Gone Away (12 page)

“Won’t they get farther away?”

“You took pictures; we can both give descriptions. I’ve got a plate number from at least one vehicle, and we know a name. They’ll be caught,” Mason said. “Most importantly they’ll think we won’t be able to catch them.”

“How does that help?”

Mason shrugged. “They won’t hide well. I think they’ve been getting away with this for a while. We’re not their first hunt. They’ll think we won’t be able to track them down.”

“Do you think they’re the reason people disappear around here?” Riece asked. “They are very confident they’ll kill us.” He glanced behind them again.

“Yeah.” Mason stopped and turned to face Riece. “I do. It hit me when they were talking. I was thinking the pit we fell into was for animals, but it was in such an odd spot. More of a place people would go for the scenery. Not where a bear or buck would go for food or shelter or water. I’m sort of hoping they’re overconfident. That’s when they’ll slip up, make a mistake. We have to make sure we don’t make a mistake.”

“They talked about coming here for a hunt,” Riece added.

Mason nodded. “And they’re prepared to hunt people. Think about it. Weapons that are tethered to them and their other weapons are concealed. No one who hunts birds or deer needs to do that. I have no idea if tying them to those other people will be possible, but we can certainly get them for what they’re doing now. Keep an eye out for somewhere we can hide for a bit.”

Riece couldn’t shake the feeling they were being watched. Mason was constantly stopping to examine tree branches or the ground. They walked for what must have been a few miles before he tapped Mason’s arm and pointed to a formation of rock. “Will that be somewhere we can dry off?”

“Yes, it will!” Mason veered to the right and jogged the short distance to the boulders.

He held one hand out, indicating for Riece to wait where he was. Riece watched as Mason prowled around the rocks. He stopped in a few places and stomped on the ground, and in a few other places bent to look at the spaces between the rocks or where they met the ground. After a minute he must have been satisfied the spot was safe because he waved Riece over.

There were probably a half dozen or so of the enormous boulders grouped together, remains from the last ice age and a glacier retreating north. Most of the rocks were at least as tall as Riece, and some towered over Mason and were three times as wide as either man. It was similar to other formations that dotted the area. Riece had seen several when they were closer to Devils Tower. This particular grouping was surrounded by tall pine trees. Pine needles, some brown and some green, were scattered over the ground surrounding the rocks.

Riece put one hand on the closest rock and let his fingertips brush over the smooth surface as he paced around it, bending to look underneath. Mason gripped his arm. “Don’t go under there. No way to really tell if these are stable.”

As they walked around, Riece saw that one point of the formation met with the densely packed stand of pine trees, forming a natural shelter.

Mason pointed out a spot. “It’ll be pretty hard for someone to sneak up on us here.” He settled on the ground and pulled his boots and socks off, spreading them on the rocks over his head. “I haven’t seen any evidence of them covering the same ground we just did, but that doesn’t mean one or more of them isn’t close by.”

Riece followed suit before he sat down and stretched his legs out, leaning against the rocks. He let his head tip back and took a few deep breaths, then let them out slowly, closing his eyes.

Mason’s hand on Riece’s leg made him straighten and open his eyes, turning his head. He smiled at Mason and yawned. “I guess this all of a sudden caught up with me.”

“It’s the adrenaline. Great when it shows up, a downer when it leaves.” Mason eased the pack he’d carried off his back, set it on the ground, and dug inside. He handed one of their canteens off to Riece. That was followed by a bag of trail mix. “We need to eat.”

Riece was hungry and thirsty and didn’t need any convincing. “I think there is jerky in there too,” he said and pulled the package from inside the pack. Ripping it open, he added, “There is some stuff in my camera bag too.”

Mason nodded and took the offered beef jerky. “Get some rest. After the sun goes down, we’ll head northwest and hopefully get to the rest of our supplies before continuing.”

“How far until we get back to that store where we started?”

Mason sighed and scratched at his knee. “We swung too far north to make going there feasible. My concern is they’ll stop trailing us and want to kill us before we get too much farther.”

Riece shivered and shifted closer to Mason, leaning against him. They repacked their meager supplies and sat quietly. Finally exhaustion and stress won out over Riece’s desire to stay awake. He rested his head on Mason’s shoulder and dropped off to sleep.

When Riece opened his eyes, the woods around them were dark. There was a sliver of a moon, and stars peeked between the wisps of clouds that streaked the blue-black sky. The pine trees had taken on an eerie, gray look, and Riece was sure Big Foot or something similar was about to push through the boughs. Beside him Mason stirred, mumbled, and straightened. Riece picked up the canteen, took a few sips, and nudged Mason’s side. “Might as well empty this one.”

Mason nodded, took the canteen, and drank. “We still have a purifier. There are plenty of small streams.”

“Should we go back to the river?”

Mason shook his head. “We’ll just be out of water by the time we get this far again. It shouldn’t be a problem.” He stood up and stretched, then held his hand out to Riece and hauled him to his feet. Pointing out a direction, Mason said, “This way.”

They took a few minutes to shake out and pull their socks and boots back on. Riece stood straight and rubbed his arms. “I’m going to be happy to have a sweatshirt.” He moved first one foot, then the other, up and down. While his socks and boots were mostly dry, they were still damp enough to make them uncomfortable. He didn’t like how moisture squished through his toes.

Mason yawned and nodded. “Me too.” He took hold of Riece’s arm and stepped close to the trees. “Let’s try to stay in these trees as long as possible.”

“Would you think less of me if I told you those trees are downright creepy?” Riece asked.

“Nope, because they are.” Mason gave Riece’s arm a squeeze before letting go and pushing his way into the trees.

It was easier to walk quietly on the pine needles coating the ground. They made a soft cushion that muffled noise, and when Riece looked behind them, it was difficult to see any footprints. Despite the darkness, Riece could see how they sprung back into place a few seconds after Mason’s boots pressed down and eased up with each of his steps. It was fascinating to try and count the seconds between depression and the needles returning to normal. Mason’s choice to travel through the trees made sense. Even if they were evil-looking, scary trees.

“Stay focused on getting somewhere safe,” Mason reminded him.

Riece licked his lips. His throat was dry, but not from thirst, and his stomach was at a constant low level of queasy. Those signs were normally what Riece experienced in unfamiliar social situations. There was nothing about this that was familiar.

The pine needles on the branches scratched Riece’s face and hands. That minor irritation was offset by the smell of pine that surrounded them. Riece liked the odor pine trees gave off. When they moved branches aside, they sprang back into place in near silence. Only a very slight whoosh of air as the branch bounced back into place. Riece massaged his jaw, trying to ease away the tension that was starting to give him a headache. At least that was a distraction from itchy feet in damp socks.

When they finally came to a section where the pines thinned, Riece saw places he recognized. He gripped Mason’s arm and stopped him. “Is our base camp over that hill?” Riece pointed to the right.

“You’re getting good at this.” Mason stopped and turned, rubbing Riece’s shoulder a few times.

He put one hand between Riece’s shoulder blades and pressed gently until Riece crouched on the ground. A second later Mason hunkered down beside him and put one finger to his lips. Staying close to the ground, Mason inched forward until he was just beyond the stand of trees. Riece watched intently as Mason looked one way, then the other. A minute later he swiveled on his heels and waved for Riece to move forward.

“Keep your eyes open,” Mason whispered. “Stay behind me.”

Riece nodded. He really had no intention of doing anything but sticking with Mason. They moved cautiously and quietly over the open, grassy hill. When they reached the top, Riece resisted the urge to jump up and shout for joy. He couldn’t see their camp, but he could see the bear bag, still hanging in the trees where they’d left it.

The sky was beginning to lighten, going from deep blue-black to a muddy gray. Riece followed closely on Mason’s heels, making sure he stayed close enough to grab Mason if needed.

“Let’s get the bear bag,” Mason said. When they reached the bottom of the hill, Mason broke into a run.

Riece ran two steps behind Mason. He skirted around the base of the tree and waited for Mason to release the rope allowing the bear bag to fall. Mason nodded at him and yanked on the slip tie to the rope. Riece held up both hands and hoped he’d catch the thing, not get knocked out by it. He looked around and shivered. The hair at the back of his neck rose. At the same time the bag began to fall, there was a snapping sound and the loud whistle of something being flung through the air.

“Shit!” Riece tried to warn Mason, but it was too late.

MASON HEARD
Riece’s garbled cry at almost the same time he heard an odd cracking noise reverberate through the air. Nets strung between at least a dozen trees in either direction flung up, creating a barrier. The bag dropped. Riece tried to catch it, but it knocked him backward on his ass. The tops of the nets were several feet above Mason’s head and were between Riece and him. They were cut off from each another.

Riece scrambled to his feet and stood staring at the net. Then his gaze shifted to meet Mason’s. He shook his head ever so slightly. Mason clamped his fingers into tight fists for a moment to stop their shaking. Sweat trickled down his spine. Riece’s expression was closed off. He’d shut down. Mason had another reaction: he got pissed.

Riece was no more than five feet from him. Alone and unprotected.

Their base camp had been found. It made sense to Mason now why they’d only seen two or three of the hunters. The other bastards must’ve spent the day before getting the nets laid and covered with dirt and leaves. Another trap. This one spanned enough distance that running around would be problematic. Their positioning was planned to purposely separate them. Mason had to consider the fact they’d been stalked since leaving base camp.

Mason backed up as far as possible and got a running start. He shouted, throwing himself at the net. The tricky thing about scaling nets was that they were strong enough not to snap under the weight of a man, but shifted and bent if you tried to climb them. The spacing between the nylon strands woven to create the net weren’t large enough to get a good foothold. It was more like climbing a rope.

He jumped high enough to get a good start. The sounds of footsteps through the woods and hushed voices spurred him faster. They weren’t hiding the fact they were there, at least not from Mason. Riece probably wouldn’t tune into those noises until it was too late.

“Riece, run!” Mason ordered. He kept his voice as low as possible, but it likely wouldn’t really matter.

Riece rolled to the side and grabbed the bag’s strap. At the same time, he began to shove off the ground. A bolt whizzed through the air, hitting the ground inches from Riece. He stared at it wide-eyed for a few seconds before stumbling forward. Mason reached the top of the net. He grabbed the wire across the top and flung himself over. Not bothering to try to climb down, Mason hung from the top for a second before letting go and dropping to the ground.

A bolt hit the tree right in front of Mason. Both shots were very near misses. Riece was a big target, Mason an even bigger target, yet neither shot hit them. He had a hard time believing these guys had such bad aim, which meant they were missing on purpose. The only reason he could come up with was that Riece and he were being driven in the direction the hunters wanted them to go.

Right now Mason saw no other choice than to run in the single direction open to them. He’d think about why later. It took Mason a second after he landed to regain his balance and charge at Riece. Barely slowing down, he grabbed Riece’s arm with one hand, the bag with the other, and took his own advice and ran. Three more bolts hit the ground near their feet.

The thunk of additional bolts hitting the trees reverberated in Mason’s ears. They sprinted away from the campsite, heading generally back the way they’d come. As soon as it was possible, Mason veered farther northwest. They could travel downhill first and gain ground. Eventually they’d need to go uphill, but hopefully they’d be farther away from their pursuers.

At the bottom of the hill, the trees thinned out in one direction and remained constant in the other. When Mason tried running for the cover of the thicker trees, he heard a gunshot. Riece yelped and stumbled. A crossbow bolt careened by, coming far too close to Mason’s head for comfort. He slid to the ground, taking Riece with him.

Mason rolled so he could see the trail behind them and took Riece by the shoulders. “Were you hit?”

“I-I d-don’t know. I think so.” Riece held out one arm and turned it so they could both see. “I felt a nasty sting. Like the biggest bee ever.”

A gash ran along the inside of Riece’s upper arm. It wasn’t deep or life threatening, but Mason figured it had to hurt like hell. Red oozed from the wound and trickled in a path along the muscle grooves of Riece’s arm.

“C’mon.” Mason stood and yanked Riece after him. “We have to find somewhere and take care of this.” The position of Riece’s wound sent cold spikes through Mason’s chest.