The wind outside howled with renewed force, sweeping the snow-cleared paths. Forester Denis, who lived alone in a wooden hut with a real Russian stove, was preparing dinner. Life had led the young man to the forest after the death of both parents. While he was in the army, a fire broke out at night in his parents’ home. Everything burned to the ground.
One day, while on patrol, Denis noticed human tracks of medium size in the snow. They could belong to either a teenager or a woman. He looked around—there was no one. No noise, and the tracks were fresh. Otherwise, they would have been covered by snow long ago. The nearest village was several kilometers away. Locals don’t venture out in such weather. They know it’s easy to get lost and freeze. Even the bravest warm their noses by the stove, and encountering strangers is very rare.
Creeping under the fir branches, he noticed a woman’s figure in soaked jeans and a dark-green jacket nearby. As soon as she saw him, her eyes widened in horror and her legs carried her forward, jumping over snow mounds and sinking deeper into the snow.
“No! Help! Stop chasing me!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “Help, someone! Leave me alone! I won’t tell anyone anything. I’ll keep quiet.”
She ran, glancing back to keep track of her pursuer. Low branches, covered with frost, whipped her face, but it didn’t stop the fugitive.
“Stop, stop. I’m a forester. I won’t harm you, believe me!” he shouted, keeping up. “I’ll help. Stop. I’m a forester!”
The girl ran until she twisted her ankle and fell into the snow, tumbling down a slope. And she stopped only when, with a muffled exhale, she crashed into a sturdy spruce trunk. Denis hurried to her, sliding sideways on both legs and skillfully balancing. He rushed to the stranger and turned her onto her back. He checked her pulse—she was breathing.
“Miss, wake up.”
He gently tapped her cheeks. She grimaced, shook her head, opened her eyes. She immediately screamed and tried to crawl away. But the young man didn’t allow it.
“It’s all good! I’m a forester. Whoever was chasing you, I won’t let them hurt you. Believe me. Without me, you can’t get out of the forest. You’ll wander until you freeze.”
The girl examined him with frightened eyes, pondering whether to trust the stranger. Resigned to her capture, she nodded in agreement.
“I’m very cold,” she admitted. “I can’t feel my hands.”
When they safely reached the hut, the girl named Diana was given necessary assistance. Fed and warmed, she sat by the stove, wrapped in a blanket, clutching a mug of aromatic tea in her hands.
“So who were you running from, won’t you tell?”
The young man took a stool and sat down next to her.
“My father, well, actually my stepfather… he set up a real hunt for me. Mom… She left us a year ago. We struggled with the loss. Dad and I were always close, but how wrong I was. I felt unwell this morning. I decided not to go to university, at least not for the first two classes. I didn’t get out of bed.
Nikolai, my father, didn’t know I stayed home and was loudly talking on the phone. He was yelling at someone. I got scared. Dad never raised his voice in my presence, so I was frightened. I thought something had happened, so I slipped out from under the blanket and approached the door. He was threatening someone. He said he wouldn’t leave a living place on them if everything fell through. That the pills must be delivered on time and in full batch.
I held back to hear everything, but I didn’t gauge my strength and pushed the door. It creaked. Father heard. Our eyes met in the mirror. Then he threw down the phone and came towards me. I was scared. I didn’t understand what I heard, but I knew how dangerous it was, and that I was in danger now. He asked what I heard and why I was standing there like a thief.
I didn’t understand why he was so angry since he was yelling across the apartment. Then his eyes went wild, as if I instantly became an enemy. And then it hit me—the pills might not be entirely legal. I recoiled from him in horror, screaming how he could, were they always making money this way?! I remembered Mom. She couldn’t have known what he was doing. She simply wouldn’t have let him continue. She would have found a way out.
Dad followed my gaze when I figured I should push him away, grab the phone, and run out the door. Then he told me to shut up and not tell anyone what I heard. He reproached me with that money. Said he provided for us. And after that, I found out he wasn’t my father but my stepfather. That silencing me wouldn’t be hard for him. He threatened that his assistant would take care of it.
I assured him I would keep quiet. That I wouldn’t tell anyone anything. And when he believed me, I pushed him in the chest as I planned and ran out. He started yelling after me and calling someone. When I ran out of the yard, a car chased after me. I’ve been running through those alleys since childhood, and I knew the narrow spots where a car couldn’t pass. They fell behind. I had some cash in my pocket, and I ran to the station, got on the first train, and got off in the wilderness.
As for the phone… I realized too late that they could track me by it, and I threw it away when I got off the train. When you found me running through the forest, I didn’t know what to do next. I have no relatives, no home, no money. Is everything really so terrible? I can’t believe…
Diana started crying again, quickly and shamefully wiping away her tears. The young man could protect her, physically confront the pursuers, but the crying girl caused him to freeze. He didn’t know if he could touch her, if it was appropriate when they’d known each other for only two hours. Eventually, he gently tilted her head onto his shoulder and embraced her.
Soon, the guest’s shoulders stopped shaking, and her breathing evened out. Denis realized she had fallen asleep. Carefully lifting her under the knees, he carried the guest to the bed and covered her with a blanket.
At night, the girl woke up from a troubled dream. The unfamiliar environment and smells scared her even more. The whistling of the wind came from outside. She froze and started looking around.
When her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Diana got up to walk around the room, to look around, but, noticing movement on the floor, she screamed, jumped back, and hit her head on the wall. Denis quickly got up and clicked the light switch. Everything became clear in the light of the nightlight.
“Hey, calm down. Diana, I’m a forester. You’re in my house, remember? Calm down.” The young man approached and looked into the eyes of the huddled girl.
“I dreamed they caught me. And I was so scared.”
Now she cried loudly, unrestrained. Her heart still pounded wildly, as if during the chase.
“You’re safe now. You need to rest.”
Diana agreed to lie down in bed and quickly fell asleep, holding the forester’s hand. The young man sat for a while and, making sure everything was alright, also fell asleep.
Early in the morning, a loud demanding knock on the wooden door startled them both. They knew who had come. Denis gestured for Diana to stay silent, and he quickly started dressing.
“Come on, darling, come out,” they yelled outside the door. “And everyone will stay whole. Well, quickly!”
Judging by the voices, several men had gathered around the hut. Diana realized that Denis alone couldn’t handle them all. And would he risk himself for a stranger? So, she had run her course. It was scary to think what would happen next…
“Follow me!” Denis took the girl by the hand and led her to the back door.
There, behind the hut, in a small annex serving both as a shed and a garage, stood a powerful snowmobile. The girl’s eyes welled up at the thought that this was their key to escape. They would never be chased down on a regular car along the snowy forest road. Denis opened the gate, helped her onto the snowmobile, and hit the gas.
When the pursuers came out at the noise, the forester left them far behind. They shouted threats, but the evil words were drowned in the howling wind.
“Are you alright?” he shouted, looking back. “We’re going to the police now. The nearest station is in the village. Hold on tight, the wind is strong,” he commanded. “Everything will be alright.”
Arriving at the station, they reported everything to the duty officer. They were taken to an office and questioned separately. Diana’s identity and words were confirmed. Nikolai was not her blood relative and turned out to be a major fraudster and smuggler, who had long been sought by the police for illegally importing large quantities of prohibited drugs into the country. He had remained elusive for a long time because he left no witnesses.
It’s amazing how Diana’s family had remained in the dark about Nikolai’s true identity for so many years. The girl had horrible thoughts. What if her mother’s death wasn’t accidental? Now it didn’t seem to her like a mere accident on the road. Could he really have done that to his wife and then raise and spoil his daughter? Without a conscience…
Diana felt sick from the realization that all this time she had been using her stepfather’s dirty money, not knowing how much harm they could cause and how many they had destroyed.
Within a few days, the police managed to uncover and catch all the members of Nikolai’s gang. The first ones were those who had chased her and demanded she surrender at the cabin in the forest. Managing to untie their tongues with direct evidence against them and offering deals beneficial to both sides, the officers traced the rest of the smuggling network. Nikolai was taken among the last, along with his associates, who had long cleaned up after his failed deals.
Diana couldn’t believe it was all over. The one who could harm her wouldn’t reach her anymore. She didn’t want to return to her stepfather’s apartment, where she had spent all her childhood and youth. She was more comfortable in the small cozy forester’s house.
Apparently, she needed a secluded life, away from people and the amenities of civilization. Denis agreed. Dangerous adventures brought the young people closer together, sharpened their feelings. It was noticeable that they liked each other. After completing all legal procedures, Diana managed to sell her stepfather’s huge apartment and got half the money from that amount. Over time, the couple found a comfortable apartment for both of them in the suburbs.
Recovering from the ordeal, the girl returned to her studies. Denis had dreamed of being a rescuer since childhood, and after his parents’ death, he seriously considered it. It required special education, but the young man was fearless and joined the city’s volunteer ranks, assisting citizens in various situations wherever he could.
From the new year, he enrolled as a rescuer and worked. He and Diana perfectly complemented each other, and a couple of years later they got married, creating a new family. When the girl finished her studies, she delighted her husband with the news that she was expecting their first child.
The boy grew up noisy and quick-witted. And he told everyone about his brave hero dad, who enters burning houses and saves people from death.