Rachel steadily drove a red sedan behind the truck as it advanced along the mountain pass. One should never be impatient on a snowy day as such. Since there was a potential of brake problems, she maintained a safe distance from the truck.
“Don’t worry. I’ve passed the highway. We should be in Greensborough before the night comes.” “You’ve been driving for more than twenty hours. That’s driver fatigue! Are you really alright?” Jolly’s voice sounded concerned over the earphone.
Rachel was indeed weary due to the long drive, where the heater in the car made her feel all cozy. Yawning, she mumbled, “It’s not that bad. We rested for half an hour at the rest area before passing the highway.”
While there were two drivers in the truck taking turns to take the wheel, Rachel was the only one in her car, so she had to take a shut-eye at the rest area. “Only thirty minutes? Are you nuts?”
“It’s fine. It’s not like I’ve never stayed up at work.” “This is a whole different matter! You better stay awake until you arrive at the destination. I’ll give you a call to check on you any time. If you really can’t stand it, just stop the car and sleep.”
“The connection is bad over here, though. I might not be able to pick up your call later. Baybrook was the poorest area in the country, which was afflicted with many kinds of natural disaster, thereby slipping in economic recession. The connection was quite bad in these highlands too.
Rachel had not entered the mountain range yet, but after she did, the connection would be completely cut off.
That was why she purposely called Jolly to give her friend a heads-up, just in case they could not stay in contact later. Soon, the connection kept cutting out and Jolly could not hear Rachel clearly. “I can’t hear you. What did you say?”
“Nevermind. I’ll text you once I’m there.” Rachel then ended the call and stepped on the pedal to follow the truck closely.
The snow started falling once again in the afternoon, prompting her to turn on the wiper in order to remove the snow off the windshield. Forget about how far the place was, there was literally no signs of people or cars along the way due to the heavy snow.
When there were thirty miles remaining before reaching Greensborough, one could not see ahead the road because of the heavy snowfall. Rachel had slowed down the speed to 25 miles per hour, which was literally the speed of a tortoise.
The walkie-talkie in her car resounded as the truck driver spoke. “President Hudson, are you still following behind us?” “Yeah, I am. There’s thirty miles left to go. We can do it.”
“Yeah. President Hudson, be careful on the road. It’s quite dangerous in the hill range. There are a lot of trees slumping because of the snow. Try not to drive near=”
Thud! Before he could even finish his words, a huge tree at the roadside had collapsed suddenly. Meanwhile, Rachel heard a dull sound from the car roof, as though someone was thumping against the metal. Her mind went blank when something crashed into the passenger seat from the top, crushing half of the car in a split second.
The deafening noise continued until the car skidded across the slippery road and rammed into a shabby house with a big tree atop the car. Then, the engine died. “President Hudson? President Hudson, are you okay?!” The driver’s voice was anxious over the walkie-talkie.
Rachel had banged her head and her vision became blurry. However, she managed to stay conscious upon hearing his call. “Mr. Gasper, I’m fine.”
She tried to open the deformed door, but it was in vain. After stopping the truck, Andrew Gasper, the main driver, and another driver ran over to check on her. The car had run into the house with gravel and a huge trunk that seemed impossible to be moved.
“President Hudson! President Hudson, are you alright?” The driver quickly wiped off the snow that was covering the window, trying to take a look inside.
Although there was a scratch on Rachel’s forehead, she was still conscious and able to move her limbs. Still, she could not wind down the window, so she shook her head. “I’m fine, but I can’t open the door.”
“There’s no connection here either.” Andrew showed her his phone. “We can’t call the fire. department.”
Upon hearing that, she suggested, “Deliver the supplies to Greensborough first. Help me call the police once there’s a connection.”
“Are you going to stay here alone?” “It won’t be a problem. I’m not exposed to the cold anyway. I can put up with it for another two to three hours.”
“Okay. We’ll call for help as soon as possible.”
“Alright.” As Rachel watched the two drivers disappear in the flurry of snow, her hand on the steering wheel trembled. There were two drops of blood on the back of her hand, and it showed signs of freezing into solid. It was appalling nonetheless.
With difficulty, she moved the rearview mirror to check her forehead. Thank God it doesn’t seem that serious. It’s just a slight scratch.
Rachel attempted to start the engine, but she had overestimated the car as it did not budge at all. In other words, the heater could not be turned on.
Snowflakes began to glide through the crevice at the passenger’s side before landing on the seat. They melted quite fast at the beginning. due to the scant warmth, but as the heat gradually dissipated into the atmosphere, the temperature in the car became no less different from the outside cold and the snow kept piling up at the passenger seat Feeling cold, Rachel reached out for the white coat at the back seat to keep herself warm, yet her body was shivering vigorously.
It was way below the freezing point, and her limbs were icy cold. If she was going to stay like this, she might not be able to stand it for three hours. As the snowy wind blew stronger, the windows were covered up little by little.
On the other end, the community hall in Greensborough was surrounded by townspeople. There was a small truck at the porch that was supposed to deliver the first batch of goods, which were already shared among them.
“Didn’t they say that it’ll arrive today? The rich guys are liars! They only know how to make charity with their mouth. They’re reluctant to spend the money to do that.”
“Yeah, they’re total liars!” The commotion was getting louder and louder. Some of them were even holding hoes and shovels, looking all fierce and aggressive.
Nevertheless, the village chief was still quite level-headed. “Calm down, everyone. They said that there’s a problem with the shipment of the second delivery, but they’ve made another. shipment to replace it. It should be here soon.”
“I can’t even use the stove at home. What are they going to do when we die?” “Mr. Barlowe, what are you talking about?”
“We know that the medical team has run away. Our place is so poor and shabby that they don’t care about us. Right now, even Mr. Burton wants to go. He’s trying to leave us.”
“Let him out!”
“Yeah, let him out!”
The ruckus continued.
