Wilderness Target by Sharon Dunn

She waited, listening, as her stomach jerked into her throat and her heart beat out an erratic rhythm. She heard their footsteps and hushed voices when they gave each other orders.
    She stood her ground, watching. They had to see her, just for a split second, or they might not give chase. Every instinct told her she should run. She planted her feet and swallowed her fear. She couldn’t hear Ezra’s voice anymore, but that didn’t mean he’d given up looking for her.
    Tree branches shook. She could track their clumsy footsteps as they stomped through the underbrush. Thirty feet away, she saw the bobbing of the flashlight.
    Don’s voice pierced her like an arrow. “There she is. I see her.”
    Clarissa took off running. Moonlight illuminated only bits and pieces of the landscape. She zigzagged through the woods, nearly stumbling over a fallen log. She could hear the men behind her as though they were breathing down her neck. Her leg muscles strained as she slipped through the evergreens.
    For at least twenty minutes, she could hear the thugs dogging her, pushing her to keep moving despite the fatigue. Slowly, though, their voices faded. She stumbled out into an opening. Down below, the ground grew steeper and rockier. She was sure they’d hiked through this area earlier in the day.
    Clarissa found a large overhang of rock. Curling up underneath it, she wrapped her hands around her calves and leaned forward. The shadows covered her. If they managed to come this direction, they wouldn’t see her here.
    She waited, shivering in the nighttime cold, wondering if she’d die out here alone. She didn’t know enough to keep herself alive. She needed Ezra’s knowledge. But staying with the group put them all at risk.
    Oh, God, help me, I don’t know what to do.
    In the predawn hours, she heard rocks rolling past her. When she peeked out, she saw the silhouettes of the two thugs as they moved back down the mountain. Hungry and ill-equipped, they’d given up for now. Neither of them seemed too crazy about being out in the wilderness. She had to hope that after their failure to find the group’s camp, they would wait it out, thinking she would come back into Discovery with the others and they could grab her then.
    She waited awhile longer and then pushed herself up the rocky hill. From there, she was able to find the river that led back to the camp. It had to be three or four in the morning. All the tents except Ezra’s were still zipped tight.
    Driven by a sense of responsibility, he’d been out looking for her. As she crawled into her tent and slid into the sleeping bag, she wondered what she could say to him. How much did he need to know? This really was her problem, and she could handle it.
    She zipped up the sleeping bag, allowing the warm down to surround her until her shivering stopped. A few minutes later she heard footsteps and the sound of Ezra getting back in his tent. She had slept for only a short time when she heard the clanging of pots banging against each other, and Ezra’s voice calling out, “Rise and shine, everybody. It’s time for breakfast.”
    Clarissa opened her eyes and stared at the roof of the tent, wishing she could continue to sleep. Ken’s and Jan’s groaning and lighthearted complaints reached her ears. She heard Leonard’s voice and Bruce’s, all of them joking with Ezra.
    She sat up and wiggled out of the sleeping bag.
    “Clarissa, come on, sleepyhead. We’ve got to get moving.” The voice was Jan’s.
    Wishing she could snuggle back in bed and recover the hours of sleep she’d missed out on, she leaned forward and unzipped her tent door. She crawled out of the tent and reached for her shoes. When she turned around, four sunny faces greeted her. Ezra stood off from the group, a look of betrayal clouding his features.
    * * *
    As he showed the others how to make coffee over the fire, Ezra could not let go of his suspicions about Clarissa. Where had she been all night? He’d finally