The first week in the cabin passed in a haze of fever, pain, and the crackling of the fireplace.
The storm that had driven them off the mountain hadn't let up; it had transformed into a blizzard that blanketed the entire region in white. The world outside the window was a void of swirling snow. They were cut off. Completely and utterly alone.
For Caleb, it was a torture of a different kind.
He was a man of action, a predator used to dominating his environment. Now, he was reduced to a wreck of a man lying on a moth-eaten sofa, his legs splinted and useless. He couldn't fetch his own water. He couldn't relieve himself without help. He couldn't even stand to look out the window.
The fever was the worst. It came in waves, turning his skin to parchment and his mind to mush. He drifted in n
