Cabin Fever

by Felicity Heaton

  "Nick mentioned seeing the Donovan's on his way up."

  "I don't think its wise. The snow will clear soon and your ankle will heal. We'll be down the mountain before you know it. No point in hurting yourself any more than you already have.” He took hold of the radio, his hazel eyes wide and reflecting something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Panic? No, Jack didn't strike her as the kind of man who panicked. He'd been calm and collected from the moment she'd met him.

  She frowned at him and his sudden change in attitude, and then let it go. “Okay."

  "We'll get through.” He smiled at her and slipped the handheld walkie-talkie into his pocket.

  She watched him as he went back to the trunk and continued to chop it into pieces. Why had he been so quick to dismiss the Donovan's cabin? She could easily hobble for a mile without causing her ankle further upset. If she couldn't, then he could've gone there alone and explained to them that he was with her.

  She sighed as a tight, knotted feeling settled in her stomach, signalling that she needed to relax.

  "I'm gonna go have a bath ... might help my ankle.” She waited for him to register what she'd said with a nod and then headed back into the cabin. It was beginning to get dark out and she couldn't tell whether it was because the storm was getting worse again or whether it was just night falling. She felt tired, sore and dirty from the day, and although she felt bad for leaving Jack to finish the work in the yard, she just had to relax.

  All she wanted now was dinner and a bath.

  Heading wearily up the stairs, she stepped into the bathroom and began to fill the bath as she stripped off her clothes. She yawned as she watched the water slowly filling it and poured some bubble bath in.

  Her back was as stiff as a board.

  Pressing her hands into the small of it, she stretched and then stepped into the bath. She let out a little moan of pleasure as the hot water enveloped her tired body, and closed her eyes as she sunk into it, making sure that as much of her as possible was covered.

  Staring at the ceiling, she listened to the wind as it began to pick up again and thought about what was going to happen. They had enough wood to last them now, provided it was kept dry enough to burn. The food wouldn't be a problem for a few days. Her ankle was feeling marginally better than it had done yesterday. She wasn't alone. The pipes hadn't frozen, the boiler still worked and there was still power.

  All in all, things weren't looking too bleak.

  There was a crackling noise and a bang.

  Suddenly, it was pitch black.

  Chapter 10

  Kate grumbled as she tried to get out of the bath. Trust her to speak too soon. She skidded on the wet floor and gripped onto the side of the tub in order to keep her balance, grimacing as pain shot up her leg from her ankle. Groping around in the darkness as she muttered obscenities to herself, she managed to locate her towel and began to dry herself off as quickly as she could.

  She grabbed her clothes and put them back on, frowning as she realised that she'd tried to put her jeans on backwards and then taking them off again. Slipping into her jumper, she buttoned up her jeans and grabbed her socks and the bandage as she headed out into the dark.

  She couldn't see a thing, and all around her silence reigned. The only noise in her ears was her own unsteady breathing and the rapid beating of her heart. She hated the dark, hated the thoughts that snuck into her head whenever she found herself surrounded by it. She tried to push away from them, shutting her imagination down before it had a chance to start producing creepy images and thoughts.

  Walking with her hands out at her sides, she followed the hall, moving slowly as she tried to locate the start of the stairs with her foot.

  "Kate?"

  Kate smiled at Jack as he appeared in view on the stairs, the candle he was holding illuminating his face and showing her that he looked as concerned as he'd sounded. She carefully descended, gripping the banisters tightly as she hopped down each step.

  Coming level with him, she let him take the bandage and her socks, and then waited for him to reach the bottom of the stairs before she began moving again. He placed the candle down on the table beside two other ones. She followed him across the room to the couch and sat down heavily on it, sighing out her breath as she sunk into it.

  Jack looked at her ankle. It was looking a little better than it had been this morning; the swelling appeared to be going down, but the bruising wasn't going anywhere. He knelt down in front of her on the rug and frowned at it.

  "What happened?” she said.

  He unravelled the bandage and carefully lifted her ankle onto his knees.

  "Wind must've knocked down one of the trees in the valley and it took the power line out,” he replied as he concentrated on strapping up her ankle, feeling her warm, damp skin beneath his fingers. He chastised himself for taking longer than necessary to wrap it up, but the temptation to touch her was too great to ignore. “There, all set."

  She smiled at him as he ran his fingers over her ankle and looked up at her. “Thanks."

  "I better go get those logs under cover before the storm gets worse. I'll bring some more firewood into the kitchen so we have enough to last the night.” His eyes followed his fingers as he ran them lightly over her foot, memorising the feeling of her under them, and then trailed them off.

  Kate stared blankly at her foot as she listened to him leave. She focused on the way that his fingers made her skin tingle and buzz when he touched her. His light caress made her heart speed and her mind race forwards to consider the million things that could have followed that moment. Telling herself to get a grip, she slipped her socks on, grabbed one of the candles and made her way to the kitchen. She rifled through the cupboards, focusing on trying to find something that would pass as dinner and using the task to keep her mind off Jack.

  There wasn't much.

  It looked as though it was going to be pasta and some kind of sauce again.

  Taking the ingredients out of the cupboard and putting them down on the side, she filled a clean pan with water and placed it onto the stove.

  Jack yawned as he dumped the firewood down in one corner and then looked over at her where she was watching the pan. He wanted to tell her that it wouldn't boil if she did that, but instead he just watched the way the candlelight was playing on her face, the warmth of it making her more beautiful than she already was.

  "It's pasta again I'm afraid,” she said without looking at him as he walked towards her.

  He shrugged. “As long as it's food, I'll eat it."

  Looking at the packet of spaghetti and the jar that sat beside it, he tried to remember the last time he'd eaten spaghetti. He picked up the jar of sauce and stared at it. It was tomato and basil.

  "Spaghetti al'pomodoro,” he said to himself as his lips played into a smile and he pictured the little café in Florence. It had been an oppressively hot day full of clear blue skies, but the heat of it had seemed to fade once he was sitting under the shade of the café umbrellas in the Piazza Della Signoria, sipping cold rosé and eating al dente spaghetti that had been cooked to perfection. She'd looked beautiful that day. It had been their first job together.

  Kate looked up to find Jack smiling at her, a distant look in his eyes. She wondered what he was thinking as his smile faded and was replaced by a frown, a look of hurt surfacing in his eyes.

  "Spaghetti what?” she asked and he blinked, his eyes dropping to rest on the jar that he was holding.

  He shook his head and stared at her again. He looked as though he'd seen a ghost.

  "Al'pomodoro.” He forced a smile as he showed her the jar. “It's Italian ... do you have anything to drink?"

  She got the feeling that whatever he'd been thinking, it hadn't been as happy as it had looked, especially if it needed to be followed swiftly by alcohol. Holding his gaze for a moment, she took the jar from him and placed it down on the side next to the pasta. She kept her eyes locked with his as she searched them, and saw that he
was hiding behind them again. Whatever it was that was making him need a drink, he wasn't sharing it with her.

  Jack managed to smile again as her brows knit into a questioning look. He shouldn't have raised her curiosity by asking for a drink, he should've kept his mouth shut and then asked for it when he was feeling less shaky inside, but it was hard when he was so desperate to numb the pain. He wanted to forget, wanted to focus on the girl in front of him, not the one in his past. She was so damn beautiful, nothing like he'd pictured her from Nick's description.

  "We can raid my dad's spirits.” She gave him a broad smile that made him think of a rebellious teenager and he smiled back at her.

  "Sounds like a plan.” He glanced around the room as he relaxed again and brought his focus back to Kate and their current situation. “You have a torch up here? More candles perhaps?"

  "Sure. In the cupboard in the other room.” She pointed towards the living room and poured the pasta into the pan on the stove.

  He went back into the living room moved quietly through it as he listened to the storm outside. The wind was whistling through the trees and he noted that Kate had closed the curtains. Finding the cupboard that she had spoken of, he opened the doors and grabbed the two hurricane lamps that were sitting there. Flicking his lighter open, he lit both of them and replaced their glass covers before carrying them over to the table and putting them down.

  Opening the drinks cabinet, he took out the whisky he'd found there the other night and poured two glasses of it. He drank the contents of one of them, his eyes closing as it burnt his throat and soothed the pain. Refilling the glass, he picked them both up and grabbed one of the lamps as he went back to the kitchen.

  "Sounds like it's getting bad out there,” Kate said, staring out of the window.

  He nodded in agreement as he put the lantern down beside her and placed the glasses on the side by the refrigerator. Putting ice into the whisky, he swirled it around as he walked towards Kate.

  "It'll wear itself out soon.” He caught sight of the worry in her eyes as she glanced at him, and smiled reassuringly.

  She took the drink that he offered her and gave him a look that clearly said she hoped he was right. He did too. If anything, it sounded as though the storm was getting worse.

  * * * *

  Jack stared at the whisky in his hand. It was catching the firelight and looked even more golden and welcoming than it used to. Drowning sorrows was something that he'd had a lot of practice at, and tonight wasn't much different. He had so far managed to down three glasses of whisky while keeping up the pretence that he was all right, hiding it all away beneath the surface so she didn't see.

  He didn't want her to see the things he'd done. He needed her to trust him.

  Kate practically jumped out of her seat when a distant roar punctuated the silence. At first, she thought it was her imagination running wild with her and was nothing but the wind, but the look on Jack's face told her different.

  "You think...?” she started and he nodded slowly.

  "We've got company ... probably a mountain lion come down for shelter in the storm."

  She smiled nervously at him as she thought about a mountain lion skulking about in the darkness outside. She'd heard the stories of what the bobcats in this area could do, let alone the mountain lions.

  "Could be a bobcat,” she said hopefully but the smile he gave her told her that it wasn't.

  "Where's that gun?” He put his glass down beside his chair.

  Her eyes widened.

  "You're not seriously going to try to kill it?” She gave him an incredulous look as he stood up.

  "Only if it gets too close."

  "I don't like guns ... but dad insisted that we kept one in the cabin.” She pushed herself up off the chair and started towards the small bedroom at the rear of the room. She picked up one of the lamps off the table and carried it with her.

  Jack followed her closely.

  "Dad used to use it when he went hunting.” She didn't know why she felt the need to tell him all the details. Most likely it was because she wanted to keep her mind off the fact that there was a wild animal outside that was capable of killing them, and Jack was proposing to kill it.

  She pulled the wardrobe open, handed Jack the lamp and put her hand on the top shelf. Her eyebrows knitted into a tight frown when she found nothing but dust.

  "It's gone.” She gave him a stunned look as he came to stand beside her.

  "What do you mean it's gone?"

  "It's gone ... just that.” She watched him as he held the lamp up to the wardrobe and looked for the gun.

  "Any idea who could've taken it?"

  "Nick's the only other one who knew where it was. He chose this room when they arrived.” Kate looked around the room and frowned as she saw how empty it was. “Where's his bag gone?"

  She tried to remember if he'd had the bag when he'd left to go into town with the others. She hadn't noticed him carrying one, but then he'd gone out to the car before the others and she'd been reading.

  "You're sure he had one?” he asked as she stared distantly at the bed.

  "Definitely. He put his luggage in here and we went out skiing. I was reading when he went to his car shortly before the others when they were going out. Why would he take his stuff? Why would he take the gun?"

  "I don't know,” he said without looking at her.

  She got the feeling that he did know.

  Another roar outside and he'd grabbed hold of her hand. “Stay close."

  She didn't have an option as he walked her back into the living room and then grabbed a set of keys off the side. She felt cold as his hand left hers. Her eyes followed him as he handed her the lamp, walked to the fire and put more wood onto it. Her heart pounded hard against her chest and she repeatedly told herself that everything was going to be fine. The mountain lion couldn't get into the house and they weren't going outside. They'd be fine.

  Picking up the walkie-talkie where it was sitting on the table, she stared at it and wished that it were working because she really wanted to see those rangers and their guns right about now.

  "Find the torches,” Jack said as he walked past her. “The lamps won't last forever and I don't want us left in the dark."

  "Where are you going?” She looked at him as he headed straight for the back door.

  "To my car. I've just remembered I've got a radio there. It should be working. I'll try to contact the rangers—"

  "But it's out there ... and it's closing in,” Kate interjected. Her heartbeat accelerated as she thought about him going out into the storm without any way of defending himself. It was insane. She couldn't let him go out there and get himself killed. “No..."

  "Lock the door. I'll be fine.” He squeezed her shoulder and continued towards the door, stepping around her as she tried to block his path.

  Kate didn't do as he'd said. Instead, she left the lamp on the table as she heard him close the door and moved to the front windows. She opened the curtains a crack. The thin material didn't stop the firelight from getting through. She could just about make things out but it was hard. The snow was letting up and she could see the snow-covered cars outside. Her eyes immediately locked onto Jack as he appeared in view and she breathed shallowly as she followed his movements. He went straight to his car and managed to get the door open, closing it behind him as he got in. The snow fell off that side.

  Jack slid into the driver's seat and picked up the radio handset. He took a few deep breaths in an attempt to steady his heart. It was barely beating faster than normal, but it was enough to distract him. He could hear the wind outside, and even though there was no sign of the mountain lion, he knew better than to presume it was gone.

  Flicking through the channels on his radio, he located the emergency one and pressed the button down on the handset.

  "This is a distress call from the Hamilton cabin. Over.” He waited in silence as the signal crackled but nothing came back. “This is the Hamilto
n cabin calling for emergency assistance."

  "Roger that.” Came a distorted reply.

  "My name's Jack Darcy. I have a woman up here, Kate Hamilton, with an injured ankle and she can't make it down the mountain. We have no power, we have serious weather, and the local wildlife are taking an interest."

  "We can't dispatch in these conditions. As soon as we get the all clear from the base station, we'll send someone to come and get you. Until then, remain indoors."

  Jack arched a brow at that and his location.

  "Do me a favour.” He spoke hurriedly into the handset, knowing that he didn't have much time to get back to Kate before the mountain lion showed up. “Find Connie Hamilton, tell her that her sister is fine and she's not alone. Find Nick Cross, tell him, too."

  "Roger that."

  He put the handset back into its cradle and sighed, closing his eyes as he leant back against the seat and tried to think of what they could do.

  As a low growl reached his ears, he opened his eyes a crack and looked out into the night. The cabin wasn't providing much illumination, but he could just about see the mountain lion. It sniffed at Kate's Jeep. The snow was still deep around the cars. It would slow the animal down, hopefully giving him time to do what he needed to. Easing his hand towards the glove box, he slowly opened it and reached inside.

  Kate was about to run to the front door and open it when she saw Jack step out of the car. She froze to the spot, unable to move as she watched the scene unfold. What the hell was he doing? He was going to get himself killed. He would have been safe inside his Hummer. He should've waited for the mountain lion to leave.

  She stared in disbelief as he closed the car door and casually locked it. Her heart leapt into her throat as the mountain lion looked straight at him and began to move.

  "Run ... Jack ... run,” she breathed, silently urging him to do as she instructed and wanting to look away when the mountain lion began to close in.

  The next thing she heard was a whimper and the animal had fallen onto its side in the snow, sinking into it slightly. It took her a moment to compute what had happened, but when Jack turned towards the house, she saw the gun as he slipped it into his pocket.