This is my first NT fanfic ever. I hope its okay. It's just a little idea I thought of earlier. Reviews are appreciated – of course.
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Riley grumbled under his breath as he trudged through the snow behind his friend. In his hand he held his very expensive cell phone he had managed to buy with the one percent of money he had received from the Knights Templar treasure they had found months ago. He frantically attempted to press the buttons with his heavily insulated gloves. It was difficult, as the gloves made his fingers look like giant sausages and the phone buttons were no bigger than his pinky nail. With a frustrated sigh, he pulled off one of his gloves and stuffed it in his pocket. This time, he successfully pressed the 'on' button. 'No Service Available' flashed across the tiny screen.
"Oh, come on." He moaned, flipping the phone shut.
"What is it?" Ben stopped in his tracks, just a few feet ahead of Riley. He looked at the younger man, question in his eyes.
"No service." He answered, gesturing to the now useless phone.
"Riley, we're in the middle of nowhere caught in a blizzard. Did you honestly expect to get any service?" Ben asked.
"Yes, actually I did, because I, for one, would really love to get out of here." Riley answered simply. He slipped his other glove back on.
"Of all people, you should have known better." Ben jested as he turned back around to continue through the snow. "Come on. I think there's a main road up ahead."
Riley blinked snow out of his eyes and looked down the hill to their left. It wasn't very steep, so if one of them fell they wouldn't be injured. Nonetheless, Riley really didn't want either of them to fall down it. At the bottom was a lake, or maybe a pond. One of those. It looked to be frozen over with ice. If one of them fell, they would definitely land on the pond, and not knowing how stable the ice was, Riley assumed it would break under their weight.
He immediately wished there was no such thing as snow. If there was no snow, they wouldn't have wrecked their car into a ditch, thus forcing them to walk for miles in hopes of finding someone. He highly doubted anyone would be out. And if there were, it would be mainly truck drivers. But the last thing he wanted to do was get inside a giant truck with some Grizzly-Adams kind of guy. Truck drivers scared him.
"Why couldn't we have stayed in the car? I think my appendages are going to break off." Riley found himself whining, as he usually did when in an uncomfortable situation.
"Stop complaining."
Riley made a face, unnoticed by Ben, and moved to slide his cell back into his coat pocket. He fumbled, however, when his gloved-sausage-hands refused to fit inside his pocket, causing him to drop the phone. He cried out in alarm and grabbed for it as it flew through the air and…
'Oh no…'
…rolled down the hill. Riley mentally kicked himself.
"What happened?" Ben asked, having heard Riley's cry.
Riley watched as the cell phone tumbled down the hill and, of all places, onto the frozen pond. He watched helplessly as it bounced once, twice, and then settled almost directly in the center of the pond. He sighed.
"Riley?"
"I dropped my phone." Riley stated rather glumly. "It rolled down the hill."
"Well, go and get it." Ben said it as if it were a simple task.
"Are you kidding? I'm not walking out there onto that death trap! No way, man. You go."
"And risk breaking the ice?" Ben shook his head. "Riley, you're lighter than I am, you get it."
"But…"
"Or you can leave it behind."
Riley grimaced. There was no way he'd leave his cell phone to be digested by some giant catfish. It cost a lot of money. Yeah, he could buy another one. But he wanted to save what bit of money he had left and not be forced to take the remainder of it out of his bank account.
"Fine. I'll get it." Riley mumbled. "But you're coming too. If I fall through you're going to be pulling me out."
"Says who?"
Riley kicked snow in Ben's direction, nearly losing his balance and falling over. Ben laughed at his awkward save. The two began to inch their way down the hill, careful not to slip or trip over any fallen branches from the trees above. Ben made it to the bottom first. He looked behind him and saw Riley stumble and fall the rest of the way down. Ben laughed out loud, Riley kicked more snow at him.
After brushing himself off, Riley slowly made his way toward the pond. He looked at the ice for a moment, and then looked back at Ben, who stood only a foot away.
"Don't worry." Ben assured. "If you fall, I'll catch you."
Riley nodded and focused on his task. With a deep breath, he placed a foot onto the ice and shifted all of his weight onto it. He released his breath when the ice made no indication of breaking. He silently thanked his mom for not being able to cook well, forcing him to barely eat much at all as a kid. Being skinny had its advantages, he figured. With caution, he placed his other foot out in front of him and slowly began to walk towards the phone. The ice still showed no signs of collapsing under his weight. Then, before he could catch himself, Riley felt his feet fly out from under him. He landed hard, his head and shoulders taking most of the impact.
Ben would have laughed if the situation hadn't been so serious. Riley's fall could have very well loosened the ice.
"Riley!"
Riley groaned and slowly sat up. He looked back at Ben, who was staring straight back, ready to jump in if needed. "I'm okay," He said. Ben seemed to relax a little.
'Stupid cell phone is causing me a lot of trouble…' Riley thought with a sigh. He made a move to stand back up but only ended up back where he was – flat on his back. With an annoyed grumble, he attempted it once again. This time, he managed to get halfway up before slipping once more and landing on his side.
Ben bit back a laugh. It was amusing to watch Riley wriggle around out there, slipping and falling and obviously getting frustrated. He was about to go out and help him, when Riley's voice sounded.
"I think I'm good." He said with a smile on his face. He moved his foot, only a few inches, and wound up on his back once more. "For the love of…!" Riley seemed to give up. He simply laid there, arms and legs sprawled out across the ice.
"Hold on Riley." Ben called out to his friend. He tested the ice to make sure it would hold his own weight. When he was positive that it would, he inched his way towards Riley. When he got there, he held out a hand for Riley to grab hold of.
Riley grabbed onto Ben's hand and pulled himself up. He yelped when Ben's feet suddenly flew out form under him, his right foot catching him square in the face. Ben and Riley both fell to the ice with a cry.
"Ah…God…my face…" Riley moaned as he rolled back and forth on the ice, clutching his head in his hands.
Ben struggled to stand up. He slipped again and came crashing down on top of Riley, his elbow landing right where no man should be hit.
He heard a painful scream from Riley as he curled into the fetal position and began to groan helplessly.
"Riley!" Ben cried out. "I'm…" Ben's apology was interrupted when he got to his feet only to trip over Riley's protective form and land right on his bottom.
After a moment, Riley seemed to be okay, though the pain was still evident on his face. He gave Ben a look before rolling over to his opposite side to see his beloved cell phone only about five feet away. He prepared himself then slowly rose to his feet. Thinking he'd be able to make it, Riley started to run towards the phone, hoping to get it quickly so they could both get off the ice. Once again, he was unsuccessful and found himself on his stomach sliding across the pond with great speed.
Ben watched in amazement as Riley sped across the ice on his stomach. The man's arms were flailing as he struggled to slow himself down, it finally began to work and he soon came to a stop, now even further away from the phone.
Riley once more rose to his feet. He steadied himself then took off running towards the phone again. He didn't slip this time. No. This time, when he tried to skid to a stop, his body kept going. He tried to run towards the phone again, but he was already flying sideways, legs kicking and running as if he were on a tread mill. He watched helplessly as he passed the phone and landed on his stomach.
Ben crawled on his hands and knees towards the phone; several times he lost his balance and fell over. Each time he had to pause and try to regain his breath. He made one more attempt, but ended up in the same position as before – laying flat on the ice with no intention of getting up.
Riley, now fully aware that running was not an option, also got onto his hands and knees. He crawled fast, slipping along the way. Eventually, he was an arms length away. He reached out and grabbed it. With a triumphant wail, he shoved the thing deep into his pocket. He looked around; Ben was only a foot away. Now, he realized with a frown, they had to get back to land.
Neither was successful at all. At first they tried crawling side by side. Riley's hand flew out from under him and smacked Ben in the face, causing them both to fall. Next, they tried crawling one behind the other. Ben was in front, Riley in the back. Ben's feet slipped and shot backwards, kicking Riley in the arms causing them to give out and once again, they both fell. With their large, heavily insulated coats, it was very difficult to get back up. If someone were watching, they might have mistaken the two for upside down turtles.
After several more attempts and different methods, they finally made it to the bank. Once there, both men lay sprawled out in the snow, panting like dogs. Ben sat up and began to rub his now aching knees. He regretted walking out onto that ice in the first place. Riley sat up a moment later. He looked at Ben.
"Ben…"
"Yes, Riley?"
"Verizon is so getting sued."