Devon pulled the shovel from his pack and strode with purpose to their rear, positioning himself at the edge of the forest between them and the second wolf.
Joel studied where they’d forge a path ahead. He squinted. “Heath, shine your light due west about a hundred yards ahead.”
He did so, and the light swept across the abandoned lodge, standing tall in the frozen world.
“The lodge,” Heath said, his voice for once upbeat.
Good. They needed spirits lifted. Next to Cassie, Joel feared most for Mia’s safety and mood at this point, but they had to press on.
Heath swept the light back to them, revealing the steep slope standing between them and safety.
“All right. Sure, purposeful steps,” Joel instructed.
“What about the wolf?” Savannah asked, her voice quivering.
His young cousin had been so quiet, he’d nearly forgotten she was there. Only sixteen—this had to be so terrifying.
“We’re covered,” he assured them, trusting Jayce and Devon to hold the line.
“Move down at an angle,” he said. The sixty-degree slope was a nasty one. He exhaled.Controlled,focused steps. If only his weary legs would abide. His left foot skidded out from under him, adrenaline flooding his system. He pressed his weight down into the ground, trying not to teeter.Pleasedon’t let me fall.Please,don’t let medrop Cassie.
His grip on her gurney slipped, his glove easing down his hand.
Catching himself just before the tipping point, he breathed out a whoosh of relief.
Cassie looked up at him through her snow-and-ice-covered lashes.
He nodded. He had her.
Warm from the adrenaline still coursing through him, he took a steady, slow step down.
“One short step after another,” he said, and the other three holding the gurney moved in unison as he called out each step. The rest of the party followed.
On a pause, he glanced from Jayce at their three to Devon at their six.
“This guy is getting really agitated,” Devon hollered.
What was he missing? It was like they were defending ...a den.“I bet there’s a den nearby.” Joel scanned his surroundings but couldn’t see beyond the edge of the group. And even they were just shapes in the ever-drowning snow.
“What do we do, man?” Brady asked, fear tracking through his voice.
“We keep for the lodge. We don’t have a choice.”
“And if their den is near it?”
“I pray that’s not the case.” The lodge meant survival—the elements death.
“Slow, deliberate steps,” he repeated.
The group managed their way down a third of the sheer gradient, but exhaustion was taking over. Everyone was hunched for breath or swaying.
He gazed back at the snarling wolves pawing the ground. They needed to move, but any increase in pace could trigger the animals to attack.
He turned his attention back to the lodge. Movement swished twenty yards south of the lodge—a dark shadow silhouetted by white. He squeezed his eyes shut for a breath of a moment.Another wolf.
He must have come from their den—his black coat snowless. He stepped farther out from the tree line, and flakes rapidly covered his fur until he blended in.
Joel swallowed. Risk attack by proceeding forward to the lodge, or die of the elements? There was no choice. They had to reach the lodge.
