Snowed In

The upper roof was a vast sea of nothing but pure, untouched white. It was so thick it came up to my chest, even my chin in places. Slowly I made my way forward, estimating where the chimney would be. Trying to figure out which direction I’d come from, and where it was in relation to the lobby below.

You’re never going to find her, you know. This is crazy. This is stupid…

The voice in my head only made me more angry. It was negative, and I hated negative. It was a voice I used to hear all the time — the voice of my father, really. The eternal pessimist. The hardest man I knew.

She probably slipped down, the voice reasoned. Fallen past the edge. Landed in the drifts below, maybe even on the other side, or—

Suddenly I saw it: a sharp hole, punched in the snow. And behind that, footprints. Three of four of them. Already they were nearly covered up by fresh powder. Almost invisible, almost gone.

Be careful!

I moved quickly but cautiously, making sure to keep my footing. I was straddling the peak now. Moving forward with one foot on each side of the roof.

“HEY!” I shouted.

No answer. Nothing but the wind.

“MORGAN!”

Still nothing.

My bare arms moved frantically, sweeping away the snow in front of me so I could push forward. Each step was a battle. Every foot of ground I gained came with a price.

“MORGAAAAAAAN!”

My heart was pounding, sending hot blood coursing through my body. That part actually felt good. But my arms…

My arms were rapidly becoming like lead weights. Two gargantuan lead weights entirely exposed to the elements. Weights I could no longer feel.

“MORGAA—”

I stopped, mid-cry. The hole was before me, and I broke into it. I kicked around with my legs. Reached around with my arms…

Nothing.

She’s gone, man. She slipped down, just like you thought.

I was struck hard by a sudden stab of panic. It couldn’t be like that. Not after all this.

But it is like that, the voice admonished. She slid downward, man. Down along the entire surface of the roof, to disappear over the—

My foot caught something. Something big and bulky. Something hard but yet soft and yielding.

Summoning the last of my energy, I tore through layer upon layer of snow, digging down until I could see color. Red waves. Streaks of hair…

I dug faster, more frantically. An arm came into view. A hand…

I grasped that hand and pulled hard, yanking the girl upward. Her body exploded from the powder, the white stuff falling away as if she were being born from the snow. She coughed mightily, then gasped as a giant breath of freezing air was gulped into her tender lungs.

Then she looked back at me, all wild-eyed and utterly bewildered. I squeezed her hand.

“Gotcha.”

Twenty

MORGAN

I was shivering so violently I couldn’t even speak. Not at first, anyway. All I remember was the vertigo of being carried back, wrapping my body tightly around Boone’s as he climbed down the ladder and dropped from the roof in a dizzying display of strength.