by Sloan Parker
I showed them the way I thought we should go. We all agreed that was the best plan. We took a couple of more minutes to rest. Then Richard glanced up at the sky. “We better get going. It’ll be dark before long.”
It was going to be a rough night. Since Richard and I no longer had our backpacks, we didn’t have the tent or two of our sleeping bags or our jackets or extra food and water.
“Wait.” I held up a hand. “I just remembered… There are several ranger stations out here. They stock them with supplies, use them for emergencies with hikers, that kind of thing. Some have outdoor bathrooms and potable water for hikers.” I examined the map again. “Yeah. There’s one not too far from here.”
Luke threw me a skeptical look. “But we can’t trust the rangers. Who knows how many of them are involved in all this?”
“I don’t think these remote stations are staffed all the time. They mostly use them for special park events or when they need to take a break during patrols or when they have to spend the night out here for some reason. We could at least check. See if there’s a radio, maybe food and water. If the station’s empty, it’s at least a good place to stop and rest for tonight.”
Richard crouched down again and took a look at the map. “Where is it?”
“Here. This symbol means it’s a ranger station.”
He gave a sharp nod. “I think we should go for it.”
“All right,” Luke said. “Let’s do it. If there’s no radio, maybe there’s at least power. We could charge Alex’s phone.”
“Good idea.” Richard stood. “But no matter what happens…” He pointedly looked to Luke, then me. “We stay together. And we move fast.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Matthew, I think…” Using the side of his boot, Luke swiped at a half-buried tree root that snaked across the ground, then did it again as if he could actually sweep the root aside. He wouldn’t make eye contact with me.
Neither would Richard.
“What?” I asked.
Luke finally met my stare. “I think we’re lost.”
We’d been trudging through the forest for hours, and we hadn’t spotted the ranger station yet.
I checked the map once more. “We’re not lost. We’re close.” I surveyed our surroundings again, searching for a clearing in the trees where the station might be located. But it was dark now, the sun long gone. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Even with the flashlight from Luke’s pack, visibility was shit. I gestured in the direction we’d been heading. “I think we should keep going this way.”
“Sounds good,” Richard said.
I had no idea why he was being so adamant about letting me lead. I was losing faith that I knew what I was doing, or that I knew how to read the map correctly. Regardless, I pressed on.
I drew up short when a bolt of lightning lit up the sky. A jarring crack of thunder immediately followed.
“Not good,” Luke said.
I motioned for them to keep following. “I know we’re close.”
Five minutes later, we were all soaked from the downpour, and lightning had come dangerously close to the ground twice. The tops of the trees were moaning and creaking as they swayed in the wind.
“Matthew!” Luke shouted over the beat of rain surrounding us. “We need to stop.”
I turned to him. “Not yet.”
He pointed at a rock outcropping to our right. The overhang created a protective canopy, keeping the ground dry below. “Let’s stop there and wait out the storm.”
I shook my head. “The station’s not far.”
Richard, who’d been bringing up the rear, patted Luke’s back as he passed by him. “Come on. This is Matthew’s call. He knows what he’s doing.”
I threw Richard a smile in thanks and started forward again.
It wasn’t long before a break emerged in the trees ahead. I ran for the opening but found nothing except an open field filled with blooming pale bluish flowers, each with a yellow eye that glowed in the light of the moon. I waded through the wet flowers and brush. The flat meadow would be an ideal spot for the ranger station. Maybe it stood beyond the clump of trees in the middle of the field. I sprinted forward.
“Matthew!” Luke called out again.
I shook my head and kept going, the vegetation scraping the sides of my pant legs with each step. If my clothes weren’t already soaked, the trek through the drenched field would’ve done them in for sure.
At the cluster of trees, I rounded an enormous oak, and there it was. A rustic cabin. It sat at the edge of the field, surrounded by trees on three sides. A hiking path was visible on the far side of the cabin. “It’s here!”
They caught up to me. Richard stopped at my side, but Luke kept on going.
“Wait.” I raced forward and grabbed his arm to stop him. “We should take this slow. Just to be safe.”
“Right.”
“Although…” I pointed toward the partially overgrown path. “That trail’s not on the map. Maybe it’s not open to the public anymore. Maybe they won’t even look for us here.”
Regardless, the three of us cautiously advanced and circled the perimeter of the station. There were no lights on inside and no sign anyone had been there for months. Even through the rain, it was easy to spot the cobwebs that covered the door and every window. The building didn’t just look empty. It looked abandoned.
Richard indicated the front door with a tip of his head. He practically had to shout to be heard over the heavy beat of rain on the cabin’s roof. “Let’s give it a try.” He moved forward before Luke or I could. He brushed aside the cobwebs, then turned the door handle. It was unlocked. The door opened with a startling creak.
Luke’s eyebrows shot up. “This is really fucking creepy.”
I nodded in agreement.
But what choice did we have?
Richard took the flashlight from me and stepped inside. Luke and I followed.
A plume of dust greeted us, disturbed by the opening of the door and the rush of the cool air from the storm. A narrow counter that spanned more than half the length of the cabin was situated near the door as if serving as a front desk. That was all we could make out in the dark.
Luke felt around on the walls near the door. “No light switch.”
Using the flashlight, Richard scanned the other walls of the room. “No signs of electricity at all.” Which made sense, given the remote locale.
“So much for charging Alex’s phone,” Luke said.
“At least we’re out of the rain.” Richard swept the light over the room again.
Brochures for area attractions and maps of the park lined the front counter. Behind the counter there wasn’t much. Just a metal desk, a single padded office chair with a Majestic Falls State Park sweatshirt hanging over the back, a fireplace, and a set of metal shelves lining the back wall. The shelves included a few supplies: a sleeping bag, an oil lantern, several metal canisters, a case of bottled water wrapped in plastic, a toolbox, and a first aid kit. A gurney sat propped against the side of the shelf, probably for transporting injured hikers. Layers of dust covered every last item.
Richard paused the flashlight on a two-way radio that sat on the desk. He went to it and hit the power button. There was no indication it was working. He examined it more closely. “No batteries.”
Luke took a look inside a second room at the rear of the cabin. “Just a bathroom back here. With water, if you can believe that. Sink has a hand pump. Basin’s pretty gross, though.” He pointed to a stack of firewood in the corner. “There’s dry wood and matches. I’ll see if I can get a fire started.”
“Check if the flue will open,” Richard said. “With the state of this place, it might be blocked.”
“Got it.” Luke went to work on the fireplace.
I asked, “What if they see the smoke from the fire?”
“I think it’ll be okay at night,” Richard said. “Especially with the rain. Besides…” He came to me where I stood near the door,
water dripping off me. “We need to get you warm. You’re shivering.” He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and held me close, my forehead pressed against the base of his throat. I reached up and held his face in my palm. His skin felt like ice, even through the rasp of three-day-old facial hair.
I was numb. And not just from the rain.
Richard let go of me to lock the cabin door, then went for the sweatshirt on the chair. He used it to dry my hair and arms.
When I spoke, it was barely above a whisper. “Do you think they’ll look for us here?”
“I don’t know. With the rain coming down this hard, it should wash away our tracks and make it harder for the search dogs to pick up our trail. We’ll keep an eye out, take turns getting some sleep while one of us keeps watch. As soon as the rain lets up, we’ll head out again.” He tossed the makeshift towel aside. “Your shorter hair dries much faster.”
“I feel kinda naked with it like this.”
“You look great, but if you don’t like it short, grow it out again. It’s just hair, Matthew.”
“I know.” He made it sound so simple. I guess with my hair, it was. It was everything else in my life that was far more complex at that moment. I felt like I couldn’t make a right decision if my life depended on it. And right then, all our lives did. “You think it’s okay for us to head out while it’s still dark?”
“I think we have to.”
“We could just hide out here. When we don’t show up at home in a couple of days, Kevin and Walter will know something’s wrong.”
“I don’t think we should stick around this cabin for long. Eventually they might pick up our trail and find us here.” He ran his hands up and down my arms. “You’re still shivering.” He crossed the room and grabbed the sleeping bag from the shelves. “Take off your wet clothes and get under this in front of the fireplace.”
“Not yet.” I faced the door. “That lock’s not gonna hold anyone off for long. And it’s so dark out, we’ll probably never see them coming. We need to set something up so we can hear them if they try to sneak up on us.”
“Like what?”
“We could cover the front steps and the porch in twigs. And…” I glanced around the room. There wasn’t much that would help keep anyone out. “We could push the desk in front of the door and find something to perch on top of the doorknob so if they try to turn the knob, even with the door locked, we’ll hear it fall.”
“So will whoever’s trying to get in. Then they’ll know someone’s in here.”
“Yeah, but at least we’ll have some warning. Maybe that and the desk will give us enough time to climb out one of the back windows.”
“Good idea. I’ll take care of the front steps. Why don’t you look for something to use on the door?”
“Okay.” Before he was gone, I spun to him. “Be careful.”
“I will. Be right back.”
It took him less than five minutes, and he was back inside. We used a hammer I’d found in the toolkit to make a rudimentary alarm system on the door. It took some finesse to balance the hammer over the circular doorknob, but we made it work. Then we pushed the desk in front of the door. We also made sure we could open one of the back windows in a hurry. The cabin butted up against the trees so we’d have immediate coverage if we could get outside fast enough. We’d just have to hope that if anyone looked for us here, they wouldn’t have enough people to surround the place.
“Now,” Richard said, “get out of those wet clothes.”
I didn’t think, just did what he told me and started to strip. Then his words really sank in, and I threw him a halfhearted smile. “You’re just trying to get me naked.”
He returned the smile. “Well, who wouldn’t?”
After I had my shirt off, I gestured to his drenched clothes. “You need to get warm too.”
Luke finished building the fire, and we all got down to our underwear, hanging our clothes over the table and chair as best as we could so they’d dry out. We sat before the fire, the two of them on each side of me, one sleeping bag open under us, the other from Luke’s pack wrapped around us.
I raised my knees to my chest and stared into the flames. “I can’t believe all this is happening.”
Richard laid a warm hand at the back of my neck. “We’re going to be fine.”
“Yeah.” Luke inched closer and slid one leg along my opposite side so he held me from behind. He ducked his head and kissed the side of my neck. “Richard and I are both too stubborn to get hurt.”
I laughed as I leaned back against him, my mind and body starting to relax. With them, I always felt safe, comfortable in a way I never did before them. Even with armed, angry cops and rangers chasing us down.
But with that one thought, a flood of anxiety returned.
As if sensing the shift, Richard slid his arms around both Luke and me.
Before he could say anything reassuring, I shook my head. “You only gave in and stayed in the park because of our fight, because of what I said to you about forcing me to do something I didn’t want. And now…” My breath hitched, and I couldn’t get the rest of the words out.
Richard held us tighter, and I leaned sideways to lay my cheek on his shoulder.
“You went against your instincts. If anything happens to us, you’ll never forgive yourself. Or me.”
“That’s not true.” He shifted us around until all three of us were lying together before the fire, his arms wrapped around me. “Nothing is going to happen to us. Just try not to worry and get some rest.” He kept stroking my back as Luke sat up and drew the sleeping bag over us.
Luke took the first watch while Richard and I stayed by the fire. Exhausted, I fell asleep quickly, despite the anxiety still rushing through me.
I awoke sometime later to the sound of rolling thunder and the rhythmic beat of rain hitting the cabin’s roof. I so didn’t want to move. My leg muscles were sore from all the walking—and running—we’d been doing, but I was dry and warm, nestled against Richard’s back.
I breathed deep and forced myself to roll to my other side. Luke sat in the desk chair by the window, keeping watch through the slit between the wooden shutters. He was dressed again. Even without a phone or a clock, I could tell from the glowing embers in the fire that it was long past time for him to get some sleep.
“Hey,” I whispered. “Why didn’t you wake one of us?”
He shrugged. Without turning to me, he said, “Figured I couldn’t sleep anyway.”
“Come here. I’ll get up now. You need to rest too. It’s going to be a lot of hiking tomorrow.”
He didn’t move or say anything.
I slid out from under the sleeping bag and slipped on my clothes, then went to him, laying a hand on his bare back. “What’s wrong?”
He looked at me over his shoulder and smiled. It wasn’t a lighthearted grin. He went back to focusing out the window.
“Hey.” I knelt beside him. “What is it?”
He shrugged again. “Just thinking.”
“About what we should do next?”
“No. Not that.”
I kept my gaze locked on his profile, really hoping he’d go on before I had to convince him to say more.
Finally he spoke again. “I just…” He shook his head. “Never mind.”
“What?”
He kept his focus on the window. “I have this awful feeling something horrible is going to happen to you out here. Or maybe to him.” He gestured to Richard.
I bit my bottom lip and looked back at where Richard slept. When I returned my attention to Luke, he was watching me with a penetrating, meaningful stare, like he thought it might be the last time he’d ever get to see me like this.
“We’re going to be fine,” I said, repeating their words to me earlier. “I’m not going to let anything happen to us.”
He offered a wistful smile. “I know.” He gave me a kiss. “I think I’m just tired. Guess I’ll try closing my eyes for a bit.” He gave me another
kiss, then got up and headed for the fireplace to lie down beside Richard.
As I watched him get settled, I thought over what I’d said. I wasn’t exactly sure how I would do what I’d promised, but after dragging them out there, I had to do whatever I could to keep us safe.
I also had to get back to Tomas so I could tell him the truth about his father.
Chapter Thirty
I took the next shift on watch, rotating between keeping an eye out the front window toward the overgrown dirt trail, and the back windows of the cabin. I tried to stay out of sight as best as I could while checking out the perimeter.
Settling into the chair near the front window once more, I finally had a better view since the rain had begun to let up some. I found nothing suspicious along the trail or near the cabin.
With the crackle of the fire filling the room, I couldn’t keep my thoughts from floating back to the night I’d been sitting across the campfire from my father, the night he’d told me his dad had died. After we’d packed up our gear the next morning, he led us toward the most famous waterfall in the park, Eagle’s View, the first one Luke, Richard, and I had visited. My dad and I spent much of the morning there, snapping photos and sitting on the rocks above the falls.
Where had those pictures gone? They’d been tucked inside a photo album on our coffee table for a while after the trip, but I hadn’t seen that book since my dad left. I’d forgotten all about the pictures we’d taken.
Wait. Pictures.
I bolted upright in the chair. “Oh man. Why didn’t I see it before?”
I went to where Luke and Richard lay before the fire. They had the sleeping bag draped over their lower halves. Richard had his head on Luke’s chest, an arm around Luke’s middle. Not too long after Luke had first gotten situated under the sleeping bag, Richard had rolled onto his side and held him. Even in sleep, he couldn’t refrain from reaching out for us. I adored seeing them snuggled together. It wasn’t often just the two of them were in bed without me between them.
As quietly as I could so as not to wake them, I knelt on the floor before the fire and reached for Luke’s backpack. I removed the map. It had gotten wet in the rain, but it was mostly dry now and was still readable. I also got out the photos from Tomas. I flipped through them and found the ones I wanted. Keeping only the relevant pictures, I put the rest back into Luke’s bag. Then I laid all the photos out on the floor face down and compared the numbers on the back of the pictures with the numbers on Alex’s map.