Ray stood and hefted the rifle. “Then let’s go.”
* * *
Ray was tired from the walk and lay on the blankets after dinner. Caitlin joined him while Brittany roasted marshmallows.
“It occurs to me,” Ray said. “We’ve travelled halfway across the country, and I still don’t know very much about you.”
She cuddled against him. “Caitlin Willows. Twenty-nine and a little. High school grad. Working mother. Married once. Would do it again in a heartbeat if you asked. Your turn.”
“Ray Bramlett. Twenty-seven. Never married. Hardly been kissed. SUNY. E-6, Army, toured Iraq and Afghanistan. Stateside, run a hardware store an uncle left me.”
“SUNY?”
“State University of New York.
“E-6?”
“Sergeant.”
“I thought college graduates were officers.”
“If they did OCS, ROTC, or the academy.”
“You’ve got to spell it out for me. The military wasn’t my thing.”
“The key is I didn’t go.”
She was still for a minute. “You scared me in the driveway. The way you shoved Josh and screamed at Mr. Parnell. I thought you had this angry side, like bi-polar, and it would turn on me someday.”
“You didn’t get out.”
“I did. But Brittany was in back, people were pouring out to watch. You’d already shot at Mr. Parnell. I had to take the gun either way: to stop him from shooting at us or to protect myself, later.”
“From me?”
“I didn’t know. Definitely from Mr. Parnell.”
“I’m sorry. It’s a command voice. It’s supposed to intimidate. The same with the shot. Don’t give potential adversaries time to think.”
“I’m glad it was the Army. I was really worried it was prison. I’ve never known a man with so many guns.”
“A lot has happened since I left home.”
“I’m sorry, too,” Caitlin said. “I bought stuff you didn’t want on purpose. I told myself if you lost it on me, then Brittany and I were gone.” She paused. “That’s why I asked for the extra money. I wanted to see your reaction.”
Caitlin dropped her head on his chest. Ray pulled her to him and kissed her. “I had no idea.”
“Yeah. I figured that out. You’re kind a naive around women. I’m really sorry about wasting the money.”
“It’s okay. I misjudged you, too.”
Brittany carried over a burnt blob on the end of a stick and sat on Ray’s stomach. “If you’re done with the mush, we got marshmallows to eat.”
Chapter 55
Brittany stepped out of the pond. Caitlin wrapped her in their only towel. Ray sat under a tree a few feet away with a rifle.
“Her own private swimming pool,” Caitlin said.
“Glad she enjoys it, but fish from the pond would have been a nicer touch, lightly battered in cornmeal.”
“Like in the lake the other men found.”
“Too big. I’d like to scoop a few and throw them in here.”
“In the dark, I suppose.”
“Just wishful thinking. Be good to supplement our food. Hunting, the shooting part, lets folks know you’re here. Fishing goes unnoticed.”
“If you were off a ways, wouldn’t hunting be okay?”
“I think so. Problem is, the farther I go, the harder it’ll be to bring game home. Not sure I’m up to dragging a mule deer over the ridge.”
“We can help.”
“Probably have to. I’d still give it a while. I heard a shot today and one the day before. Not close enough to worry about, but we’re not alone.”
“There’s something else bothering you. What is it?”
“It’s that obvious?”
Caitlin didn’t bother to answer.
“I’m not satisfied with where we are. Too close to the water. Too open. C’mon. I’ll show you where I think is better.”
* * *
Caitlin poked the dying coals. “It’s farther to haul water. I don’t see how you’ll get the truck up there.”
“I won’t from this side. It might be a full day of maneuvering to get around and come up the back. I haven’t found a drivable path, yet. A couple days, I’ll have it worked out.”
“It would be nice to have more than a tarp over our heads.”
“You’ll think back fondly on this, someday.”
“Does that mean it’ll get worse?”
“No. That’s just how beginnings are, like honeymoons.”
“Thought you hadn’t been married.”
“I was talking about life in general.”
Brittany stood, took a few steps, and vanished in the dark.
Caitlin whispered, “We could grab a blanket and sit by the pond.”
Ray walked Caitlin to the shelter and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.
“Honey, we’re going for a walk.” Caitlin took a few steps and Brittany fell in beside her. Caitlin squeezed Ray’s hand as they toured the pond and returned to camp. They said their goodnights and settled in.
“I’m sorry,” Caitlin whispered. “You can’t build something fast enough.”
* * *
“Mommy, there’s a bear.”
“Where, honey?”
Ray rolled from bed clutching the AR-15 as Brittany’s flashlight flicked on to expose a large man with a rifle crouched in the trees. A bullet ripped into the bag Ray had just abandoned. A second rifle fired from the somewhere to the right. Ray pushed away from the women, fired five shots at the first man’s rifle flash, then sprinted into the trees, untethering the night goggles from the rifle as he ran.
Ray slid to a stop at the tree line and donned the goggles. A man ahead cut between trees. Ray moved for a better angle. A bullet whacked a tree to his right. Ray hit the dirt as another bullet whizzed above him. He spotted a man a hundred yards out, jogging away. The man crashed into a low limb, shook it off, and stumbled ahead. Ray’s first bullet spun him. The second and third put him down. Ray moved ahead in search of the other man.
A flashlight beam caught Ray, and he dove behind a tree. Bullets tore into the trunk. Ray slithered back, keeping the tree between him and the shooter. Two more bullets hit the tree. Ray crawled right, hoping the flashlight wasn’t a ruse and that the man didn’t also have night vision.
The flashlight again played on the tree. Ray fired at the arm that held it, then scrambled ten yards and sighted again. The flashlight lay on the ground. The man ran toward the ridge. Ray shuffled clear of the trees and took the shot. The man staggered three steps and fell.
Ray tucked beside a tree and assessed the situation. He saw no one else, but if these were the men he’d seen at the pond, there were two more, somewhere. He considered that the first two were meant to draw him away, and they underestimated his firepower. The other men would be nearby, for a backshot or to raid the camp. He backtracked cautiously. From where the first man had hid, he saw Caitlin and Brittany huddled against the rock ridge. Caitlin held a pistol.
“It’s me,” Ray said, “Are you all right?”
They were. He hugged them and reassured them, then handed Caitlin the hunting rifle and showed her the scope.
“I think there’s more men. I’m going after them. Keep an eye out. If you see anyone, don’t ask if it’s me. I’ll identify myself when I get close enough.”
“But . . .”
“Keep low. Scan left to right then back, changing the distance.” Ray started away. “If you need me in a hurry just fire that gun. And if you shoot at someone, move your position, quick.”
Ray cleared the north side to the rock ridge, then headed south, toward the lake camp and where the men he’d shot lay. The first man had bled out. The second was dead as well. Ray stashed their weapons and moved on. He jogged most of a mile. The trees grew sparse and the valley narrowed toward the creek. Even in the open, the slice of moon and the stars gave only enough l
ight to see a twenty feet ahead without the goggles. The dead men didn’t have night gear. He wondered how far they’d come in the dark. Not likely the five miles to the Californian’s camp.
He crafted a new theory. The men he’d shot had scouted them in the daylight, from a distance. They’d come back before dawn because they’d also seen the guns and they liked the idea of surprise over a shootout. Ray turned to the east ridge, climbed it, and headed cautiously north.
He crossed the tracks his truck had made driving in, guessing how he’d been found. He always thought himself a cautious man, but now saw the need to increase his vigilance. He followed the track, watching for sign someone else had.
A shot rang out below. Then two more with short separation—different weapons. He raced along the ridgeline, caught a glimpse of the pond through the trees and cut down the slope. He stopped at the truck and scanned to the fire pit. His view to their bedding was blocked by rock.
Ray stepped forward. He called out in a low voice and crept through the trees until he saw Caitlin and Brittany.
“What happened?”
“There’s another one. I think I shot him.” Caitlin pointed north. “He ran that way.”
Ray took off at a run. The man had to either go around the pond in the open or over the ridge. Ray picked the ridge and climbed well to the right of where he guessed the man had fled. He reached the top, caught his breath and moved out along an animal path. Dawn approached. He picked up a scattered trail of blood.
Ten minutes of careful tracking. The man a hundred yards ahead. He carried a rifle in his right hand. His left arm hung, limply. Ray closed to a hundred feet and removed the night vision. The man breathed heavily. He staggered against a tree and stopped. Ray crept closer, saw no one else.
“Drop the rifle,” Ray commanded.
It fell to the ground.
“And your other weapons, too.”
The man dropped a pistol and a knife. Ray marched him into a cluster of conifers and they sat. The man was young, not much beyond a boy. His voice high pitched and scared.
“How many with you?” Ray asked.
He was slow to answer. Ray poked his injured arm with the rifle.
“Two,” he cried harshly.
“Why aren’t you with them?”
“I was watching the back door.”
“What was supposed to happen?”
He didn’t answer.
“Were you after the food or the women?”
“You know, man.”
“How long you been out here?”
“I don’t know, couple months, I guess.”
“Anyone else around?”
“Four guys, way south.”
“How long have you known we were here?”
“Two days. We thought you were alone at first.”
“Where’s your camp?”
Silence.
“Look. I’m not giving back your guns. And I’m not going to let you go back to camp and get more. So I either kill you, or go to your camp and take any weapons.”
“There aren’t any.”
“I don’t know that unless I look, do I?”
He pointed west. “About a mile.”
“I’m not going to find anyone there?”
“I told you, I’m with two guys.”
“You ever shot at a man before?”
“No sir. It was Brent’s plan. He saw the girl in the pond.”
Ray believed him and stood. He stared down at the barely-a-man. “I’ve got a question. One you should have asked Brent: What would you do with a guy who was going to kill you and rape your wife and child?”
The man put his head down.
“That was my thinking, too.” Ray raised the rifle and shot him.
* * *
Ray entered their camp at dawn—a fire pit, a two man tent, a crude lean-to, and three sleeping bags. They had bags of freeze dried food, a few assorted cans, a water purification kit, and three boxes of ammunition. He filled two of their packs and headed back, collecting the man’s weapons on the way.
He trudged into his own camp and dropped what he had. Caitlin was positioned behind a rock, the rifle resting on it. Brittany sat beside her with a pistol.
“We’ll move on after breakfast,” Ray said.
“Are the men dead?” Brittany asked.
“Yes. The bad men are all dead.”
“Did I . . ?”
“You hit his arm,” Ray said.
* * *
Ray had scouted the west ridge, and they cleared that in an hour. They spent the rest of the day finding a route over two more. The tedious day ended on a wooded slope, not five air miles from where they started. They unpacked only bed rolls and dinner. Ray spent the last hour of daylight searching on foot for a path deeper into the wilderness, and scouting for potential hostiles.
The wind picked up, and the temperature dipped toward freezing. Caitlin and Brittany slept in the truck. Ray set up in his bag up the ridge. He kept his eyes open for a few hours then slept till dawn, exhausted from the previous night.
The second day went even slower. They moved two miles, over one high ridge to the edge of an alpine meadow. They set up camp and Ray rolled the Honda from the truck.
“I’m thinking a ride might tell me a lot more in a hurry.”
“And let anyone in miles know where you are.”
“There’s that. But we need to see what’s around us.”
“Can I come?” Brittany asked as Ray checked over the bike and bungeed the rifle to the frame.
“Up to your mother.”
Brittany turned to Caitlin. “Please.”
“Will she be all right?”
“As safe as me.”
Ray started the Honda and Caitlin helped Brittany on. She hugged him firmly as he eased away, then accelerated through the field. They did a complete circle of the valley then went over a low, pine topped ridge to the northeast. He intersected a hiking trail shortly and followed it west for nearly a mile, turning around at a set of rock stairs. To the east, he wound two and a half miles and hit a mountain bike trail. He followed that to a pond one direction and a fire road three miles distant on the other. He covered a couple miles each way on that road, then headed back.
He stopped on the ridge overlooking the meadow. Then followed it west into the next valley, small and heavily forested with two connected ponds. Beyond, he saw in the far distance, high mountain peaks protruding above the timber line. He’d seen enough for a day, and rolled to the meadow and across to Caitlin.
“Looks like we’re pretty much alone,” Ray said, chaining the bike. “A couple miles to a hiking trail. Close to eight to the nearest fire road. Bikes can get around. Vehicles, not so easy.
Chapter 56
Ray, Caitlin, and Brittany set out early to explore the rock ridge on the west side of the valley and the indented jumble on its south flank. They climbed a steep bed of a dried creek that in another era had flowed from a waterfall. Two hundred feet up, the trail bent around a rock protrusion. Past it, on the north wall, was an undercut space twenty-five feet wide at the mouth and nearly as deep. The height of the eroded cavity rose from six feet at the back to over ten in front.
Ray looked the space over. “Couldn’t ask for better. You can’t even see this from below.”
“All we need is a front door,” offered Caitlin.
“We’re going to live in a cave?” Brittany said. “Neat.”
“Not really a cave, but close,” Ray answered. “It’ll make a nice home.”
Caitlin said, “I pictured a log cabin or a sod house on the prairie.”
“Trust me. This is nicer.”
Caitlin laughed. “We’re here. May as well enjoy it.”
* * *
After Ray built a fire circle and rigged tarps to cut the wind, they spent three nights in the not-cave. The fourth morning, Ray took the chainsaw and the truck northeast and returned in
the afternoon with a load of ten foot logs running diameters of six to eight inches. He dragged them up, trimmed them, and wedged them in place, forming a wall halfway across the entrance.
“Pretty cool,” Caitlin said. “I’ll work on the wallpaper.”
“I can find something in town. There’s a bunch of things I need to make the place fit for winter.”
“Is that an advance excuse?”
“Just I have to go to town. Most likely be gone overnight.”
Caitlin stared at him. “You or all of us?”
“It’s open to discussion. I’d normally say someone should stay to watch our gear. But I can see how you wouldn’t want to be stranded here.”
“If men did come, I’m not sure I could scare them off.”
“We’ll all go. I haven’t seen sign of anyone nearby.”
* * *
“If we lose our food, we’re gonners,” Caitlin said. It was morning and they were readying to leave.
“Hard pressed might be a better choice of words,” Ray replied.
“One night?”
“No longer than that.”
“It took three to get here.”
“I think I can get out over the northeast ridge. I did a little work up there when I cut the logs. I’ll bring the chainsaw ’case I have to do more.”
“If you can’t get out?”
“We’ll make do till I can.”
“I want you to take Brittany.”
He started to ask why, then held his tongue. “I’d like her company.”
Ray spent a few minutes showing Caitlin the night goggles and the AR-15. Then he handed her five hundred dollars. “There’s a risk in traveling, too. Don’t want all our eggs in one basket.”
Ray and Brittany reached Alamosa at one—five hours to get off the mountain, one to reach town. More than half the businesses were closed—especially those relying on tourists and college students, neither of which were present. Still, in several stops, they bought cement, concrete, hinges, framing lumber, two marine batteries, and several other items. He couldn’t find flashlights or the batteries for them. Candles were non-existent as well.
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