Supernatural Fresh Meat - By Alice Henderson Page 0,58

the ground quaked and jumped, breaking into chunks that cracked and shifted. The vibrations moved up through his boots into his legs and torso until he could feel the tremors through his whole body, a deep thrumming at his core.

He scanned for the ranger, not seeing anything but the storm.

“Grace!” he shouted above the din.

Suddenly, the shaking stopped. The roar was instantly replaced with a hiss that faded to silence. Dean strained his ears. All he could hear was the quiet musical tinkle of snowflakes cascading down around him.

“Grace!” he shouted again.

There was crunching in the snow, and a second later she came running around the side of the cabin, breathless. Her cheeks were rosy from the cold, and she bent over, catching her breath.

“What was that?” Dean asked.

She pointed up and behind her, toward the obscured mountain slopes above them. She swallowed, her throat sounding dry. “Avalanche!” she said between gasps. “A huge one!” She shook her head, hands on her knees. “Thought it was going to arc this way and take us out!” She stood up, looking back. “As it is, it barely missed us. I’ve never heard one that huge.” She stared around her. “And it’s still snowing.”

Dean stepped aside as she moved into the warm cabin. She stripped out of her jacket and hat, tossing her gloves onto the couch.

“We can’t stay here, Dean. Another avalanche and we could easily be buried.”

He shut the door, then moved to the fireplace. Grace had evidently piled more logs on the fire before she went out.

“Someone built this cabin in an avalanche path?” he asked incredulously.

She shook her head. “No. It was probably fine for decades. But for a second the clouds parted, and I could see that one just took out a swath of the forest that was protecting this cabin. We couldn’t withstand another one, and they can come in swarms.”

Dean thought of Bobby and Sam. He suspected they were on the way back with the weapon. If they left now, they could hike out, avoid the avalanche, and get the weapon.

“I have to get back to my car.”

She put her hands on her hips, still laboring to breathe. “No—you can’t do that. You’d be walking right across the foot of the avalanche path. In fact…” She pulled out her map as her words trailed off. She spread it out on the coffee table and gestured him over. “I did some place finding out there. When the clouds parted for just a couple of minutes, it was long enough for me to see that we’re at the bottom of this escarpment here.” She pointed to a steep cliff on the map. “If you hike out to your car,” she trailed her finger along the path he would take, “you’re not just crossing this avalanche zone, but three more.” She met his gaze. “Dean, there’s a good chance you simply wouldn’t make it. And with it continuing to snow like this, the danger is just going to get worse.”

Dean felt his stomach sink. He had to reach Bobby and Sam.

“We can’t stay here, either.”

“Right.” Grace moved her finger to the symbol of a downhill skier on the map. “I think we should head for the Tahoe Summit Ski Resort. They’ve got to know about the avalanche danger, and the avalanche patrol might be able to do a controlled slide we won’t get caught in. That’ll release the pressure and we’d be able to hike safely across the avalanche zones.”

Dean studied the map. The ski resort lay six miles from where they were, and up one thousand vertical feet.

“Why would we be safer going there, crossing this area, instead of back toward the car?”

She pointed out the trail they would use. “It’s up and across some very dense forest. We’d be a lot safer doing that trek than trying to get out and crossing large open spaces. The ski resort will have electricity, food, water, emergency supplies, and a medic.”

Dean considered it. With electricity, he’d be able to recharge his phone and call Bobby and Sam. A ski resort also meant roads going up to it, and maybe they could reach him that way.

He looked at Grace, still concerned, but leaning her way. “If there really is such a high avalanche danger, how do you know if the resort will still be open? Wouldn’t they have evacuated it?”

“They would have evacuated the guests, but not the skeleton crew. The avalanche control team and the mountain manager will still be