by Adele Huxley
Phoenix fell against her legs, nearly knocking her down. Her ankle took the brunt of the impact. She gritted her teeth as a fiery pain shot through to her knee.
The Frenchman adjusted his grip on the weapon. She watched his expression change as he considered their fate. After a tense second where the balance of power shifted, he slipped the strap over his shoulder and jogged away, the others falling in behind.
“Are you okay?” she panted as Phoenix rolled off her.
“I guess, yeah. I really wanted that fucking gun.”
Penny let him pull her to her feet. “Let’s keep looking. There’s gotta be something useful around here somewhere.”
Minutes later, they met back where they started. Rebel dumped a full armload onto the ground between them. “This is all I could find.”
“All you could find?” Penny replied as she dove into the pile. Blankets, water canisters, energy bars, and a couple pairs of snowshoes. “This is amazing!”
Rebel pulled her long, blonde hair over her shoulder and smiled softly. “Do you think Rhett and Claire found each other out here?”
Penny and Phoenix exchanged a single glance. Whether it was blind optimism or delusion, Rebel still believed Rhett was alive and kicking out in the wilderness after over two days in the elements. The chances of it were minimal, and that was without taking the avalanche into account. It was heartbreaking, but neither of them could shatter that hope.
“Maybe,” Phoenix nodded. “They were teammates, after all, right?”
“Right!” She pulled her gaze away from the forest and looked to Penny. “Need help getting those on? They’re a little tricky.”
“Uh, yeah, sure. Thanks.”
Penny kept her hair obscuring her face as Rebel tightened the snowshoe straps around her feet. The searing pain at her ankle made her nearly cry out. If Phoenix thought she was in trouble, she knew he might make them take their chances staying.
The crunch of approaching footsteps in the snow from behind spun her around.
“You can’t seriously be going,” Hadley whined as they came closer.
“Please come with us. Please,” Rebel begged. “I can find more snowshoes.”
Hadley shook her head, looking more like a petulant child than an adult superstar. “No. I’m staying here.”
Rebel pleaded with Hunter who remained just behind Hadley. “Is there any—”
“I’m with her.” He nodded firmly.
Penny would’ve been lying if she said she was sorry to see her path with Hadley diverge, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that separating was exactly the wrong thing to do. She made quick work of packing as much stuff away as possible while Phoenix pled with the others to come along. Once everything was ready, there was no point dragging out the inevitable, regardless of the repercussions.
She wasn’t going to say goodbye, but two steps away from the group, she turned back. “If you see Miah, will you let him know where we’ve gone please?” she asked, directing it more to Hunter.
He gave her a single nod and that was it.
Their group fractured again.
Chapter 28
Phoenix didn’t have the best navigation skills, but he decided it wasn’t the right time to bring the shortcoming up. Penny had done an amazing job whipping everyone into action, but it was his turn to take the lead as they descended the mountain.
Even though the snowshoes were invaluable, it was slow going. He guided them among the densely packed forest, hoping to avoid detection. They avoided the road and large expanses of open terrain. One or two helicopters had flown overhead, but he didn’t think they’d spotted them.
The direction he chose was generally downhill, but he had no way of actually knowing where that led. The silence of the forest amplified every movement, breath, and sniff. All he could hope for was plucky luck to lead them away from most of the danger.
The adrenaline wearing off and the lack of food or sleep forced them to take frequent breaks. They would try to tuck under the canopy of a large pine tree, catch their breath, and talk. But the further they walked, the less immediate the danger felt. Soon, they were talking in the open like a trio of hikers out for the day.
“I wish we were back at the Lodge,” Penny grunted breathlessly.
“By that big fire,” Rebel replied.
“By Rhett’s big tablecloth thing,” she countered. “I wish I could see everything all spread out. Ungh. And my computer.”
Phoenix stopped and let them pass, taking up the rear. He switched constantly, unsure of which position was better to offer protection.
“I really don’t think this is the right time to talk about all this,” Phoenix said as diplomatically as he could.
Penny rose to her full height, aided by the slight slope, and came nose-to-nose with him. “Are you telling me what to do?” She was half-joking and it was good to see the snark rise to the surface again.
The fire between them reignited, stronger than ever before. He tried to control the smirk growing on his face. He was pretty certain, assuming they all made it out alive, he’d found a woman who would challenge him to the end of his life. Hell, she might even be the cause of death, but he didn’t care.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” he began. Her response was only to raise her nose an inch higher. “The avalanche.”
“That’s not a question.”
He loved the way her eyes glittered in the fading light, one crystal blue, the other a deep green.
“You left me. I woke up and you weren’t around.”
Penny’s cheeks flushed. He enjoyed flustering her but she recovered instantly. “I’d assessed your injuries and knew you’d be alright.”
Phoenix inched closer. “Is that right?”
“Of course.”
Rebel delicately cleared her throat but beamed a broad grin. “I think a few other things should wait until later, too.”
Penny flipped the toes up on her snowshoes one at a time, flicking clumps of snow eye-level into the air. She turned to rejoin Rebel’s trail. “Yeah, yeah.”
Phoenix watched her a couple of steps. “Are you sure you’re okay on that thing?”
She replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. After a quick scan of the area around them, he fell into place behind.
The light faded rapidly. He had no idea how long they’d been walking or how much distance they’d covered. He tried to visualize the area, connecting the dots between the Lodge and the Village, but he hadn’t paid attention on the journey up. In fact, he’d been nursing a hell of a hangover and praying for the bus to topple over the edge just to put him out of his misery.
The first real sparks of worry broke through his exhaustion as they continued from one of their short breaks. They had started to move when Rebel stopped short. She looked around the dense forest, her eyes narrowed as she focused between the trees.
“What’s up?” Phoenix asked as Penny slowly forged ahead, oblivious.
She shook her head, seeming to dismiss a thought. “It’s probably nothing.” Her eyes held his, just as bright and cheerful and welcoming as ever. It warmed him to know the events of the last few days hadn’t tainted the good in Rebel.
“No, go on. What is it?”
The corner of her mouth pinched as she nibbled on the inside of her cheek. “I keep feeling like someone is watching us.”
Under the circumstances, not to mention all the stuff she’d been through up at the Lodge, this was a completely normal worry. But after leaving Charlie alone up at the bus, he felt a wave of panic. Help could have reached him by now and surely he wouldn’t have had a problem naming names. If anyone was being hunted down, it was him and Penny.
Phoenix scanned the area with her, the deepening shadows providing more places to hide. “We should keep moving.”
As he took the rear position again, he couldn’t stop the paranoia from settling in. Their footsteps felt too loud, their breathing deafening. Every snap of a twig or branch sounded l
ike a ricochet. His nerves frayed even worse when it all went silent. He nearly jumped out of his own skin when Penny stopped short and spoke.
“Look over there,” she whispered as she pointed to a narrow clearing.
A small building tucked against the trees fifty yards away. They stared at the cottage, little more than a hunting cabin. It appeared empty. No smoke coiled and curled from the chimney at the top. No lights shown into the dark. If they’d stumbled across this place a half hour later, they doubtless would’ve walked right past it without realizing.
The light had turned a dusky purple. The temperature had already plummeted and the idea of spending a night out in the elements was not appealing in the least.
“We should stop for the night,” said Penny.
“What if the door is locked?” Rebel asked innocently.
Penny scoffed. He was glad she was able to hold back a biting remark. Rebel sheepishly wiped the snow from her leg. The swish of her glove sounded like thunder. Phoenix happened to be looking down at her as she straightened and jumped.
He started as well. “What?”
Her eyes were wide and almost glowed in the low light. “I saw something. Movement,” Rebel whispered.
He turned slowly, eyes darting left and right in search for a hint of movement and found nothing. They couldn’t just stand there all night and freeze to death. Tearing his eyes away from the forest, he studied the cabin once more. It looked empty and cold. If anyone was in there, they could probably reason with them… or overpower.
Penny made an odd sound of frustration. His hand shot out and grabbed her arm as she began to move. An instinct held him to the spot. Like a deer, frozen, still, waiting for the threat to present itself. Even she fell silent, which he counted as a small miracle.
The muted forest loomed in closer and tighter. A distant bird’s mournful call floated through the air.
A soft thump of snow fell from a high bough and hit the ground.
The crunch of ice.
A snapping branch.
All innocent enough but put together, terrifying.
With his heart in his throat, Phoenix released Penny’s arm and gave her a little push. He palmed Rebel’s shoulder and shoved her toward the cottage as well. He didn’t dare pull his gaze away. All the sounds were coming from a general direction behind them.
“Go. Now.”
The moment they broke free, mayhem. Two figures in white burst from the undergrowth twenty yards off. He didn’t wait to see if they were armed. As he sprinted toward the house, Phoenix concentrated on blocking the others with his body, just in case.
“Run!”
Rebel and Penny didn’t look back. Penny struggled to move quickly because of her injury, but with Rebel’s help, they covered the distance in time.
A wave of relief washed over him as he watched them duck around the side of the cottage. At least they were out of direct fire. He expected the bullet in his back with every step. A part of him even welcomed it.
I’m the target. Go after me. Don’t attack them. Kill me.
When the shots rang out, he was surprised to find he was prepared to die.
Phoenix hit the ground in a cloud of dry snow. Rebel and Penny’s screams echoed in his ringing ears and he figured they’d be the last thing he heard.
His final regret was not leading the guards far enough away from them before he was shot.
Chapter 29
The world returned to him in bits and pieces like a bad crash.
There was no searing pain from a gunshot.
The cold snow stung the bare skin on his cheek.
He continued to hear the high-pitched screams of the women he’d desperately hoped to protect.
And as these realizations washed over him, he began to accept he hadn’t been killed. Or even shot.
Phoenix lifted his cheek from the ground and opened his eyes in time to see Rebel and Penny break into a sprint. As he pressed his palms into the snow to push up, Rebel flew past at full tilt. Penny came to a screeching halt on her knees in front of him.
“Jesus, Phoenix! Are you okay?” She tried to keep him still while scanning him for injury.
Phoenix stammered but couldn’t manage a full response. His eyes tracked Rebel as she skirted two motionless figures on the ground and jumped into the arms of…
“Holy shit,” he breathed.
“Where does it hurt? Here?” Penny asked as she prodded his shoulder.
He stilled her hand with his as he sat up. She was so concerned about his well-being, she didn’t care that Rhett had just come back from the dead. He had to shift his head this way and that before she finally met his eye in her panic.
“I’m okay.”
“Are you sure?”
Their’s was a language spoken in sarcasm and banter. It was the only way he could adequately communicate with her. He grunted as he pushed up to his feet.
“You’ll let me catch the entire brunt of an avalanche with my back, but I trip once and you think I’ve shattered to pieces?”
She smacked him on the shoulder with one hand and pulled him into a tight embrace with the other. He squeezed his eyes shut and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
As they helped each other walk over to Rhett and Rebel, he thought about maybe giving them a moment to reunite. But they embraced as if they’d never considered any other outcome to their separation. It was inevitable they would come out fine on the other end.
It was nearly dark and difficult to see, but they followed the tracks up to where two men lay dead in the snow. Rebel crouched by one and carefully searched his pockets.
Rhett extended his hand as Phoenix approached. “Good to see you.”
Phoenix grabbed it and pulled him into a tight hug. “You just saved my life, man. We’re brothers now.” He loved making Rhett uncomfortable almost as much as he loved teasing Penny. It wasn’t his intention at that moment, but the sudden burst of emotion clearly made Rhett twitchy. He was still trying to accept he wasn’t dead.
Penny approached cautiously, eyeing Rhett as if she weren’t sure where they stood. “Glad you made it.”
“You too,” he nodded.
“You might wanna check this stuff out.” Rebel looked up. “They’ve got maps, walkie-talkies, all kinds of—”
“Grab everything. We can’t move the bodies tonight, but we’ll have to in the morning,” Rhett said calmly.
She picked through the myriad of pockets in each jacket, holding up each item for the others to collect. She tentatively handed Rhett two handguns, handling them like they were bound to go off at any moment. With expert precision, he checked them over and made sure they were safe. When she was done, she stood and stared down at the bodies. “How did they find us?”
“Probably Charlie,” Penny sneered.
“Charlie?” Rebel gasped. “I thought you said he was with Claire.”
“It’s a long story. We should probably go inside and get a fire going before we can’t see anything out here,” Phoenix interjected. He still felt vulnerable out in the open but at least now they had protection.
Phoenix overheard the women’s conversation as they headed toward the cabin.
“I have to admit, I’m impressed with how calm you are. You see many dead bodies in your line of work?” Penny quipped. Phoenix knew her well enough to read this dark humor as her way of coping with the stress. But it was Rebel’s uncharacteristic response that surprised him.
“After everything they’ve put us and our friends through? Fuck ‘em,” she replied.
Penny stopped at the threshold and nodded approvingly. She let the others pass and held Phoenix back.
“What’s up?” he asked, studying her features for a hint.
“You can’t tell them who I really am,” she whispered. She didn’t have to finish the thought. He understood completely, all too well, in fact.
Phoenix breathed in her scent as he grasped her tightly. “Your secret is safe with me.”
Just enough light filtered in through the windows to see the first candle and pack of matches. The cabin was a single room but would more than do in a pinch. A small stovetop, sink, and mini coolbox served as the kitchen. A single thin mattress on a squeaky spring frame was the bedroom. In between nestled a table, a couple chairs, and a large stone fireplace.
“Do you think someone’s coming back?” Phoenix asked as he joined Rhett in front of the fire. The logs and kindling were perfectly arranged for lighting. It made him nervous.
“It’s mountain tradition. The idea is people who are close to freezing to death can quickly light a fire. Even with missing fingers.”
“I’ve truly missed your uplifting disposition,” Phoenix chuckled.
“I thought this was blasphemy in Italy.” Penny held up a can of dehydrated, instant coffee as she rummaged through the food cupboards.
“I’ll take whatever I can get at this point,” Rhett replied.
“We may be beggars, but we can also be choosy,” said Rebel. She fanned out a dozen dehydrated dinners across the counter. “Let’s have a feast!”
It was the first time in a long while Phoenix felt he could truly relax. Safe, warm, surrounded by friends with food on the way. After the last couple days, he was grateful for the little things.
As they prepared the individual meals, it became obvious Penny wasn’t feeling as relieved. She tried to sound casual, and maybe to the others she did. But to his ear, she may as well be interrogating them under a hot light. Under the circumstances, he couldn’t blame her. Not after Charlie.
“So, what happened with you then?” she asked as she tore open one of the foil packets.
Rhett settled on his knees and stoked the small flames to life with the iron poker. “Short story or long?”
“Short then long,” Rebel smiled. She was at his side, pretending the only reason was to steal the first glimmers of warmth. Phoenix could tell she didn’t want to let go of him again.
Rhett’s features cut angular shadows in the dancing firelight. “Well, after you disappeared into the forest, I doubled back on the guys pursuing me.” His Adam’s apple bounced as he swallowed, but the tone remained exactly the same. “After that, it was a matter of staying warm and staying hidden.”