Page 44 of Northern Escape


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The first ten miles, the dogs ran like their tails were on fire, as if they understood Ellis’s life was at stake. She wouldn’t be surprised if they did. They were smarter than most people gave them credit for.

Fresh, powdery snow slowed them on the next ten and Bree had to hop off the sled to break trail for them. She periodically checked on Ellis. He slid in and out of consciousness, and every time he resurfaced, he was less coherent.

The temperature began to drop.

On the one hand, it meant they wouldn’t run into any more storms. It wouldn’t snow when it was this cold. She plowed ahead, but she didn’t know how much longer she could make the dogs run. If it got too much colder, they could freeze their lungs.

Ice fog curled around trees, morphing the world into a polar dreamscape. That was bad. Ice fog only formed when it was well below zero. She should stop, check on the dogs and Ellis. Make sure he was warm enough. But stopping meant he had to stay out in this dangerous cold longer and he didn’t have the time. Every second was precious and they couldn’t stand to lose even one.

So she pushed on.

Norte glanced back, read her fear and desperation, and picked up the pace. He put his heart and soul into the run. Such a good dog. They all were. She didn’t know what she’d do without them. She owed each one of them a steak when they got home.

The ride blurred into one long stretch of white, broken by the occasional flash of an ice-encrusted evergreen whipping by. Her eyes kept wanting to close but she refused to stop and make camp for the night. If she gave in to her exhaustion, Ellis would die.

They couldn’t stop.

She grabbed a rope from the gear and tied herself to the sled. If she fell asleep, Norte would keep the team going. He had a mission now and he’d leave her in the snow if she fell off the sled. She couldn’t risk it.

As she stood there fighting sleep for mile after mile, the cold seeped through her many layers and under her skin. She shivered. If she was cold, she couldn’t imagine what Ellis felt right now. If he was still conscious. She couldn’t tell from her angle, with him bundled underneath Aleu, but she almost hoped he was unconscious. He’d already suffered enough during this trip.

But she couldn’t risk unconsciousness. She untied herself from the sled and ran behind it, desperate to warm up.

When she heard the lowwhop whop whopoverhead, she thought she was imagining it, the cold and exhaustion making her hallucinate like Ellis had. But as it got closer, she felt the thrum through her chest and the dogs started reacting. They skidded to a halt and looked around in confusion. Some sent up howls. They weren’t familiar with the sound, but she knew it.

Helicopter.

Rescue?

Had her mayday call gotten out, after all? Or was this their local homicidal snowmobiler trying a different tactic?

Shit.

She didn’t know what to do. Signal the helicopter and hope they were friendly? Or continue on to Solitaire and maybe watch Ellis die on the way?

Shit. Shit. Shit.

She set the snow hook, climbed off the sled, and checked on Ellis. He was unconscious. She took off her glove, wincing at the whiteness of her fingertips, and touched his neck. She couldn’t find a pulse. Her heart kicked with panic and she moved her palm in front of his mouth but couldn’t feel his breath either.

No.

No, dammit! He was not dying out here.

She tore through the box of gear next to him, found her flare gun, and sent one into the air in a brilliant streak that startled the dogs. They surged forward, yanking the sled, but the snow hook held. As the flare cast eerie red light over the snow, she dragged Ellis off the sled and started CPR. He might still be breathing. His heart might still beat. The cold could’ve slowed everything down so much that she couldn’t detect it, but she wasn’t taking the chance.

The helicopter swooped in and hovered, the prop wash swirling snow in a blizzard around them. Time froze, caught there with the snow churning as she breathed for him.

Why were they just hovering? Why weren’t they coming down and helping?

And then they were there, hands on her shoulders gently pulling her away. The professionals taking over.

“What happened?” one of them asked. A woman by the voice. She had a German Shepherd with her, sitting patiently at her side. “Brielle? I need you to tell me what happened?”

“My plane… I landed it on a lake. It was out of fuel. He fell through ice. I tried to keep him warm, but then we got trapped in a storm and someone was shooting at us and…” She trailed off. She couldn’t find more words. Didn’t even know if the ones coming out of her mouth made sense.

The rescuer nudged her to sit down. She did and, as the woman took off her gloves and inspected her hands, she numbly watched the rest of the team’s flurry of activity.

Ellis lay in the middle of it all, so still.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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