TEASER

Nick’s fist slammed down on the dash of his Durango, angry blue eyes glancing away from the road to glare at his heater console. He scowled and smacked it again, “C’mon, ya damn piece o’ junk! Work!”

In response, the heater kicked in with a strong whir, sputtered, and then faded to a pathetic whisper. Nick scowled, raising his left leg to hold the steering wheel in place as he rubbed his chilled hands together, blue eyes back on the winding country highway as he then clasped his hands together and pressed them against his lips. He blew a burst of warm air into them, then again rubbed them briskly together in an effort to keep the circulation going to his fingers. He returned them to the steering wheel and relaxed his leg, cursing under his breath at his heater and being rewarded with a faint white cloud as his warm breath crystalized in the cool air.

“Of all the days,” he berated his Durango, his voice low, “Ya just had to conk out on me now. Ya couldn’t a waited another week. Noooo...”

Nick sulked in his cold Durango, not caring what he looked like or that he was talking to a car. Nobody could see him. Although, he probably would still do it if someone was there. Call it one of his quirks. After all, it wasn’t his fault that he had one of the most faulty ‘99 Dodge Durangos in the country. Hell, he hardly ever drove it, but yet it broke down more than his mom’s ‘93 Mercury Cougar had in its last eight years. Was it him or what? The dumb thing was just two years old and half of that duration was spent in the shop.

Nick shook his head, releasing a long breath. He drove the sporty SUV through the curves of the shadowed forest highway. It was just his luck that it was one of those danged record breaking days in Minnesota, in which the record broken was an all time low temperature for the middle of Spring.

“Figures,” Nick muttered to himself, eyes on the weathered black top road. The surface was splotched in lighter grays where the pavement had worn away, the highway in some need of repair as the Durango’s tires found another pot hole.

“Aa-ow...” whined Nick, grimacing. He massaged his chin with his hand, feeling the beginnings of a small bruise. He sighed. Well, that would teach him for resting it on the steering wheel while driving.

Nick’s eyebrows twitched slightly in annoyance as he looked out at the road, his fingers moving to turn a dial. He absently noted the swipe of his windshield wipers as they wiped the fine mist from his windshield, which quickly clouded again with the hazy moisture. Nick could tell it was going to rain soon, the sun blocked by thick, dark clouds. The mist was just the beginning. He even had to turn his headlights on, so if he met another car, they’d know he was there. Though, that was a slim possibility. It was a sparsely used road. That was one of the reason’s Kevin had chosen the cabin he did. It was real private. That was also why the highway was in such poor condition.

Nick chuckled slightly, wondering if AJ had complained to Kevin on the ride up. He hated bad roads. He liked a nice, smooth ride when he was a passenger because he tended to get slightly car sick when not the one driving. AJ, having a lead foot, tended to be a passenger quite a lot when it came to road trips. It was just that when AJ wanted to go, he’d really go. Cars he drove had to have atleast six cylinders. Evidently, four cylinder engines took too long to get going. Nick tended to agree with AJ on that point.

Rain started to fall, the mist transforming into a heavy drizzle. Nick sped up his windshield wipers a notch, the highway now glazed with a sheen of rain. Nick glanced at his wristwatch. He was glad he had gotten away a day earlier then he’d planned. He’d be at the cabin by tonight instead of the next morning. It was gonna be a great week. Just him and the guys, fishing, swimming and just plain relaxing by the lake. The thought made him smile.

The smile vanished from his face as he rounded the next bend in the road, his headlights illuminating the lone deer standing in his Durango’s path. Nick panicked, slamming on the brakes while wrenching his steering wheel to the right. As the deer broke from its mesmerized gaze of the Durango’s headlights and began to scramble away, Nick lost control on the rain slicked road. His right side tires hit the clay like mud, now more like grease in the new moisture, and slid. The forward momentum of the heavy vehicle forced the Durango completely of the road and Nick frantically turned down the ditch, avoiding a possible roll over.

His hands grasped the wheel in a white knuckled grip, his wide blue eyes unable to turn away from what flashed before him as he slid head first down what turned out to be a tree laden hill, not a ditch. Nick had both feet planted on the brake pedal, pressing down so hard that he thought for sure they’d break through the floor. Then the blood drained from his face as his headlights showed a large oak straight ahead. In a last, desperate attempt to avoid the inevitable, Nick jerked the steering wheel to the left as hard as he could.

Nick felt the back end pitch around and almost turn the front end of the out of control Durango completely away from the head-on collision when he hit the thick oak tree. He felt the force of the sickening stop, heard the painful screech of bending metal and the loud bang of steel meeting solid wood, and then he saw a brilliant flash of white across his vision. Blinding pain soon followed the light, and then Nick didn’t feel or see anything but blackness...