Scars Of Defiance (16 page)

“Paul,” she whispered. Her teeth chattered uncontrollably.

He turned his head to her. They were both breathing with
difficulty and basically dying on the bank of Moose Creek. He pushed himself up
using sheer will to survive.

“Come on. Got-t-go.” He pulled her upright, and she threw
her arms around him.

“I knew you’d f-find me.”

He kissed her forehead and cheeks. “We need to get to the
c-cabin.”

“T-take your co-coat.”

“No. Keep h-it. Ge-hit on my b-back, I’ll care-he you.” She
did so, and he began moving forward. They weren’t going to die of hypothermia!
He’d get her to the cabin and they’d be okay. He just needed to keep moving. He
lumbered slowly upstream along the bank until he found a good place to climb up
the hill in the direction of the cabin. He couldn’t tell how far away from the
main highway they were, but he knew if he headed to the left, he’d find the
little road leading to the cabin.

He eventually found the road about a hundred yards north of
the highway turnoff. At least there weren’t any tracks, car or human, for that
distance. With Sierra on his back, he made a single set of footprints in the
snow, which he felt was a good thing in case anyone found them, although the
pace at which the snow fell would undoubtedly cover his single footprints in a
hurry. He picked up his pace as much as he could with frozen stiff jeans and
numb feet. Frostbite quickly became an issue in his mind.

A couple of times, he walked right off the road and stumbled
to the ground. The blinding snowstorm had him so disoriented that he started to
wonder if he had gotten turned around somewhere along the way. Sheer will
powered his legs and mind to continue forward. When he finally saw the outline
of the cabin in front of him, he nearly collapsed with joy.

Now came the hard part:  staying awake.

He needed to make a fire, warm some soup, and keep Sierra
alert all at the same time. He checked his watch and discovered that they had
been in the harsh elements for nearly an hour and a half. He knew his father
would die if he ever found out what the faulty escape car had put them through.

He leaned to the side to let Sierra down. Their clothing had
frozen together in places and made a cracking sound as it broke apart. She sat
down on the wood floor as he fumbled with his numb fingers to find the hidden
key in the rafters. He couldn’t tell if he was touching it or not. He swept his
hand along the beam to knock the key off and hoping at the same time, it
wouldn’t fall between the cracks of the porch.

Clink.

He had found it. He bent down to pick it up but couldn’t
seem to do so. His fingers wouldn’t squeeze hard enough to hold the key and it
kept falling. Sierra came to his rescue and picked it up for him. He inserted
the key in the lock and turned the stiff knob. Then he helped her inside.

The immediate warmth amazed Paul. Simply having the wind off
them made such a huge difference. Sierra sat on the couch, and he stood frozen
in his shoes.

“Don’t fall as-sleep. I’ll make f-fire.” He moved slowly and
deliberately toward the door. He did not want to go outside again, but what
choice did he really have? He pulled the door open.

“Wait!” She exclaimed through chattering teeth. He turned
around. “Stove or oven?”

He pointed to the kitchen area.

She stood and hobbled over to the electric oven and turned
on every burner and broiler and propped the oven door open. She looked to him
and smiled with her hands outstretched toward the heat already filling the
room.

“You’re a genius!” he said. He closed the door and grabbed
two chairs from the table and took them over by the stove.

She was already undoing her coat zipper and removing her
arms. Paul knew that for both their sakes, they needed to be out of those
clothes immediately. He turned away and walked to the bedroom to grab some
blankets. By the time he made it back to the kitchen, Sierra had managed to get
out of her two coats and pull the shoe and sock off of her good foot, and she
was finishing unwrapping the splint on her injured foot.

“I can’t – get my – snap un-done.” She smiled, pointing to
her waist. A severe shiver wracked through her body at the same time.

Paul reached with his numb fingers but couldn’t get enough
of a grip to pull the snap apart. He looked at her, admittedly shocked at his
own lack of strength.

She shrugged her shoulders and grabbed the hem of his stiff
shirt and pulled it up over his head. His arms followed naturally, and he was
rid of his shirt. His own uncontrollable tremors shot through his body, making
him move with jerked motions. He bent over and tugged at the frozen laces on
his shoes. It was no good, so he kicked his shoes off one foot at a time. He
slid his fingers into his socks to inch them off his numb feet. They were so
stiff they held their shape once on the floor.

Paul and Sierra both began laughing at the sight of the
socks. Laughter lightened the mood. He helped her remove her shirt, draping a
blanket across her front for modesty, and then he set back to work on the snap.
His fingers were regaining feeling a bit, but with that came incredible burning
and pain. Finally her snap released.

She stood on one leg, held on to her blanket with one hand
and placed the other on the countertop nearby to steady herself while he peeled
her jeans off of her. Frozen blue jeans were quite amazing. Sierra was sure the
pants would be able to stand by themselves once they were off her.

Paul worked her hurt leg out of her jeans while she balanced
on her good leg. His eyes zoomed in on the bruises down her upper leg. He had
seen them before, the first night when he’d removed her other frozen clothing,
but they didn’t look much different. He pulled the pants down to her knee on
her good leg and helped her sit back on the chair to remove them the rest of
the way.

“You’ll warm faster if you take off your underwear too,” he
said. “I’m not going to do that for you, sorry.” He smiled and turned around.

Her cheeks flushed with heat. She wiggled herself around
until she was able to get her panties off and unclasp her bra to remove it.
Then she thought back to the first morning when she awoke in his bed. She was
still wearing her bra and panties. He had undressed her, but he hadn’t taken
everything off.
Such a gentleman.
Now, she watched his back as he
removed his pants and underwear, completely baring his body. He reached forward
and grabbed the blanket and flung it around his back, covering his perfect
form. He turned around and saw her face.

“Watching me undress?”

“How could I n-not? It’s a girl’s duty to notice a man.”

Paul noticed her emphasis on the word “man,” and his heart
sped up a notch. Instead of sitting down beside her, he opened a cupboard and
pulled out a coffee pot. He took the bucket next to the stove and stepped
outside to fill it with snow for water. His feet were so numb he didn’t even
feel the cold of the snow. He brought the bucket back inside and began the
melting process. As the water melted, he poured it into the coffee pot until he
had enough to brew a batch. He scooped some granules from the can and set it on
the stove.

“We haven’t eaten anything today, and then we go and use all
our available energy to keep our bodies warm.”

He cuddled with Sierra while they waited for the coffee to
percolate. After about an hour of warm liquid in their tummies and breathing in
the steam, their shaking bodies were better under control.

“How did you end up in the creek?” Paul asked as he filled
her coffee mug again.

“A car stopped by the road. Someone got out, and it scared
me, so I ran and fell into the water.” She smiled at him. “And then you found
me.”

“I thought the car picked you up. It scared me. I thought
I’d lost you.”

Sierra leaned her head on his shoulder. The thought of
losing him scared her too.

“Now I know how you felt being in Slater Lake. I’ve never
been so cold in my entire life.” Paul turned his head to hers and kissed the
top of it. “I wonder what our temperatures are.”

“Very cold.”

“Yeah. I’ll hang up our clothes so they can dry and see if
there’s anything for us to wear in the mean time.”

Hours later, they lay down on the thick rug in front of the
fireplace with full tummies and warmed souls. Paul had pulled the sheets off of
a bed, and they were both wearing toga-style gowns. They hadn’t completely warmed
up yet, but the crackling fireplace and each other’s company were helping.

“Can we sleep right here tonight?” She asked.

“You bet.” He rolled over to her and snuggled up against her
back. Body heat was the most wonderful thing in the world. Or perhaps it was
only Sierra’s body heat.

“What’s going to happen to us, Paul?”

“What do you mean?”

“Will someone find us here? Or will we need to walk out to
the road?”

“There’s a phone. If I don’t hear from them, I’ll call after
a couple of days.”

“A couple of … days? Whatever will we do with our time here,
all alone, in this cabin?” she asked playfully.

Paul hugged her and tried to ignore the growing desire
inside him.

“Paul, tell me more about your family.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Your grandma is intriguing. What’s her history?” Sierra
turned on her side to see Paul’s face. She loved watching his expressions as he
spoke.

“Well, I grew up on my Grandma’s stories. She would tell
them to me at bedtime, but they never put me to sleep. They were always too
exciting. She was born in Slaterville, before this part of Rendier was annexed
to Baylend. She was one of the first women in her day to work with King Louis
and his security task force. Her position dealt with finding threats to the
throne. She viewed the army general as a threat, but King Louis wouldn’t hear
of it.”

“Let me guess. Alexandar Rawlings was the general?”

“You know that part. He had climbed the ranks of leadership
to where he advised King Louis on strategic plans. He convinced him that
selling the top portion of Rendier would be in the best interests of the
country. He persuaded the king to make that decision, and in doing so, King
Louis lost many devoted countrymen. Alexandar worked against the king further
and began to win the people over to his side. He executed a grass-roots
campaign and covertly turned the country against their ruler, so when King
Louis gave out the order to have Alexandar removed, the people rose up and
ousted King Louis from power, putting Alexandar in his place.

“Alexandar even held a popular vote to pacify the reluctant
citizens. That’s when his true dictatorship emerged. He padded the vote to his
favor and presented a humble façade to the people in his acceptance speech. He
tried to appear like a leader who wanted the best for the country, and he kept
that image for a little while.”

“If he had to pad the vote, it meant he wasn’t the popular
vote.”

“Right. The ones who didn’t want him to become the ruler
began fleeing the country. And that’s where my grandma comes in. Once the king
was removed from the palace, Alexandar filled all the political positions with
his own men. My grandma lost her job but felt glad to be alive. She was aware
that Alexandar suspected she didn’t like him and that he knew of her
capabilities. She believed he would be capable of murder if it would secure his
position, and she was right.

“Pretty soon, Alexandar closed the border, but that didn’t
stop people from fleeing. It just became more difficult. His true colors
started to show, and the people now wanted him removed from power, but it was
too late. It was like being lured into a spider’s web and thinking it’s safe,
then finding out you’re stuck and in danger. Alexandar began televising
executions of traitors and expatriates. He formed a team to root out rebel
groups and bring them to justice. That was probably the time frame during which
he began the Montgomery hunt you spoke of. My grandfather, Paul Bronson, whom I
was named after, was one of the victims of the dissident raids. He was
murdered.”

“I’m sorry, Paul. I didn’t know. I hadn’t even thought about
your grandfather.”

“You don’t need to be sorry Sara. He died before my parents
married. My grandma was the target, but he took the bullet. She immediately
took her situation to the capital of Baylend and was responsible for getting
the new laws put into place for Slaterville and Northtown. Up to that point,
this was kind of a neutral zone. People didn’t really belong to Baylend, but at
the same time they didn’t belong to Rendier either. She raised awareness of our
situation and how the government of Rendier was killing new Baylend citizens.

“Baylend still didn’t know exactly what to do, but they came
up with a basic set of laws that prevented the Rendierians from gaining control
in Baylend. Those laws should have been in place all along after the purchase.
Law enforcement increased, and arrests became top news for a while.

“Alexandar’s presence in Slaterville became less and less.
And at the same time, the crossing methods became more difficult — difficult meaning
dangerous and expensive. All half-way houses and anyone else dealing with
defectors had to look out for their own families. Their safety became top
priority. That’s when my father dug the tunnel. He had finished his degree in
civil engineering and was newly married to my mother. He designed the tunnel
and dug it by himself. My mother and grandmother hauled the dirt and rocks out
bucketful by bucketful for months. They hauled it in the back of their pickup
truck to the hills to dump. They didn’t want anyone to know what they were up
to. They didn’t house crossers during those months.

“My grandma was pleased with their new crosser room and
escape tunnel. She felt her family would be safe continuing their business. She
had no intention of ever quitting. Not even when Alexandar began assassinating
everyone who had the same tenacity as she did. Reginald took over control of
Rendier at age thirty-one when Alexandar died. Grandma didn’t know a whole lot
about Reginald, only that he was Alexandar’s son, so there was no reason to
believe he would be any different. She’s always believed that a man with
complete power will eventually misuse it.”