Chapter 6

To Elias's surprise, Adeline brought Ansel along and climbed into the car with him. "The more people we have, the more we can look out for each other on the road."

Elias didn't say anything. He just stepped on the gas, and the car shot off down the road.

Ansel and Adeline sat together in the back seat and flirted the whole way, treating Elias like he was nothing more than their driver.

When Ansel spotted the food in the back, he mocked Elias. "It's not like we're taking a bunch of kids on a field trip. Why'd you buy so many snacks?"

Adeline chimed in, "Exactly. We're not three-year-olds. Who's going to eat all this stuff?"

Elias stayed silent. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing left worth arguing with them about.

After five hours on the road, they finally reached the countryside. They were winding up a steep, rugged mountain road. They were nearly at the cemetery when dark clouds suddenly rolled across the sky, and a torrential downpour broke loose.

A mudslide came tumbling down the mountainside not far ahead, and Elias knew they couldn't go any farther. He picked out a wide, open clearing and pulled over.

The three of them waited in the car for a while, but the storm showed no sign of letting up. If anything, it only got worse.

Elias took out his phone and found that every top headline was about flash flooding. He tried to call for help, but at that very moment, all of their phones lost signal. Just like that, the three of them were stranded on the mountain.

That night, Adeline got hungry and started eating the snacks Elias had bought. Ansel couldn't resist the smell either and joined in. When Elias reached over to take some, Ansel turned him down.

"We don't know when we'll be rescued, and this is all the food we've got. We need to ration it."

Adeline nodded eagerly. "Ansel burns a lot of energy, so he needs to eat more. You'll just have to tough it out, Elias."

By the next day, the storm still showed no sign of easing, and Adeline was starting to fall apart. "How did this happen? Are we going to die out here?"

She clung tightly to Ansel and curled into a ball, afraid. Ansel was on edge, clutching the bag of snacks in the back seat even harder.

Five days passed like that, and Adeline and Ansel finished off all the food Elias had bought. The three of them lay in the car, barely clinging to life, but Elias was the weakest of all, since he'd hardly gotten any of the food.

Adeline cried and mumbled to herself, "I'm so hungry. I don't want to die."

Suddenly, something slammed into the side of the car with tremendous force. The impact left Elias seeing stars. He looked outside, and his heart sank. A wild bear had appeared out of nowhere and was attacking the car.

The black bear's eyes were bloodshot, and drool dripped steadily from its gaping jaws. It looked like the animal had been starving for days.

"I-It thinks we're food!" Ansel's voice was shaking.

Adeline huddled in his arms, her face deathly pale. "What do we do? It's going to tear the car apart!"

Ansel eyed Elias, slumped in the front seat and barely breathing, and a ruthless idea took hold. "What if we throw him out? Once the bear's eaten, it might just leave."

Adeline's head snapped up. She looked at the front seat, then back at Ansel, hesitation on her face.

Elias heard every word. He'd already given up all the food he'd bought to the two of them, and now Ansel wanted to throw him out to the bear just to save his own skin.

While Adeline was still hesitating, the bear smashed the back window with a single swipe of its paw.

With the bear's face only inches away, Adeline went white with terror, but she still threw herself in front of Ansel. She spread her arms wide, her teeth chattering.