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Stop this foolishness , Kit. This emotion isn’t real. She pushed away and shoved her hair back behind her ears. “All right, then. When do we leave?”

A flicker of disappointment crimped his brow, or maybe she was imagining it. He’d wanted something from her, an indication that he was more to her than a fellow survivor. “Wait until morning or go now?”

He considered. “No one’s going to get a wink of sleep in that ATV tonight ’cept maybe Tot, so we might as well shove off.

I can make a carrier out of her blanket and ferry her down on my back.

We’ll have to put all the supplies we can carry in the duffel and our two packs, prioritize water, food, my external phone battery, Tot’s stuff. ”

They walked back to the ATV. All was still and quiet, save for the sporadic movement of the debris.

Every few minutes there was a crack from a trunk snapping under the massive weight of the flow.

The noise sounded like the breaking of bones.

Cullen set to work on fashioning a sling, and she perused their supplies.

The redistribution of the goods soothed her nerves, though there was so much they’d have to leave behind.

With concentrated effort, she managed to include all of the food and water and some of the extraneous supplies, but there was simply no room for extra clothing to supplement the meagre bundle she’d already squirreled away.

To be on the safe side, she stowed the proof against Nico in a second plastic bag fastened around the first and slid it into the waterproof pocket of her backpack.

The packs were heavy, too heavy, thanks mostly to the bottles and pouches of water, but there was no guarantee when they’d be able to resupply.

Tot’s duffel was filled to the brim as well, and she couldn’t think of anything else to eliminate.

What would happen when the clean bottles ran out?

The formula? The water with which to mix it? Her fingers grazed the stuffed bear.

She pulled him to her chest, suddenly fighting tears as she fingered his torn ear. It’s just cloth and stuffing. It doesn’t even smell like Dad anymore. She rubbed her cheek against the toy.

There was only space for the absolute essentials. She laid him in the ATV, blinking hard against her foolish tears. She felt movement behind her.

Cullen reached in and plucked the bear out and handed him back to her.

“We’re taking the bear.”

“No space,” she squeaked. No room for silly sentimentality. The toy was useless, and they had not a square inch to spare.

When she didn’t move, he edged her out of the way, unzipped the duffel, shoved the neatly packed contents over, and crammed in the bear. He had to hold the sides of the bag together in order to zip it closed. “See? Fits fine.”

Tot chattered from the front seat. “Uncle Cullen’s coming, Tottie girl.” He hastened off.

The tears did slide down her cheeks then, while he was busy fiddling with Tot.

He’d packed her bear. If she was going to love any man on this planet, she was certain it would be Cullen Landry.

But that thought, and the pinballs of emotion whizzing around her insides, would have to wait, maybe forever. She went to Cullen’s side.

“Project strap-on-the-baby begins now,” he said, holding out a blanket that he managed to tie around his waist. “Hold her up to my back while I hitch the corners around my shoulders. I’ll need both hands to climb down. It’s about thirty feet to the bottom.”

She used the blankets and some zip ties to tether Tot to Cullen in a sort of reverse kangaroo pouch before she wrestled the baby inside. He did a few knee bends. “Feels secure.”

“It better be.”

Tot screamed, not comforted by the offered pacifier.

“I’m going to lose a whole range of hearing,” Cullen said, wincing as Tot wailed on. A graham cracker offering didn’t work either, so Kit brought out the big guns.

“Tot.” She waved a wafer cookie in front of her button nose. Tot’s hand shot out and grabbed it. The screaming turned to satisfied sucking.

Kit laughed. “You’re going to be covered in cookie mush very soon, but at least she’s not hollering in your ear.”

“An acceptable trade-off,” he said. “How about we dally for another few minutes to warm the bottle by the fire before we go? I can stick it in my pocket to at least maintain a bit of heat if she’s not ready for a while.

” He tugged her foot, chubby from the two pairs of socks Kit had put on her.

“Princess Tot, will you take to that better? Warm milk to go with your cookie?” he asked over his shoulder.

Tot let out a gurgle of pleasure, grinding her tiny teeth into the gummed cookie. She should probably be wearing a mask instead of snacking, but Kit didn’t see how she would be calm enough to leave it on. They had to keep her as still as possible while he climbed down.

He gave Kit a thumbs-up. “While you were changing her, I fixed up two meals we can carry with us, warmed them on the campfire. They won’t stay hot, but maybe the noodles will actually cook this time. I guess it’ll be our breakfast later since...” He trailed off.

Since they might not be able to cook any more food in the foreseeable future. Since it was possible they were about to climb down to their deaths.

She stuck the meals in the outside pocket of her backpack before she gave Cullen the warmed baby bottle. Tot grabbed for it.

“Well, okay, a drink before we hit the trail,” Cullen said. Kit offered her a few gulps.

Tot let out a loud burp.

He laughed. “Don’t yak on my shoulders if you need to spit up, Tottie. I don’t have an extensive replacement wardrobe, now do I?”

The duffel bag and backpacks bulged with supplies.

Cullen shouldered the duffel, and she lugged the others from the cargo area.

She felt a pang as she closed the ATV’s doors for the last time and gave the vehicle a pat.

The metal contraption had kept them alive, along with Cullen’s expert driving and the shelter from the lumber mill.

She imagined it almost had a personality of its own, like her truck. She turned away resolutely.

The tunnel would be their safety now, she prayed. It had to be.

As they trudged past the campfire, she scraped a layer of dirt with her shoe and kicked it over the flames.

Cullen chuckled. “Because you’re worried about starting a forest fire?”

They both scanned the landscape for a moment, the sprawl where there had once been a majestic army of trees.

Now it was a pulsing moonscape of desolation.

It would take decades, if not centuries, to regrow what Mount Ember had wiped away in a blink.

How many lives had it taken already? Archie’s?

Annette’s? Was poor John still lying in the dirt, face turned to the sky he could no longer see?

She smothered the flames because she could not walk away from a burning fire, no matter what the circumstances. As she turned to follow him, something flickered up the slope where the slide had originated. She froze, staring through the dust-thickened air.

Cullen turned and joined her, instantly alert. “What did you see?”

She squinted. Snowflakes and cinders dampened the feeble light until the sun vanished fully behind the hills, leaving them in an eerie gloaming. “I don’t see anything now. I thought I noticed a flash is all. A dot.”

“Where?”

She pointed.

“Could it have been from a flashlight?”

Her heart thudded. “Maybe, or it might be a figment of my imagination.” Her senses were addled, her body tired, nerves stretched to the breaking point. Had she seen something? Her eyes were as overwrought as the rest of her.

He gestured for her to turn and pulled the night vision binoculars from the pack she had slung over her shoulders. He scanned while she held her breath.

“Anything?”

He shook his head. “Nothing I could make out.”

An idea made her breath catch. “What if it was Archie? He made it and came back to search for us.” She scanned frantically, praying she’d see the old soldier signaling them of his presence. Cullen’s next comment burst her excitement.

“He was headed in the opposite direction. He wouldn’t have had time to turn around and come back looking for us by now. Not to say it couldn’t be someone else, though.”

The someone else would be two determined killers, relentlessly pursuing them for the envelope she’d tucked carefully in her pack.

The thought of them made her blood simmer.

“Nico and Simon would’ve given up by now,” she said firmly.

“They’d have to be insane to risk their lives out here when it’s practically a guarantee that the volcano will do their dirty work for them. ”

Cullen’s eyes narrowed. “Unless Nico saw that we made it to the mill. They were already looking for us in the hollow when the slide happened.”

“But even if they did, they wouldn’t know about the tunnel. That’s certainly not visible to anyone outside these walls. It’s tucked back behind the ruins and a bunch of foliage. As far as they know, we’re stuck and we’ll die before help reaches us.”

His expression tightened. “Guys like that will watch to make sure. They don’t leave much to chance, and they don’t like waiting around.”

“Cullen, this is the worst motivational talk ever,” she snapped.

He cocked his chin. “Sorry. Probably there’s no one out there. And anyway, they can’t take a vehicle down here to get us with the fallen trees and debris everywhere. They’d have to hoof it, and that’d take a long time. We’re safe.”

From pursuers, maybe. What lay before them was most certainly the polar opposite of safe. Climbing into a dark tunnel without knowing for sure where it led or what conditions they would experience was the definition of reckless in any other circumstances. It made her skin crawl to think it through.