Rachel trudged along the snow covered path, well what she was calling her path, trying to avoid falling again. Her knees and hands had already met their makers about two miles back when Rachel misjudged a snow drift and slid down into an embankment. The snow was coming down hard and she had no idea where she was or where she was going. Rachel couldn't even remember how she ended up in the woods to begin with. The last thing she remembered was going out to celebrate at a club with her now former cast mates. Now between shows she was going to take a break for a while, she didn't want to burn out on something that she loved so much. Doing Broadway shows one after another for six years had provided more opportunities than Rachel could take part in and she was just tired and wanted to pursue something more slow paced. After being at the club she remembers chatting to some guy who had offered to buy her a drink, that she politely declined. He seemed nice enough but Rachel knew better than take drinks from strangers. Everything seemed to start going fuzzy after that, she swears she never let her drink leave her site, but something was horribly wrong, hours, maybe days, of Rachel's memories were completely blank. The next thing Rachel remembers is waking up underneath a rock overhang, dressed in her current clothing with nothing around and no one close by, so she did the only thing she knew to do and she ran./p
Rachel prayed and hoped with all her might that she would come across a cabin or camping shelter soon, just somewhere that she could sit down and take a break for a minute to try and gather her wits. She hoped she would find a cabin, she wasn't apposed to breaking in at this point, at least a cabin would have firewood and possibly a bed. She didn't know how long she had been walking now, it had been hours for sure, but walking anywhere in this weather and being under dressed in just jeans, boots, and a sweater could be deadly even for the most experienced mountain person. She needed to find somewhere safe soon.
Her body was getting stiff from the cold and Rachel was close to giving up when she saw something that made her start to cry. Smoke! It was smoke and it had to be coming from a cabin or camp of some sorts or someone had come out all this way to set the woods on fire but she really doubted that. Whatever it was, was still a good distance away and Rachel sped up as much as she could, someone was there, with heat and possibly food and the knowledge of where she was and how to get home. It was getting closer now and it was beautiful not just in the "thank goodness I'm saved" way, but it was a beautiful cabin, it wasn't huge but it was a good size that someone had built with specific careful planning, there were other buildings on the property but Rachel's only focus was getting in the main house. She followed a path around to the front of the cabin, preparing to step up onto the porch when her legs apparently forgot how to bend properly and her boot got hung on the step sending her tumbling onto the floor with a very unladylike grunt.
Santana reclined back against the headboard of her bed, it had been a long day and it was her own fault, she knew she needed to cut down those two standing dead trees at the back of the cabin before they fell and use them to restock her wood box, but Dax just had to go chasing that chipmunk this morning and finding him had been an all day project. Thankfully he had given up and stopped when the chipmunk ran into a hole, which allowed Santana to find him, but when she returned to the cabin with Dax she had found the snow had caused one of the trees to fall barely avoiding the cabin, she didn't need a completely open skylight in her loft. Cutting down trees in this weather would take a tole out on anyone, then splitting the wood and stocking the wood box had been a completely different project within itself. Santana was thankful the day was done after feeding Dax his dinner and having some dinner herself, she was ready to just relax while Dax slept on his bed in the corner of the loft next to the rail.
Relaxing didn't seem to be in the cards tonight as Santana glanced away from her book, looking out over her land, she saw a dark figure moving at a slow pace. Furrowing her brows Santana ran through a list of possible animals in the area that would be out during this time of year and none of them fit the shape of the dark figure. She shook her head thinking maybe she was just seeing things until she heard a loud thump on her front porch. Santana turned her head so fast she was lucky she didn't give herself whiplash, someone or something was on her porch. She threw her book on the bed, ripped open her bedside table grabbing her loaded pistol and sprinted down the loft steps so fast she almost took a tumble, she didn't have time to put her boots as she ran to the door and then stopped. What if it was an animal, a large animal would barely feel her pistol, but at least it would scare them off.
Santana unlocked the door and slowly opened it while flicking on the porch light, but nothing happened. Damn, something else she had forgot to do today, she needed to change the light outside. With her pistol raised and holding her breath Santana pushed open the screen door and was shocked when she heard a whimper and crying. If it she wasn't in the woods with the silence of the night she would not have heard the barely whispered words.
"Help, please help."