A Christmas Horror

[AmongHeroes]

Cassie awoke to the feeling of falling, and as her eyes opened she had just enough time so see the frozen ground rushing up at her. A blood curdling scream filled the passenger compartment from somewhere behind her, just before the car struck nose down in the ravine. Immediately her petite frame was thrust forward against the seatbelt. Her neck snapped forward and her head met the explosive force of the deploying air bag. Stars flashed before her eyes and Cassie’s vision was clouded with black.

The violence of the crash was immediately replaced with an utter and mortal stillness. Cassie hung, suspended in the front passenger seat belt, clinging to consciousness by a tenuous thread. A life age of the earth seemed to pass in a void of silence inside of the crumpled car, and Cassie floated in a haze of pain and disbelief. At long last her senses began to claw their way back, and her vision was filled with the windshield laced with a spider web of cracks, and a slowly expanding puddle of dripping blood. The sight of the blood gave her a start, and she jerked a quaking hand to her face. As she drew her fingers from beneath her nose they were covered in the crimson liquid.

She groaned as the pain in her body seemed to intensify at the sight of her own blood, and crackling jolts of agony shot out from the orbits of her eyes and around her nose. With reluctant anxiety she again brought her fingers to her nose and gave it a slight push. Immediately a small cry jumped from her throat and tears filled her eyes. Her nose was most assuredly broken. As she blinked the tears from her eyes a thought jolted her.

Oh god…

Cassie turned her head towards the driver seat, where Les had been sitting. He hung as she did; suspended awkwardly from the seatbelt. His hands and arms hung limp across the steering wheel and its now deflated airbag. His eyes were closed.

“Les!”

He didn’t answer her, and with tears again welling in her eyes she reached out to shake him. She whimpered in frightened relief as he moaned at her touch.

[dreamshell]

One moment everything was normal. There had been light, playful banter in the car which Julie had found it difficult to include herself (she was a naturally contemplative person and long car rides tended only to accentuate this trait). Her few feeble attempts at being a part of the conversation came back sounding like a mother hen to her ears and she soon gave up before the others could catch on. Julie let her mind drift off as she stared out the car window at the ice and snow blurring past in the waning winter light, vaguely wondering if coming along on this holiday with Cassie had been a bad idea...

The next moment, Julie felt the tires go loose under her. The car swerved sharply and suddenly one way, then the other and then the sense of ground was gone.

There was impact. Then another. And another. Like a lame bird trying to soar, the car repeatedly flew from and fell back to earth. The rough, rocky descent stirred up her guts and when it finally stopped, a brief outburst of panic had Julie's hands pawing at her torso to make sure they were still inside her where they belonged. She calmed down upon finding herself intact, only then noticing the incline of the wrecked car and the ache in her neck and collarbone from where the seatbelt had squeezed hold of her like some murderous boa.

A million thoughts ran through Julie's mind; Had something gone wrong with the car? Had Les gone into a skid? Had he seen something in the road? Did they hit a patch of ice? Was Les under the influence? Who was hurt, and how badly? Was there anyone else around? Did Les have insurance? Was this even Les' car?

But when she heard Cassie's sobs and cries of pain up front, the Big Sister in her snapped into action. Though she knew it was preferable after an accident to stay still in case of any unknown injuries or dangers, Julie was compelled to check on the other girl and she felt fine enough, anyway. Considering the angle of the car, she positioned herself as best she could to counter gravity's pull and unfastened her belt. Falling down/forward a bit, Julie caught herself to lessen the sudden weight on the back of Cassie's seat and winced at the needle-like jolt she felt in her right shoulder as she lifted her arm.

Leaning down, she reached a comforting hand out to Cassie.

"Cass, hon-Cassie, are you okay? How about Les?"

[Closetmonster]

As Dom shook the shock off with a groan, pain bloomed along his face and arm, where he'd hit the window of the car a few times. He could feel the bruising and instinctively knew it was going to hurt much worse later, but it wasn't anything that would stop him from functioning. There were the high pitched, worried voices of the girls and everyone was just hanging there, captured by a belt and pain and surprise.

"Fuck, everyone okay?" He grimaced and undid his belt with some maneuvering, watching as Julie undid hers and climbed toward the front of the car. He worked at his door, found it free, but for a half mountain of snow pressed up against it. Despite the pain in his shoulder, he slammed himself against the door until he'd enough room to get out. "Cass? Julie? Les?" The latter's voice had been missing, he realized as he tugged himself out into the snow and slid down to the fore of the car. "Shit," he dug his heels in and stared at where the car rested.

He listened to the girls inside. If Les were dead, he didn't want to be the one to check him. Not yet. For now, someone had to figure out how in the hell they were going to get out of here and get help. And duh - easy. He yanked out his cell, opened it and scowled. No service. Not even a single bar they could text for help on. He went to his internet and found the same thing, which, granted, he should have known, but panic makes you try things twice just because they can't quite be true.

The car's route down was a series of sleigh like marks and scrapes on rock, with entire lengths of snow left untouched. It left no doubt in his mind that back up, was not a way anyone could go. It was only December, so the snow was going to be deep, but probably not half as bad as it could have been. They'd be dealing with a foot, maybe a foot and a half. He took a step out through the gathered snow, sunk up to his hip, and turned back to the car. There was a good pile-up near the car and he should have helped the girls. That was assuming the girls didn't know how to help Les. If Les needed help, that is.

Someone had to figure this out, didn't they? He gritted his teeth and turned back toward traversing out of the fallen snow. With a grunt, he began to climb and sink and climb back out through the massive pile. As a kid, it would have been fun. As a man in need of getting them the fuck out, it was more annoying. Besides, he probably wasn't thinking too straight, needing to find a way out like this. Didn't they say you were supposed to stay with the wreck? Get help that way?

The snow pile gave soon enough and he found his initial deduction had been correct. The snow was light and only up to his knee - not that this would feel light in a half mile. He could go and get more help right away. Someone had to get back up onto the road. He moved out across the bottom of the ravine, noticing that there was a small stream there, but no sign of more water, and looked around them. No way out. Nothing in sight, though it looked like the ravine's other side was banked less sharply further down the way - leading up to the ridge they'd been following. He tried to recall if he'd seen anything out in the darkness, any signs of houses in the woods, along the other ridge, and his mind did not supply anything. He tried his cell again and almost broke it instinctively in his frustration. What were cells good for if, when you needed them, they didn't work?

[dreamshell]

"He's alive! Jules, he's alive!" Cassie exclaimed, crying and laughing all at once as she pulled at the hem of his shirt with a small, tight fist. "Wake up, Les!"

Julie took Cassie's white-knuckled hand in hers. "It's okay, it's okay. Shhh, relax, sweetie. Let him adjust, we don't know what state he's in. Why don't you try and get down? Be careful, now."

There was some jostling to her left.

"Fuck, everyone okay?"

Julie glanced over her pain-free shoulder as Dominick stirred and freed himself. She could see a bit of bruising on his face.

"Cassie and I are alright," she answered, "but we don't know about Les yet."

Dom started asking for each of them by name, which threw her off. But it was when he slammed himself against the passenger door that really seemed like a red flag.

"Dom? Dom, take it easy!" she called out as he exited the vehicle. She hoped he didn't have a concussion or something...

Up front, Les moaned again, furrowed his brow, then opened his eyes in a series of jerky blinks. "Wha?"

[Closetmonster]

There was someone pulling on him, he knew it. Les grimaced at the pain that shot up through his right knee. He moaned again and turned his head. His head felt stuffy. His body felt... hell, his body felt like someone had run it through a wringer and the wringer had won.

"Cass.." his voice gave him a name for one of the voices. The other - that was, who was that? Because the last he'd known, they were driving along the highway, just near Mt. Hood and there had been a really sucked up song on the radio. He'd reached down to turn it, only Cass was saying something about it being her favorite song and somewhere in there, he'd started to think that their tastes in music weren't really meshing all that well, when -

What? When something had happened, because they certainly weren't changing channels now.

"Let's take a look at him," he heard the other voice say softly, distantly. "He doesn't look too good."

No, seriously. He didn't feel too good. Funny how they both had come to the same conclusion. "My... leg... knee," he reached for it, his hand finding it in a muzzy way, long before he was ready for it. The pain shot through him and he cried out. He opened his eyes, and they'd more than likely been open already. Someone was tugging on him. His chest had a weight on it. He blinked at all of the white in the darkness. There was a light, broken and lanced out ahead of him, because, he realized, there was a wall of snow there and the headlight had somehow shot light out through some of the snow.

Funny place for a wall, really.

Crashed. Yeah - that was a crash. "Where are we?" he muttered, then frowned. "Where's Dom?" his head tilted and he stared at where two young women were looking at him. They looked funny, because everything was tilted on its axis.

[dreamshell]

"Dom's outside," Julie answered. "We've been in an accident, Les. Don't move, you sound like you're hurt pretty bad. Julie and I will get out, then we'll see if... I don't know... maybe Dom can get you out."

Julie bit her lower lip, not totally sure about anything she was doing. Up front, Cassie was fiddling with her seatbelt, which she apparently managed to figure out, because there was a sudden, brief THUMP! as she fell down/forward. Cassie yelped, more in surprise than pain.

"Hang on, hon," Julie told her. Fumbling around on the floor, she managed to find her handbag, small and compact enough not to have suffered any spills. She next moved towards her door, which thankfully opened without much trouble, since she certainly wasn't in any shape to try slamming into it the same way Dom had with how her neck and collarbone were feeling right now.

Emerging awkwardly out of the back seat, Julie circled around to Cassie's passenger side door. Pulling on the handle, she found that it was locked.

"Cassie? Cass, you need to unlock your door."

Cassie's hazy figure moved closer into view on the other side of the foggy window. A moment later there was a faint TA-CHUNK!

Julie opened the door, perhaps a little too soon, and Cassie fell out onto the snow packed up alongside and under the car. Julie helped her up onto shaking legs, catching her first sight of Cassie's elfin face since the accident. It was smeared with a small river of blood from nose to chin.

"Oh, you're bleeding." Julie reached into her bag for something to clean Cassie up with, but when she tried, the other girl shook her head frantically.

"It's broken."

"Well, here, clean yourself up the best you can and try and stop the bleeding," Julie said, handing the bag and its contents over to her friend. She gazed out past the car to see Dom standing a little ways off, snow to his knees and his back to them.

"Dom?" she called out, plodding through the snow towards Les' side, "Dom, we need help with Les." As an afterthought, she asked (knowing better), "Do have a signal?"

[AmongHeroes]

Mephisto was perched at the peak of the house’s roof line, peering down towards the roadway, and the ravine beyond. He was naked except for a pair of worn True Religion jeans that hung low at his waist. Mephisto only wore True Religion denim, as he found the irony quite amusing. Despite the temperature hanging in the low teens, his pale skin did not quake with shivering. In fact steam rolled and curled off of his cut physique like smoke from dying ashes.

Bringing a contemplative hand to his jaw, he studied the aftermath of the wreck he had just witnessed with a patient and studious eye. He could clearly see the four young humans fumbling about for a solution following their tragic turn of events. Mephisto smiled.

This must be what a spider feels like when a fly blunders into its web.

It had been years since he had played this kind of game, and he relished the moment. Being a creature of his nature entailed decades of tedious work, but occasionally even incubi needed a vacation. He sighed with still satisfaction; it was time to get ready for his guests.

[AmongHeroes]

Dom looked back towards the car after hearing Julie calling for help with Les. He began to trudge through the snow back towards the car. Julie was at the crumpled driver’s door, pulling unsuccessfully against the handle. He reached her and peered over her shoulder at the fogged and cracked window glass. “Did you check the door lock?”

Julie turned her head to affix Dom with a stare as icy as their surroundings.

Dom held up his hands in surrender, “Hey cool it Goldielocks, you f*cking asked me for my help remember?”

“The door’s just jammed Dom, we might have to break the glass.” Said Julie, her gaze softening somewhat.

“I got you.” Dom knelt beside the car and inspected the door and window. The metal was crumpled and wrinkled right next to the locking mechanism. “Ok I got an idea. Julie will you go find me a rock that I can hold in my hand, and that’s thinner on one side, kinda like a knife edge?”

Julie nodded and set out into the snow. Dom stood and peered around the car to look at Cassie. “Cass you good to help me out girl?”

Cassie was cleaning blood from her face, but the impish girl managed a nod and a muffled “Uh-huh.”

“Good. Ok Cass, I need you to take off your jacket, climb back inside of the car, and cover Les’ face up with it. Got what I’m saying?”

Cassie nodded again and began to remove her winter coat before she stooped to climb once more into the passenger compartment.

“Dammit would you guys hurry up already?” said Les, his voice hushed by the car.

Dom knelt again, “We’re going to get you out man, just hang on.” There was a tap on his shoulder, and he looked over to see Julie holding a rock near his face. The rock was exactly what he needed; flat and just larger than his hand, and one edge tapered to a relatively thin edge. He smiled up at Julie, “Thanks Goldielocks.”

Julie rolled her eyes, “Just get him out.”

Dom took the rock and tapped it against the driver window. “Do you have Les covered up Cass?”

“Yeah we’re ready.”

“Ok, here we go.” Dom squinted his eyes before striking a corner of the thin edge of the rock against the glass right next to where it met the metal frame of the door. The safety glass gave way, and Dom began to hack at the slice of the window, enlarging the space slowly until the whole of the window flopped out of the door opening. Dom tossed the rock aside, followed by the sheet of crumpled glass. He now had a clear view of Les, or at least the lump beneath Cassie’s jacket that was Les. Cassie was crouching on the dashboard, her eyes mashed closed while she held her coat over Les’ head with her tiny arms. She was shivering violently from a mix of adrenaline and the cold.

“Cass you can put your coat back on girl,” said Dom.

She didn’t reply; she just pulled the coat gently off of Les before climbing out of the passenger door. Les was staring out at Dom, pain creasing his face. “Now what Dom?”

“Right, well brother I’m going to get your seatbelt off, and then help push you out of the passenger door. Cool?”

Les smirked, “Like a damn cucumber.”

Dom wriggled his way through the window, placing his shoulder as best he could against Les’ body to take his weight. His torso awkwardly twisted, Dom grunted with the effort to support Les, and reach for the belt latch. His fingers found the button, and with a final thrust forward the belt released. Les drew in a hissing breath of pain as his weight shifted, his body now free from the support of the restraint.

“Can you get over the center console?” Dom said through clenched teeth.

Les shifted as best he could across Dom’s shoulders towards the cars center console. He managed to secure his right foot against the dashboard and lever himself so some of his weight was taken off of Dom. With another burst of effort Les swung his left leg below the steering wheel, bringing it around so it was paired with his right leg. The move sent electric shocks of pain up his thigh and hip up into his spine. Les almost lost his footing at the sudden agony, but he managed to thrust himself over the center console, landing on the dashboard with his good right leg. Julie and Cassie were waiting on the passenger side, and the two girls together helped Les the rest of the way out of the car.

Without his burden, Dom backed out of the window opening and collapsed onto the snow.

“F*ck Oregon.”

[dreamshell]

Les put a hand on the frame of the totaled car, leaning against it and keeping as much weight off his injured leg his possible. He was pretty banged up and his head still felt stuffy, but at least he was alive, right?

"Man, figures it's my legs that get fucked up," he said groggily and chuckled a bit to himself at the cosmic irony. All those surgeries and then this... Sometimes all you could do was laugh.

"I thought you were dead for a second there," Cassie told him, wrapping her arms around his torso.

He held her with his free hand. "Me? No way! But that was one hell of a buzzkill, right?"

Julie frowned and crossed her arms. "Please don't tell me you were actually drunk..."

"Just a joke," Les assured her, craning his neck to lay his forehead down against the cold, snow-slick roof of the car. It felt... pretty good, actually. "You know, those things where someone says something so someone else laughs?"

Julie let out a heavy sigh, closing her eyes and bringing a hand up to rub the bridge of her nose. "Well, I'm glad you're so cavalier despite your injuries, but unless we figure something out, we could... I don't know, get hypothermia or something. You know, that thing where someone freezes to death because someone else wrecked the car?"

"Jules, don't blame him!" Cassie interjected. "We don't know what happened. Do you, Les?"

"Not really. But hey, worst comes to worst, we'll just get back in the car for the night and we... well, I can't, but one or two of you can go get some help in the morning. Easy-peasy Japanese-y."

"We can't just hang around, we have to try and get help. If we can get recep-" Julie cut herself off, looking around for Dom, eventually catching a glimpse of him on the other side of the car, still recuperating in the snow. "Dom? Dom, did you get a signal? I saw you with your phone out earlier."

"Not a single goddamn, muthafuckin' bar," Dom swore, reluctantly rising back up onto his feet and joining the others. As he did, a strangely warm wind picked up suddenly from behind him and for a moment he thought he heard a voice.

north...

"What the hell?" Dom turned around. Nothing there. He looked forward again, catching a glint in the snow covering the wall of the ravine the car had fallen down into. Seeing it as if anew, he realized it was not so insurmountable after all and that the group could probably get back up onto the road. Beyond the ravine, he also saw the top of a mountain was in view and thought he could make out a small light through its dense wall of evergreens. It wasn't Mt. Hood, he knew; he'd seen enough of its white-capped apex on post cards and other tourist trap paraphernalia back in Eugene that he could picture it in his sleep. Still...

"Maybe if we got higher, I'd get something, I don't fuckin' dunno," he said, pointing north. "Maybe there's some houses nearby, too. We can probably get Les up there okay altogether."

---

Back in his lair, Mephisto was making preparations. He knew the four would need some help his way, so he had decided to nudge them along onto the right path, just a bit. Besides, he so enjoyed the theatricality his abilities afforded him here, the upsetting effect they had on human beings. He hoped things wouldn't be too easy, though. Perhaps a spider enjoyed finding the fly all helpless and vulnerable, he reflected, but then there were cats, who liked to play with their prey a little. And Mephisto was feeling quite playful.