by D C Little
Laurie wrapped an arm around her as they walked back to the gathering dwelling. “It never gets easier.”
“No, it doesn’t. I’m glad Arland is staying here with you.”
Laurie’s cheeks pinked. “Me, too.”
Kris bit her tongue. She wanted to know more, but she wouldn’t press the woman. Laurie would open up when she was ready.
Lexi caught up with them, though her gaze followed the path the men had disappeared on. Kris followed her line of vision and saw the form of Butler striding back through the path of snow.
“Hey,” Lexi said, finally tearing her eyes off the man making his way back into camp.
Kris wondered about that relationship. Butler never seemed to lead her on, though it was obvious he cared for her and saw her as a friend. A lesser man would have done more, being separated from his wife.
Butler’s quiet pensiveness always made Kris wonder what went on inside his mind. Did he open up with Lexi?
“Hey, you really don’t mind staying with us?” Kris asked.
“Not at all. It will be like a vacation.” She lightly knocked into her, sending Mercy, who had finally fallen asleep, into quiet murmurs. “Oh no, I’m sorry.”
Lexi reached out to touch Mercy, but pulled her hand away, pain lining her eyes.
“She’s fine,” Kris said, watching her friend, and once again wondering about her past. “I appreciate it.” She glanced toward Butler still far in the distance. “I trust Butler. It would feel odd having a man sleeping in my dwelling without my husband there, you know?”
“I get it,” Lexi said with a nod, her eyes falling on Butler again. “He is trustworthy and loyal to a T.”
“That’s what I’ve noticed as well.” Laurie picked up the basket at her feet. “Well, shall we start our first day of school?”
A thrum of purpose flooded Kris, temporarily filling the emptiness that opened when Blake left. She knew it would be back once the day was finished, but for now, she would put herself fully into the moment, and this new and wonderful venture they began...a wilderness school.
~4~
Blake eased his pack off at the rise. He pulled out his binoculars to scan the pristine landscape. Nothing disturbed the blanket of snow...well, a few animal tracks and the usual smatterings under the trees from falling snow. No sign of human life, not that many would even attempt to live out in the wilderness in such a winter.
They were making it. Sure, they had almost eaten through his entire stockpile of freeze-dried meals and all of their stores, but they still pushed on. The men beside him didn’t complain. Not even Brent. He had expected him to grumble, but the man barely said a word.
“How are all of your snowshoes holding up?” Blake walked through to each man, checking bindings and ties.
“They’re pretty incredible. I mean, they aren’t MSRs or anything, but they work great for what they are.”
“MSRs?” David asked before swigging back some water.
“Yeah, some of the best all-terrain snowshoes you can get. If you become skilled enough, you can run in them.” Kevin swung his pack around, dug into it, and pulled out a banged up canteen.
“You know, before all this happened, I had considered myself a pretty knowledgeable guy," David said. "I was top of my company, provided very well for my family, won on trivia night...but man, I think I have learned more in this last year and a half than I did my entire eight years at university.”
“There are many areas of knowledge, David. Together we provide everything our community needs.” Blake slapped his friend on the back before making his way back to his pack and checking their path into the lower country.
“See any game tracks?” Brent asked from beside him.
“Only small game, like rabbit and such. The deer know when to hightail it to the lowlands,” Blake answered, before stuffing his binoculars away.
“How far do you think we’ll need to go?” Kevin asked, his pack back on and looking as if he awaited orders. “Will we have to go all the way back?”
Blake’s gaze rested on the direction of his house. He longed to see if it still stood and how ransacked it was, but where there were houses, there were people. People were the one thing he didn’t want to run into.
“We head northwest, away from settlements and into the land beyond. It’s risky, though. I figure, even if there is snow at three thousand, it will be shallow enough for deer to dig out the acorns and grass shoots.”
He longed to go to the valley so near his property line, but it was too close. Who knew if Meyers and his men stayed in the area for winter or if they had moved on? He didn’t want to take the chance of running into them again.
“I know you said we were bow hunting, but so you know, I’m packing,” Kevin said, patting his side.
“Me, too,” Blake patted his side as well and grinned. “I didn’t expect you to leave them at home, I just didn’t want the extra attention unless needed.”
“I like the idea,” David added. “Besides, I’ve gotten pretty good with this ancient weapon.”
“It’s always been one of my favorites,” Blake said, as he hooked his bow around him after donning on his backpack. “It’s silent and deadly.”
“Yeah, especially with those wicked tips,” Brent said, eye-balling the broadhead points at the end of his arrows.
“They do help,” Blake said. “Well, let’s head on out. If we can make it to lower land by dusk, it will be a warmer night.”
He re-situated his pack. It was heavier than most packs he would use while backpacking, but back then he had high tech, lightweight gear. Though he still had his twenty-below sleeping bag and all-weather tent, he had run out of fuel a while ago so he had to carry heavier pots for cooking.
Once they made it to the lower elevation, the men set to making camp in the shallow three inches of snow. Beneath the trees and in areas he assumed the sun shone for a majority of the day, bare ground showed through. They were definitely in the right territory. Hopefully, they could bag a deer or two in the morning and then head home. Maybe even push through and make it back to camp by full dark. The optimistic thought made him smile. Kris had worn off on him.
The thought of his family made his chest ache as agitation filled him. He didn’t like leaving them. If he didn’t have to worry about the community, he would have brought them with him...well, in truth he wouldn’t have even been that far out in the first place. If it was only his family, he could have found a suitable place much lower in elevation.
He clenched his jaw and pushed off from where he had set up his tent. “I’m going to grab some wood.”
“I’ll go with you,” Brent offered as he stood.
“We’ll get more if we go in opposite directions.” Blake hadn’t meant to be harsh. He didn’t like the guy, for sure, but he wasn’t angry at him, it was the situation that made him irritable.
The more he thought about how his family should have been still sitting high, warm, and full in the bunker as he had prepared for, the angrier he became. Until he remembered that first squall bursting forth from Mercy. Where would his daughter, not to mention his wife, be if it hadn’t been for Arland and Laurie? Then he remembered Chuck and his men attacking his bunker. If he hadn’t been prepared because of Jake’s big mouth, would they have had any food or supplies left? For that matter, without Arland and the men showing up when they did, would they have made it at all?
By the time he made it back to camp, he had found gratitude, even if grudgingly.
“You collected quite a bit,” he told Brent, hoping to smooth over his earlier snap.
Brent only grunted as he dumped the wood next to the fire pit David and Kevin had put together and walked past his tent.
Blake shrugged as he squatted in front of the circle of rocks. He set the tinder and dry twigs in the middle. David whistled as Blake used the lighter from his kit to start the fire.
“Wow, you know what one of those would go for these days?” David said nodding toward the
flame he used to light the fire.
“Probably my life, if they could take it,” Blake replied, sitting back on his haunches and watching the fire as it spread through the tinder into the small twigs. He carefully set the smaller branches on top of the flames.
“I’m not sure anyone would succeed at that. Seems to me you have escaped death numerable times in the last few months alone.”
A smile tugged at the corner of Blake’s mouth. He had escaped death too many times to count. Kris always told him it was because God wasn’t done with him yet. Well, he had no idea what God had up his sleeve, but he sure was being put to the test. To keep his family safe, he would continue to ace each exam.
At the sound of pounding, slipping, and sliding feet, Blake jumped into a fighting position, pulling out his pistol. He immediately lowered it as he watched Brent slide into his pack, tearing into it, items flying every which way until he held his own gun in shaking hands.
“What has gotten into you, man?” Blake asked, low and quietly as he silently made it to his side. Nothing stirred in the forest from where the man had run.
He looked toward the other two, but both Kevin and David shook their heads.
“L...lion,” Brent stammered, staring off into the darkening forest.
“You saw a mountain lion?” Blake asked.
As often as he spent in the woods and mountains, he only saw a lion once, and it was from quite a distance away. He had been sitting still as could be for the last hour right at dusk when movement four hundred yards away caught his eye. He had whipped up his binoculars just in time to see the mountain lion snatch up the rabbit it had been chasing.
The lion had disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, leaving only his paw prints as evidence.
Brent shook his head. “Tracks. Fresh.”
Blake stood. “I wouldn’t worry about it. They won’t attack a group of grown men. Now come on. Let’s get some grub cooking.”
As confident as Blake sounded, he couldn’t stop the shiver that went down his spine. Brent didn’t move, his gun still quivering toward the forest where the tracks went past.
“Fine. I’ll check it out.” Blake turned back toward the forest, pulling out the headlamp he had stored in his jacket pocket, thankful the batteries still had some juice.
Blake wouldn’t admit it to the guys, but there was something eerie about being in a darkening forest, alone, studying mountain lion tracks. He knew the cat wouldn’t attack him. He was too big of a target.
The tracks weren’t rushed. They were slow, deliberate...like it knew exactly where it was going for its dinner. Another shiver ran down his spine, and he couldn’t help thinking of his own children. Thankfully, he knew Kris wouldn’t let them out of her sight.
****
Kris lay in bed, wide awake. Her children were on each side of her, sleeping peacefully. Their normal deep breathing usually lulled her to sleep every night, but tonight, Butler's snores drowned them out. It wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t the sound of her husband.
She missed his larger-than-life presence, his fresh forest scent, and his warmth. Not that the shelter was cold. The fire kept it cozy, and her children shared their heat, but it wasn’t the same.
Aside from all that, ever since dusk, she’d had this eerie feeling. She couldn’t shake it. It tingled up and down her spine, and she worried about Blake.
He had promised her they wouldn’t be going anywhere near the old camp where Meyers’ men still might be holed up. What else out there could get to him? Except maybe Brent...
She did her best to see the good in the man, to believe his earnest pleas of forgiveness and gratitude, but something about that man was off. As much as she was grateful he wouldn’t be here when Blake wasn’t, she didn’t like the idea of him being out there with Blake either.
Having David and Kevin along eased some of those worries, but a man with bad intent sleeping in a camp with someone he had sworn to kill. Kris blew out a breath. She had to trust that Blake knew how to watch his own back. He had survived countless horrific events that she couldn’t even start to understand.
Mercy rolled over toward her. “Mama, Mama,” she cooed, reaching for her, already wanting a midnight snack. With as much as this girl ate, she would be as tall as Tucker soon.
Her little hand rested on Kris’s cheek and her big green eyes, so much like Blake’s, opened, reflecting what little light the fire gave off. Her gaze shifted from one eye to the other, as if trying to tell her all would be okay.
Kris smiled, not only at her sweet baby, but at herself for thinking that her eight-month-old daughter not only knew she worried, but was telling her to relax. She needed sleep before she started thinking she was having conversations with Mercy telepathically again.
After nursing Mercy, she did fall back asleep, but when she woke, that eerie feeling still sat with her. As best she could, she went about the morning as if everything was perfect and normal. It wasn’t. Blake’s absence left a big hole in her heart, and Tucker’s as well.
He moped around and barely ate his breakfast.
“We have about an hour before we start the first school station. Is there something you want to do?” Kris asked him, hoping to see some life in his eyes.
“Dad told me to check the lines.” He stood and started to gather his bow and pack.
“I’ll come with you,” she said, grabbing Mercy’s wrap. Not that she would let him go alone anyway, but she hoped to get him to open up.
“Do you mind if I come as well?” Lexi asked. “I could use a bit of exercise.”
“You do understand that we’re all going, right?” Butler said, donning on his coat, the one Arland gave him that day they had faked his death. “Your husband put his trust in me, and I owe him my life.”
“You have already paid that debt,” Kris said gently, nodding toward his side.
“Just a scratch,” he shrugged.
“Scratch? Whatever,” Lexi mumbled as she gathered her things.
“Well, it looks like you’ll have an entourage, Sweetie.”
“The more the merrier,” Tucker said, but his eyebrows scrunched together and his shoulders were stiff and high.
She reached over and felt his head. He didn’t seem warm enough to have a fever, but she squatted low and whispered. “Are you feeling alright?”
“Only a headache, Mom. I’ll be fine.”
“You’ve been getting those a lot lately.”
“I’m fine, Mom. Really.” He pushed forth a smile that looked more like a grimace.
She pulled out a chunk of willow bark that Laurie had given her when she had a headache. “Chew on this. Swallow the juice but not the pulp.”
He popped the bark piece into his mouth and chewed like it was gum. Gum. That was one thing she might not ever see again. Would her children ever know those simple things in life that she had taken for granted?
If she dwelled on that stuff for too long, she would go insane. They wouldn’t even know what they were missing out on anyway. At least, that’s what she told herself.
By the time they all made it to the first trap, Butler had Tucker talking. Her son even had a genuine smile on his face as he told the older man all about trapping and why they put the snares where they did.
The sun rose on a perfectly clear day. Even the birds had started chirping. She almost forgot about the gaping hole of Blake being gone. She had almost lost that weird eerie feeling.
It all shot right back through her as they heard the crashing through the brush headed straight toward them.
~5~
The scream woke Blake from a dead sleep, sending him scrambling out of his tent and to his feet, shaking the sleep from his head. The half-moon lit the ground around him, reflecting off the patchy snow. The eerie sound echoed in his mind, leaving his body wired and ready to spring.
“What was that?” Brent stuck his head out of the tent, his wide eyes reflecting the embers from the fire.
David and Kevin stood, armed
and at the ready in front of their tents, scanning the woods as he did. Blake kicked himself for getting lazy and not posting a guard. Community life had made him soft.
The scream sounded again followed by a low bellow.
“Was that a cow?” Kevin took a step toward the sound.
“And a mountain lion,” Blake said, holstering his handgun. There were still several hours of night left, and tomorrow would be a long day. “Let’s get some more rest.”
“It won’t come into our camp?” Brent asked.
“From the sound of it, that cat will be feasting all night.”
“I’m jealous,” David said with a laugh.
“Yeah, beef sounds good,” Blake trailed off. A cow. There had been many herds up here before the chaos began. Usually the cows were brought down the mountain in the early fall, but with as warm as that particular October was, maybe they had delayed that trip. Could all those cattle really still be roaming the area?
They couldn’t exist in the deep snow. The herds had probably migrated down as fences broke or the snow got high enough they could walk over them.
David touched his shoulder. Blake glanced around, seeing that the other two had retreated back to their tents.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” David asked, keeping his voice low.
“That we have a chance of securing cattle for the settlement?”
“Right,” he said, his gaze turning toward where the sounds had come from.
“We’d lose the tracks if we tried to follow them now. First light?”
“I’m game,” David said, slapping him on the back. “The camp is going to be happy with us!” He strutted back to his tent.
Blake crawled back into his bag, a smile tugging on his lips: Beef and a steady supply of it. His pessimism piped up as he realized they couldn’t take the cattle back with them now. The snow was too deep, but how would they keep them here and safe until the long winter ended and the snow melted?
His mind whirled with ideas, strategies, and possibilities. This could change everything for the camp. Of course, it would all depend on how many cattle there were down there, and how many calves that mountain lion had picked off.
