He'd thought to find some place in the road where the snow had melted off completely but then he thought that since their tracks would not reappear on the far side it would be no help. They kicked snow over the fire and went on through the trees and circled and came back. They hurried, leaving a maze of tracks and then they set out back north through the woods keeping the road in view.

-- The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. Vintage Books: pp 104

But there was no sign left of the bears from the night before. He put out his hand and stopped, waiting, listening in the whistling wind for the hungry animals that stalk the forest.

"I think we're safe," the girl said.

He shook his head but began moving anyway, ignoring the way the cold cut his cheeks until he couldn't feel them anymore. They couldn't stop after this, not for more than five minutes at a time, and only if they have to. The woods are never safe. He shouldn't have listened to her. Their tracks, no matter how confusing, are still a sign of food.

The girl walked beside him and wrapped her coat more tightly. Her hands were pale, probably numb, but at least they weren't blue. Yet. "Sorry I made that fire last night," she said. "Are you still mad at me?"

A twig snapped nearby, and immediately they stopped moving, holding their breaths as they took in the sounds around them.

He finally relaxed. "No," he said. It wasn't worth it, dealing with things that have already passed. The next best option would be to leave her, but they've come this far and there was still farther to go. Besides, the bears have better ears in the wintertime for careless, arguing people.

She frowned, and closed her eyes. "You're lying."

They followed the road silently for the rest of the way, stopping just once to empty the snow out of their boots. The sun disappeared in the grey sky, its silhouette just a shadow of itself until finally it wasn't there anymore, and the forest was black and angry again. But in the distance he could see faint lights blinking their way through the trees.

He could see the girl stumbling and caught her arm just as she tripped, her eyes tiredly staring into his before they narrowed into the distance. "Ah," she said, her voice a faint sigh. "We're here."