Page 2 of Winter’s Teeth

The closer I got, the clearer it became my mind wasn’t playing tricks. It really was a person. White and blue all over, sporting bruises on his arms and the side of his corpse-like face. There was every chance he was already dead, and I was wading out just to confirm it.

“I’m gonna need so much therapy after this,” I said through chattering teeth and a clenched jaw.

The water came up to my chin when I finally reached the rocks. My muscles were fraying ropes, and my skin was glass. Everything beneath the water level was numb and tensed tight enough to snap like brittle ice.

Out of the corner of my eye, small bergs raced down the creek, headed straight for me, and big enough to push me under if I wasn’t quick. There wasn’t time to check for a pulse, so I grabbed the closest arm and hoped it felt like ice only because I was losing feeling in my hands. Not because it was a dead body.

He groaned, startling me, but it turned to hisses of pain when I tugged him straight into the water, struggling to keep his head above the five-foot level. He gasped and sputtered, but I was too busy trying to out-swim the ice chunks less than twenty feet away.

“Hold on, hold on, hold on.” I panted, pushing with all my might on the creek bed to get us back to shore.

A smash sounded right beside us as the first edge of the ice hit the rocks. Had I been a second slower, ice would’ve shoved us both under like a car wreck in the water.

The adrenaline rush keeping me going didn’t stop after the ice barely clipped the young man's feet dragging behind me. It didn’t stop when I got to the shore either. I grabbed him under his shoulders, hauling with all my might to get him across the pebbly shore and up the bank, which was tricky when my frozen body didn’t readily respond to the signals my brain gave it.

Digging my bare heels into the mud and roots, I used whatever purchase I could get, pulling and pulling and pulling.

If I didn’t strain at least a dozen abdominal muscles, it would be a miracle. Ax throwing and the occasional jog wasn’t exactly the best preparation for hauling a six-foot-something man up a steep bank.

When I got him to my car, I flung open the door to the backseat and gave one last mighty pull and push, getting him half in with his wet legs hanging out.

I tried not to think about it as I started ripping his waterlogged boots off. Then his pants. Leaving his briefs on, I dug a spare quilt out of the trunk, throwing it over him before sliding my hands under it to fish off the rest of his soaking clothes. It had to be done. As did my own undressing...

On the side of the car, shielded from the road, I yanked off my sweater and sweatpants, leaving only my damp bra and underwear before diving into the backseat with the complete stranger I had taken upon myself to try to save today.

I leaned over the front console and cranked the heat to the highest setting, then I turned back around and crawled under the quilt, wrapping my slightly warmer arms around his torso. A biting breeze chilled me more than the water had, and I jerked forward to yank his legs into the car so I could slam the door shut.

He groaned again, and I laid back down a heartbeat later to run my hands up and down his back.

“You’re alright,” I soothed. “I’ll call for help in a second. Just hold on. Don’t go toward the light or anything. Not if you want to live.”

He grunted in response. Another good sign. It meant he heard me. Even if he was annoyed, that was better than being dead.

I reached one arm out of the blanket, twisting my shoulder socket painfully to reach my phone in the front cupholder. Once I had it, about to dial 911, I turned back toward the young man’s frigid body. At that exact moment, his eyes snapped open, and I yelped, dropping my phone somewhere under the seat.

Star-blue irises glowed in front of me, but there wasn’t a shred of white anywhere else. Where the whites of his eyes should’ve been was only ink as black as his pupils.

Like a demon.

He blinked, and the white returned as the glowing blue faded to something darker and deeper hued.

“I-I...” I stammered. What could I say? Your eyes are really freaky was a waste of breath. “I’ll call for help now.” I turned my back to him to hunt for my phone on the floor.

My hands shook as violently as an earthquake, and I was sure I was going to throw up any second, but I managed to dial the right numbers on the fifth try.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

Tears of arrant relief gushed out of me. I’d never been so glad to hear a calm stranger’s voice.

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

“Y-yes,” I said on a rushed exhale. My teeth started chattering anew, my body shivering all over from the cold, but I would live. We both would.

After I told the operator the gist of what happened and where we were, I turned around to check on the young man. “You better survive,” I breathed. “I did not dive into a frozen creek for nothing. So just hold on, okay? Help is coming.”

He started to push himself up, and I slapped an open palm on his chest to keep him down.

“Whoa there. Stay down. You almost died.”