Frozen Crossing

Morning came gray and dim. The fire was hours long since it went out and all that remained was a thin trail of smoke, bending into the cold. Frost sprayed all the surfaces the blankets, the branches, the faces of the slumbering people. The world seemed not to be alive when Annabelle opened her eyes, it seemed waiting until her first movement started again.

Ezra was already up. He was standing close to the ridge, and looked down into the forest. His breath was in white bursts. ...