Merriton

“Dangerous,” Kevin thought to himself. Today he was working the north side of Mount Zen and the snow was powdery and ready to slip down the side of the mountain. Last week’s Rutschblock test didn’t look good, so Roscoe wanted another test done. He had even offered to come with Kevin, but with only two of them, it was hard to keep up with the mountain.

It was one of those shiny days with enough sun from the sky and bouncing off the snow to blind him. Even his dark skiing goggles couldn’t block out this kind of glare. He had forgotten to put on sunscreen. Yet another sunburn on his cheeks and forehead to contend with. His skin was becoming leathery and rough in the dry winter cold. He slipped along the backside of the mountain.

Last year at this time, he was investigating Mount Zen illicitly, now, he was an official park ranger, but he felt more scared now than he did back then. He had no idea how scary the back woods could be until Roscoe showed him while training last year.

The quiet blanket of snow dampened everything and even the chirping birds sounded like they were whispering. He took in the serenity of it all and breathed in the scent of the pine trees all around him. He could smell the snow funk on his ranger’s uniform and decided that tonight he was going to wash the coat and ski pants. He thought about the washing machine and the smell of the laundry detergent in his own house and he felt warmer than he should on a mountain full of snow.

The beauty and silence was shattered with a scream.

Kevin’s focused snapped back to the mountain. He suddenly became an animal on the hunt. The beast within him raced toward the screaming with the sole thought of shutting it the fuck up. Screaming like that could cause a snow slide… or worse. Jesus! Up North’s Southern Industrial Complex would be buried in snow. As he raced toward the voice, all he could think about was silencing it.

It was that stupid kid from Emigration. Not the one that called him a Chink, but the other one that kept coming up on the mountain. The one that Roscoe had taken to his uncaring parents. The one that Roscoe had told that he would shoot if he ever saw him skiing on the mountain again. Kevin had no time to think and the words just flowed out of his mouth. “Lower your voice. We are in an avalanche zone.” The kid screamed even louder at him, “I broke my leg! Oh God!” He kept screaming uselessly and it was all Kevin could do to not smother the kid into silence.

“I said shut the fuck up.” Kevin growled in a voice that came from his bowels. Tears were streaming down the teenager’s face, but he stifled his screams. Kevin quickly removed his skis, but the rumbling had already started. “Hear that? That’s a snow slide. We gotta get outta here.” In one graceful movement, Kevin hoisted the kid on his back. He sunk deeply into the snow and his cross-country skis were woefully unequipped to handle the extra weight, but Kevin had no thoughts. Everything that he was doing was from his muscles and his belly. He didn’t think, he just did. The ancient drives from deep in his body rushed out and there was only one directive.

Get the hell out of there.