by Harley Tate
Part of Melody wanted to scream. Beat her fists against Colt’s chest and blame him for everything that happened. But what good would it do? What good would anything do?
It was only a matter of time before they all died. They were fooling themselves if they thought Lake Tahoe was a reality. She thrust Lottie into her brother’s arms before walking away from the grave.
“Melody? Where are you going?”
She answered her brother without turning around. “I need a few minutes alone.” Melody knew now how hopeless this powerless future would be. This moment, standing around with two strangers and the only family she had left in the world was the best it would ever get.
Her hair clung to her scalp in ratty, greasy clumps. Her jeans were stained with dirt and grime and a dead man’s blood. She didn’t know if the ring of black beneath her nails was filth or a permanent stain, but it didn’t matter.
The old Melody Harper who loved to curl up on a couch and watch Hallmark Chanel movies with a pint of ice cream was dead. The animals she cared for at the vet clinic. All dead.
Just like her parents. Just like the Wilkinses.
Larkin was never coming back. No man would ever look at her and see the future again. Maybe a quick romp on a dirty floor or the leaf-strewn forest. But a wife? The mother of someone’s children? Forget it. All the dreams she thought would still come true. All the things she’d hadn’t crossed off her list.
Gone in the blink of an eye.
Maybe the power going out was punishment. Was this comeuppance for a world of frivolity and leisure? Was this some twisted retribution?
Melody walked without seeing. She didn’t know where she was going. She planted her feet one after the other in the lumpy, dank earth. Thoughts of life and death and the meaning of it all swirled inside her head, more real than the forest all around.
She stumbled over a hidden log on the forest floor. The ground rose up, full of branches and leaves and broken twigs. Melody thrust her arms out to break her fall, only there wasn’t any more ground. Her hands led the way as she tumbled off a hidden ledge.
As her body hit the first outcrop of rocks, her ribs crunched and splintered and Melody screamed.
Chapter Twenty-Three
DANI
Northern California Forest
3:00 p.m.
Dani bent over and sucked in a lungful of air. They had been searching for Melody for hours. At some point, they had to accept reality. She stood up and unscrewed the cap on one of the few bottles of water they managed to salvage from the truck. A splash of water hit her cracked lips.
Crap. She shoved the empty bottle in the back of the Humvee and groaned. Spending their precious energy circling out in wider and wider arcs around the Humvee to search for Melody wasn’t getting them anywhere. They could all end up dead before too long.
As if he’d read her thoughts, Doug called out. “We’re not giving up. I can’t leave without my sister.”
Sometime over the last six hours, Doug aged a decade. Gone were his wide-open eyes and easy smile. In their place, a haggard, broken man who couldn’t admit what Colt and Dani already grasped: Melody was dead or dying.
Lottie yipped at Doug’s feet and he scooped the hungry little dog up. “I know you miss her, Lot. I do, too.” He ruffled her fur. “We’ll find her. I promise.”
He set Lottie down, but the little dog only pawed at his leg.
Dani stated the obvious. “She’s hungry.”
Doug cut her a glance. “We’re all hungry.”
“Someone needs to look for water and food. We’ve got a million guns, we should be able to shoot something.”
“I’m not doing anything except search for my sister.”
“You’d rather die out here, then? Because that’s what’ll happen if we don’t find something to eat.”
“Enough.” Colt broke through a thicket of scrub brush and entered the small clearing where Doug and Dani stood. “Arguing will get us nowhere.”
He set his rifle on the ground and stretched, wincing as his back bent. Dani didn’t know how the man even managed to stay upright after the crash he survived. “Dani, how about you go on a hunt for water? There’s got to be a stream or river nearby. They snake all through this area.”
“What about Melody?”
Colt turned to Doug. “You and I can keep searching. We’ll increase the radius, fan out from here and look for any signs of her.”
“She could be miles away by now.” Or dead, but Dani didn’t offer the most logical answer. Melody wasn’t cut out for a hike in the forest. Without food or water, and no concept of direction, she didn’t stand a chance. Even if she were only lost, the chances of finding her now, after searching for hours, had to be slim.
First Gran, then Gloria and Will, Harvey, and most likely Melody, too. At some point over the course of the night before, Dani turned it all off. Her emotions, hope, any thought or feeling that wasn’t tied to her own base need to survive. Dani was ready to call off the search right now and hit the road.
She wasn’t going to die out in the middle of the California forest searching for a needle in a haystack. Glancing up at the sun, she thought it over. If they weren’t any closer to finding Melody by sunset, that was it. Dani would stay the night with Colt and Doug, but she would hightail it out of there first thing in the morning.
At some point those men from the road would come looking for them and she planned to be miles away by the time they found the Humvee. She headed over to the vehicle and dragged two empty jugs from the back.
“If I find water, I’ll clean these out and fill them up.”
“Good. Head for lower ground. You might find a stream tucked between two ridges, or a small fall on the slope of one of these hills.” Colt picked up his rifle and motioned to a nearby tree. “Mark your path so you can get back. A notch on a tree every fifty steps.”
“I can do that.”
“Good.” Colt turned to Doug. “Let’s restart the search. We’ve got three solid hours of daylight left. Let’s make the most of it.”
Dani watched the pair of them head out with Lottie trailing behind. The poor little dog would go the way of her owner if Dani didn’t come back with at least something to drink. She grabbed a strip of rope from the Humvee and tied the jugs together before looping them over her shoulder along with a rifle.
As she traipsed through the underbrush, her worn-out sneakers slipped and skidded. The jugs banged against each other in a hollow echo and Dani slowed down. She couldn’t listen for gurgling water if she couldn’t hear anything but her own clumsy movements.
On and on she walked, slow enough to catch the sound of birds as they landed in the treetops above and squirrels jumping from one branch to the next. If she were a better shot, she might be able to kill one or two for a makeshift dinner.
Squirrel couldn’t be any worse than the mystery meat from her old school cafeteria. They had more than enough ammo now; maybe it would be worth a try. She unslung the rifle from her shoulder and positioned the jugs so they stopped colliding as she moved.
With slow steps, she eased forward, looking and listening for an animal to kill. Hunting had never been her thing, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Dani was done running and hiding and hoping to survive by being invisible. She would own every decision from here on out.
She would live by choice, not by default.
The sound of rustling leaves stopped Dani mid-step. She twisted in place. A deer stood no more than twenty feet away, ears pricked as it spotted her.
Dani eased into position. If she shot it, they would have meat for days. Saliva pooled in her mouth and she swallowed. As she stepped back into a crouch, a twig snapped. The deer spooked and ran. Crap! Dani hustled after it, skidding and slipping down a muddy embankment.
I can’t lose it!
Her shoes squelched in the mud and Dani almost fell time and again. The jugs banged together on her back in a staccato drumbeat and sweat beaded along her b
row. She couldn’t slow down. She would catch the animal and bring something to the table.
The deer crashed through brush and Dani caught glimpses of its black tail in the dappled afternoon sun. Come on. Just give me a clear shot. With the rifle pinned to her shoulder, Dani ran as fast as possible, dodging leaves and branches, but the deer always stayed just out of range.
She couldn’t catch it. Dani slowed, huffing and puffing out her exhaustion as the gap between her and the deer increased. A minute later, she lost sight of it in the trees.
Dani stopped. Blood thundered in her ears like a thousand tiny hooves. She sucked in one breath after another, panting as she leaned against the nearest tree. All that work for nothing.
She expended a ton of energy and what did it get her? More hunger and thirst and a longer trek back to Colt.
After a few minutes, her breathing slowed and Dani looked around her. While chasing the deer, she’d skidded down a gentle slope. The pine trees of the roadside gave way to the big leafy varieties with branches that blocked out the fading sun.
She stopped to listen. Beneath the racing of her heart and the twittering of random birds, a constant rumble lurked. It couldn’t be a train or a highway or a distant airport. Those things were long gone. No, it had to be a river.
But what direction?
Dani closed her eyes. The sound bounced off the higher grades of land, echoing on all sides. She turned in a slow circle, trying to place the source. She couldn’t be sure, but her best guess was the path the deer had taken.
She glanced back the way she had come. How long had she run? Would she be able to find her way back?
Dani marked a tree where she stood with a double notch to remind her of where she stopped. It might not be enough, but what choice did she have? She couldn’t backtrack now when the promise of a river lay out of sight.
Setting off in the direction of the deer, Dani kept one eye on the setting sun. If she stayed out much longer, she wouldn’t make it back to the Humvee before dark. Hiking in the pitch black of night wasn’t a welcome thought.
Dani picked up the pace, stopping every now and then to mark a tree or bend a branch. As she stepped through a tangled bramble, the ground dipped and she stumbled. The jugs clattered on her back, the rifle slipped off her shoulder, and Dani scrambled to grab the nearest tree.
Her hand slipped on the sapling, but she dug her nails into a branch, clinging on as her feet slipped out from under her. Leaves tore from the branch as she slid another foot. A ravine. Her feet dangled off the edge of a steep drop and the sound of a river rushed up from below.
Water.
With one hand still holding onto the tree and one thrust into the dirt for purchase, Dani eased to sit on the soft ledge. If she used her backside as an anchor and the trees as checks, she could make it to the bottom. Climbing up would be a massive undertaking.
She glanced up at the sky. Making it back before dark would be impossible. If she wanted to reach the river, she would need to camp there all night. Dani chewed on her lip. Could she do that? Could she figure out a way to survive at the edge of a rushing stream all alone?
Her parched lips cracked with her answer. She didn’t have a choice. Water was the difference between life and death. Dani reached for the next tree and slid three feet down the hill. Gravel and sticks and pinecones rumbled past her. She reached for another tree.
Foot by foot, she made her agonizing descent toward the river. The rushing water grew louder and louder and the sun dipped lower as she trekked. At last, her feet landed hard on the bank and Dani laughed out loud.
Eight feet wide and crystal clear, the stream beckoned. Dani dumped her gear on the ground and rushed up to the water. Falling to her knees on the sandy shore, she scooped up the precious liquid in her hands and drank and drank until she couldn’t swallow another drop.
Only when she reached her fill, did she lean back.
Oh, no. It can’t be.
Ten yards downstream, a body floated half in the water. The other half lay tangled and broken among a fallen tree.
Dark hair, gray sweater, muddy jeans.
Dani stood up on shaky legs and made her way over. She reached down and pulled a clump of leaves and hair away from the woman’s face. Melody’s eyes, now gray and filmy, stared back in death.
Chapter Twenty-Four
COLT
Northern California Forest
6:00 p.m.
“We need to get back. Dani will be waiting for us.”
Doug tramped on ahead. “I have to find Melody.”
Colt cursed under his breath. This entire expedition had gone to hell in a handbasket. “You need to accept reality, Doug.”
“She’s out here somewhere. Hurt or in trouble. I will find her.”
Doug kept walking. With no plan and no destination in mind, he’d been circling the Humvee and growing more and more agitated as the minutes ticked by.
“We need to regroup and set up camp. I’m not saying we leave.”
“Good, because that isn’t an option.”
Colt stopped in his tracks. “Damn it, Doug. We need a plan. I can’t keep following you as you circle the drain.”
Doug spun around to face Colt, fury and fear in his eyes. “I’m not giving up on her. She’s the only family I have left. Melody means everything to me.”
Colt inhaled. They must have bushwhacked through five miles of forest, maybe more, with no sign of Melody. Colt could get them back to the Humvee, but it would be a hell of a lot harder in the dark.
He appealed to the man’s common sense. “As soon as the sun sets, we’ll be blind out here. How can we help your sister if we get hurt ourselves?”
Doug refused to listen. “I won’t stop looking.” He spun back around and charged through the next clump of trees. “Melody! Mel, can you hear me?! Melody!”
Without water or food, exhaustion would take Doug faster than it took Colt. It had been years since he’d roughed it out in the field, but the memory of combat still lingered in his blood. He could survive worse conditions than this, but a civilian wasn’t as hardy.
Even a firefighter had limits.
He checked the safety on his rifle for the thousandth time and followed Doug deeper into the woods.
“Melody! Melody!” Doug cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted until he grew hoarse.
“Down here!”
Doug whipped around. “I’m coming, Mel!”
Colt hesitated. That wasn’t Melody’s voice. It wasn’t deep enough or filled with enough fear.
“Find the river!”
Shit. It was Dani. If she were hollering for help, then something happened. Colt hustled after Doug. The younger man busted through trees and slipped down the embankment like a bull finally freed from a pen. Branches snapped. Rocks tumbled.
Doug slid ten feet at a time, but it didn’t stop him. Colt couldn’t keep up. Between the concussion and the bruises, he would never make it down the ravine that fast. He refused to break an ankle because Doug lost his mind. He lost sight of the man halfway down the ravine.
It didn’t take long to find him once Colt hit the ground.
Dani stood on the edge of the water, rifle pointing at a space between her feet and Doug’s bent-over body. He kneeled in the sand, arms outstretched. A woman lay on the bank of the river, wet hair tangled around her head like a crown.
Melody.
From the looks of her, she’d been dead for hours. Doug hauled her stiff and lifeless body against his chest, sobbing as he pushed the hair from her gray cheeks. “No. Not you. Not you.”
He cradled his dead sister, rocking her back and forth as he stared at her open, sightless eyes. Colt glanced at Dani, a question in the tilt of his brow.
She shook her head.
Just what he thought. Melody was dead when Dani found her. It made sense. From the way the body lay stiff and bent, with her neck twisted at an impossible angle, it was obvious what happened.
Melody took a wron
g turn and fell down the side of the hill. She died before she ever hit the ground.
Colt peered through the trees. They had maybe twenty minutes of decent light left. He turned back to Doug. “I’m sorry, Doug.”
Doug snapped his head up and pointed a shaky, accusatory finger at Dani. “She did this.”
“What? No!” Dani’s mouth fell open as her gaze shifted between Doug and Colt. “I found her like that.”
“Liar! You pushed her. I know it!” Doug dropped his sister on the bank. Her arm splashed in the water as he rushed to stand. His nostrils flared as he took a step toward Dani.
Colt held up a hand. “That’s enough, Doug. She’s told you the truth. Back off.”
“She’s lying.” Doug’s eyes stayed trained on Dani. “You’ve always been jealous of my sister. What, did you see her wandering in the forest and push her? Did she ask for your help before you sent her to her death?”
Dani clamped her mouth shut and her lips thinned to a line.
“So you don’t deny it. I knew it!” Doug took another step.
Colt pulled his Sig from the holster. “I told you, not another step.”
Doug’s eyes flashed to Colt. “Did you tell her to do it?”
Colt sighted the center of Doug’s chest. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve risked my life to save you and Melody. Why would I want her dead?”
“Maybe this was your plan all along. Get us all out here. Pick us off one by one. For all I know you staged the accident.” Doug took a step toward Colt. “Tell me, did you know those men in the Mustang? Are they part of your crew?”
Was it the dehydration, hunger, or grief that concocted these crazy theories? Maybe all three. Colt exhaled. Doug wouldn’t rile him up. “You’re exhausted and starving, Doug. You’re not thinking straight.”
“Oh, I disagree. In fact, I think I’m finally seeing clearly.” He took another step and a smile tipped his lips. “What are you going to do, shoot me?”