Lost Valley: The Escape

by J. T. Cross

Luc continued leading them through an area so thick with trees that many times they had to backtrack and find another way through. She didn’t think she could take much more when she realized the woods were getting brighter.

  Abruptly, they broke into a clearing and saw the helicopter. The sight of it, with the cabin still intact, gave her immediate hope.

  “Oh my God, Luc, you did it. You found them,” she said, with a tone of disbelief.

  “Let’s just hope they’re okay,” he said.

  They walked several feet into the clearing. Kate watched him run to the side of the helicopter. He took his rifle from over his shoulder and laid it against the side of the helicopter, opened the hatch, and disappeared inside.

  “Please let them be alive,” Kate prayed softly as she approached the open hatch.

  “Are they okay?” she yelled into the cabin.

  He reappeared in the hatchway with disappointment written all over his face. “There’s no one here.”

  He jumped down and handed her a piece of paper. “It’s Christie’s handwriting.”

  She quickly read the paper then handed it back to him. “So they were attacked by wolves, too.”

  “There must be a lot of them in this valley,” he said.

  She watched him scratch his head with a look of confusion.

  “The thing I don’t understand is her reference to a village,” he said, shaking his head. “This is one of the most remote and deserted areas on the face of the planet. There aren’t any villages out here.”

  “They must have seen something that looked like one,” Kate said.

  “I guess it doesn’t matter much what they think they saw. What does matter is that they’re alive, and we need to start tracking them now.”

  Kate watched Luc as he walked around the area, examining the ground. Several times, he knelt down and looked closely at some marks in the dirt.

  He walked over to her. “There are tracks everywhere. The small ones are obviously from Stuart and Kelly.” He pointed to another set of footprints next to her. “I’m pretty sure these are Christie’s. There’s also a large man with them. You can tell by the size of his boot prints.”

  He gazed up the slope and pointed toward the top. “That’s where the helicopter came down. You can see the marks where it dug into the hillside as it was sliding.”

  She watched him hike up the slope and study the ground again and then jog back down her.

  “They hiked up the slope,” he said with a pained expression.

  “So, I guess that means they’re probably okay,” she said hesitantly.

  “They would be, if they weren’t being followed by a pack of wolves,” he said.

  “No. Are you sure?”

  “Christie and the children’s tracks have almost been obliterated by wolf tracks just a little ways up the hill. It doesn’t look good.”

  “Oh God, Luc. They’ll be defenseless against those animals. If it hadn’t been for the shotguns, we’d be dead right now. We should go back and get them.”

  “We don’t have time to go back. We should be okay with the rifles. We just need to hurry. They’re going to need our help.”

  He walked over to the helicopter, picked up his rifle and slung it over his shoulder. He walked back over to her and put his arm around her shoulders. She felt his strong arm around her and it somehow made her feel better, safer.

  “Are you okay?” he asked her.

  “Yeah, sure. Let’s go.”

  She felt him squeeze her for a minute and kiss the side of her head, and then he was off, moving up the hill. She ran after him, struggling to catch up and do her best not to slow him down.

  * * *

  Victor saw light through the trees and froze. He held up a hand to stop his men and then eased up behind a large tree at the edge of the woods.

  Looking out from the shadows, he could see a helicopter sitting in the clearing, its nose jammed against several large trees. Somehow, Luc had gained the information required to find it. He wondered what else the man knew that he didn’t.

  There were no sounds coming from around the helicopter. Still, he waited for several minutes making sure the area was deserted before he cautiously entered the clearing.

  He spotted the remains of a campfire a short distance from the helicopter. He walked over and touched a charred log. It was cold. The fire had evidently gone out long ago.

  He slid his rifle off his shoulder, laying it on the ground, and pulled his pistol out of its holster. Walking quickly to the helicopter door, he glanced through the hatch window but saw nothing. He quickly turned the latch, throwing the door open, and climbed into the cabin, gun first. It was empty, as he had expected.

  He quickly looked around the interior and saw nothing particularly interesting. He walked back to the hatch and saw his men waiting in the clearing. He jumped down and walked over to them.

  “I don’t think the passengers were here when Moon found the helicopter. If they had been, they would be on their way back to the quads right now,” he told them.

  “Maybe they tried to walk out after the crash,” Turner said.

  “I have no idea, but we’re going to find out,” Victor said.

  He began examining the area and followed the footprints to the base of the hill. He glanced up the slope and saw the gouges in the mountainside that the helicopter had made when it slid down.

  He climbed a short way up the hillside, following the footprints. They had definitely hiked up the hillside when they had left, he realized.

  He went back to his men. “I don’t know what’s going on, but there’s no question a lot of people climbed that hill.”

  He walked over to the cold campfire and picked up his rifle, slinging it over his shoulder.

  “Let’s get moving,” he said bolting up the hill as his two men followed closely.

  Chapter 12

  Kate struggled to keep up with Luc as he set a fast pace through the small valley that led to the hill in the distance. At times, she had to jog just to keep up with him.

  In a short time, they were through the valley and starting to climb the second hill. She couldn’t believe the speed at which Luc climbed. Did he ever get tired?

  They were three quarters of the way up when she began to run out of energy. She had done her best to keep up with Luc. She understood the importance of catching up with Christie and the children, but she was just tapped out.

  She yelled up to him. “Luc, stop for a moment. I need to catch my breath.

  He stopped immediately and hiked back down to her.

  “I didn’t realize you had fallen behind. I’m sorry. You should’ve said something sooner.”

  Too winded to talk, she just nodded and struggled to catch her breath.

  After a minute, she began to breathe easier. Without warning, the thought of Chuck popped back in her mind. What had happened to him?

  “Do you think we’re gaining on them?” she asked.

  “We must be. I can’t imagine Christie and the kids could be moving as fast as we are.”

  That was probably true, she thought, considering how exhausted she was feeling at the moment.

  “We should probably get going,” she said.

  “Are you sure you’re ready?”

  She took one last deep breath. “I feel better now, let’s go.”

  Luc turned and continued up the slope. This time, she noticed he was climbing slower. But even so, he slowly pulled ahead. The man was a damn climbing machine, she thought.

  She looked up and saw him disappear over the edge. When she reached the top, she found him searching the area to the south with his binoculars.

  “They hiked down this side,” he said gesturing down the hill. “How are you doing?” he asked.

  She wiped the sweat off her forehead with her shirtsleeve. “I’m exhausted.”

  Luc took out a bottle of water, handing it to her. “Here, drink some. You need to stay hydrated. The valley’s getting warm.”

  Sh
e drank half of it and handed the rest back. He drank the other half.

  “It’s all downhill from here,” he said reassuringly.

  Luc began to work his way down the hill, stopping often to look for footprints. Sometimes, she missed the clues completely, although he said they were easy to spot.

  Even when the clues were sparse, he would manage to find something. A rock pushed into the dirt, a weed bent at its base, a crushed dirt clod, any combination of them was enough to keep him on the trail. He amazed her.

  She looked back up the slope behind her for a moment. They had made good progress. She guessed they were three quarters of the way down. She turned back around and continued following him.

  He suddenly stopped and stood upright. He seemed to be listening for something. She watched him cup his hand behind his ear and she did the same. In the distance, she heard the same strident yapping she had heard the previous night when she had been stranded in the brush.

  “I’ll be damned if I’m going to let those wolves get Christie and my kids,” he said, sliding the rifle off his shoulder.

  She began to remember the previous night and how scared she was of the wolves. “The area could be thick with them,” she said.

  “You’re right. We might be walking into one giant pack. Get your rifle ready.”

  He pulled the bolt back and quickly loaded a shell in the chamber then took off down the slope.

  Kate did her best to keep up with Luc as he raced down the hillside. When they reached the bottom, the sounds of the wolves were even louder. Now that they were no longer on the slope, Luc picked up his speed and she found herself falling behind.

  As they drew nearer to the wolves, the trees became thicker and closer together, and it became harder to make their way through them. No longer could they simply run in a straight line.

  She watched as the distance between them slowly increased. He suddenly disappeared into a dense group of trees. She became panicked that she would lose him, but he soon came out.

  She headed straight for him, but as she got closer, he held up his hand and put his finger to his lips. She jogged as quietly as she could up to him. He turned and walked between the trees and she followed. After several steps, she stopped and gazed out into a clearing from between the trees. It was filled with the same large wolves that had attacked them the previous night.

  In a line at the back of the clearing were three log cabins. A dark gray wolf was in front of the middle cabin, digging furiously at the base of the door. The other wolves were pacing back and forth in the clearing.

  She watched Luc raise his rifle and take aim at the wolf in front of the cabin. The shot rang out and she saw the wolf spin around, yelping, then fall over dead.

  The remaining wolves moved away to the far cabin and then turned in their direction. They were staring straight at her, their ears flicking back and forth. She watched as Luc stepped out of the trees and into the clearing.

  The effect was immediate. One of the larger wolves lowered its head and started growling. It began to approach Luc.

  When it got to the middle of the clearing, Luc raised his rifle, took aim, and shot. It went down, its hind feet kicking as if it were trying to run. Within seconds, it was still.

  Luc walked out into the clearing and up to the dead wolf. He put his boot down on its body and raised his arms. “Get out of here,” he yelled.

  The remaining wolves backed even farther away except for one that turned and faced Luc. The other wolves began to pace back and forth behind it as the third one began moving in on him.

  She watched as Luc quickly took aim and shot it. Howling, it turned and tried to run back to the pack but fell dead before it was halfway there.

  Luc ran toward the remaining wolves. “Get out of here!” They turned and ran into the woods.

  They didn’t give up easily, she thought.

  Luc ran across the clearing to the cabin. He grabbed the dead wolf by the tail and pulled it out of the way and then pounded on the door. “Christie, are you in there?”

  “Yes. Is it okay to open the door?”

  “Yeah, the wolves are gone,” Luc yelled into the cabin.

  The door wiggled back and forth and then opened inward. Christie stepped out then ran to Luc and wrapped her arms around him.

  “You found us,” she said laying her head on his chest. Luc put his arms around her and held her.

  Kate stared at them. The sight of Christie, holding Luc so close, and him with his arms around her, sent waves of jealousy coursing through her chest. She had never before experienced that emotion. There was another woman holding her man. Kate stepped out of the woods and into the clearing.

  Trying to hold back her tears, she asked loudly, “Is everybody okay?”

  When Christie heard her voice, she let go of Luc and stepped back. Kate glanced at Luc. He was looking straight at her with a strained look on his face.

  Christie turned and went back into the cabin.

  Kate walked to the cabin as Luc stood there staring at her with the same strained expression on his face. Just before she reached him, Kelly came running out of the cabin and grabbed onto his legs from behind.

  “Daddy, you came to take us home. I knew you’d come,” she said.

  Surprised, he turned and bent over, kissing her forehead. At that moment, Kate heard a whizzing sound and a loud pop as something hit the front of the cabin. The pop was followed by the crack of a rifle shot echoing through the forest.

  What was going on? Then she saw Luc moving.

  “Everybody in the cabin,” he yelled. “Somebody’s shooting at us.”

  Before she could respond, Luc scooped up Kelly and was running toward her. When he reached her, he wrapped his other arm around her, and without stopping, half carried her into the cabin so quickly that everything seemed a blur.

  She heard the same popping sound again, followed by more rifle shots, and saw Marcus dive through the door and land in the dirt. She struggled to make sense of what was happening.

  She looked at Marcus as a series of shots sent wood chips flying from the back wall of the cabin just over his head.

  “Everybody, move to the other side,” Luc yelled.

  Kate felt the rifle slip off her shoulder onto the ground. She began crawling after Luc. He carried Kelly to the other side and sat her down against the wall.

  Kate crawled next to them. “Stay here with Kate, and don’t move,” he said.

  She glanced up and saw Marcus and Christie scrambling across the floor in her direction.

  “We’ve got to get the door closed somehow,” Luc said picking up his rifle off the dirt.

  He ran to the edge of the doorway. Using the end of the rifle barrel, he pulled the door closed. Immediately the sound of more bullets hitting, and going through the door, filled the cabin as Luc hugged the ground and tried to hold the door shut.

  Marcus moved into action. Running to the door, he picked up the wedge and shoved it into the doorjamb. “That should keep it closed,” he said.

  Both he and Luc ran back to the other end and joined the others.

  “Who’s trying to kill us?” Marcus asked.

  “If I had to guess, I’d say it was somebody connected to Northern Energies,” Luc replied.

  “I’m a pilot for that company. I don’t think they’d do that.”

  “Do you know Roland Valenkamp?” Luc asked.

  “I know he’s the CEO of Northern Energies, but I’ve never met him.”

  “How about a tall blond-haired guy that hangs around with him and looks like he could take down The Hulk?”

  “That’s probably Victor Solanich. He’s head of security for the entire company. He’s very close to Valenkamp.”

  “I saw him taking off from the Manatuk airport in a helicopter not long after you left. They were carrying lots of firepower.”

  “That’s strange. I would have been told if they were running security,” Marcus said with a concerned look.

  Luc sta
red at him in the dim light. “You know something, don’t you?”

  Marcus looked more uncomfortable by the moment. “Okay, there are rumors concerning Solanich.”

  “Like...”

  “A buddy of mine works for a contract security agency that Victor uses. He told me he didn’t trust him. Said when they were in Nigeria, he acted more like a hit man than head of security, or something like that.”

  Kate’s eyebrows rose as she looked at Luc. He gave her an I-told-you-so look.

  “He’s our man, and he’s not alone,” Luc said.

  “Why would he want to kill us? We all work for the same company.”

  “It’s not you he wants to kill, it’s us. You’re just in the way. We struck a hard deal with Valenkamp, and I think he wants out of it.”

  “Is the ore worth that much that he’d have us killed for it?” Marcus asked.

  “Philip told me it’s almost priceless,” Christie said.

  “You really think he’d have us killed for it?” Marcus asked, still not convinced.

  The sound of several bullets grazing the edge of the small window and then hitting the back of the cabin interrupted their conversation.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Marcus said.

  “I’ll tell you this,” Luc continued. “There’s no better place to do it than out here in the middle of nowhere.”

  “So, that’s why the helicopter went down,” Marcus said.

  “We’ve got to get out of here before they figure out what to do with us,” Luc said and got up and began inspecting the back wall of the cabin. “Look for any rotten spots,” he said.

  Kate went to the right-hand corner of the back wall and began searching for any spots that looked weak. She worked her way from the corner, moving slowly along the back, kicking at the logs closest to the ground.

  She was three feet away from the corner when the toe of her boot penetrated a soft spot. She knelt down and poked at it with her finger. It appeared to be completely rotted. “Over here,” she called out to the others.

  Luc ran over and sat down next to her. He kicked hard at the rotten piece of timber and she saw it move outward. He continued driving his heel into the soft log until his foot burst through, exposing a hole to the outside.