When Laura had first seen those rafts, she’d thought they were God’s way of answering her prayers. Now she thought they were the physical embodiment of every nightmare she had ever had. They should have tried to sneak around the barricade. Or to go through the fire. Either of those options suddenly seemed better and more reasonable to Laura than their current predicament.
It couldn’t be possible, but it seemed like the men on the raft behind them were catching up. Even though they were in the same water, with the same type of boat, theirs looked like it was going faster.
Laura closed her eyes, squeezing the handle of her oar until the pain cut through the numbness. They had four large men in that raft. Each man had an oar. Those men were not using their oars to avoid rocks. They were using them to propel the raft through the water.
The raft was going to capture them.
It was going to catch up and then they would shoot Seth. They looked angry enough that they might shoot Laura and Abby, too, no matter what Mahoney had said.
This was going to end badly.
But she wasn’t about to give up. “Seth, they are all using their oars to go faster. The raft is going to catch up with us.”
Seth didn’t respond to her yell, but the look on his face showed that he either heard her or he had realized the same thing.
The Jeep was still following on the side of the river. The man in the back was yelling into some kind of radio. He was talking instead of shooting. That couldn’t be good.
What was he planning? Why had he stopped shooting?
“Laura! Look! The fire!”
Laura looked and saw. The fire. They had rounded several curves in the macabre pinball game they were playing, and the flames from the fire were now very visible. Laura thought she could feel the heat, but that was probably her imagination.
The flames moved and danced and Laura had to force herself to look at the river, to focus on the boulders there. Those large, hard obstacles were every bit as much a threat as the men with guns who followed them on land and water.
The only good thing about getting ready to raft through a fire was that the Jeep would have to stop. That would take away an attack from at least one side.
“Laura. Get down. Now.” Seth’s voice was somehow low and deadly and still loud enough to carry to her. She looked ahead and saw a second Jeep parked on the side of the river, at the spot right before the flames were consuming the mountain.
It was parked and waiting.
There were several men standing by it.
With guns.
Pointed at them.
That was what the Jeep man had been doing. Radioing for backup. Backup that wasn’t hindered by being in a moving Jeep traveling over uneven ground. Backup that could probably hit its target.
And they were the target.
Laura got down as much as possible. She moved so that both of her legs were over Abby, and she could feel her child’s heat under her thighs. Getting down to avoid getting shot meant the raft was going to hit more rocks.
Seth handed her his oar. “Hold this. I’ll shoot better with two hands, but I don’t want to lose my oar.”
Laura clung to the handle, pairing it up with hers. She had them both pulled inside the raft, clutching them like some kind of shield. Too bad they weren’t bulletproof. She crouched down as low as possible, shoving the oars under one armpit and holding them with one hand. Laura reached down with the other hand and held on to Abby. She tried to make her hand gentle and reassuring, but she doubted her girl felt anything but terrified.
This was not the kind of childhood a little girl should have. How had it come to this? All Laura had wanted to do was get off this mountain and live a normal life. Be a normal girl. Normal.
Yet, here she was. Back on this mountain. Widowed. Running for her life. Dragging her child through one traumatic experience after another. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to be like this at all.
She looked up from her crouch and saw Seth holding one of the raft ties in his fist. She knew he was hoping to secure himself to the raft, but the sight didn’t make her feel better at all. He couldn’t wrap it around his wrist or hand because if he went over that could really hurt him. But she didn’t think he would be able to hold on, either. It was just too much to ask of a human being. Right now, the sight of him holding that rope felt very useless to Laura. Pointless. And depressing.
She flinched at the sound of the first shot. Suppressed a scream. Heard Abby cry out.
Then there was a second shot. A third. Coming from Seth. From that parked Jeep. From the raft behind them. Back and forth, and all too loud and too close.
The raft was jerking, bouncing off of boulders. Slamming into waves. Those movements were painful and terrifying and probably the only reason that the men on the riverbank or raft behind them had not managed to shoot them yet.
Seth fired one more time and then he stopped. He slid over to where Laura was and shielded her body with his. He was around her and over her and covering her and Abby much more than Laura would have thought was possible. “I hit the other raft, but I didn’t do anything to the men on the shore. I’m out of bullets. We’re almost to the fire line. Almost.”
Almost. Almost. Almost. Laura chanted the words in her head. They were a plea. And a prayer. They had come so far, they had to make it through this, too. They just had to.
The weight of Seth’s body increased and Laura was almost lying down on top of Abby. The water in the bottom of the raft was freezing and they were all soaking wet. None of that stopped Laura from feeling the heat, though. It came out of nowhere, though really it had been their end goal all along. They were past the fire line.
The bullets stopped. That horrible popping noise that made Laura tense every muscle waiting to see if a bullet would hit its mark. It was gone.
But it wasn’t quiet. The fire was every bit as alive and growling as the water. The men in the Jeep had been intent on killing them. This fire seemed intent on killing anything. Everything. In its path or not. It was hungry, and they were nothing more than fuel.
About a minute after the last shot was fired, Seth sat up. He grabbed one of the oars that Laura was holding and moved back to the front of the raft. Now that they were done fighting the men, they only had to fight the river. And a fire.
The river was substantial, but the flames were jumping toward it. They needed to stay away from that side. Laura positioned her own oar and started helping. It was a relief to be proactive when it came to all these boulders. The repetitive jarring of slamming into rock after rock lessened.
Laura’s arms began to ache with the effort she was expending, but it felt good. She was alive, and she was still fighting. Her eyes began to water, maybe from the heat. Maybe from the wind.
She gazed at the part of the mountain on the other side of the river. It looked dry. And, most important, not on fire. It was so tempting to try to navigate over there. To try to stop, get out, walk on her legs. Make Abby dry and warm.
But that was not an option. It wasn’t safe to try to land the raft over there. Those men were not giving up. How long would it take them to cross the river and come down the mountain? Though it was bumpy and cold and flat-out miserable, this river was still the fastest route down. It was still their best shot at getting off this mountain and to help.
Laura could only see Seth’s back. And more fire. Up ahead, for as far as she could see, fire. Flames and heat and fire and the consumption of this mountain she loved so much.
Her dad’s part of the mountain. His refuge.
Her part of the mountain. Her refuge.
The river curved and Laura actually sobbed when she saw that the fire had burned out up ahead. She hadn’t even realized she was crying until those tears became a fountain of emotion. Seth turned to look at her, and she just pointed. His smile was somber, but it was there. He turned back around to face the front again and Laura reached down to pat Abby on the back.
She smiled at the girl. “It’s going to be okay, Abby. We’re almost done with the worst part.”
As quickly as it appeared, that heat ended. Smoke was still heavy in the air, but Laura glanced over to where the sky looked blue. She imagined the town at the base. The town that this river was taking them to. The town full of people, and not the kind who wanted to kill them. The kind who could help to keep Abby safe.
This was going to be okay.
“Laura!” Seth’s tone told her that she was wrong. This was not going to be okay. He leaned to the side, and she looked up ahead. There were several large trees lying across the river. There was no way to get around. Their raft would hit nature’s equivalent of a brick wall.
This wasn’t happening.
Okay, it was. And, frankly, Seth didn’t know why he was surprised. This week was going down in history as one of the worst weeks ever. And he said that as a man who had fought in a brutal war, been injured and run away from his family. Yeah. This week had been that bad.
“Go right. Try to go right.” He had to turn around to make sure Laura heard him. She immediately started trying to push the raft that way. He did, too. But it wasn’t enough. Even with their combined efforts, their skilled efforts, the raft was resisting any attempt to go toward the side of the river that had not been burned by the fire.
“Seth, it’s too hard. The current is working against us.” She was right of course. He should have realized sooner. Much of their ride down so far had involved trying to stay away from the side of the mountain that was on fire. Because the raft wanted to list that way.
“The left. Go to the left.” His aching muscles almost appreciated the change in exertion.
And it was working. It was absolutely working. The raft moved over to the bank, hitting some of the smaller rocks lining that side. They were in the right position now. They just needed to slow down.
Just.
“Seth, look. We can use that to ramp up on the bank.” Laura was pointing to a place up ahead where the bank dipped in. Made a little inlet. Yes, this could work.
Seth tensed his arms as they approached the inlet. He used every bit of strength he could muster and pushed toward it. He heard Laura give a yell as she pushed, too.
And the raft was stopped. They were in the inlet. Seth quickly scrambled out, taking one of the raft ties with him. He pulled it taut and looked over to tell Laura to follow.
But she was already there with Abby. She pushed the child ahead of her, half carrying her as she climbed over the end edge of the raft onto dry land.
Once they were off, Seth started to pull the raft out of the water. He looked up in surprise when Laura stepped in front of him, grabbed the rope and began pulling, too. The raft came out of the water. Once it was fully on the ground, with no chance of it being sucked back in, Seth let go.
He sank down to his knees on the ground and watched Laura do the same. She held her arms out to Abby, and the little girl ran to her mom. Abby threw herself at Laura with such force that both mother and child ended up lying on the ground.
Seth crawled over to where Laura was and flopped on his back next to her. She was holding Abby on top of her body, the little girl looking almost like a blanket. A shaking blanket. Seth couldn’t hear the crying, but Abby was clearly sobbing into her mother’s neck.
And neither one of them said a word.
They just stayed there, breathing heavily, shivering, trying to soak up every sunray that was available.
After what felt like one minute and one hour all at once, Seth rolled over and looked at Laura. She turned her head toward him. “Well, that was fun,” she said. “Let’s do that again the week after never.”
Seth smiled at her humor. All of this, and she was still here with him. “So, you’re saying that you don’t want to carry this raft to the other side of the wall of trees and get back in?” His tone was light, but his question was very much a serious one. They were not out of the woods yet. Neither literally nor metaphorically.
She looked at Abby, who was still on top of her. Laura’s hands were back to rubbing again, more soothing motions that were probably also meant to help the child warm up.
“What do you think, Seth? I really don’t want to get back in the raft. It’s dangerous and cold. Abby is so tired, I’m afraid that she’ll get hurt.”
She wasn’t wrong. Again. “We were really fortunate with that first ride. Really favored. I agree—let’s walk.”
Laura sat up, keeping Abby in her lap, the child still plastered to her chest. “Okay. Let’s go. The sooner we start, the sooner we’ll reach town.”
Seth wanted to build a fire and warm them up. He wanted to get them out of those wet clothes. He wanted to let them rest. And he really wanted to take off his boots and take the world’s longest nap. But he could do none of those things. He could only stand up, hold out a hand to help pull Laura to her feet and then reach out and take Abby.
He didn’t ask this time. He just took the little girl, and she came without protest from either mom or child. She was trembling slightly in Seth’s arms and he held her closer to his body, hoping his heat would both warm and calm her.
“I don’t even want to think about how we spent the better part of two days walking up this mountain and we just undid all that work in minutes.” Her voice sounded tired. Really tired.
“I know. But we’re okay. And we’re clear of those men.” He wanted to reassure her. “Plus, we’re walking downhill now. This is good.”
“We’re past the point where the cabin was. It’s probably gone, huh?”
Seth really wished that he was okay with lying to her. But he wouldn’t do that. Not to anyone, but especially not to her. “I don’t know, Laura. But you’re probably right. It’s probably damaged at best.”
She was silent, and Seth tried to give her time to process, focusing on leading them downhill on the easiest path he could find. Abby had stopped shivering. Her head was heavy on his shoulder, and Seth looked down to see her eyes were closed. She was sleeping.
Something moved in his chest as he pondered the gift that was carrying a sleeping child. A little girl who trusted him enough to let go of any worry or fear. Who trusted that he would make everything okay and all she had to do was close her eyes and go to sleep.
I’m not going to let her down, Lord. I’m not going to let either one of them down. Help me. Let us feel your presence. Keep these three people safe.
“Seth?” Laura’s voice was soft, and he thought he heard tears in it. He tightened his arms around Abby to stop himself from reaching out to Laura.
“Yeah?”
“I’m really glad you’re here. I thought I wanted to be all alone with Abby, but I was wrong. I was really wrong. A person isn’t meant to go through life isolated from others.”
Seth stopped walking and closed his eyes. This woman reached right inside him and just pierced his heart. The one he had tried so hard to turn to stone. It wasn’t stone. It was soft. And bleeding.
He opened his eyes and looked at her. “I’m glad I’m here, too, Laura.” It was the truth. And it was the very surface of all the things he felt swirling around inside his heart and mind. He just needed some time, preferably off this mountain and somewhere safe, to consider them. Understand what they meant.
They walked, then. And walked some more. It was the continuing theme of this journey so far. Seth figured they had to be getting close to something. To the bottom or to people or to something. Laura’s mountain was remote and covered a large area but it did not go down indefinitely. They had to be off it. He turned to ask Laura if she recognized where they were when Abby moved.
“Mama!” Abby lifted her head and reached out for her mom. Seth felt an intense sense of loss as Laura took the girl and she was no longer cradled against his chest.
“Hey there, pretty girl, did you have a nice nap?” Laura was murmuring into Abby’s ear, but Seth could hear every word. And he could sense the maternal love that Laura radiated when she was with her child.
Seth felt the burn before he heard the shot. The impact of the bullet knocked him off his feet. He heard Laura and Abby scream, but all he could see was the sky. It was blue again. The smoke was blowing up the mountain, and from right here it looked like a beautiful day.
Laura was kneeling over him, pushing down on his chest so hard that he groaned. Why was she hurting him? He moved his hands to where Laura’s were and felt something warm and wet. Blood. His blood.
“Laura. Run. You and Abby need to run.”
Her expression could only be described as horrified. “No. No, Seth.”
He grabbed her wrists. Pulled them away. “Go. The shooter will be coming. You have to save Abby.”
His vision was blurring, but he saw the tears rolling down her cheek. She looked at him with anguish in her eyes, regret tightening her mouth. She nodded. “Thank you. I’m so sorry.”
The she bent down and kissed him. It was the best thing he had ever felt. He wanted it to last forever.
No. She needed to run.
She lifted her lips and put her hand over her mouth. Seth turned his head and watched her pick up Abby and start to run.
The dark spots in his vision were dancing. Growing bigger. But he kept his eyes on Laura and Abby, willing them to run and run and run until they simply disappeared.
Laura made it twenty feet when a group of men stepped out of the trees right in front of her. She froze.
“Hello, Ms. Donovan. You’ve made this all much harder than it needed to be. Tried to ruin my plans. But you’ll be glad to know that I think I can salvage them.” The man standing in the middle spoke with a condescending tone. He wasn’t armed, but he didn’t need to be. The other men with him were armed enough for everyone.
Seth tried to yell, to distract them. To plead with them. To do...something. His words were a harsh whisper. They did nothing.
Seth watched the man walk up and put his hand on Laura’s cheek. Reach over and stroke Abby’s hair, even though Laura tried to jerk her daughter away from that touch.
Seth had messed up, and it was too late to fix it.
They should have risked riding the raft the rest of the way down.
Then black spots became all that there was.