Secluded

by Alana Terry

  Roger nodded, then walked over by his small stash of food and slowly opened up a can of spam. Ignoring Willow’s question, he held out the container. “I could heat it up for you, but it takes a while on the stovetop. You girls think you can handle it straight up?”

  For the first time, Willow looked as terrified as Kennedy felt. “No thanks. I’m vegan.”

  “You’re what?” Roger narrowed his eyebrows.

  “Vegan,” Willow repeated. “Kind of like vegetarian. I don’t eat meat.”

  He frowned at her with suspicion then looked at Kennedy. “Do you?”

  She nodded, and before she could tell him she wasn’t all that hungry, he’d dumped the slab of spam into the palm of her hand. She’d never eaten it before and wasn’t even sure what to do with it. She glanced at Willow, who scrunched up her face.

  Roger was staring at her, so she forced herself to take the daintiest of bites. With all the salt and grease, she couldn’t taste the meat itself, if it actually was meat. Kennedy wasn’t sure, and Roger was still holding the can, so she couldn’t read the label.

  “How is it?” Willow was trying to hide a bemused smirk.

  “It’s ok.” Kennedy forced herself to take one more taste and then looked for a place to put the rest down. Finally, Roger held out his palm. Kennedy handed him the cube of meat product, and he took a huge, noisy bite.

  He pointed to the pile of blankets on the floor. “You two can curl up by the heater down there and get warm.”

  He didn’t have any indoor plumbing or running water, and he didn’t seem like the type to worry about carrying his dirty linen out to the lake every week. Besides, it would be frozen five or six months out of the year, and the closest laundromat was probably a hundred miles away. Just how dirty were those blankets? And was any amount of warmth worth risking fleas or ticks or heaven knew what else might be down here?

  “Come on.” Willow plopped down onto the pile and beckoned for Kennedy. “We may as well get comfortable while we wait for ...” She stopped and looked at Roger. “What exactly are we waiting for? What’s the plan?”

  “My buddy Buster,” he answered with his mouth full of spam.

  Kennedy hadn’t realized there really were people named Buster in the world. She’d previously thought it was just a name you called someone you didn’t like if you were a character in an old-fashioned cartoon episode.

  Roger was still chewing on his canned meat. “Lives about fifteen miles down the road. Has a landline.”

  “Right on.” Willow snuggled down in the corner of the cabin, completely unfazed.

  Kennedy didn’t bother to point out that even if this Buster guy had a landline phone, it did them precious little good if he was fifteen miles down the road, especially if Roger was referring to the little mountain trail they’d driven on to get here. Things didn’t make much more sense when he took a large electronic box off the shelf.

  “Buster?” He held it close to his mouth. “You hear me? Wake up, cranky.”

  The radio crackled, and an angry voice responded, “What you want?”

  “Got me two girls here.” Roger looked them both over. “Ran into some car trouble on the Glenn, and they have to get a message home.”

  More static, followed by, “Oh, yeah? They all right?”

  Kennedy couldn’t figure out why Roger was staring at her so intensely. “Yeah. Both fine. But there’s a family around Glennallen they’re trying to get a hold of. If I give you a phone number, could you call them for us?” He stared at Willow. “Ready?”

  He brought the radio toward her, and Willow gave Buster her parents’ phone number and a message that she and Kennedy were safe but the car was totaled.

  “What about someone coming to pick us up?” Kennedy asked, still unwilling to sit down next to Willow on that dirty pile of tattered blankets. She tried to figure out how far away they were from Copper Lake, how long they’d have to stay here until they were rescued. At least she wasn’t as cold anymore. The space heater and stove were far more efficient than she’d initially expected.

  Roger overheard Kennedy’s question and grabbed the radio back. “Buster, tell her folks to come get them tomorrow morning. I’ll drop them off at Eureka Lodge.”

  A lodge? Kennedy’s brain sprang to attention at the word. A lodge within driving distance? A lodge meant real walls, not logs piled up onto each other by hand. Heat that came out of floorboards, not a stove or space heater. Real beds, real sheets, and blankets that were at least occasionally washed by machine. Why weren’t they already on their way?

  “We could leave now,” she suggested, but Roger was listening to his friend on the radio.

  “You sure they’re all right?” Buster had a wheeze in his voice. “Sound pretty young.”

  Roger glanced at them again. “Yeah, they’re fine. Just make sure you pass their message on, got it?”

  “Roger that, Roger.”

  “Hilarious,” he grumbled. “All right, so we’ll see you there.”

  Roger ended the call, and Kennedy wondered about his last words. We’ll see you there. What did that mean? Did Buster live at this lodge? He had a landline, so he had to be a little closer to civilization. She still couldn’t believe people voluntarily lived out here like this. Were there other mountain men, dozens of hermits like Roger, scattered through these woods?

  Roger set the radio back on the top shelf and looked at Kennedy. “May as well get some rest,” he told her. “I’ll drive you up to Eureka in the morning.”

  Kennedy realized they hadn’t set a time to tell Willow’s parents to meet them at the lodge. What if Roger’s idea of morning was 11:30, and the Winters showed up at six, frantic and worried? What if there was more than one lodge in Eureka, wherever that was? How would they find each other?

  Willow motioned for Kennedy to sit down by her. “Come on,” she coaxed, “you need some rest.”

  Kennedy couldn’t argue with her. At least maybe the cold was enough to kill off bed bugs and ticks that might be living in the rags.

  She hoped so as she sat down next to her roommate.

  Willow started rubbing her back. “It’s going to be fine,” she whispered.

  Kennedy scooted closer. “You think we can trust him?”

  Willow smiled. “Yeah. Never mind what his home looks like. There are people like this all over the state. They’re totally harmless. Don’t worry about a thing.”

  CHAPTER 4

  4:13 pm, the day before the Winter Solstice

  THE PLANE LANDED WITH a jerk and then a roar that nearly deadened Kennedy’s senses. Just a few minutes after four, but the sun had already set. She didn’t know if her brain was playing tricks on her or not, but she shivered with cold when she looked out at the snow piled up on the sides of the runway.

  She couldn’t wait to get off this plane. She’d been either in the air or waiting in some terminal for the past fourteen hours.

  “You have someone here to pick you up?” the woman sitting next to her asked. They hadn’t talked much on the flight, only enough for Kennedy to know she was here visiting a new grandbaby.

  Kennedy nodded. “My roommate’s coming.”

  The grandmother smiled. “Well, tell her I hope it’s a beautiful wedding.”

  “I will. And congrats on your daughter’s baby. I hope you have a great visit.”

  It was almost heavenly standing up and stretching her legs once the slow deboarding process began. After traveling back and forth from China so often, Kennedy was still surprised at how much the simple four-hour time difference between Alaska and the East Coast could throw her off. Maybe the winter darkness had something to do with it. Her phone told her it was the middle of the afternoon, but her appetite was convinced it was past dinnertime and the sky was as dark as midnight.

  She shifted her bookbag, which was lighter than normal since she was finally trying to get her eyes used to an e-reader. She could never fully give up on print, but it was convenient not having to lug around ten
or twelve paperbacks whenever she traveled. In addition to studying up for her MCATs, she was reading as many books as she could about Alaska. Memoirs about kids who grew up in the homesteading generation like Willow’s mom, photographs from the Klondike gold rush and Kennicott copper mines, collections of Native Alaskan mythology, historical fiction from the time of the Russian colonization.

  Her legs were stiff from inactivity when she made her way down the tarmac and into the Anchorage airport. Or the Ted Stevens airport, as everyone here called it. Whoever he was. She’d have to ask Willow. Kennedy had only recently realized how much unique culture was packed into this arctic state. Willow teased her mercilessly about her general lack of Alaskan knowledge, which is why Kennedy was finally studying up on its people and history.

  “Excuse me, Miss.”

  She turned around at the nasally voice. A tall young man, awkwardly skinny and long-limbed, rushed to catch up to her.

  “Hi. I’m Melvin.” He held out his hand. “I couldn’t help but notice you reading on the plane. Do you like books?”

  Kennedy was in no mood to enter into some random conversation with a stranger. She wanted to collect her suitcase, find Willow, and crash at their hotel.

  He reached into his computer bag that was strapped across his shoulder. “I was thinking, if this is the kind of reading you enjoy, I’ve got an extra copy back home and wondered if maybe you wanted mine.”

  She glanced at the cover. Why the World Will End on the Winter Solstice. Not a very original title, but at least it made it quite clear what the short paperback was about.

  “That’s ok,” she said. “You should keep it.”

  Melvin shoved the book into her hands. “No, take it. I mean it. You’ll want to be prepared.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s all starting soon.”

  Kennedy took the book in hopes that it would get him to leave her alone.

  Unfortunately, she was not so lucky.

  “You know about the volcano, right?” he asked as they stopped in front of the baggage claim area.

  “A little bit,” she answered. As if her dad hadn’t called her thirteen times in the past two days to warn her. Seismological reports suggested that one of the mountains on the opposite side of the Cook Inlet was about to blow. It wasn’t in an inhabited area, but the ash was supposed to cover Anchorage within an hour or two of the eruption.

  “Well, that’s just the start.” Melvin grabbed the book out of Kennedy’s hands. After turning to the second chapter, he pointed to a constellation map as the suitcases began their descent down the conveyer belt. “See? It’s got all you need to know. You ever read the book of Revelation?”

  Kennedy nodded.

  Melvin’s eyes widened. “Really? Oh, well, ok then. You’ve heard all about it.”

  “All about what?” She was glad when her suitcase came into view. That was one perk of flying into an airport as small as this one.

  “About the sign in the sky, the great wonder. Revelation 12. Here.” He flipped ahead a few pages. “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. You can read all about it. Where it talks about how these astrological symbols are lining up, just like the verse says, the crown of twelve stars, everything. And it all starts tomorrow on the solstice. That’s what I mean when I said you’ve got to be prepared.”

  Kennedy did her best to fake a smile. “Well, thanks for sharing. That’s really ...” She cleared her throat. “That’s really interesting.” Grabbing her phone from her pocket, she added in what she hoped sounded like a disappointed voice, “Oh, that’s my friend. She’s waiting for me outside. I don’t want to be late.”

  Without waiting for a good-bye, she grabbed her suitcase, braced herself for the biting cold, and headed into the winter darkness.

  CHAPTER 5

  Past midnight, Winter Solstice

  THERE WAS NO WAY THAT Kennedy could manage to fall asleep, even as exhausted as she felt. She’d left her cell in the totaled car and there were no clocks anywhere, but it felt like she’d been at Roger’s for hours by the time he mumbled something about stepping outside for a few minutes. Kennedy was relieved when he left. Maybe Willow had seen hermits like him her entire life, but Kennedy had no idea people still lived like this in America in the twenty-first century.

  She nudged her roommate who lay beside her. “You still awake?”

  Willow rolled over. “Yeah. What’s going on?” She sat up and arched her back.

  “Roger just stepped out. Didn’t say where he was going.”

  “Probably to use the outhouse,” she answered. “You should try to sleep. It’s late.”

  “I don’t like this place.” Kennedy kept her voice low in case Roger was close by. “Gives me the creeps.”

  Willow shrugged. “Early days, everyone lived like this. Little cabins, you see them all over the place. My grandpa built one just like it. It’s pretty standard for the homestead generation. You make yourself a quick cabin in the spring, clear the land and get your crops planted, and then after you get ahead a little you make yourself a proper home. My grandparents lived in a one-room like this until my mom was two or three. It’s still there on the property. Remind me to show you.”

  Kennedy didn’t reply. She was too busy trying to guess how much longer it’d be until morning. “Do you have your phone?” she asked Willow.

  “Yeah, but there’s no reception out here.”

  “I know. I was just wondering what time it was.”

  Willow glanced out the tiny window by Roger’s cupboard. “Probably right after one.” She pulled out her phone to check. “Yup. It’s 1:13.”

  “How’d you do that?”

  Willow shrugged. “Just looked at the angle of the moon. It’s not neuroscience.”

  It was times like these that made Kennedy realize how ignorant she was about rural living. Even on their busy campus in Cambridge, Willow was always commenting about the lunar phases, telling Kennedy when a harvest moon was due or when a meteor shower was passing through.

  “I wish it weren’t so dark in here,” Kennedy said.

  Willow tapped her screen. “Hold on. I can turn this thing into a flashlight.”

  The cabin was no less creepy now than it had been in the dark.

  “I can’t wait until we get out of this place.”

  Willow reached over and offered a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll be fine. If it weren’t for me worrying about getting back home, I’d actually be enjoying our little adventure.”

  “What about that Eureka place?” Kennedy asked.

  “It’s not that far. Maybe twenty minutes’ drive. Roger’ll take us there in the morning. They’ve got decent food too. No more spam for breakfast.”

  Kennedy tried to match her smile.

  “Don’t worry,” Willow said. “Just think about all we have to be thankful for. If your plane had come a few hours later, you might not have been able to land at all. We got out of Anchorage in plenty of time, and that moose could have done a lot more damage than it did. Honestly, it’s a miracle Roger found us. We could have been lying in that car for hours before somebody drove by. This is all just part of being in Alaska, really. You have to learn to be flexible.” She chuckled. “And you have to learn to watch the road for moose.”

  Kennedy let out her breath. “There’s still something really off about this place.”

  “You’re just not used to roughing it, City Girl.”

  Maybe Willow was right. Maybe Kennedy needed to be more flexible. More adventurous like her roommate.

  Or maybe she just needed to be at that lodge in Eureka, sleeping in a real bed and not on a pile of rags.

  “You want proof that there’s nothing here to worry about?” Willow stood and shined her phone light around. “I’m telling you, I know all about these little homestead cabins. See, over here, this is where he keeps his two coffee mugs, two tin plates, fork, knife, and a spoon.” She pulled open a drawer
. “Oh, look. I was wrong. He actually has two spoons.” She held them up.

  “And over here, you’ve already seen his pantry. Spam, canned corn, and Ramen. Hey, just like Nick eats. And this ...” She picked up a shoebox. “I bet this is where he keeps every single personal item he owns.” She paused with her hand on the lid. “Wait, let me guess. An expired driver’s license, a postcard from his mom or grandma, and a third-grade report card.” She opened the box with a grand gesture.

  “We shouldn’t be going through his stuff.” Kennedy glanced nervously at the door. If Roger was just using the outhouse, he’d be back any second.

  “I want to prove to you that this man is totally harmless. Like I said, he ...” Willow froze.

  So did the blood in Kennedy’s veins. “What? What is it?”

  “Dude.” Willow shook her head.

  “What?” Kennedy repeated. “If this is your idea of a joke ...”

  Headlights shined in through the window. Willow threw on the lid, shoved the box back on the shelf, and all but dove into Kennedy’s lap.

  “What’s the matter?” Kennedy hissed.

  “Just lie down,” Willow whispered. “Lie down and pretend to be asleep.” She thrust her cell phone into Kennedy’s hand. “And the minute you get the chance, run.”

  CHAPTER 6

  4:41 pm, the day before the Winter Solstice

  “DUDE, YOU MADE IT!” Willow wrapped both arms around Kennedy’s neck and kissed her loudly on both cheeks.

  Kennedy tried to muster up the energy to return her roommate’s enthusiasm. Willow had been in Alaska for almost a week, making last-minute plans and getting everything ready for her wedding. Kennedy just wanted to grab some food and take a hot shower. She hoped that whatever hotel they were staying at for the night had good water pressure. She hated the feel of grime and sweat and germs on her skin after a full day of traveling.

  Kennedy hefted her suitcase into the trunk of her roommate’s car and only then noticed Willow’s pout.