Running Into Trouble
Page 18
-felis concolor-
The predator leaped from one rock to the next to watch the tall, juicy apes trying to run like deer. Both animals looked soft and tasty, but one of them was obviously injured. It moved forward with a jarring, uneven gait. He would attack the wounded one first.
-Helen Kale-
It was maddening. Every time she came close to Jennifer, she sped up. It was like she was teasing her, mocking her. Although her throat was burning and her lungs were straining to get enough air, Helen would not slow down. All she could think of was reaching Jennifer and passing her. Or maybe she would catch up to Jennifer and push her. Of course, she didn’t want to push her off the trail and into the valley below. This wasn’t because the idea of a world without Jennifer Champion was too terrible to comprehend; instead, Helen just didn’t think it was worth spending the rest of her life in prison.
But the idea of just shoving Jennifer, or tripping her in some way that could look like an accident, was satisfying. Sue and Carol had told her over and over again that what Jennifer and Eli had done was unforgivable, and that she had been completely justified in actually hitting—and scratching and pounding on—Jennifer. She hated that Jennifer was still living her life, acting like nothing was really wrong. Sure, Sue had been telling everyone that Eli had broken Jennifer’s foot, but Helen didn’t believe it. Eli had countless flaws, but violence towards women wasn't one of them.
As she began closing on Jennifer, Helen wondered how Eli’s soulful good looks were playing out in jail. He had the lanky physique of a natural distance runner; he wouldn’t be able to defend himself against men who’d amassed even an ordinary quantity of bulk. She concluded that he had been torn apart, and that it was likely to happen again. She could almost feel sorry for Eli, who probably cried with the harsh, seal-like barks of masculine sobs.
But Helen steeled herself against pity. Eli had thrown her away. He’d tolerated her when he should have loved her. He’d completely ignored her after a car accident in which she’d almost died. He’d taken advantage of her kind, caring nature, her organizational talents, and her hard-earned middle class salary—which was now in jeopardy, since her affinity for numbers had disappeared along with Eli.
No, whatever happened to Eli was his own fault. Helen gasped for air. Jennifer was only seconds away. She pumped her arms and charged her legs forward, focusing on an imaginary red circle on Jennifer’s back. She wanted to pass Jennifer on her right side, where the trail dissolved into a near vertical drop. She would muscle her way past Jennifer, get ahead, and then make her listen. She was almost there...
-Jennifer Champion-
Helen was so close that Jennifer could hear her loud, wheezing breaths. Jennifer had rode the pain in her foot as far as it could take her, and she was now resigned to being passed by Eli’s crazy ex. It would be hard to watch those pink tights stride away from her, but she was ready. She wondered if Helen planned to run at her back for a mile or two, just to gloat. Jennifer hoped not. The sound of Helen’s ragged breathing and heavy footfalls was making her nervous. Just get it over with already, she thought.
And then something knocked the breath out of her sent her lunging forward and to her right. Suddenly there was no more ground beneath her feet, just the terror and exhilaration of falling into a crisp, blue sky. And then a starburst of pain, and then nothing.
-Helen Kale-
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Just as she was ready to pass Jennifer, Helen had tripped over a thick branch. She flew forward and knocked into Jennifer with a shockingly hard impact and then felt the skin on her knees tearing with her tights. She didn’t actually see Jennifer fall off the earth. But, when she looked down into the valley, she saw Jennifer’s body lying like a broken doll on a slab of rock.
Helen told herself that she hadn’t meant to kill Jennifer. She wasn’t a bad person, not really. Jennifer’s long fatal fall had been an accident, a freak accident, pure and simple. Of course, thought Helen, as someone with nothing to hide, she should seek emergency attention for Jennifer as soon as possible, even if it was obvious that no one could have survived such a fall. She reached into the small pocket in the waist band of her tights and pulled out a cell phone. She looked at the display. Plenty of battery power, but no signal.
In search of better phone reception, Helen stepped of the trail and into the woods, kicking aside shrubs and debris. She held out the phone. Half a bar. Not good enough. She walked further into the forest, and the small silver phone finally displayed a single, solid bar. Close enough, thought Helen, who dialed emergency services.
“EMS, how may I help you?” asked a voice that was professionally, perhaps even mechanically, calm.
“This woman, she fell, about a hundred feet, onto a rock. She’s hurt real bad.”
“Ma’am, can you tell me where you are?”
“I’m...I’m in the Sierras, mile 31 or 32 of the Death March course. I can see the woman—her name is Jennifer—from the trail.”
“Do you know how she fell?”
“She tripped. Over a tree branch. I fell over it myself. My knees are bleeding.”
“We’re going to trace your signal. Can you stay on the line?”
“Sure.”
“You said your knees are bleeding. Are you losing a lot of blood.”
“I don’t think...”
Helen dropped the phone. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of something swift and tawny. And then there was unspeakable pain as powerful jaws clamped down on her neck and claws ripped at her shoulders. As the blood flowed from her throat, she felt a rough warm tongue lapping hungrily. She tried to twist her head and escape the hot, strong breath that smelled so strongly of rotting flesh. Eli, she thought as she sank to the ground, the mountain lion was meant for Eli...
-felis concolor-
The lame prey had fallen over the cliff, so he stalked the healthy animal, leaped when it wasn’t looking, and administered the killing bite. He was just beginning to tear at its sweet, succulent flesh, when he noticed a metallic odor, something he associated with the rubber-footed giants from the great concrete river. His appetite told him there was no reason to abandon his prey, that he should eat his fill and then leave the carcass to scavengers if he must, but stronger, older instincts told him to run and hide. The Tall Apes were easy to catch. He could eat another one when it was safe.
-Eli Hawthorne-
Eli stood at the trailhead with a map of the Death March course in his hand and two weeks of provisions on his back. He disregarded the red warning signs and easily climbed over the temporary fence that park rangers had erected to discourage tourists.
Minutes after Eli was grudgingly released from jail—the prosecutors didn't want to proceed after Jennifer, their star witness, had turned up dead—he called Helen and discovered her phone was disconnected. Heavy with disappointment, he walked the five miles from the county jail to the Uvula. The bartender, a Crawford's Notch institution, looked at him strangely. Eli assumed it was because he was wearing only the dirty shorts and shirt from his last run more than three months ago. He ordered a cup of coffee and paid with a greasy five dollar bill he'd found pinned to his shorts.
On the table was the Crawford Gazette’s special issue on the deadliest Death March of all time. A mountain lion in the crosshairs of a rifle scope appeared on the cover. As he flipped through the pages, he learned about Jennifer’s mysterious fall and the ongoing hunt for the unnatural, people-eating mountain lion. Seeing a pixilated photo of Jennifer’s broken body made him groan with sadness; Lisa Lopez had told him all about it in a harsh New Jersey accent. But the sight of the body labeled “Helen Kale, second victim of rogue mountain lion” on page seven was an icy shock.
Instead of grief, he felt a hollow, aching emptiness that wrapped his mind in a cold fog. In the back of the Uvula, Eli used a pay phone to call Matt. He had nowhere else to go.
After two weeks of lying listlessly on Matt’s couch, Eli suddenly perked up. He told M
att that he wanted to take an extended hike into the backcountry around Crawford's Notch and get back in touch with the trails he loved. This greatly relieved Matt, who loaned him money to buy camping equipment and drove him to the trailhead.
Eli knew he wasn’t thinking clearly, but trekking through the woods would, at least, give his body something to do. He would walk at night and sleep by day. Eventually, he was convinced, he would meet the mountain lion from his nightmares and, through it, find the purpose that had always eluded him.
***the end***