“What happens if they don’t have hash browns?”
“I’ll take the homestyle potatoes. That’s the second perfect breakfast.”
“You’re cute.” She forgot for a minute why they were in Glenley.
“I’d better call my parents and let them know I’m okay.” Her words came out sounding like a question.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I have a plan.”
“I don’t want my mom to worry.”
“I agree. Send an email.”
Drew listened as Marc explained his thoughts.
“Email them, tell them that you are okay, but say that you are going on assignment.”
“Okay.”
“It’s the truth. And by emailing instead of calling, you won’t be pressed to reveal any details. You won’t have to reveal who you are with. Or where you are staying. You can honestly email them and let them know there isn’t any cell service or internet where you are going to be. Tell them you’ll contact them again in a few days or so.”
“What does that accomplish?”
“Keeps them from knowing too much. Also, if the Congressman presses them for information, or if he threatens them about anything, they can’t give out information they don’t know.”
“I just don’t want my mom to worry.”
“I agree. Let her know you’re in good hands. Just don’t say whose.”
“So, I’m in your hands now?”
Marc blushed.
Breakfast came, and they ate without speaking. Drew hoped she wasn’t overreacting. Perhaps the Congressman had a rational reason for having those files?
Maybe he just wanted the thumb drive back, and the whole thing would be forgotten. They could move on, and someday the whole affair would be funny, all this sneaking around in the woods. But maybe not. She realized that it was very suspicious that Boyd had the files belonging to a missing reporter and that those files implicated him in something illegal. If Boyd had anything to do with the reporter’s disappearance, then she’d be in danger too. It was hard to accept, but Marc had convinced her it was better to be cautious and play this safe.
When the bill came, Drew got out her purse.
Marc grabbed the check. “You’re my guest,” he said.
She was used to being treated, but she felt guilty. This trip was all about protecting her. She figured she’d make up for it somehow and thanked him. When the bill was paid, she snuck a peek at the amount Marc left for a tip. She always felt that was a good way to judge character. He passed her test. He had been polite and friendly to their server too, another good litmus test. He was a good man. She wondered what being involved with a good man would mean to her.
“You’d better send that email now,” he said. “The wi-fi here is your last chance for the internet.”
Drew sent an email to her mother and cc’d her father:
Mom, I don’t want you to worry. I’m going on an assignment out of town. There is no cell or internet service there. I’ll be out of touch for a few days. I’ll call you when I get back to Bristol.
Maybe we can have lunch on Saturday?
Love, Drew
P.S. Dad, I have no idea about a thumb drive. I’m sorry I didn’t text you back. I lost my phone.
Drew showed the email to Marc before she sent it.
He nodded. “Sounds good.”
She pushed send and turned off her phone. “Oh, shoot. I should have brought some extra paperbacks.”
“Don’t worry. There’s a whole bookcase of stuff up there.”
“That’s right, your dad, the end-of-the-world prepper.”
Drew and Marc got back into her Camaro. She punched the gas the moment they passed the city limits.
When they got close to the turn off into the Fallen Oaks Trailer Park, Marc tapped her shoulder. He shouted over the loud music, “Around this turn is your exit to the left.”
The Fallen Oaks Trailer Park looked like a scab on the knee of a schoolgirl. There was an old gas station and minimart, long ago abandoned. The only commerce seemed to be from a few residences that had signs out saying “Apples for Sale — in season.”
Drew slowed down to avoid hitting one of the many dogs she saw running around off-leash. She thought she saw a goat or maybe a sheep in someone’s yard. “This sure is Hicksville.”
“Yup.” He looked ahead and pointed. “Watch out. Coming up is an old wooden bridge. It’s only wide enough for one car at a time.”
Drew slowed down and drove over the bridge. “You sure this is strong enough?”
“Yes. It’s been here forever. I used to jump off the bridge during the summer and fish during the winter. My cousins and I used to sneak along the sides of the bridge playing hide-and-seek and get into trouble.”
Drew continued driving.
“It’s been holding cars for decades, I’m sure it’s still good,” he said as they passed the midpoint. He explained that just as a precaution most people waited until it was free of traffic in either direction before crossing one car at a time.
They made it across without incident, and Drew breathed easier.
From there, it was another fifteen minutes up to the cabin. They only passed a few driveways after the bridge. Some of them had hand-painted signs announcing who lived there.
Marc explained that while the Fallen Oaks residents had long-term leases on small lots, everyone up here owned their properties. His dad’s property was just under twelve acres.
“Only a few people live here year-round. Most places are either vacation getaways or owned by people prepping for the zombie apocalypse.”
When they reached the cabin, Drew thought it was cute in a non-Martha Stewart “this isn’t Vermont or Cape Cod” way. It was actually made of real logs with small, deep-set windows and a porch stretching from end-to-end. The front door was painted a deep green, but other than that splash of color, everything else was natural wood.
The inside smelled musty when they first walked in, but Marc opened the place up and allowed the fresh mountain air in. He gathered up firewood, and it wasn’t more than a few minutes before a pleasant scent filled the cabin.
The front room held a sofa, two recliners, and a large stone fireplace. The kitchen and dining nook were open to the front living room. A potbelly stove sat between them. There was just one hallway, its doorway located in the back of the living room. There were two bedrooms and one small bathroom. At the end of the hall was what appeared to be a hole in the floor with a wooden ladder sticking up through it.
“What’s down there?” Drew asked. “A dungeon?”
“Yes, I’ll show you later. I need to make sure the bones of my last victim aren’t lying around. Just be careful if you go down there because you have to step off the ladder into the dark. You’ll break your ankle if you’re not careful. It’s just a root cellar. If someone lived here full-time it would be used for storing apples, preserves, and other staples. We just use the space for storage.”
After getting a tour of the place, Drew helped Marc put away the supplies they had brought. He showed her how to turn on and off the propane tank and how to light the pilot for the water heater and the range.
The kitchen had a propane-operated refrigerator. Marc got it running, and they filled it with supplies. They’d bought plenty of Diet Coke, of course, and staples like eggs, milk, cheese, and a few things for meals. It wasn’t too far to head back to town, but they wanted to avoid having Drew being seen in public.
Marc showed her where extra supplies were kept. Kerosene for the lanterns, batteries, flashlights, toilet paper, basic medicines, and first aid supplies. Marc’s father had a stash of MREs bought at an Army Navy Store. “We could stay here for months, if we needed to,” Marc said. He laughed, but Drew frowned.
Drew went to the library in the front room and scanned for titles and authors she had in her mental reading list. Decent things to read, she thought as she sca
nned the spines of the books. Marc’s dad had good taste.
“Let’s go for a little hike,” Marc said. “If you’re up for it?”
“Sure. Just let me get some better shoes.”
They started on a trail that began on the right side of the cabin leading up towards the mountain peaks in the distance. The trail was old and worn but hadn’t been hiked on in some time. There were leaves on the ground and overgrowth intruded onto the dirt path.
“Once we get under the trees, it’ll be easier. This meadow area ends in a few hundred feet.”
Drew told him not to worry about her. Then she asked about snakes.
“Could be, later in the day, but it’s still a bit cold for them to be out now. As long as I’m walking point and you stay on the trail, you’ll be fine. By the way, if I do get bit, get me to the emergency room as quickly as you can. Deal?”
Drew told him she hoped he was joking around and then continued walking as the trail opened up into a pine forest. Under the canopy of trees, the undergrowth was minimal. The sounds of birds, the forest, and the isolation made Drew shiver. It was both spooky and cool to be so far from civilization.
They walked for about twenty minutes, only occasionally talking about the beauty or pointing out a feature or animal. They saw a few squirrels and birds, but no snakes.
“What else is up here?” she asked.
“Used to be bears and mountain lions, but no longer. A few bobcats, maybe, but they spook easily. There are squirrels, birds, raccoons, snakes, and lizards. Lots of bugs. Maybe a madman or two. Legends, you know?”
He laughed when he said that, and she punched him in the arm.
He told her she’d better behave. “Nobody knows where you are, and for all you know, I brought all the girls I ax-murdered up here.”
“Funny. Is that a river?”
They could hear running water.
“It’s more like a big stream than a river, but, yes.”
They made it around a little bend in the trail, and she paused when she saw how beautiful it was. Unspoiled nature. Little waterfalls and the sound of running water made a picture-perfect scene. She stood in silence for a long time and thought about how life could sometimes be so wonderful and simple and lovely.
If only it could stay that way.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Love is just a system for getting someone to call you Darling after sex.
~ Julian Barnes
Drew was a quick learner. She learned things like swimming, reading, the rules to card games, and math very easily and quickly. But charming people? No. She didn’t learn that. She was born with it. An innate gift. Or perhaps a curse.
~ Monica Stirling
Marc Chase was pleased that Drew was happy. He brought her to this spot hoping the tranquility and beauty would put her in a good mood. He wanted her to quit thinking about the troubles that brought them there. “There are trout in the stream. I’ll show you how to fly fish if you’d like.”
She smiled, but didn’t answer.
They walked upstream until the trail ended.
“We’d better stop unless we get some supplies and a compass. We get lost up here, they’ll never find our bodies.”
“It’s so beautiful. Thank you for bringing me here. I feel much better already.”
They walked back to the cabin, and he asked her if she was starting to think about lunch.
“I’m going to get fat if I keep eating like this. I’ve missed the pool now for several days and feel like a cow.”
“You want to lose a few pounds?” he asked. “There’s a small pond at the bridge. It’s so cold you’ll lose weight just putting your feet in.”
“No, thanks. Sounds like torture. I would love to do some yoga. Maybe tomorrow morning.”
They made lunch together and talked more about the cabin and life in the woods. He told her that people used to hunt here, but there wasn’t a lot of a game anymore. There were a few deer, but a tag was required. “Of course, after the zombie apocalypse, getting a tag won’t matter. So if you’re stuck up here you can hunt to your heart’s content. Probably a thousand other people would come up here and just steal anything you bagged.”
“I’ve never shot a gun before. I mean other than a pellet gun and in video games.”
“Really, never?”
“Nope.”
“We need to change that.”
“Okay, I’m game.”
“After lunch, shooting lessons.”
Marc opened the gun safe and showed Drew the assortment of weapons and ammo his father kept there. He brought out a Mossberg shotgun, a Sig Sauer handgun, and two boxes of ammunition. “Let’s go get a safety lesson.”
He set everything down on the kitchen table and explained the safe operation of guns, his abbreviated version. “Remember, this is not a video game. These things can kill you. Or me. So, mostly, don’t point it at me, or yourself, and don’t pull the trigger unless you are pointing down range.”
Marc showed her where the safeties were, how they worked, how to load both guns, and how to safely unload them. When he was confident she wasn’t going to shoot off her own foot, he took her outside and gave her the shotgun. “Okay, on your shoulder, like I showed you.”
She aimed at a tree and pulled the trigger. The blast was louder than she expected. “Shit, that hurt my ears,” she said.
“Sorry, hold on. I meant to hand you these.” He handed her a pair of earplugs. After getting off a few rounds with the shotgun, he demonstrated the handgun. “It’s not easy to hit anything with a handgun when you are first learning. Unless the target is really close to you. It takes a lot of practice to be able to hit anything that’s moving, especially when you’re under pressure. That’s why you often hear of a criminal being hit by ten bullets when in a confrontation with police. It’s hard to know if you’ve hit something. So they just keep shooting. It’s not necessary to be a good shot when you can send a hundred bullets down range.
“If you have to defend yourself and it’s not a complete surprise, you’re better off with the shotgun. Easier to hit a man with this weapon. You put one of these deer loads in a man’s chest, he’s not getting up.”
They practiced more, and Drew told him that she felt confident she could at least scare someone away. She wasn’t sure if she could actually shoot a person, but at least she knew she could fire warning shots.
“I can’t believe I never did this before. It was really fun. I’m surprised. What else can you teach me up here?”
Marc flushed. He looked away, and she hit him in the shoulder.
“Not that! I meant survival shit.”
“Oh. I can show you how to chop wood. Set animal traps, although that would be illegal. How about a lesson on the fly fishing gear?”
“Okay,” she said.
Marc put the weapons and unused ammo back in the safe. He brought out the fly rods. “Maybe we can go fishing for trout in the morning. For now, I’ll just give you a little lesson on casting.”
He demonstrated a cast, although it took him awhile to get it down himself. He hadn’t fished with his dad for nearly a year.
“What’s on your mind? You look like someone that just lost his puppy.”
“Nothing. My mom. Thinking I should come up here with my dad more often. You know? Before he’s gone too. He taught me how to fish with these same rods years ago. It seems like another lifetime. And fuck, I’m not even that old. I guess life just goes too fast. I’m glad we’re up here together, Drew. I really like spending time with you.”
She glanced up at him. Marc felt his heart skip a little, and he forgot about sad memories. He continued showing her how to work the fishing gear. “The trout will bite like crazy up here in the early morning. If you’re up for an early morning tomorrow, I’ll take you to the stream. We’ll see if we can catch breakfast.”
As the afternoon wore on, they talked about the problems she was facing and possible s
olutions. It was tricky dealing with the powerful Congressman and an explosive issue. In spite of that, they enjoyed each other’s company and the surroundings.
Marc had come to realize that she was also witty, intelligent, and a really good conversationalist. She was a decent person, compassionate and empathic. He didn’t want to see her get hurt.
“I’ll start a fire, if you’ll start thinking about what we should have for dinner.”
The temperature dropped, and the sky began changing colors. They went back indoors.
“S’mores for dinner is fine with me. And popcorn. And a Diet Coke.”
Marc laughed. “What? No protein?”
After dinner they sat on the sofa and watched the fire. Marc got up and told her he felt like getting a shower, to make herself at home, and that she could have the master bedroom. “You want the shower first?”
“No, you go ahead.”
Marc left her as she searched through the books. He grabbed his bag and clean towels and brought a lantern into the bathroom. It felt weird taking a shower by lantern light. He’d been doing this for years. It was part of the charm of staying in a cabin in the woods.
Drew followed suit and showered and put on flannel pajamas.
He grinned at her when she came back with a towel wrapped around her head. “Sorry no hair dryer,” he said.
“No problem, I can rough it. For a little while, at least.”
They made hot chocolate and sat together by the fire.
Marc watched her drink the last sip of her cocoa and reached out to take her cup. His fingers landed on her wrist, and she didn’t pull away. When her hand let go of the cup, she gave his fingers a squeeze.
He took the clue, and setting their cups down, he sat close to her. He reached out and took her hand in his.
Drew held his hand and leaned into him.
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