Hey guys sorry it has been so long ssince I updated. Been busy getting ready for a school and now the first week of school is over and I can post an update.
The New York countryside draws many tourists with its crisp white snow, and picturesque landscapes. Many would find this a wonderland.
Sadly not many appreciate nature's beauty.
"Winter can suck on my jingle bells." Through the vast winter land a long road spiraled around the hills past farms and skeletal trees. On this road, a black PT cruiser sped by.
The driver was a female in her late teens, a beauty if any had seen one. With long fiery red hair, crystal blue eyes, and graceful features; she was a sight to behold. Though the facial expression she was wearing now showed one of annoyance.
"Ugh I hate winter," she let out a loud sneeze, the car swerving for a moment as she lost control for a second. "I always get sick," she moaned lightly rubbing her eyes.
Night settled into the hills, the only lights that were lit came from passing farms or the occasional flash of light in the distance. The full moon illuminated the fresh untouched snow in the fields, making them have an unearthly glow. The bare trees reaching like beggars to the sky, as if wailing for the warmth to return.
"Looks like they're at it again," the girl all but snapped looking at the flashes in the distance with disdain. The windows rattled as the flashes grew in intensity. "Let's see if I can pick anything up," she told herself pulling the car into some bushes so the front faced the direction of the flashes. She fiddled with the dial of the radio picking up static and the occasional garbled batch of words.
"-news comes in from across the country as more outbreaks of fighting from west to east coast continues."
"There it is," she grinned in triumph. She reached into the back seat pulling up a bundle of blankets and a tattered old book. Wrapping herself thoroughly in the blankets she held the book close listening intently to the station.
"Just four days ago, after the Expansionist's attack on Midtown High in New York City. Reports have come pouring in of both the Expansionists and Philosophers exchanging gunfire in the streets. The total count of civilian deaths has reached over 200, with many reported injured. Citizens are advised to stay indoors, stay off the streets-"
"That's not going to stop them," she sang sarcastically to no one.
"We here in the station have been barricaded inside for three days as gunfire is exchanged outside the studio. If my wife and kids are hearing this I'm sorry," the radio reporter paused, "I can't make it home for Christmas; to all listening I wish you all a Merry Christmas Eve. Let's pray for the best."
She shut off the radio, quietly staring out into the field with an empty but calculating gaze. The moon had been covered by clouds letting the flashes of light glow more predominantly. A few moments of silence passed before she spotted movement out of the corner of her eye. Slowly she reached below her seat as a figure came around the bend of the hill in the dark.
The moon came out from behind the clouds casting its light on the figure, which caught her off guard. She had been suspecting a soldier, a wandering farmer, or even a lost cow. Instead, she was graced with the most pathetic sight.
Stumbling like a drunk was a girl no older than she was, limping and dragging her legs, not from intoxication but from fatigue. Her clothes were practically in tatters, held on by pure luck. Her face blotched with dirt smudges, her hair now a messy bush of leaves and twigs. She looked harmless so the girl in the car took a chance and stepped out of her vehicle into the bitter cold.
"Hey, are you alright?" She shouted over the blasts in the distance. The other girl looked up clearly surprised to find another living person. Before she could call out again the mystery girl fell into the snow bank.
Quickly the red head shot like a bullet, sprinting over to the fallen girl and rolling her onto her back.
"She's burning up," she told herself as she touched the girl's skin. It was scorching to the touch. It was hard to believe that this girl hadn't been cooked alive. Her breaths came out labored as she moaned in pain.
'I should leave her,' redhead told herself, 'She's almost dead already.' She seemed to have made up her mind and stood to leave, but stumbled as something grabbed her pant leg. She looked back down at the girl who was looking up with clouded blue eyes.
"P-please... Help.." she wheezed before coughing violently. After her coughing spasm she seemed to drift off into a fitful sleep in the snow.
The redhead looked down with pity in her eyes, along with a sliver of curiosity. 'She's got some fight in her' she looked back at her car deep in thought. The girl was near death, if not already at deaths door. But something was telling her that the girl wasn't ready to die just yet.
"Alright let's get you somewhere warm," the red head groaned as she knelt down, throwing the girl's arms over her shoulders and hitching her up her back. "Man your tiny," she laughed seeing the girl was so light and much shorter than her height of 6' 1.
"I-I'm n-not th-that s-small," the girl chattered, shaken awake from being lifted up.
"Sure you're not kid," redhead laughed as she walked back to her car.
"D-don't call me k-kid, y-you're no older th-than me," the other snapped back with a weak laugh.
"I like you kid," redhead smirked as she gently lay the half frozen girl in the back seat and wrapped her with all the blankets she had. "Got a name?"
"A-Alexa J-James," she yawned weakly slowly dozing off. "Y-you?" she inquired eyes floating shut.
"Just call me Ingrid Bay," Ingrid smiled as Alexa dozed back to sleep. She quietly closed the door and walked back to the driver's seat. She cast one last look at the battle field below her, before turning the car on and going on her way.
'I hope I don't regret this.'