Despite their winter coats, Robbie and Laura both felt the freezing cold as they made their way carefully down the road. Laura hooked her arm into Robbie's even though it was he who was least equipped for walking through the snow. As well as his unsuitable shoes he also had to contend with his bag over his shoulder. In addition, he had insisted in taking Laura's suitcase for her, which had to be carried as it was near impossible to wheel it through the snow. Despite the conditions and the situation, he couldn't help but feel a thrill of feeling her close to him as they walked, somehow the stinging of the snowflakes that whipped about their heads and the searingly cold wind didn't seem too bad when he could feel her holding onto him tightly. As well as a thrill he also felt comfort from her being so close. He pulled her in a little closer and was about to ask her if she was ok when out of the darkness, just ahead of them a road sign revealed itself as they got closer to it. It was half covered in snow and had DARKDALE on it. Laura was about to say that civilisation couldn't be that far way, along with hopefully a village pub where they could shelter and work out what to do when there came from behind them a loud rumbling noise.
They both turned round to see headlights that they soon saw belonged to a tractor. As it got closer to them it slowed until it eventually came to a stop, without any fuss, unlike Robbie's car. The driver turned on his cab light as Robbie and Laura went up to him. The wind was blowing hard and Laura felt snowflakes sting her face and even get into her ear as the driver of the tractor, a middle-aged man, big and strong and clearly used to the weather conditions pushed the window down. Next to him in the cab was a black and white sheepdog.
"That your car back there?" He hollered
"Yes" Robbie shouted back, his voice half getting lost in the howl of the wind "Is there anywhere we can get to where we can phone for a breakdown service? We can't get a signal"
"You won't do, and you'll not get anyone to come up here tonight, it's setting in. My farm's just up ahead, best come up there, you'll perish if you stay out here much longer" The man shouted back, looking out at the swirling blizzard that whipped at Robbie and Laura.
Within a few minutes Robbie and Laura were squeezed into the tractor cab which took them with ease further down the road before turning off the road onto a track which led to a farm. During the short ride Robbie and Laura learned that the man was called Dan and he lived at the farm with his wife, Sarah and two teenage children, Logan and Maisie. The dog, Dan's sheepdog, was called Penny and was forced to sit on Robbie's lap without any fuss apart from constantly trying to lick his ears and face. The journey was a short one but would have taken considerable effort on foot in the conditions. Within a few minutes of reaching the farmyard, all four of them were in the warmth of the farmhouse kitchen.