by Alex Gunwick
He checked the other side of the riverbank but there was no indication as to which way she may have gone. The tracks just ended.
Frustrated, he walked in ever-widening circles, searching for some clue as to where she may have gone. He tried to stay focused, but his mind drifted back to the sweet little girl Sierra had been before she’d morphed into an obnoxious teenager. Back before the hormone-driven shift, she would ask insightful, no-nonsense questions. She was really smart then, but she’d lost her damn mind the second she’d started thinking about boys. What a disaster.
He shook his head. It was better not to think about her teenage years. Instead, he remembered the day he’d surprised her at the cabin on her seventh birthday.
He was on a tour in Afghanistan at the time, but they ran into a stalemate of sorts, a kind of tenuous peace that lasted a few weeks. He called in a favor with his commanding officer and managed to wrangle a few days’ leave.
He told Liz when he would be home, and she agreed to bring Sierra up to the cabin on her birthday. They hadn’t known yet, but Liz was already pregnant with Kyle at the time.
The sixteen-hour flight home seemed like an eternity because he was so excited to see them. He managed a few hours of sleep on the plane, but it wasn’t enough. Coming home from being on the front line was never easy. But he couldn’t wait to see his wife and daughter.
When he finally got to the cabin in a rented Jeep, his heart leaped in his chest. He parked, then jogged up to the door. To try to maintain the secret, he knocked instead of walking right in.
“Who’s that?” His daughter’s sweet, high-pitched voice came from inside the cabin. He could hear her little footsteps running to the door.
“I don’t know.” Liz pretended to be surprised, and she choked up a little. “Why don’t you go find out?”
Tears sprang into his eyes when Sierra pulled the door open. She squealed with pure joy when she found him on the little porch. When she took a running leap into his arms, he scooped her up and held her tight to his chest. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
“Daddy!” She wrapped her little arms around his neck and hugged him close.
Through blurred vision, he could see his wife wiping at her cheeks. She gave him a huge smile.
“You’re really home.”
“For now,” he said.
That was one of the best days of Luke’s entire life. Sierra was so happy her daddy was there with her for her birthday. She looked at him as if he’d hung the moon and the stars. He wished she were still that same little girl. He wished she’d never grown up.
One of the hardest days of his life was when he had to say goodbye to them at the airport a few days later. Liz had to physically pry Sierra off him. Her wiry little arms dug into his neck.
“Don’t go!” She sobbed.
He understood how she felt. He didn’t want to let her go either. To let her go seemed like a kind of death. A piece of him stayed behind that day, and on the plane ride back to Afghanistan, he grieved a terrible loss. Part of him would always long for that weekend at the cabin.
Could that same, sweet little girl have run off into the woods with Derek? Luke wished he could believe such an irresponsible, selfish action was unthinkable for Sierra. But the more he considered it, the likelier it seemed. If he were truly honest with himself, it seemed like exactly the sort of thing she would do.
It was hard to reconcile the sweet, intelligent little girl Sierra had been back then with the shallow, self-involved teenager she had become. Somewhere along the way, she’d stopped asked thoughtful questions. She’d become obsessed with popularity and celebrity gossip. Once she got her hands on her first smartphone, nothing was ever the same.
As she got older, she hated coming to the cabin. She spent most of her time with her face glued to her phone as she complained about the spotty cell service. It broke his and Liz’s hearts to see their daughter’s transition. But he hadn’t given up on her. He was convinced she’d become his smart, good-natured daughter once again now that technology was out of the picture. Of course, he had to find her first. And when he did find her, he was going to chew her out something fierce.
He stopped at a large, downed tree. He’d ranged far into the woods, but he hadn’t been able to find any more of the faint, Sierra-sized footsteps he’d found near the cabin. He had no idea where to look next.
Sierra’s eyes flickered open. She lifted her chin off her chest with a loud groan. Her neck ached fiercely. The muscles had gone tight at the back from being slumped forward all night. She instinctively tried to reach up to rub at the soreness before she remembered her hands were bound behind her. Her shoulders throbbed with the strain, and her butt hurt from the sustained pressure of the hard metal chair. In fact, as she further examined the sensations in her body, she found every part of her was sore.
She yelled for Derek as loud as her weakened state would allow. Her shrill voice hurt her ears as it echoed off the bare concrete walls of her little prison.
“You bastard. I have to pee. Like, really, really bad. Please, don’t make me pee myself.”
A groan came from somewhere deeper in the bunker. Footsteps approached. Derek came around to face her as he rubbed the sleep from his baggy eyes.
“Good morning. Sleep well?” He smiled at her, amused.
“What do you think?” She spat the words at him with all the venom she could muster.
“Yeah, guess not. Sorry again about all this.” He rubbed the back of his neck and turned away sheepishly.
“Oh, screw you. Can you please untie me? I’m serious, I really have to pee. Like, now.”
“All right. I’ll untie you. But only to pee. You won’t try any funny business, right? Because I don’t want to hurt you. But I also can’t let you go yet.”
“I promise, no funny business. But seriously, you need to hurry. We’re well past emergency status here.”
“Okay, okay, I’m going.” He moved around to the back of the chair to work on the knot binding her wrists.
She glanced at the door. Could she make it out the door and lose him in the woods before he caught her? Probably not. He was far stronger than she was. And faster. She’d never be able to outrun him, especially with his military training. Her father wasn’t even on active duty anymore, and he could run circles around her. Derek was in peak physical condition, no doubt. He would be on her before she even made it to the door. He was also unpredictable. He’d been relatively polite up to this point, but she worried how he would react to a failed escape attempt.
Even so, as soon as he freed one of her hands, she slapped him hard across the face.
“What the hell, woman? You said no funny business.”
“Oh, please. That’s a fraction of what you deserve, asshole. Keeping me tied up here all night. You’re lucky it was my hands you untied first. Otherwise, your crotch would be mighty sore right now.”
“Fine, fine. Fair enough. But no more, okay? Otherwise, I’ll tie you back up and you can sit here in your pee.”
“Fine.”
Derek led her through the narrow entryway, and they emerged into a large, circular room with a high ceiling.
She gazed around open-mouthed, shocked that such a large structure could be hidden so deep underground. Several hallways branched off in different directions, and a number of tables filled with ancient-looking electronics—radios, monitors, and a lot of other things she didn’t recognize. Shelves lined the walls around the outside of the room, filled with dusty bags and boxes of varying sizes.
She walked over to a large radio on one table and reached for it, but Derek stopped her with a shout.
“Don’t touch anything. In fact, don’t look at anything, either. You said you had to pee. So, let’s go.”
“Fine! You know, you don’t have to be so grumpy.”
“Come on.”
He led her down one of the narrow, circular hallways. Lockers lined the walls on both sides of the passage. She wanted desperately to look
inside them but didn’t want to anger Derek again. She figured it was best to go along with whatever he said. He hadn’t done anything too horrible to her yet, except for tying her up, of course. In terms of how men had treated her recently, that wasn’t so bad. God, what a depressing thought.
Even so, she could only guess what he had planned for her. Why keep her tied up at all? Was he worried her family would find out about this place? If it was only that, maybe she could convince him she could be trusted not to run off and tell them. But would he actually believe her? How long did he plan to keep her trapped here?
So far, he hadn’t hurt her, but that didn’t reduce her desire to escape. It seemed like a long shot, given the confined space so deep underground, but she vowed to remain alert. She’d find a way out of this mess. And in the meantime, she would try to convince Derek he could trust her. Maybe he would at least let her sleep somewhere moderately comfortable. Anywhere but tied to that wretched metal chair.
“All right, in there.” Derek gestured to a door at the end of the hall. “Make it fast.”
“Yes, your highness, of course. Wouldn’t want me plotting anything with all that unsupervised time on the toilet.” She rolled her eyes as she brushed past him into the tiny bathroom. She tried to slide the door closed, but he wedged his foot in the way.
“Ah-ah. Keep it open.” He gave her a cold look as she stared at him open-mouthed.
“Ew. Pervert. I’m not peeing with the door open so you can watch, freak.” She scowled at him in disgust.
“I’m not going to look, princess. I’ll face the other way. I’m taking precautions.
“What do you think I’m going to do, make a shiv out of toilet paper?”
He laughed in surprise. “A shiv? How do you even know what that is?”
“God, I’m not that innocent. I’ve watched Locked Up.”
“Okay, look, you can close it most of the way. Leave it open a crack, so I know you’re not up to anything sketchy.”
“Ugh, no way, gross. You’ll hear everything.”
“Then run the water, genius. It’s a closed system, so it’ll all get recycled, anyway.”
“Ugh, fine. Go stand over there or something.” She shot him a dirty look and tried to put him out of her mind.
A few minutes later, she stepped back into the narrow hall to see him waiting for her with a condescending smirk.
“Were the accommodations to your liking?” He gestured for her to walk ahead of him, back toward the large central hub.
“Screw you.” She stepped past him and then turned to face him. “The accommodations suck. How much longer are you going to keep me here, anyway?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss that.” He scowled.
“Well, then I’m not at liberty to move anywhere.” She crossed her arms and stared him down defiantly.
“Go on. Keep walking.”
“No. I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what you plan to do with me.”
He sighed. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll have to keep you here. I need to look over a couple of things, make sure everything’s in order around here. I wish I could trust you enough to let you go free, but I can’t take that chance. You have your family and your cabin. But for me, everything depends on this place.”
“I promise I won’t run anywhere or tell anyone. Don’t tie me up again, please.”
He gave her a sad look. “I’m sorry. This is the way it has to be.”
She again considered running for it. But there was no way around it. She was completely at his mercy for now. She hung her head and shuffled down the corridor, grimacing at the idea of being tied to the metal chair again.
8
Two days earlier …
A full day of snowfall blanketed the rugged forest terrain to create a stark landscape of bright white, dark grays, and greens outside the fallout shelter. Derek left Sierra to stew inside while he checked for additional entrances. His ankle wasn’t bothering him anymore, which was a huge relief. He had a lot to accomplish today.
Underground, Derek had come across several locked doors he couldn’t budge. He surmised they might be more ways to get in and out of the concrete bunker. Finding and securing those entrances on the outside would be paramount to maintain security.
He paused and scanned the terrain. He had to squint due to the bright sunlight that reflected off the snow. The yellow orb overhead provided no warmth and seemed a muted, sickly color rather than a cheerful light. Its only effect at the moment was to sting Derek’s eyes and make them water.
He turned away from the direct sunlight and circled what he believed to be the circumference of the fallout shelter below his feet. Despite his military training in land navigation, he found it next to impossible to judge exactly where he stepped. It didn’t even help to try to keep a mental picture of the shelter.
Still, he believed that if additional entrances were to be had, he would find them eventually, as long as he was persistent and thorough.
He slogged through ankle-deep snow. Mentally, he calculated how long his boots would last. A season, to be sure, but after that, he might have to go on a supply run for more foot protection. It would be dangerous to go anywhere near the city, but at some point, he’d have to take that risk.
His thoughts returned to Sierra. Had taking her captive been the right move? She was a flighty, privileged, and completely spoiled teen, but she was Luke’s daughter. While Derek didn’t entirely trust Luke, he at least appreciated the older man’s practicality and sense of duty and honor. Had he passed those merits on to his eldest child, or was Sierra completely untrustworthy?
Derek was no fool. He knew Sierra was attracted to him and, truth be told, she was a beautiful young woman. However, her personality was a major turn-off. Derek preferred practicality to silly flights of fancy. He wanted someone who was his equal, not a sniveling brat. Besides, now wasn’t the time to be thinking about a relationship with anyone. He had to focus on his survival.
Perhaps she could be trusted. Most people would have screamed bloody murder and tried to attack him the second they were untied from the chair. Sierra seemed to go out of her way to prove that she wouldn’t rat him out. Maybe her crush on him wasn’t all bad. Maybe he could use it to his advantage without actually acting on his carnal desires.
As he slowly picked his way around the rough dimensions of the underground shelter, his gaze traced from side to side. Once, he was sure he’d found another ventilation pipe, but it turned out to be an old metal coffee pot, probably abandoned by a hiker years ago. It amused him to think the poor fool had no idea they had been walking over a cold war relic.
Derek passed through a dense copse of pines and turned his shoulders sideways to slip between the frost encrusted trunks. He startled a reddish-brown squirrel, which raced along a slender branch and tittered its annoyance at him from high above.
“Sorry.” Derek shrugged. “Too bad I’m not a squirrel. I wouldn’t need to live underground in a musty concrete bunker. I could find a nice clean hole in a tree.”
The squirrel was unimpressed. After a final squeaky admonishment, it skittered out of sight. Derek chuckled. He shouldered his rifle and trudged on.
Ahead of him, there was a break in the tree line. He was fairly certain he was no longer on top of the shelter, but he decided to explore a little farther. Once he reached the edge of the copse, he discovered a fantastic view of a deep, heavily wooded ravine. Mist partially shrouded its floor. A flock of birds cawed as they flew overhead.
Derek wondered if the mist that shrouded the valley might conceal a source of fresh water. Streams were scarce in this area, and it would be useful to locate one close to the shelter. It wouldn’t take long to check it out.
He was looking for a way down the steep slope when a sharp retort echoed over the mountain. Birds burst out of the trees, flapping toward the heavens as they chirped their alarm.
Derek glanced around, searching for the source of the shot. With the une
ven, mountainous terrain, it was hard to figure out where it was coming from. He readied his rifle and turned in a slow circle, eyes and ears strained for the slightest sign.
Gradually, the sound of the shot faded. He began to relax. Perhaps Luke was out hunting and had shot a deer. His belly rumbled at the thought of spiced venison. Yes, that must have been it. Luke shot a—
Pain exploded in his right shoulder. A split second later another gunshot rang out. Derek staggered back. He touched his shoulder. Sticky wetness covered his hand. Blood.
He frantically searched for cover. In his pain-hazed confusion, he forgot how close he was to the ravine. The ground disappeared under his left foot, and he collapsed over the edge. Suddenly airborne, tumbled head over heels down the steep side of the mountain. His ribs cracked against a jutting rock hidden by the fluffy white blanket of snow. A blast of pain shot through his side, but it didn’t slow his momentum.
Derek managed to stop tumbling. He slid on his back, picking up momentum as he fell. His boots dug into the snow as they desperately searched for purchase, but they found none. Ahead of him, the slope broke into a sharp, sheer cliff. He had no idea how far the drop on the other side would be.
He continued to slide, his shoulder and side in agony. His feet scraped through the snow in search of any solid terrain to stop his descent. Finally, his heels smacked into a small shelf at the edge of the cliff. Derek’s knees bent painfully, and with horror, he realized he would still go over the edge. The cliff plunged down forty feet. It was more than high enough to maim or even kill him.
He rolled over on his belly even as his momentum carried him over the cliff. He managed to grab the sharp, rocky ledge, catching his fall, though his knees banged painfully into the sheer rock.
He panted as his limbs strained to hold himself aloft. Then he stretched to throw his good arm over the lip and dragged most of his upper body onto the small, flat shelf.