The answer was no to both. But she couldn't possibly walk away from Caitlin. She was her everything.
“I'll get him to the lodge. If you help me make a stretcher, I can get him there,” Evan said, helping her make up her mind.
Wyatt propped himself up on his elbows, “You need to go get her Megan. Don't you dare leave without her. Shoot the damn woman if you have to.”
Megan looked at Wyatt, cupping the side of his face with her hand “Are you sure?”
“Megan, I'll be fine. It doesn't hurt nearly as bad as it did. The pressure actually makes it feel a little better,” Wyatt said through gritted teeth. “But, we need to get moving.”
Evan was already up and gathering the supplies needed to build a stretcher. It was all eerily similar to what had happened two weeks ago. Instead of Megan being injured, it was Wyatt. This Green Woman had a lot to answer for.
Megan helped Evan put the stretcher together and it took both of them to get Wyatt loaded on. The movement caused the leg to start bleeding again, fresh blood oozing out the side of the bandage. She rewrapped the injury, putting more pressure on the wound and added a layer of gauze over the top of the Israeli bandage. The last thing Wyatt and Evan needed was a predator following the blood trail he was sure to leave if they didn't bandage that wound.
“See you at the lodge,” Wyatt told her. He tried to pretend as if everything was totally normal. His voice was strained and she could see him squeezing the sides of the stretcher, knuckles white. He was in serious pain.
Megan nodded and tried to smile. She was unable to speak. Tears were forming in her eyes and her throat felt like it would close up altogether. Watching Evan drag him away was hard, but she knew what had to be done. Caitlin needed her.
She shook off the sadness. It was time to bring her daughter home. Evan would get Wyatt back to the lodge. Rosie probably wouldn't be back yet, but Willow could help Wyatt. She hoped. The leg had looked terrible. Megan knew it was very serious and if they didn't get the bleeding to stop, Wyatt was in real trouble.
She was carrying Caitlin's hunting rifle. She quickly checked to make sure the Crickett was loaded and set off in the direction of the smoke. She was prepared to shoot to kill if it came to it. No one was keeping her daughter away from her. No one.
23
Megan picked her way carefully toward the plume of smoke, shifting slowly through the pine needles to make sure she didn’t trigger an alarm or step on a bear trap. The boot felt like dragging a weighted ball around. No matter how careful she was, it was heavy and bulky and crushed everything underneath it. The vision of a bull in a china shop came to mind. Assuming that bull was wearing cement shoes.
The trees blocked the plume of smoke from time to time, but she kept going in the direction she last saw it. She could smell the fire and knew she was getting closer. The fog had started to roll back in, which helped trap the smoke in the air working to her advantage.
She knew she was close. The trees were super thick in the area and it was hazardous walking. There were stumps, large rocks and all kinds of prickly bushes springing up from the ground. It was almost impossible to see through the trees. Her main goal was to stay on her feet. She couldn't afford to injure herself. There would be no rescue this time.
She began to get frustrated. When they had seen the smoke, it felt like they had been so close. She had been walking for close to thirty minutes and hadn't found the cabin or hut she was looking for. Everything started to blend. All the trees looked the same. The terrain looked the same and she was worried she was walking in circles rather than towards the smoke. She should have taken the guys’ attempts to teach her how to find the cardinal directions more seriously.
It was time to stop and think for a second before she ended up completely lost and disoriented. Megan used an old trick her dad had taught her. She closed her eyes, opened them and then kind of let them go out of focus. She didn't see each individual tree or the pine needles scattered over the ground. The fallen logs blurred.
There! She saw it. There was the faintest trail through the woods. The grass and bushes were slightly depressed. It was a very thin trail that zigzagged, making it difficult to identify. To the untrained eye, it didn't appear to be anything more than a part of the natural environment.
She followed the trail and nearly whooped when she spotted it. Not fifteen feet away was what she had been looking for. A very tiny cabin, barely visible through the trees that had grown very close together, almost creating a wall.
It was very rustic and with the thick trees surrounding it, it was easily missed. The roof was covered in moss, branches and pine needles. The cabin itself was an A-Frame with the sides extending nearly to the ground. There were small windows on each side.
A small fire pit was shrouded by the trees. Megan spotted a large green barrel set up at the corner of the cabin. Clearly a rain barrel. The woman was smart and resourceful. They had suspected it, but now Megan knew it. She could probably survive up here for years, all by herself.
Off to the back side of the cabin, she could see a shed of some sort. Maybe a barn? She didn't know, but she hoped she didn't have to search in there. It looked like it would collapse at any minute.
The cabin looked very ramshackle as well. Megan imagined it had probably been here for several decades or more. With the amount of growth around the cabin, it was clear it had been relatively untouched.
It was probably an old hunting cabin she mused or maybe some old hermit lived in it back in the seventies or something. She realized the previous residents didn't matter. Nor did it matter how long the stupid cabin had been here. What mattered was the woman who had claimed it. Megan was about to meet the person who had taken Caitlin.
It was then a horrible thought crossed her mind. What if this woman didn't have Caitlin at all? She had already been wrong once. Megan had to hold back the panic that threatened to take over. If Caitlin wasn't here, Megan knew she was truly lost.
No need to borrow trouble, she reminded herself. She could freak out after she determined Caitlin wasn't here. For now, it was all about getting inside. The woman was a fighter and wouldn't go down easy. Megan was ready. She owed the woman a good kick after what had happened at Evan's place.
Obviously, finding a back door was unlikely, so her only chance was to barge in through the front. She doubted knocking would really get her far. It would only alert the woman inside that she was coming. Nope. She was going to rely on the element of surprise.
She stared at the door covered by heavy growth and vines, which were meant to conceal it, she was sure. This was it. She was convinced Caitlin was beyond the door. It was the only thing keeping her from her baby girl. Her mother's instinct was pulling her to this spot. It gave her strength and the resolve needed to go through the door, not knowing what was on the other side.
Megan used her left hand to feel around the door, trying to figure out how to open it and hoping she didn’t trigger some sort of booby trap. She found a knob hidden under some branches. Taking a deep breath and holding Caitlin's rifle in one hand she pushed the door in. It took her eyes a few seconds to adjust to the dim interior.
The ceiling was incredibly low, barely six feet high if that and a lantern hung in the center. The ceiling height threw her off for a second. The pitch of the roof was misleading. Her eyes finally focused and she could see another door along the back wall.
There was a ladder against the wall as well. She assumed it must lead to a loft, explaining the low ceiling height in the main room. Megan didn't waste any time looking around the small space. She walked directly to the door, once again turning the knob and kicking it open, with the rifle at the ready.
Her eyes quickly found Caitlin lying on a bed in a dim room. The tiny window above the bed let in very little light. The woman she had fought with at Evan's camp was leaning over her daughter.
No one moved. Megan stared at the woman dressed in green. The woman stared back at her, her eyes wide with shock. Caitlin's
eyes darted back and forth between the two. Megan debated tackling the woman, but worried Caitlin would be injured in the fight that was sure to ensue; nor could she simply shoot the woman and risk hitting her daughter.
“Step away from my daughter.”
24
The woman stood, holding her hands up. Her eyes appeared huge behind the thick lenses of the glasses she was wearing.
Megan stepped forward, keeping the barrel of the gun pointed at the woman.
“Get out. Don't touch her,” Megan commanded.
“Mom?” Caitlin said. Her voice was hoarse.
Megan looked at her daughter. Her breath caught in her lungs. She felt as if she couldn't breathe. Her daughter looked so frail on the bed. There was a candle burning on a small table next to the bed. It cast an eerie glow over Caitlin's face.
She spent several seconds drinking in the sight of the little girl she had been missing so much. It was that small pause in her guard that the Green Woman took advantage of. She sprang forward, knocking the rifle out of Megan's hands.
The woman kicked the gun away and attempted to tackle Megan to the ground. Megan pushed back, knocking the woman into the open doorway. Her glasses flew off her head. Before she had a chance to regain her footing, Megan rushed to the bedside and pulled Caitlin to her, shouting at the Green Woman to stay away from her daughter.
Her adrenaline was pumping. She would fight this woman to the death if it meant saving her daughter. She was squeezing Caitlin tight, afraid to let go for fear she would never get the chance to hold her again.
It was the sound of Caitlin's quiet voice that yanked her back from the brink of a rage attack. Caitlin was crying. Sobbing.
“What's wrong? What's wrong, baby?”
Megan pulled back a little and saw the over-sized white t-shirt Caitlin was wearing was quickly being stained with blood.
“Oh no! What happened? Did I hurt you?” Megan was frantic, trying to find where the blood was coming from.
“It's the stitches,” the woman in the corner said calmly. “Her cut must have opened up again.”
The woman was on her knees, using one hand to feel in front and around her. Megan realized she was looking for her glasses. She wasn't about to tell the woman she was a few inches from the things. She wanted every advantage she could get. If that meant keeping the woman blind, so be it.
Megan was confused, “Stitches?”
Her one advantage was over. The woman found her glasses and quickly put them on, blinking several times to focus. She held up her hands and slowly walked forward.
“She had a pretty deep gash. I stitched it up. It healed for the most part, but she developed an infection and it opened again. I was just cleaning it and reapplying a fresh bandage when you came in,” she explained.
“Stay back,” Megan said. Her mind needed a minute to process what was happening. The woman had stitched her up?
The woman, who Megan guessed to be in her forties, stood still, kept her hands up, and waited. Megan understood why Evan and his group called her the Green Woman. She was wearing Army green pants and the standard issue t-shirt tucked in tight. Her brown belt accentuated her tiny figure. The woman looked like a soldier, complete with combat boots.
Despite the military garb, she looked very unassuming. Her brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun, which made the black-framed glasses on her face really stand out. She was very thin, but Megan knew the woman wasn't weak. She was all muscle.
“Who are you and why have you been keeping my daughter here?”
“My name is Brenda Clarke. I am a doctor, well, a former Army doctor that is. I found Caitlin in the woods. She was badly injured. I brought her here to take care of her injuries.”
Megan eyed her, unsure if she was really buying the story.
“Why wouldn't you bring her home?”
Brenda looked ashamed. She looked down at the ground, not meeting Megan's eyes.
“I should have. I know who you are and where your lodge is. I just, well, at first, I was busy tending her wounds. Then, well, I guess I kept making excuses to keep her here. She is a good girl and it gets really lonely out here.”
Megan shook her head, “You knew where we lived but you thought you would keep her here? In the real world we call that kidnapping.”
Brenda clasped her hands in front of her, squeezing them. “I'm sorry, truly, but she needed to heal. She couldn't walk out of here and I certainly couldn't carry her out. Was I supposed to knock on the door and let you all know I had the injured little girl at my house? I have lived out here a long time without anyone knowing I was here. I wanted to keep it that way,” she explained.
“Mom, she has been taking care of me,” Caitlin said. “After we fell down the hill, I couldn't wake you up. You were bleeding a lot and I got scared. I was going to go back and get Wyatt, but I think I got lost.”
Brenda nodded, “She was wandering farther away from the cabin. There was a deep cut across her chest and stomach. I wanted to get it cleaned and stitched right away.”
Caitlin nodded in agreement with Brenda's version of events.
“Caitlin told me what had happened to you guys. The storm was still raging when I found her. I was more concerned about getting her to safety than trekking to your cabin. By the time I got her back here and was able to go back and look for you, you were gone.”
The doctor took a step forward, “I need to look at that wound. I am not going to hurt her, I promise.”
Megan looked down at Caitlin; the blood had made a small circle on the shirt. She didn’t trust this woman but with her daughter actively bleeding, she needed help. Giving the woman a curt nod, she scooted over on the bed, but didn't get up.
“Lay back, Caitlin, let me see.” Caitlin lay back down and lifted the shirt up, exposing the injury on her stomach. Parts of it were pink and puffy and appeared to be healing but the other looked as though she’d reinjured it. Megan could see where the delicate skin had pulled apart.
Megan hissed, “What happened, honey?”
“A tree branch cut me when I fell down,” she explained. “It was bleeding a lot. It didn't hurt nearly as much as my foot, though.”
Megan looked at Brenda, “Her foot?”
Brenda once again looked away. Megan saw the guilt cross her face before she had a chance to try to hide her expression.
“What happened to her foot?” Megan said again louder and with more force.
“It got caught in a trap, mom,” Caitlin explained.
Megan instantly thought of what Wyatt had just endured. Caitlin's tiny little leg would have been crushed! She pulled the covers off and saw the bandage around Caitlin's right ankle and foot. The foot seemed to be intact and there wasn't any blood on the bandage.
“How bad?” she demanded of Brenda.
“It wasn't that bad. It did require a few stitches but it was a small trap.” Brenda quietly explained. “I was able to get her foot out without any problems. Nothing was broken. It was bruised and tender for a few days, which is another reason I didn't want to move her immediately.”
Megan considered telling her about Wyatt's own injury. Evan was convinced the Green Woman was the one who set the traps in the first place. She was responsible for Wyatt's injury and Caitlin's. Megan looked at her, realizing why she had gone to such great lengths to help Caitlin. Guilt.
Brenda carefully felt around the area on Caitlin's stomach.
“Megan,” Brenda started. When Megan raised an eyebrow in question, she quickly explained how she knew her name. “Caitlin told me your name. She has been telling me about everyone at the lodge. I feel like I know you all so well.”
“Oh.” Megan said. She didn't know what else to say. Her daughter knew not to talk to strangers or share personal information but for her, these were different circumstances and she couldn’t be upset with her for oversharing. She only hoped it wouldn’t cause problems.
“Can you hand me that bag over there?” she said pointing in the
corner of the room.
Megan recognized it right away. It was the one she had at Evan's cabin. She grabbed the bag and handed it to Brenda.
“Actually, I need a gauze pad if you could get it for me. I know I put a bunch in there somewhere.”
Megan dug through the bag and found a box of small square packages. This is what she had been looting? She had made the long trip to Evan's place to get medical supplies to treat Caitlin? Megan was thankful, but she also wondered why she didn’t simply ask for help.
Brenda cleaned the area and used some medical tape to create a butterfly stitch. Once she was happy with the way the wound looked, she put a fresh bandage over it. She explained everything she was doing.
“All good,” she declared.
“Thank you,” Megan said. “We need to get going now.”
Brenda looked surprised. “You're leaving?”
“We have been looking for Caitlin for nearly two weeks. The family has been worried sick,” Megan stopped. She didn't want to alarm Caitlin by revealing how seriously Wyatt was injured. “And one of my group was hurt. The others took him back to the lodge. I would really like to get there and see how he is doing.”
“Who got hurt, mom?” Caitlin asked.
Megan hesitated, “Wyatt did, honey.”
“What happened?” she asked.
“He stepped in a trap,” she said it more to Brenda than her daughter, emphasizing the word trap. She knew Brenda had set that trap and it wasn't put there in the hopes of actually getting a bear. It was a booby trap meant to keep people away.
Brenda apologized. “I’m sorry one of your group was injured but I’m alone out here. I have to strike first to have a chance.”
Megan was furious over everything that happened but she didn’t want to make things worse. “I understand your concern. The meadow looks to be fertile hunting. I hope we can work out some kind of arrangement like, you tell us where the traps are or what areas you want us to stay out of. Then we won't have to worry about any more injuries.”
The EMP Lodge Series: Books One to Three Page 36
