Spiral (The Salzburg Saga Book One) by D. U. Okonkwo

a danger zone?”
    “We need to get moving,” Jake said instead.
    “For how long?” Angela wanted to know.
    “A while.”
    Her mouth tightened at his curt reply.
    “What’s that noise?” Shayna suddenly asked, looking around anxiously as she held Luke close to her. “It sounds like…like…”
    “Cracking,” Neil finished with a frown.
    Nina’s ears picked up the sound then. They all started looking around them anxiously, trying to see where it was coming from.
    “What–?” Emily began, and then broke off, her eyes widening in horror.
    And for as long as Nina lived, she knew she’d never forget the terror that rang in Emily’s voice when she screamed, “Avalanche!”

 
     
     
    CHAPTER SIX
     
     
    It happened on the other side of the snow bank. Nina estimated the distance to be around three hundred feet from them, yet its deafening roar made it seem only two feet away.
    Nina watched it happen in sick fascination, unable to tear her eyes from the tumbling volume of white snow. She’d seen avalanches depicted on TV, of course, but nothing had prepared her for this. She barely heard the anxious shouts from Neil and Jake. Only when Neil grabbed her wrist and pulled her to her feet did her wide stunned eyes meet his desperate ones.
    “Move,” he shouted, and she realized that everyone except Parker and Hugh were on their feet.
    “It’s going to block any way out of here.” Jake had to shout to be heard over the scream of the avalanche. “It’s going to push us deeper into backcountry.” He looked around frantically. “We need to get moving.”
    Neil shook the shoulders of Parker and Hugh. “Wake up. There’s an avalanche. We have to move.”
    Parker’s eyes flickered open. “Wha–?” The shocked and pained expression on his face said more than a thousand words. Beside him, Hugh blinked twice and moaned.
    Neil helped Parker to his feet, the older man unsteady as he looked around in disbelief. “What’s going on?” Parker asked as Justin tried to revive Hugh.
    “Just start walking,” Jake ordered him, jerking his head to the miles of snow-covered ground ahead of them. “We don’t have a minute to waste. Let’s head upslope toward higher ground.”
    Neil pressed a kiss to Shayna and Luke’s cheeks and took Luke into his arms. “You have to try to be strong, baby,” he told Shayna.
    Face bleak, she merely nodded and prepared to follow him.
    “What about Hugh?” Parker asked, struggling to remain steady on his feet.
    “I’m helping him,” Justin muttered. “Don’t I always?”
    “Jake…” Emily licked her lips. “What about Ben?”
    They all stilled momentarily.
    “You know we had to leave him, Em,” he whispered, his eyes sending her a thousand apologies “He’s…he’s gone.”
    “No.” As the avalanche screamed on, making them all j cast uneasy glances over their shoulders; Emily shook her head with determined resolution even as tears streamed down her pale cheeks. “No. We have to go back and get him, Jake.” Her eyes were pleading on Jake’s. “Let’s go back and undo his seatbelt. We can’t–”
    “Em…” Jake’s face, pinched and frozen with cold, made his lips barely move.
    “We don’t have a choice.” He took her slim shoulders in his hands. “I’m so sorry. You know it’s the last thing I want–”
    “We can’t,” Emily wailed. “Please. Don’t do this to me.”
    Nina was forced to cast her eyes to her left as the avalanche continued to hammer the ground, making the ground under their booted feet feel as steady as a shredded dishcloth; the frenzy of it making it impossible to think straight.
    “We don’t have a choice, Em,” Jake repeated urgently. “We have no choice. There’s nothing we can do for him now. We have to save ourselves now.” He lifted her chin in an effort to make her damp eyes focus on him instead of the horror still clouding her mind. “You can do this,” he told her fiercely. “You can. Ben would want