AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They went to the hallway.
“What’s up?”
She stepped close to him and placed her hands on his chest. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it before anything came out.
He wrapped his arms around her and stroked her back. “Talk to me.”
“I’m wondering if we should postpone the wedding.”
Gut punch.
Their wedding, the one he’d been anticipating for an entire year, was in just three days. New Year’s Eve. Everything was planned and ready. Including Chloe being a bridesmaid.
What if they couldn’t find her and Josh by then? What if they were gone forever? Could the happiest day of his life coincide with the worst?
“No. Chloe wouldn’t want us to. And we’ll find her before then.”
A few tears trickled out of Aliza’s eyes. “Okay. But if you change your mind, say the word.”
“You are the best thing that ever happened to me. You and your team are masters at finding people. We can do this.” He kissed her forehead.
As they came to the top of the waterfall, Josh scanned for any indication of which direction they should go. Yet nothing but more forest met them.
He turned and gave Chloe a hand up the last little bit. “Any idea which way you came from last time you were here?”
“That I couldn’t say. I don’t remember enough. You don’t recognize it?”
“Nope. And without knowing where we are, I don’t even know which direction is best.”
“Ideally, the direction that takes us farther away from the creep that dropped us out here.”
“That’s a given. Although I’m not sure we’re not being followed. Pretty convenient that there was only one way out of the valley.”
“Let’s not talk about that. It’s getting too close to dark.”
He didn’t want to suggest what he knew to be the wisest course of action. All his survival training told him to make a shelter before it was dark and camp for the night. But he wasn’t sure how possibly having someone after them should change the equation. Eagle Scout training didn’t cover serial killers.
Since they’d been dropped at opposite sides of the valley, it was hard to know which way would be toward civilization, but if they went around the valley, they could find the creek again and follow it downstream.
Chloe asked, “Which way should we go?”
“Six of one, half-dozen of the other. Let’s cross the stream and go that way.”
“If you say so.”
They both took their fill from the stream and continued on. The drop-off to the valley was to their right, and the terrain to the left continued to rise skyward.
But before long, the ground rose sharply near the valley, forcing them to veer away.
It was getting darker. He looked at his watch. It was too early. Dusk wasn’t for another thirty minutes. Ominous storm clouds were hiding the sun.
Chloe’s shoulders sank. “The unavoidable has come.”
Was she thinking the same as he was?
“I don’t have waterproof shoes. Walking in the rain, especially as it’s getting dark, probably isn’t a good idea.”
“I was thinking the same, well not the shoe part. We should set up a shelter.”
