AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He screamed at it, hoping to scare it away, but it kept coming. It plowed through the dogs, knocking them over like bowling pins. A powerful kick sent Diggy flying. The pup landed with a yelp and didn’t get up again.
The moose swung around, intending to plow back through the dogs for round two. It was going to kill them all if he didn’t do something, but Bree had taken the gun wherever she was. All he had was the knife and the headlamp. He screamed at it again, his voice wild and raw, and charged. He swung the knife over and over, chopping into the thick hide, but nothing happened. He was hitting it, he was sure of it, but it wasn’t reacting to him and the knife met with no resistance.
Like it didn’t exist.
Heaving in great gulps of air, Ellis lowered his arm and squeezed his eyes shut hard. When he opened them, the moose was gone. The dogs were gone. The camp was gone. He was alone in the middle of the tundra. No trees, no landmarks at all. Just a huge stretch of silent snow and ice.
He looked down at his fisted hand. He didn’t hold a knife. He didn’t have a headlamp.
What happened to the moose?
The dogs?
Bree?
A chill settled deep into his bones, but he didn’t have the energy to shiver. He barely had the energy to lift one foot and put it in front of the other, but he managed to stagger forward. Slowly. Each step like trudging through hardening concrete instead of snow.
He had to find Bree.
He walked for what felt like forever, pushing himself to keep going. With no landmarks, it was impossible to tell if he was walking in a straight line or going in circles. But he kept going. If he gave up, if he laid down, he knew he’d never get up again.
“Hey, kiddo.”
Ellis whipped around at the voice and stared in disbelief at the campfire blazing merrily only a handful of feet away. William Hunter sat next to the fire, lifting a brown paper bag of his favorite vodka to his mouth. A cigar burned in his other hand, filling the air with its sweet scent.
“What the fuck, Dad? Where have you been?”
“Around,” Will said.
“That’s it? Justaround?”
“Just around.” He waved a hand toward the fire. “Have a seat, kiddo. Warm up. You look cold.”
Ellis sat and held his hands out to the fire. He wasn’t entirely convinced it was real, but he didn’t care because it felt wonderful. “I don’t have the energy to be pissed at you. But I was. I am. We’ve been looking for you.”
A smirk lifted Will’s bushy, ice-crusted beard on one side before he took a long slug from his bottle. “Have you now? Didn’t think you cared enough.”
“I don’t. Bree convinced me. I only came because I didn’t want her to get hurt looking for your dumb ass.”
“Uh-huh. That sounds more like my son.”
Anger boiled inside him, warming him faster than the fire. “You don’t even care, do you? You’re a real fucking bastard. Bree put herself and her dogs in danger looking for you.” He nodded at the bottle. “All because you decided to go off on another bender.”
Will lowered the bottle before taking another drink and looked Ellis straight in the eyes. They had the same eyes, that striking glacier blue. Ellis had always hated that they had anything in common, that any part of this man was like any part of him.
But now he didn’t see the rheumy, bloodshot eyes of a long-time alcoholic staring him down. He saw a deep sadness, the heartache that Will had been trying to drown in liquor for years. He saw regret. He saw stubbornness and tenderness.
“I do care,” Will said roughly. “That’s why I left. Now you need to go back, El. You need to go back to Bree and take her home. Make her drop this. Forget this and forget me. You hear me? You need to go back.”
Ellis blinked and the fire was gone. He held his hands out to a small ice-crusted shrub. The heat was gone, once again replaced with that cutting, bone-deep cold.
He looked at his dad and watched the cigar and vodka fade into nothingness. “You’re not here.”
Will’s smile turned sad. “No, I’m not. You need to go back, Ellis. Go back now.”
He blinked and his dad vanished. He was alone again, and it hurt more than he wanted to admit. He didn’t want to miss Will. He didn’t want to care, but those few minutes with him felt so real. More real than any other interaction he’d ever had with his father.
Jesus, he was tired. He lay back in the snow and stared up at the dark sky.
