Page 124 of Tangled up in You

“I won’t lie to her,” Chris said.

“I wanted honesty,” she told Mark. “And I knew my fellow sparkly vampire unicorn would tell me the truth.”

Mark’s weighty sigh worried her. “Don’t give up hope.”

“I’m not. But I’d rather the outcome exceed my expectations than have my hopes dashed.”

“That,” Chris said.

“Besides, it’d really suck to die and not even check one single kinky thing off my sexual bucket list,” she added, trying to lighten the mood.

That made Chris laugh. “If we’re stuck here long enough, feel free to tell us some of those things. Maybe we can help.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” she snarked back, feeling relieved when Mark chuckled. “What do we do now? Just sit here and wait?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Mark said.

“Guess playing ‘I Spy’ will get old real fast,” she said.

“‘Two Truths and a Lie?’” Chris suggested.

“Hey, you’re both scientists,” Mark protested. “You’ll bury me. Give me a fair chance.”

“Technically I’m an engineer,” she noted. “But what do you suggest?”

“I don’t know.” He stared out at the snow. “Anything to take our minds off this.”

CHRISTOPHER

If it was just him and Mark, he had an easy answer for what theycould do to kill time.

All kidding and wishful thinking aside, he didn’t want to alienate Jesse and make the next couple of days more uncomfortable.

Before she awakened, he and Mark held a whispered conversation about the depth of how truly fucked they were.

Unfortunately, this situation realistically had non-zero chances of killing them, but their odds still looked pretty good.

For now.

“Could you try to make the cabin by yourself and I stay here with her?” he asked Mark.

He shook his head. “No. We’re not splitting up. I don’t even know if it’s accessible now. Not to mention my map was on the mules.”

“Shit.”

“Exactly. I know if we keep heading west we’ll hit a road even if we lose the trail. I’d rather stay here and start a signal fire once it stops snowing. That would be our best chance if we can’t get out.”

“How long before they start looking?” Chris asked.

“Depends on if the mules show up without us before the permit expires. Sam will sound the alarm as soon as they do, but they can’t fly choppers until the weather clears.”

Once Jesse woke up Mark shushed him.

Now they sat there, staring at the snow and making small talk, Jesse between them.

“Why’d you become a botanist?” Jesse asked him.

“Well, my dad wasn’t happy when I surprised him with the news that I wasn’t spending the money he gave me for college on a law degree, but to become a botanist.”

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