Freezing Out the Scumbag: Left to Starve in the Tunnel

Tags: Trapped on the road, survival rations stolen, playing favorites with the first love, forced choice On the drive home for Christmas, a massive landslide blocked the highway tunnel. Several of our cars traveling together were trapped inside. To suck up to his first love, my husband actually gave away the very last self-heating meal kit in my car to her. "Mia has a delicate constitution; she can't go hungry. Search and rescue will be here soon anyway." I clutched the food to my chest with all my might, screaming in utter disbelief, "Are you out of your mind?! Me and our child will starve to death!" My husband merely sneered with callous indifference. "You two are thick-skinned and tough. What's wrong with skipping one meal? Stop being so damn selfish." His first love, Mia, leaned into his chest, playing the delicate victim. "It's fine, darling. If she doesn't want to share, forget it..." My husband couldn't stand seeing Mia look pitiful. Not only did he hand the meal kit to her, but he also snatched away the only carton of milk my daughter was holding. That carton of milk was Nia's very last ration. When Brandon reached out his hand, he didn't hesitate for a single second. He violently yanked the milk carton right out of Nia's tight little grip. His force was so brutal that it not only ripped off the straw, but bruised the child's wrist. "Wah—!" Terrified, Nia burst into tears, her tiny face flushing bright red in an instant. Brandon's brows knitted tightly into a scowl, and he raised his hand, aiming to slap the child across the face. "Shut the hell up! You little jinx! Don't you know you're disturbing Mia's rest?!" I lunged forward to shield my daughter, pulling her tightly against my chest. "Brandon, are you even human?! That's Nia's dinner!" Brandon scoffed coldly, handing the milk to Mia in the passenger seat. "What's the big deal if a kid skips one meal? Mia thought that meal kit was too spicy just now; this is perfect to wash it down." Mia took the milk without sparing a single glance at the weeping toddler. Biting on the straw, she leaned coquettishly against Brandon's shoulder. "You're the sweetest, Brandon. Really though, your wife is so petty, making a fuss over a simple carton of milk." She shot me a provocative glare, a smug smirk curling at the corners of her lips. That was my daughter's lifeline! A rush of pure fury surged straight to my brain. I threw myself forward, trying to grab the milk back. "Give it back! That's for my daughter!" Brandon hadn't expected me to fight back. He raised his boot and kicked me hard in the stomach. "Crazy bitch, I gave you face and you spit on it, huh?!" The impact sent me sprawling onto the cold pavement. Just as I tried to scramble back to my feet to retaliate, the door of the car behind us swung open. My mother-in-law, Martha, and my sister-in-law, Chloe, stormed over with menacing scowls. For a second, I thought they were coming to break up the fight. After all, Nia was their own flesh and blood. Martha walked over, not even bothering to glance at me lying on the ground. She marched straight up to Mia's car window, her face breaking into a fawning, servile smile. "Mia, sweetheart, don't be scared. If that crazy woman dares lay a finger on you, I'll put her in her place myself." Mia called her "Auntie" in a sweet voice and gently adjusted the scarf around Martha's neck. It was an "imported luxury designer" scarf she had gifted to Martha. Martha stroked that scarf with reverence, unable to keep her hands off it. Then she spun around and spat on the ground right in front of me. "Chloe, look at this uncultured trash! Starting a brawl with Mia over a damn carton of milk?!" "Nia's just a worthless girl—what does she need milk for? She can survive on tap water!" Chloe crossed her arms, sneering. "Exactly. You're so utterly clueless, sister-in-law." "Mia's body is precious. If she starves and gets sick, could you ever afford to compensate her?" "If you offend Mia, your death wouldn't even cover the debt—don't drag our family down with you." Lying on the freezing ground, I stared at these so-called family members. The chill piercing my heart was colder than the draft sweeping through the tunnel. Right then, the tunnel's emergency broadcast crackled to life with a loud squawk. "Attention all motorists: The landslide ahead is severe. Rescue operations are expected to be extremely difficult and will take at least three days to clear a path..." "Please conserve your supplies and shelter in place..." Three days. The entire tunnel instantly erupted into chaos. Panic spread like wildfire. The moment Chloe heard it would take three days, sheer dread washed over her. She immediately scurried over to Mia to suck up to her. "Mia, that six-figure corporate job you promised to set up for me... you'll still make it happen once we get out, right?" Mia daintily dabbed the milk from the corner of her mouth with a tissue. "Of course, as long as you take good care of me." I looked down at my shivering, terrified daughter in my arms. Nia's tiny hands clung desperately to the hem of my coat. "Mommy, I'm scared..." To survive, I forced down the murderous rage burning inside me and didn't charge back in. I lifted my daughter into my arms and quietly retreated to my own car.Minutes ticked by, turning into hours. Inside the dark, sunless tunnel, day and night bled into one. We had brought three cars for this trip back home. Brandon had rented an SUV to drive Mia around. Martha and Chloe took the family's old sedan. Meanwhile, Nia and I were relegated to an old, battered utility van meant for hauling cargo. Nia couldn't take the hunger any longer. Her stomach rumbled incessantly. Curled up in my arms, her voice was tiny and frail. "Mommy, I'm hungry... I want some crackers..." I tore through the entire vehicle. There wasn't a single scrap of food left. Before setting off, Brandon had insisted that all the supplies be loaded into his SUV because it had more space. I had foolishly believed his lies back then. Looking at my daughter's chapped lips and unfocused, dazed eyes, my heart felt like it was being ripped out of my chest. Dignity was worth nothing in the face of survival. Gritting my teeth, I pushed the car door open. I walked over to Brandon's SUV and tapped on the glass. *Knock, knock, knock.* The window rolled down just a crack. The rich, savory aroma of braised beef jerky wafted out. Brandon was chewing on a mouthful, his cheeks bulging. He glared at me sideways, dripping with annoyance. "What now? Didn't I tell you to stop bothering me?" I swallowed hard, swallowing my pride to beg him softly. "Brandon, Nia can't take the hunger anymore." "Just give me a little bit of food, even a single cracker will do." "She is your own flesh and blood." Brandon stopped chewing, appearing to hesitate for a split second. Mia suddenly poked her head over from the passenger side. Holding a half-eaten bag of potato chips, she took a loud, crunchy bite. "Brandon, our food supply is running low too." "We still have to wait three whole days. What if the rescue team gets delayed?" "We need to save this for emergencies; we can't just throw it away on a whim." The moment Brandon heard that, the slight shred of hesitation vanished completely. "You hear that? Mia says we don't have enough." "If you're too incompetent to secure your own food, don't come leeching off me." Just then, Martha stormed out of the car behind them. She shoved me hard on the shoulder. "You greedy leech! Trying to trick Mia out of her food?!" "Weren't you acting all tough earlier? Why are you begging like a stray dog now?" Stumbling back several paces from the shove, I nearly fell over. I gripped the edge of Brandon's window frame with white knuckles. "Brandon! Nia is only six years old! She's going to starve to death!" Noticing Mia's furrowed brow, Brandon's expression hardened into a scowl. "Let go!" He slammed his finger onto the power window switch. The glass shot upward at full speed, nearly snapping my fingers in half. I cried out in pain, jerking my hands back just in time, and slammed desperately against the glass. From inside came the muted sounds of Mia and Brandon giggling. "You're so mean, Brandon, you scared her half to death." "Serves her right for not knowing her place. Ignore her." They didn't give a damn whether Nia lived or died. I slumped onto the cold asphalt, tears streaming uncontrollably down my face. Right at that moment, the window of a nearby heavy-duty semi-truck rolled down. The driver was a burly man with stubble all over his jaw, named Wayne. He spat out his window onto the ground. "Ptui! What a pathetic excuse for a man!" Wayne kicked his door open and jumped down from the cab. In his hands were two large white steamed buns and an unopened bottle of water. He shoved them firmly into my hands, his voice gruff but kind. "Here, ma'am. Take these." "Go feed your little girl. Don't let her starve." Cradling those two plain buns felt like holding the most precious treasure in the world. My tears broke through the floodgates. "Thank you... thank you so much, sir..." Flustered, I sputtered my thanks and turned to scramble back toward my van. Brandon suddenly stuck his head back out of his window. He pointed at Wayne and me, his face twisted in disgust. "Oh, look at that! Already hooking up with some random guy, are you?" "No wonder you were sitting on the ground bawling your eyes out—you were just whoring around trying to find some meathead to protect you." "Fucking filthy." "Say that again to my face, you little punk!" Wayne roared, stepping forward with his chest puffed out, scaring Brandon into snapping his head right back inside. I thanked Wayne over and over. Knowing it was an ugly family dispute, he sighed and climbed back into his cab.Late at night. The temperature inside the tunnel plummeted drastically. The damp cold was bone-chilling. To save fuel, everyone had turned off their engines. Nia and I wrapped ourselves in the van's only thin fleece blanket, shivering uncontrollably. After eating the buns, Nia seemed slightly better, but her tiny hands remained ice-cold. "Mommy, it's so cold..." I pulled her closer, using my own body heat to keep her warm. *Bang! Bang! Bang!* The car window was suddenly pounded violently from the outside. Terrified, I looked up. Chloe stood outside, her face turned pale and blue from the freezing draft. Pointing at the blanket wrapped around us, she barked bossily, "Give up the blanket!" I cracked the window open a sliver, glaring at her coldly. "Why the hell should I?" Chloe planted her hands on her hips, acting completely entitled. "Mia has a weak constitution; she can't handle this freeze!" "If she catches a cold, it's going to be a huge disaster!" "You two have thick skin and can take the cold, so hand it over right now!" I laughed out of sheer fury. "Nia is six! She's far more vulnerable to the cold than an adult!" "Get lost! Keep dreaming!" I rolled the window shut and locked the doors tight. Seeing that I refused, Chloe began violently kicking my car door. "You ungrateful bitch! Open this damn door!" The loud thuds echoed deafeningly throughout the hollow tunnel. Not even a minute later, Brandon marched over. He gripped a heavy iron wrench in his hand, his eyes burning with malice. "I'm counting to three." "Hand over the blanket, or I'll smash your window to pieces." "When that happens, you won't even have a windshield to block the wind!" I stared at the man in utter disbelief. "Brandon! You are Nia's father!" "Her lips are already turning purple from the cold, can't you see that?!" "Are you really going to freeze your own daughter to death just for that woman?!" Brandon scoffed coldly, raising the wrench high. "Nia has a strong immune system; she can handle it." "Mia is different. She has an old chronic condition and can't catch a chill." "One." "Two." *SMASH!* He actually swung it. The driver's side window shattered instantly into a thousand shards. Glass fragments sprayed all over me. The freezing gale howled as it rushed straight into the cabin. Brandon reached in through the gaping hole, unlocked the door, and yanked it open. He brutally grabbed the edge of the blanket around me and pulled with all his might. "Ah!" The force dragged both Nia and me off the seat and onto the floorboards. Nia slammed her head against the console, screaming in agony. Driven completely insane, I lunged forward and sank my teeth deep into Brandon's forearm. I clamped down with everything I had, refusing to let go. "Aaargh! Are you a fucking rabid dog?!" Howling in pain, Brandon swung his free hand and slapped me across the face with brutal force. *SLAP!* The blow left my ears ringing and my vision spinning black. My mouth filled with the metallic tang of blood. He ripped the blanket away from my grasp. Clutching the blanket like a prized trophy, Brandon hurried back and presented it into the heated SUV. Mia wrapped herself in my daughter's lifesaving blanket, yet pinched her nose in theatrical disgust. "Brandon, why does this thing smell like sour baby spit? It's so gross." Brandon cooed at her with tender concern. "Just bear with it, babe. Make do with it for now." In the dead of the night, stripped of the blanket and with the window blown out, the interior of the van turned into an absolute freezer. Nia's body suddenly began to burn with a scorching heat. She started deliriously muttering in her sleep. "Daddy... I won't drink milk anymore... please don't hit me..." I touched her burning forehead. My heart shattered into pieces. A raging high fever. In this godforsaken trap devoid of medical supplies, a high fever was a death sentence.Nia began to convulse from the soaring temperature. Her tiny frame shook violently on the seat. No matter how frantically I called her name, she wouldn't wake up. "Nia! Don't go to sleep! Look at Mommy!" I wept and screamed in total desperation. Suddenly, a realization struck me. There was a complete first-aid kit in the trunk of Brandon's SUV. I had bought it specifically for this road trip. Inside were fever reducers, anti-inflammatory meds, and emergency supplies. Like a madwoman, I burst out of the van and stumbled across the asphalt toward Brandon's car. "Brandon! Open the door! Open the door right now!" I pounded furiously on the SUV's metal frame. Brandon rolled down his window, scowling with deep irritation at having his sleep interrupted. "What the hell are you wailing about in the middle of the night?!" Pointing toward my van, I broke down in tears. "Nia has a high fever! She's having seizures!" "I'm begging you, give me the first-aid kit!" "Just one fever reducer, that's all I need! Please!" Brandon frowned slightly. "A fever?" "Kids get fevers all the time. Just let her sweat it out." "Is that really worth making such a massive scene over?" Mia poked her head out from the passenger seat. Wrapped snugly in my blanket, her cheeks were rosy and warm. "It's not that we don't want to help," she purred sweetly. "The trunk holds my personal luggage, full of very important and expensive belongings. I can't just let an outsider dig through it." Lowering her voice, she whispered into Brandon's ear with an insidious edge, "Brandon, if the stuff in the trunk sees the light of day... what if the other stranded drivers come and loot us? We still have three whole days to survive on that." Hearing those words, Brandon's eyes instantly shifted. It was the feral, guarded gaze of a beast protecting its food hoard. To appease Mia and to ensure his own worthless survival, he actually nodded in agreement. "Mia is right." "We can't waste Mia's emergency medicine on a worthless girl. What if Mia falls ill later?" Martha chimed in from the other car's open window, backing him up. "Exactly! Nia is tough as nails, she won't die! Stop disturbing Mia's sleep and get lost!" I knelt there on the freezing asphalt. Staring up at those grotesque, soulless faces. The faint, pained whimpers of my dying daughter echoed in my ears. The very last shred of sanity inside me snapped. I stopped crying. I stopped begging. Slowly, I pulled myself up off the ground. I wiped the tears from my cheeks. My eyes turned hollow, dark, and utterly dead. I walked back to my van. From the tool compartment under the seat, I pulled out a heavy-duty steel mechanic's wrench. Gripping it tight, I marched step by step back toward Brandon's SUV. Brandon was still sneering and yelling out the window, "Hurry up and piss off, stop being an eyesore—" I raised the heavy wrench. Channeling every ounce of strength in my body, I swung it violently into his front windshield. *CRASH—!* The entire laminated windshield spiderwebbed and imploded inward with a deafening crack. Brandon let out a bloodcurdling shriek. "Are you fucking insane?!" I didn't stop. Reaching straight through the shattered glass, I seized his collar with one bloody hand. I jammed the blunt, icy steel tip of the wrench hard against his temple. Blood dripped down the back of my hand from the glass cuts. Staring straight into his wide, terror-stricken eyes, I hissed through clenched teeth: "Don't think I don't know what you two disgusting parasites are planning. If you want my daughter dead, then we all die together tonight!"