Starting Over by Marissa Dobson Page A

his barks and howls urging Scott to open the door. He glanced around, not even a footprint in the snow. “See, there’s nothing.” Before he could grab the dog’s collar, he took off past him, running through the snow. “If you’re going to play in the snow you’re on your own,” Scott shouted.
    J.R.’s barks continued, finally piquing Scott’s suspicions. He stepped out, pulling the cabin door shut behind him, and followed. “This better be worth it.” Even if he thought he was going on a wild goose chase, he couldn’t let J.R. go out there by himself. The bears might be hibernating for the winter, but anything could happen to his old dog.
    He crested the small hill in front of the cabin, giving him a great view of the road. Or what should have been the road, since everything seemed to blend together from all the snow. He was only able to tell that there should have been a road there because the trees were cleared away. No one traveled the mountain in this weather, so there were no tire tracks. Anyone who was stupid enough to face this storm on the mountain was stuck here until it passed.
    Something moved in the distance, catching his gaze. A car. It had gone off the side of the narrow mountain road and from the looks of it had been there for a while. It was completely covered in snow, but someone was inside, trying to push the door open. It wasn’t going to happen, not with the snowdrift that had built up.
    He slipped the rifle strap over his shoulder and continued down the hill after J.R., toward the car. He didn’t bother to yell that he was coming to help, because there was little doubt whoever was in the car could have heard him over the wind. It had to be a tourist, because any locals would know it was insane to go out in this weather. No one in their right mind would sign their death warrant by being out here. Without Scott’s intervention, this person was done for. He quickened his pace.
    He neared the back of the car. The bumper was sticking up, and the license plate read Virginia. No wonder the idiot was out in this storm. They didn’t know any better. He tapped J.R. to get him out of the way, and went to the side of the car where someone had been trying to get out. “Anyone in there?”
    “Yes…please, help me!” someone sobbed, the voice edged with desperation. Tiny fists banged on the glass. “I can’t get this door open.”
    “There’s a snow drift here, can you put the window down farther?” He tried to peer in where the window was rolled down just a crack, but he couldn’t see anything.
    “No, the car’s dead.” There was movement closer to the window, but he couldn’t see through the tinted glass. “Scott…Scott Meyers, is that you?”
    “Yeah. You know me? Who’s in there?” Surprised, he waited for a reply. When there was none, he tried to move toward the front of the vehicle to see through the windshield, but the car started to shift. The tree it was braced on wasn’t going to hold much longer and it would go plummeting to the bottom of the mountain. “Are you injured?”
    “There’s dried blood, I think from my head. I also believe I might have been unconscious, but I’m okay. Just get me out of here.” The vehicle moved again and the woman inside squealed. “Please!”
    “You’re going to need to get to the backseat. I can get that door open, there’s not that much snow there. Just be careful, slow movements, you can do this.”
    “No, please, just get me out,” the woman begged, frantic.
    “There’s not enough time for me to dig the car out from all this snow.” He squatted down by the window so she could see him. “You can do this. If you do it slow and carefully everything will be fine.”
    “Okay.”
    He rose up and stepped toward the backseat.
    “Where are you going?” Her small fist pounded against the window again.
    “To get the door open. Now move , there’s not a lot of time.” He glanced to J.R. who was still standing in the snow a few