"ADRIAN!"
Aubrey's voice tore across the frozen landscape.
The wind swallowed it whole.
It carried the name into the white abyss before throwing nothing back.
"ADRIAN!"
Terri tried next.
Her hands cupped around her mouth, her voice cracking before the final syllable even left her lips.
Nothing.
Cherie called after that.
Then Naomi.
Even Isabella, who rarely wasted words, lifted her voice into the storm.
One after another.
One after another.
Each name disappeared into the blizzard as though the world itself refused to acknowledge it.
No answer ever came.
Snow drifted sideways in relentless sheets, reducing the world to shifting shades of white and gray. Every few seconds another gust rolled through, forcing everyone to narrow their eyes just to keep them open. Visibility stretched only a few yards before the storm swallowed everything beyond it.
The group had retraced every step they could remember.
Back to the depot.
Back to the road.
