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She clutched me hard and nodded against me.
“Let’s go home.” I walked to the front door, poked my head out to see my surroundings, and then nodded for her to join me. We shut the door behind us and headed for the tree line, the darkness of the forest, the loud creaking sounds haunting.
Melanie stayed at my side and gripped my arm once we stepped into the trees. “I can’t see.”
“It’s fine. Keep going.”
“Can we use the flashlights?”
“Not now. We’re too close to camp.” But we really did step into the pitch-blackness, and our only guide to our surroundings was the wail of the shifting trees. It was the only way to navigate and not strike a tree. There were no stars in the sky because a blanket of clouds covered it, so we couldn’t use the starlight to distinguish through the silhouettes either.
With our hands held together, we moved through the darkness…and escaped.
With our flashlights on, we navigated through the darkness, pointing at the bases of the trees to make sure we didn’t crash into anything. Our feet fell deep into the snow with every step. It was hard to move at a decent pace because we continued to shuffle forward, our legs aching as we pushed through the cold resistance.
“Won’t they see our tracks?” Melanie looked behind her, pointing her flashlight over the streaks in the snow.
“The storm is supposed to hit in a few hours. The wind will cover it.”
“Hope so…”
I kept the lead, not knowing how deep this forest was. The trees were close together, so it would be difficult for the horses to come this way, but not the hounds. We had to keep moving quickly.
“Fuck, it’s cold out here.”
“Just think about a hot cup of coffee in front of the fireplace.” I was too focused to feel cold, too determined to get the hell out of here to worry about the elements.
“Did Magnus at least give you a direction?”
“No.” His help only went so far.
Melanie groaned as she trudged through the snow.
I kept going…unsure when this forest would end.
The storm hit so unexpectedly. It was calm, and then suddenly, it was raging full force.
It was like being hit by a freight train.
Melanie fell several times, but I grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her up. The wind was fierce, daggers in our eyes, and our eyes began to smart, only to be dried out a moment later. Snow billowed all around us, covering our jackets and pants, falling around us like mini tornadoes, not the cute snowfall that sometimes happened in Paris.
This snow was spiteful.
“We shouldn’t have left!” Melanie shouted to me, her voice carrying on the wind.
“Don’t say that. We’ve got this. Come on!”
She continued to lag behind me.
It grew lighter along the horizon because sunrise had arrived.
They probably knew we were gone by now. “We gotta keep moving.”
Minutes later, we reached the edge of the forest. Out in the open was a plain, a plain that reached far into the distance. It was totally open…totally vulnerable. With the snow as high and lumpy as it was, it would take us hours to get across. If they followed our tracks, they would probably get here before we made it across.
Melanie caught up to me then put her hands on her knees as she leaned forward and caught her breath. “Oh Jesus… We’re gonna cross that, aren’t we?”
I decided to steer clear of the Alps because the closer we got, the more dangerous the terrain would become. There might be lakes underneath the snow, dangerous animals, and the closer to the mountains we came, the less populated it would be. We need to stay on the flat lands. “Take a short break. But yes, we’re gonna cross that as quickly as we can.”
She slumped against a tree and sat in the snow, still breathing hard because the endurance we’d built in the camp wasn’t enough to prepare for the journey. She opened a bottle and drank from it before digging her hand into a bag of nuts. “How are you not tired?”
“Never said I wasn’t.” I leaned against a different tree and sat in the snow. It felt like a cold pillow. The second I was on the ground, my legs ached from the exertion. I’d always been on the slender side, but living here for over a month had turned me into a strong machine. My legs were toned and tight, my arms too. I even had a six-pack, which I’d never had in all my life. I turned my head and looked at the plains, seeing the snow blowing across, the visibility poor because snow was everywhere. The world was white.
Melanie’s hair kept flying around, so she tucked it inside her shirt then pulled up her hood. “Why aren’t you drinking?”
Because we had to conserve as much as possible. “I’m fine.” I expected this journey to be long. I didn’t expect to get to the finish line quickly. It would take work, perseverance…and hope.
