Page 20 of Bear With Me
A dozen or so of the results are from larger animals. A couple of bears, some cougars and then there are a few news reports that make me pause, put down my coffee, and sit up a little straighter in my chair. The unidentified attacks left the victims nearly eviscerated by claw and bite marks from an unnamed animal. I flash back to the blood-soaked dirt and horribly mangled body and the coffee sours in my stomach.
After a few moments, I manage to calm my queasy stomach and put together a list of the reports and references for Leroy. I hope he has second thoughts about sending me out there when he reads them. Wanting to be thorough—and to satiate a bit of my curiosity—I expand the search to the neighboring county. It turns up more of the small animal attacks, and I’m shocked to find nearly double that of the large, unidentified animal attack claims.
How many things are in that forest, exactly? Or maybe I should be askingwhatis in that forest?
Rain follows me across town, and by the time I make it to Swift River, it’s coming down with a vengeance. Thunder crashes and electricity zips across my skin. The scent of metal carries on the rushing wind and goosebumps rise on my exposed flesh.
I may be overreacting, but after recounting the list of vicious things ready to attack me at any moment, I don’t want to go into the forest unarmed. Plus, Sam’s warnings are playing in the back of my head about a madman being loose. After a quick search through the truck, I come up with the tire iron. Not much it will do against a mountain lion or some shit, but at least it is something.
I carry it in my right hand, my left grips an increasingly unsteady umbrella. The canopy of trees protects me for the most part and I can only hope that the scene hasn’t been completely washed away yet. Leroy has it out for me as it is, the last thing he needs is a reason to get rid of me.
I see another cluster of rocks and I catch myself before I can smile. Unbidden, the memory of the first time I met Declan plays across my mind.“I’m sorry to put you through this, Sullivan. It won’t happen again.”He is right about that. Maybe it would have been better if we’d never met.
By the time I make it to the area marked off by police tape, I’m over the wind and rain and edgy feeling I always get now when I’m in the forest alone. I hope Leroy sees the rain and gloom as contributing to the atmosphere instead of a shoddy job on my part.
A few minutes later, I’m powering down the camera when I hear the tornado sirens sound in the distance.
I whirl and lose grip on the tire iron, it bounces off a tree and ricochets in the distance, obscured by the rain and encroaching darkness.Fuck. Despite the rain drenching my best gray slacks and certainly rendering my white shirt see-through, my mouth runs dry at the thought of not making it to shelter before the tornado hits. God, what the hell was I thinking?
I remember Declan’s cabin is somewhere around here and turn in the direction I hope it’s in and run.
The low heels I’m wearing don’t serve my purpose well and within a few seconds I’ve managed to twist my ankle. I don’t know how long I manage to limp through the forest. Long enough that my shoes become a distant memory. Long enough that my feet are cracked and bloodied. For the first time since I started my mad dash through the woods, I feel the tendrils of fear snake through my chest.
The sweet refuge of the Indiana woodland I’d enjoyed with Declan no longer seemed tranquil and relaxing. The sound of the rustling leaves and the distant crack of lightning in the distance are no longer the marks of a warm summer night. Instead they are the crunch of destruction heading my way. Fingers of felled tree branches scrape at the skin of my bare arms and grasp at my button up shirt. My toes catch in the soft clay of the forest floor. The tender soles of my feet power through endless pine needles and cones, but I’m too overwhelmed to care.
Every movement in the darkness around me causes my heart to stutter in my chest. Even the soft whisper of wind carries the threat of death.
Rivulets of rain cause my clothes to slick to my skin. Adrenaline too alternates between flashes of intense heat and nausea and stomach-dropping hollowness. I begin to grow incredibly drowsy and short of breath. My chest aches with the need for oxygen and my arms grow heavy. My injured feet drag on the ground and I lose my footing on more than one occasion.
Chilled air whips around me with renewed vengeance. It roves through the darkness rustling branches and swirling leaves, a harrowing and empty symphony of dread.
A scream ripped straight from my nightmares echoes through the corpses of trees and brings me to a screeching halt. The same one that I heard in the memory the day I discovered that poor girl’s body.
I whip around in all directions thinking maybe there’s someone like me trapped in the woods. It sounded like a woman’s voice.
I strain my ears over the sound of the howling wind for another sign. My heartbeat thuds too loudly and my lungs heave for breath. I can’t hear anything. A few seconds pass and I chalk the sound up to an animal in distress, so I press on, my exhaustion having caught up with me in the few moments of pause.
A few yards more and I manage to find a trail. I’m not certain where it leads, but anywhere would be an immeasurable blessing at this point. If I’m lucky, it’ll be the trail leading to the tourist center. If I’m not, well…I brush that thought from my mind.
I hear a loudsnapof a branch near me and I whirl around, blood rushing to my head. My eyes strain into the distance, trying to detect abnormal movements in the shadows. The only thing I can see are trees and more trees, all of them bending wildly in the wind.
I take a few steps, my feet now completely numb, when I hear the scream again. This time from right behind me. I turn to investigate and see a shadow weaving through the trees.
The hairs on my nape rise and tingle. This isn’t a person in trouble, my gut tells me. This isn’t someone who needs my help. Rather than stay to find out, I run like hell in the other direction.
As I run, the screams start up again, only this time I can hear them coming from every direction simultaneously. Over the sound of my heart and breaths and feet slamming on the ground, I can hear the telltale sounds of someone—or something—in pursuit. I remember the reports of hikers being mauled and I pray that I won’t become one of them. The face of the girl laying in the weeds haunts me.
I want to cry, I want to scream, I want to be somewhere,anywhereelse. Screams echo in my head, obliterating the sound of everything else. Whatever is out there is taunting me, enjoying the thrill of my fear.
My weak ankle catches on a branch and I face-plant into a puddle of brackish water. The voices come to a stop and I scramble on my knees to hide behind the fat trunk of a tree. Maybe I’m going fucking crazy. Maybe losing my parents was too much.
As the crunching sound of feet approaches, I almost hope it’s the tornado coming to take me out of this hell-hole.
chapter nine
DECLAN
I’d been avoiding her because I knew exactly how I would react if I was alone with her again. Hell, we were separated by what essentially amounts to an entire building and I can still smell the perfume on her skin. I can hear her heart skip a beat when she notices I am staring at her and damn the responding thud of my own.