Cameron smiled widely and nodded as she kicked the door closed. And for the next hour, they made love.
Part II: The Lake
Cameron swept the cabin. With each broad stroke, gray dust flecked with black billowed past the threshold.
She stepped aside as Jocelyn returned with a pot filled with fresh water from the red pump adjacent to the small dwelling.
They smiled at each other, still shining in their rosy afterglow.
"We're really doing this, aren't we?" Cameron said. "I can't believe it."
Jocelyn set the water onto the electric hot plate, their mugs waiting next to it with freeze-dried coffee inside. "And you doubted me!" she scoffed. "I'm going to turn on the generator, babe."
"Okay. I'll be here. Thinking about you," Cameron said, no less bashful.
Jocelyn smiled as she jogged up to her, and they shared a quick peck. "You're beautiful." And with a joyful giggle, she raced out and jaunted around the cabin.
Jocelyn turned the last corner and suddenly stopped, her glee replaced with bafflement. The small red generator sat ahead, center of a brief clearing amid the tall grass, but her gaze was fixed on the scratches across the wall. She approached them, reached to the white contrasting the dark surface. They looked like claw marks, deep and jagged, but were cleanly made, almost deliberate.
Then, with a small gasp, her hand shot to her chest as she realized the marks, nearly reaching the top of the cabin, were not only too high to have been made by an animal, but they were also fresh.
Jocelyn spun in place and looked into the forest. Her heart pounded. She searched the seeming tranquility for any movement, any minor disturbance, and then looked again at the marks. They formed three lines, more or less vertical, over an uneven ring.
"I wonder what it means," she said. She harrumphed, her smile returning. "Dumb girl. It's probably just a stupid prank or something. A bunch of drunk teens." She nodded. "Yeah, I bet that's what it is."
She took a breath, composed herself, and got to work on the generator.
At the other side of the cabin, Cameron swept contentedly, almost done and wondering if there was a way to clean the blood off the planks inside, when she looked up and froze in place.
Across from her, standing next to the van, was a large, black Labrador.
The dog stared at her, panting. She gripped the broom as she examined it from afar. It did not seem aggressive and wasn't foaming at the mouth. Then, it barked and wagged its tail, and her heart melted.
"Oh! Hello," she said. She set down the broom and moved toward the dog with her palms out. "Hello, boy! It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."
The dog cantered to her, sniffed her hands, and began licking them. Cameron beamed like the afternoon sun.
Jocelyn skipped from around the cabin, then. "Generator's fixed." She glanced ahead and came to an abrupt stop. "Whoa! Okay, that's a huge dog! Cameron, what are you doing?"
"No, it's okay," Cameron said, keeping her eyes forward. "He's not going to hurt us. Are you, boy?" Cameron felt over the dog's domed head and rubbed behind its ears, admiring the way the light shined off its coat. "See?" she said. "He's all right. You're awfully well behaved," she told the dog. "What's your name?" She looked under the dog's head and rotated its orange leather collar, but couldn't find any identification.
Jocelyn approached behind her.
"Huh. He doesn't have a tag," Cameron said. "We'll call him Sancho!"
"We're not keeping him!" Jocelyn said, crossing her arms.
"I don't want to take him back with us or anything. He obviously has an owner. Look how groomed and well cared for he is," she said. "And that's a tooled collar. He belongs to someone who's probably out looking for him right now. We'll just watch over him and keep him company. He's so quiet, I'm sure he won't bother us. I mean, come on. Just look at this face!"
She held up Sancho's muzzle, giving the Labrador a gentle and lordly demeanor.
"You know how people treat black dogs," she said. "They have the hardest time finding a forever home."
Jocelyn exhaled. "Fine. I'm going to make coffee," she said. "Just don't fall in love with him, okay?" She started toward the cabin.
"What do you mean?" Cameron asked.
"Because when his owners do show up, it'll break your heart," Jocelyn shouted back. "That's why!"
Cameron pouted, still rubbing Sancho's head. She knew Jocelyn was right and resented it, but she also felt venerated, not yet used to the idea that anyone could know her so well. It was a strange new way to feel alone, and she contemplated the future.
"I know it will, but what can I do?" she said. She looked at Sancho and smiled. "What do you say we get you some water?"
The dog barked and its tail wagged.
"You're smart, too! Aren't you?" She stood, stretched. "Come with me, Sancho."
Cameron walked to the pump, and the Labrador followed.
Jocelyn watched from the cabin, the steam from her freshly brewed cup rising before her face as she plotted.
*~*~*
They finished their drinks, chatted pleasantly, and after an hour, went to the lake, a ten-minute walk to the east of the cabin.
Across its distance, the rising hills created a verdant peak. The silvery water reflected the azure sky and dark green like a mirror.
Jocelyn, in a sunny yellow bikini, raced to it and jumped in with a splash, shattering the image. She swam out, and after a few strokes, looked back at the narrow strip of beach along the tree line.
"Come on, Cammy!" she called. "I wanna see what you got!"
Cameron stepped out from behind a tree, into the sun, and dropped her towel. She stood stiffly. It was the first time she had worn a swimsuit outside since she was a child, and Jocelyn knew it.
Jocelyn smiled, delighting in the sight. With her petite frame and short curls, Cameron already looked young. Now, in a skimpy black two-piece, showing her blazing paleness, she looked almost illegal.
"OW!" she shouted. "Hey, little girl! Why don't you show me something?"
"Um, like what?" Cameron responded, quietly.
"You know what," Jocelyn teased. "Just gimme a taste. Or else I'll make you swim naked!"
Cameron, visibly tense, searched around her, quadruple-checking that they were, in fact, alone and not being watched by anyone. She then turned, thrust out her rear and pushed her bottoms down, giving Jocelyn a flash. She looked over her shoulder, and offered an innocent and nervous smile.
She wondered again what Jocelyn saw in her, especially when their ideas of what was fun were so very different.
"WOO!" Jocelyn hollered. She knew she could push Cameron to do even more but relented. "I love it! Come splash around with me!"
"Coming," she said.
She glanced back. Sancho, darker than the surrounding shadows, sat behind her, facing away and staring quietly into the forest.
"Sancho, is everything okay?" she asked. The dog did not respond. "Want to play in the water?"
The dog whimpered, stayed in place. She shrugged. "Okay. We'll just be in the lake. If you see something, bark and come get us. Don't run off, though."
The Labrador simply sat there, still and quiet, looking ahead, like it was waiting.
Cameron stepped onto the beach, dipped her toe into the water. Its chill made her twinge. She steadily entered, acclimating, and swam toward Jocelyn.
Jocelyn had already swum out and circled back. She loved swimming and had several trophies at home. It had also paid for her first two years of college, but she'd had to give up competition when her studies began to dominate her time. Still, she went to the stadium every weekend and enjoyed its pool. It was the only time she felt like a real person, as though there was more to her than her appearance.
The rest of the time, she had Cameron.
She glanced down then and noticed something odd in the lake, deep below the glistening surface. She wiped the water from her eyes and searched around her kicking legs. A dark mass moved under her. She glan
ced up, thinking it might be the shadow of something above her, but the sky was clear and vacant. When she looked down again, the darkness was gone.
"What the..."
Her confusion was forgotten when she heard inelegant splashing behind her. She turned and saw Cameron steadily approaching, typically awkward. At that moment, her heart warmed. Cameron was a beauty like she had always dreamed of, wet and fit and perfect—and hers.
"Is everything all right?" Cameron asked.
Jocelyn smiled. "Everything's fine," she said. "Come on, let's play!"
They swam alongside each other for a while and then hand-in-hand, and splashed each other and raced across the lake, anything they could think of to enjoy themselves.
"I wonder if I can make it all the way to the other side and back," Jocelyn said. "I'm going for it!"
"Just don't tire yourself," Cameron said.
Jocelyn snickered. "You know I don't tire out easily."
She raced ahead, fast and strong. Cameron stayed behind and watched, admiring her while drifting nearer to the beach.
Jocelyn slowed at the center of the lake, floated in place. Then, everything seemed to shift under her, and the water filled with swelling darkness. Before she could react, she was pulled under with a hard and sudden tug.
"Joey!" Cameron called.
Jocelyn burst from the water with a loud gasp, thrashing as she fought to escape the force beneath her, but its grip was too tight and kept pulling her down. It crawled over her body, between her skin and the lake. She sputtered and choked, unable to stop the water from entering her mouth and powering down her throat with each attempt she took at taking a breath.
Cameron swam toward her as quickly as she could. "I'm coming! I'm coming!"
She got alongside Jocelyn and helped her above the water. They steadily swam back to the beach together and clambered across its surface until they were under the trees again.
"Are you all right?" Cameron asked.
Jocelyn nodded, coughing harshly. "Yeah." She coughed more. "I don't know what happened. Something just..."
Then someone shouted, "Excuse me!"
They both looked back and sprang up, dripping wet. A lank man dressed in pine green approached them, wide-eyed and smiling. The patches on his uniform indicated he was a forest ranger.
"I heard some shouting," he said. "Is everything okay here, ladies?"
"We're fine," Jocelyn said, sounding hoarse. Cameron's worried expression, though, signaled otherwise. "We were just fooling around. I'm Jocelyn and this is Cameron."
"Hello," Cameron said, giving him a small wave with a weak smile. She cradled her soft, pale body, feeling naked in front of the stranger.
Jocelyn, in contrast, stood confidently, with her hands on her hips, despite her ordeal.
"Nice to meet you," he said to them. "And who is this fellow?"
The man bent down and scratched vigorously behind Sancho's ears. Cameron marveled at how calmly the Labrador behaved.
"That's Sancho," she said, quietly. "I mean, that's what we call him. We found him this morning. Do you know if anyone's missing a dog? He has a collar, but there's no tag or anything."
"No. Nobody I can think of," he said. "But we get campers and weekend hikers up here all the time, so who knows? I'll put up a post at the office and call the animal warden. He can come up and take this guy off your hands for you."
Cameron shook her head, horrible images of doggie prison filling her mind. "No, that's okay!" she said. "He's fine here. Honest."
"That's good, too. Good protection, aren't you?" he said to Sancho. "Are you two staying at the cabin on Quiet Ridge?"
Jocelyn and Cameron exchanged uncertain looks.
"Um, yes?" Jocelyn said.
"I saw a blue van there, about a quarter-mile away."
"Yes, sir. That's ours," Cameron said.
The man laughed. "Oh, I'm not a 'sir.' I'm James. Ranger James, if you like," he said. He stood, smoothed his uniform. "Anyway, I left my card at your cabin. It has all of my contact info on it in case you need anything. Cell, radio, office. The works! And there's a service station up the road, too."
"We stopped there this morning," Jocelyn said.
"So you got to meet George!" James said. "Mister Jepson there, he's the owner."
Jocelyn smiled widely. "Yep. We met George Jepson," she said. "His boy, Elroy." Cameron jabbed her hard. Jocelyn, still smiling, mouthed, "What?"
"Okay, well, if you need anything, I'm always around. Just like the trees," James said. "Take it easy, ladies."
"Thank you!" Cameron said. Once Ranger James was gone, she gave Jocelyn a stern look.
Jocelyn grinned, chuckled. "Come on! You know that was funny."
"It was. But still!" she said and sighed. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just swallowed some water," Jocelyn said. "You want to go back to the cabin? I think I'm done for the day."
"I think that's a good idea."
Cameron grabbed her towel, wrapped herself, and they headed back with Sancho following at their side.
They both looked into the forest, searching in all directions, but there was no sign of the park ranger.
*~*~*
The sky was perfect black.
Sancho rested outside, ahead of the cabin door, keeping guard over the entrance and the old blue van.
Inside, Jocelyn and Cameron lay together, holding each other under the sheet, on top of the sleeping bag, naked and cool on the warm summer night.
"I've never done that before," Jocelyn said. "Made love twice in one day."
"How was it?" Cameron asked.
"Awesome," Jocelyn said. "Ha! I'm even saying 'made love' instead of 'fucked.' That's the kind of effect you have on me, babe."
Cameron smiled. "I never thought I'd do something like this. I mean, I wanted it. And I'd fantasize about it. But I never believed it was possible, that I would be special enough for someone to love me and want me like that, the way you do."
"We sure are something, aren't we?" Jocelyn said. "Two educated young women in a wild, interracial romance, and it's all because you're so damn wonderful. And sexy as hell."
Cameron nuzzled against Jocelyn, swooned. "I was so scared. When I heard about that girls-only meeting, I thought, why not just paint a target on my back?" she said. "But then, I met you."
She glanced up as she exhaled, and in the dark, lightened by her adjusted vision, spotted something large skittering along the ceiling. It was the size of her hand and as black as the shadows around them. She stiffened, clutched the sheet.
Jocelyn noticed and sat up. "Hey. Is something wrong?"
"There's a huge bug," Cameron said in a whisper.
"Probably. We are in the woods."
"No, I mean really huge!"
She pointed at the ceiling and Jocelyn looked upward, searching amid the darkness. After a second, she scoffed and turned to Cameron. "You seriously need to relax," she said. "And I know just how to help you with that." Jocelyn leaned forward and licked along Cameron's collar and neck.
Cameron moaned and shuddered in Jocelyn's grip. "Joey! I love that so much!"
Jocelyn giggled. "Just remember to keep your mouth closed, or else it'll get filled up with bugs!"
"Oh, you jerk!"
Cameron, smiling, shoved her and they laughed together. After, they snuggled and kissed, holding each other so closely they could feel their heartbeats calm as one.
A strong breeze buffeted the cabin, the slight rustle outside creating a dreamy white noise. As the minutes passed, Cameron began to relax. She tried not to move. Jocelyn had fallen asleep on her and was breathing gently against her soft body. In that moment, she felt so loved and blissful she could write a song about it.
It was how she had always wanted her life to be.
She gazed at the ceiling. Something glistened above her. Her brow furrowed, certain the large insect was still there, at the fringe of the shadows, invisible in the night, and looking down, watching the
m. She soon began to drift, though, and forgot about it as she finally fell asleep.
Part III: The Forest
They awoke to a world bathed in golden light and ensconced in quiet, holding each other. A nice breakfast of kielbasa and scrambled eggs followed. Jocelyn gave Sancho some scraps, not sure what he ate, only that he hadn't had anything since yesterday. Cameron was happy to see that she had warmed to the Labrador and envisioned a future replete with puppies.
By mid-morning, they were ready for the centerpiece of their trip, a hike through the woods. They dressed in long pants and sturdy shoes and covered themselves with repellant. Before setting out, Jocelyn made doubly sure their packs contained everything they needed, especially her nature guide, compass, and first aid kit.
Then, she put a teal bandana on Cameron to make her look sportier.
"Now you're ready," Jocelyn said.
"Aw, thanks," Cameron said, adjusting it.
They set out, heading north into the endless forest, amid bristly spruce and firs, tall cedars and towering redwoods, through the diffuse shade and rows of obstructed light. As they progressed, the peak neared, looming over them like a monolith. Behind them, the cabin was blotted by an emerald-green wall specked with brown-black.
Cameron, with Sancho trotting at her side, followed a step behind Jocelyn, who held the compass in her raised palm.
"I knew this would be awesome," Jocelyn said. "Blue sky. Green trees. All this shade and fresh air. Back in the city, they're all melting. Like so much wax! And it's so quiet, too. Here, it's just us and nature."
"It's very nice."
Cameron looked away, still reserved and content to remain quiet even when surrounded by such splendor and alone with the girl she adored.
Jocelyn turned and set her hands on her hips. Cameron halted, smiled weakly. "You're not enjoying this, are you?"
"I am, really. It's pretty," Cameron said. "I just don't have much to say, you know."
"You don't seem happy, though. Like, I can see your expression and hear your voice. And I can't always be imagining it."
Cameron shrugged, shrinking with her shame and becoming annoyed. "What do you want? This is where I want to be. It's beautiful out here, and I love being with you. If I wanted to be somewhere else, I would say so. I wish I could do a better job of expressing myself. I'm just not good at it, that's all."
Servants of the Living Forest Page 2
