Read Online Home: A Stranded Novel by Theresa Shaver - Free Book Online Page A

would find at her home. She had been so happy to see Mr. Dennison alive and well that her heart was filled with hope at the prospect of seeing her father.
    The girls caught sight of the road through the trees so they slowed down and approached it cautiously. They stayed inside the tree line following the road until they came to a section that dipped down. They could cross there without being seen from a distance. After waiting a few minutes and listening for any sounds of people nearby, they dashed across and were quickly concealed in the trees again. Alex and Emily continued through the forest without speaking. Both of them were consumed with both worry and hope for what they were about to see. It had been so long since they had seen their families and now they were close to getting some answers.
    As the girls moved through the trees , they started to hear a faint rhythmic noise. At first they couldn't make out what was causing the sounds, but the further they walked, the louder it got. They finally came to a stop. Emily pulled out a water bottle and took a drink before handing it to Alex.
    “Wood chopping ,” Emily said.
    Alex cocked her head to the side and listened. She could hear many axes banging against wood and the sound of a tree cracking and then falling came to her. She nodded her head at Emily.
    “You’re right. They’re cutting down trees. We are going to have to get around them. Hopefully they aren’t too deep in and they are cutting close to the field.” She scanned the trees around them and pointed out a large solid one.
    “Your turn! See if you can get high enough to see how far away they are.”
    Emily strode over to the tree Alex had pointed out and studied the branches before dropping her pack.
    “Give me a lift, please.”
    Alex laced her hands together and Emily placed her boot into them. With a heave , Alex helped her friend up so that she could easily reach the lowest branch. Emily might not have Alex’s gymnast flexibility but she had spent just as much time climbing trees. She made her way from branch to branch until Alex lost sight of her behind the leaves. Alex kept her eyes and ears on the forest around them. She didn’t want to take a chance that someone would stumble upon them. Her anxiety was at an all-time high before Emily finally jumped down from the tree.
    Emily picked a s crap of bark that had slivered into her palm while she told Alex what she had seen.
    “I couldn’t see any people from up there but I could see the trees they are working on swaying around. They’re about two hundred yards ahead and closer to the tree line at the field. If we stay on this heading, we should have about thirty to forty feet between us and them,” she finished and then blew on her burning, scraped palm.
    Alex turned away from her friend and looked in the direction of the chopping. She thought about what to do for a minute and then turned back.
    “Okay, we’ll keep our distance but it’d be great if we could get close enough to hear anyone talking. We can go up into the trees to get a better look at who’s down there but I don’t like the idea of being up a tree if we are spotted. I’d rather be on the ground if we are seen so we can run if we need to. What do you think?”
    Emily grinned, “Super sneaky ninja mode?”
    Alex smothered a laugh. “Yup, super sneaky ninja mode!”
    Both girls were smiling at the many memories of sneaking up on the boys while they camped out. It was a game the group had played many times. They had to sneak up to the other's campsite and pull some kind of prank before getting away undetected. When they had left for the school trip, Alex and Emily had been in the lead by two pranks. It was no contest for the girls with Josh always giving away the boys. As hard as he tried, he just couldn’t move silently through the woods and the girls always caught them before they could pull their prank.
    Alex pulled the dark cap she was wearing down further on her head.