Free Zero Visibility by Sharon Dunn Page A

out wrong.
    He turned his attention back toward the approaching voices. The men had made their way back through the meadow and appeared to be carrying some items, judging from the way they were bent forward. They must have found food of some sort.
    The torches bobbed across the blue-white landscape of snow. The men headed in the direction of the trees. The manner in which the thieves were stopping and shining the torches revealed that they were searching for footprints. So they had become suspicious.
    The thieves stepped into the trees, and their voices grew louder and more distinct.
    “Do you think it’s that guy and that chick from the cabin?” That voice belonged to the larger man in the orange coat.
    “Nobody else could have made it up here,” said the taller, thinner man in the leather jacket.
    “Maybe this place has a caretaker or something.”
    “I doubt it,” said Leather Jacket. “Whoever it is, Hawthorne is not going to be happy.”
    The thieves were within twenty feet of the lookout. Close enough for Nathan to hear their footfall on
the snow.
    Nathan tensed.
    Nobody ever thinks to look up.
    Merci had turned her face toward him. Even in the near darkness, he knew she was afraid.
    You’re safe, Merci. You’re safe with me.
    The men stomped around a while longer. It sounded as though they were right at the base of the tree.
    “I’ve had enough of this. Let’s go eat,” Orange Coat said.
    “Yeah, I’m starving,” said Leather Jacket. The thieves’ footsteps crunched in the snow.
    Nathan and Merci waited in silence, not daring to move, their cheeks resting against the rough wood of the platform. Nathan longed to tell her it was going to be okay. He longed to calm her with a kiss again. But they could only wait and be quiet and still. As they faced each other, he looked into her eyes, hoping to communicate all that he was feeling.
    The footsteps faded and the voices grew farther away. Gradually the sounds of the forest, branches creaking in the breeze, became distinct again.
    “I think we are in the clear.” Nathan lifted his arm off Merci’s back.
    Merci let out an audible breath as she sat up. “They know we are here now. They’ll be looking for us.” She wrapped her arms over her body.
    Having to stay out in the elements without moving had probably chilled her. “Are you cold?” He lifted his arm, indicating that he would hold her.
    She nodded and slipped underneath his arm as he wrapped it around her. “Thanks. That’s better.”
    Just like it had been better a few minutes before when he had decided to kiss her. He’d never been so impulsive in his life. Now he knew why he had kissed her. They were in a life-and-death situation. There wasn’t time for formalities and first dates. If they didn’t get out of this alive, he wanted her to know he liked her.
    Merci turned her face toward him. “What do we do now?”
    “They probably won’t start looking for us until full daylight. They’re eating right now. We’ll be able to see where in the camp they are at first light.” He checked his watch. “Sunrise will be in about forty minutes.”
    “But we don’t have any way to defend ourselves,” Merci said.
    The frustration over not finding bullets had been delayed by having to run out of the cafeteria so quickly. The full force of that reality hit him like a blow to the chest. “Why don’t we eat and drink something from our packs, and I’ll figure it out.”
    Merci pulled a protein bar and a water bottle from her pack. Together they watched the slow warm glow of morning spread across the camp, rimming the trees in gold and warming the hue of the snow.
    Nathan chewed his protein bar as he watched the camp and cycled through an inventory of solutions for getting Lorelei back. It was possible that the rescue would be a simple thing of finding her alone and breaking her free. On the other hand, she might already be dead. He wrestled with a possible solution when an idea popped into his