Out of Place (8 page)

Chapter 13

Emily
felt the tickle in her nose and sneezed. Her neck popped and crunched from having slept at an impossible angle. The sun was creaking up over the edge of the horizon. The sky was a thick purple. She looked to her left and Zack was asleep, too. At first, she didn’t realize the significance of this, but this was supposed to be his shift to stay awake, clearly no one was watching.

“Hey
.” She touched his shoulder. “You fell asleep.”

He sat up quickly and got to
his feet. “Crap, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” Scanning the trail, he said, “You didn’t hear anything, did you?”

“I would have been a little more urgent if I had.”

He nodded. “Good point. Dammit, I’m so sorry.”

Emily stretched.
“It’s okay.”

“I was awake most of the
time. I couldn’t have slept for long. How could I have been so careless?”

“Hey, don’t worry. We’re okay.”

He looked up to the sky. “We have to go.”

Tracking up the trail, Emily was starting to feel the hunger pangs hit hard. She could feel her energy draining much faster than it should. Usually
, this time of morning was when she hit the road for her run, but that was after her morning breakfast smoothie. She was starting to lag behind.

Zack
stopped and waited a few seconds for her to catch up. “You okay?”

She nodded. “I’m just
hungry and dehydrated.”

“Me too
, but a couple more hours and we’ll be at the ranger station. I know there’s fresh water there.” Zack reached into his pocket. “Oh, yeah, I forgot about these.” He pulled out a small bag of almonds. “It’s all I have, but here you go.”

She took hold of the bag and poured a small handful into her mouth. “Thank you.”

Zack poured the rest into his mouth and crumpled the empty bag back into his pocket.

“I love almonds
,” she said. “I can’t believe it. No one ever buys the raw ones like this.”

“I know. I like them in the raw
, too. Sometimes I’ll roast them myself in the toaster oven.”

Emily nodded
and dug deep to push herself as the grade of the hill increased. The fact that they hadn’t seen Harry was encouraging. Maybe he would just give up and go back home or on the run somewhere.

They finally crested the hill and it leveled out a bit. It was a welcome
change to be on level ground. Her thighs were starting to get sore from going up hill for so long without rest. The almonds picked her up, but she needed some water.

Just as the relief
of the flat ground hit her, her left leg cramped up wickedly. “Oww—hold up.”

Zack
turned. “What’s wrong?”

“My leg, it’s cramping really bad.” The pain spread from the front of her leg to the back. Her hamstring was locking up. “Oh,
muther-trucker that hurts.”

“It’s the dehydration. Where is it?”

She turned her body, hopping on her right leg. “My left hamstring, oh it’s bad.”

“Okay, let me try and massage it out.”

He took hold of her thigh and started working his hands into the back of her leg. It hurt at first
,
but after a few seconds, it was working. It was starting to feel good, very good. She felt a little flush hit her face at the idea of this strange guy rubbing her leg. Okay, so he was a cute guy, but she still didn’t really know him. He had nice almond eyes and shaggy brown hair. But his smile was the clincher for her. There was no denying that he had the cutest little smile she’d ever seen.

“Your legs are really muscular.” He kept working the muscle.

“Okay, you got it.” He got it a while ago, but she didn’t tell him to stop right away. “Thanks, you’re really good at that.”

“No problem, I took a class on exercise physiology.
You have strong legs. Are you an athlete?”

They started back up the trail. “Yeah.”

“What do you play?”

“Everything
and anything, but I play lacrosse and hockey mostly.”

“Field hockey?”

“Ice hockey.”

“
Get out! No kidding? Wow, a hockey chick, that’s so cool. I played at Princeton all four years, maybe when we get out of here we can slap it around sometime.” He grinned.

She rolled her eyes at his
goofy, possibly—but not likely—unintentional innuendo. “I’m going to Yale. I don’t know if I’ll make the team, but I’m going to try. I’m actually probably better at lacrosse, but I like hockey a lot better.”

“
Ivy league hockey? Wow, impressive, beautiful and smart. You might be my long-lost sister.” He flashed that smile.

She
really liked that smile—geez, it was killing her. The fact he was an Ivy League hockey player was just about the coolest thing ever. That part about her being a sister kinda bothered her. Not that it was a bad thing, just somewhat disappointing. After all, she was a girl, he was a guy; not that she was crushing on him or anything, but she liked to be desired, all girls did. It made her feel good. No girl ever wants a cute guy to think of her as his kid sister, but clearly that’s where he’d put her on the scale of desirability.

They came to an open area with a large pond, or a small lake
. Whatever. She didn’t claim to know the difference. The water looked so fresh she just wanted to drink it up.

Zack
looked back as she slowed to admire the view. “You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m just so thirsty, and that lake looks so crisp.”

He looked up to the sky. “We probably have another hour. Do you think you can make it?”

Emily took a
deep breath. “I think so. But don’t hold out on me if we come across the source for Poland Spring or something.”

“
Poland Spring is in Maine.”

“I was joking.”

“I know. But for the record.”

She rolled her eyes.
“Oh no, you’re not one of those useless facts kind of people, are you?”

“
Totally. I am a virtual wasteland of useless information.”

A little laugh escaped her
. “It must be useful sometimes.”

“I suppose.
It sometimes comes in handy picking up chicks.”

“I can’t imagine that.”

“You’d be surprised. Sometimes college girls are impressed with brains.”

“I guess that’s one difference between high school and college.
Most of my friends would rather date a hot moron.”

“
I’m not sure guys ever stop wanting to date a hot moron.”

They came to another steep hill.
Zack stopped and looked up. “This is the last climb, if my memory serves correct. And I’m just going by the trail map app we were using.”

“How far is it?”

“It’s about two miles total, but we have to get up this seven hundred foot hill here.”

“It looks pretty steep.”

He looked at her. “Are you ready?”

Emily nodded and they took up the trail. The rocks were loose
and it made tracking hard. Her feet kept slipping out from under her. As they reached about the middle of the hill, she was practically walking on all fours to counteract the slope.

The steepness kept increasing until it was
hard to move up at all without slipping. She grunted. “Is this actually a trail?”

“
I guess the definition is used pretty loosely here.”

Emily carefully placed each foot,
trying not to slip. A tumble back down the hill would be painful. She dug the toe of her Reeboks into the edge of a big rock and thrust herself up, but the rock gave way and she nearly fell. She was able to catch her momentum with her hand.

“Stable?”

“Yeah, I got it.” She would kill for a set of hiking boots right about now.

“Here,”
Zack reached back his hand.

She took hold and he helped her get up the hump without slipping.
The steepest part was over and she was able to stand upright again. The trail turned left, and then right, and she could see daylight. They’d reached the top.

“There it is
,” Zack pointed off into the distance.

The ranger station looked wonderful just sitting there on the top of a small rise overlooking a huge valley.
“Awesome,” Emily said. “I don’t think I could have made it much more without something to drink.”

Chapter 14

Zack
saw the water fountain and breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been putting up a good front, but he was about to drop. He pointed to the fountain and said to Emily, “Let the water run for thirty seconds before you drink it.”

She pushed the button and the water flowed.
After waiting, she plunged her face into the stream and drank long. Emily stood and stepped back. “That’s good stuff.”

Zack
went over and drank his fill. When finished, he took out his phone and checked for a signal. There was a weak one. He tried to call 9-1-1, got a connection, but the call dropped almost immediately. Trying a couple more times only produced the same result. “I can’t get anything. There should be a security phone inside.”

They went
up the tall open-back steps to the brown and white wooden structure and stepped inside. It was unoccupied, which was not a shock. The ranger on duty could be on patrol. There was a small desk on one side under a window. At the head of the cabin were three stairs leading to a platform in front of a wide window that overlooked the entire valley. A massive pair of binoculars sat on a tripod.

Zack
saw the red phone over on the wall. He picked it up, but there was no dial tone at all. He pressed the connection button, but the phone didn’t seem to be working in the slightest. Even the power button failed to light. It was weird because these satellite phones usually operated no matter what. They cost about five dollars a minute to use, but they usually worked.

Looking at this cell, he saw the single signal bar flick
ering. He tried again to place a call. But the connection still failed. Next, he tried a text, knowing they didn’t need as much bandwidth or connection integrity. Moving his fingers over the keyboard, he sent the text and waited. It failed. He pressed the retry button again. It failed. “Dammit.”

H
e went over to the radio. It was on. That was strange, too, because the ranger would usually turn that off if he was on patrol, to save electricity. These stations were mostly solar powered, but they did have backup battery power and an emergency diesel generator.

Zack
switched it to the emergency channel. “Mayday-mayday, we’re at the Eagle Point Ranger Station, the phones are out and we need help. An armed man has killed three campers at Vestal Lake.” Zack repeated the entire message three times, hoping that someone was listening. He got no reply and hung up the radio, but left the connection open.

“Is anyone hearing that?” Emily asked.

“I hope so. Maybe I’ll try again in a few minutes.” He looked at his phone one more time, but it was still not picking up a signal. He hit the retry button on that text again. It didn’t say it failed, but it didn’t say it went through, either. The battery was only at thirty percent.

Zack
went over to the closet and took inventory of the supplies. There wasn’t a lot there, but they helped themselves to some peanut butter Cliff’s Bars. He looked inside the maintenance closet on the opposite side of the room, hoping to find a flare gun or something. But surprisingly, there was nothing. “Huh,” he said mostly to himself. “I can’t believe there’s no flare gun.”

He went over to the bathroom, opened the door. It was a typically tiny room with a standup shower. Nothing was out of place until he saw something on the floor
. It looked like blood.

With a hard swallow,
Zack pulled back the curtain. The ranger was crumpled on the floor, riddled with bullet holes. A bolt of panic struck his spine and sent him rigid. Shaking it off, he slowly exited the room.

Emily must’ve seen the fear in his eyes. “What’s wrong? What’s in there?”

Zack met her eyes. “The ranger.”

She
raised her hands to her mouth. “No.”

“He’s been shot.
”

“Oh God.”

Zack shook his head. “He couldn’t have passed us on the trail.”

“We were sleeping.”

“Still, he had to take another route here. He must’ve driven or something.” Zack again cursed himself for falling asleep. “We have to get out of here. I know I can get phone reception at Samson Peak, I had it specifically marked on the trail as the place I get reception.”

“How far is that?”

“It’s another several hours. We won’t make it before night.” He really didn’t want to spend another night out here in this. They’d found a good spot last time, but there was no guarantee they’d find another.

Emily’s face couldn’t hide her emotions. “We’ll never make it
. He’s probably watching us right now. I don’t understand how we missed him.”

“He’s probably wondering the same thing. But now he knows we weren’t here. I’m sure he asked the ranger. Our only hope is that another couple was here or
something and the ranger misled him.”

She nodded.
“Or maybe the ranger was smart enough to intentionally mislead him.”

Zack
raised his chin. It was a glimmer of hope. But either way they had to get out of here. He saw a green backpack and grabbed it. “C’mon, start gathering supplies.” He went over to the closet, took a fistful of Cliff’s Bars and dropped them into the empty sack. He took two shoulder strap canteens off the wall and tossed them to Emily. “Here, fill these up in the bathroom. But let the water run.”

After gathering whatever he could find and fit into the pack, being smart not to make it too heavy, they headed out. He carried the pack and Emily carried both canteens strapped in an X over her
chest. Stopping at the door, he surveyed the land, looking for where Harry could be hiding. Several spots along the ridgeline, above the valley, that looked like they would be the perfect spot.

“
We should run. We need to run. Do you think you can run?”

She
looked at him like he was crazy. “Of course I can.”

“When I say run, I mean wide open, all you’ve got.”

She rubbed her palms together. “Let’s do this.”

With a
shared nod, they took off sprinting as fast as they could. Zack was impressed at how quick she was. He was a fast runner, but she could pace him step-for-step.

They were out in the wide open of a valley with two tall hills on either side. It was not a good place to be
, and when the zing noise reached his ears and the ground burst up in loud thumps at his feet, he realized they were being shot at.

Instinctively
, Zack started to zig and zag in arcs. The shots were coming from their left. He heard Emily’s steps behind him and he thought about slowing down to shield her, but then she ran up and shielded him.

“What’re you doing?”
he said.

“Blocking you.”

“You’re going to get killed. Let him have his shot, if he gets me, just keep running.”

“He doesn’t want to kill me. He’s infatuated with me.”

“He was. That was before you escaped him.”

Zack
bolted ahead of her, pushing his legs to the limits.

“No
, you don’t!” she yelled but he wasn’t slowing. He could hear her grunting with everything she had, trying to close the gap on him and she was getting damn close.

Zack
waited for the impact, hoping it would never come, but prepared for the pain nonetheless. But as they reached the safety of the trees, he realized they’d gotten past the danger zone.

They slowed to a brisk walk as they got into the thick trees. “I think we’re clear for now
,” he said.

Emily’s breath caught up
after a few deep breaths. “Now what?”

“We get to
Samson Peak and hope my phone has some battery.”

Emily swung one of the canteens to the front and took a small sip.

“Conserve that as much as we can.”

Emily nodded and capped the container. “Relax, I just needed a sip.”

“Just making sure.”

“I know
. I’m not an idiot.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

She sighed. “Sorry I’m so snappy. I’m not usually like this.”

Zack
stopped and faced her. “Thanks.”

She pursed her lips.
“For what?”

“What you did back there
. That was really brave; stupid, but brave. Thank you, but please don’t do it again.”

“You’re welcome…I think.”

They continued along the path that started growing more rutted and rocky. But they kept up the brisk pace to put as much distance as they could between them and the psycho hunting them.

***

After a long, high-paced stretch, they came to a small brook and stopped at some long flat rocks on the banks. They didn’t want to, but they had to rest.

“How far
away do you think he was when he shot at us?” Emily asked.

Zack
sat on the rocks. “I’m not sure. We may’ve gotten lucky for the last time.”

“Don’t think that way.”

“I’m trying not to.”

She sat beside him. “What do we do i
f you can’t get a phone signal?”

Zack
looked at her. That face was hard to lie to, but he didn’t want to dash her hopes. He was already hiding one huge secret from her. He didn’t want to build on that. “I’m not sure what we’ll do.”

“We’re young and fast, there’s no reason we can’t stay ahead of him. Right?”

He nodded. “You’re right.” In the distance, Zack heard the distinct growl of an off-road vehicle. “You hear that?”

Emily nodded. “Is that a tractor?”

“No, that’s an ATV.” Zack stood excitedly. “That’s our ticket out of here.”