Shenandoah (5 page)

“Jocelyn, how much longer will it be?” asked Wynd.

“At our current rate of travel, it will be approximately noon tomorrow before we are in range of the crash site,” said Jocelyn.

Wynd groaned, lay back in the seat, and tried to rest as much as possible.  She didn’t know how bad it was going to be when she got there but she wanted to be rested because she had a feeling she was going to be travelling by foot for quite some distance.

It was rough travelling through the rest of the day and night.  They made it quicker than anticipated.  Around nine o’clock the next morning they made it to the edge of the Shenandoah National Park.  Although there had been a few more roads added over the past century, not much had changed in the Park.  Wynd knew that with the Park being so densely wooded, it was going to be hard to get close to the crash site. 

“Wynd, there is a helmet in the compartment between the seats.  You will need to put that on.  Travel from here on in will be extremely treacherous,” said Jocelyn.

Wynd put the helmet on and the SAV shot forward again.  Wynd didn’t know how many times she was tossed around in her harness.  The travel was a constant twisting, turning, climbing and going over small trees and brush as Jocelyn drove the SAV with a wild abandon to try and reach their location.  Although Jocelyn’s calculations were near to perfect, several times they had to stop and go another direction.  Wynd could tell that they were slowly ascending the mountain.  They crested a small rise and Jocelyn slid the SAV to a stop right at the bank of a raging mountain stream.

Chapter 14

“This is as close as I can get the SAV without taking two extra days to try it from another direction.  Besides in approximately one hundred yards the signal from me to the SAV will be jammed.  I have scanned and scanned the area and still have not found the source of the jamming,” said Jocelyn.

“How far are we from the crash site?” asked Wynd.

“Based on my calculations, you are approximately four miles from the crash,” said Jocelyn. “Just maintain a northerly direction and you should be able to find it.”

Generally most people wouldn’t consider a four mile hike very bad but Wynd knew it was going to be a rough trip.  She would have to travel over a smaller hill and down into a canyon and then start her final ascent.  She eyed the stream in front of her, and hoped she would be able to cross the stream without falling in.  The snow and ice just added to her chances of failure.  She slowly raised her protective sunglasses and then looked up the side of the mountain she was about to ascend.  She kept reminding herself that Marcus was up there alone and probably hurting.  She steeled herself, donned her gloves, tightened her boots, grabbed her rifle, and prepared to step out in the snow.

Before she could leave, Jocelyn spoke up.

“Wynd if you will open the front passenger compartment, you will find a one hundred terabyte flash drive.  I have loaded a skeleton version of my operating system on to the drive.  There are several stations located in the Park that have computer terminals.  If you find one, you can load the drive and this may give me a chance to diagnose and possibly circumvent the jamming,” said Jocelyn.  “Please be careful.”

“Thanks Jocelyn.  I will,” said Wynd as she retrieved the drive and stepped out into the snow.  The snow was coming down even harder and the wind was bitter cold.  She had to go upstream several hundred yards before she found an area suitable for her to cross.  She almost fell twice before jumping across the last bit of the stream and falling into the snow.  She breathed a sigh of relief before she got up and continued her trek.

She had probably travelled about two miles over several hills and into the canyon when she came to a slightly larger stream than the one she had crossed earlier.  The stream was at the bottom of the canyon she was crossing.  She was so intent looking downstream that she didn’t pay attention to her surroundings.  As she turned to look upstream, there standing on the bank of the stream not fifty yards away was an enormous tyrannosaurus-rex.  With a tremendous roar, it turned and started running her way.

Chapter 15

John still didn’t know where the feeling came from but he knew that he needed to be off the side of the mountain.  His feeling was getting stronger and he picked up speed as he raced through the snow, sliding as he descended.  He was nearing the end of the steeper descent when he heard the roar of a tyrannosaurus rex.  It was further down and to his left.  He picked up speed and he could tell that the beast was coming his way.  He slid the last twenty-five yards to the edge of the stream that was at the bottom of the canyon located on the side of the larger mountain.  As he slid to a stop he looked upstream.  Running down the side of the stream was a young lady carrying a rifle.  She was fast but not fast enough.  Several yards away and gaining ground was the same t-rex he had remembered from the crash.  Its coloration couldn’t be denied. 

The young lady was jumping from rock to rock trying to stay on the path but with the snow and ice, it was difficult.  Luckily, the dense forest was slowing the big t-rex down.  It was having a rough time navigating several fallen trees but it was still gaining.  He started waving and yelling at her.  She looked up and he saw the shock in her face.  She was still twenty-five yards from him.  As soon as she saw him she went down.  She had stepped in a hole, twisted her ankle, and fell among the rocks.  The large rocks next to the stream hid her from view when she fell.  The monstrous tyrannosaur was still coming. 

John ran toward the beast.  He started waving his hands and yelling.  His ploy worked and the tyrannosaur changed his attention to him.  The t-rex ran by where the girl fell and was gaining momentum.  John took off at a dead run, racing downstream.  The ground had leveled out which really helped John as he ran through the snow.  The bad thing about it was that it also helped the t-rex and it started gaining ground faster.

John was trying to decide whether to try and cut into the forest when he realized that he could hear waterfalls ahead.  John looked back and realized that he didn’t have a second to spare. The t-rex was almost on him.  Without hesitation he pushed himself to the limit and jumped over the top of the falls.

Chapter 16

Racing toward the edge of the falls, John ran the last twenty feet across a huge flat rock. As he ran the length of the rock, he jumped with everything he had, stretching his arms out as far as they would go.  It was over seventy feet to the bottom of the falls, but to the right of the falls about twenty five feet out and ten feet down, was a huge tree laying out above the waterfalls.  John arced above the falls and crashed into the upper part of the tree in the middle of its branches. As soon as he hit, he grabbed for anything he could hold on to.  He locked onto several of the limbs and held on.

The big tyrannosaur was so intent on getting John it didn’t see the edge of the falls.  The monster realized it too late and tried to stop.  Its giant feet slipped on the snow and ice as it tried to halt its momentum.  The legs slipped out from under the beast and it went down hard, sliding across the slick rock.  It continued to slide toward the edge of the falls.  At the edge of the falls, the arm of the t-rex wedged into a crevice and stuck.  The small arm of a nine ton tyrannosaurus is not going to stop a monster that big once it has gathered momentum.  The arm was ripped from the shoulder of the t-rex as it plummeted over the top of the falls. Blood was shooting from the shoulder as the monster crashed down the face of the falls. It was a straight drop for the first forty feet of the waterfalls.  The last thirty-five to forty feet of the falls cascaded into a small pool at the bottom. The stream continued from there down into the canyon.

John assumed that as large as the tyrannosaur was and the way the falls cascaded at the bottom was the only reason the dinosaur survived.  He watched it go over, plummet to the bottom, and finally crash into the small pool.  As John held on to the treetop he was in, he watched the dinosaur below.  It was dazed at first and took a few seconds to start moving.  Wobbly, it finally stood to its feet.  Blood was streaming out the hole where the arm was ripped out.  Warily, it took a couple of steps then it raised its head and looked directly up at John.  It opened its giant maw and thundered one of the loudest roars he had ever heard.  John could tell that the beast was angry.  Finally it turned and started walking down the canyon.  Blood was everywhere in the snow.  It looked like a lot of blood but John still assumed that the creature would survive.

Chapter 17

As the dinosaur walked out of sight, John focused his attention on getting out of the tree he was in.  The tree looked like it had been blown over in a storm which bode well for John.  It wasn’t that old and the tree hadn’t begun to deteriorate very much yet.  Holding onto the bigger branches, he wormed his way closer to the trunk.  As he was finally able to grasp the trunk, he breathed a sigh of relief.  The relief only lasted a second because as he started to move along the trunk of the tree it shifted.  John looked further down the trunk and realized that it was laying in the “y” of a smaller tree.  This was the only thing holding it up and John could see that it was breaking.  His weight was speeding up the process.  He tried moving forward again and it shifted again. 

John knew that it was only a matter of seconds before the smaller tree would break.  As deftly as he could he got to his feet, worked his way around the last limb, and started running down the length of the trunk.  As he raced down the trunk, it shifted again and John almost fell.   He righted himself and sprinted down the trunk. When he was within ten feet of the end, he launched himself into the air and stretched out as far as he could.  As he leaped the small tree broke and the tree it was holding back flipped over the edge.  It crashed to the bottom of the falls in a heap amongst the deepening snow.  John landed just on the edge of the cliff and his legs were hanging over the edge.  He started to slip backwards in the snow but was able to grab a small sapling nearby and pull himself up. 

The snow was coming down harder as he made his way up the hill.   There was a game trail up ahead and John followed it back to the top of the falls.  He didn’t see the girl anywhere.  John thought she would be at least visible when he made it back.  When he didn’t see her, he quickened his step and rushed back to where she had fallen.  She was there wedged in between two huge boulders and not moving.  She already had a light coating of snow covering her.  She had beautiful red hair that reminded him of the girl in the dream he had.  He moved her arm a little and she didn’t respond.  She was breathing so he knew she was alive.  He turned her head and noticed a nice sized knot on her head.  She must have hit it when she fell.  It took him a minute to get her out of the crack she was in.  He tried to wake her again and was unsuccessful.  Although she was dressed warmly, she was starting to get cold.  He needed to get her to the tree house.  He dreaded the trek up the mountain.  It was going to be a tough climb carrying her in the deepening snow and dense forest.

He picked her up carefully and gently laid her over his shoulder.  He began the ascent back up the mountain.  Hopefully they wouldn’t run into any more dinosaurs on the way back.  John fell down several times as they trudged up the side of the mountain.  Although she wasn’t heavy, carrying her was taking a toll on John.  His back was aching and his strength was rapidly fading.  It took over three hours to reach the top.  John dropped to his knees exhausted and held her in his arms while he rested.  She was beautiful and there was something else about her.  He just couldn’t pinpoint it.  Finally rested, he didn’t put her over his shoulder this time.  He carried her in his arms. 

Relief washed over him as he stood on a hill, looked over the tops of the trees, and saw the house. Seeing the house strengthened him to continue on.  It took another forty-five minutes to reach it.  Carefully he made his way up the steps, into the house, and onto the bed.  Quickly he took off her outer clothes that were covered in snow and stripped her down to the compression thermals that she was wearing.  He looked at her right ankle.  It was black and blue and swollen.  She may have broken her ankle.  He drew back the blankets, arranged the pillows, situated her in the bed, and then covered her in blankets.  Through all of this she didn’t come to.   John was getting worried.  Periodically he would take bags of ice, wrap them in a towel, and apply to her head and ankle.

It was getting late in the day so John cooked supper.  He was ravenous.  He hadn’t eaten since that morning.  As he was finishing his supper the sun was going down and the girl still hadn’t awakened.  He made some coffee and sat down in a large recliner to watch the sunset.  Of course there wasn’t much to see.  The overcast skies and snow obscured most of the sunset.  John never finished his coffee.  He was sound asleep before he had drunk half the cup. 

Chapter 18

The snow just kept coming and Kim was gradually growing angrier and angrier.  She couldn’t believe that Wynd had taken off on her own.  Then to make matters worse, she had initiated a code of silence on Jocelyn.  Kim had gotten up in the middle of the night and tried to find her. Kim had gotten everyone else up and they couldn’t figure anything out until the next morning.

After finding out what Wynd had done to be able to travel, Kim had instructed Jocelyn to do the same for her and David.  They were now in a waiting game until a SAV could be delivered.  Instead of travelling to Chattanooga, Jocelyn would be driving the SAV to the cabin and they would leave from there.  Kim felt guilty over what had happened.  She should have been with Wynd.  She had been too cautious. 

Although she resisted, Kim and David had put Virginia in charge of everything.  They felt that she was the most logical choice.  She was smart, mature, and had managed people when she was a chef.  The rest of the group thought she was the obvious choice too.  Kim smiled thinking about the group that was living here.  The rookies in the group, Bob and Deanna, were fitting in nicely.  Bob could fix about anything.  He had been a professional carpenter.  Right away, he started working on fixing all the little repairs that were needed at Haven.  He adopted Luke as his apprentice and Bob taught Luke everything he could about carpentry.  Deanna really enjoyed cooking so Virginia took her under her wing.  Virginia said she was a natural and Kim knew if they didn’t start exercising more, the whole group would get fat. Connor had become friends with Rom and Savannah and was turning into a computer geek.  They spent all their spare time gaming when they weren’t doing their chores.