Life Drinker

"I'm cold," Kim said.

"I'm hungry," Amy whined.

Butch said, "I've got some food." He took the flashlight from Jason and went over to a cooler he'd brought in.

He set it on the table and said, "Come have a seat everyone. Dinner is served." He placed paper wrapped parcels on the kitchen table.

He said, "I always get the munchies when I smoke so I went to Grandma's Salon & Grill before we left town. I got us all some Bicycle burgers."

"Great. I'm starving," Amy said.

The others were hungry too. They sat, unwrapped the food, and bit into the sandwiches. A Bicycle burger is a twin patty hamburger with grilled onions, sautéed mushrooms and three kinds of cheeses -- mozzarella, cheddar and American.

The burgers were delicious. They ate them and cold French fries and washed everything down with beer.

After they had finished eating, they all huddled together on the sofa. They'd gathered the blankets from the beds and covered themselves, They sat Jason, Kim, Amy and then Butch. At first, they were quiet and somber. The cold and the gravity of their situation sunk in.

Kim was cold, but also bored. To pass the time, she asked the others questions. She learned the others had gone to the same high school and that Jason and Butch had been friends since their Freshman year.

"Amy, how do you know them?"

"I was a year behind them," she said. She assumed Kim knew so she said casually, "Jason asked me out and we dated for about a year."

Kim's anger flared. She said, "Really?" She turned to Jason and stared daggers at him.

"Babe, that was years ago. Before we met. It's all water under the bridge."

A normal person would have let it go. We've all dated other people. What's past is past. However, Kim couldn't. She now saw this redhead as a threat to her happiness. She stood up taking a blanket with her.

"Come back, Kim," Jason said. "I'm with you, not her. We need to stay calm and ride out the storm. We should sit together and keep warm."

"I'm not sitting with her. I saw how she danced for you earlier tonight and how you ogled her tits and pussy. Now it all makes sense."

She marched out of the room into the good bedroom taking a blanket with her.

Jason shook his head and said, "This is crazy. Guys, sorry, but I can't let her be alone. She'll freeze."

The others nodded. Jason grabbed his blanket and went after her. They slept on a lumpy mattress while Amy and Butch slept uneasily on the sofa.

^^^

It snowed the next three days. They stayed in the cabin. They heard and saw no one. The snow piled up and was over three feet deep. They ran out of food the first day. After consuming the Bicycle burgers, they only had a bag of Cheetos to share.

The beer and booze lasted two days. Then, they had to melt snow to get water to drink. Their hungry stomachs growled all the time. They became irritable and weak. Kim continued to shun Amy.

^^^

Thursday, November 7, 1991

A week after the historic Halloween snowstorm, the cities and highways of Minnesota were back to normal. The more rural areas were still recovering.

On the seventh day of being trapped in the cabin, Butch and Jason went outside. Walking in the deep snow was difficult and tiring. They didn't get far and saw no signs of other people. Discouraged and cold, they returned to the cabin.

Their women warmed them up as best as they could. Everyone was famished, discouraged and extremely weak.

That night, Kim and Jason clung to each other in their cold bedroom. Kim whined, "I'm so cold and hungry. I'm not sure how much longer I can last."

Jason didn't answer her. He was delirious. He began babbling. He said, "I'm sorry about Amy. She was a fun girl. We dated and screwed each other's brains out in high school. We've only hooked up for sex a dozen or so times since we graduated.

"We did it once when you and I were dating, but it was before we moved into together."

Kim became enraged. She screamed, "What? You slept with the ginger whore while we dated!"

She was outraged and wanted to punish him. She got in his face and hissed, "I wish you were dead!"

She looked hard into his half-opened eyes. He was sorry and weary. She drew in a large breath, preparing to yell at him more. She felt funny. She could feel herself getting stronger. She continued to take the breath and felt powerful and healthier.

She looked down on Jason and noticed he was unconscious. His color was bad. He appeared to be losing strength and energy. He wilted before her eyes. She said, "Jason, are you okay?"

She shook him and shouted, "Jason! Jason!" She had been angry with him and had said hurtful things because she hurt, but she hadn't really wanted him dead. She was upset. She wished that he loved her better, more completely.

Butch heard her loud, panicked cry and entered the room. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"It's Jason. I think he's dead!"

Amy appeared at the door. She was a nurse's aide. She went to Jason and felt for a pulse. She found none. She looked to the others and said, "He's dead."

"No!" Kim shouted. She threw herself on Jason. She held him and cried.

Butch looked at Amy and asked quietly, "What should we do?"

"You take her to the other room."

"Come on, Kim," he said gently. He pried her off Jason's lifeless body. "Let's get warm by the fire."

Amy covered Jason's body with a blanket and followed the others. She closed the bedroom door.

The trio sat on the sofa. Kim was sandwiched between them under the blankets. Eventually, she went to sleep.

Butch returned to the bedroom. He collected his friend's body and took it into the other bedroom thinking the colder room was the best place to store it until he could be buried.

^^^

Friday, November 8, 1991

Kim woke with a start. She found herself between Amy and Butch. "Where's Jason?" she asked herself. Then she remembered and was sad.

Amy was awakened by Kim moving. She yawned and said, "Morning, Kim."

Kim stared at her. She was lost in her memory of her last moments with Jason. She replayed it in her mind. She felt her blood boil. She looked with contempt at Amy and screamed, "Whore!" Then, she jumped off the sofa.

The raucous woke Butch. He and Amy stared at Kim as she stomped about the room and said, "You whore! You slept with Jason while he was dating me."

"What of it?"

"Wait!" Butch said to his girlfriend. "You and Jason slept together recently? You told me you two were over." The pain he felt was evident on his face.

Amy didn't care what Kim thought, but she didn't want to hurt Butch. She cared about him. She said, "It meant nothing. We met for drinks and one thing led to another. It happened early on when we were dating before I had feelings for you."

Butch was distraught and needed to get away. He went outside.

The two women watched him go and then turned and faced each other. They both were angry with the other. The longer they stared at each other the madder they got. Kim was furious that Amy had slept with Jason and Amy was enraged that Kim had messed things up for her with Butch.

Suddenly, Amy rushed Kim and shout, "You bitch!" She caught her off guard and slapped her in the face. She continued slapping her with a windmill-like motion.

Kim brought both arms up and protected her head. She periodically blindly sent a round-house punched in Amy's direction.

Both women cursed the other and screamed when a blow was landed. The women moved closer and began to grab and wrestle. Amy's caught a handful of hair and pulled hard.

"Ow! Let go of my hair," Kim screamed. She grabbed a fistful of red hair and caused Amy to scream in pain.

"Ow! Ow!"

The women pummeled each other with one hand and jerk their opponent around by their hair. The cursing and screaming continued. One of Amy's eye started to swell. The result of a punch. Kim had a bloody lip and nose. They bounced around the room crashing into furniture and walls as they fought.

"Ahh," Amy cried out in pain.

Kim said, "Let go of me, you whore."

Amy tugged harder on her hair and sneered as she said, "Bitch, I'm going to cunt punt you so hard, my toenails will pop out of your mouth!"

Then she kicked her hard. Kim was able to protect her sex. She twisted her body and the kick landed on the shin. Then she moved into her so Amy couldn't kick her again. Amy wrapped both arms around her in a tight bear hug and squeezed. Kim had trouble breathing.

Kim retaliated by stomping on her foot. Amy released her and Kim bull rushed the woman knocking her down. The fell in a pile each punching, ripping, slapping and grabbing whatever they could reach. They ended up face to face.

"Bitch!" Amy shouted.

"Whore!" Kim answered.

Amy landed a hard punch on Kim's side that knocked the wind out of her.

"Oomph," Kim grunted. She drew in a deep breath and said, "You are so dead!"

Kim was feeling many things: pain, exhaustion, anger and something else. It was an odd sensation. It was the same feeling she experienced when Jason died.

As she inhaled, she looked into Amy's eyes. She felt revived. Stronger. Healthier. She saw Amy's expression change. The fury and hate she'd seen as they fought were gone. She saw fear. Then, fatigue and finally nothingness. The spark of life was gone. Amy stopped fighting. She became as limp as a rag doll.

Kim was surprised. She stood. She felt energetic. Recharged. She looked at Amy and knew she was dead. She asked, "Did I do that?"

She pondered the question and said, "I guess I did. Somehow I drained her. She's dead and I'm invigorated."

Butch* opened the door and came in. He was shaking. His teeth were chattering. He'd been outside thinking. He hadn't resolved anything. The cold chased him back into the cabin. He saw Amy on the floor and asked, "What happened?"

He rushed over and knelt beside her. "Amy. Amy!" He looked to Kim for answers.

"I don't know what happened," Kim said. "We got into a fight and she just slumped over. Maybe it has to do with the cold temperature and the lack of food." She shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know for sure what had happened and her theory was too crazy to mention to anyone.

"AMY!" Butch hugged her tight. He lifted her torso off the floor and sobbed while he petted the dead woman's red hair.

While Butch was grieving, Kim sat on the sofa and thought, "Is it possible for one person to drain the life force out of another? I don't understand what happened, but the facts are she's dead and I feel great. It can't be a coincidence that two people died after I got in their face and drew a deep breath."

She remembered the sensation of power and strength going into her body as she looked Amy in the eye and inhaled. "Could I have stolen her energy?"

She glanced over at Butch. He was sitting on the floor, still cradling Amy's corpus and sobbing. She thought, "There's one way to find out."

She went over to Butch and knelt beside him. She said, "Look at me." She grabbed his chin and turned his face toward her. "I can see you really loved her. Do you want me to take the pain away?"

He nodded. She leaned in until they were nose-to-nose. "Exhale," she said. She sucked in his breath. She again felt the weird sensation of gaining strength. She looked into his sad eyes. She saw confusion. Then, fear. Then, a blank lifeless stare.

^^^

Three weeks and a day after being trapped in the fishing cabin by the historic snowstorm, Kim hiked out. She hitched a ride home. Her parents were ecstatic when she showed up at their house.

After a joyous celebration, they called the police and let them know that their missing daughter had returned.

The authorities came to the house. A doctor examined her and pronounced that she was in excellent health. The police interviewed her. She told them how she and three friends became trapped by the snow.

She cried as she told them, "We had nothing to eat. We were cold. We all got weaker and weaker over the three-week ordeal. My friends faded away. They went to sleep and never woke up."

The police went to the cabin and discovered the bodies. There were no signs of foul play. The coroner reported that the bodies bore no signs of trauma. He declared that they had died of natural causes. They were considered to be unfortunate victims of the snow storm.

Only you and I and Kim know differently.

The End