They drove through the rest of the morning beneath a dense canopy that swallowed the sky. The road had disappeared some time ago, giving way to narrow game trails, deep mud, and rocky inclines that would have snapped the axle of an ordinary vehicle.
They passed Damon’s dried fruit and protein bars back and forth as the cab rocked and swayed beneath them.
Finnegan hadn’t exaggerated when he said they would be climbing the mountain rather than driving up it. At one point, they had been forced to stop so he could secure the winch around the trunk of a massive oak. The tires spun furiously in the mud while the cable strained, dragging the truck inch by inch up the slick embankment.
The mountain climber clawed its way over boulders, crushed fallen branches beneath its tires, and forced a pat
