowing what else to do about it.
“Soooo. If it isn’t Bigfoot, or aliens, and not likely to be your nomad friends, then what?”
There was a soft sound, and a leaning back from the large man. His arm reached toward her, along the back of the thing. It was long enough to come halfway to her, but not more than that. Feeling a little daring she stuck her foot out in return. It didn’t bump his leg, but got close enough that it was kind of obvious that she wasn’t just stretching.
If it bothered him that didn’t show. Not that she could see.
He nodded a bit, which barely showed, and then smiled, a hint of white teeth flashing. Light glinted from his moist mouth at he spoke. Shining just enough to show that he was real, and not some kind of statue there that she was imagining as being solid as she froze to death.
That was probably what she would have been doing at the moment without him. Sitting there being cold, and wondering if she were going to live through the night. Instead of wondering if she should be a little more forward. This option was better. Much so, she decided.
Dan shifted a little bit, and spoke then.
“Really? People are probably responding to the fact that others have bothered to report that they’ve seen things, too. You know how that is. If one person points out that they’ve seen something weird, everyone else feels safer going into the things they’ve encountered. What we can’t know is what’s real or not. So, you and I come out here, and look around. We bring in a team, and if we find Bigfoot, then we report on it. If not, we don’t. People should know what exists in the world. It wouldn’t be fair to ask them to trust in it without proof, though. So, we come and search for things that probably aren’t real.”
That was her own take on things, but sounded odd coming from the team psychic. Then, he’d mentioned that he wasn’t really that and knew it. What an old man thought might be real could well be different than what was.
Almost as if he could read minds, he reached out then, and touched her hand. Taking it in his. It was large, and warm. Dry, and a bit rough from hard work, for all he was an artist. At first she nearly pulled back, feeling like things were moving too fast suddenly. Holding hands wasn’t outside of what she might want from him, but before she could move away, or make a face at him, the world shook.
It was a crash of air that made her wonder for a moment if the house was going to be coming down around them. The fire screamed at them, then roared as the air hit it so hard the stove kicked out smoke into the room. Involuntarily she squeezed his hand back. Hard. The whole thing moving from feeling a bit forward to a thing she desperately needed from him. Comfort. Protection. It was tempting to jump into his arms, letting him protect her with his large, powerful, body.
Even as the air calmed a bit, she didn’t let go of him. He did it first, going to the stove almost instantly.
“Heh. Okay, I need to blow this back up. The down draft put our fire out. Choked it out with its own smoke.” Then he knelt and started to blow into the fire, moving things around with his hands, rather than using the poker, for some reason.
It seemed like a race then, with him fighting to breathe life into the glowing embers, and the wind threatening to hit them again, and take their warmth away. Just as it seemed he’d won, and fire started to come back in a rush, they were slammed again. The fire died. That didn’t stop him.
It was a struggle, and Merry just sat there, feeling helpless. Shaking a little as she started to understand how bad things really were. They were a few puffs of air away from dying. It wouldn’t be instant either, if it happened. The stove would go cold over time, and then the freezing air coming down the chimney would fill the place with a biting cold, leaving only their own body heat.
Then, over the next ten or twelve hours, they’d start to shiver. Then shake. After that, well, she’d die first, since her body mass was lower.
So, it was kind of important for Dan to keep the fire going. More than she’d thought about before.
Suddenly she felt like she should start calling out encouragements. Cheerleading for their side to win. Not that it would help at all. Worse, she didn’t have either a skimpy costume or pom-poms. What she could do was blow.
The word got her to shake her head, and feel silly. She knew what she meant and wasn’t a twelve-year-old. Moving in close to his side, his face nearly in the fire, Dan got what she had in mind instantly.
“After me, so that we keep a constant stream of air on it? Aim for the hot spot.” Then he blew, hard.
He was closer and had bigger lungs, so did a better job of it, but they traded off, her pushing a stream of air out as he pulled away to suck air in. Then they traded off, with her pulling back. She understood that one without having to be told, since staying in place meant breathing hot smoke.
It took about five minutes and she was light headed when they were done, but they did have a heavy burn going again, which had a lot of wood added to it.
Dan leaned over her, his body against her back, the only thing between them being her heavy jacket, and shirt. She got the idea, since he was grabbing more wood, and not trying anything with her. Fuel was on the fire almost instantly, and they had to blow more. As soon as it caught, they did it again. Three more times. Until they nearly couldn’t get anything else on the stack.
Then the man, who smelled like wood smoke now, as well as a soft spice, moved back and closed the door of the stove.
“That should keep it from going out now. It’s going to use up the wood and make things too hot in here. It isn’t that cold out. Lots of wind, and probably cold enough for the snow to be a fine powder and blow around, but my guess is that we won’t go below twenty-five tonight. If that. Storms need heat to be strong. Even the winter ones. Not that the energy has to be where the biggest effect is, but it isn’t that chilly outside yet.”
The words were reassuring. Calm and even pleasant.
It also wasn’t wrong that the fire was putting out a lot more heat suddenly. Enough that she had to unzip her jacket. Her gloves were already in her pockets, where she kept them by habit. Settling back into her spot, she just reached out and took his hand again. That step had already been moved past, after all. It felt nice to have someone around. To be there with someone. If this had all been happening and no one else was there, Merry probably would have felt miserable and scared.
Now she was jumpy, and being clingy, but wasn’t going too far over the top that way.
“I get your clever plan. Build the fire up so I have to take my clothes off. See how you are?” She blushed when the words came out, but there was a head shake from the man. He didn’t let go of her hand however, just giving it a little pulse.
“In the dark? That makes no sense at all. Plus, this will take out the whole cuddling together for warmth thing I had planned. Also, it means that at least one of us will have to stay up all night. It’s only about eight right now, so this is going to be a long one. We should talk, since I didn’t bring a radio with me, and I’m not going to the truck to sit there and hear all about the freak storm that looks pretty bad… and is closing all the roads in the area. I already know that one.” There was a low, very deep, murmur to the whole thing.
It also wasn’t wrong, she realized, pulling her hand away. She was starting to sweat, her jacket being too warm, so it got put over the side of the couch, over the arm, behind her. Her shirt was a heavy pullover, since she hadn’t planned on having a hot guy there with her for the night. She’d shaved her legs, out of habit, but that was all. Luckily it was too dark for her to need makeup.
Merry hadn’t come to get a man though. She’d come to make sure they had water, and that they knew to bring the extra gas cans for the generators. They really would need almost everything. Not th
at it mattered for the next day or two. They pretty much had to wait for things to clear out at the very least. Her crew wasn’t going to be happy even with that. She wasn’t. It would have been hard if it were fifty degrees outside during the day.
With snow on the ground things wouldn’t be happening as far as the show went. Their talent was hardy, for television people. That meant they didn’t whine about camping, most of the time. They did it, and went into the haunted houses, or faced the idea that Bigfoot might be coming to molest them in the woods.
They weren’t survivalists, however. She was the tough one that way. Her and Ben, the camera operator. The others were pretty much pampered and soft. The very fact that she probably would have died that night, if she’d been alone, meant that bringing those people into the same position was insane.
Not that she could call them off. Not unless she could get out of there herself. Her little bug wasn’t doing that. Standing and moving to the door, she opened it. That was a mistake, since snow blew in. She couldn’t see much anyway, and the wind didn’t let her push it shut again. At the bottom there was a line of snow that was at least four inches high already. It had blown there, under the little roof that was above the door.
“A little help here? My curiosity got the better of me.” The words were strained, and Dan moved so silently that she couldn’t hear him over the wind. They worked together to get it closed. It took some solid shoving, but they managed it, with only ten or fifteen seconds of effort.
Dan took her by the shoulder with one of his large, strong hands.
“We probably want to wait for the wind to die down. That’s a little worse than I’d figured on, as far as snow fall. Most things like that don’t actually dump this much. Not this fast. Do you want more cocoa?”
He sounded so calm that she felt a flash of annoyance at him.
“No. Thanks. Well, on the good side we won’t get too hot for a bit. I think I let half the heat out.”
That got Dan to pat her on the back. Just twice. It felt more like he was being reassuring, rather than trying to make a move on her. Like they were friends already. Possibly ones that were going to get closer than that.
Almost like he was reading her mind, he took his hand away, and moved to make more hot chocolate. She didn’t really want any herself, and nearly said that again, but it was something to do, so she didn’t ask him not to bother. Not on her account. Besides, he might want some himself.
It wasn’t like he was there to serve her on hand and knee. That thought got her to smile. Mainly because he was kneeling suddenly, to check the fire again. It was still roaring and very hot. So much so that Merry didn’t even think about getting her coat back on yet.
Dan sighed and shook his head.
“This, the storm here, fits the legends. The ones about the nomads. They almost always move in to take their prey in storms like this. When others are trapped and they aren’t.” It sounded conversational, as he stirred the water in the little pot. The chocolate was in it already. Merry could tell as the scent of it mixed with that of the wood smoke. It tickled her nose. It was comforting, even with the sounds coming from outside. The wind sounded as strong as it had before, but the crashing was less frequent now.
Nodding she worked that out.
“The weak trees are already down?”
Dan didn’t turn around, so his voice sounded a bit softer than it had before.
“Most likely. If this happened in a city, people would die from it. Out here… Not so much. Everyone is ready for winter. They have their own heat, and water. Food, too. Unless they have a snow cat they’re going to be stuck for a bit. Sitting ducks for the hunters.”
Merry could see that. Not that she loved what it meant for them.
“So, if this was actually those nomads, then we’re dead?”
That got a soft laugh.
“Not really. We came in just before the storm. If anyone had scoped this place out, they would have found it empty of delicious people and moved on. No, if this really is anything like that, then the closest neighbors are in trouble. Not us. We can’t help them either. I have a map with all of them listed on it, but they’re all pretty far from here. Miles, even if we go through the forest. No way to just call them either. The area doesn’t have phone service as far as land lines go.” He filled two cups and handed her one, shrugging.
She’d said no to it, but took it anyway. He was either being absent minded, or trying to be nice. It gave her something to hold on to anyway. The ceramic was warm in her hands and she cradled it. Cupping it so that it wouldn’t spill or slosh around too much.
She nodded.
“Good to know. So, we aren’t the likely targets, just everyone else around here? I bet they all have guns, so it might be a bit more of a fight than going after ancient tribes people that used spears.”
“True. Though a freak storm is probably just a cigar.” He smiled, and shook his head. “Sorry, that’s a bad joke. Freud was a sex fiend who saw it in everything.”
That got her to snort, which wasn’t very ladylike of her.
“Wasn’t he though? I get the idea. Both of them. The one about this probably not being anything like some legend, and the part where you turned the conversation to sex. And here I thought you were really just about the cuddling.” She giggled at that, and went on after pretending to take a sip of her drink. “You didn’t even mention your wife and kids, yet. Or your six girlfriends. Are they nice?”
That got him to take a drink, his face well-lit again.
“I’ve been working a lot for a while. Carving trees with a chainsaw into bears. So, no wife, no children… That I know of. It’s been a while since I’ve even had a date. This counts, right? I mean, two cups of cocoa? That’s getting into the headiness of romance right there, don’t you think?”
She nodded, “yeah. Girls are known to love their chocolate. Filled with chemicals that make us feel like we’re in love.”
Looking at the man she wondered what he was thinking. Probably that he was going to get lucky that night. Merry didn’t know if that was going to happen yet, but it was tempting. Normally she didn’t do one night stands. It wasn’t that she didn’t have any sense of adventure, but her current life would have meant that all she could really do was move from hook-up to hook-up, if she wasn’t careful about it. What she wanted was something deeper than that.
A lover that would be there when she got back home from traveling around. A man that wouldn’t feel like she was going to run around on him, just because she could. A partner, not just someone to pass time with.
Almost as if he wasn’t that easy to distract, Dan nodded at her.
“So, what about you? Do you have a wife and kids?”
She blinked, but smiled, since that was actually legal now. Not that she played for that team herself, but she worked in television. That some people might be married to same sex partners was the kind of thing that needed to be assumed now.
“Not me. No husband either. Or boyfriend. I don’t even have a pet turtle. I travel too much for that kind of thing. How about you? Does your grandfather keep you running around all the time like this?”
“Not really. This is the third time in the last six years. The first time that I got to meet one of his search teams. Not that he tells you that’s what you are. Going around and getting things for a television show no one is willing to really pay for… Not at the going rate. It’s his money though, so I can’t complain about it. The sad thing there is that you don’t get to see most of the interesting things. Those all get handled by the Detroit group.” Then he smiled at her, like it was a joke.
Merry did it back.
“So, I need to call him up and bug him directly if I want the good stuff? That would help the ratings I bet. Almost anything would that way. It’s a real thought.”
He nodded.
“That would work. Be careful though. Some of the things he’s told me about… They aren’t exactly tales of the white lady, you know?”
She nodded, not certain if he was playing with her or not.
Chapter four- Dan
The room was darker than Dan was used to in this modern age. Lights shone so often and consistently that it had become part of his reality. Not that the lantern was bad as far as that kind of thing went. It had been a long time since he’d used less than a bank of lights, turned on with a single flip of a switch, however.
That made it easy to forget that there were other senses than vision.
His nose lit up in the dark, figuratively speaking, which was becoming painfully obvious at the moment. Everything about the world was clarifying as he sat there, chatting with his new friend, Meredith. For instance, he could tell that she was becoming more interested in him as they got more comfortable. So far it was just that, of course. As it should be. Interest, not love, or even lust.
It would be worrying if it were a lot more than that, given how little time they’d spent together. Worse, her current state of low level fear, which peaked and surged as the weather and wind tried to beat them into submission, would be making her feel closer to him than she really was. The excitement and adrenaline would push at her, driving her toward safety. At the moment, given the evening, that pretty much had to be him.
Taking advantage of that wouldn’t be fair to her, so he resisted the warmth and comfort that her arms would offer, working to be honorable, even though he didn’t really feel like it. That was one of the problems of being lonely for too long. In his world, it wasn’t that hard to attract women. His natural form was close to perfect for that kind of thing. Tall, blond, and with enough innate size and power to be interesting to most ladies. Over the course of time he’d become pickier.
The concept of what was beautiful had shifted greatly and the women of the modern age were all so wonderful to look at. In the west, anyway. Well enough fed that you didn’t have to worry about starvation most of the time. They used paints and perfumes to change the little things that used to get in the way of perfection. They even dressed in bright colors, which left them all so stunning to regard.
