stated rather matter of factly.
"It's been
colder than hell since we've been here though!" Mike added.
"Yeah, it's
been one of those winters, colder than usual. Go on," Hayden prodded.
"Anyway,
tonight we hung around for dinner and stuff and got a late start back. My car
moves a lot better than Marty's Jeep and I left him a ways back. When we got
to the cabin and he didn't show, we decided to go look for him. He sort of has
a reputation with us for finding snow banks." Nick caught on the last
thing he said. The present tense seemed wrong to him. He felt as if he should
have said, "he had." The fear was rising up in him again that
something terrible had happened to his friends. He had to fight it down, pull
it out of his throat and push it back into the far reaches of his mind.
Hayden cast Nick a
glance, "Take your time Nick." His voice was soft yet still
commanding. It was reassuring and compelled genuine regard. "We don't
know anything is seriously wrong yet. Give me a chance to check it out."
"You haven't
seen the Jeep!" Right away Nick knew he shouldn’t have yelled. He
touched his left forefinger to his forehead then made a gesture with the opened
palm up and a shrug of his shoulders, "I'm sorry. This whole thing has me
stressed out, that's all. I've just got this gut feeling that something bad
has happened."
"No need to
apologize. I'd be the same way if it were my friends." Hayden never lost
composure. His tone never changed except to convey some feeling of
understanding. "Go on with your story, Nick." He afforded a quick
glance at Mike, noting that he didn't appear to want to add anything.
Nick sighed
heavily, and then continued, "So we went back to look for them and found
them," he caught himself again, "and found their Jeep, four miles
from the Ranger Station. We couldn't have been separated for more than forty
five minutes. It must have happened really fast! We found the Jeep turned on
its side with the windshield busted in. Not out, but in. So they couldn't
have been thrown!" expecting that this would be his first thought, like
Mike's.
"The driver
side door was ripped off its hinges. I mean torn off!” emphasizing this.
"There was no sign of it anywhere, like it had been thrown away, out of
sight. The worse thing was the tuft of hair and part of the scalp attached to
it, stuck in the window frame. …And then the trail of blood across the hood
and out into the middle of the road, then nothing. The trail of blood had run
down the hood towards the ground so it had to have been put there after the
Jeep was on its side. Somebody dragged them out of there!" he concluded.
Nick stopped and
stared at Hayden. He wanted to be sure that what he was saying was getting
through to him. This was an emergency. Hayden simply stared at the road and
nodded, his jaw tightening and relaxing as he was clenching his teeth. Nick
felt that he understood.
"It doesn't
sound good, that's for sure."
"Something
else Hayden, they were, are. . . They're both strong guys. Taylor lifts
weights and works out, and does all kinds of sports. And Marty is real
athletic, and big! He cycles, swims, runs and hikes . . . ," Nick's mind
was muddled and confused. He wasn't sure which tense to use, somehow, either
way of talking about them seemed wrong. He finally just stopped trying
altogether and looked over at Mike. Mike was looking back sympathetically, and
then they both lowered their heads.
***
Nothing more was
said as the three men drove on in silence, broken only by the rhythmic thumping
of the snow chains. Its noise mixed with that of the wind to produce an eerie
symphony of sounds that induced anxiety. The closer they came to a point of
light in the void before them, the more apprehensive they became. Even
Hayden's stoicism seemed feigned.
The Suburban
crested the last hill and came upon the Jeep. Hayden's eyes widened, Mike and
Nick were
"It's been
colder than hell since we've been here though!" Mike added.
"Yeah, it's
been one of those winters, colder than usual. Go on," Hayden prodded.
"Anyway,
tonight we hung around for dinner and stuff and got a late start back. My car
moves a lot better than Marty's Jeep and I left him a ways back. When we got
to the cabin and he didn't show, we decided to go look for him. He sort of has
a reputation with us for finding snow banks." Nick caught on the last
thing he said. The present tense seemed wrong to him. He felt as if he should
have said, "he had." The fear was rising up in him again that
something terrible had happened to his friends. He had to fight it down, pull
it out of his throat and push it back into the far reaches of his mind.
Hayden cast Nick a
glance, "Take your time Nick." His voice was soft yet still
commanding. It was reassuring and compelled genuine regard. "We don't
know anything is seriously wrong yet. Give me a chance to check it out."
"You haven't
seen the Jeep!" Right away Nick knew he shouldn’t have yelled. He
touched his left forefinger to his forehead then made a gesture with the opened
palm up and a shrug of his shoulders, "I'm sorry. This whole thing has me
stressed out, that's all. I've just got this gut feeling that something bad
has happened."
"No need to
apologize. I'd be the same way if it were my friends." Hayden never lost
composure. His tone never changed except to convey some feeling of
understanding. "Go on with your story, Nick." He afforded a quick
glance at Mike, noting that he didn't appear to want to add anything.
Nick sighed
heavily, and then continued, "So we went back to look for them and found
them," he caught himself again, "and found their Jeep, four miles
from the Ranger Station. We couldn't have been separated for more than forty
five minutes. It must have happened really fast! We found the Jeep turned on
its side with the windshield busted in. Not out, but in. So they couldn't
have been thrown!" expecting that this would be his first thought, like
Mike's.
"The driver
side door was ripped off its hinges. I mean torn off!” emphasizing this.
"There was no sign of it anywhere, like it had been thrown away, out of
sight. The worse thing was the tuft of hair and part of the scalp attached to
it, stuck in the window frame. …And then the trail of blood across the hood
and out into the middle of the road, then nothing. The trail of blood had run
down the hood towards the ground so it had to have been put there after the
Jeep was on its side. Somebody dragged them out of there!" he concluded.
Nick stopped and
stared at Hayden. He wanted to be sure that what he was saying was getting
through to him. This was an emergency. Hayden simply stared at the road and
nodded, his jaw tightening and relaxing as he was clenching his teeth. Nick
felt that he understood.
"It doesn't
sound good, that's for sure."
"Something
else Hayden, they were, are. . . They're both strong guys. Taylor lifts
weights and works out, and does all kinds of sports. And Marty is real
athletic, and big! He cycles, swims, runs and hikes . . . ," Nick's mind
was muddled and confused. He wasn't sure which tense to use, somehow, either
way of talking about them seemed wrong. He finally just stopped trying
altogether and looked over at Mike. Mike was looking back sympathetically, and
then they both lowered their heads.
***
Nothing more was
said as the three men drove on in silence, broken only by the rhythmic thumping
of the snow chains. Its noise mixed with that of the wind to produce an eerie
symphony of sounds that induced anxiety. The closer they came to a point of
light in the void before them, the more apprehensive they became. Even
Hayden's stoicism seemed feigned.
The Suburban
crested the last hill and came upon the Jeep. Hayden's eyes widened, Mike and
Nick were
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