Lost in the Mountains

From Create Your Own Story

Current revision as of 09:59, 19 November 2015

"Shit!" Katie swore as she pressed the gas pedal of her car frantically, praying it would move. The engine roared, wheels spinning in the powdery snow, but didn't catch, and she was forced to let off the gas again. She was headed across the mountains to meet a man she'd been talking to on a dating site, and was due to meet him at a restaurant in a few hours.

"just my fucking luck." Her statement was emphasized by her pounding on the steering wheel uselessly. She couldn't believe this had happened. She'd set off for a short jaunt across the mountains to visit a friend. Not a long drive, just a few hours, and one she'd done several times before. It was mid-fall, and temperatures were in the low 60's both at her home, and in the town she was heading to, as well. Up here, temperatures were in the mid-to-upper 30's, and snow had started falling, though not heavily. In the back seat, she had a small overnight bag, in which she'd packed her toiletries, a change of underwear (equally skimpy), a pair of cutoff shorts and a hoodie, and her old Converse sneakers.

She'd forgotten to check the pass reports, and had paid no mind to the signs advising drivers to tune in to the local highway information radio station, and that was how she'd gotten into this predicament. A few miles from the top of the pass, she'd discovered the highway was closed for emergency avalanche control, and wouldn't reopen until the next morning. She couldn't afford to miss this opportunity, and so had decided to break out her road map, and try to slip around on one of the several forest service roads that dotted the mountainside.

Unfortunately, those forest service roads were poorly-marked, and she'd quickly found herself facing an intersection that wasn't on the map. She'd chosen the one that looked like it headed up the pass, and continued easing down it, as road conditions deteriorated. That road had branched, too, then branched again, and she was well and truly off the map when she'd come to the dip her car was now stuck in. It was a narrow spot in the road, dropping some ten feet down then shooting right back up. On one side, there was a steep vertical embankment, and the other dropped off nearly a hundred feet down a somewhat steep hill. Her car barely fit on the surface of the road, which angled slightly downhill. Having come this far, she though she could make it through, but had instead gotten well and truly stuck.

She swore again, and turned the engine off, then opened her car door. A blast of cold air carried a few snowflakes in, and she shivered. She had dressed for the weather down the mountain, not up here. Her peasant blouse and leggings did nothing to stop the chill from reaching her core. She felt her nipples instantly harden, rubbing against her blouse, and she lamented her choice of bra as well. Her bra didn't cover her nipples, instead resting just below them, and was meant to be titillating, not functional. When she set her feet on the ground, they sank several inches into fresh-fallen snow, and some of it cascaded onto the bare tops of her feet.

Standing, she angrily slammed the door shut, and went to look at how stuck she was. Her tires were sunk into the snow, clearly unable to grab traction on either it or the rocky ground below. As she looked at the patches, she heard a groaning sound from her car, as she realized the marks were stretching sideways.

Panicking, she looked up, as the tires on the right side of her car dropped off the edge of the road. She lunged for the door handle of her car, hoping to reach her bag before her car slid downhill, but just missed it. She watched helplessly as her car slid, before catching on a small boulder half-hidden in the snow and rolling the rest of the way down the hill, parts falling off with each crunching impact.

Katie almost began crying on the spot. Her only real source of warmth, and all of her stuff, had just tumbled down the hill, leaving her stranded in the middle of the mountains. She forced that thought to the back of her mind for a moment, and tried to focus on her options. She knew there was a ski lodge a few miles up the mountain, where she could probably get some kind of help. There was also a faint wisp of smoke, visible rising above another hilltop, that was somewhat below her, back the way she'd come from. She shivered again in the cold breeze, and wondered if it was worth trying to get to her car, and try to get her hoodie and sneakers first, though she could see no easy way down the hill...

Katie tries to get to her car

Katie heads up the mountain towards the ski lodge

Katie heads down the mountain, towards the smoke plume