I didn’t need to ask what that meant. Pipes would freeze. Food might spoil, but with the freezing temps creeping inside that part was doubtful. At least the stuff in the fridge might stay good. The only heat would come from the fireplace.
Kyler grabbed my arm and helped me out, like he expected me to fall again and break my neck. At that point, anything was possible. What little heat that had been running upstairs had completely vanished that quickly. Goosebumps spread over me as we entered the bedroom.
He ran his hand through his hair. “I’ve got to go outside and check it out. Stay in here, okay?”
“Wait.” I started to follow him around the bed. “Is that smart? What if someone really did shoot out that window, Kyler? I don’t want you going outside.”
“I’ll be okay.” He headed for the door.
“Kyler—”
“Someone has to check it out, Syd. I’ll be okay. Just wait for me downstairs where it’s…sort of warm.” He paused, and his expression lost most of the hard edge. “Seriously. I’ll be fine.”
I didn’t like this at all, but he was out the door. If someone was going all hillbilly psycho outside, I didn’t want him out there.
Aaand I was freezing my unmentionables off.
Quickly changing into the sweats and the sweater, I hurried downstairs and pulled on my snow boots. If Kyler was out there with potential bad stuff going down, I could be out there too, at least keeping an eye out for him while he put some gas in the generator.
I grabbed my jacket off the back of the kitchen chair. Zipping it up, I opened the front door and took a face full of blowing snow. “Holy snow balls in hell!”
Kyler’s footsteps had barely made a dent in the drift of snow covering the steps leading off the porch. Unwilling to fall again, I held onto the banister as I carefully shuffled through the packed snow. Not once did my boots sink through and hit the wooden steps. Jesus. This was some heavy snow.
In the fading light and through the whirling snow, I could see the downed pine tree to my left and the snapped electric lines whipping in the wind. There was a slight path in the snow, where it had to have been disrupted by Kyler.
I followed it around the house, wading more than walking. My hands were shoved deep in my pockets, but I already felt the cold biting into them. I couldn’t feel my nose or my cheeks as I rounded the side of the house.
He was crouched beside a pile of snow, a shovel clenched tightly in his hands as he stared at the backup generator.
“Kyler?” The wind carried my voice to him.
His head snapped in my direction and he rose quickly. “Syd? What in the hell are you doing out here? I told you—”
“I know.” I waddled closer to him, teeth chattering. “But you shouldn’t be out here by yourself.” I pulled out my hand, tugging my wet and now icy hair back from my face. “I can keep watch.”
“Jesus, you’re going to catch pneumonia!” Red splotches colored his cheeks.
“That’s n-not true. You can’t get a cold from a w-wet head.” Sniffling, I turned my attention to the generator, my eyes narrowing against the stinging wind. “Is it o-out of gas?”
He stared at me a moment, expression stormy as he turned back to the generator. “No. There’s gas in it, but someone cut the fucking lines going into the house.”
My mind rebelled against what he had said, but I saw a long disruption in the snow, leading away from the generator to the surrounding woods—a trail that looked to have been made by skis. “No. No w-way.”
Kyler moved through the drifting snow with more ease than me and reached behind the generator, pulling out sliced wires. “Completely cut.”
I stared at those wires, heart sinking. Fear slushed its way through my system. “This isn’t g-good.”
“No.” He dropped the wires and turned to me. “We need to get back inside. Now.”
I wasn’t going to argue with that or when he dropped his arm around my bent shoulders, tucking me close as he herded me back inside. I had no idea how he wasn’t cold or how his fingers weren’t numb. Maybe it had to do with the time spent skiing and snowboarding.
Maybe I was just a wussy when it came to the cold.
Kyler quickly unzipped my jacket and slid it off my shoulders. “You really shouldn’t have come outside, Syd. I told you I’d be okay.”
“But someone cut the wires. They could’ve still been outside.” Shivering, I let him pull me into the living room. “You could’ve been attacked or…or been covered in snow.”
He tugged me down to the thick carpet in front of the fireplace. I cringed back from the warmth; it was almost too much against my ice-cube skin. “I can handle myself,” he said, crouching down beside me. “It’s you out there that worries me.”
“It shouldn’t.” I fixed my gaze on the bright orange and red flames.
“Why wouldn’t it?” He ran a hand through my wet hair, brushing off the snowflakes. My eyes closed when he made another sweep and I wanted to push into the touch, like a cat seeking more petting. “When I heard you say my name outside, my freaking heart practically stopped.”
“Dramatic,” I murmured. His hands lingered in my hair, and in those moments I forgot about the mess that had become us.
“It’s true. The idea of you being out there with some fucking asshole running around scares the shit out of me.”
“Do you think we’re safe here?”
He didn’t answer immediately. “It’s going to get cold. We’re going to have sleep down here, but there’s enough wood in the back of the garage to last us. I know that’s not what you meant, but I don’t think anyone can get it in, and besides, if they do, they aren’t getting out.” I opened my eyes. Kyler nodded toward the wall near the fireplace. Several rifles were on display. “They actually work?”
He nodded as he rose and unhooked one of the rifles. He propped it against the wall. “It’s also loaded. No safety. So don’t play with it.”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” I said, my gaze moving to where the curtains parted above the window. Night would be here soon, a very cold night, but he was right. That wasn’t my big concern.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said, his fingers moving over my cheek. “I promise that.”
My chest swelled. “I know, it’s just the idea of someone doing these things on purpose is really…”
“Scary?” he said, dropping his hand. “I know how to use a rifle. Like I said, if someone walks in here, they won’t be walking back out.”
I shuddered at that, but I was also relieved to know we weren’t completely unprotected.
“It’s probably just some jerk messing with us. Nothing to really worry about,” he stood again, running his palm along his jaw. “I should probably try to get this room sealed off before we lose what little light we have.”
Pushing to my feet, I ignored his frown. “I’m going to help.”
“Syd—”
“Don’t argue with me. I can help. What do we need to do? Gather some blankets? Make a bed fort?”
He cracked a grin. “Come on then.”
We used a sheet from upstairs to tack against the door leading to the sunroom, since some cold air was getting around the blue tarp. Then we gathered up all the blankets and, along with a set of sleeping bags and a king-sized mattress dragged down from upstairs, we created one hell of a bed near the fireplace.
A makeshift bed that we’d have to share—a makeshift bed with a shotgun tucked nearby.
Yikes.