Christmas in the Woods

I also wondered if I was really being fair. Clint spent every free moment that he had with me. I have lots of activities to fill my time. I have a lot of friends and things that I do for fun. Outside of work, poor Clint has only two interests. I'm number one, and his Mustang is a close second. Clint loves that car. He never lets anyone touch it.

A tear rolled down my cheek in the darkness. He loves that stupid car so much. He worked hard to earn the money to buy it, but he didn't even think about buying it until he'd bought me the car I wanted. It had been his choice, and he chose to buy my car first. No matter what his job was that stupid man loved me.

Okay, maybe he liked his job a bit too much, but he loved me more than anything else in the world. Why hadn't I seen that? Was I really just a spoiled little girl like my parents often claimed? And I had been all too ready to turn the keys to Clint's prized Mustang over to Kyle.

That would have been a huge mistake. Clint can sense a piece of lint falling on that car from five miles away. I think he would have known the second he saw it that someone had been in that car. He probably knew the exact mileage on the car's odometer too. Letting Kyle drive that car would have ended my marriage. Is that what I wanted? I don't think even subconsciously that I wanted Clint out of my life.

I had started fucking Kyle to get revenge on Clint for choosing his job against me. It just seemed stupid and childish now. It seemed more like the action of a teenaged girl who was angry at her parents. She gets a tattoo because her parents hate tattoos. But the large ugly tattoo doesn't really hurt her parents. She's the one who has to go through life hiding it.

As I sat there in the darkened room crying silently, I once more wondered where Clint was and why he hadn't called me. This had never happened before, and I wondered again if he had somehow found out about Kyle.

I reached out in the darkened room and slapped the shit out of Kyle. He woke up sputtering and confused.

"Go sleep on the sofa," I said. "Your God Damned snoring is keeping me awake!"

"I don't snore!" he said.

"The fuck you don't!" I said. "It sounded like a construction zone in here."

"Well, sleeping makes me horny," he said. "I can't help it."

I decided right then that Kyle had to go. I may as well make our last night together memorable.

"Well Kyle, I can help you with that," I cooed.

* * * * * *

Clint

I woke to a nightmare. At first, I was confused. I had no idea where I was or how I got there. It was very cold, and it seemed to be snowing. Something underneath me was very warm and very soft.

I tried to straighten up but there was something on top of me preventing me from doing so. It seemed to be very heavy, and it made noise as I moved it. I think I could lift it, but it seemed smarter to move out from under it. I tried to wriggle free and realized that the warm soft thing under me was a person.

Suddenly, I remembered everything. The jet had gone down. I remained calm. I was still alive and still able to make conscious thoughts. I tried to remember in detail everything that had happened and found that I could. That was a good sign. It meant that there was probably no brain damage and no concussion.

I tentatively moved and flexed both arms, starting at the shoulders and then moving down to the elbows, wrists and finally the hands and fingers. Except for a few cuts and scrapes, I felt no pain in my arms and had full function.

Then I did the same with my legs and feet. Everything seemed to be intact. I did a more thorough inventory and found that my biggest complaint was that I had an awful ache in my upper back. I could still move the muscles there, and as I said before I still had full function of all of my limbs. It had to be a big cut or a bruise from whatever had fallen on me.

I remembered throwing myself over Delilah as the plane went down. The bulky structure of the overhead luggage compartment had fallen on top of me. I wriggled free of it and turned to Delilah.

I shook her awake. "Delilah, are you Okay?" I asked.

"Think, so," she said, groggily. "M' cold and my leg hurts really bad."

"I'm so sorry, Honey," I said. "I'll get you out of there as soon as I make sure we're safe."

I stood up and looked around. It was dark and my eyes slowly adjusted to the absence of light. Several small fires helped with that. I noticed that the plane had broken into multiple sections either on impact or during the violent gyrations that followed.

I remembered moving both Delilah and myself several rows forward of where we were sitting. I was glad now that I had. I had read somewhere about the safest places to be during a plane crash. I had moved us to one of those places. It had paid off. The section of the plane that we were in was pretty much intact. However, everything ahead of us had pretty much been accordioned by the impact.

In cars, they call it a crumple zone. It's a section of the front of a car that is designed to fold in order to absorb the impact of a crash and protect the passengers. The plane wasn't designed that way, but the front section of the plane and everyone in it had died to protect us from the crash.

Nothing moved in that section of unbelievable destruction. All I saw was twisted and torn metal. I could barely make out a few dismembered body parts among the carnage. And then I saw ... Her.

It was the stewardess who had told Delilah, and I that we'd be landing in about an hour. Her body was severely twisted and crushed. Her face was split open and through all of that horror, one eye made contact with mine. Her mouth moved as if she was trying to say something ... And then the gleam left that eye. It stared without focus, into oblivion. Her pain was obviously over.

The shell of the plane had split open to the elements, and snow was falling thickly inside of the plane. I smelled something else. It was acrid and familiar. It smelled like gas. Shit, it was probably jet fuel. With the fires that were burning it was very likely just a matter of time before the pieces of the plane started to burn up or explode.

I looked back at Delilah. "Dee, we have to get out of here," I said.

"I like it better when you called me, Honey," she said.

I grabbed her arm and tried to pull her out from under the luggage compartment and heard her scream.

"Clint, stop," she yelled. "My leg is caught."

I dropped to my knees and started at the top of her left leg. I felt my way down from her thigh to her left foot. It was free all the way.

"That isn't the leg that hurts, but you can do that again any time you like," she said. "I have all kinds of body parts you can feel on."

"Sorry," I said. "I was only trying to find out what's going on. And to be truthful you didn't tell me which leg it was, so I started with the closest one."

Despite her pain, she just smiled at me. I started on the other leg and found out that her lower leg from the knee to the ankle was pinned between the seat we were in and the seat ahead of us. There was no way to free it without moving that seat or cutting her leg off.

At the same time, the smell of the volatile jet fuel was getting stronger and stronger. It was only a matter of time before the section we were in went up.

"Fuck!" I yelled.

"I think you should get my leg free first," she smirked. "That way, we'd enjoy it more."

"Ha ha," I laughed. "What a sense of humor."

"Who's joking?" she said.

I looked around us to see if there was anything I could use. There had to be a tool kit around here somewhere, for emergencies.

I found nothing. And then I noticed one of the shattered seats. The frame of it was made from fairly sturdy steel tubes. I kicked one of them loose and went back to Delilah. I forced the end of it between the seats and applied pressure, forcing the two seats apart.

It was working and just in time too. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the side opposite us was beginning to smolder, and small flames were licking at the wall coverings.

"We have to get out of here," I said. I put more muscle into forcing the seats apart and suddenly. The pole in my hand bent under the strain and the two sections fell back. Delilah's sudden intake of air let me know that it hurt.

I ran back to the shattered seat. This time I grabbed two of the poles.

"Delilah, this is it," I said. "I know your leg hurts. We don't know if it's sprained or even broken. But you have to move it no matter how much it hurts. This plane is going to be in flames in minutes and we either get you out of there, or we burn up with it. So as soon as I get this thing to budge you have to get your leg out of there."

"If I can't get it out, you can still get out of here," she said, sadly.

"Not an option," I said. "I promised you that I wouldn't let anything happen to you. And I meant it. Now get ready to move that leg."

This time I jammed both poles into the gap. I threw my weight into it, and the gap between the seats gaped open. With a huge scream, Delilah pulled her leg out just as one of the poles snapped and the other bent.

"Come on Dee. We have to go!" I yelled as the flames drew closer to us.

She could barely put any weight on the leg. So I got down in front of her and piggybacked her towards the open end of the plane. The section of the plane was sitting ten feet at least above the ground, and the gaping hole that we were going to use as an exit had no smooth surfaces, only jagged sheets of metal.

I grabbed a section of carpeting and pulled it to the hole. "Sit on that," I yelled. "I'm going to jump. Then you slide out, and I'll catch you to help you land. Try not to let the bad foot touch the ground."

I didn't give her a chance to reply. I dropped into the darkness. There were small fires all over the ground too. We were in an area of deep woods, and I could see large chunks of the plane scattered all over the area.

As soon as I landed, I reached up for her. She slid to the edge and then dropped into my arms. The strain was pretty bad. She was not a tiny girl. I grabbed her around the waist and got a face full of big soft titties for my trouble.

"Clint, if you wanted to lick my boobs, all you had to do was ask," she smirked.

"Does that go for me too," asked a voice from behind us.

"God must look out for assholes," whispered Delilah.

Just as I put Delilah on her feet ... Well the good one anyway. The section of the plane we had just been on erupted in flames.

I grabbed Delilah and practically dragged her to one side of the plane until we were a safe distance away.

"What's wrong with her," asked the loud-mouthed guy.

"It's her leg," I said. "She can't walk on it."

"Damn, that sucks," he said. "It's a shame to lose titties like those."

"You can't lose something that you never HAD; and were NEVER going to have," spat Delilah.

He just shrugged his shoulders and turned away from us. "We'll make do," he said. He walked over to another section of the plane where one of his minions, and a couple of other people waited. There were two other men standing and one woman, another of the stewardesses was tending to another man who seemed to be injured.

I noticed that they'd had time to ransack their section of the plane. The only thing I didn't see was the tail section of the plane. I figured that when the plane hit the ground and split, it landed nose first and the rear of the plane was catapulted farther away.

I noticed that there were several bodies lying on the ground and that the small group of survivors had stripped them and were wearing their clothing for extra layers of protection from the elements.

One of the men went back inside the section of the plane they'd come from. He called from the doorway of the plane and one of the other men followed him inside. He had obviously found something else they could use.

"Clint!" I heard the sound of Delilah calling me. I turned and noticed the loudmouthed guy was near her again.

I headed back for them. They seemed to be having a heated conversation.

"Hey buddy," said the man, with a big grin. "Did you get a chance to talk to my people? Are you thinking about going with us?"

"Stop lying you asshole," snapped Delilah. "He wants you to go with them, because you're strong and can probably make it. He thinks I should stay here with that crippled guy on the ground since neither of us can walk as far as he thinks it's going to be. He also wants me to have sex with him before you go."

"I was just being logical," said loudmouth. "Those of us, who are fit, should walk that way," the direction the plane was going in.

"And just leave them here?" I said.

"Face it buddy, this is Canada. Anyone who stays here will freeze to death long before anyone comes to rescue us. We were on a small private plane. The pilot was the owner of the company. One of the stewardesses was his wife. Everyone who worked for the company was on the plane. No one is looking for us.

"We're also stuck in the wilderness. There's no cell service here. We can't call anyone to come and get us. As you heard on the plane, there's a major winter storm headed this way. The plane was flying at about three hundred miles per hour so it stayed ahead of the storm. Any minute now the snow is going to get heavier. If we don't start moving, we're all going to die.

The people that can't keep up will only slow us all down. It's nature; survival of the fittest and all of that."

"What does that have to do with you wanting to screw me," asked Delilah.

"I just thought that ..." he sputtered. "Shit, look at her. Do you even know who she is?"

"We'll be fine by ourselves," I said.

"Suit yourself," he said, just as an explosion rocked the section of the plane that his friends had gone inside of only moments later. We all turned as we heard screams coming from inside of it. The screams abruptly died out.

"Can we have some of those clothes you stole from the other passengers?" I asked. "Delilah is cold."

He just laughed at me. "You guys are going to freeze to death," he said. "Why should I waste clothes that survivors could use? Besides, she ought to be used to walking around without any clothes."

"Fuck you," spat Delilah.

"Any time, any place," he smiled back.

The woman and the other surviving man came over to him. "It's starting to snow," said the woman.

"And Josh finally died," said the man. "We need to get out of here, boss."

"See ya," he said. And the three of them started walking away without turning back.

"You probably should have gone with them," said Delilah. "You could keep up with them easily."

"Why?" I said. "We were almost three hundred miles from our destination when the plane went down. They aren't going to walk three hundred miles. I noticed that we were passing over a group of small cottages when the plane started to drop. They can't be more than a few miles behind us."

"Come on, we have to hurry. While I was talking to that idiot, I noticed that the tail section is over that way," I said.

"Why do we need to go there?" she asked.

"That's where they keep all of the supplies on the plane," I said.

I turned my back and knelt in front of her again. I got up and piggy backed her further into the woods. It was farther than I thought, and the snow was beginning to pile up.

Once we got there, I climbed into the tail section. Everything was all jumbled together. I kicked the inside door open because the handle had been broken during the crash. I found several shelves full of blankets. I grabbed a few and ran them outside to Delilah. That way, she could cover up while I continued to search.

Next I found the supplies and took one of the blankets and loaded it full of first aid supplies and the frozen meals that they served on the plane. I loaded as many of those as I could carry, along with a lot of soft drinks and water bottles. I also grabbed some of those tiny bottles of liquor. I got a couple of emergency kits that had flashlights and a few tools in them too.

I pulled the corners together and tied the blanket into a pack that I could carry and left the damaged section of the plane. I took all of that back to Delilah.

I found a damaged section of the plane's sheet metal and was able to bend it until one end of it formed a near 90 degree angle. I looped my belt through a rivet hole in the other end. I ran it through twice to make it stronger. Then I looped one of the blankets through the belt.

I spread a couple of the blankets over the makeshift sledge. I then had Delilah lie down on it. I wrapped her up in the rest of the blankets and put the wrapped up supplies on it with her.

"Try to get some sleep," I told her. "Are you warmer?" she just nodded.

I dragged her in the sledge back to where the rest of the plane was. Then I started walking in the direction the plane had come from. Delilah talked to me as I walked. The effort had kept me warm during the first part, but my hands were cold. I stuck them in the pockets of my jacket and kept walking.

After an hour or so of walking, I was beginning to tire. Delilah had gone to sleep a short while before. She'd been exhausted by all that we had experienced. The last thing she told me before she drifted off was to thank me for everything I'd done for her.

I felt like taking a break. It was odd. I usually went out for runs every day. I could normally run for five or six miles without much effort. However, dragging the sledge seemed to have sapped my strength before we had even gone two miles.

I knew that if I sat down and took a break for even a few moments, I would never get up again. If I died there in the snow, no one would ever know what had happened to me. What would happen to Delilah? What would happen to Katie and my family back home?

The worries about my family kept my legs moving long after I was ready to give up. I finally saw them; a group of small cabins about a half-mile from where I was walking. They were off to my left, and it made me think that I had veered towards the right as I walked. If I had walked in a straight line, I would probably have already reached them. If I had veered much further right, I'd almost certainly have never seen them.

In the distance, I heard some sort of animal screeching. I headed towards the cabins. When I finally reached them, there was a fence surrounding the complex. There were two gates. A larger one for automobiles to go through was padlocked. However, the smaller one that was only large enough for foot traffic could be opened by just flipping the latch. I dragged the sledge through the gate and over to the first cabin I came to.

The place appeared to be some sort of hunting lodge that had gone out of business.

The cabin I picked wasn't the largest, but it seemed to be the most complete. The front door was locked. I went back to the biggest of the buildings. It seemed to be some sort of office. I kicked the door in; the rotting wood made it easy. Behind the desk, as I had hoped there was a peg board with the keys to all of the cabins. I grabbed the keys to cabin 6 and went back.

I opened the door and dragged Delilah inside. The cabin had a fireplace, but there was no wood. I ran to the other cabins and found only a few small pieces. But behind the main cabin, I found a large wood pile. The wood on top of the pile was already wet.

I grabbed as much wood as I could carry and took it back to cabin six. I piled the wood in the fireplace and unpacked the blanket that I had loaded our supplies in. In one of the emergency kits, I found several packs of matches. I found some old newspapers in the cabin and mixed them in layers with the wood. I lit the paper and soon had a good fire going. I dragged Delilah over closer to the fire. There was a sofa there. I dragged it closer to the fire. I put one of the blankets on the sofa and put Delilah on the sofa.