As he watched the snow falling outside the car window, Carl knew he shouldn't have tried it. He should have known better, after all, he had been raised here, had hunted these hills and had been caught more than once by a freak snowstorm.
But he had been in a hurry to get home for Thanksgiving. It would have been the first time in 20 years he had been home for the holiday. When he found the main road was intermittently closed for construction, he thought he would be smart and take the back road over Black Crow Pass.
He hadn't figured on the snow. His car had skidded and landed him in the ditch. Now here he sat, stuck, unable to drive out, watching the snowfall as the darkness got deeper, wondering what to do. A moment later a solution hit him. He remembered there was an old hunters cabin up the hill a ways.
Hoping that it was still there and usable, he climbed out of the car, grabbed his sleeping bag and pack which held his clothes, flicked on his flashlight and began to slog through the now knee-deep snow. After climbing for what seemed like hours, the cabin materialized out of the soft haze of darkness and falling snow.
It was still standing and in one piece. As he clumped onto the porch he glanced to the side and noticed the unmistakable silhouette of an outhouse someone had built 20 yards from the cabin since the last time he was there. He unfastened the rope latch and pushed open the door.
The walls of the single room log cabin were bare except for the door he stood in, one small window and a cupboard on one wall. The room held a table, two chairs, a potbellied stove and a wooden bunk. The bunk had a thin mattress that was rolled tightly, tied with twine and encased in a clear plastic bag.
'Someone must still be using it during hunting season,' he thought.
He looked about but didn't see any firewood for the stove. He decided to wait until morning before he had a look around outside. He opened the plastic bag, untied the twine, pulled the mattress out and unrolled it on the bunk. He rolled his double size sleeping bag (he liked a double for the room it afforded him) out onto the mattress.
He was starting to feel cold, so he climbed into the sleeping bag pulled it around him and surrounded by silence drifted off to sleep. He woke with a start. Dim cold light filtered through the small window. He could tell it was much colder than the night before as he unzipped the sleeping bag and crawled out.
The cold bit into him. He beat his arms around his body and cursed himself for wearing his clothes to bed. They had gotten damp from being in the sleeping bag with him. He shivered as he opened his pack and began to pull out his extra clothes. Before long he had most of them on but was still feeling the effects of the cold.
He opened the door and was greeted with a blast of frigid air. The temperature was well below freezing and the weak sunlight didn't afford any warmth. He set out to scout for firewood but an hour later he had only found a few small pieces. He decided the area must have already been scavenged clean by past cabin users. On his way back he lucked out and stumbled onto a dead alpine fir. He broke off as many branches as he could, then carried them back to the cabin.
As he laid the wood for the fire into the stove he decided to return to his car, retrieve the food he had in the trunk and leave a note. If someone did come along, which was possible but probably unlikely, for a while anyway and spotted his car they would know where to look for him.
He laid a fire in the stove, lit it and had it going well as he stepped out of the cabin and trudged down the hillside. It was hard going in the fresh snow, but because he was going downhill it took him only a few minutes to make his way to his car. As he approached the spot where he had left his car, he noticed a snow-covered lump behind the snow-covered lump that was his vehicle. As he got closer it became apparent it was another car.
He slogged to it and brushed the snow from the window to peer in. In the dim light he could just make out a body curled up on the front seat. He tapped on the window, but there was no response. He tried the driver=s door and found it locked. After trying all the other doors and finding all of them locked he was frustrated.
He was considering breaking a window when an idea hit him. He began to feel around inside the wheel wells and under the bumpers until he found what he was looking for under the rear bumper, a magnetic key holder with a spare key. He unlocked the driver's door and opened it to reveal what appeared to be a young woman in her mid to late twenties curled into a fetal ball on the front seat.
She was dressed in a thin blouse covered by a light jacket, a skirt and a pair of high heels. He glanced around, but there didn't appear to be a coat or any type of heavier outer garment in the car. Carl shook her, but got no response. He touched her cheek and found it to be cold, very cold. He checked her breathing, which was shallow, then shook her hard to see if he could wake her. He didn't even get a groan from her.
She was suffering from hypothermia. He knew he had to get her warm and soon, or she'd die. He took off the sweater he had on, pulled her up put it on her. He pulled her out of the car, kicked the door shut and frantically began to struggle back up the hill. He was tiring fast and it seemed like forever before the cabin finally came into sight.
He was gasping for breath as he pushed the door open, then kicked it shut behind him. He flipped open his sleeping bag, laid her down and quickly removed her jacket, blouse, skirt and shoes, leaving her in a blue lace bra and matching panties. He covered her and quickly stuffed wood into the stove until it was full. He went back to the bunk, quickly removed his clothes right down to his underwear.
He climbed into the bag with her, pulled her limp body close to his, grunting as her cold skin touched him. He held her close and pulled the bag tightly around them, allowing his body heat to transfer to her. As he lay there, he became aware of her scent, a mixture of musk and lavender.
Over the rest of the day and into the night he dozed off and on. Finally, he woke to find she was shivering and moaning, a good sign. He pulled her tighter and she seemed to quiet, but a moment later he became aware that her breasts were pushed up against his chest and the soft and by now warm skin of her thighs was tight against his. That caused his cock to begin to stir.
He didn't want her waking to find a strange man holding her tightly with a hard-on pushed against her, so he pulled back and turned his hips so it wasn't pressed against her. He checked her cheek with his lips and found her temperature was warm. He moved back from her, then shook her gently. She groaned but didn't open her eyes. A moment later she began to shiver.
He debated on getting up and stuffing the last of the wood into the stove, but decided he would need it when she finally came around. He pulled her closer, wrapping her in his arms and held her tightly until she stopped shivering. He drifted off to sleep with her pulled against his body. Hours later he started awake to find cold dim light filtering through the window. He looked at her and found her breathing was normal. He touched her neck to find her as warm as he was. He figured he'd better try to wake her and see if she was alright.
Gently but insistently he shook her and said, "Come on wake up. You have to wake up. I need to see if you're gunna make it."
Her eye's fluttered, then opened. She stared about unable to focus on anything. Finally, she seemed to snap awake.
She stared at Carl, then stammered, "Who....Where......How...."
Carl smiled and replied, "Steady now. Easy. You were in your car remember? I found you there, almost frozen. I carried you here and I've been trying to get you warm, that's why we're in this bag together."
Her pretty brow furrowed for an instant, then comprehension flashed over her face.
"I was headed for Oreville to have thanksgiving dinner with my family. The guy at the gas station at the junction told me the main road was intermittently closed and that I could probably get through over Black Crow Pass. I was getting worried, with all the snow coming down, when I saw your car," She stopped and added, "That was your car?"
Carl nodded and she continued, "I stopped to see if anyone was in it. When I found no one, I tried to turn around but my car got stuck. The car stalled and I couldn't get it started again. It seemed to get colder and colder. The last thing I remember I was curled up on the front seat and it seemed to be getting a little warmer. "
Carl grunted, "You were damned close to freezing to death. The feeling of warmth comes not long before you hit unconsciousness and it's not long after that the body shuts down. How do you feel now?"
"Cold." She said shivering.
"Well I'll stay in here with you for a bit more then I'll climb out and get the fire started again. And your name is....?"
"Jenny." She replied, "Jenny Green. And you are??"
