Just a little bit further. That’s all. Just a little bit further. Jack’s mind raced in the darkness. He had no idea if that was true, but in this type of weather, he’d take just about any positive thought that crossed the mind. Walking through snow is one thing. Walking through a full on blizzard is quite another.

“How much further you think?,” yelled Julie over the wind. Jack had no idea, but what could he tell her? “Up ahead a bit more. Keep moving. It helps with the circulation.”

The force of the wind weighed mightily against Jack’s body as he struggled to continue to put one foot in front of the other. His toes were beginning to numb, even with the extra layer of thermal socks under his thick boots. This was not going to be easy. They needed to think of something and think of it fast.

“I thought you said, back when you talked me into this, that Clay would meet us with the car?” “What the heck happened?,” said Julie with no uncertain tone of resentment in her voice.

Clay. Why did she have to bring up Clay again?, Jack silently contemplated. It wasn’t just any name or any person. It was always Clay with her. Clay had been his rival once. His doppelgänger if you will, and it was now clear that Clay had gotten his hooks in Julie.

“Look, just keeping walking. It won’t do either of us any good reminiscing about the past,” said Jack gruffily. He knew Julie still had feelings for Clay. That much was clear.

Still, all of that didn’t matter right now. If Jack couldn’t think of someway to get themselves out of here, there’d be no need to worry about Clay. They’d be frozen and preserved for the next 1,000 years by morning.

“Is that light ahead?,” asked Julie suddenly. “Well, it ain’t a black hole,” Jack retorted sarcastically. He thought he could almost hear an eye roll from Julie through the wind and trudging of their feet.

The narrow trail they had been following was slowly beginning to widen. The forest on either side of them suddenly seemed just a little less ominous, although the darkness emitting from its depth still seemed to swallow them both up. Jack could see the glow ahead getting a little brighter with each step. The glow seemed to pull them forward now as though they were in the clutches of a tractor beam.

“It’s can’t be far now! “Do you remember what you need to do once we get there?,” asked Jack. Once again, Jack got the sense of another annoyed eye roll from Julie.

“Don’t you trust me?,” said Julie.

“Yeah, but…”

“Well then let me do my thing, and I’ll let you do yours,” said Julie.

“I’m just saying…”

“Like hell you’re just saying. Are you going to keep at this all night? Why don’t you trust me? What more do I have to prove to you?,” Julie said angrily. “You’ve been on my case ever since I brought Clay in on this deal. I’m not the one who screwed up here. I’m not the reason we’ve had to trudge through this ridiculous blizzard in the middle of nowhere because you can’t get your act together!,” Julie continued.

Jack could sense she had stopped behind him. He turned to face her. “I’m not questioning your trust. I’m questioning your judgment. It’s Clay I don’t trust,” he responded.

“Knock it off. You really think I wanted to bring Clay in on this job? We didn’t have a choice. I’m trying to figure this out while you’re just dithering in the past!”

Those words cut right through Jack’s heart. How could she say that? Jack could feel his own anger now bubbling up.

“Oh, I’m the one dithering am I? I’m the one who got us into this mess? What is that, some kind of joke? Too bad you didn’t try out for some stand up act because you’d be their number one performer! What a joke!,” seethed Jack. Even Jack could tell how pathetically juvenile that sounded. It was the best he could muster under the circumstances though.

Julie was about to launch her own counterattack when suddenly they both heard a voice say:

“Your time is up! Better run!”

The words sliced through the air like the wind they were riding on. Jack and Julie paused, listening fervently to where those words had come from.

The wind was still howling, but somehow all seemed quiet. The glowing light ahead still beckoned them, but seemed less powerful. The focus on their nearby surroundings of these two souls seemed to slow the world around them. Jack was pretty sure they were the only two souls there in that moment anyhow.

Just as quickly as the world around them slowed, was as quickly as it came back to full life. The wind seemed louder. The glow ahead became ever so brighter. The forest less menacing than a moment earlier.

“You heard that too, right?,” Julie asked nervously. “Yeah, I heard it” Jack said equally nervous.

“Wasn’t that in the letter you got today?,” asked Julie.

“What?”

“Those words. ‘Your time is up. Better run.’ Wasn’t that in the letter you got today?”

Jack knew full well what Julie meant. He knew full well that their time, or at least his time, was up. And now he had gotten Julie involved. Everyone before Jack who had gotten that message and heard those words eventually ran out time. He was the last one left. He would have to let Julie in on it now. There was no turning back.

He had to get to that light ahead. That was his only hope. That light meant freedom. That light meant new life. The voice in the woods was summoning him, and he had no where else to run to. He had to keep moving forward.

Just a little further. That’s all. Just a little further.