“Fine,” Jack finally says. He places the rifle in Noah’s outstretched hand. “Take it.”
Noah accepts the rifle. He holds onto it with surprising ease, considering I’ve never seen my husband hold a gun before. Of course, I never knew he went hiking when he was a kid. Maybe there’s other stuff I don’t know about him from his past.
“Let’s get going,” Noah says.
And we keep walking.
Chapter 23
CLAIRE
We’re never going to get out of here.
We’re going to run out of clean water. We’re going to have to eat bugs. I’m never going to see my children again. We’re going to die here in the forest and the animals will eat our bodies.
This is our second day of wandering around the forest. It’s starting to get dark again. How is it possible that we have been looking for this place for over twenty-four hours and we still haven’t found it? Maybe the inn never existed in the first place. That’s the only solution I can come up with.
I stop walking and dig around in my purse for my phone. Except it won’t even turn on—the battery died. I’m guessing everybody else’s phones are in similar condition. So even if we find a place where there’s a signal, there’s nothing I’ll be able to do about it.
“Claire?” Noah slows to a halt beside me. “Are you okay?”
“Sort of. Not really.” I swipe at my eyes with the back of my hand. “Do you still have any battery left on your phone?”
I hold my breath as he takes it out of his pocket. The screen is black, like mine. He shakes his head. “No. It died.”
“Great,” I mumble.
He glances at the others and lowers his voice. “I told you what I think we should do.”
I nod. I can’t think straight right now. I’m so hungry and thirsty.
“If we haven’t found this place by tonight, I think we should ditch them,” he says. “Are you with me?”
I try to swallow but my throat is too dry. “I’m just…” A tear escapes my right eye. “I’m afraid we’re never going to make it home. I’m afraid we’re never going to see the kids again.”
“Claire…”
“Don’t tell me I’m being silly,” I hiss at him. “Lindsay isn’t going to make it home. Michelle isn’t going to make it home.”
“I know. I know.” He runs a shaky hand through his hair. “I’m scared too, okay? But… I’m going to do whatever I can to get us home. I promise.”
He reaches out and takes my hand. Despite how awful I’m feeling, his palm against mine is comforting. I remember how when we were dating, we would walk down the street holding hands. And Noah would turn to me and smile, and I would smile back because I was so happy to be with him.
Jack is a few paces ahead of us. He pauses to look at his compass, and he turns back to make sure we’re following him. He sees me and Noah holding hands, then he does a double-take.
He raises his eyebrows at me. I shake my head.
“Jesus Christ!” Warner says.
Noah and I jog over to where the two guys have stopped short. I clasp a hand over my mouth—if there were anything in my belly, I would probably be sick.
It’s a wolf. No wait, it’s probably a coyote, since there are no wolves in these parts, according to Jack. And it’s dead. There are angry claw marks on its belly, and there’s fresh blood all over the ground around the animal. The coyote’s intestines are starting to bulge out of the gash.
“Whoa,” Noah breathes. He’s still holding Jack’s rifle, and his fingers whiten around the barrel.
I stare down at the claw marks on the belly. They remind me so much of the claw marks I saw on those trees.
As horrible as it is to look down at this animal, all I can think to myself is that something killed it. And I don’t want to be next.
“What kind of animal do you think did it?” Warner says.
Jack frowns. “Could have been a bear. Maybe the coyote provoked it. Threatened its babies.”
“Do you think there’s a bear around here?” My voice is shaking.
“I told you, Claire.” Jack seems impatient. “A bear isn’t just going to attack us. Not out of nowhere.”
“It attacked this coyote,” I point out.
“Yes, but we don’t know why.” He glances at Noah. “And anyway, we have a rifle to protect us.”
For some reason, that doesn’t make me feel that much better.