Cameron Mountain Rescue
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Beth Cornelison
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16,9K
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23
Prologue
Sophie Bane stumbled through the weeds and encumbering scrub brush and licked her dry lips. Oh, Lord, she was thirsty. She’d kill for even a small sip of water.
Why hadn’t she brought water with her? Why hadn’t...
But she had. Hadn’t she?
She reached in her knapsack and fumbled until she found her water bottle. She uncapped it and tipped it up. Nothing came out.
Her heart sank, and she sighed tiredly.
So tired...
So thirsty...
So confused.
She turned, glancing around her at the mountain scenery. It all seemed familiar. Was she walking in circles? Could she tell anything by the sun?
She squinted as she peered up at the bright sun. So bright. She’d lost her sunglasses this morning when she had lost her footing and tumbled down that slope. Or was that yesterday?
Dehydrated. She’d heard people became confused when they got dehydrated. She should have brought water. She glanced down at the bottle in her hand and tipped it up to her mouth. Nothing. Right. Empty. She stashed it back in her shoulder sack and kept walking.
How far had she come? She’d intended to hike ten miles. The trail was easy enough, her sister had said. Good prep for the half marathon next month. If Gina could do a half marathon, she could too.
But this was no trail. She’d gotten lost. Then more lost. Was that a thing? More lost?
She should have brought more water. Who knew the sun could be so harsh in the mountains? That hiking was such thirsty work? It had been cold on the morning she’d set out. She’d worn a jacket. She shouldn’t have needed more than one canteen. Until she got lost. Until everything got so confused.
Trees. She saw trees ahead of her and headed toward them, out of the sun. Maybe in the shade she could rest, get her thoughts straight and figure out which way to go.
In the blessed cool of the shade, she slumped to the ground, savoring the dampness of the moss. Moss...
Moss grew on the north side of trees. Hadn’t she heard that once? That you could tell direction by...or was it west? Or...east? Tears pricked her eyes. God, she didn’t know! Couldn’t remember. She was so confused...
She dozed for a moment, then heard a noise that seemed out of place. Sitting up, she plucked leaves from her hair and glanced around her. Had she heard an animal? A bird or—
Her breath caught. Across a wide grassy field, she spotted a cabin of some sort. Inhabited by the look of it. She could make out a garden growing in the back and clothes drying on a line.
Water. Food. Directions. Maybe even transportation back to town!
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she whispered to the sky. Shoving weakly to her feet, she hurried across the meadow and struggled up the step to the front door.
Her knock was answered by a middle-aged man whose graying hair made him look older than she guessed he was. And he stank of being unwashed. But she didn’t care. She smiled at him and gasped, “Hi.”
He glowered and in a gruff tone asked, “Who the hell are you? What do you want?”
“I...my name’s Sophie, and I’m lost. I...could I please have some water?”
He pushed past her to step onto his porch and scan the meadow. “You alone?”
She nodded. “Yeah. My first mistake, huh?”
He eyed her up and down and grunted. “Yeah.”
As she met his dark eyes, ice tripped up her spine, and the hair rose on her arms. Some primal internal voice in her brain shouted, Run!
She took a stumbling step backward, but the man’s hand clamped around her wrist. He jerked hard, dragging her inside his cabin, and Sophie screamed.
“Go ahead,” he said with a sneer. “Scream all you want. Nobody’s around to hear.”
