“We are. But that’s our past. We have our whole futures ahead of us. Let’s not waste a single moment of them.” She hugged Gina briefly. “Now, let’s go. Our men are waiting.”
“Our men.” Gina nodded and then left the plane that had threatened to end their lives. The same plane where four people had found love, and the courage to fight their way down the mountain and grab hold of the new life that awaited them.
A life filled with love and passion.
We have to make it first, her bear reminded her with sobering words.
“We’ll make it.” Linda spoke the words out loud, telling herself, Gina, and the very mountain itself, that they would all move on from this to better lives.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Gina asked when Craig positioned himself in front of the sled and picked up the harness.
“It’s the best idea.” Linda helped Gina get settled next to Joaquin, and then charged her with the task of keeping a close eye on Joaquin while keeping herself warm and not allowing the food to fall off. She also slid a long stick onto the sled which Joaquin could use as a walking stick if the worst happened and they had to abandon the sled and walk.
“That doesn’t make it a good idea, does it?” Joaquin asked, his teeth chattering as the cold wind began to bite.
“No, it doesn’t, but we can’t stay here.” Craig swept the ridge above them with his senses. Linda had learned to read his expressions and this one troubled her.
“What’s wrong?” It seemed Gina had also learned to read Linda’s expressions.
“Nothing. Craig is just scanning the area.” She winced, that was no explanation at all.
“For what?” Joaquin asked, lifting himself up on to his elbows. The pain on his face was matched by a determination to protect Gina if he had to.
“Anything.”
Yes, a much better answer, her bear commented drily.
“You mean he’s checking that we aren’t about to be ambushed.” Gina made to get off the sled.
“Stay there.” Linda pushed her back down as Craig took the strain. “We’re okay.”
“Hold tight,” Craig called over his shoulder and the sled jerked forward at a slow pace.
“How does it feel?” Linda asked, wading through the snow to his side and checking the straps.
“Once the sled is moving it’s easy. I don’t know how robust the straps are, but they should get us a good way down the mountain.” He gave her an uneasy smile.
“And then what?” she asked quietly and earned a shrug in return.
The first couple of hundred feet down into the valley were easy. The deep snow supported the sled and Craig waded forward with ease. However, as they dropped lower they encountered hidden pockets of deep snow which nearly swallowed Craig whole. They tried to skirt the center of the valley and continue along the rocky edges in the same way they had the previous nights, but the sled bumped and scraped along, jarring Joaquin.
Eventually they returned to the center of the valley and Linda went ahead, testing the ground with the long branch she’d stashed on the sled for Joaquin to use as a walking stick. It made for a slow journey, but at least they were all safe and Craig wasn’t expending too much energy fighting his way out of snowdrifts.
An hour later they reached the tree line where Linda and Craig had collected the wood last night. It all looked so different in the light of day. The trees were huddled together at the mouth of the valley and Linda had to help Craig maneuver the sled between the slender trunks of the pine trees. It wasn’t easy, but their combined strength was enough to weave the sled in and out of the trees and they soon glimpsed the other side of the wooded copse.
“Great, more snow,” Gina said as they broke out of the cover of the trees.
“What did you expect?” Linda asked as she crouched down and then lifted the sled which was snagged on a half-buried fallen tree.
“It’s not so much what I expected, more of what I hoped.” Disappointment filled Gina’s voice.
Craig heaved with all his strength and the sled shot forward. He increased his pace, making use of the momentum created by the steep downhill slope. Linda fought to keep up with him as the sled skimmed across the densely packed snow. Floundering, she nearly went face down in a snowdrift but managed to stay on her feet.
“Are you okay?” Craig called as he leaned backward against the harness and slowed the sled down.
“Yes. Don’t stop on my account,” Linda told him breathlessly, feeling like an idiot and probably looking like one, too.
Craig wrangled the sled under control and slowed to a steady walk. “How are you guys doing in there?”
“Okay.” Gina’s strained voice was swept away by the strengthening wind.
“Things are about to get rougher,” Craig announced. “As we come out of this valley we’ll be caught in a crosswind. So hold on tight.”
“Let me check Joaquin first,” Linda called. She also needed a moment to catch her breath. The snow-covered terrain was tougher than she’d expected, and the wind made everything ten times harder. Which meant the journey was almost impossible.
Almost, her bear said. But we can do this.
We can. Linda went around the sled and leaned down to check on Joaquin. “How are you doing?”
“He’s cold and in pain.” Gina ignored the mutinous look Joaquin sent her way. “There’s no use denying it.”
“Can you cope a little longer?” Craig asked. He’d slowed to a halt and turned to face the sled. “Once we cross the valley below we should be in more sheltered terrain.” He pointed to the high sides of the valley below. “We can take a rest once we’re through.”
“Go.” Joaquin adjusted his position and turned his face away from Linda and Gina.
“Men,” Gina huffed, but the look of concern on her face was real.
“What can I do to help?” Linda asked Craig as she joined him at the front of the sled.
“I need you to make sure the sled doesn’t flip over. The wind is coming northeastward. So you need to stay on this side and stop the sled from flipping that way.” He indicated the direction of the wind.
Linda nodded and dropped back to stand halfway along the sled. “Good to go.”
Craig nodded, his face a mask of concentration as he leaned into the harness and started them moving once more. As the sled slid over the snow, Linda looked back in the direction of the plane, but it was out of sight. They had come further than she thought. The mad dash down the valley, once they’d broken out of the cover of the trees, had allowed them to cover a lot of ground.
But they had much more ground before them. As she swung her head back around to look in the direction they were moving, something caught her eye. There, high above the cliff to her left, was an eagle. On silent wings it circled on an invisible thermal.
She pushed her senses out as far as they would go and then pushed further. Nothing. Either it was too far away, or it was simply a bird in flight. Tearing her attention away from the large bird, she examined Craig’s expression. If he knew it was there and that it was a shifter, he wasn’t letting on. Maybe he had the right idea. They had bigger problems right now. If they didn’t make it across the next section of the mountain then it wouldn’t matter if they were being spied on or not.
Chapter Twelve – Craig
That damn bird was out there ghosting them along the ridge. Linda had seen it, too. However, by the way she was staring at Craig she didn’t know it was a shifter. But Craig did. Now, if only he had a rifle he would blast the thing out of the sky.
His temper flared but he channeled his aggression into pulling the sled. This was going to take all his strength. As if to confirm this, a strong gust swept the top layer of snow from the ground and spun it in eddies around his face. Great.
Wiping his face on his sleeve, Craig gripped the harness straps with his hands and leaned forward, digging his heels in as he fought to gain a good foothold in the soft snow. For a few steps all he seemed to do was
sink further and further. But then, slowly, they began to move downhill, the sled skimming over the ground as he built up speed.
He could have gone faster, but he knew Linda was struggling to keep up and he didn’t want to risk flipping the sled. If Joaquin took another tumble even off the low sled, his broken ribs might puncture his lung. And that wasn’t something he could deal with.
Sweeping all thoughts of Joaquin’s blood splattering across the white snow out of his head, he dug deep into his energy reserves and pumped his legs like pistons. As they left the long steep valley, the crosswind from the northeast blasted him in the side of the head and he faltered, his body swaying as he tried to regain his balance.
Behind him, Gina cried out, but he couldn’t risk looking back, he had to trust that Linda could deal with any issues that might arise.
He smiled to himself. He made it all sound so clinical. It was as if he were talking about an object, not two people who might lose their lives if he messed up. With renewed purpose he plowed forward, one foot in front of the other as he dragged the sled behind him. Focus. That was all he could do. Keep focusing on the line of rocks that stuck out from the next valley and would give them shelter.
As if mocking them, the eagle moved across to the next valley and swooped down in an effortless dive, only to rise again as he caught a thermal. What he wouldn’t give to get his hands on that scrawny neck and wring it slowly.
With a long, low growl, he pulled forward, forever forward, even when the sled slipped to the side and nearly dragged him to his knees. Looking around he saw Linda using her wonderfully powerful body to straighten the sled. She was magnificent. Tall, broad-shouldered, a goddess amongst the other women he’d met in his life.
The thought of her gave him the strength to steady the sled and keep them moving forward, until at last he collapsed onto his knees in the snow with the sled safely tucked around the line of rocks.
“You did it.” Linda’s breathless statement made him stagger to his feet.
“We did it.” He shrugged the harness off and let it drop to the ground.
Linda came to him and threw herself into his arms. It was only then he noticed the cut on her cheek. “You’re hurt.”
“It’s just a scratch. The stick we put on the sled to help Joaquin walk flipped up and caught me on the cheek.” She put her fingers up to her face and wiped the blood away. “It’s nothing.”
He cursed himself for not being more careful, for allowing her to get hurt. Then he took a deep breath and let it go. He would never be able to protect her from every little thing life threw their way without stifling her completely. “We can rest here.”
His muscles ached, the strain of guiding the sled across the open terrain with the wind threatening to rip the harness from his shoulders had left him tired and he needed a few minutes to regain his strength. They also needed to check on their passengers and offer them something to drink. Dehydration was as much a threat as the cold.
“Here.” Linda pulled the water bottle they’d filled with melted snow from inside her jacket and offered it to him. “I’ll refill it with snow once we’ve all drank, if I keep it close to my body it will melt.”
Craig longed to put his hands inside her jacket and feel the softness and warmth of her skin. “Good thinking.”
She gave him a brief smile as he handed the water bottle back to her and then she turned away and went to Gina and Joaquin. “Here, drink. I’m afraid we can’t eat until later.”
“Are we through the worst?” Gina asked hopefully.
“We can’t tell,” Craig answered quickly. “We don’t know what’s between us and the nearest town.”
Gina took a drink and handed the bottle to Joaquin who fought to sit up. “Thanks. That was some task,” Joaquin said to Craig. “I never knew you were so strong.”
“It’s the bear shifter in them,” Gina told Joaquin. “Linda could have been the star of the wrestling team at college if she’d showed off her strength.”
“I already stuck out like a sore thumb without beating up all the boys, too.” Linda crouched down, hiding her face as she scooped up snow and fed it into the small opening of the water bottle.
“We might be grateful you’re so strong before this journey is through,” Joaquin told Linda gently. He reached out a tentative hand and placed it on Linda’s shoulder. “You should never hide or be ashamed of who you are.”
Linda stood up and brushed the snow off her knees. “That’s easy to say when you fit in.”
“I know. But you are assuming I did fit in.” Joaquin lay back on the sled.
“And you didn’t?” Gina asked with interest.
“My family started with nothing. I think my parents were what you call upwardly mobile, they fought tooth and nail for what they have. But that meant moving around a lot, they bought one business, made it a success and traded up constantly. I was always the weird boy from out of town with no friends. Aside from my sister, she was my best friend. Like I said, weird.”
“I think Craig is the only one not screwed up by his family,” Gina said.
Craig stretched out his muscles. “My family loved me. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t a screw-up. I never really saw it until I left the Army, but my future was decided for me before I was even born. I had no choices.”
“The Army or the highway?” Linda asked, slotting the water bottle under her jacket.
“Something like that.” Craig stared at the clifftops, searching for the eagle who was spying on them. “I don’t think they’d have ever kicked me out, but they would have been so disappointed. My dad, my grandpa…” He broke off, not wanting to open up fully in front of so many people.
“Our kids will never feel that way,” Linda assured him. “They’ll always be loved and always know they have their own choices.”
He smiled faintly at her. “I’m glad we agree on that.” He chuckled. “I’m glad we agree on having kids.”
“Kids are the most important thing. They are our legacy.” She came to him, her hands, warm despite the chill air, cupping his face and then she kissed his lips.
Behind them, Gina rested back on the sled and gazed up at the sky, while next to her Joaquin lay awkwardly on the hard metal with no idea his child was already growing inside the woman he loved.
“We should get moving. There is a lot of mountain between us and a phone signal.” He kissed Linda one last time before he picked up the harness once more.
“I could take a turn,” Linda offered as he tightened the straps.
“I can do it for now. Perhaps when we next stop we can swap around.” He looked up at the overhanging cliff above their heads which had given them shelter from the wind. “It’s going to be a tough journey. Keep your senses keen.”
She nodded, and a faraway look crossed her face as she sent her senses out roaming across the mountain. Linda had never looked more beautiful than in this moment with snow in her hair and her cheeks flushed pink with exertion. She was strong, and he was sure if they worked together, they would get down from the mountain in one piece. As long as that eagle kept his distance and didn’t alert anyone else to their presence.
“He’s out there, isn’t he?” Linda asked, and he jerked his attention back to the present, unaware that his mind had drifted away, following the flight of the eagle now hidden from view above their heads.
“He is. Maybe I should make a slingshot and knock him out of the sky.”
Linda chuckled. “Now, I like the sound of that. If you knocked him out of the sky, we could pluck him like a turkey until he coughed up all the details of who hired him.”
“Now I’m doubly tempted.” Craig put his weight into the harness and pulled the sled forward a couple of inches. His muscles bunched and strained as he took one more step, and then another until they were moving along at a steady pace. “I was only planning on preventing him from going back to wherever he came from with news of our whereabouts. But plucking the damn thing makes much more sense.”
>
“Could we do it?” Linda asked, the idea of ridding themselves of the spy in the sky becoming more appealing. “Could we set a trap?”
Craig increased their speed and cleared the shadow of the mountain, taking them back out into the wind. Although it was calmer here without the crosswind, it was still cold and their two passengers in the sled huddled together as a flurry of snowflakes fell around them. He considered Linda’s question. Could they take the bird out of the sky without hurting him too much or maybe killing him?
“Craig?” Linda pushed for an answer.
“We could. Perhaps tonight we could come up with a plan.” He glanced upward, his eyes resting on the speck of a bird high in the sky. “But right now we can’t afford the time to stop and make a slingshot.”
“Tonight.” Linda shivered. “I’m not looking forward to a night in the mountains if we can’t find somewhere sheltered for Gina and Joaquin.”
“If we have to, we’ll shift and let our bears keep them warm.” He pressed his lips into a thin line. He might sound confident they could keep the others warm simply by shifting, but if the snow got heavier they would all get wet, and even a nice warm bear sleeping by their side would not stop hypothermia from setting in.
So we find a cave, his bear said. We can make this work.
We will make it work, and as soon as we get the chance we pounce on that stupid bird and make him squawk.
His bear liked that idea. He liked it a lot.
Chapter Thirteen – Linda
The day could have gone worse. But it could have gone better.
After the mad dash across the valley with the crosswinds buffeting them like a ship on the ocean, they had settled down for a long slow trudge forever downward. But no matter how many hours they walked, they didn’t see any signs of life and their cell phones didn’t find a signal.
“I think I know where we are,” Craig said as he unhitched himself from the sled. They had taken turns pulling the metal sheet over the snow, but despite her height and strength, Linda had struggled.
“You say it as if I don’t want to know.” Linda helped him place the harness safely on the sled and then they went around to talk to Gina and Joaquin.
Survivor Bear Page 9
