Chapter 8
Sorry guys! Been out for Winterfest 2018, beauty and the beast. Back at it now. Still a bit of writer's block...and we are snowed in with over a foot of snow, so not been able to focus on writing much. Anyhoo, onward!
In response to both questions in the reviews, yes, Ash gave him the gun back. She isn't trying to be a hero. As explained before, she is in the depths of depression right now, and being a hero just isn't on her radar. She is just surviving because Johnny needs the help, not because she cares if she lives or not. The purpose of this journey is to help her overcome this very valid dark place that she is in, and she needs to realize that Hank isn't just babysitting her. He truly cares about her. She has never had anyone care before and she isn't quite sure what to do with that.
Thanks for the support Madilayn!
To Beaglewhisperer27, thank you so much for the vote of confidence!
Keep reviewing readers! You are all so special!
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"What on earth happened?"
Johnny had woken up covered in sleeping bags and a coat wrapped around his neck, and now sat rubbing his face. He took in the car lying on its side, the snow around them, and the road way towering above them.
"We fell over the edge."
Ash sat next to him, huddled in another sleeping bag, chin resting on her knees. She spoke calmly, almost resignedly.
Johnny sighed. "No wonder my head is killing me. Now, how exactly did we get down here?"
Ash sighed and crushed some snow in her good hand. "You, ah, you passed out."
Johnny's eyebrows rose in surprise, then he nodded slowly, realization dawning on his face. "Concussion?"
She nodded. "Yeah. You shouldn't have been driving. It's not your fault."
Johnny sat up, swaying momentarily, then the dizziness left him and he took a good look at her. "Are you okay?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I will be okay. Twisted my ankle, I think it's just sprained. And I sort of splinted my arm. Sure won't be doing any summersaults for a while." She surveyed the bandaging ruefully.
Johnny nodded. "Here, let me take a look at that." He motioned her to come closer, and examined the bandaging, making adjustments. "You did a good job for an amateur. Needs some help though. There that's how it should be. We really need to get this looked at by a doctor. Where is our hitchhiker?" He set about wrapping her ankle, glancing around them every now and then. The silence surrounding their little huddle was eerie.
Ash rolled her eyes. "He left us. He took his gun with him. I didn't feel up to wrangling with him over it. Not by myself anyway."
Johnny paused and shook his head. "You just gave it back? What were you thinking? You know you could have thrown it down the mountain out of his reach, or hid it?"
Ash slumped into a heap and hunched her shoulders. "Yeah, whatever."
Johnny shook his head. "Ashley, do you even think of other people?"
The look she gave him appeared hurt, but he could tell she was listening, having been called by her full name. "I got you out, didn't I?" she asked bluntly, miffed at his tone.
Johnny sighed. "Yes, you did. Thank you very much. Eternally grateful. But do you realize that you are so caught up in your own little world that you never consider how your actions affect other people. You decided, by George, I'm just gonna kill myself? Who cares what my brother will think? Now you just gave a desperate criminal a gun that he can go use to force someone else to pick him up. Or he may come right back here if he can't find a ride and who knows what may happen then? He might just kill both of us and oh gee, who cares? Hank's feelings don't matter anyway."
Ash had watched him rant with her mouth partly open in surprise. "Hank's feelings do matter! And we wouldn't be down here if you had rested on the plane and not spent the whole time trying to pick up a chick."
"We are down here," Johnny replied tightly, "because I threw myself over my partner and saved his life, and took the brunt of an explosion during our last call before we left. My concussion was much worse than Roy's. Rest wouldn't have made that much difference. We were both ticking time bombs."
Ash huffed but didn't say anything else. Johnny watched her a moment then began packing up his backpack.
She finally spoke, but didn't glance his way.
"I've been in a dark place, Johnny. I hated my dad for the things he did to me. Life was so miserable. I hated going home from school, and I tried to run away several times but he always found me. I wasn't always like this. Johnny." She glanced toward him with an apologetic smile. "I just became this way- but please don't think I didn't try. He wasn't mean all the time…just when he drank too much or was really stressed." She stopped talking and kicked at the snow. "Then Hank's mom and dad adopted me, and I was so rude to them. I was afraid that they would turn out the same way and that it wouldn't last. I didn't trust anyone. But Hank was awesome. He never let me stay down. He was always encouraging me and singing stupid songs, and pranking me. I was so mean to him. But I started to kind of love him. I started to believe that someone cared. He became the big brother that would protect me from the monsters inside of me."
Johnny reached over and nudged her knee.
"Then he left you?"
She winced, and nodded. "Then he left me."
Johnny frowned pointed to the knee. "Did you hurt your knee too?"
She nodded. "Glass."
He gave her a longsuffering glance and reached for his backpack again. "Let me look at that?"
She nodded, and continued talking. "He left. I kept hoping he would come back. I was so caught up in my own world of negativity that I couldn't understand why he left. He got married, and had his own home. I didn't see him much, cause he was doing exams, and working his way through the ranks to captain. Johnny. I was so selfish."
Johnny sighed. "Well, I do understand. My family wasn't - the kindest. My mother was Indian and my dad was not. So in our reservation, and at school, I was known as - a half-breed - Indian and they - well, they didn't take kindly to me. I was shipped around between families quite a bit, especially after my parents dies, and some people were - um- less than hospitable. Man, I was a wreck when I got out of all that and my aunt took me in. She worked so hard to love me and care for me. I just wouldn't trust anyone. Then Roy came along and he's been my best friend. He's like a blood brother to me. He made me fell -well, alive again and I - man, I'd give my life for him."
Ash sighed. "I am such an idiot. I terribly misjudged you, Johnny. You and all the guys. I just figured that Hank wanted to babysit me after - well, after I almost died, and that he was just keeping me around cause I was like on probation or something."
Johnny rolled his eyes. "No, smarty, he was keeping you around because he didn't dare let you out of his sight. Do you realize how scared he was that you were gonna die, and he felt like it was his fault because he should have paid more attention to what you were going through?"
Hank's face as he rushed into the hospital room flashed before her eyes, and Ashley started to cry. "Johnny, I'm so sorry. I've been so selfish. How could I have hurt him? He cared about me and I was too stupid to notice it!"
"Hey, don't go falling all to pieces." Johnny awkwardly studied the snow bank towering above them. "Hey, Ash, I will make a deal with you okay?"
Ash nodded silently.
"Just let's move on, forget everything all those bad people did to you and focus on building relationships with the people you have now. They will be there for you, and someday, if they aren't…well, hang in there because they will at least be on their way."
She nodded "Deal."
Johnny finished bandaging her knee that had been cut by the glass and got to his feet.
"Well, let's see if we can get a fire going. Maybe someone will find us."
"No one is going to find us." Ash looked around at the snow, still falling, and blanketing the car and their belongings. "It's all getting covered by snow. There won't be tracks or nothing and they won't see us down here unless they are standing right at the edge anyway."
Johnny shivered. "Well, we need to probably set up the tents at least, so we have shelter, get a fire going, find some food in the backpacks here. If they haven't come for us, then we are gonna get out of here."
"Johnny, I can't get climb there! My ankle. There's just no way." Ash ruefully indicated the wrapped ankle.
Johnny paused his tent building and frowned at her. "Look, Ash, I know it's not an ideal situation, but we are in a valley here. If an avalanche comes roaring down that mountain, we are dead. We have to get out of here. But I am too beat up to try it right now. Common knowledge says to stay in one place, but we are just gonna have to risk it. I'm getting you out of here somehow. Hank will kill me if something happens to you."
Ash laughed. "And Roy will kill me if something happens to you!"
Johnny smiled at her. "Exactly. Come on; let me get this tent up. You look for the food."
High in the mountain, a natural phenomenon was occurring. The snow was crumbling as a crack in its surface began to widen. Tiny pieces of snow began falling down the slope, growing in size as it went. In a matter of moments, great boulders of snow were tumbling down the mountain side. Building up speed, it was a tyrannosaurus that gobbled everything in its path. And directly in its path were Johnny and Ash.
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Hank gunned the engine of the Bronco, snow spinning out from under the wheels. "I am not stopping for that guy again, Roy."
Roy frowned. "I agree. But why is he walking on the side of the road alone, Cap?"
Hank glanced at his pal and a hard look crossed his face. "I don't want to know. I want to ask him where the kids are. But what if he has the gun? I don't want us to be hostages again. We don't have time. They are out there somewhere!"
"Well, they can't be too far away, and we know they drove in this direction." Roy reasoned calmly. "So let's not take the chance with him again. They have to be nearby because these roads aren't that great and he couldn't have walked too far."
Hank nodded, his teeth set in determination. "True." He gunned the engine again and passed the hitchhiker, covering him in a shower of snow that knocked him off his feet.
The convict angrily scrambled to his feet and, pulling his gun out of his coat pocket, fired a shot at the retreating vehicle. Glass shattered, and Hank grabbed Roy's shoulder and yanked him down in the seat. "Great, he's shooting at us. Get down Roy!" The cold air whipped through the shattered windows. Hank held the wheel steady, putting as much white road between him and the hitchhiker as he could.
Hank glanced over at his senior paramedic. "You alright Roy?"
Roy craned his neck to glance behind them thorough the broken window. "Yeah, I'm okay. You?"
Hank gripped the steering wheel so hard that the knuckles on his work -hardened, tanned hands were white. "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." His face was scrunched as he gazed through the cracked windshield.
Roy nodded at the steering wheel. "Hey, good driving back there, Cap."
Hank returned the nod absentmindedly. "Yeah, thanks." He suddenly slammed a fist down on the steering wheel. "Roy," he started talking quickly, "I just can't get this straight in my head. My kid sister almost ends her life in the depths of depression; I somehow am spared losing her. Then Johnny, that knuckleheaded kid, gets his head bashed in a rescue and I somehow am spared losing him - for probably the three thousandth time - and now, all because I decided to pick up a hitchhiker I have lost both of them in the winter wilderness of Colorado. To make matters even worse-"
Roy laid a hand on his captain's shoulder. "Hey Cap, I wouldn't-"
Hank raised a hand to hush him. "No Roy, let me get this out. It's below zero wind chill right now, and the kidnapper is shooting at us, walking on the side of the road without my kids, and I don't know where in blue-blazes they are even at right now. And I can't ask him because he's gone trigger-happy. And that right there is Route 24 ahead of us and I don't think they could have come this far."
The two searchers reached highway 24 with no sign of the two travelers. The worried glances of the patrolmen that were guarding the exit didn't make them feel any better.
Hank brought the Bronco to a halt and jumped out, followed by Roy. "Hi, Sheriff!"
"Roy, we had to have missed them." Hank gazed worriedly back the direction they came.
Roy rubbed his face, red from the cold. "Hank, I agree. But where? It's all white up there."
The sheriff waved to Hank and came over to greet the two men. "Hey Hank, Roy. Did you guys see anything on your way over?"
Hank quickly explained what was happening. The sheriff dispatched a car to retrieve the hitchhiker, and then turned to Hank. "We are going to send in a rescue team on foot. Let's go!"
