Dead of Winter Read Free

embankment.
    Thankfully, there was no on-coming traffic.
    Inside the Rover, Harold tried to regain his composure. Hands were shaking. Skin clammy. He tried steadying his breathing. Had he made contact with the suicidal maniac? He dreaded the thought of leaving the vehicle to investigate; thought about speeding off as quickly as possible, knowing there would be no witnesses in sight.
    A movement in the rear-view mirror caught his eye. The figure was moving, seemingly unhurt.
    Opening the door, Harold leapt out into the thick snow, quickly going on the offensive.
    ‘What the hell are you playing at?’ he growled, walking clumsily towards the figure. ‘Trying to get us killed?’
    ‘I…I’m sorry. I didn’t see you coming up the road. The snow was blinding me.’
    ‘Well, that’s no damn excuse for…’ Harold’s voice trailed off. The figure was a woman. She wasn’t beautiful, but there was something striking about her. She looked terribly frightened. Tiny flakes of snow and ice encrusted her eyelashes. Her lips were slightly parted, dry and chapped from the bitter cold.
    ‘I’m sorry, my car broke down near the Serpentine Road,’ said the woman. ‘I tried calling emergency services, but no response. Someone down the road told me there’s a petrol station nearby. Iwas on my way to ask for help.’
    ‘Yes…there’s one a further mile or so up the road. You’d be mad to walk to it, though.’ Harold relaxed the tension in his face muscles, noticing for the first time the oddity of her eyes. One blue. One green. ‘You’re lucky you made it this far without getting hit by something. Come on. I’ll drop you off. I don’t live too far from the station.’
    Her eyes seemed to look beyond him. A blank stare was the only response, as if she hadn’t heard the offer. Another few seconds went by and she still hadn’t spoken.
    Harold shook his head, turning his attention back to the road. ‘Suit yourself, then. Walk. Don’t say you weren’t warned.’ He headed back towards the Rover and got in.
    Once seated, he looked in the rear-view. The woman remained standing at the side of the road, defiantly, snow filtering over her.
    He started the Rover and began exaggerating the accelerator with his right foot. The metal beast roared like a bull in heat. Harold’s eyes never once left the mirror.
    ‘No! Wait!’ she shouted, scuttling across the road, slip-sliding awkwardly on icy patches and snow.
    Harold smiled. Unlocked the passenger door. Waited.
    ‘Good to see common sense prevailing,’ he said. ‘Soon have you nice and warm.’
    Keeping her eyes on him, she slowly eased onto the leather passenger seat. The extreme shift in temperature seemed to catch her off-guard as she closed the door.
    ‘Thank you,’ she said, her voice barely a whisper.
    ‘Don’t mention it. That’s my good deed for the day. I always say, what goes around comes around. Harold’s the name, Miss…?’
    ‘Kerry…’ said the woman, hesitantly. ‘Kerry Morgan.’
    ‘In this weather we should make it to the petrol station in about twenty minutes. Put your seatbelt on, Kerry. We don’t want any more accidents.’ Harold’s voice sounded all fatherly.
    Kerry nervously fiddled with the seatbelt, missing the buckle twice before finally finding its niche.
    The belt’s strap pronounced her breasts and Harold felt the blood stir in his stomach. He became aware of her womanly smells mingling with the leather aroma from the Rover’s seats. A throbbing but pleasurable pain began worming its way into his crotch area, hardwiring pheromone to his brain. He wondered what she would look like naked in the bathtub in his cellar?
    ‘Are you from around here, Kerry?’
    ‘No. I…I live in Bangor. I was heading to Mallusk to visit my parents. It’s my mother’s birthday, tomorrow.’ A faint smile appeared on her face.
    To Harold, the smile looked forced. Nerves? Shyness? He couldn’t determine, only that the pain in his cock was