It felt like hours had gone by since they’d crashed, and Ruddy was freezing. He adjusted his pony blanket toga but only succeeded in almost exposing himself.

  “I’m going to freeze to death.” Ruddy’s words came out in a breath of frost. “I’m literally freezing my nuts off.”

  “Calm down,” Corey said.

  “Stop telling me to calm down! I’m calm … you realize we’re going to die, right?”

  He knew his temper wasn’t helping. Duh. But Corey and Xeke’s fake Zen bullshit was even worse. He’d been through hell—killing the general, Teri’s nightmare, the wreck, the arguments with Xeke … it was like getting punched in the head from every direction, with everyone expecting him to smile and take it in stride.

  “We have to stay positive,” Corey said. “Attitude is everything in a situation like this. Let’s make a list of all the assets we have.”

  “OK,” Ruddy said. “I’m positive. Let’s see. What do we have. One gun. A broken truck. A ton of snow. Oh, and three idiots and a sleeping girl.”

  “I’d hate to see you being negative,” Xeke said.

  “If that’s all we have to survive with, then we better start thinking,” Corey said. “If we can stay warm until the storm is over, we can fix the truck and get out of here. Ideas?”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Ruddy wanted to punch Corey in his smug face, but he didn’t want that to be the last act of his life. He glanced at Teri. She saved my life and now thanks to me she’s going to die on the side of a mountain.

  “If things get worse, we can dig a snow cave,” Xeke said. “We learned about it in Eagle Scouts. It’s a good way to keep warm.”

  Corey nodded. “That’s one option. But we need to think about all the ...”

  “I’m game,” Ruddy said. “It’s not going to help, but at least we’ll die doing something.” He grabbed the door handle.

  “Don’t open the door!” Corey said. “You’re going to let all the warm air out.”

  “Warm air? It’s freezing in here.”

  “Believe me, it’s a lot colder outside. If we need a snow cave, Xeke can dig one from here.”

  “Riiiiight,” Ruddy said. He dropped his hands in his lap. “I’ll just sit here then, and be useless. As usual.”

  Adrian Wiley, mayor of the independent village of Cloudcroft, breathed into his gloved hands and tried not to fog up his snow goggles. This was not the sort of storm to be out in—but the prize was worth it.

  George looked at him from atop a snowmobile. As usual, George was wearing his tattered red ski vest with “Instructor – Aspen/Snowmass” emblazoned on the front.

  “I pushed the truck halfway into that snowbank,” George said. “They aren’t going anywhere. Should we move in?”

  “Not yet,” Adrian said. “I don’t want them making a connection between us and their predicament. Besides, the colder they are, the more grateful they’ll be when we get there.” He turned to Richard. “What’s the mentalist doing?”

  “Nothing,” Richard said. “I think he’s asleep.”

  “And what’s the teke doing?” Adrian said.

  “Just sitting there. I don’t think he has much power. He hasn’t even tried to push them out of the snowbank.”

  Adrian nodded. “We’ll wait, then. Let me know if anything changes. I’m not concerned about the others, but we need that mentalist.”