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“They’re okay. They’re just quiet. How are you doing?”

“My head hurts.”

“I’m going to move you to another car with the heat on.”

“What about the car seats?”

“I’ll just put you and the girls in the back seat to warm you up. Then I’ll come back and get them.” Monica moved to the driver’s side. “I’m going to help you to the car and then come and get the girls.”

“Can you take our blankets too?”

“Definitely. Do you have a first aid kit?” Monica did worry about Harvey being handcuffed in the rear of the Yukon, though he was secured to a bar in the back. She didn’t want himswearing at the mother and her daughters, but she had to get them into a vehicle that was operable.

“The…the first aid kit is in the trunk.”

“Can we use it?”

“Of course.”

Andy joined Monica down the embankment. “I’ve got the mother.” He helped the mother out of the car. Monica got the five-year-old out of her car seat and then carried her through the snow to the door where the three-year-old was sitting in her car seat.

Once Andy got the mother into the back seat of the Yukon, he came back to carry the older girl to the car. Monica carried the younger girl through the snowdrifts.

“What the hell,” Harvey said as Monica set the youngest girl in the back seat with her sister and mother. “I told you that you have to take me to the hospital now! And I don’t want anyone else in the car. Not you even.”

“Watch your language, or we’ll move you to another car and leave you in the cold.” Monica didn’t want to have to, but she would if he continued to give them trouble.

“You can’t do that. You already shot me,” Harvey said.

“Is he a criminal?” The mom sounded worried.

“Yeah, because he pulled a shotgun on me and shot at me. I didn’t have any choice but to shoot him.” Monica didn’t blame her for feeling unsettled. She made sure the kids and mom were okay. “I’ll return with your blankets.”

She grabbed the kids’ stuffed unicorns, purple fairy blankets, and the mom’s big red blanket.

When Monica returned to the Yukon, she handed the blankets and stuffed animals to the mom and kids. They cuddled together on one side of the back seat, the youngest on her lap, while Monica went to help Andy look for more accident victims.

Another car in the ditch had sunk into the snow, so she would need Andy’s help getting the driver out of his white sedan.

Then the two other men joined her. One was carrying a foldable shovel, and he began trying to dig out around the car door so they could reach the driver.

Monica used her uninjured hand to dig away the snow while the other man helped her. On the road, Andy helped a white-haired woman to the Yukon. The woman looked slightly wobbly and shaken, but she didn’t appear to be injured.

“What about Tom?” the older woman asked.

“I’ll assist him after I get you to the car.” Then Andy helped her into the car and returned to the one on the road that was banged up, with one headlight dangling and the fender torn partly loose but looking drivable. He brought her husband out of the car, and Tom walked on his own to the Yukon, but didn’t get in. He just watched what was going on.

Monica and the two men aiding her finally pulled the older, gray-haired gentleman out of his smashed-up car down the embankment.

“Thanks…thanks. I thought I would freeze to death in there.” The man pulled a big, black, faux fur hat on.

“I’m glad we came along when we did. Let’s get him up to the road and to the Yukon. We’ve got one more vehicle on the road. Has anyone checked on them?” Monica asked.

“It’s a young woman, and she’s belligerent. Every time the trooper tried to get her to open her car door, she screamed obscenities at him,” the one man told her.

“Okay, can you take this gentleman to the Yukon, and then I’ll help Andy deal with the woman?” They needed to move the drunken woman’s car, which was not as badly damaged as some of the others—a crunched right rear fender and scrapes along one side of the car where someone’s car had slid alongside it.Maybe they could get the older couple's and the woman’s car and safely transport everyone out of there.

“Yeah, sure,” the one man said.