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CHAPTER ELEVEN
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The Hunter and the Hero
They sat for a few minutes not talking. Kristi was discouraged, and she had a feeling the others were, as well. It was hard to just sit there and wait. What if no one came? Oh, someone would come eventually, but what if it were too late? Would they find nothing but their cold, dry bones? Or would even they have disappeared, dragged off by wild animals into the wilderness?
Oh, stop it, Kristi! she told herself. You’re being over-dramatic! Where’s your trust in God? He knows exactly where you are, and He will send help in His own time and way. Just keep praying and trusting Him. She prayed once more in her heart for patience and strength, as well as rescue, and then jumped to her feet. She couldn’t help it. She was restless.
“Becca! Becca!” she yelled as loudly as she could. She may as well keep calling, even though it seemed hopeless. There was nothing else to do.
Skeeter joined her, and then Robyn, and soon they were all six shouting for Becca and Tiffany again. They spread out around the clearing so that they were calling in every direction. They would stop every couple minutes and listen for a response. Keep yelling! something seemed to be telling Kristi. Don’t give up!
They were ready to give up, though. Their voices were going hoarse, and it seemed useless. Kristi was just about to quit when suddenly Anna held up her hand and said, “Wait! I think I heard something!”
They all stopped. In the sudden silence they finally heard what they had been longing to hear, a little voice crying, “Here I am! It’s me, Becca!”
A wild cheer went up among them. “Becca! Becca!” they began screaming, louder than ever. “Where are you?”
“Here I am!” the small voice came again. “Come and get me!”
“Where is she?” Kristi asked frantically. “Where is her voice coming from?”
“This way!” Anna said. “I’m sure of it. Come on!” They grabbed their backpacks and followed Anna through the trees.
“Keep calling us, Becca!” Dan yelled. “We’ll follow your voice!”
They heard her call once more—and then suddenly there was a bloodcurdling scream!
“Becca!” They began to run.
* * *
Tiffany opened her eyes to see Becca jumping up and down beside her. “What? What are you saying, Becca?” She rubbed her eyes and blinked. What was Becca shouting about?
“They’re coming! They’re coming! I heawd someone calling me and I called back and now they are coming!”
“What?! We’ve been found!” Tiffany was about to jump up and hug Becca when suddenly she happened to glance over the other girl’s shoulder. A snarling face was peering over the edge of the ridge directly above them! Tiffany screamed and lunged for Becca just as the giant cat leaped from the rocks above.
The two girls rolled out of the way of the slashing claws just in the nick of time. The mountain lion hit the ground a few feet away and whipped around. Tiffany had leaped to her feet and thrust Becca behind her. She grabbed her overnight case, the only thing within reach, and swung it at the cougar as it ran toward them.
The case hit the lion squarely in the head. The cougar backed away a step or two, clearly stunned. “God, help us! Please, God, help us!” Tiffany cried, praying for the first time in a long, long time. She knew the mountain lion would attack again, and she had no idea how to stop it this time. “Please, God!” she begged.
The cougar snarled and got ready to spring. The creatures were not as easy to kill as she had thought they would be. They had stunned her, but not for long. She was bigger than they were, faster, and far, far stronger. She and her babies would eat, have no fear. Her muscles tensed and she shrieked her rage.
Just then the air was filled with shouts and yells. More creatures came running into the clearing, waving sticks and branches and things that looked like the thing that had hit her in the head. She looked around for a way to escape. One or two small animals unaware she could handle, but all these noisy creatures running at her, threatening her, screaming at her… She leapt past Tiffany and Becca back onto the rocks and disappeared over the ridge. She would keep hunting. Perhaps she would find a deer, after all.
Tiffany stood in shock as the giant cat lunged past her. She couldn’t believe the animal had not attacked her. She dragged Becca by the hand and ran toward the other teens, sobbing in fear and relief.
Kristi grabbed them both and threw her arms around them protectively. Anna and Robyn huddled with them, trying to comfort them, until Dan said, “Come on. Let’s move away from these rocks.” He and Skeeter guided the girls further into the trees while Pete gathered the scattered backpacks and Tiffany’s case.
They finally stopped. “Let’s rest here for a few minutes,” Dan said gently. “He won’t be back. There are too many of us. Are you okay, Tiffany? How’s Becca?”
The girls were all crying. Tiffany and Becca sat huddled together, their arms around each other. Shudders were wracking Tiffany’s body. Even the guys looked pale and shaken. Their encounter with the mountain lion had left them all traumatized.
“I’m okay,” Tiffany finally said through her tears. “Becca, are you hurt?”
“N-n-no. I’m okay, too. Ooh, except I huwt my hand when you fell on me, Tiffany. See—it’s bleeding! I need a bandaid to make it feel better.”
Tiffany looked at Becca’s hand. There was a tiny little scrape, barely more than a red mark. “I think you’ll live, Becca,” she smiled. “Here, I’ll give it a kiss to make it feel better.” She kissed Becca’s grubby little hand and gave her a hug.
Kristi, Robyn and Anna all stared at one another in shock. Was this the same Tiffany they had known back at camp? Who was this girl, and what had she done with Tiffany???
Finally Kristi said, “We saw what you did back there, Tiffany. How you protected Becca, I mean. You saved her life.”
Tiffany was silent for a moment. “God saved her life—and mine. And you all helped, too. If you hadn’t come just when you did—well, I don’t know what would have happened. Thank you.”
“Like you said, God did it. He brought us together at just the right moment,” Kristi said.
“But man—you pack a mean right swing with that little suitcase of yours!” Skeeter said with a grin. “You knocked that big cat silly! Remind me not to get in the way of you and your luggage!”
“That was pure panic!” Tiffany said with a little smile of her own.
“You’re my hewo, Tiffany! You saved my life! I was so scawed! That’s the most afwaid I ever been in my whole life! It was scawier even than that stowm last night! Thank you, Tiffany!” Becca hugged her tightly, and to the other teens’ amazement, Tiffany hugged her back.
“Well, anyway, we’re so glad you found us,” Tiffany said. “We’ve had enough of being lost, haven’t we, Becca? One night spent under a tree is enough for us! I couldn’t wait to leave that camp, but now I can’t wait to get back! Lead the way! How long do you think it will take to get back? Becca and I are awfully thirsty.”
The other teens just stared at her. Finally Dan said, “Tiffany, we’re just as lost as you are!”
“What?!” she cried.
“We followed you and Becca out here yesterday,” Kristi said. “We tried to catch up with you, but got lost in the storm, too. We spent a wet, cold night under the trees ourselves. We’ve been waiting to get rescued, too!”
“Oh, no!” Tiffany groaned. “I’m so sorry! If I hadn’t left camp in the first place, none of us would be in this predicament.”
“What’s a pwedicament, Tiffany?” Becca asked. “That word sounds pwetty pwickly, too.”
“You might say that, Becca. We are in a pretty prickly pickle!”
The others had no idea what they were talking about. “Here, Tiffany,” Robyn said. “We don’t have much food left, but there’s one last juice box. You and Becca can share it. We’ve all had a little to drink since we left camp, but you
haven’t.”
“Thanks,” she said gratefully. She offered the juice box to Becca first, and then took a drink herself. “We have some snacks left, I think—or I should say, Becca does. She came prepared with lots of goodies in her pack.”
“I will share them with you!” Becca said eagerly. She started rummaging through her backpack.
“No, no! Let’s wait until lunchtime, okay, Becca?” Kristi said. “We need to make our food last as long as we can.” Skeeter looked disappointed when Becca nodded her head and zipped her pack up.
“So you think we’ll be stuck out here for a while, then?” Tiffany asked.
“Who knows? But we’d better plan for the worst, and hope for the best,” Dan said.
“We had decided to just sit and wait for rescue, rather than wandering around,” Tiffany told them. “You know—hug-a-tree.”
“But not the pwickly twees!” Becca added.
They smiled at that. “We did, too,” Pete said. “I still think that’s the best thing to do.”
“It’s so hard to just sit and wait, though!” Robyn said. “What if no one comes?” It was the thought that was in everyone’s mind.
There was silence for a moment. “Someone will come!” Dan said. “They have to! We can’t be that far away from the camp. Besides, they’re not going to give up on all of us! Our parents wouldn’t let them, for one thing!”
Tiffany didn’t say anything but thoughts were going through her head. Maybe their parents wouldn’t give up, but I’m not so sure about my own. They’re in Europe. They’re sure not going to leave their wonderful vacation to come all the way back here and look for me. They probably won’t find out even that I’m missing, and when they do, they won’t care. She turned her head and stared off into the trees.
“Well, let’s pray again, all together this time,” Anna suggested. “We need to keep trusting the Lord. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us, so I know He will see us through this.”
“Good idea, Anna,” Pete said. “Look what He’s done already! He saved Tiffany and Becca from the mountain lion, and helped us to find them. Those are two pretty huge answers to prayer already!”
The teens bowed their heads and closed their eyes—all except for Tiffany, that is. I don’t deserve to ask God for any thing else, she was thinking. It’s not right to only pray when you need something. He already saved us from the lion. I can’t ask for more—not when I haven’t spoken to Him in all this time before.
Kristi and Anna reached for her hands just then and drew her into their circle. Dan began to pray. “Dear Lord, we thank you first of all for saving Becca and Tiffany from that mountain lion. We know that it was a miracle from You that saved them. A real miracle! I mean, whoever heard of hitting a lion in the head with a suitcase?” Skeeter snickered a bit, but Kristi nudged him and Dan went on. “Thank you, also, for helping us to find Tiffany and Becca, too—and that Tiffany took such good care of Becca before we found them. Thank you for keeping us all safe through the night and for stopping the rain. We appreciate the warm sunshine today. Now we ask that You would send help to find us. We’re lost. We have no idea where we are, but You do. Please direct the footsteps of the searchers right to us. Help us to be patient and trusting, and we ask that You would supply the needs we have until then. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Several of the others echoed Amen. Tiffany looked around the circle of teenagers and felt ashamed. She had had nothing but scorn for them before, but now she could see that they really were kind, and a lot stronger than she was. There was no sign that they were holding her previous bad behavior against her. They actually were acting like they wanted to be her friends, like they had accepted her as one of their own.
She looked at Becca. She shouldn’t be surprised. They had accepted the retarded girl right away. They treated her with kindness and respect and as a friend. Becca was retarded mentally, but maybe she, Tiffany, was handicapped herself in some ways. She hated using the word retarded to describe her own emotional and spiritual growth, but when she faced the cold, hard facts, she had to acknowledge that she was far behind the others.
It was something to think about. Tiffany didn’t say much during that long afternoon. She sat apart from the rest of them, lost in thought. Oh, she smiled, and acted pleasant when the other teens spoke to her, and while they ate their meager lunch of the snacks that were left; and she laughed at Becca’s antics as she put on a little show for them all of her favorite action Bible songs, but for the most part Tiffany was taking a good, hard look at herself, and not liking what she saw very much.
Kristi came over and sat down next to her as the sun was getting low in the sky. No one wanted to think about spending another night out in the wilderness, but it was getting late and their hope was starting to fade that they would be found that day. They had moved to another open field earlier, and now they watched the sun sinking down below the trees. Soon its rays would paint the sky bright shades of orange and pink and gold, and then it would disappear altogether and they would face another long, cold, dark night.
“You’ve been awfully quiet this afternoon,” Kristi remarked as she sat down.
“Um-hmm. I’ve been thinking,” Tiffany said. She sighed. “First of all, I want to apologize to you and all the others for the way I treated you back at camp. You didn’t deserve it at all. You tried to be my friend and I just shoved your friendship back in your face. I’m sorry I took your camera and bracelet, and those other things, too.”
“It’s okay, Tiffany.”
“No—it isn’t.” She sighed again. “It’s hard to explain. You see, every time I’ve ever had a friend, I’ve ended up disappointed, or hurt, or feeling betrayed, or somehow losing that friend. Even my own parents don’t seem to want to be around me. It just seemed easier to be alone. I don’t get hurt that way. So I didn’t want friends—especially not Christian friends. I know, that’s no excuse for my bad behavior, but it is the reason.”
“But why wouldn’t you want Christian friends in particular, Tiffany?” Kristi asked.
“I don’t know. I guess it’s because I’ve been mad at God for so long. I used to pray all the time that He would make my parents love me—or even just care about me a little bit, but no matter what I did, I could never seem to get their attention. They were always too busy with their jobs, or this committee, or that social event, or they were simply gone, not even around. They didn’t have the time or the desire to have their own daughter around. I prayed and I prayed, and nothing ever changed. So I gave up on God. It seemed like He didn’t care, either. And any so-called Christian friends I had? They weren’t any different than the rest. I got just as hurt by them as by the others.”
“I’m sorry, Tiffany. I know Christians aren’t perfect. We’re human beings and we still fail, and we sin, and we let other people—and God—down. But you’re wrong about God. He does care, and He loves you very much. Enough to send His own Son to the cross for you. Maybe it seemed that He wasn’t hearing you, or answering your prayers, but He was, although maybe not in the time or way you thought He should. Be patient. God is working in your life, just as He is in mine. And if you would turn your life over to Him, I think you would see and feel His love for you and how He is working in your life.”
Tiffany didn’t say anything. There were tears in her eyes, but she turned her head and looked away.
“Tiffany? I think you’re wrong about your mom and dad, too. I think they really do love you more than you know. Maybe they think that because they’ve given you so much you already know it. Maybe because you seem so strong and self-reliant they think you don’t need them that much anymore. I don’t know. But I think you need to tell them how you feel, and give them a chance.” Kristi reached over and squeezed the other girl’s hand.
“Thanks, Kristi,” Tiffany whispered.
“Listen!” Skeeter suddenly shouted from across the clearing. “A plane! I hear a plane!”
“Quick! Everyone take off your jackets and
start waving them! If it comes over us, we want them to see us!” Pete yelled. He and Dan stripped off their T-shirts, and the others pulled their jackets off and ran out into the middle of the field, waving them and jumping and screaming wildly at the tops of their voices.
A minute seemed to pass, and then a second minute and there was still no sign of the plane. Its engines seemed to get louder, but then gradually started fading away. Their hearts sunk. It had missed them! One by one they stopped jumping and screaming, and they stood still in the middle of the field. The silence was unbearable. Tears trickled down Kristi’s face as she faced the truth that the plane had disappeared before ever reaching them. Becca began to cry loudly.
“Wait! Here it comes again!” Dan yelled. Once again they began jumping and screaming and waving their arms. Once again hope rose in their hearts. And once again Tiffany prayed, Please, God! Please, God, help us!
The sound of the engines roared overhead as the plane flew over the trees and filled their vision. “The plane! The plane!” Skeeter was screaming as the rest of them yelled, “Help! Help!” They jumped and waved wildly, trying to make themselves as visible as possible.
Suddenly Dan stopped. “Wait a minute!” he shouted. “That’s Dad’s plane!”
It was true! The Camerons and their friends stopped and stared. The markings were clear on the tail of the small white Cessna. It was Steve Cameron’s plane, and now they could see him and his wife Rachel staring down at them from the cockpit.
“Dad! Mom!” Kristi, Skeeter and Dan began screaming. “We’re here! Mom! Dad!”
The plane waggled its wings and circled over the field once more. Then it flew over the trees and disappeared.
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CHAPTER TWELVE
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The Bonfire
Storm Over Hidden Lake (Kristi Cameron Book 6) Page 9
