(Hard Mode: Listen to this song on repeat while reading this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exbmO1uDMbM )
Although I didn't want to admit it, I was really starting to feel old. My legs were trembling, muscles sore and on the brink of collapsing me into the nearby snowbank on the side of the road. I barely held on and stood up straight, balancing my skis on my right shoulder and booths on the left, tied to together swiftly as I had run for the last ski bus off the mountain - just a moment too late. So, there I was, waiting for any ride to hop on, anyone to help me out in my slightly dire situation. I could always call Todd, but he was a dick and we weren't talking right now, so I was stranded for the time being, helpless amidst the quickly darkening mountain road, thumb hanging in the air for a reliable rescue.
After three hours of slowly walking down the curving roadside, and no vehicles passing me by, I was starting to feel cold as the wind blew through me with staggering speeds, creating whirls that snuck under even my jacket and causing me to mime an icicle. After another hour, with my arms becoming weary of carrying my gear while holding up my arm, I caught a small glimpse of light ahead, just a few hundred meters into the next forest section of the downhill valley. It was a yellow glint, bouncing softly of the cloudy, moonlit sky. I inched towards it slowly but surely, as my eyes were beginnign to crawl. I read the letters on the black and yellow plack:
"DETUUR, TO THA CITEY, ON THA RAIGHT, WIF MOTEEL, YALL WELLCOME NOUW"
I looked right, and I saw nothing at all. Just a thick, empty-looking forest and its deep, dark reaches. Slightly shivering not from fatigue or the cold, but the thought of the night-covered trees, he shuddered at the thought and was about to continue his hitchhiking slash walking marathon attempt. However, he peered to his left, and saw a snowy dirt road, covered in fresh tracks from big cars, trucks with a lot of troque. He smiled wamrly inside as he could see some lights over yonder on the left side, emanating from the vehicles he saw through his mind's eye and he ran towards them, hopping sluggishly with gear on hand to the left route on the other side.
At that moment, Harold Dunner, the owner of the Birch Side Inn peered into the darkness, eyeing movement near his sign, but couldn't make anything out as he did a few moments ago from behind his curtains.
"Tina, dear! Tina! ...TINA!"
His wife ran up the stairs in her nightgown, seeming a bit agitated.
"What is it now, Harold?"
He squinted into the darkness, almost making out a shape near his detour sign directing lone visitors to his four star motel.
"Honey... dear... did you put up the sign today?"
She looked a bit flustered, but answered determinely.
"Ahh diid!"
Harold smirked precariously.
"...was it the sign
I wrote or the one you...
wrote?"
His wife thought for but a moment. "..mah sign, hun!"
"Hmm... okay then, but did you also plow the driveway through the birches so that visitors would see the entryway clearly?"
She lowered her head in shame, and he knew the answer, turning back to the darkness and thinking about his nieghbours on the other side of the road.
"Honey... would you be so kind to prepare the rifle for me?"
I was following the tire tracks, leading me quicker and further down the mountainside than by walking on the road. The weight on my shoulders and back was becmoing heavier - I hadn't eaten for 12 hours now. The light shining in the darkness didn't seem to come closer no matter how fast I walked through the snowy trail, stumbling as I did, until it was suddenly before me. A large Chevy truck, azure in color, was running in place, facing me. I creeped closer and saw that there was no one inside, but the lights were on, the engine was humming and the keys were in the ignition. The doors I didn't try even though I felt a bit desperate, but I could here some kind of country music playing on the radio, mellowing me out a bit. Now I just had to find the driver and ask for a lift into town. Awesome.
I continued down and saw another trail behind the car, running down the steeper and darker small hill. I slid down with my shoes, which were definitely not made for trodding through fresh snow, when I saw something that looked like a... corpse. A fawn, maybe? Resembling Bambi, it was thrown on the side of the road in the bank, having slid a bit down the steep hill, leaving a long trail of blood and guts hanging behind it. I felt a bit thrown off by this, combined with my hunger and tiredness, after a full day of skiing in the sun, blazing, forgetting to eat or drink, feeling dehydrated, I swung on and off from reality at points, seeing white lights dangling before me, as I felt like the whole spun around me, and I fell forwards, sliding down the hill as I felt the world closing over me as I fainted into another world.
Harold was a man of character and principles. He carried the sign he had detailed himself, with
clearly and correctly written English, knocking down his wife's attempt and placing his own on the plack on the side of the road. He sighed, looking at the foot prints in the snow, leading to his... interesting neighbours' property. Determined, he cranked his back, letting out an agonizing sounding crack and heaving over himself from the combination of pain and the following relief. He checked his pocket for shells and that the rifle was readied properly by his dearest, and walked over the mountain road to the other side.
I felt a bit weary, feeling blood dripping down my face as I saw my skis in front of me, probably my edges had cut me when I fell. Almost heaving at first, I saw another pair of lights at the end of the short looking road at the bottom if the hill I had slid down on. My coat was bloody, and I saw the fawn I had brought down with me by accident, stainining my clothers for good, I thought. I grabbed my gear and walked toward the lights and small sounds I heard from their direction.
I came to a small opening in the forestry hill side, plateauing on the spot where I saw another large truck, crimson, with its lights pointing in the other direction. That's when I saw the two men near a large metallic pot under the birch trees. There was a small smoke billowing from the large canister, and fire under it, with small tubing running across its side but not touching it, carrying some kind of bubbles and dripping through a smaller nozzle at the bottom, which one of the men squeezed shut while opening a valve under it, emptying some kind of liquid into a plastic cup held by the other man, dressed in bright blue overalls in the middle of winter, and nothing else. The cup was offered to the man clad in red overalls, and they spoke:
"....aaaaaaahhhhhhhh. Now that's some fucking moonshine right there. ...wanna taste, dick?"
"No, ass, keep it to yourself. If it ends up killing you or one of our beloved customers, then so be it, but I ain't touching that shit even with the longest straw available. Illegal as it is. Wait!"
My boots had dropped from my shoulder, hitting the snow with a loud crunch in the cold night, and they were alerted to my presence. I stood up into the small shade of light bouncig of the snow illuminated by the truck's headlights.
"Ummm, hi! Sorry to bother you guys, but I'm in a bit of a predicament here... I'm trying to find my way back to town, I'm a skier, you see... Heh heh... and I fucked up, you know, haha, I missed my last ride you know and I..."
As I was explaining the situation, feeling my heart beating a bit faster than normal, I saw them come closer to me, surrounding me on both sides, closing the valve on the moonshine pot before approaching me. The blue one walked over to me and all of a sudden pulled a knife on me! I had no time to react, my reflexes, my body, everything was numb as I felt a blade dig in through my clothes, hurting like hell.
"GAHHHhhhh,.....:"..:.:"
The red one walked over, nodding the blue one to take the blade out of my stomach area, dropping me to the ground as I struggled to breathe. I looked up and the red one looked at me, then the fawn I had dragged behind, and scoffed.
"Man... you could have been our client, you know, living in town, if you're not a tourist, is all. But this is some hardcore ATF shit we are running here, and no one, and I mean
no one can see what's going on in this lot. Dan, get me the gun, the H&K, with the silencer."
The blue one went to the truck, rummaging through the glove compartment. "Are you sure it's here and not in the Chevy?"
The red one shouted. "Of course I'm fucking sure, just put on some lights, you idiot!"
While he kept rummaging and the man standing above me without a weapon looked at his friend, I could breathe again, and I could feel, slowly sliding my left hand up my jacket, that my Under Armour stomach plate wasn't cracked, there was no blood, no stab wound. I knew it was now or never. I was just about to get up when I saw the silencer pistol fly through the air.
"Take it, Jay!"
Caught by the man standing above me, sliding a bullet into the chamber and removing the safety, he pointed the barrel in my face.
"Here's to you in another world."
I closed my eyes.
BANG
A shot rang in the night, and the man before me flew backwards. I sprinted up, and saw an old-looking man standing at the top of the hill, with a smoking rifle aimed towards us.
"Run, kid!"
I left my skis and boots, sorry, I'm so sorry, I loved you, and ran into his direction up the hill. I could hear loud swears, something about "that old fuck", and I felt bullets fly past me, hitting the snow as silently as they left the silenced barrel. I ran up, only to catch the arm of the weary looking man before me, nodding as we went, running to the truck. We heard the other car start beneath us down the hill, and the man looked at me fiercely, relaoding his blot-action rifle.
"They know where I live, i can't risk my wife or any other guests! Get in the car, drive, now!"
I hopped into the driver's seat, seeing that the keys were in the ignition, hearing the mellow country song echo about cows, bulls and lonely nights on the plains, as I heard the man shut the door and floored it.
"The name's Harold. Don't you forget it, boy."
"I won't, sir. Than--"
"Just
drive."
I turned left down the mountain road as I heard the moonshiners' truck climb behind us, and blasts blaring in the night. They had removed the silencer.
Harold spoke. "It's for better accuracy. Try to drive steady now, and down make any sudden slips, ya hear?"
I nodded as he hopped in the back, nimbly for what I assumed was his age, and he kicked the back window, breaking it away as it flew into the dark night, shining for a second in our followers', our possible killers' headlights. I looked in the rear view mirror, and saw Harold take an aim on the backseat's neck rest.
"Steady now."
I was swerving like crazy from the fear and panic,, but tried to keep the car on a good path.
"Don't rock it now."
I could feel blasts hitting the sideview mirror and the circuitry of the dashboard, shortcircuiting the diesel truck's horn and it blared loudly in the cold, winter night, unstoppably. Harold sounded agitated.
"...Jeeesh... of course the horn goes on tilt... Steady noooow."
I could see the blue one brandish a pistol, hand hanging out from the side windows emptying his clip towards us, only missing by a slight margin as they were gaining on us.
"Kid!"
"Yeah!?"
"When I say 'brake', you jump on the brake, you hear me!?"
"I hear you!"
"Steady nooooow...... BRAKE!"
I slammed the brake and clutch down as hard as I could in my state of mind and body, as I heard Harold exhaling, and launching his shot. BLAOW. It rang in the night, and I saw that it connected. The red one, who had been driving, was clipped in his head, possibly killing him instantly as he slumped on the wheel and pedaled on the gas. As I slowed down due to braking, they swung past us, with the man in the blue overalls reaching over from his window, still trying to get a bead on us through furious motions, before launching with immense speed of the mountain road, and disapperaing into the night below, never to be seen or heard again. I put the signal on the left and stopped on the side of the road, still barely alive after all that happened.
Harold jump in the front, leaving the rifle in the back.
"What a fucking nuisance, those brats."
I looked at him as if I had seen the savior.
"Thank you... Harold. I don't know what much else to say."
Harold looked at me, peering deep into my eyes, and looking at my overall visage.
"You were looking for a ride to town, yes? Or a place to spend the night?"
I sighed in relief.
"Yes, actually I..."
Harold laughed.
"Ahahaha, I don't really care, kid. Let's just say you owe me two nights and three dinners at my motel. Not a bad price to pay for saving your life, no?"
I felt shocked by this, but answered immediately.
"Sure... whatever you say, Harold."
I turned the car around in his pointed direction, when I came to the sign in the small intersection, with turns both left and right. I saw the motel now, a vestige of safety in the forest, but then I looked to the right, drinking of the fawn, the hillbillies' brew and their secret activities.
"Hey, Harold?"
"Hmmm?"
"...you woudln't mind a drink, would you?"