The wind screamed through Hellgate Pass as the stranger knelt beside Nora Whitcomb.<\/p>\n
Snow hit his face hard enough to blur his vision, but he didn\u2019t look away from her trapped legs.<\/p>\n
Silas kept the revolver raised.<\/p>\n
\u201cMake it quick,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n
The stranger ignored him.<\/p>\n
His gloved hands tested the broken wheel, then the wagon frame. One wrong move would crush her further.<\/p>\n
Nora whimpered, teeth chattering. \u201cI can\u2019t feel my legs\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know,\u201d the man said quietly.<\/p>\n
Ruth sobbed behind Silas, while Matthew stood frozen, helpless in the storm.<\/p>\n
The stranger glanced at the frozen axle.<\/p>\n
Then at the shifting snow beneath it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn my signal,\u201d he said calmly.<\/p>\n
Silas frowned. \u201cWhat signal?\u201d<\/p>\n
But the man had already shifted position.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silas hesitated\u2014then fired into the air instead of at him.<\/p>\n
The shot echoed through the pass.<\/p>\n
The wagon jolted as the stranger used the sound to his advantage, kicking a support stone free. The wheel shifted just enough.<\/p>\n
Nora screamed.<\/p>\n
\u201cPull her out!\u201d the man barked.<\/p>\n
For a split second, Silas moved.<\/p>\n
Matthew rushed forward, grabbing Nora under the arms while the stranger held the wagon steady with pure force, snow and wood creaking under strain.<\/p>\n
Then\u2014<\/p>\n
Nora slid free.<\/p>\n
Silas immediately lowered the gun, stunned.<\/p>\n
The stranger stepped back as the wagon collapsed fully into the snow behind them.<\/p>\n
He knelt beside Nora, checking her breathing.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s alive,\u201d he said simply.<\/p>\n
Silas stared at him, breathing hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou trained for this,\u201d he muttered.<\/p>\n
The stranger didn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n
Instead, he looked up the pass.<\/p>\n
Where fresh tracks in the snow were already forming.<\/p>\n
Too many.<\/p>\n
Too fast.<\/p>\n
His voice dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re still coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
The storm suddenly felt louder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The wind screamed through Hellgate Pass as the stranger knelt beside Nora Whitcomb. Snow hit his face hard enough to blur his vision, but he didn\u2019t look away from her trapped legs. Silas kept the revolver raised. \u201cMake it quick,\u201d he warned. The stranger ignored him. His gloved hands tested the broken wheel, then the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}