Backcountry

by Pamela Beason

  “What are those, Cap’n?” Olivia’s voice came from behind her on the trail.

  Sam stopped, turned. “Are you talking to me?”

  The single file of hikers clunked to a halt behind Olivia.

  “Yes,” Olivia said. “If we’re the crew, you should be the captain.”

  Taylor towered behind Olivia. “Cap’n Sam.”

  It didn’t sound half bad. Maybe Kyla had been Captain Kyla to her crews. She’d have to ask Maya.

  “What are those?” Olivia held out an arm, gesturing across the valley to a ridge on the other side. A sprinkling of white rocks dotted the hillside.

  Sam squinted. Two of the rocks moved. “Goats!” She slid off her pack and dug through its pockets for her binoculars. “Mountain goats, crew! Let’s take a break to watch them.”

  She’d never seen goats in this area before. Encountering any sort of wildlife always gave her joy. It was fun to see the kids get excited, too. They set down their packs to relish the moment. Aidan and Maya also carried small folding binoculars in their packs, and the kids passed them up and down the line.

  “Are they real?” Gabriel, of course.

  “Plastic inflatables,” Nick told him. “Rangers use remotes to move them around. They have tiny motors and fans inside.”

  “I want to see!” Ashley grabbed for the binoculars Nick was using.

  “Are they wild?” Taylor.

  “Yes,” Sam told her. “This isn’t Switzerland. We’re in a national forest.”

  “There are three, no, four babies!” For a teen who specialized in beating up weaker types, Justin sounded surprisingly enthusiastic about babies.

  “Kids,” Maya told them. “Baby goats are called kids.”

  Justin possessively clenched Sam’s binoculars as the goats scampered up a steep rock face. “Wow, can those little suckers jump! How old are they?”

  “Three or four months,” Nick guessed.

  Sam agreed. “That’s about right.”

  “Who is that?” Ashley pointed.

  Sam grabbed her binoculars back from Justin. At the fringe of forest across the valley, she spotted a figure in camouflage fatigues.

  “Omigod, he has a gun! He’s a hunter!” Taylor slapped a hand over her mouth in alarm.

  Gabriel groaned. “Oh, dude...”

  Justin yanked the binoculars out of Taylor’s hands. “Bastard’s not going to shoot one of them goats, is he?”

  Sam zeroed in on the stranger. The man, who appeared to be alone, wore his dark hair caught back in a ponytail. His thin face sported at least a week’s worth of beard. The rifle had a scope mounted on top and hung from his shoulder by a strap. “He’s not aiming his gun at the goats.”

  They all waited, postures rigid, until the goats hop-skipped up the slope and vanished into the forest some distance from the hunter. The man turned. Swinging his rifle around, he pointed it in their direction and put his eye to the scope.

  An alarm siren immediately blared through Sam’s head. She was on the edge of yelling, “Hit the deck!” when the hunter let the gun fall back to his side. Then he, too, disappeared into the trees.

  Justin spat on the ground. “Shit, that was close. Gex hunter!”

  Sam decided to let that infringement go. Her pulse was still galloping through her veins. She hoped she’d been the only one to see that rifle aimed in their direction.

  Nick had a greenish tinge and he massaged his stomach as if he might upchuck at any second. Ashley and Taylor were focused on the spot where the goats had vanished. Olivia and Gabriel gazed at Sam, waiting for a cue.

  This sort of situation had not come up in her brief orientation. “This is a legal hunting area,” she began. “That’s why your packs and jackets are bright orange for your protection. But there are rules for which animals can be hunted and where hunters can take them. I don’t know what’s in season right now.”

  “Hunters should be in season!” Taylor remarked.

  Justin shared her sentiment. “Yeah, like maybe they could give them licenses to shoot each other.”

  Sam winced, jolted into memories of her murdered friends. The conversation was deteriorating fast. Even if she couldn’t imagine herself shooting an animal, let alone a person, it was time to play the responsible adult. Surely the hunter had just been looking through his scope, like responsible hunters were supposed to. The guy probably used his rifle scope instead of binoculars.

  She took a deep breath. “Look, crew, most of us eat meat. Believe it or not, chickens aren’t born in packages on a grocery store shelf, and hamburgers start out on four legs. Hunting is part of our history. Some people do it to put food on the table. You have a right to your feelings about it, but as long as hunters obey all the regulations, they have the right to hunt. And this might surprise you, but hunters are some of the best advocates for protecting wild areas. A lot of tourists never explore beyond the scenic viewpoints, but hunters understand that animals need habitats to live in.”

  She picked up her pack, relieved to see that her hands weren’t shaking. “Let’s get moving.”

  Binoculars stowed, they continued, reaching camp by early afternoon, in time to make an early supper.

  Mealtime was an exercise in frustration as the kids all tried to spark fires with their kits. Only three succeeded on their own this time—Nick, Taylor, and Olivia. Discouraged, Justin snapped his spindle stick in two and flung the pieces into the forest, swearing. From personal experience, Sam knew it took a lot of practice to consistently start a fire with the bow-drill method. After observing for a while, Sam let them share the three fires the crew had managed to start.

  The meal was freeze-dried chicken and noodle mix. Taylor wrinkled her nose, but kept her opinion of the pasta to herself.

  They were camped in a relatively flat spot on the top of a ridge, their tents scattered among a cluster of tall firs. According to her instruction book, it was time for another exercise. The six client kids watched with perplexed expressions as Sam stretched a rope approximately five feet off the ground between two trees.

  “The object,” she explained, “is for everyone to get over this rope. No going under, no going around, no hanging on the rope.”

  “Shit.” Justin studied the situation. “I mean, ‘Gex!’ How’s that gonna happen?”

  “Every crew before yours has done it.” Sam intended to ignite a spirit of competition. “Including all-girl crews.”

  Ashley stood up and walked over to inspect the line. “Probably the all-girl crews did it fastest.”

  The others rose to their feet.

  “We could vault,” Nick suggested, inspecting the surroundings. “Except there’s no pole. But I think I could just jump over it,” he said. “Like a high jump.”

  Taylor snorted. “You’d land on your head and break your neck.”

  A spark of panic ignited in Sam’s gut. Surely she wasn’t supposed to allow that.

  “Any ideas, Olivia?” Justin asked.

  Staring at the rope, which was at her eye level, Olivia shook her head.

  “I have one.” Justin scooped the small girl up from the ground and tossed her into the air, up and over the rope.

  Olivia’s shriek ended abruptly as she crash-landed on her hands and knees. Aidan, Sam, and Maya all ducked beneath the rope and rushed to her.

  “Jesus!” Aidan’s hands hovered above her back, as if afraid to touch her. “Are you okay, Olivia?”

  The girl pushed herself stiffly to her feet, swiping dirt from her hands and the knees of her cargo pants. Then, to Sam’s amazement, she grinned. “Next?”

  Justin pivoted toward Ashley.

  “No, Justin. No more tossing anyone,” Sam ordered. “This is supposed to be an exercise in teamwork, not in throwing people around like bags of horse feed.”

  “Well, it’s not like little Martini there is gonna be able to catch any of the rest of us,” he grumbled.

  Martini? Olivia. Olive. Martini. Justin had been the first to call Gabriel Mi
ster Lizard, too. Was his habit of assigning nicknames a gang tendency she should discourage? Olivia’s expression was pleased; she didn’t appear to mind the new name. It did imply a certain acceptance.

  “Someone can stand on my shoulders,” Olivia offered. “I’m stronger than I look. Ash could. Then when she’s over, the two of us could hold the next one.”

  “I got it,” Nick said. “Justin, you and Mister Lizard stand close together.”

  Sam was surprised that the two large boys let Nick pull them into place.

  “Ash, turn around and face them.”

  Sam watched as Nick positioned Ashley, then showed her how to step up on their thighs. With each of the larger boys clasping one of her hands and placing another hand under her thighs, they boosted her over the rope.

  “FYI world, Sparky here is not exactly a lightweight,” Justin remarked in a loud voice.

  “Hey!” Ashley objected. “Muscles weigh more than fat!”

  Sparky. Sam was glad that Justin had replaced his former designation of “Ass” with a friendlier nickname for Ashley.

  Nick helped to place Ashley’s feet on Olivia’s shoulders. When the boys let go, Olivia nearly fell backwards. Ashley jumped off. Both girls ended up on hands and knees, but seemed fine when they stood up.

  “A big guy next,” Nick said.

  Groaning dramatically, Taylor, Nick, and Justin boosted Gabriel into the air.

  “Oh God.” Ashley stretched her hands up over her head to hold him.

  Olivia begged, “Please don’t squish us, Mister Lizard.”

  The two girls managed, barely, to hold up his torso, staggering backward under Gabriel’s weight. The toe of the pudgy boy’s boot snagged on the rope as he went over. Nick freed it, and Gabriel’s feet dropped onto the ground on the other side a second before the girls lost their balance. The three teens clutched at each other to stay upright.

  Next they decided to get Justin over. Grumbling, Taylor and Nick boosted him by the buttocks.

  “Oh yeah, Sweet T,” Justin crooned. “Feel free to caress the junk. Nicky boy, you keep your hands to yourself.”

  “Let’s just throw him,” Taylor said. She and Nick shoved Justin over onto three sets of upraised hands.

  Four teens on one side of the rope. Two on the other. “Now what?” Taylor turned to Nick. “Maybe I could boost you up on my shoulders.”

  Nick shook his head. “I’m going to boost you.”

  Taylor eyed him doubtfully. The boy was seven inches shorter and probably forty pounds lighter than she was.

  “I’m really strong,” Nick assured her.

  “But even if you can lift me up, then how will you get over?”

  “Limbo!” Ashley suggested from the other side, leaning back, her arms held out to her sides. She shimmied, her breasts jiggling, as if she was about to dance under the rope.

  Justin’s eyes lit up. “Go, Sparky! Shake ‘em! Show us what you got!”

  “Justin! Ash!” Sam was appalled.

  “No going under,” Aidan reminded them. “Or around the trees.”

  Nick told Taylor, “I’m going to kneel down and you’re going to climb onto my shoulders, and then they’ll grab you and pull you over while I hold your legs and you make like a plank.”

  The tall girl shrugged. “It’s your sacroiliac.”

  Sam had nearly forgotten that Taylor’s father was a doctor.

  Nick squatted, and Taylor slid her legs onto his shoulders and held his hands. With a major effort, a beet-red face, and several staggering steps, the slight boy managed to get to his feet and pass Taylor over the rope.

  “Okay.” Nick stretched his arms above his head and waggled his neck to relax the muscles. “I am gonna fly over this rope. And you guys will catch me, right?”

  That sounded like a dangerous plan. Sam caught Maya’s gaze, and then Aidan’s. They didn’t look as alarmed as she felt.

  Nick examined the faces of the five teens on the far side of the rope. “You’ll catch me, right?” he repeated.

  The girls and Gabriel nodded. Justin refused to commit.

  “I think you need to back up a little. And raise your hands.” Nick briefly held his own in the air to demonstrate.

  The four backed up a couple of feet. The girls raised their hands, and after a few seconds and a sideways glance at Justin, Gabriel did, too. Justin stood stubbornly in place, refusing to obey instructions.

  “Four’s enough.” Nick paced backward several yards to get a running start. “Here I come!”

  Sam had the sickening feeling this was not going to end well, but before she could stop him, Nick raced forward and launched himself into the air, hands outstretched in front like Superman. Then, in an astounding cooperative effort, the rest of the crew caught him, including Justin, who joined the others at the last second. Sam wished she’d captured the moment on film.

  “That was amazing.” Maya applauded. “Most of the other crews ended up climbing the trees.”

  The kids stopped their high-fiving to stare at the trees to which the rope was tied. One fir had a branch low enough to jump and grab. A couple of bare spots showed where the bark had been worn off by the boots of hikers climbing up.

  Aidan grinned. “We said you couldn’t go under the rope or walk around the trees, but we didn’t say you couldn’t climb a tree to get over.”

  For a few awkward seconds, a disappointed silence reigned over the campsite. Sam mentally cursed her peer counselors for spoiling her crew’s best bonding moment.

  “Wimps,” Justin growled. He flexed his arms in a strong man pose. “This crew’s got muscles. Plus, we got Lightning.” He slapped Nick on the back.

  “We don’t need no stinkin’ trees,” Olivia growled in a deep voice.

  The laughter and the hand slaps began again. Aidan untied the rope and put it away.

  Digging into her pack, Sam handed them small bags of dried apricots as prizes. “Sunset watch!”

  Their groans seemed good-natured now as they moved away from the trees and faced the west. She decided to award Voyager necklaces to all her Zombies before bedtime. Even Justin, although she’d have to talk to him about his temper and his recalcitrance. And she’d have to pull Nick aside before bedtime and make him promise not to cut himself.

  Chapter 6

  On Day Four, Sam led her group down a rocky overgrown path that was barely more than a game trail. They saw no other hikers, but when the disturbing crack of a gunshot echoed in the distance, they all stopped to survey the peaks around them.

  “Another angel gets its wings,” Justin remarked morosely. “Gex hunters.”

  “We don’t know what that was,” Sam snapped, trying to reassure herself as well as her group. “There are a few mines around here; that might have been a dynamite blast. It could have been target practice. In any case, no worries, crew; it sounded pretty far away.”

  Her suggestions didn’t help. She could tell by her crew’s faces that their minds were fixed on possible targets. Baby goats. Hikers. She felt chilled the rest of the day as Kim and Kyla haunted her.

  They hiked to a small mountain lake where they would stay for two nights. The sun was warm when they arrived in early afternoon, so Sam announced it was time for bathing and washing clothes. They strung up lines among the trees to hang wet clothing, and Aidan took the three boys off for a tracking lesson while Sam dug out the biodegradable soap.

  “Oh thankyoubabyJesus,” Taylor breathed, pulling up her T-shirt. “I don’t care how cold that water is; I can’t even stand myself, and the rest of you reek like rotting fish.”

  Ashley laughed. “My mom would say I have achieved a new level of skank.”

  Taylor suspiciously regarded the small tube of biodegradable soap Sam extracted from her pack. “That is it? No, no, no. I need decent shampoo and lots of conditioner.” She flopped her ponytail over her shoulder from back to front to emphasize the point.

  Olivia and Ashley waited to see what Sam was going to do about that.
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  “The fish and other critters that live in that lake don’t need shampoo and conditioner,” she reminded them. “And we are invading their world.”

  “Critters,” Ashley murmured under her breath, as if memorizing the word. She cast a wary glance at the surface of the water. “What other critters?”

  “Anacondas, probably,” Taylor said. “You know, with global warming and all, they’re crawling north to Canada.”

  “Frogs and waterbugs are more likely,” Sam said.

  Olivia shivered. “Waterbugs?”

  “Pond skaters, water striders mostly,” Sam clarified. “You know, those spider-like insects that walk on water.”

  Olivia clutched a hand to her chest. “Spiders?”

  Sam had no patience for humans who were scared of benign insects. “They’re not really spiders. They’re harmless. In fact, they’re incredible. Some people call them Jesus bugs because they walk on water.”

  “Uh, conditioner?” Taylor reminded her.

  Maya instructed, “Comb your hair first and be careful not to snarl it when you soap up. Watch Sam if you don’t understand.” She grinned as she ran her dirty fingers through her short locks.

  After carefully combing out her French braid and pulling off her clothes, Sam waded into the lake with Maya, gasping. The first six inches had been warmed by the sun, but below that, the water was glacial. As the crew girls watched from the shore, Sam and Maya soaped their bodies and then their hair. Sam smoothed soapy fingers over her scalp and squeezed suds through her long tresses.

  It was an effort to keep her teeth from chattering. Raising an arm, she beckoned. “Come on in, the water’s fine!”

  “You’ll love it!” Maya shouted in encouragement.

  Taylor and Ashley dashed naked into the lake, squealing as the water deepened. Their young bodies were beautiful, Ashley curvaceous and Taylor with small high breasts. Sam was embarrassed for having ever imagined that Taylor might be trans. Olivia followed the others, still wearing her bra and panties, declaring, “I’m going to wash these while I have them on.”