Mount Mercy

I really hoped so. Because it was sinking in that our little group was now all that our town had. Whatever came in, we’d have to deal with it. I wouldn’t just be doing consults, I’d be one of the ER docs, right in the middle of the chaos with patients’ lives in my hands.

I felt someone looking at me. I turned and the look in Corrigan’s eyes sent a deep, hot pulse straight down my body. I was going to have to do this working right alongside him, both of us fighting to resist….

As the last cars tore away, a fresh blast of wind hit us, even colder than before. For the first time in hours, I had time to look up at the sky.

The sheer size of the clouds was terrifying. Gray-white, they were piled deeper than I’d ever seen and they filled the sky from horizon to horizon, spreading rapidly to block out the last scraps of blue. And below them, an impenetrable curtain of white. This wasn’t weather like I’d ever seen it. This was on a whole different scale: our little town felt like a child’s toy, helpless against what was coming. I watched as the last cars disappeared into the distance. They’d made it out with minutes to spare. The fear rose up inside me, colder even than the wind. What are we still doing here? What the hell have I done?

I was suddenly aware of something warm and comforting. I looked down and saw Corrigan’s hand holding mine.

The wind rose to a shriek that hurt our ears. The curtain of white raced towards us.

“God help us,” muttered Bartell. He hurried us inside and slammed the doors.

And the blizzard hit us.

17

Amy

SNOW, to me, was soft flakes falling slowly from the sky and kids trying to catch them on their tongues. This was nothing like that. Nothing like anything I’d ever experienced.

A howling, shrieking wind had wrapped itself around the hospital, shaking the windows and blasting into every tiny crack to spread its cold. The snow didn’t fall, it blew horizontally and swirled until the flakes seemed to come from every direction, plastering the windows and drifting up against the doors. As the blizzard engulfed us, Mount Mercy gradually disappeared from view. First the mountains faded out. Then the street my house was on. Then the lights of Main Street started to vanish one by one: the bakers, the cafe, the bar….

And then, quite suddenly, all I could see was swirling white. White-out, Krista had called it. It was as if the rest of the world had disappeared.

I walked over to the doors, transfixed. I wasn’t planning to go out. I just wanted to see it up close. But when the automatic doors slid open ahead of me, I kept going, gazing around me in disbelief.

The wind was the first shock. It was so strong it sent me staggering sideways and so bitterly cold it went straight through my scrubs and clawed at my bones. The howl of it was deafening and it rose and fell, always changing, making it difficult to think. I felt my surgical cap lift and then it was gone, carried away into the white.

And the snow... the snow wasn’t like I’d known other years, light and full of air. This was thick and heavy, plastering one whole side of my body from ankle to cheek as the wind pelted it against me. Where it hit cloth, it started to melt and soak in, icy water stealing my body heat. Where it hit skin, I went numb. It filled my vision in every direction: I couldn’t see more than six feet. It would be terrifyingly easy to get lost.

Already, parked cars and fire hydrants were featureless, soft-edged snow models. The pavement was white, the road markings invisible. I could just make out the glow of headlights in the distance as a few drivers who’d been caught outside crawled towards home. But aside from them, not a thing was moving. Not even me: I’d stumbled to a stop. The deafening howl of the wind in my ears and the endless white everywhere I looked, combined with my head throbbing so hard with cold that I couldn’t think... something about it made my brain misfire like an engine that’s starved of fuel. I just stood there, dazed.

Until a hand grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. I stumbled and strong hands grabbed my upper arms, steadying me. “What the hell are you doing out here, you daft feckin’ mare?!”

I looked up into blue eyes that were gleaming with fury and molten with need.

18

Dominic

I WAS SO angry with her, I was going to….

What do you call it when you’re absolutely livid with someone and all you want to do is kiss them?

She stared up at me, coming out of her daze. “I just…” She blinked and flushed. “I just wanted to see.”