Amidst the Shadows by Laura Rise

Author:Laura Rise [Rise, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Laura Rise
Published: 2024-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Night was falling, and a mantle of white smothered the landscape, a deceptive blanket of serenity that concealed the violent truth beneath. Tori's boots crunched on the virgin snow as she and Javi hastened towards the maw where the avalanche had torn through the mountain's side with ravenous ferocity. Their breaths materialized in ghostly vapors, rising in the freezing air, and their expressions were etched with the urgent severity of the mission at hand.

"Over there!" Javi's voice cut through the hushed aftermath, his arm extended towards a cluster of orange vests and flashing lights where the sheriff's department had already begun coordinating efforts.

Everyone accounted for. Except one.

Multiple reports, all from other athletes on the slopes.

All of them pointing the finger to one missing person. A woman named Emily Carter.

Tori felt her stomach tighten. Emily Carter was the same age as the other victims, and also part of the Extreme Sports Expo. The search for Emily Carter was a race against the unforgiving clock of nature, each second a potential difference between life and death.

"Fan out! Eyes sharp!" barked the sheriff, his presence commanding amidst the chaos. Shovels plunged into snowbanks with desperate energy, probing for any sign of the lost.

"Here to help," Tori announced to a deputy coordinating the search dogs, her voice steady despite the adrenaline that surged like an undercurrent through her veins. A nod of acknowledgment sent them towards the eastern ridge, the last known location before the icy cascade had erased all traces of human passage.

"Keep your radio close," Javi reminded her, his own gaze hardened by the task at hand. They moved in tandem.

The silence of the mountain was a stark contrast to the flurry of action, the occasional crisp command from team leaders piercing the quiet. Each shovel full of snow lifted and cast aside felt leaden with possibility and dread. The ominous creak of settling snow served as a grim reminder of the latent danger still lurking above them.

"Anything?" Javi asked during a brief lull, his voice barely louder than a whisper, as if afraid to disturb the precarious peace.

"Nothing yet," Tori replied, her focus unwavering.

Together, they worked, sifting through the frozen debris, knowing well that beneath the cold touch of winter could lie the colder stillness of the unrecovered.

Tori's boots crunched against the compacted snow, her breath misting in the frigid air as she cast a determined glance over the expanse of white. Each step was measured, a deliberate effort to cover ground that seemed to stretch on endlessly. Javi’s figure grew smaller in the distance as they split up, their paths diverging with a silent nod—a mutual understanding that time and thoroughness were their most precious allies.

"Find her," Tori muttered to herself, the words a mantra fueling her resolve. Emily Carter's face, framed by a tumble of auburn hair, flashed in Tori's mind, drawn from the briefings and the missing person report.

Her gaze swept the landscape, searching for any anomaly, any clue that might lead them to Emily. But the mountain kept its secrets well, offering nothing but the relentless sprawl of snow and silence.

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