Backcountry

by Pamela Beason

  “Guess we’re in for the night, crew,” Sam told them. “When you need to visit the toilet, put on your raingear and headlamp first, and Aidan will show you where it is.” She shot him a look to show that was an order. “Now, someone set out some pans to collect water.”

  Olivia jumped up.

  Nick headed for the Coleman stove. “I’ll see if this thing works.”

  “I’ll sort out dinner,” Gabriel volunteered. “Where is it?”

  Sam gulped. “Here’s the bad news. The new food stash is in the bear box at the campsite where we’re supposed to be, which is another couple of miles down the valley.”

  Gabriel gazed wistfully in the direction that Sam pointed. “It’s just rain. We can do a couple of miles in under an hour. It’s only water, right?”

  Maya made a face. “And a whole skyful of electricity just waiting to zap us. Not to mention that you might remember that it’s a really steep trail with a lot of rock steps, and this rain will make it uber slippery.”

  “Maybe we could rappel down,” Ashley suggested.

  “Yeah,” Justin seconded.

  They’d done climbing and rappelling practice yesterday. Ashley and Justin had been particularly enthusiastic, and it was a nice mood pickup after the last visit by the counselors to check in with the kids and deliver more letters from their parents. Only four days after tonight. Search and rescue lessons; wilderness first aid, last solo campout, more exercises to focus on constructive plans for the future. The finish line was so close; Sam could almost taste the steak waiting for her at home.

  “No, we can’t rappel down,” she said. “We left the harnesses and most of our rope in the bear box back at the last camp. And we’re not going to chance hiking down the trail in the dark, either. So, for dinner tonight, we’ve only got, well, whatever we’ve got.” She crawled the short distance to her pack. “I have a bag of nuts and some carrots left over from lunch, and a couple of instant soup packets.” She placed them on the desk next to the stove.

  Aidan contributed a pack of crackers and cheese and the few dried pears he had left from Sam’s gift, and Maya added her gift bag of yogurt-covered raisins.

  “You guys been holding out on us!” Gabriel accused, then, his cheeks growing red, guiltily pulled a small pack of M&Ms from his jacket pocket. The counselors must have bribed the kids during their sessions.

  Nick paused in pumping the stove to slap down several celery sticks left over from his lunch, as well as a half-eaten granola bar.

  Justin found another soup packet, and Ashley and Olivia contributed crackers.

  With Taylor supervising, Gabriel divided up the small smorgasbord into nine equal offerings. “We can make a cup of soup for everyone, maybe?” He looked at Nick.

  Aidan stood up and fished a lighter out of his pocket.

  “I knew it!” Justin said. “And you make us create fire like cavemen.”

  “This is only for emergencies. You should be proud of yourselves. Not many people could make a fire with only sticks and twine.” Aidan held a flame to a rusty burner as Nick twisted the knob. They both jumped back as the burner abruptly flared up with a whoosh.

  “So there is some gas left in this thing,” Nick commented. “We better get the water on while we’ve got heat.”

  Olivia retrieved a pan filled with rainwater from the deck outside and placed it on the burner, then began to hand out the small piles of food by scooping them into her drinking cup and offering them to each person. Most held out their hands to accept. Sam pulled out her bandanna to use as a plate. Ashley used her own drinking cup.

  “Shades of Anne Frank,” Taylor said as she accepted the meager offerings from Olivia’s cup and spread them on her outstretched thighs. A flash of light and loud boom from outside made the atmosphere seem more Halloween than Holocaust.

  “God bless us, every one.” Nick’s voice slipped into falsetto for a Tiny Tim imitation.

  “If this continues, we’ll have to decide who to eat,” Gabriel predicted.

  “We can’t eat the Cap’n; we need her. Olivia’s the next smallest.” Justin grinned at the dark girl.

  “Which means we are both excluded,” Sam told him. “It would be most efficient to eat the largest person, wouldn’t it? Bigger meals for everyone, and the largest consumer removed from the group.”

  “Yeah!” Nick heartily agreed.

  Justin frowned. “Well, gex!” He sank back into his spot against the wall, promising, “I’ll be so tough to chew that you’ll be sorry, though.”

  After everyone had consumed a cup of soup apiece in addition to their portions of the snacks, Sam made a little ceremony out of bestowing Navigator necklaces on Justin, Taylor, and Ashley. Where two weeks ago these kids would have sneered at the honor, now they blushed with pride as they fingered the pendants she fastened around their necks.

  She was tempted to do the same for the other three teens, but decided to wait until morning to allow her first volunteers time to bask in their glory. To finish, she handed around one chocolate covered peanut each from the stash she’d saved in her pack and they toasted the occasion by tossing them simultaneously into their mouths.

  “I’m liking this.” Maya unzipped her pack and extracted her headlamp and a book, then returned to her position against the wall and buried her nose in the pages.

  Sam lit the lone oil lamp on the desk. She could hardly believe how well the kids had accepted their situation.

  Outside, the thunder gradually diminished but the deluge continued.

  There was not enough room inside the lookout for all nine of them to stand, rummage in their packs, and dress. After taking turns sitting on the bed to don their rain gear, everyone trooped off to the toilet, then squished their way back over the soggy ground. While the others remained outside on the deck huddling as best they could under the narrow roof overhang, Sam instructed the first five to go inside, strip off and stow their rain gear, take a seat and then call out for the remaining four. It was a laborious process.

  “No stars tonight.” Ashley stated the obvious, staring at the sheeting rain over the dark mountains. “And I’d say the overwhelming color of the sunset is wet.”

  “Nature in all its glory.” Nick’s words sounded like a comment, not a complaint.

  Finally they were all back inside and sitting around the walls again.

  “There’s not enough space to set up our tents in here,” Taylor observed from her spot near a corner.

  “No shit, Sherlock,” Justin teased.

  Taylor slapped his arm again. “Shut up, Holmes.”

  “Figure it out,” Sam said.

  Olivia studied the room. “There’s enough space for nine sleeping bags if two go on top of the bed.”

  “Maybe.” Justin eyed the floor space. “Someone might have to sleep underneath it.”

  “Oh, joy.” Gabriel pulled off one of his boots. “How do we decide who goes where?”

  “Olivia and I will sleep on the bed,” Sam announced.

  “Why?” Ashley asked.

  “Why do you think?”

  After a few seconds had passed, Nick said, “Because it’s a small bed, and they are the two smallest.”

  Sam touched the tip of her nose and then pointed at him to show he’d gotten it right.

  “Poodle,” Ashley hissed under her breath.

  After what seemed like an interminable game of What Animal is It? (a flying squirrel) led by Maya, they finally retired to their sleeping bags. The kids had worked out that if four of them slept with their feet under the bed, the space was adequate. Aidan rolled his sleeping bag out in front of the sole exit door.

  “Aidan, please swap places with Gabriel,” Sam instructed.

  Her peer counselor frowned. “Why?”

  “I want to move that buzz saw as far away from the rest of us as possible,” she lied. “Sorry, Gabe, but in case you don’t know, you snore a little.”

  Gabriel hung his head, embarrassed.

  Aidan’s jaw
was set, but he murmured, “Your wish is my command, Cap’n,” and then gave her a sloppy salute.

  She wanted to tell him to ditch the sarcasm. He wadded up his sleeping bag, and the two switched places. Gabriel slid into his bag, planting his backside up against the door. That was more to her liking. Twice in recent days, Aidan had been unaccounted for. The crew kids had been given more freedom, so the peer counselors could roam more, too. Sam suspected he was using the cell phone he had in his pack, which was supposed to be reserved for emergencies. Tonight, she could make sure Aidan would not slip out unnoticed.

  Sam and Olivia lay in their mummy bags, feet to nose on the twin bed. The mattress was surprisingly comfortable, but the ancient metal frame squeaked every time either one of them moved.

  The lamp had been snuffed out for only a few minutes before the skittering began. A muffled squeal came from the corner where Taylor lay. “A mouse just ran across my chest!” she whimpered.

  “And many more.” Aidan sang the usual follow-up verse to “Happy Birthday” in a minor key.

  Justin growled, “Suck it up, Tee.”

  “Hey, we could eat them instead of Justice. Mouse on a stick!” Gabriel.

  Olivia pulled the sleeping bag over her head.

  “Good night, all!” Sam insisted.

  * * * * *

  She woke before dawn. Rain still sheeted down the windows, but the thunderstorm was over. Outside on the deck, boards creaked. The sound moved around the deck from the front steps to the back side that overlooked the drop-off.

  Her heart sped into overdrive as her brain conjured the hunter who had been following them. Klapton? They were sitting ducks in here, all lined up for execution. She wriggled carefully out of her sleeping bag, then quickly stepped over the inert forms of Gabriel and Nick to reach the window.

  She peered outside in the pre-dawn gloom. For a long moment, her eyes could not identify any shape other than the deck railing, but then she saw a movement below the window.

  Was a sniper lying in wait on the deck? Her heart hammering in her chest, she pressed her face against the glass.

  A tawny black-tipped tail twitched across the deck boards, and then flicked back out of view.

  Cougar.

  Smiling, Sam tiptoed back to bed. Did that mountain lion routinely use this lookout as a perch, or had it come here to escape the deluge? She hoped there would be paw prints in the morning to show her crew.

  As daylight filtered in, the kids sat up, stretching. Aidan and Maya extracted themselves and quietly rolled up their bags.

  “A dozen mice slept with me last night.” Nick lifted the flap of his bag to inspect the interior.

  “I could eat a dozen mice.” Gabriel licked his lips. “Charbroiled. Or chocolate covered.”

  At that moment, Olivia screamed. Her arm shot out, index finger aimed at the window. The cougar, hearing the noise inside, now stood with his paws against the glass, curiously peering in.

  Chaos erupted. Everyone shouted at once, and although most were still hampered by their sleeping bags, the crew tried to crawl away from the window the big cat had chosen. The cacophony was too much for the cougar. The cat dropped down to the deck. The noise made by her crew covered the swift padding of the lion’s exit.

  Sam grinned. Food rationing. Mice. Thunder and lighting. Hail. And now a mountain lion, up close and personal. This was a story the kids would tell the rest of their lives.

  Chapter 14

  The rain had slowed to a gentle drizzle by the time her crew was ready to hike down the mountain. The normally small tarns on the plateau below the lookout had merged into larger ponds, and as they sloshed down the muddy trail, they could hear rushing water in creeks to all sides. Mist obscured Mount Baker, so it was either still raining or snowing at altitudes that were only slightly higher. The clouds overhead were thick, but with luck, the major precipitation would stick to the slopes of the volcano.

  After reaching their scheduled camp, they breakfasted on last night’s dinner, which vaguely resembled spaghetti carbonara. Then Sam awarded Nick, Olivia, and Gabriel their Navigator necklaces, for their adult behavior and contributions last night to the welfare of the group. She wanted all her crew kids to finish on the highest level; they deserved it.

  Precipitation continued in the form of sporadic drizzle, but Sam decided that was part of the outdoor experience, so they all donned their rain gear and spent the day learning search techniques. These mainly consisted of spiraling out from the place last seen as best as possible given the rough terrain, marking off search quadrants and exploring new ones. She divided them into three teams, with Nick, Olivia, and Gabriel as leaders.

  “Safety first,” she stressed. “You never want to lose a search volunteer.”

  Aidan and Maya took turns getting lost, and the whole crew seemed to enjoy finding them again, blowing their whistles to alert everyone else when they did. Ashley was astute enough to look up and spot Maya in the branches of tree, and Nick and Taylor, a team of two, simultaneously discovered Aidan hiding between boulders.

  The search exercises were strenuous but fun. Sam was proud of her crew. They’d been on their own for hours during the day, and they’d all shouldered the responsibility well. Reflecting back to their first day together when Justin and Taylor had been so uncooperative and the rest so hostile, she knew they’d all come a long way.

  In the evenings, around the campfire, came the most difficult times. Sharing, urging the kids to plan for their futures. The exercises were carefully sequenced by the company counselors to prepare the teens for the end of the program.

  Taylor, Gabriel, and Justin seemed reasonably optimistic about getting back to the real world. Nick, Olivia, and Ashley were unwilling to share their plans, but Sam believed they were strong enough now to at least begin coping with whatever awaited them at home.

  After dinner, they sat in their usual circle, struggling with the daily matter of entertainment for the evening. Gabriel suggested the question game again, which was quickly vetoed. Then they discussed marbles, but dismissed that as well because of the lack of appropriate pebbles in their location. Swordfighting with sticks was proposed by Justin and seconded by Nick and Ashley.

  “No way,” Sam said. “The first one to pick up a stick gets demoted to zombie.”

  Taylor stood up, dusting off her pants. “Bocce!”

  They all stared at her.

  “Bocce ball,” she said. “I’ve played it before. There’s even a court in my neighborhood. It’s sort of like bowling, except without the pins. All you need is four balls apiece and an extra one that looks different for a marker.”

  Gabriel, Nick, Justin, and Olivia pushed themselves to their feet and started the hunt for bocce ball-sized rocks. Maya and Aidan rose to keep them within sight.

  “No, no,” Taylor said in the distance, “Best would be baseball size rocks.”

  Ashley elected not to participate and instead sat with her back against a log, frowning, her journal open in her lap and a pen in her hand. Sam went to her tent and pulled out her own notebook to write about the happenings of the day.

  Within a half hour, the crew had marked the boundaries of a bocce ball court with twigs, located a mostly white rock that Taylor called the pallino, and were enthusiastically tossing their rocks toward it. The three rocks that ended up the closest to the pallino scored a point, and the teens had decided that ten points won the game. There were occasional arguments about which balls belonged to whom, which was not surprising given that the “balls” were all rocks, and most rocks in the area were similar. When Sam looked up, Taylor was in the lead with seven points, followed by Justin and Gabriel, both with six. Olivia and Nick had four.

  Nick lobbed his rock toward the white one, but tossed too hard, and overshot. His rock collided with another on the outside of the mass and then ricocheted away, ending up completely off the makeshift court.

  Justin guffawed. “Gex, Lightning, that was pathetic. You couldn’t hit an elephant if
it was standing on your foot!”

  Clenching his jaw, Nick snatched his last rock from the ground beside his feet and pitched it hard overhand at Justin. The rock struck the larger boy squarely in the forehead with an audible thud.

  “Shit!” Justin dropped to his backside in the dirt. Blood gushed from his face.

  Holy crap. Sam rolled to her knees, dumping her notebook into the dirt. In her peripheral vision she saw Maya and Aidan running toward the bocce game.

  Justin was on his feet again before Sam or her peer counselors could reach the kids. Taylor and Olivia rushed toward their tents, Ashley and Gabriel froze in place at the side of the court, and Nick stood his ground as Justin charged and punched him in the face so hard that the smaller boy fell sideways to the ground.

  Sam’s pulse was galloping as she positioned herself between the two boys. To think that only a few minutes ago she had been congratulating herself on how well her crew was getting along.

  Maya helped Nick up, then dragged him off into the woods. Aidan and Sam restrained Justin, each hanging onto one of his arms, until he unclenched his fists. Then Sam doctored the big kid’s face as he sat on a stump. Her hands were trembling as she cleaned the gash with antiseptic, closed it with butterfly bandages, and then taped a large gauze rectangle on top. The gauze patch was quickly dotted with seeping blood. It was scary how copiously facial wounds bled.

  “You’ll have a big bruise.” She placed the last piece of tape next to his left eyebrow. “But that will just add to your brawny appeal, Justin. Goes with the dragon tattoo.”

  Justin’s fists were clenched in his lap. “That little shithead. He’s gonna pay.”

  How quickly that situation had gone to hell. Probably wasn’t a good idea to encourage games that involved rocks. And who would have guessed that Nick would strike the first blow?

  She examined Justin’s eyes with a penlight. Equal pupil size right and left, thank heavens. “We’ve got almost three days to go, Justin. Three days you and Nick have to spend together.”

  Reaching a hand up, he pressed his fingertips to the bandage on his brow, wincing. “I’ll pound that shrimp into the dirt.”