Page 6 of Burning Escape (Chasing Fire: Alaska #3)

The hike was far slower than her normal pace. She didn’t bother to hide how much she needed the branch-crutch as her ankle grew more swollen. Orion stopped to make a sling for his injured shoulder with a piece of paracord.

The thick tree cover blocked the sun, but the glimpses of sky were growing darker. Tori didn’t know how much time had passed. All she could focus on was each step, getting farther from the militia and trying not to roll her good ankle.

“There’s water.” Orion pointed to a break in the trees where a small stream—maybe even the same one from earlier—tumbled down the mountain.

From the looks of things, it had been bigger at one point.

Now, with drought and lighter snowfall totals this winter, it was barely more than a trickle. But it was water.

Orion filled his canteen and dropped in the tiny white tab. “We’ll have to wait for the tablet to kill everything off. We should keep going. Maybe follow this stream.”

“I guess it’s our best shot at finding a road or trail.”

They continued on, the landscape sloping down but nothing drastic. After a while, they drank from Orion’s canteen and shared a couple of protein bars. The water tasted like chlorine but better than getting giardia. The trees weren’t as thick here, giving the wind enough room to chill her skin.

She rubbed her arms. “We need to find a place to hole up for the night.”

They found a spot where an old birch tree growing next to a rock outcropping sheltered them from the wind on three sides.

Orion wrenched a small branch with his good arm. “I should have my Pulaski.”

“It’s not like we knew we’d need it when we rushed off to help Logan rescue Jamie. Besides, how would you use it one-handed?” She took the branch from him. “Let me do this. You try to find us some fire kindling.”

She broke more green branches that were within reach and laid them across low limbs of their tree and the rock, creating a bit of a roof.

Orion found some dry kindling. “Do you think we should light a fire though? What if the smoke alerts the militia to our location? We don’t have anything to cook. It’s risky and not necessary.”

But she was cold. And now that they weren’t hiking anymore, the chill was settling in.

Mostly, she hated the dark.

A little fire would push back the cold creeping around them. But he was right. It would lead those ATV riders right to their position.

“If we wait until dark and keep the fire small, we’ll be okay. We’ll just have to take turns staying awake and making sure it doesn’t get out of control.” Wolves howled in the distance. She didn’t even want to think about all the wildlife that was out here.

He nodded and dug a little patch of dirt, lined it with rocks, and she pushed all the dead, dry brush away.

“Ow!” Tori dropped the branches she’d cleared. A long cut ran down her palm. Not deep but bleeding. The thin gold band of the tracking ring now had blood on it. She quickly moved it from her right hand to her left.

“Here.” Orion handed her a tissue from his pack. Once the cut was clean, they made a small fire so that they had some warmth but it wouldn’t make much smoke, and settled in the shelter, their backs against the wide trunk and rock wall.

“You should eat something, Ry.”

He shook his head. “I’m more tired than anything. Let’s save the last protein bar until tomorrow. We’ll need the energy to hike out. We get some rest now, and we’ll be set.”

His grin was strained at the corners—maybe it was pain tugging at them. He was still pale.

“I’ll take the first watch. We should make sure you don’t sleep more than two or three hours at a time, just in case you have a concussion.”

“I should fight you on taking the first watch, but I’m beat.” He paused a moment. “Do you mind if I pray for us?”

“Pray?” She balked. “Knock yourself out. Not that it will do anything, but if it makes you feel better…”

“Well, it certainly isn’t going to hurt, right?”

She shrugged. God hadn’t answered any of her prayers, but if it was important to him, she’d stay quiet.

“Lord, please protect us. Keep us safe and help us to get back home. Amen.”

“That’s it?” It didn’t sound like the long, flowery prayers she’d heard the few times her aunt had dragged her to church.

“He knows what we need. Wake me in two hours?”

She nodded and tried to send him a confident thumbs-up. He didn’t have to know her issues with the dark. Or how cold she was already, their little flame doing nothing to warm her.

Orion quickly fell fast asleep, his breathing steady and deep.

A little snuffle, not quite a snore, made her smile.

She scooted closer to him, his body a better source of warmth than their meager fire.

She fed it with the sticks they’d collected.

The wind moaned between the trees. She stirred the flames with her last branch and watched the embers glow.

Something lumbered not too far away—a heavy body crashing through the underbrush.

Did fire attract animals?

In a panic, Tori threw dirt on the burning sticks. Orion didn’t stir.

Some help he was.

Wait…would fire deter animals? Shoot. Now it was too late.

She moved closer to Orion. This was going to be a long night.