Cabin Fever

by Felicity Heaton

  She swallowed hard as she hid in the shadows, watching him drag the dead animal to the side of the mountain and push it over the edge.

  He had a gun.

  What kind of man was he?

  It wasn't a rifle. Even in the near-darkness, she could tell that. Whatever kind of gun it was, it had a silencer and was small enough to fit into his inside jacket pocket.

  He began moving back towards the rear of the cabin. She hobbled quickly to the armchair and sat down in it. She smoothed her clothes, trying to get a grip on herself and willing her body to stop shaking as she went over what she'd just seen. He'd killed it. He'd gone to his car, got a gun and killed it.

  Why hadn't he told her that he had a gun?

  Why did he tell her that he was just going to radio the ranger station?

  The back door opened and she jumped, her heart hammering against her ribs. She desperately struggled to calm down, not wanting him to notice that she was suddenly nervous about being around him.

  "Radioed the rangers,” he said as he sat down.

  She smiled as best as she could.

  "Really?” she squeaked and then coughed to clear her throat. “I mean that's great."

  Jack frowned as he looked at her. “They'll come get us when there's a break in the weather."

  "Good.” She struggled to keep the smile on her face as her eyes fell to his jacket and she remembered him putting the gun into his pocket. Had he really called the rangers? Why had he thrown the animal off the edge?

  Was she next?

  "You okay?” He cocked his head to one side as though he'd noticed that something was wrong.

  She struggled to level out her rough breathing and smiled.

  "I'm fine ... just really tired.” She stood as slowly as possible so she didn't make him more suspicious than he already was and then shrugged. “Think I'll call it a night."

  "Night then.” Jack's eyes followed her progress as she walked across the room and then he frowned as he spotted that the curtains by the front door were open a crack. He looked at her. “You find the torches?"

  "Um ... no,” she said hurriedly with another forced smile that had him all the more suspicious. “I'll find them tomorrow."

  She grabbed the candle off the table and went to the stairs.

  "Night,” she said, a tremble to her voice.

  He watched her until she rounded the corner and disappeared.

  His eyes moved to the open curtains.

  Something wasn't right.

  Chapter 11

  Kate stared into the darkness, her concentration wholly on listening for any sound that would let her know that Jack was still awake. When none came to her after ten minutes, she pulled back the covers to reveal the fact she was fully dressed but not in what she'd gone to bed in. In place of her sweater she'd put on a long sleeve thermal t-shirt and had put a black jumper on over the top. She'd ditched her blue jeans and changed into her only pair of black ones. At least now she'd be harder to spot if she woke Jack.

  She slipped into her hiking boots and laced them, holding her breath so she didn't make a sound. She wrapped a scarf around her neck and put her thermal hat on. Grabbing her padded jacket, she carried it with her as she crept towards the door.

  She needed to get away.

  She paused as she reached the door, listening again but only hearing the sound of her own heart as it pounded hard and fast. Easing the door open with trembling fingers, she looked at the closed one opposite and then shut her one behind her before sneaking down the hall to the stairs.

  Crossing the living room, she went to the emergency kit and grabbed one of the torches. She covered it with her jacket as she checked that it worked and then switched it off again. Putting her jacket on, she zipped it up, put her thermal gloves on and then grabbed one of her ski poles for use as support for her bad ankle.

  She took some chocolate bars from the cupboard in the kitchen and closed it quietly. Slipping them into her pocket, she moved across the room to the door and opened it. She looked up as she stepped out onto the porch. The snow had stopped and the sky was clearing. She could see patches of starry heavens through it and she hoped that it would remain that way until she reached the safety of the Donovan's cabin.

  Limping down the porch, she shut out the thoughts of bobcats and mountain lions that were pushing at the borders of her imagination and headed towards the path that she used to follow with her family when they were going to see the Donovan's.

  She glanced back at the cabin as she reached the edge of the woods. She could see the warm light of the fire in the living room, but the upstairs windows were dark. Taking it as a sign that she had successfully escaped without waking Jack, she started along the path.

  Her eyes remained fixed straight ahead as she hobbled along, not wanting to see the shadows in amongst the trees and not wanting to give her imagination the fuel it desired in order to make her scared. She was already scared enough.

  She'd witnessed Jack kill the mountain lion, had watched him throw it over the side of the mountain and had seen him come back in and act as though nothing had happened.

  She couldn't wait around to see if he'd really called the rangers like he'd said he had. She had to get away from him. Her instincts were telling her to flee, to escape while she still had her life, and that's exactly what she was going to do. She didn't know him. She didn't know what he needed that gun for.

  It wasn't the kind of thing that people carried around in their cars with them.

  A gun, maybe, but a gun with a silencer?

  No.

  She had to get away from him, had to get back down the mountain without his assistance, and the only way of doing that was getting to the Donovan's cabin. There was a fifty-fifty chance that they would be there. If they weren't, then she would wait for the rangers. She had to try. She couldn't remain at her cabin.

  She squashed the tiny voice at the back of her mind that said that Jack wouldn't hurt her, and that she'd been all too willing to give him a gun when he'd asked for one. Another voice mentioned the fact that he'd pulled a knife on her when they'd first met. If he'd wanted to kill her, he would've done it then.

  Why would he help her by chopping up all the wood for the fire and clearing the snow?

  Why would he carry her up the mountain and be so concerned about her ankle?

  Kate's face crumpled in frustration as she tried to get her head around why she felt the need to run away from him. If he'd come back in and explained himself then she was sure that everything would've been fine. If he'd told her about the mountain lion and the fact that he owned a gun, she would've been asleep in her bed right now, not walking in the wilderness in the middle of the night freezing to death.

  But he'd hidden the gun from her and acted as though nothing had happened.

  It had added to the feeling that she'd been getting since he'd first shown up.

  There was something different about Jack Darcy.

  There was more to him than met the eye.

  He was hiding something.

  She sighed as she continued to hobble along, using the ski pole as a walking stick. The wind came down the mountain, carrying a chill with it that froze her face as it blasted against her. Even in all the thermal gear she was wearing, she was still starting to get cold. Her face was going numb, her skin tightening as though it was trying to shrink away from the cold. Looking back at the cabin, she realised that she'd gone far enough into the woods that she could no longer see it.

  Pulling the torch out of her pocket, she pushed the switch up and smiled as it came on. If she was going to run about in the middle of the night, she could at least see where she was going. She sniffed again as the freezing temperatures made her nose run, her opaque breath catching the beam of the torch and hanging in the still air like mist for a few seconds before evaporating. Her cheeks and forehead felt stiff and unresponsive, even her eyes felt cold. She tugged her scarf up so it covered the lower half of her face and forced herself to
go on. She had to keep going forwards.

  Walking slowly but steadily, she wondered what Jack would do when he discovered she was gone. Would he panic? She'd seen in his eyes that he felt concerned about her well being, and he'd tried to protect her when they'd heard the mountain lion outside.

  Was this all a terrible mistake on her part?

  Maybe he wasn't dangerous.

  "Bit dark for a walk, isn't it?"

  She froze as the familiar tones of his voice made adrenaline rush around her body.

  Turning slowly, she brought her torch to rest on him where he was standing barely a few feet away. In the darkness, she could see that he was frowning at her. His brows were knit tightly together and his eyes were nothing more than dark slits.

  How had he found her? How had he got so close without making a noise?

  "I...” she started but didn't know how to explain what she was doing and just stared at him.

  "What's wrong, Kate?” Jack raised his arm in an attempt to protect his eyes from the torch and looked at her face as her eyes darted about as though she was searching for an avenue of escape. He'd heard her leave, he knew where she was going to go, and he couldn't let her do that.

  She was putting herself in danger out in the woods.

  "Nothing,” she said breezily, “just wanted a walk ... test my ankle ... it's feeling a little better."

  Jack gave her a sceptical look. He could practically sense her panic.

  "Testing your ankle? At night, in the woods, after the mountain lion incident earlier?” He watched her hands as she toyed with the ski pole. There was something else going on here and he knew what it was.

  Kate swallowed noisily. Incident? Was he admitting that something had happened other than them just hearing it outside?

  "Tell me what's really wrong, Kate."

  She didn't like the way that he'd said her name. It had been done gently, so gently that she got the feeling that he was trying to calm her down. She tightened her grip around the ski pole and tried to figure out how far she'd come. She must be almost half way to the Donovan's cabin now.

  "I...” She wanted to say that she really did just want to take a nice walk and that she hadn't been able to sleep, but the look in his eyes demanded honesty from her. “You have a gun."

  Jack smiled at the blunt way she'd said it. He wasn't stupid. The way she'd acted when he'd come back in had made him suspect something had happened. When he'd noticed the curtain, he'd realised that she'd seen him kill the mountain lion.

  "Yeah,” he said and held his hands out by his sides to show her that he didn't have it right now. “We need protection."

  "From what, Jack? Mountain lions? Bobcats...” she trailed off and looked around them, as though she'd figured out that he wasn't talking about the local wildlife. “Who are you? Why do you have a gun?"

  He sighed and tried to think of what to say. He had to get her back to the cabin. Standing in the middle of the woods at night wasn't the best place to discuss such matters, especially when he couldn't see because she was shining the light in his face. For all he knew, someone could already be watching them.

  "Come back to the cabin, and I'll tell you everything I can.” He held his hand out to her but she shook her head.

  "Tell me now, and I don't want to know everything you feel you can tell me ... I want to know everything.” Kate backed away a step and looked down at her foot as it knocked against a fallen branch.

  "Kate...” He gave a nervous laugh and she looked up at him. He flexed his fingers. “It's freezing out here and it's hardly the best place for a long conversation. Who knows what's out there watching us."

  She realised that he was giving her a hint and all she had to do was correctly read between the lines in order to realise what was going on. Was it so much what was out there watching them, or who? Was this about Nick and the gun?

  Nick was down in town with her sister and her friends. She didn't even know if he had taken the gun. She hadn't checked it was there when they'd first arrived. Maybe her dad had taken it.

  She remembered that Nick's bags were gone, too.

  Why would Nick want a gun?

  Why did Jack need a gun?

  What kind of thing were those two into?

  "At least tell me who you are...” She held her ground as he took a step towards her, his arms still out by his sides. “And the real reason you know my stepbrother."

  "It's complicated,” he said as he ventured another step forwards. “Come back to the cabin. I promise you, I'm not out to hurt you."

  She held his gaze as she took a step backwards, stepping over the branch but keeping it near her foot. She wriggled the toe of her boot under it and let it rest across it.

  "I'm not going back to the cabin.” She waited to see how he was going to react to what she'd said. Her heart was pounding hard against her ribs. She had to get away but there was no way that she could run when he was so close. She wouldn't make it a few feet before he caught her. She had to distract him. “Not unless you answer my questions."

  "I can't ... not here,” he explained.

  "Then goodbye, Jack."

  He frowned at her and cocked his head to one side, as though he was trying to figure out what she was up to.

  Kate lifted her foot, flicking the heavy branch straight at Jack and not waiting to see if it hit him. Turning immediately, she ran as fast as she could along the path, her ears full of the sound of her own ragged breathing and her jaw clenched against the pain in her ankle.

  She had to escape.

  Jack growled in pain as the branch hit him straight across the nose. Holding it tightly, he screwed his eyes shut and doubled over, cursing her name all the while. She just had to do things the hard way.

  Straightening up, he wiped the blood from his nose on the back of his hand and looked at it.

  All he was trying to do was protect her.

  He looked up and watched her as she moved through the woods, ducking and dodging branches as she went. Starting after her, he wished that it hadn't come down to this.

  Kate screamed as she was assailed from behind and found herself face down in the snowy leaf litter. Struggling against him as he tried to pin her there, she managed to wriggle free of him and then clawed at the dirt as he dragged her backwards by her good ankle.

  "Get off me!” She kicked at him with her free foot and smiled to herself as he let out a muffled ‘ouch’ and released her.

  "Kate ... please ... I don't want to hurt you. I'm trying to protect you!” He came after her as she tried to escape.

  She scrambled along the ground as she struggled to regain her footing so she could keep running. As she was just about to get to her feet, she was pushed to the floor again and ended up on her back. When she saw him standing over her, she threw her ski pole at him but he easily dodged it.

  Protect her?

  He was trying to kill her.

  Her heart skipped a beat and pounded harder as fear mixed with the adrenaline in her veins and she found herself in a blind panic. As he tried to grab hold of her hand, she kicked him in the knee and continued to scramble backwards along the ground.

  "Kate,” Jack said as gently as possible. He didn't want to hurt her but he wasn't about to let her jeopardise his job by getting away from him and he wasn't about to keep letting her beat the hell out of him.

  Lunging forwards, he grabbed her hand as she went to hit him and tried to keep hold of her as she frantically struggled. She kicked out at him but he dodged her every time. He focused on holding her, hoping that she'd calm down soon and run out of energy. They'd walked quite a way from the cabin, far enough that they were probably within earshot of the Donovan's place.

  Kate's free hand groped around the floor as she searched for something that would give herself the advantage. He was squeezing her wrist so tightly that she felt as though her hand was going numb and all she could think about was getting away from him. She couldn't hear the words he was saying, couldn't focus on anyth
ing other than escape.

  As her fingers wrapped tightly around a thick branch, she closed her eyes and swung it hard towards him.

  Jack didn't have time to dodge it.

  She breathed heavily as she heard him hit the floor. Slowly opening her eyes, she let the branch fall from her hand and tried to catch her breath as she stared at the tree canopy above her, and the stars above that. She frowned as silence came to her.

  She couldn't hear him moving.

  Sitting up, she grabbed her torch where it lay in the dirt along with her hat and shone it on him.

  He wasn't moving.

  "Oh God.” She pressed her hand to her mouth as she saw him lying in the dirt by a tree. “Oh God."

  Her breathing quickened again. Cold dread and an eerie feeling of emptiness filled her as shock took hold of her body. There was blood across the side of his head and she watched it trickle down past his ear. Tingles swept over her, her body going numb at the sight of the blood and the fear pounding in her veins.

  She hadn't meant to do that.

  She couldn't have killed him.

  Scrambling towards him on her hands and knees, she felt sick as she saw the amount of blood on the left side his face. She shook her head, panic rapidly filling her and making her heart beat erratically. She couldn't have killed him. Not Jack. Jack was stronger than that. Running her hands over him, she frantically searched for a sign of life. She couldn't see his chest moving beneath the thick padding of his jacket.

  She tore her glove off and tossed it onto the ground. Extending a shaky hand towards him, she pressed her fingers against his neck and swallowed as she felt a steady pulse.

  Relief washed through her but it was short lived as she looked around her at the darkness and tried to think of what to do.

  Slowly standing up, she looked down at his prone form and then leapt backwards when he stirred slightly before laying still again.

  She stared at the blood on his face, in his hair, on his neck.

  There was so much blood.

  What had she done?

  Panicking, she grabbed her ski pole and ran as quickly as possible to the Donovan's cabin. She needed to get help and she needed to get it fast. She'd hit him so hard, and there was so much blood. She had to contact the rangers and tell them to get up here and save Jack.