Beyond the New Horizon

by Christine Conaway

  “That’s why I’m thinking about a bow. We could learn to hunt with it and save the ammunition.”

  They were leaning close talking softly when Gina felt Ben stiffen, “What?” she whispered into his ear.

  He held up his hand and looked around turning his head in small, almost imperceptible increments. Gina hadn’t heard anything to alarm him, but waited in silence.

  He finally relaxed, “I guess it wasn’t anything, but I thought I heard what sounded like a dry stick breaking.”

  “As cold, as it is, it could have been a tree or one of the branches. It has to be well below freezing right now. Pretty soon we’re going to have to break the ice for water.”

  They sat listening and watching in silence for a couple of hours. Finally, Ben told her, “I’m going to wake Lucy up. It’s time for me to get some sleep. You going to be okay for a few minutes alone?”

  “I’m fine. Make sure she’s dressed warmly. She doesn’t handle the cold well.”

  She watched Ben make his way to the cave and saw when his shadow bent over to enter. She could only see him because his silhouette was darker than the rock wall.

  Not wanting to wake the kids, Ben crawled into the tent and gently shook the biggest person there, “Lucy,” he whispered, “It’s time to wake up.”

  Lucy groaned and stretched out, unsure why she was being woke up or who was waking her. It came rushing back, and she sat up, putting the covers back over Abby.

  Ben had remained crouched beside her until he saw her sit up, then he had crawled to, and inside his bag, prepared to sleep.

  Lucy crawled from the warmth of the sleeping bag. Blind, she felt around for her boots and grabbed her jacket she had rolled for a pillow. She had felt it necessary to sleep in her clothes as well as her prosthetic.

  She hadn’t wanted to answer all of the questions surrounding her missing limb the two new kids were sure to have. She knew it was only a matter of time before they found out on their own, and it was okay with her. Knowing Abby as she did, the girl had a hard time keeping her nose where it belonged, and she may have already told them. She was far too grown up for an eleven-year-old.

  Lucy usually tried to make up interesting stories to tell people about her leg when they saw it and asked. The adults were the worst, with their stupid questions like, do you forget about it and fall, or, how do you stand in the shower. Stupid questions that if they ever took the time to think, they would know the answers. Of course, she forgot and sometimes she did fall, and her shower had a bench in it to accommodate her handicap. Sometimes she just wanted to scream out all of the answers before the questions could be asked.

  Lucy knew Ben had been up all of the night before and with the excitement yesterday, he hadn’t caught a nap of any kind. She thought she already heard his soft snores, or they could have come from Lucas. Lucy wasn’t sure who, but someone snored

  As quiet as she could, Lucy struggled into her jacket and boots. She always wore the lace up Roper style to accommodate her prosthetic, rather than having a semi- permanent shoe. It was her one vanity when it came to her leg. She wanted to be able to change her shoes when she wanted.

  Lucy crawled out the tent opening onto the dirt floor. Her right knee, or what she had of it, landed on something sharp and she groaned. The knee was always tender, and with all that she had been doing lately, it had never had a chance to completely heal up.

  Finally outside, Lucy zipped her jacket. She knew where Gina sat waiting for her and decided she would go use the trench they had built for just that purpose. Not wanting their latrine right beside the mouth of the cave, they had dug it around the side of the hill, close enough for convenience, but not close enough to smell.

  Come snowfall, they would convert one of the buckets into a commode that they would empty whenever it was used.

  With a sigh, Lucy headed into the brush. She hated trying to navigate the path in the daytime when she could see the hidden vines and sticks, attempting it in the dark was even more intimidating for her.

  Lucy was just doing up the top button on her jeans when the stench of stale cigarettes assaulted her nose. There was no opportunity to cry out or move before something hit her, knocking her to the ground. Instinctively, she put her hands out to break her fall, when something bashed her in the head. There was no life flashing before her eyes, and no last thoughts, just blackness.

  *******

  Gina wasn’t sure how long she sat alone, she had been thinking about the people in the cabin. Wondering how they would survive with two young children and a new baby.

  Seeing the woman with hers, reminded Gina what she had lost. Her friends didn’t even know that one time her life path had been far removed from where it was today. Gina had married right after graduation to her childhood sweetheart.

  She and Mitch were parents to a brand new baby girl two days before their first anniversary. Life was good for them until he had taken Jill for her three months check up. Gina had been studying for tests, she needed to complete the requirements to enter nursing school.

  Mitch had called when he left the doctor's office, happy that Jill was a healthy little girl. He had gotten on the freeway heading for home. His next words were the last she had ever heard from him.

  “It looks like we’re going to be running behind a bit. There must be an accident in the construction zone. Traffic has stopped in front of me.”

  The next thing Gina heard broadcast through his phone was the sound of tearing and wrenching metal. He hadn’t even hung up his phone. She listened to his last breath escape his mouth and then to strange muffled voices until someone finally picked up his phone and hung it up.

  Gina had sat in a daze until the police had shown up at their home with their condolences. After their funerals, Gina had thrown herself into finishing up her pre-requisite courses and launched herself into medical school, where she had met Journey. She had never shared her life prior to meeting her, and Journey had never asked. She may have suspected something, but had honored Gina’s silence.

  Gina didn’t know how long she had been lost in her own thoughts, but when a shiver reminded her how cold it was, she pulled the sleeping bag closer around herself.

  She wondered if Ben had woken Lucy or if he had, had she simply gone back to sleep. With the cloud covered sky, she had no reference to how long it had been since he’d gone to wake her.

  Gina had gone to pee before he’d left and now she had to go again, which told her she had been alone for quite a while. Gina waited as long as she could and finally gave in. On her way back to the cave, she squatted behind a tree.

  She ducked under the rock overhang and bent over, she opened the tent flap. Before she could whisper Lucy’s name, Ben hissed at her.

  “Everything all right?”

  She dropped the flap and settled back on her heels, “Lucy didn’t get up, and I was getting sleepy. Someone to talk to would help me stay awake.”

  In an instant, Ben roughly pushed Gina out of the way and leaned into the tent. He crawled in on hands and knees and then scrambled backward out of the opening.

  “She’s not in there. She got up, I’m sure of it. I stayed awake until she went outside, or I thought I did.”

  “Lucy?” Gina whispered loudly, thinking she had to have gone back to bed.

  “What’s the matter, Dad?”

  “Nothing. Go back to sleep.”

  Chapter fourteen…………Lucy is missing

  “Okay, let’s think a minute. How long has it been since I left you?”

  Gina really didn’t know, but how could she admit that? Lucy could be lying somewhere hurt or unconscious, and it was her fault. She had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts, she hadn’t realized how much time had passed, except she had to go to the bathroom and she had gone just before Ben left saying he was going to wake Lucy.

  Guiltily, Gina wondered if she had even been awake the whole time or if she had dozed off at some point. It didn’t seem as if that much time had passed
except the sky was getting lighter, and she could see the cave entrance in the pre-morning light.

  “I don’t know,” Gina confessed. After you had left, I was freezing, so I bundled up in the sleeping bag. As soon as I realized Lucy hadn’t come out, I went to wake her.”

  “Okay then, so it was maybe two hours ago. If she is a normal woman, the first order of business would be to use the facilities. We’ll start there.” He headed up the path away from camp.

  He hadn’t pointed his finger nor accused Gina of sleeping when she was supposed to be doing guard duty, but Gina knew he had to be containing his anger. How could he not blame her? Hell, she was already chastising herself.

  If Lucy had fallen or hurt herself on Gina’s watch, there was no way anyone could forgive her. They would blame her for not doing her part to keep them safe, and they would have every right to.

  Ben was only gone a few minutes when he returned alone, Gina couldn’t breathe. The meager contents of her stomach threatened to spew from her mouth. Ben didn’t have to say a word, but she knew it was the beginning of their worst nightmare.

  “She’s not there. I didn’t get too close in case there were signs, and I didn’t want to mess them up. She didn’t answer my calls so we can assume she isn’t up there.”

  Gina turned to the trail, “I’m going to look for her. If she’s fallen, she must be freezing by now.”

  Ben grabbed her arm and turned her around. Gina tried pulling away from his grasp, but Ben held her tight.

  “We need to wait until we have some light to see by. If there are tracks, we don’t want to mess them up.”

  “Tracks? Tracks from what? She might have fallen and can’t get up, or she’s knocked herself out on a tree limb. We have to look for her.”

  “We need to wait until it’s light. We don’t want to go stumbling around up there and destroy any trail she left. I went close enough to know she’s not there. There are no limbs across the trail, she couldn’t have hit her head and you know she wouldn’t have just wandered off the trail.”

  She pulled her arm free and rubbed where his grip had held her tight. “This is my fault. I should have been paying more attention.”

  “This isn’t on you. This is on me. I should have made it my responsibility to see she got to where you were.”

  “Maybe we both had a shared responsibility. I shouldn’t have allowed so much time to pass before I went looking for her. I can’t believe she would just wander off. She has to be there, and you just couldn’t see her. Maybe in the brush on the side of the path?”

  “She just didn’t wander off. There’s more to the story, and we’re going to find out what it is. She knows better than to go wandering…and with her military background, she should have learned the first time.”

  “The first time? I don’t understand…”

  Ben grimaced and pointed down at his leg. “Her battle buddy was her boyfriend.”

  Gina felt the blood leave her brain and reached out for Ben to steady herself. “Oh my God…that answers a lot of questions.” She pivoted to look at him. “But, how did you know?”

  “She told me. They snuck away from camp for a moonlight stroll. But, it doesn’t matter now. The point is, she didn’t just wander off.”

  “You don’t think she might have gone up to the cabin to check on Journey, do you?” But shook her head and answered her own question, “No…I would have seen her for sure, and she can’t walk quietly.”

  “Try calling out to her. Maybe she is having some kind of flashback or something and won’t answer because I’m a guy.”

  Gina looked at Ben doubtfully, her eyebrows raised in alarm, “Really? She’s never had a flashback ever. At least not that I know of.”

  Ben shook his head, “She has bad dreams all of the time, she just keeps them to herself.”

  Gina frowned at Ben, hands on hips; she wanted to demand answers on how he knew all of this. Lucy had never once since she left the rehab facility said anything about nightmares or flashbacks. Rather than argue the fact, Gina decided he only had Lucy’s best interests at heart.

  Cupping her hands around her mouth, she called, “Lucy…Lucy, answer me, please. Where are you?”

  Ben came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder, “I have a really bad feeling about this, and I don’t think she wandered off. The thing is, we can’t go running off half-cocked. We need to wait until it’s light enough to see.”

  Gina pulled away from him with a jerk, “You keep saying that, in the meantime, that’s my friend out there who may have fallen. You know she doesn’t do well in the brush. We have to look for her.”

  “And we will as soon as it gets light. If there is any kind of trail to follow, we don’t want to mess it up by traipsing through the area and disturbing any signs.”

  Gina felt sick to her stomach. Ben was implying that Lucy may not have fallen, but that someone had taken her. Gina shook her head violently, “She wouldn’t have gone without putting up one hell of a fight. I would have heard her.”

  “You as much as admitted that you may have dozed off, by the simple fact that you waited so long to come look for her.”

  “Oh God Ben…I did this? This is my fault?”

  Ben wanted to say that yes, it was. If Gina had been paying more attention when Lucy didn’t show up right after he left, or she hadn’t waited so long to look for her, they may have at least heard something. He had looked in the latrine area but hadn’t gone close enough to mess up any signs of a struggle if there were any. If Lucy had been aware of someone, she would have put up some kind of a ruckus they all would have heard. If she had fallen, she would have called out, but if someone had incapacitated her immediately, they would have left some kind of signs behind whether it was scuffed ground or broken branches. He knew the area on the other side of the latrine was thickly brushed and almost impassable.

  “It’s not anyone's fault, unless it’s mine. I should have made sure she got out to you. So, if we’re passing out blame, let’s put it where it belongs. We both made mistakes, but so did Lucy. She should have at least checked in with you as soon as she came outside.”

  Gina felt as if someone had punched her in the gut. Never had she dreamed how bad this was going to get. How could they be sure that Journey was okay? Maybe the people, at the cabin were behind this, and they would take them captive one at a time. Had she and Ben been too quick to accept what they had said? Had they been too trusting?

  Gina stifled a sob with her hand and sank to the log beside the cold fire pit.

  “It was them, wasn’t it?” She squeaked out. “The people at the cabin. They’re behind this.”

  “That’s why they sent their kids down here for safe keeping? Come on Gina, we’re both smarter than that. It’s not them, but you need to stay here while I go up and at least get Sam to help us.”

  “I’ll go with you. Lucy is my friend, one of my best friends.”

  “Stay here with the kids just for a little while. As soon as I make sure everything is alright up there, I’ll bring Sam back here.”

  As much as Gina wanted to remind him that neither of the children was hers or her responsibility, she knew she would be lying. She may not be their mother or even related, but when they’d come together as a group, it made their safety as much on her as on him. He was the logical person to go.

  Ben hadn’t waited around for her to process her thoughts; when she looked up he was already disappearing up the trail.

  Gina finally sat back satisfied with her fire. It wasn’t big, but enough to heat water on and maybe she could make oatmeal for the kids. Her thoughts seemed to be on a one-track wavelength. She couldn’t stop imagining the different scenarios regarding Lucy’s disappearance. Lucy would never have walked away from camp on her own, and she would have fought like a wildcat if she had been able to.

  Gina was itching to go inspect the area around and pathway leading to their latrine. Ben had cautioned her to stay put and wait until he got back and as m
uch as she wanted to investigate, she would wait.

  “Aw geez, the oatmeal,” Gina exclaimed. She had been thinking again and had no idea how long she had been lost in her thoughts. The small fire was barely a glow in the circle of rocks. Gina added small sticks which caught fire in the hot coals, then filled a pot from their designated drinking water bucket, and set it on a rock they had placed in the center.

  Although Gina and her friends had been drinking the water straight from the running creek prior to the shit hitting the fan, Ben had cautioned them that all the water for consumption should be boiled first. He’d told them that maybe it had been okay before, now there was no telling what kinds of bacteria could be in it.

  “But doesn’t running water purify itself running through and over the gravel?” Lucy had asked. “We’ve been drinking the water straight from the creek whenever we’ve been camping as long as I have been riding with Gina and Journey. We’ve never gotten sick.”

  “That may be, and I grew up drinking from a surface well from a creek too, but we can’t count on the water being bacteria free. Who knows if there is something dead floating just out of sight.”

  The thought had sobered them all up. Ben was right, they couldn’t know, and so they had adopted his rule of boiling any water used for drinking and doing their dishes.

  Gina had just set the pot of oatmeal to the side of the fire when she felt someone watching her. The hair on the back of her neck rose in warning. Her pistol was still in her holster, inaccessible at the moment unless she stood up. Trying to act as if she didn’t feel someone there, Gina looked up, around and sighed.

  “Good morning Lucas. I made oatmeal. You scared the crap out of me. ” As soon as the words left her mouth, Gina realized it wasn’t the correct way to address the issue. “I mean, you’re so quiet, you scared me.”

  “Uncle Sam says I make enough noise to wake the dead. Can I have some, please? We don’t have any oatmeal. We get pancakes every day.”

  “If you’re already tired of eating the same thing day in and day out, you’re probably not going to be happy the next few years, if your Uncle Sam and Ben are right.”