Stranded with the Mountain Man

by Aislinn Kearns

  Elijah cracked the door open and peered out. Flames danced beyond his face, but he didn’t pay them much attention. Cold air rushed in, sneaking through all the minuscule holes in Gia’s protective gear.

  Gia coughed. “See anything?”

  He turned back to her and shook his head. “Visibility is too poor,” he said back, raising his voice over the rushing wind. “Hopefully that will mean he can’t see us, either.”

  She nodded. The part of the roof that had caught on fire caved in, startling her. She threw herself into Elijah’s arms and he snatched her close.

  She turned back to see Elijah’s cabin, his home, engulfed in flames and her heart broke. She knew how much he loved this place, knew what it meant to him. It had been cruel of her to expect him to give it up.

  “Ready?” Elijah whispered into her ear.

  She nodded and stepped back. The heat and fire crept dangerously close.

  He flung the door wide. Seconds later, a bullet plowed into the cabin wall beside them.

  Elijah grabbed her and threw her over the fire and to the ground. They both landed on their sides in the melting snow. He’d had the presence of mind to send them both outside, not back into the burning cabin, even though it was closer to Ray and his gun.

  Gia’s heartbeat pounded in her ears, and she was torn between freezing where she was or fleeing into the dark woods surrounding the cabin.

  “Fuck,” came Ray’s voice from what sounded far away, but was probably closer because of the wind.

  A second shot went off, this one going wide as well.

  “The wind is throwing off his aim,” Elijah said, and Gia had half a second of relief. Then, he stood and pulled her up after him, in full view of Ray. Though another shot went off, it didn’t hit either of them. Ray continued to swear in the distance.

  Through the thick smoke and swirling snow, a figure stood, lit by the raging fire. Ray. Her vision blurred from the smoke and another gust of wind obscured him from her gaze.

  Elijah grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the tree line, away from Ray and away from the cabin consumed in flames. The snow was at her thighs, so she stayed behind Elijah’s much larger body as he cleared a path for her.

  Ray gave a wordless yell and let off a trio of shots, all sailing harmless past them and embedding into trees. The wind died down beneath the thick trees that acted as a windbreak. Darkness stole her vision, since the moonlight was blocked by the canopy overhead. There was less snow, too, though it was still above her ankles.

  Elijah didn’t stop moving. He dragged her ahead of him and pushed her to keep running as fast as she could. At first, Gia didn’t understand why. But Ray was behind them with a gun. Elijah put his bigger body between her and the weapon. Gia almost protested, but her lungs were already burning from cold and she didn’t have enough breath to speak.

  Ray had stopped firing anyway, either losing sight of them or running out of bullets.

  Elijah tapped her shoulder, directing her to the left. Her speed immediately increased as the ground sloped downward instead of across the mountain. The pack of money bounced on her back, tilting her balance.

  Her muscles ached, and Gia was afraid she’d reinjured her not-quite-healed ankle in the run since it shot pain up her leg with every step. But she ignored it, moving as fast as she could on the slippery, snowy mountainside, peering through the gloom. Elijah kept pace with her, though he was barely breathing hard. He was used to the labor and the thin mountain air.

  An icy patch stole her foot out from under her and Gia went down hard. The bag dug into her back and her ankle burned like fire. She sucked in a breath and bit back a cry, conscious Ray might be close behind them. But she couldn’t get up, either. Instead, she lay back and sucked air into her burning lungs.

  Elijah appeared above her. “Are you okay?” he asked, as he crouched beside her. He lay a hand on her forehead, over the beanie, and Gia took comfort from his touch.

  “Yes,” she gasped, and eased into a sitting position. Elijah helped her stand. She didn’t let go of his hand once she was upright, and neither did he. Even though they had two layers of gloves between their palms, it still gave her satisfaction to simply hold his hand.

  His gaze was locked farther up the mountain. She twisted around, but couldn’t see any sign of Ray.

  “Is he coming?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” he murmured. “He could be taking it slower, following our tracks.”

  It was then Gia noticed the wide, obvious, footprints through the snow. There would be no question which direction they’d gone in. Ray wouldn’t have any trouble following them at a more sedate pace. She searched for another option, for dry ground without the snow. A blanket of white lay in every direction. There was no place they could walk that wouldn’t show their tracks.

  “Can we disguise them somehow?” she asked.

  “Not convincingly, particularly not in the deep bits, and not while we go fast.”

  Elijah handed her a flask of water and she drank deep. He did the same, then filled it with clean snow.

  “What are we going to do?” she whispered.

  “Keep moving,” he said. “We’ll find a place to lose him farther down the mountain.” Elijah seemed unsure of this, but the idea gave her comfort nonetheless.

  “Okay,” she agreed. They started off again, slower this time. Gia was grateful for the decreased speed because walking was enough to make her ankle ache. She didn’t mention it to Elijah, though. He’d probably insist on carrying her, slowing them both down. She could deal with the pain once they were safe.

  She sighed. Elijah had said many times the nearest town was two or three days walk. Maybe, if they were fast, they could get there by nightfall tomorrow. She was exhausted just thinking of it.

  But they didn’t have a choice. They had nowhere else to go. No houses nearby to hide in. They could only keep moving.

  Hours later, it was all Gia could do to put one foot in front of the other. The wind had frozen her stiff. Exhaustion pulled at her, begging her for sleep. But Gia focused on Elijah’s back and put one foot in front of the other.

  The snow had alternated between barely there to deep trenches. It never disappeared completely so they could disguise their tracks. Nor had the snow fallen enough to cover the path they made. Ray was probably still following them. More leisurely than their punishing pace, but he’d find them. He was driven by a need for vengeance as much as his need for his money. Greed and revenge were both powerful enough motivators on their own. Together, they’d make him unstoppable.

  Elijah stopped. Gia didn’t notice in time, plowing right into his back. He put a hand on her hip to steady her and Gia didn’t move away, leaning into his solid mass.

  “Why did we stop?” she panted.

  “We need to rest.”

  She tilted her head up to meet his gaze. His expression was bland, but she knew what he meant. She needed to rest.

  “I’m okay,” she told him.

  He shook his head. “This is a good place to sleep for a few hours. We’ll move faster after we do.”

  Gia looked around for the first time. It wasn’t much different to any of the other places they’d passed in the last few hours. The ground had flattened out. Sparse trees were overhead. A thin path was visible behind them, where they’d descended a steep part of the mountain. To the right, the trees stopped and an expanse of deep, pristine snow shone in the last of the moonlight. The wind was still strong, particularly in the open plain beyond, but no flurries of snow came with it.

  “Here?” she said.

  He nodded. “I’ll build us a shelter.”

  Gia could fall asleep on the cold ground, but the logical part of her brain knew that was a terrible idea. She could freeze over and never wake up. As Elijah had said before, the mountain could kill them faster than Ray if they weren’t careful.

  “How can I help?”

  He gave her a once over and then apparently decided she was strong
enough to help him. “Gather as many branches with leaves as you can find. Dry if possible. Pine would be perfect.”

  Gia didn’t have the energy to question why. She nodded.

  “Don’t go out of sight,” he ordered.

  She agreed and dropped her bag at his feet, then went off on a hunt. The snow coated the ground, making it difficult to find already-fallen branches. Most of the ones she collected were still connected to the trees, which expended more energy to snap off. Once she had a large armful, she returned to Elijah, to find him standing in the open snow a few feet from the tree line with his coat and outer layers off. They hung over a low branch near her, off the ground.

  “What are you doing?” she hissed.

  He looked up. “Building our shelter,” he said, as if this was obvious.

  “You’re practically naked in this weather. Are you getting that thing where you hallucinate because of hypothermia?”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “No. I’m sweating and don’t want to get the layers wet or then I will get hypothermia.”

  “Oh,” she said. That much should have been obvious, but her mind wasn’t working properly. She glanced around the space he’d chosen, then noticed with a shock that her backpack had disappeared. Had Ray found them so soon without either of them noticing?

  Panic made her heart leap into her throat. “Have you seen my backpack?” she asked, voice coming out a higher pitch than usual. The adrenaline woke her sleepy mind and body, her heart pumping faster.

  “I have it. I’m using it to help build the shelter.”

  Gia breathed out a sigh of relief, followed closely by confusion. “How?”

  He waved her over and she followed his path through the snow until she stood next to him. Her arms ached from carrying the branches, so she dumped them to the side and then studied the…giant mound of snow in front of her.

  “Um,” Gia said.

  Elijah gave her an amused look, and even in her tired state she was glad to see he hadn’t lost his sense of humor with her. She knew she’d hurt him back at the cabin with the things she’d said. She hadn’t meant to, but it was important to be honest. She’d wanted to know whether he’d meet her on even ground, or whether, to be with him, she’d have to make all the sacrifices. Take more risks.

  And he’d decided not to fight for her.

  That hurt like a twisting knife, but at least she knew, now. After her revelation at the cabin, that she loved him, it hurt even more to know he didn’t feel the same way. But she also wanted him to be happy, with or without her.

  She shivered and turned to the pile of snow. “It’s impressive?” she tried.

  “Not yet,” he said. “It should have solidified enough by now.”

  The mound was as tall as Elijah and about the same length wide. Less a pile, as she’d first thought, and more of a dome. She eyed it curiously.

  Elijah crouched and stuck a trowel into the bottom of the dome. Gia watched, fascinated, as he worked up a sweat digging a tunnel through the snow. He hit a blockage and then went up, then around, until he sat inside the dome and pushed snow out the hole he’d made.

  She crouched down and helped moved the snow out the way of the entrance. When it was clear, she peered into the hole that was barely big enough for Elijah to slide through on his stomach. The walls were about a foot thick, enough to keep in the heat. The floor was hard-packed snow. Their packs sat in the middle along with large rocks, sticks, and leaves which he’d used so he wouldn’t have to dig out as much snow. Elijah was busy carving the snow into a raised bench on one side.

  “Wow,” she said, then crawled inside. It was just big enough for her to stand up, which meant Elijah couldn’t. She eyed the roof.

  “I didn’t want to make it too big,” he explained. “Or it wouldn’t keep warm.”

  Gia nodded. He’d made holes in the roof for ventilation, and she presumed the raised bench would be for sitting or sleeping.

  “Can you grab me the branches you found?” he asked. She did so, and he placed them over the raised bench as a barrier against the snow.

  “This is impressive,” she told him. “Like an igloo, but faster to build.”

  He grinned. “This won’t last as long as an igloo would—only a couple of days. It’ll do for a few hours’ sleep.” He turned his attention to the rocks and sticks he’d brought in and threw them out of the small hole to give them more room. Once done, he slid out of the shelter and Gia followed. He headed towards his jacket and other clothes. She went in the other direction, finding a place to go to the bathroom in relative privacy and as far from the shelter as was safe. She never thought she’d miss the composting toilet.

  When she came back, Elijah was rugged up in his layers again. He handed her a water bottle and she drank the near-frozen water with gratitude. It chilled her internally, though, so she dived back through the entrance of their shelter and huddled on the bench away from the biting wind. Elijah followed seconds later and stuffed their packs into the entrance behind them, cutting off the cold.

  “I wish we could have a fire to heat things up, but we’d get carbon monoxide poisoning. When we wake up I’ll make a campfire outside after I find us some food.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” she said, still shivering.

  Elijah settled beside her on the bench and pulled her into his arms. She went gratefully, drawn by his warmth from his earlier exertion.

  “Yeah, I do. We’ll move better when we’re fed.”

  She didn’t argue, burrowing deeper into him. “Do you think he’ll find us?” she whispered.

  “Eventually,” he said. “But I hope we’ll be safe by then.”

  “But if we sleep…”

  He grunted. “He needs sleep, too. I’m hoping the wind will kick up again. We’ll be safe enough from the cold here, provided we keep the ventilation clear, and if it brings more snow it would wipe out our tracks. But we can’t rely on that happening.”

  She nodded. “A few hours rest,” she allowed.

  “We can hope he doesn’t know how to build a shelter and ends up with hypothermia. That would solve all our problems.”

  She chuckled at that. Yes, Ray’s death would be convenient right about now. She didn’t want to be the kind of person who wished death on anyone, but after what Ray had put her through she didn’t feel so bad.

  “Maybe we should have stayed and confronted him,” she said sleepily.

  A rumble moved through Elijah’s chest. “I wouldn’t have risked you. Not when he had a gun.”

  Warmth spread through her at his words. He did care for her in his own way. And she could hold onto that, when the time came.

  He planted a soft kiss against her forehead. “We should sleep.”

  She nodded, and yawned, and he lay her gently onto the uncomfortable sticks. With all her aches and pains she barely noticed them prodding her. She was numb with tired. As she drifted off, Elijah settled beside her. And despite everything, all was right in the world.

  Chapter 20

  Elijah hadn’t slept.

  He couldn’t, not when there was someone out there, hunting them. If he slept, he put Gia in danger.

  Outside the wind had picked up again, buffeting the exterior of the snow shelter. He checked the ventilation holes were still clear, then studied Gia.

  She needed more rest. She’d been incredible, continuing on through the night without a word of complaint. Their trek had been bad enough for him, but for her it must have been agony.

  She’d been right, back at the cabin. About living so far from everything. This night had proved it. He’d known, of course. Known every word out of her mouth had been true. But he’d been too afraid to admit it. Afraid of change, of risk. That cabin was all he’d known for fourteen years.

  And now it was gone.

  But with Gia in his arms, losing the cabin didn’t hurt as much as he’d expected. The last connection to his father had burned to the ground, along with everything they’d built together
. His heart ached, and fear about what he’d do next still dogged at him.

  And yet the fear of losing Gia was so much stronger, obliterating all his sadness and concern over what might happen next.

  As long as Gia was in his life, he’d survive. And thrive.

  Presuming she’d still have him.

  He knew he’d hurt her, badly, by holding onto his past instead of onto her. And when all this was over, when she was safe, he’d make it up to her. Somehow.

  But, for now, he had to feed her. They’d need to walk fast and hard to make it to town before nightfall. Even then he didn’t know if it would be possible. They couldn’t have a full night’s rest, but they’d need fuel.

  Slowly, he sat up and eased himself away from her. She shivered as he moved his body heat away. Elijah would have to move quickly because she’d wake soon. He had to keep the snow shelter cold enough to still see their breath in the air, so it wasn’t exactly warm inside, but it was better than being in the elements.

  He collected his pack and headed out into the woods. He’d set some traps last night, and hoped they’d caught something while they’d rested. If not, he’d have to use his bow and arrow to hunt.

  Their footsteps were still visible, and Elijah sighed. He’d hoped the wind would have covered them in snow, but it hadn’t been enough. Ray could still be following them, and probably was. Unless he hadn’t found shelter last night, which Elijah could only hope was the case. But he couldn’t rely on that.

  One of the traps had a rabbit in it, so he snapped its neck, collected some decent firewood, and headed back to their shelter. He hadn’t gone far—unwilling to leave Gia unprotected—so it wasn’t long before he had a fire going and the rabbit cooking above it.

  He’d set up the campfire by a fallen log that would act as a seat, and under the shadow of the trees, since it cut down on the wind. This made it easier to start the fire and more pleasant to stay there without the breeze freezing any part of him it could reach. No amount of layers could keep out its powerful cold.