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Unfortunately, the view told him nothing about what he needed to know.
While the mountains in front of them weren’t as tall as the one they stood on, more stood to the left and right. If he had a map, he could determine their location, but he didn’t have anything to reference.
“Let’s continue in the direction we were going in yesterday.”
She agreed, and they set out.
About twenty feet from their camp site, he stepped on something metal like a chain under the snow. He grabbed Chloe’s arm. “Don’t move.”
He slid his foot away, bent down, and brushed the snow away. A giant, thick chain was there. Using his walking stick he followed it, brushing the snow off.
Snap!
A large bear trap bit off the end of his stick, right in front of Chloe. If she’d taken one more step . . . He couldn’t think about it.
He righted himself and pulled Chloe close.
She pushed off him slightly. “Josh, that was not there yesterday. I remember looking for firewood over here.”
He drew her back against his chest and scanned the trees.
The feeling as if they were being watched increased significantly. They were not alone.
“We need to be careful, in case there are more of these.”
She nodded. They ran their walking sticks across the ground in front of them as they walked.
About ten feet farther along, Chloe’s stick ran into a trip wire run with barbed wire.
Josh’s chest was tight. What if they missed a trap and fell victim to it? Then what?
He prayed. And prayed. And prayed with every step.
Chloe screamed and grabbed his arm.
“You okay?” He pulled her close.
“Yeah. My foot slipped.”
Leaves and snow had fallen away from the ground where her foot had almost slipped into a crude punji-style trap, where sticks were pointing up from the bottom of a short trench. “That would have hurt.”
She shook against him.
How were they to continue questioning every single step? The ground closer to the drop-off was rocky, like a giant slab jutting out of the mountain.
“You aren’t going to like my suggestion.”
Her shoulders dropped. “You’re right. I’m not, but I guess it’s better than getting stabbed in the bottom of the foot.”
They cautiously walked to the edge.
Once solid ground was beneath his feet, he relaxed a bit, but Chloe didn’t. They’d just exchanged one fear for another.
He stretched his hand out to her, and she gripped it like a vise.
She started chanting under her breath. “Faith over fear. Faith over fear.”
He started singing softly. “‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His word; Just to rest upon His promise; Just to know, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, how I’ve prov’d Him o’er and o’er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O for grace to trust Him more.”
