Antonia ran over to his car, steam expelling from the front of it as it sit on its side in the ditch, two tires hanging in the air. "Aiden!" She shouted, climbing through the snow to the side of the SUV, she climbed onto the vehicle and held on as she reached for the door handle. "Aiden, are you okay?"
She could hear his voice from inside the car, but couldn't hear what he was saying. She lay on the side of the car on her belly, and opened the door and looked down at him, letting the door settle on her back. "Aiden?"
"I'm fine." He said, hanging sideways from his seatbelt, he looked up at her with a pitiful glance.
"If this is what fine looks like…" She said, grimacing. "I'm sorry." She whispered.
"You didn't put the tree there." He said, glaring up at her. "Did you?" When she laughed nervously, he watched the fear in her eyes for a moment. "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay." She said, still concerned about Aiden, she held her hand out to him. "Come on, I'll help you out."
He shifted slightly, looking around at his situation he knew that the only way he was going to be able to get out, was if he held onto something and pulled up as he unbuckled the seatbelt, otherwise he'd fall deeper into the car. "I need you to take this." He said, reaching up, he handed her his flashlight, and keys. "Climb to the other side of the door, and try to hold it open. Stand on the car if you need to." He said. She nodded her head, slid backwards and closed the door, sliding across it, she grabbed hold of the handle again, standing on her knees and opened it. In the time that it took her to do that, he had been able to reposition himself and step on the center console, using his seatbelt as a harness. With one more move, he was able to unbuckle the seatbelt while holding onto the side of the car, gripping it tightly. "Please tell me that you have a tight hold on that door." He called.
"I have it." She replied, sighing as she waited. He pulled himself out of the car, sliding on his belly onto the car, he slid off, and onto the ground.
"I'm out!" he called, and the door swung closed, slamming tightly as she fell across the door. "Are you okay?"
"Yes." She said, reaching for his outstretched hand, he carefully lifted her from the car, landing her in front of him. "I'm sorry." She wrapped her arms around him. "I'm glad you're okay." She whispered.
"No more apologies." He said, looking over at his car, he sighed. "Let's get in your car for a minute, see what we can do." He grabbed her hand and realized she had no gloves on. "Your hand is freezing."
"I forgot my gloves in the car." She whispered, rushing with him back to the car. They climbed in and he reached for his phone in his pocket, immediately letting out a swear. "What?"
"No signal." He grunted.
"Of course." She said, rolling her eyes she held her hands to the heating vent in the car as she felt a sudden wave of sadness roll over her. "I'm sorry." She shook her head and watched as he glared at her. "I looked at the weather, it wasn't supposed to…"
"Stop." He said, watching her take a deep breath. "It's fine, we got some more evidence. It wasn't for nothing. I'm just glad that I'm here." He sighed and looked behind them. "This damn road is a dead end. This is the only way out."
She sniffled. "Do you have a chainsaw?" He glowered at her and she swallowed hard. "I thought I'd ask."
They sat in silence for several minutes, staring at the snow as it started to pile up on the hood of the car, the headlights shining directly into the trunk of the tree. It was a large tree, and impossible to move without cutting some of it up. Antonia glanced to Aiden, and noticed that he was looking at her. "What?"
"Nothing." He said, shaking his head, he smiled slightly and then looked back out the window. "There are other houses in this subdivision, right?"
"Yeah, but most of them are summer homes, unoccupied. The last one with lights was about two miles up the road." She said, glancing back to Aiden, his brow was furrowed as he stared out the windshield.
"By the time they know we're missing, and figure out where we are, this gas guzzler is going to run out of fuel."
"Hey, this truck is very safe!" She exclaimed, glaring at her passenger.
"Yeah, well it's bad for the environment, and bad for this situation."
"Right, because I knew that I was going to get stuck in a damn snowstorm with Captain Planet." She muttered, climbing out of the car.
"Hey, where are you going?" He called, being answered by a slam of the door. He jumped from the car and walked around it to see her walking up to the tree, assessing the situation. "We can't move it without cutting it." He said, watching as she paced back and forth. "Antonia. Get back in the car."
"We need to get out of here." She said, pacing away from him now, she continued to assess the situation, tried to recalibrate what she knew about the area and how they can get out. She continued to pace.
"Antonia, please just get into the car." Aiden said, reaching for her arm, she pulled it away from him, and glared.
"Don't." She said, pointing her finger at him. "Don't."
"I'm just trying to get your attention. You're pacing like a caged animal."
"We are caged animals!" She exclaimed. "I just want to go home!" She said angrily.
"Well, this isn't helping." He said, leaving her out in the snow, he walked around the car and angrily climbed inside. He looked at his phone for a moment or two and rolled his eyes. After another minute, her door opened, and she flopped back into her seat. "Figure anything out?"
"There was a cabin about a quarter of a mile down the road. There weren't any lights on, but there was smoke in the chimney."
"You remember that?"
"Yes." She said, looking at him oddly, he shook his head. "What?"
"Nothing." He said, sighing. "There probably weren't any lights on because someone thought it would be a good idea to do this at two thirty in the morning." He said, rightfully accepting the swat that came in his direction. "We should sit here for a few minutes, warm up, and come up with a plan of what we're going to do. If they don't have a landline, we're still screwed."
"But they may have a chainsaw."
"Right. And they do have heat in the cabin, so that's good." He said, then fell silent for a moment, watching the snow fall outside. He then felt a hand slide into his, holding it tightly without mention.
"Sunrise is 7:26am" she said softly, glancing at the clock, she grimaced. "That's four hours."
"You know what time the sun rises?" He asked, looking over at her, she lifted an eyebrow at him. "You really are a squint." He grasped her hand tighter when she tried to pull it away, chuckling as they sat together in silence, and she let her hand stay where it was. He watched her for a moment, her head leaning back as she closed her eyes for a moment. "Antonia?"
"Mm?" She said, tipping her head in his direction, she kept her eyes closed.
"Nothing." He said, closing his eyes. "Nevermind."
Her eye opened, looking over at him, a small smile slipping onto her lips as she gave his hand a squeeze and closed her eyes again, letting them slip into a quiet, peaceful silence.