Snow Falls: What If the End Was Only Th Beginning

By K. A. O'Connor

What if the end was only the beginning?

To work down at the snow is a real thrill for many and an exciting experience to make new friends and adapt to new situations. So what if it goes horribly wrong and changes your life forever? Would you go back? This is what our seven young peopleSean, Craig, Mitch, Emma, Charlie, Norie, and Tomhave to endure when four of them end up in a massive car crash with a box of toxic fumes that changes even the bystanders DNA and outlook on life.

Moving on to new adventures from Africa to the Caribbean, curiosity brings them back all together for a life-threatening chase and a kidnapping that is reviewed by friendships and love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Oct 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9781493109289

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Copyright © 2013 by K. A. O’Connor.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 09/28/2013

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

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www.Xlibris.com.au

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Contents

Summertime

Swiss Alps

Norie—Africa

Season Two

Charlie’s Date

Where’s Charlie?

Two Down

Prisoners

Test Bunnies

Wolves and Whistles

To all the amazing people that I have met, this is dedicated to you, and especially to the crew that had an idea and an inspiration, it was so much fun writing this with you guys.

Each one person lives a life, and if people only listen, everybody has a special story to be told and every one person has a lesson to be taught or learnt from.

Our story begins in the mountainous regions of Snowspring City. In summer, it was a tropical paradise of fish-filled streams for the keen fisherman, luxurious greenery for the pro golfer, and the amazing walks for the exceptional hiker. But in the winter, its diverse energy automatically changed to a luminous white, with a major change in tourists from the beginner snowboarder to the pro skier. This is where our disaster started for our seven spirited people.

Our first two victims were Mitch and Craig, the two maddest boarders, heli riders, rock climbers, BMX riders, etc. (Basically anything with a rush or anything they can get into trouble for.) Charlie, a new traveller among them, spent his teenage life chasing the snow and women. Now in his mid-twenties, he still haven’t changed. He was one of the guys you either love or hate. Emma grew up as the only girl in a family of three brothers, a tomboy who was always out to prove she could do better than any guy and who also hardly ever backed down even if she knows she’s right. Sean, a real sweetheart, was a total ladies’ man, polite, down to earth, loved the snow, and always put others before himself, and unlike his best mate Tom, he strived for the sun and surf. Norie was a nurse always trying to make a difference in the world, a love for skiing, doing ski patrol in winter, and working in places in Africa, Asia, and the Philippines for nursing and helping communities teach health and hygiene for the future generations.

It was nearly the end of the snow season, but a blizzard of a night made it dangerous. Two environmental scientists had accidently mixed a dangerous substance of poisonous gas molecules to attempt to structure immune systems and bone structure. This sort of experiment had been banned by eleven countries for the destruction of life and an attempt that made people suicidal and mental deficient. Dennis tried to recreate this event the last seven years with the courage to change it and had known he made it right. The offset of the cold air that lay around them wisped softly into a purple smoke that caused it hard to breathe. After several failures, Dennis had now done it. He coughed in amazement as it started to choke on it. His assistant Malcolm opened a window.

‘Professor, we’ve got to get this to town or this will cause an avalanche or contaminate the entire mountain.’

‘Yes.’ He carefully wrapped the three bottles in four thick towels and a blanket for extra security. Stoked, Dennis couldn’t contain himself. ‘I did it, and I actually did it.’ He did a little dance out the door.

‘Sir, sir, why didn’t we bring up the contamination unit up here?’ Malcolm shook his head, urging Dennis out the door. The blankets started to steam.

‘We have to move.’ Dennis reached over and touched his prize. Urgency hit his voice. ‘Quick, shit, let’s move, move, move.’

They ran out the door and jumped in the car. ‘This could cause a lot of damage.’ Shakily they started to drive. ‘If it killed four plant species without the plutonium and citrus nitrate, imagine what this stuff could do.’ They got halfway down the mountain and one of the lids jarred open a little. Instantly the gas hurricane was in the car. ‘Faster, Mal,’ Dennis demanded as the blizzard started to turn to rain. They got behind Norie and Emma doing the speed limit. ‘Get round them, Mal. We must…’ He coughed and noticed a little blood on his hand. ‘OH NO.’ Malcolm looked over and put his foot down.

‘Leave me alone!’ Norie screamed at Emma as tears rolled down her face. She just found her boyfriend was cheating on her. ‘Three years!’ she screamed. ‘We’ve been dating for three years, I’ve been for him all my life, we grew up together. I came back from Asia to see him graduate from the police force. That ticket cost over $1,600. He was there for me when my parents died. I don’t understand why he would do this to me now, also he kicked my last boyfriend’s ass for cheating on me. WHY? WHY? WHY?’

‘Norie, come on, calm down.’ She turned on the motor. Emma forced herself in the car. ‘You’ve been drinking, you’re upset, and there is a blizzard on top of the mountain, not a good combination,’ Norie snapped. ‘How do you know you’ve been dancing on the bar for the last half hour, and you’ve been drinking since one, I only had two in the last three hours.’

‘Norie, okay yeah, Mitch texted me and warned me not to drive. If you wait forty minutes, I can get him to pick us up.’

Too late they already pulled out and hit the road. Silence had come over them for about twenty minutes. Norie yawned as they passed the Halfway Hotel sign.

Emma turned to Norie. ‘Are you all right? The hotel is only eight kilometres away.’

A bright light came behind them up really fast. ‘Oh geez, I can’t see,’ Norie gasped.

Emma looked back. ‘Tailgate much?’

‘The lights are too bright, I can’t see.’ She put the indicator on. ‘I’m pulling over.’

‘Go round,’ Dennis demanded. ‘They’re pulling over, we’re on a bend.’

Malcolm coughed, a spur-of-the-moment decision, Dennis panicked, coughing up phlegm, and his skin was turning pale, his muscles felt also really tight. It was too late. Malcolm put his foot down and overtook the girls.

‘They’re overtaking us.’ Emma screamed, ‘Holy F%@K!’ as they came face-to-face with Tom and Sean also passing on that same bend.

It felt like slow motion. The scientists smashed front ends with Tom’s car, sending them both spinning into Norie’s car, and all three leaded down the cliff into a gully. Norie’s car rolled three times, landing upside down, the pressure of the van landed on top of Norie’s car and rebounded against the rock face, landing on the side, and Sean’s car landed on an angle in between the boot of Malcolm’s van and the gully. Catching a glimpse was Charlie who pulled his troopy over and waved down the first passing car who happened to be Mitch and Craig.

‘You got car trouble?’ Mitch looked confused as he got out.

‘No.’ Charlie shakily pointed, three cars just crashed down there, and got on the phone. ‘I got Emergency on the phone, but I reckon we need to get down there.’

Craig and Mitch grabbed jackets. ‘Mitch, we got that harness rock climbing?’ He shook his head. ‘Damn.’ Craig clicked his fingers. Charlie, still on the phone, threw a rope to them from the back of the troopy.

‘All right, sweet.’ They tied it to the back of the troopy. Slowly they abseiled down, the three reached the bottom with pins and needles in their arms, fingers, and neck.

‘I feel woozy all of a sudden.’ Craig coughed. Pulling his hand away from his mouth, he felt a little blood. They reached Sean’s car first. ‘You all right, mate?’ Craig yelled as Sean slowly opened his eyes, coughing. Vapour was slowly filling the gully.

‘Yeah.’ Sean’s voice was hoarse. Charlie and Craig pulled him out. They got to Tom’s side. Mitch had to jump in to pull him out, smashing the window open. Tom yelled in pain as both his legs and ribcage was crushed. A greenish thunder rumbled above them.

‘Weird,’ Charlie whispered.

The noise shook the ground, and Emma, hanging upside down, started screaming, ‘Help me. Hello, get me outta here, hello’, mumbling in tears. ‘Help me.’ Norie was unconscious beside her.

Mitch recognised the voice at once and stared at Craig. ‘That’s Emma!’ They carefully put Tom down and Mitch bolted to the car. ‘Emma!’ he yelled. ‘That’s Norie’s car.’

Emma coughed. ‘Mitch’, she whispered, unable to speak clearly, ‘get me outta here! Please get me out.’

Charlie checked the van. He bent down and looked in. ‘You all right?’ Craig yelled to Charlie. He leant against the van, lost, feeling faint, his legs not holding up. ‘They are dead.’

Sean wobbled towards Charlie. ‘Are you sure?’

Charlie nodded, hyperventilating. ‘As a mate, don’t look under there.’

Mitch yelled, ‘Charlie, get over here, we need to get the girls out.’

Charlie ran to Mitch’s aid. Sean looked under the car and threw up.

‘Norie’s in here,’ Mitch explained.

Craig yelled, ‘Where’s Norie?’

Emma was now crying. ‘She’s dead. I think she’s dead, I don’t know, she’s not moving.’

Mitch held her hand. The car was severely crushed. Charlie looked around. ‘We have to tip the car up or at least on the side.’ Craig agreed.

Mitch got back on his stomach. ‘Babe, we are going to push the car up.’

‘Mitch, no, my legs are crushed and I can hardly breathe.’ Her tears went dripping into her mouth.

‘One, two, three…’ They pushed together, and Emma let out a huge gasped. It was enough to let everyone know how much pain she was in. Mitch gently ripped off her seatbelt and lifted Emma out, carrying her to the safety of where Tom lay.

‘Smells like gas,’ Charlie murmured. Craig ran to Norie’s side and pulled the door open. He shook her lightly, repeating her name several times. ‘Just get her out,’ Craig cried. ‘I think it’s going to blow.’

Charlie gasped, jumping in as he undid her seatbelt. Quickly they got her out and joined the others. Ash and smoke filled the air, followed by a massive bang, shaking the valley, causing rocks to fall and trees to crash. Norie’s car was now on fire. All they could do was just stare. The noise stirred her. She looked into Craigs’ eyes, gasping for air.

Emma crawled over to her and hugged her. ‘I thought you were dead.’

‘Knife,’ she gasped.

‘What?’ Norie reached into Craig’s back pocket, pulling out a pocketknife, ripping open her