Cassie had been descending the mountain for what seemed like hours. Her calves ached, and her injured ankle throbbed. She couldn’t focus on that. Getting to the road safely was her only objective. From what she could tell without stepping into the clearing, she had neared the halfway point.
Voices below made her freeze. They were heading her way. She didn’t know how many of them there were and whether she was being surrounded. As still as stone, Cassie turned only her head and looked around. She didn’t see or hear anything behind her. Any wrong move could give away her location. Slowly, Cassie knelt, curled up behind the boulder she had been standing next to, and stayed as small as possible. She was afraid to take a breath. She saw them in the distance, around fifty feet away as she looked through the sliver between the rocks. Their rifles, as always, were slung by straps over their shoulders. She saw two men but had no idea if more were out of view.
“She’s up here somewhere and not too far away. Charlie said the drone had her right in this area.”
Donny was speaking, and it looked like Malcolm was with him. Cassie would be shot on sight if they saw her, or worse, they could take her back to Bart, where he’d take pleasure in killing her himself.
A ruckus sounded just out of view, and a familiar growl sent shivers down her spine. Cassie couldn’t see what was going on, but by the screams coming from Malcolm, something horrible was happening. Three gunshots went off then silence. Seconds later, she heard Donny yell to Bart through his radio.
“Boss! A damn mountain lion came out of nowhere and pounced from a rock onto Malcolm. The poor bastard didn’t have a chance. That cat had him by the head. I took a few shots, and they both went over the edge.”
Bart’s response was choppy at best. Cassie couldn’t make out what he said other than the few curse words she recognized, but seconds later, Donny and the drone disappeared from sight. She remained behind the rock for another half hour before gaining the courage to stand up and cautiously go out. Keeping a close eye on the sky and not seeing the drone, she walked to the bloodstained area in front of her. Only a few feet farther away were signs of a scuffle in the dirt and a sharp drop-off behind it. She wasn’t about to get close to the edge and look over, but Donny and the drone were probably searching for Malcolm’s body below that ridge.
The fateful accident gave Cassie the opportunity she needed to continue on while Donny and whoever else might be there were preoccupied. Cassie headed right and walked a half mile before she continued downward. The road, in plain view, was only a few miles away. If she was lucky, she would reach it before nightfall then hunker down until daylight. She wouldn’t take the chance of darting out into the road when headlights happened by. In the dark, she would have no idea whose vehicle was coming her way.