Page 15 of Burning Escape

She shrugged. God hadn’t answered any of her prayers, but if it was important to him, she’d stay quiet.

“Lord, please protect us. Keep us safe and help us to get back home. Amen.”

“That’s it?” It didn’t sound like the long, flowery prayers she’d heard the few times her aunt had dragged her to church.

“He knows what we need. Wake me in two hours?”

She nodded and tried to send him a confident thumbs-up. He didn’t have to know her issues with the dark. Or how cold she was already, their little flame doing nothing to warm her.

Orion quickly fell fast asleep, his breathing steady and deep. A little snuffle, not quite a snore, made her smile. She scooted closer to him, his body a better source of warmth than their meager fire. She fed it with the sticks they’d collected. The wind moaned between the trees. She stirred the flames with her last branch and watched the embers glow. Something lumbered not too far away—a heavy body crashing through the underbrush.

Did fire attract animals?

In a panic, Tori threw dirt on the burning sticks. Orion didn’t stir.

Some help he was.

Wait…would fire deter animals? Shoot. Now it was too late.

She moved closer to Orion. This was going to be a long night.

THREE

A loud noisein his dream woke Orion slowly. His back was chilled, but something warm and soft curled against his chest. Drawn by the warmth, he pulled it closer.

“Wake up!” Pressure on his foot, a strange voice…what was going on?

Orion opened his eyes to see his good arm draped over Tori, who had cuddled up against him. She stirred.

But he was more worried about the man standing at his feet holding a knife. A bushy salt-and-pepper beard and equally bushy hair and eyebrows gave him a menacing look. Another man with dirty dark-blond hair and beard and a snake tattoo circling his neck stood next to him. Although the man was younger, the shadowed look about him had Orion’s senses immediately on alert.

Orion raised his good hand and slowly sat up. “Hey, we don’t mean any harm.”

Tori moaned and rolled up against his leg, shivered. Poor girl had to be freezing.

“Get your woman up.” The older man jerked his chin toward Tori. The younger guy eyed her sleeping form, igniting a protectiveness in Orion as he nudged her shoulder.

“Tori, honey. Wake up.” He kept his arm around her. Maybe if this guy thought they were a couple, he’d keep away from her.

She cracked one eye open, paused. She shot up to a sitting position and finally noticed the strangers standing over them. “Who are you?”

Orion crouched in front of her and moved to stand face-to-face with the men and block their view of Tori. Oh, and apparently they weren’t alone. Three more men were behind them a few feet away, standing guard.

But Tori must’ve stood too, because he felt her small hand rest on his arm from behind him. “What’s going on?”

“What are you two doing out here?” the older man asked. His eyes narrowed as he looked Orion up and down. He must be the leader of the group.

These guys were big, fit, but there were no ATVs or big equipment like the militiamen had. Their clothes were sturdy, worn but clean. No logos or anything. All sported beards, looking almost like the lumberjacks of old—except for the one with the snake tattoo. Maybe they weren’t with the militia. No one wore camo or combat boots.

But better to be safe if the militia was still after them. “We’re trying to get back to Copper Mountain. We’re…hikers. Got lost.”

“What happened?” The leader gestured toward Orion’s head wound. “And why dontcha have any equipment?”

“I fell, slid down a ravine. Lost one of our packs.”

“Are you part of that troop running around on ATVs and shooting up the air, scaring away all the game?”

By the scowl on the lumberjack’s face, apparently theyweren’tpart of the militia and weren’t overly fond of the group.

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