No Exit by Taylor Adams 2

like sparks. Then he aimed the light into her face, an eyewatering
brightness. “Start calling her name.”
Darby stared at her feet, tasting stomach acid in her throat.
A rancid, greasy sort of heartburn, bubbling with terrible
thoughts. I shouldn’t have given her that knife. What if, by
intervening tonight, I made things worse?
What if I got Jay killed?
Lars’s pistol jabbed her spine, a harsh gesture that meant
walk. If she’d been ready for it, she could’ve spun around,
swiped for the gun, and maybe, just maybe, seized control of
it. But her opportunity passed.
“Her name is Jamie,” Lars said. “But call her Jay.”
“Go on. Follow the tracks and start hollering.” Ashley
swept his LED light at the footprints, and then looked back at
her with darkening eyes. “You wanted to save her life so
badly? Well, Darbs, here’s your chance.”
* * *
The girl’s footprints led them along the on-ramp, to the
dirty ice banks of State Route Seven before veering uphill into
the woods. Up a rocky slope of snowdrifts and precarious fir
trees. Every step of the way, Darby silently dreaded reaching
the end of these tracks and finding a collapsed little body in a
red Pokeball shirt. Instead, something even worse happened —
Jay’s footprints simply vanished, erased by windswept snow.
Darby cupped her hands and shouted again: “Jay.”
It had been thirty minutes now. Her voice was raw.
Up here, the only navigational landmark was the sulking
shadow of Melanie’s Peak, due east. The land steepened as
they climbed. Boulders broke through the snowpack, granite
faces glazed with rivulets of ice. The trees here teetered on
shallow roots, leaning over, branches sagging. Sticks snapped
underfoot, like tiny bones breaking in the snow.
“Jay Nissen.” Darby swept the flashlight, throwing jagged
shadows. “If you can hear me, come to my voice.”