Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick Read Free Book Online Page A

mountain.
    Still a good fifty yards above Alex, Ellie was coming down fast. The space between them was clotted with brush and gnarly pines jutting at weird angles. Alex could see much more clearly now where debris from higher up the slope funneled toward the chute which was now on her right as she faced into the mountain. This part of the trail wound in a rough, looping curlicue back and forth and well away from the chute, so safe enough. But Ellie was taking shortcuts, shaving off corners and sending down a continual shower of debris.
    And the kid was alone.
    Unbelievable. It was one thing for Alex to back off—she liked all her fingers, thanks—but what kind of kid left her dog ? “Hey, take it easy,” she called, annoyed. “I’ll wait.”
    She was too far away to see Ellie’s face, but Alex heard the scowl. “I’m fine,” Ellie shot back. “I’m not tired.”
    â€œThat’s not what I’m worried about. You’re kicking up a lot of rocks, and in case you haven’t noticed, I’m below you. I’d like to avoid getting brained, thanks.”
    Ellie said nothing. If anything, she went faster. Alex turned aside with a snort. Man oh man. Still clutching her water bottle in her left hand, she fished up her pack in a one-handed grab and hefted it onto her right shoulder. This kid was really cruising for a bruis—
    The shots were sharp, sudden, and utterly unmistakable: pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!
    Gunshots? Someone was shooting ? Her mind blanked and then she was crouching down fast, her frantic eyes scouring the valley. More shots—different, crisper, bigger—and she thought, Rifle. What the hell ?
    Ellie was so close, she heard the girl’s airy gasp of alarm and then the slither-crunch of Ellie’s boots sliding over rock. Alex saw the girl sway, arms windmilling, her boots stuttering back on the mountain. Alex ducked as a spray of rocks rained down around her head and shoulders. “Ellie,” she called, “don’t fight it. Sit down , sit—”
    Too late. Ellie’s center of gravity, already precarious, shifted.
    â€œNo!” Without thinking, Alex straightened—exactly the wrong move. Her water bottle flew from her hand, the water spraying in a wide corona, and then the bottle ricocheted off stone and out of sight. Balanced only on the hump of her shoulder, her unsecured pack caromed down her right arm like a luger on sheer ice and shot off her wrist. No, no! She made a wild snatching grab—another wrong move that pulled her out of the fall line and did no good anyway. Hurtling down the slope, the pack tumbled end over end, following the natural lie of the funnel before sliding into the chute. There it picked up speed, dragging an avalanche of loose stones in its wake before bouncing out of sight.
    Gone.
    She just had time to think, Oh shit. But that was all because she was off-balance, too, shifting on the mountain, swaying as her boots skidded and slipped on loose rock. With a wild shriek, she threw herself into the slope, her scrabbling fingers sliding over rock. Sharp stone sliced her fingers, cut into her palms. She thumped heavily to her butt, left leg crimped, nearly horizontal, like the blade of a jackknife she couldn’t quite close. Her knee bellowed with sudden pain, but she stopped falling.
    A scream. Alex’s eyes jerked up in time to see Ellie’s left boot kick up and away from the mountain, an exaggerated slapstick version of slipping on a banana peel. Still screaming, Ellie tumbled onto her side, sliding directly for the chute.
    â€œEllie!” Alex shouted. “Roll over, Ellie! Roll onto your stomach, roll over!” She thought the girl tried; saw the girl’s parka bunched in pink pillows as friction drove the material up the girl’s chest. Ellie slowed, but she did not stop.
    Move, move, move! Alex’s boots slid over loose rock as she sidestepped to her right. The