When the huge man with the two guns finally spoke, it seemed like the entire forest exhaled

Elchanan couldn’t remember ever feeling the beat of his pulse before. He stood completely still, every nerve in his body tight and alert. For a moment, he couldn’t even breathe.

Then he collected himself and appraised the situation. Here they were, he and Avi, just barely concealed by the towering trees and the shadows. One wrong move would give them away. They couldn’t risk communicating, couldn’t make a sound.

And one thing was very obvious: There would be no getting back to the starting point of the trail tonight.

Something brushed his shoulder, startling him, and Elchanan struck out reflexively, his arm hitting Avi in the stomach.

“Ouch!” Avi whisper-yelped. Elchanan mouthed, “Sorry,” and then placed a finger on his lips, eyes sending urgent warning signals. Avi nodded, tight-lipped. “Let’s turn around, let’s go,” he breathed into Elchanan’s ear.

Elchanan glanced into the clearing. There were now around a dozen men standing at attention around the campfire, not speaking. The leader — Elchanan assumed those two guns meant he was the boss — paced before them, back and forth. An atmosphere of tense anticipation seemed to hang over the entire area.

“Wait,” he whispered to Avi, the word barely audible above the rustle of the wind in the trees. “One minute.”

It didn’t make sense to run away again, back up the trail they’d just struggled along twice already. No, they had to gather information, figure out what was going on, and then see if there was a way to circumvent this latest danger to get out of the forest before morning.

When the huge man with the two guns finally spoke, it seemed like the entire forest exhaled.