by J L Raven
Worse?
I took a deep breath and tried to push my fear to the side. There was nothing I could do for her, and worrying wouldn’t change that.
We moved forward at a crawl at first, but as Adam grew more confident, he sped up. “See, Yasmine?” he called back. “I told you I could handle it.”
Yasmine didn’t reply. It was still a long drive back to civilization, after all.
Even so, the mood in the van lightened perceptibly. We were on our way to safety. Melissa looked as though she might cry from relief. Rick stripped off his knit cap and ran his hands through unwashed hair. “Just a few hours,” he said. “Not even that. Then the police will come back and arrest this lunatic.”
“I’m going to take a nice, warm shower the first chance I get,” Melissa enthused. “Maybe a bath.”
“With a bath bomb,” Rick agreed. “What about you, Yasmine?”
At first I didn’t think she’d go for his attempt to include her. Then she shrugged. “I’m going to sleep for a week on my own mattress. The owner definitely skimped when it came to the beds in the cabins.”
“I’m going to turn the heat in my apartment up to ninety,” I said. “To hell with the electric bill.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Rick opened the pack and pulled out a bottle of champagne. “Literally!”
“Isn’t it a little soon to party?” I asked. We weren’t even to the inholding’s property line yet.
“Are you kidding?” Adam glanced in the rear view mirror at me. “We’ve just escaped some maniac stalker.”
“Exactly.” Rick popped the cork, and foam gushed out. He held up the bottle in a toast. “We did it! The team is back, baby!”
He drank straight from the bottle and passed it to Yasmine. Either she’d changed her mind about Adam’s driving skills, or she’d decided not to worry, because she guzzled some down, the foam spilling out over her chin. Rather than hand the bottle back to me, she passed it forward to Melissa, who drank, then gave it to Adam.
Adam tipped the bottle back to his lips just as the van rounded the final curve, before the steep drop that ran down to the bridge at the edge of the inholding.
Halfway across the river, the bridge ended, its ragged edge leading only to running water.
“Look out!” I shouted.
Adam stomped on the brake. All fours tires lost traction at once, and we went into a skid. The trees alongside the road grew closer and closer—and then we were sliding down an embankment, our screams mingling with the crunch of metal.
Sixteen
I blinked dazedly. Smoke filled the van, and for a terrifying moment I thought the vehicle was on fire, before realizing it came from the air bags discharging. The stunned silence was broken only by the tick of cooling metal. The scent of anti-freeze filled the air. Cold liquid beaded on my face. I wiped it away, and realized it was champagne. Shards from the broken bottle littered the van; the airbag must have launched it out of Adam’s hand when it deployed.
“Is anyone hurt?” Rick asked, sounding a bit dazed himself. A thin line of red blood trickled down the side of his face, startling against his brown skin, and his hair and collar were soaked with champagne. “Lauren? Melissa?”
“I’m okay.” My chest ached where the seatbelt had gone tight, but I didn’t think anything was broken.
The van had come to rest at an angle, the passenger side higher than the driver’s. Rick shoved open the door on his side and helped Yasmine and I out. Adam climbed out, and Melissa scrambled over the console and out the driver’s side, rather than wrestle her door open against gravity. “Is everyone okay?” Adam asked. He had a small cut from flying glass on his forehead, but it wasn’t even bleeding.
“My wrist hurts.” Yasmine rubbed at it, then gasped when she saw blood.
“Let me look.” I trudged through the heavy snow to her side. The blood came from an ugly scrape on her wrist. I felt the bones and got a wince from her in return. “I think it’s just scraped. Nothing feels broken, anyway.” When I let go, she cradled her injured arm to her chest.
“Nothing serious,” Adam said dismissively. “What about you, Rick?”
Rick wiped champagne and blood from his face. “I’m okay.”
Since I was playing nurse, I said, “Bend down so I can get a look at that cut.”
Shattered glass from the bottle sprinkled his hair, and a dozen small nicks showed among the black locks. The deepest cut slicked his face with blood, but it didn’t look like it needed stitches. “You lucked out. If the champagne bottle had hit you in the face, you would have been in trouble.”
“It must have broken against the roof, over my head.” Rick reached back into the van, pulled out his knit cap, and shook fragments of glass out of it. “Damn it. Soaked.”
“What the hell happened?” Melissa turned to me. “You shouted, but I didn’t see anything.”
“The bridge is out.” Adam walked around the front of the van, and we followed him to survey the damage.
When Adam hit the brakes, the van went into a slide. Right off the side of the road, down the bank, and engine-first into a huge fir tree. The front of the van was crumpled, and radiator fluid dripped in a steady stream onto the snow beneath.
“It’s totaled,” I said. “Not that we could go anywhere with the bridge out.”
“Fuck!” Adam shouted. He kicked the nearest tire, as if it were the van’s fault we’d crashed.
Melissa stared at the crumpled metal as though it had betrayed her. “We’re stuck here?” she said, hysteria edging the words.
“Let’s take a look at the bridge,” I suggested.
We tramped through the deep snow, slipping and sliding on our way down the slope. When we reached the bridge and saw the damage, no one dared step out onto what remained of its deck.
A knot of trees, probably knocked over in the storm, had swept down the river and smashed into the bridge. The snag, now intertwined with shattered wood and rusty metal, fetched up against what remained of the piling. White water frothed around the tangle of trunks and broken branches, and the river seemed to roar the triumph of nature.
No wonder the stalker didn’t bother to sabotage the van. We weren’t leaving by road no matter what we did.
“We have to get out of here.” Melissa looked around wildly. “Maybe we can cross the river?”
“And how do you propose we do that?” Yasmine demanded. “Sprout wings and fly?”
“Well we can’t stay here!”
Adam’s mouth tightened. “We don’t have a choice. If we go back to the lodge, we’ll at least have protection from the weather.”
Melissa looked as though she might burst into tears. Rick patted her awkwardly on the arm. “It’ll be okay. We just have to stick together.”
Tramping through the deep snow, up the winding incline back toward the lodge, was no picnic. I tried to stay within the ruts the van had left behind, but the slickness of the packed snow presented its own set of problems. It was better than forging a trail through the drifts, but Melissa was soon limping heavily, her generous lips pressed into a tight line of pain.
The thick cloud cover blotted out the sun, making it difficult to gauge just how much daylight we had left. The nights were long this time of year, and if we didn’t make it back to the lodge before sunset, we’d be stumbling around in the dark. Unless Rick had remembered to pack flashlights along with the champagne, which I doubted. There might have been a spare in the van, but none of us had thought to look for it before we left.
We were maybe a third of the way back to the lodge, when Rick let out a cry of alarm. “Look!” he shouted, and pointed to a rocky outcropping a short distance from the road. I glimpsed the flicker of a shape, something moving against the leaden sky, before it disappeared into the trees.
“That was a person,” Rick said. “Someone was up there, watching us.”
“Did you see him, Lauren?” Rick asked.
My heart pounded, and a sour taste filled my mouth.
“I saw something.”
Adam clenched his fists. “Fuck this. I’m going to make that asshole pay.”
Before anyone could respond, he took off, as quickly as possible through the deep snow. Rick scuttled after him, a grim look on his face.
Fuck. I wavered for a minute, but the thought of staying behind, just waiting to find out what happened, didn’t sit well with me. I bit back a curse and fell in behind the men.
“Lauren, wait!” Melissa called, sounding frantic. “He might be armed!”
“Stay here with Yasmine,” I called over my shoulder. “We’ll be right back!”
The snow alternately clung to my legs and boots, making walking difficult, or else slipped out from under my feet altogether. The three of us left the road and started up the slope, sliding one foot back for every two we climbed. The hillside was as rugged as the rest of the landscape, studded with rocky outcrops and blanketed with sapling firs. We used the slender trees to haul ourselves up, and soon my gloves were sticky with sap. The crushed needles smelled like Christmas; I’d never be able to think of the holiday the same way after this.
Adam reached the high outcropping first. “See anything?” Rick called, panting heavily. I remained silent, all my breath occupied with getting the thin, freezing air into my lungs.
“Yes,” Adam called down grimly.
We reached him a few seconds later. He pointed to the snow in front of him. “Snowshoe tracks.”
I turned and looked out at the road. The site of the crash was hidden by trees, but sound carried far in the clear, cold air. “He must have heard the van hit the tree, then hiked up here to see if he could spot us coming back.”
“Or to see if the crash took any of us out,” Adam said.
Rick gestured at the tracks. “Do we follow him?”
As if on cue, Melissa cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “Come back down! Please! We need to get back to the lodge while there’s still light!”
Adam ignored her, staring at the snowshoe tracks instead. They disappeared into the forest, and though snow still sifted down from above, the heavy branches would keep the tracks from being erased for a while.
“Do you think he might lead us to Tiffany?” Rick asked.
I bit my lip. “What if he has a gun?”
“Please, come back down!” Melissa shouted again.
“I don’t want to abandon Tiffany either,” I said. “But we don’t have snowshoes. Or flashlights. We can’t move as fast as he can. If we get caught in the woods, after dark, by someone who’s already taken one of us…”
“Or if he circles back and attacks Melissa and Yasmine while we’re stumbling around in the snow…” Rick shook his head. “You’re right. It’s too risky.”
Adam’s expression grew stormy. For a minute, I thought he might yell at us both for being too timid. Melissa’s voice echoed up the hillside yet again, imploring us to come back down.
“Fine,” Adam snapped. “You’re right—we don’t want him coming back and ambushing Melissa and Yasmine. We need to get to the lodge before dark.”
I nodded, relief flooding my veins. I led the way down the hillside, sliding in our tracks, nearly fetching up against the spindly trees. The lodge had its drawbacks, but surely it was better than wandering around in the pitch black dark, while the already-low temperatures plummeted further.
“Did you find anything?” Yasmine asked as I approached.
“Yes.” I let out a breath; it turned to steam on the frigid air. “He was up there the whole time. Watching us struggle.”
“Oh Jesus,” Melissa moaned, putting her mittened hands to her mouth.
Yasmine shuddered. “Creepy.”
“Come on,” Adam said impatiently. “We don’t have time to stand around and chit-chat. Let’s get back to the lodge. Melissa—try to keep up.”
She nodded. But as we set out back up the road, her limping figure fell farther and farther behind.
Seventeen
We made it back to the lodge almost two hours later: wet, cold, and exhausted. The fire had gone out in our absence, and Rick turned his attention to rebuilding it while Melissa collapsed on the couch with a groan. By the end, Yasmine and I had ended up supporting her from either side while she all but hopped through the snow.
“Let’s get that boot off,” I said, kneeling in front of her.
She shook her head. “It’s too cold. Wait until the fire is lit, at least.”
Adam had gone straight to the bar and poured himself a generous portion of brandy. Since he didn’t offer to share, I designated myself the server and fixed some for Rick, Yasmine, and Melissa. With Tiffany gone, it seemed I’d slipped into her role to an extent.
After all, I was just an accountant with ambition. Not a member of the exalted team.
Once Rick got the fire burning and Melissa had the chance to down her first snifter of brandy, she let me peel her boot off. “The inside is damp,” I noted. “And so is your sock.”
She shrugged. “The boot never really dried out after getting dunked in the creek.”
“And it didn’t occur to you that would be a problem?”
Irritation flashed over her face. “I figured my body heat would dry it out.”
I didn’t consider myself the outdoorsy type in any sense of the word, but even I knew better than to wear a wet boot in below-freezing temperatures. But there was no point in arguing with her now, so I merely stripped off her sock, which had absorbed a fair amount of moisture from the boot.
Yasmine gasped, and Melissa let out a little cry of shock.
There was no need to say her foot didn’t look good; anyone could see it. There were a couple of oozing sores, where the boot had chafed her heel, but the worst of it was her toes. Their skin was wrinkled and pale, almost gray. The nails looked loose, and the whole foot was swollen.
“Gross,” Adam observed.
Yasmine shot him a glare, then gave Melissa a more compassionate look. “We’ll get the first aid kit. There must be something there for…whatever this is.”
“I think it’s frostbite,” Rick said, though he didn’t sound at all sure about it. “Or maybe incipient frostbite?”
“I can’t run,” Melissa whimpered. “Some maniac’s out there, and I can’t fucking run! Where’s my knife?”
I handed the meat cleaver to her, and she clutched it like a talisman.
“I’m going to die.” Her eyes were wide and wild. “We’re all going to die.”
“We’re not going to die.” Adam set his tumbler down with a decisive thump. “No one is going to die, all right? All we have to do is stick together. We’re in a group. We’re competent. And we’re forewarned. Tiffany was alone. She didn’t see it coming. But we aren’t, and we will.”
I swallowed thickly. “Do you think…do you think she’s still alive?”
“We can’t afford to worry about that.” Adam’s blue eyes bored into mine. “We need to concentrate on what we have to do to get through this. Anything else is a distraction.”
No one objected, not even Rick, who’d at least wanted to look for her earlier.
“We have to pull together, as a team,” Adam said. “All of us, working toward the same goal. Can we count on you, Lauren?”
After a long moment, I nodded. “Yes. You can count on me.”
As it turned out, pulling together as a team meant Adam issued the orders and the rest of us carried them out. Still, they weren’t bad orders by any means. We went in a group to our cabins, leaving behind Rick and Melissa in the lodge, and collected blankets, pillows, lanterns, and sleeping bags. Once we were back in the lodge, we locked all the doors and windows, then set up our sleeping bags and blankets near the fire. Adam created a watch schedule, starting at ten p.m. and ending when the sun came up. One of us would sit guard, while the rest slept.
“We’re set,” he said with satisfaction, once we’d done everything on his list. “We have food, fuel, and shelter. Now all we have to do is wait here until t
he park rangers show up to rescue us.”
By that time, the sun had already set, and darkness pressed against the windows. The snow changed over to larger flakes, flashing briefly in the light from our lanterns as they passed the window.
Were we being watched even now? The lodge, with its massive glass wall and many windows, would look like a beacon in the blackness, even though it was now lit only by fire. With the heavy clouds, it would be the only light for miles. It would be so easy to stand out there in the darkness, just beyond the reach of the fire- and lamplight, and watch.
I shivered. Rick saw the motion. “Something to drink, to take the chill off?” he suggested.
Apparently he’d noticed I’d abstained earlier. “Sure. I’ll get us all another round.”
I went to the bar and mixed up more drinks. As for myself, I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d be better off if I kept my reflexes sharp. We all dealt with stress in our own ways, but if it looked like I was skipping the booze, someone would want to know why. Easier to avoid the conversation by pouring myself tonic water, spiked with enough bitters to give it a brown tinge so it resembled a cocktail.
It was a long time until ten o’clock, and there wasn’t much to do but drink and try not to dwell on our situation. I briefly considered suggesting some kind of party game, but doubted anyone was in the mood for it.
Tiffany wouldn’t have let that stop her, if she’d been here instead of me. She would probably have had them all sitting in a circle, holding hands and singing “Kumbaya” by now. Yasmine would have hated it.
“It’s not fair,” I said aloud.
My words were startlingly loud in the silence that had fallen over us. Four pairs of eyes fixed on me immediately.
“I’ll say,” Rick muttered. “This was just supposed to be a standard corporate retreat.”
I shook my head. “Not that. I mean, yes, but…I was thinking about Tiffany.”
“You’ll just make yourself crazy,” Melissa said. She sat by the fire, her injured foot propped near the heat. It didn’t look any better as far as I could tell.
