Corie’s hand flew up to her mouth in shock. “Oh my God,” was all she could say. “Oh my God!"

“Please help me!” he begged, his eyes filled with terror.

Corie knew that she had to take control the situation she and this stranger were in, because if either of them panicked it would just make it worse. She played her ice-cold hand on his trembling arm as she spoke.

"Okay, let's both take a deep breath and see what going on here. First, tell me your name, and in case you didn't hear me before I'm Corie."

She could see the man relaxing slightly as she began to take charge. He had been through a lot to think really clearly." My name is...Alek," he told her in a hesitant whisper.

"Well Alek, we need to get you out of this car. Let me think here a second what we can do." Corie knew that if she moved him and he had broken his back, then she would not only be making it worse, but it could put his life in jeopardy. The question was how bad was he injured?

Then an idea popped into her head. She momentarily forgot that they were outside in the middle of a wild blizzard, as getting Alek out of the totaled car became her primary concern. "Can you feel my hand, Alek?" Corie reached in and gently squeezed his denim-clad calf. She watched his face for a response.

"Yes, I can!" She saw hope flash back into his eyes, and a small smile emerged.

"Okay, then let's try the other leg." She reached in and squeezed that one and Alek told her that he could feel that too.

"Hopefully, that means it's not your back. Thank God!” she said smiling at him.” Why don't you try to move again?”

“Alright,” Alek sighed, his fatigue clearly showing on his handsome face. He again struggled to get his legs to move, but something was forbidding that. “Bloody hell, I still can’t do it!”

“You’re British?” Corie had finally placed his accent.

“Of course I am! What bloody well...gave it away?” Alek’s frustration was rising at the situation, and Corie’s innocent question drew his anger. He put a hand up to his head as a wave of dizziness overcame him.

“So much for English manners,” she muttered under her breath. Trying to get back on track, she said to him “Okay, let me see what may be blocking you. Hold on while I check it out.”

“Not like I can go any place.”

“Listen, I don’t have to be here,” Corie said her anger rising. “I came out in the middle of a damn blizzard that only a complete idiot would drive in, to save your busted ass. I can certainly go back to my warm house and let you deal with this on your own!” Fire blazed in her deep green eyes. She was cold, tired, and wet. Alek’s attitude had completely pissed her off.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I have no excuse except that my head is spinning, my ribs are killing me, and I feel like a popsicle. Please, Corie, I need your help and…I’m sorry.” Alek’s sincere plea and apologetic look easily diminished her anger. “I think maybe something isn’t allowing me to move them. I realize now that it feels more like my legs are stuck.”

“I know this is not easy on either one of us, Alek.” Turning her concentration back to the major obstacle that stood between his rescue or freezing to death outside, Corie said, “Let’s see what may be holding you in place. With any luck, it could be an easy fix.”

She squatted down in the snow instantly feeling the frigid, wet cold penetrate her sweatpants. Forcing herself to ignore the numbness she felt slowly creeping higher up her legs, Corie used her mini flashlight to search through the darkness under the dashboard. There she saw what was inhibiting him from moving.

Standing up, she brushed the snow from her pants and out of her face. Corie leaned into the car to block the freezing flakes from hitting Alek. Her ice cold feet throbbed in the wet winter boots as she continued to stand in the deep snow.

“Okay, first we need to get this airbag out of the way. Alek, help me push this to the right, and we need to get it out of your lap. It’s partially deflated, but it is wedged between you and the under part of the steering wheel.”

Alek nodded his understanding, as words were starting to become difficult for him. He was getting dizzier by the minute, and it seemed his whole body was completely frozen. Together they started pushing the airbag aside, and once they had that accomplished, it gave them a small amount of extra space, but not enough.

“Okay, next…”

“There’s a…next?” Alek asked quietly.

“Yes, and it’s the harder one. It looks like your right foot is caught under the brake pedal. I’m going to try to get it out from there, but the dashboard has been pushed forward by the impact. So you are kind of very cramped down here.”

“Anything else…going to go…wrong?”

“I hope to hell not, but we got to get you out of here. This weather is impossible, and it’s only going to get worse. So, let me see what I can do to free you.” Once again she squatted in the snow and cursed herself for not changing into jeans before she came outside. The sweatpants she wore did nothing to protect her from the cold, wet weather.

She tried to concentrate on the task ahead of her and not that she was absolutely frozen. Corie attempted to pull and push Alek’s foot free, but it simply wouldn’t budge. It was wedged in there tightly. The dashboard was just too far forward against his broad chest.

“Any l-l-l-luck?” he asked his teeth chattering.

“Not yet.”

Corie studied the desperate situation. Alek was just too close to the steering wheel and dash to have any room to maneuver. If she could get him to move back further, that may make the difference.

“Hey, where are the controls for the seat? We need to push it back if we can.”

“On the door…I think,” Alek was very hesitant in his speech, so Corie quickly glanced up at him. She easily saw that he was not in good shape. He was visibly shaking, while his skin color was completely ashen.

“Are you okay?” Instantly she was concerned.

“Cold…very c-c-cold,” he stuttered.

“Me too Alek, me too,” she told him, but she knew it wasn’t the same and that scared her. She had to get him out of the car and back to the house as soon as she could.

Turning back to the car door, she found the button and pressed it. Nothing happened. Corie tried it again and again and still, nothing moved. “Damn it!” she said in frustration.

She rested her head on a snow-covered glove, not caring that it was icy on her skin. What was she thinking trying to get this guy out? She wasn’t a trained rescue squad. But, she was the only help he had. They were stranded together in this blizzard and there was no way help could get out to them. She had to do it. There just was no one else.

“Let’s try to get your foot to move again.” This time she braced her right hand on the floor at the base of the seat, and her left tried to push Alek’s ankle out from under the brake. It still wouldn’t move. In anger, she went to grab the leg with her right hand too, but the sleeve of her jacket got caught on something under the seat.

Cursing under her breath, Corie wondered what else was going to go wrong as she tried to untangle her sleeve. Once it was loose, Corie noticed that it was a small lever that had snagged her. A glimmer of hope shot through her, and she didn’t hesitate at all before she pulled the lever. Then with her left hand, she pushed with every ounce of strength she had on the seat. And the seat moved back! Not real far, but it was far enough.

“What happened?” asked a surprised Alek.

“Your salvation I hope. God, I love the man who added this manual seat adjuster to this car! Yay!” She flashed an excited grin at Alek. “Now I bet I can get your foot out.”

This time it took just a little pushing and shoving, but Corie was able to dislodge his foot from under the brake. “Yes!” she cried out triumphantly! “You’re free!”

Alek gathered his strength and smiled thankfully at Corie. “You were brilliant, Corie. Thank you, Luv.”

“When I get you back to the house then thank me. We still have a long trip ahead of us through the damn snow. But we’ll do it.” Corie locked eyes with Alek. “We don’t have a choice.”

“How far…is it?” he asked.

“Normally an easy walk, maybe a quarter of a mile, but in this snow, it’s a lot harder. I can tell you getting out here wasn’t easy and it’s snowed a lot since then. You can lean on me for support.”

“I don’t need your help,” Alek cried out over the howling winds.

“Don’t start playing macho with me now! You’re injured and weak and certainly not dressed for the snow from what I can tell. So use the help I’m offering, because I can’t drag your ass to my house alone. Got it?” Corie was really pissed off right now. She looked out into the darkness but saw nothing but a sea of white. Here she was outside in a major blizzard, trying to save this stranger and he said he didn’t need her help! Well, if he was doing so great why was she the one who had to get him out of the car?

Corie turned back to him and saw that he was sitting on the edge of the car seat with his feet in the snow. His eyes were closed to absorb the pain that flowed through him. Arguing wasn’t the answer. “Listen, the snow is deep, and even though you are taller than I am, you are injured and weak. We're going to need to work together, okay?"

Alek knew she was right. Between his head and his ribs, he probably wasn’t thinking very rationally, and she had done right by him so far. “I’m sorry. You’re right Corie.” Taking a deep breath to gather his dwindling strength he added, “Lead on.” 

Carefully, Alek stood up from the car, using the doorframe to balance him. The pain in his face showed that his ribs were definitely painful. Once again, it hit Corie what a handsome man he was, but a quick look confirmed that he definitely was not dressed for a walk in the snow. Especially this snow.

His leather boots would be soaked through before they got far. The jeans he wore were better than her sweatpants, but she had a bunch of layers under her coat, and it looked like he had on a simple T-shirt under his black leather jacket. Certainly, nothing suitable for a frigid winter day, and this weather was ten times worse.

Corie took a mitten off her left hand and extended it to him. “Put this on your hand.”

Alek obeyed without hesitation. Corie took his right hand in her now bare cold hand and said, “Let’s go.”

Alek gripped her hand tightly. Frozen fingers intertwined in solidarity. Together they cautiously headed away from the mangled car and into the full-blown blizzard. It seemed like it took them hours to make any progress, with Corie shouting encouragement over the ferocious gusts that kept slamming into them. They took a brief rest when they reached the start of her driveway. They were both completely covered in snow and chilled to the bone. Corie had never been so cold in her life.

She let go of Alek’s hand and reached up to flip his collar up to give him a little more protection from the stinging flakes.

“Let’s keep moving,” Alek shouted out over the fierce gusts.

“Are you up to it? This is going to be the hardest part the driveway had deep drifts across it.”

“Do I have…a choice?”

“No, we don’t.” Corie took Alek’s hand in hers again before heading off.

It was hard pushing through the deep snow, and Corie found herself almost pulling Alek along with her at times. About a third of the way there, they had to go detour through the woods alongside her drive as a snow drift was up to her chest, and there was no way to get through it. When they emerged on the other side, the house was still not visible. Since both of them were exhausted and short of breath, so they stopped for a moment to recover.

Corie soon had them on the move again, this time she and Alek were walking on their own, no longer connected by their hands. It was easier to Corie to push onward, but after a few minutes, she stopped to look behind her to check on Alek.

Her heart jumped into her throat as quickly she used her hands to wipe the snow out of her eyes. Again, she looked and saw nothing. There was no one behind her! Quickly she turned around and moved as fast as she could to find him. If the snow covered him up, she could lose him forever.

 

 

God, he was in so much pain. It wasn’t just his head or his ribs, but his fingers and toes and every other body part. This crazy weather was trying to kill him. Hell, this unbelievable night was killing him. He really didn't know if he was going to make it to safety. Alek suddenly felt Corie tug harder on his hand as she pulled him through the snow.

He had no idea how long he had been unconscious in the car before she found him. His concept of time was completely non-existent. All he could tell was that it still was night, a ferocious night, that was doing everything in its power to destroy him.

Alek forced himself to push on through the heavy snow, following wherever Corie was leading him. He was using all of his strength to stay conscious and not to pass out. His head was spinning, and each step caused a searing pain in his side. Why the bloody hell didn’t he stay at that hotel in Canada? Why the hell did he leave? “If I make it out of this mess, I swear I’ll kick my butt until it knocks some bloody sense into me!” he promised himself.

With the icy snow freezing to his face, Alek used his free hand to wipe his eyes. He no longer felt his ears and each step in his expensive, but completely worthless boots, shot shards of sharp pain into his feet. Yet, this woman kept pulling him onward.

His fingers worried him the most. They were his life, and he had to protect them at all costs. He was thankful that Corie shared one of her gloves with him. She certainly had gone way out of her way for him. “If we get through this...No,” he corrected himself, “When we do, I will have to find a way to thank her. Simple words aren’t enough for what she has done.”

Alek continued to follow behind Corie wondering how much further it was. There was still no house or building in sight. Then without warning, she stopped walking, and Alek held up too, thankful for the chance to rest. The wind was continuing to whip the flakes into icy stinging whirlwinds, and Alek had to close his eyes as they stood engulfed in one.

Suddenly he heard Corie shouting instructions to him, so he cocked an ear towards her. “We can’t get through that drift, it’s just too deep. Let’s cut through the woods here a bit to get around it, but we are going to have to do this with me ahead of you. It’s too narrow to try it together.”

“Okay,” he yelled back to her. He gestured for her to start and their arduous journey continued. Alek found it harder going without her encouraging him forward. While the woods offered a slight respite from the wind, it instead gave him branches and small bushes to stumble over.

By the time they emerged, Alek was completely exhausted. His attempts at taking a deep breath were hampered by his injured ribs. The wound on his head ached so bad that his world was now spinning worse than ever.

He was not a man that spoke to God often, but he sent up a silent plea to give him the strength to make it to a shelter. Corie moved on ahead, and Alek saw her briefly look back to make sure he was behind her, and then she continued to trudge onward. Alek was only capable of a few more steps before everything started to go gray on him. He reached out for something, for anything to help him hold onto the present, but all he found was empty air. Words couldn’t escape his lips as the bitter-cold white world he was stranded in turned into a black hole. His unconscious body crumpled sideways into the deep drift of snow and vanished.