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Their eyes remained locked on us, and I had no clue what they were doing. The last animal documentary I’d watched had been on the great white shark. Maybe these deer smelled our fear. I hadn’t cut myself, so it couldn’t be blood. Except weren’t they herbivores?
“Sweetie, hold on.” I pushed my sis back into her seat.
“No,” she cried as she clung on to my arm.
Except when the bigger one with a gray streak across the center of his head stepped forward, I flinched in my seat. He huffed a loud exhale, and hot air streamed from his mouth. In a rush, I shoved the car into drive.
We lurched on the spot, back and forth. The churning sound of the wheels spinning on the spot thrummed through the car.
“Crap!”Please don’t get stuck. Not here.
Britta’s cries grew louder, her grip constricting on my arm.
The deer stared at us, the bigger one tilting its head to the side, and I couldn’t help but think it was such a human gesture. Or did it see us as helpless and was curious how to best attack?
Did these beasts even get vicious with people? Maybe out here in the freezing wilderness we were the enemy?
I slammed my foot onto the pedal, but we weren’t budging. My pulse raced because I was just digging us deeper. I threw the gear into reverse. A horrible metallic sound scraped against my ears as I reversed alongside the tree. We bounced about as the car bunny-hopped while I tapped the gas pedal until we were free of the pine. Shoving the gear back into drive, I spun the wheel away from the trunk and drove us back onto the road. With my gaze locked on the animals, I jammed my foot onto the pedal, and we gunned it past the deer. I pictured them attacking us and trembled.
When I glanced back in the rearview mirror, the trio trotted onto the road, staring our way. Perhaps they didn’t encounter many people in this part of the world. Since we’d entered the mountains, we hadn’t crossed paths with another car. And while I’d put it down to the town being isolated, now I worried I’d made a wrong move and we’d driven god-knew-where.
I grabbed my phone. Still no reception. Yep, we were in the middle of nowhere, and I prayed we’d find a town out here. Hell, what had I been thinking, bringing us out here with no contingency plan?
Reaching over, I held Britta’s hand. “See? Told ya we’d be fine.”
“I think those were real reindeer,” she whispered, twisting in her seat to face me as she wiped her tears with her stuffed toy. Her eyes widened as if she’d seen something, and a coldness struck me.
“What’s wrong?” I turned my head to look around the straight road ahead and in the mirrors. We weren’t being followed.
“I think they were Santa’s reindeer.”
Releasing a deep breath, I needed to get a grip. One encounter with the local fauna and I freaked out. We’d lived across the road from a meth lab and pimps. Now if any place was dangerous, that was it and we’d survived. So our new life would just take getting used to.
“I know you don’t believe me, and I said before I didn’t believe in Santa, but now…” Britta huffed, looking out the window, turning away from me. “They saved us from going over the cliff. Did you see that big one jumping onto our hood?”
I wasn’t sure I’d ever get that incident out of my mind, but I also didn’t want to scare my sister. Especially when the deer had stepped out in front of the car and were the reason we’d crashed in the first place. The look in their eyes wasn’t what I’d call friendly.
But instead, I said, “You might be right.”
