Gold by Adele Huxley

Author:Adele Huxley [Huxley, Adele]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, suspense, mystery
Goodreads: 37536629
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Penny struggled to keep up from the start. After all her insisting she was fit enough to run, she’d severely underestimated how difficult the journey would be.

The tense, frightening trip was made worse by knee-high snow, steep inclines, and the ability of all the others to talk and jog at the same time. On top of all of it, she had to throw her complete trust into their direction. Because she’d been knocked out on the way to the encampment, the only sense of direction she had was to go up the mountain. Beyond that, she would’ve been lost.

They marched and ran in a single file, trading places so the person plowing ahead in the front could catch a break. Jog for a few minutes, walk for a few more, back and forth, back and forth.

After a while, she was oddly thankful for the exhaustion only because it distracted her from the near-crippling anxiety of getting caught. Her mind drifted into an odd trance-like state. Her world shrank to the surrounding sensations. Crunching snow. Panting breath. Burning muscles. Biting cold. She was so lost in her own thoughts she jumped when someone spoke for the first time in almost an hour.

“There it is,” Charlie whispered.

Unfortunately, the trees thinned out significantly as they approached the final slope. The bus looked untouched. The front dipped into the ditch, putting it at an odd angle.

“The roads haven’t been touched,” Phoenix noted, scanning the road first up the mountain and then down. Judging from what little she could see through the trees, Penny had to agree. No plow or other vehicle had gotten through the pass.

She fought to catch her breath, aware how ragged and uneven it sounded compared to the others. Hell, the fog coming from her mouth was big enough she worried it might float up like a smoke signal.

Her eyes tracked to the left a few dozen feet in front of the bus. A soft, snow-covered lump lay in the middle of the road, presumably the driver she’d seen killed. Penny scanned the immediate area around them for a similar lump, realizing they were standing right around where Rhett would’ve run through.

“I don’t think anyone is watching it,” Phoenix said. His voice jarred her from her thoughts enough to make her jump. He focused on her, eyes silently asking if she was okay.

“No, right. I think it’s clear,” she said between breaths. “There’s a button to the side of the front door that should pop it open.”

“Otherwise, we pry it apart,” Claire nodded.

Without further conference, they dashed up the steep slope, across the slippery road, and to the relative protection of the other side of the bus.

Penny thought she would throw up from fear and exhaustion. She doubled over with her hands on her knees, desperately gulping cold air into her lungs. She peered over as Phoenix pressed the button by the front door.

Nothing happened.

With a growl, he repeatedly slammed the heel of his hand against it until the hydraulics kicked in.

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