A terrible silence seemed to expand within the gorge, pressing against me, making it hard to breathe. No whispering wind or rattling insect made a noise. No echo of shrieking bird or yipping coyote. I felt as if I tried to speak, the words would fall into a vacuum and hurtle through eternity, unheard by human ears. The sensation was eerie beyond description.
Zane, too, appeared to be in shock. Our reluctance to accept that Clint was gone isolated us from one another, creating an emotional distance neither one of us wanted to cross at that moment. To look each other in the eye, to truly connect, would mean facing the truth, and neither of us was ready.
Finally, I felt able to speak. “Stay with your brother,” I said. “I’ll go for help.”
My legs were numb as I retraced our steps but once
