Supernatural Fresh Meat

FORTY




Dean felt a primal wave of self-preservation sweep over him. “Is that another avalanche?”

Grace trained her ears toward the sound. As they listened, the ground beneath their feet started rumbling. Snow shook, moving in shifting drifts around their boots. Adrenaline kicked up the pace of Dean’s heart.

“Yes. But we should be safe in the trees,” Grace told him.

Dean wasn’t convinced. “Did you see the section of forest the last one took out?”

She hesitated. “Yes.”

“And you think that won’t happen here?”

“We’re higher up on the slope, in denser trees.”

The mountain really started to shake beneath them, and Dean grabbed onto a tree trunk to steady himself. “Where is it?”

Grace tried to see upslope, past the trees. “Must be on the slope to our left.” She waited. “I think it’ll pass us by.”

The mist was so dense that Dean couldn’t see past the edge of the trees. For all he knew, the avalanche could be speeding their way. It was humbling to think that a wall of snow could just wipe them off the mountain. He listened for the crunching of wood, the splitting of trunks, anything that would give away the direction of the avalanche or if it were taking out another swath of trees.

“Maybe we should move in the other direction, or go upslope?”

Grace stood still, listening. Beneath them the snow had shifted so much from the vibrations that their boots were completely covered. Then the quaking lessened.

“I think it’s ending,” she said finally.

The rumbling stopped, the roar in the distance fading away as the snow settled.

“So we’re safe?” Dean asked.

“For now.”

“That doesn’t instill a lot of confidence. We need to get to the ski resort.”

Dean started upslope again, winding between the trees. Grace followed, occasionally glancing nervously in the direction of the avalanche noise.

The low cloud layer was almost claustrophobic at times. Their stalker could be following them and Dean would never see him. In fact, he was pretty sure he was still following them. He could feel eyes staring into his back.