Revenant : ethan

Despite the frost on the windows or the biting chill in the air, Ethan still refused to adorn his heavy coat. After minutes of attempted persuasion I gave up, deeming it useless to try and convince someone so stubborn as Ethan to do anything he didn't want. Driving down the road I noticed that the farther we drove, the colder it had become. The temperature gauge on the dashboard read 67 degrees, yet that was not possible. My hands, almost frozen in a cold grip on the steering wheel, were pale blue. I retrieved my gloves from the large cup holder and put them on, my hands warming almost immediately from the contact. Even though I wore a insulated coat over my windbreak I still felt sharp stabs of invasive cold. Only my feet, protected by my tight fitting work boots, were protected from the harsh weather. Yet the gauge read 67, which makes no sense at all. It had to be at the most 40 degrees. Going down the seemingly endless stretch of road held no visual interest or required much concentration, so I stole a glance toward Ethan in the passenger seat. Our black Dodge Calibur had just enough room to fit all of our equipment in the back seats, so Ethan studied for medical exam on his laptop. He wore a navy blue t-shirt with multiple tiny holes from bite marks from our dog, Runner. Ethan either paid no attention to the cold, or simply did not feel it. This worried me, because usually he constantly complains about something being too hot or cold. Another thing that seemed odd was that he wasn't actually typing anything, just staring blankly at the screen, which displayed nothing but the white of a blank Word document. I glanced back at the road to make sure I stayed steady, then returned my gaze to Ethan. 'Hey bud, what are you working on?' He didn't reply, just sat there, glaring at the screen. I had never seen my little brother act so weird in all of the sixteen years of his life. Taking my right hand off of the steering wheel, I gently poked Ethan in the shoulder. A feeling of sheer dread overcame me. Ethan was cold, but not just what you would expect from the weather, he was DEAD cold, as if his body had been locked in a freezer for hours. I felt the cold, despite wearing thick padded gloves. He did not react at all to my touch, so I grabbed his shoulder and shook him. He again made no acknowledge of my presence, but instead closed his laptop and turned his gaze out his window. I felt the car veering toward the left into the incoming side of the road, so I turned my attention back toward driving and aligned the car correctly. One thing that I had noticed about this otherwise uninteresting and mundane drive was that I had seen no other cars, behind, in front, or incoming on the road. Not a single vehicle had appeared since we took the detour from the highway. This barren stretch of road surrounded by woods was like some sort of dead zone. I had not seen a single animal or person either. Ethan had began to grow quiet and detached the farther we drove, which honestly freaked my out a bit. I know it was a boring drive, but the way it happened, the way he sort of lost touch with his surroundings was creepy. Both hands back on the steering wheel, I tried to just focus on the road ahead, and get out of this seemingly endless stretch. Everything looked the same, the same dead trees protruding from the same dark bushes. Both sides of the road we identical, and I guess that driving the opposite direction bore no difference than the direction we were traveling. 'Andrew, have they found us yet?'. Ethan's voice startled me, as I had become so used to the silence. I turned toward Ethan, who now had his hands pressed against the window, as if he were trying to absorb the cold. 'Uh, what are you talking about bud?', I asked, bewildered by his odd question. He laughed, a deep callous laugh that sent shivers through my body. In a harsh raspy voice he spoke, 'Who do you think you idiot, THEM, the ones we've been running from our entire lives, the ones whom we are born of'. Ethan then returned his gaze toward the window, hands firmly pressed a