Switchback by Danika Stone

Author:Danika Stone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

CHAPTER EIGHT

“I’m glad you’re here, Katie. And I owe you one.”

“You owe me for a lot of things, but this is not one of them.”

JERRY SHEPARD AND KATIE, EIGHT BELOW

VALE STARED AT ASH, waiting for the punchline. He can’t be serious … can he? Did he just say there’s something on the other side of the branches? When Ash didn’t move or speak again, Vale lifted her chin and peeked over his shoulder. The pine boughs were pressed against his back, but that could be anything. It had snowed again. That didn’t mean—

The sound of a huffing breath—loud and much too near—shocked all thoughts from Vale’s mind. The branches shifted inward as the animal on the other side resettled itself against the lean-to. A whooshing sound broke the silence. Ash leaned closer. He stared at her with wide, frightened eyes.

MOVE! he mouthed.

Vale nodded, her heart heaving in her chest. She leaned back, rolled sideways, then froze, unable to go any farther. Her legs turned to jelly. What if the animal on the other side of Ash was the same one she’d seen in the woods? Can the two of us handle a bear? her mind screamed. They were huge, at least twice the size of an adult man—far exceeding a person in weight and strength—and they were highly territorial. In the animal world, bears were apex predators! We have no weapons! Nothing to fight with. No way to escape. We’re going to die here!

Reeling with panic, Vale gasped for breath.

Ash bumped into Vale’s shoulder. “Move!” he whispered. “I need out.”

“I-I’m going.”

“Go faster!” he hissed.

Vale grabbed her coat and inched backward, but moving around in the dark in silence was impossible. Terror filled her limbs with lead, making every movement stilted and jerky. Ash shoved again. She pushed forward. Her hand slid on the emergency blanket and the foil crackled. Hearing it, the animal outside the shelter jerked awake, stumbling to its feet. The branches behind Ash bent inward, then snapped back, as the walls crashed down.

There was a brief moment when Vale couldn’t move. We’re going to DIE! And then instinct took over. Heart pounding so loudly she could hear it in her ears, she fought her way from the shelter. Something smacked her sprained ankle. She yelped. Ash slammed into her butt.

“Go!” he shouted, no longer trying to be silent. “Get OUT!”

Crying, gasping, Vale scrambled out of the disintegrating lean-to as fast as she could. Ash followed. Half a second later, the last few tree branches fell inward and covered their packs and the area where they’d been sleeping in a shower of snow and branches. She stood up and lifted her gaze to the darkness of the camp.

Vale froze.

Around them, at least thirty yellow eyes glittered from the shadows. Her shoulders tensed as her mind struggled to determine what she was seeing. In the near-complete darkness, the only thing she could tell was that they weren’t alone.

“Ash,” she whispered. “You seeing this?”

“What in the world…?”

Ash stood up next to Vale just as the herd of elk that had wandered into the camp turned as one.

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